\\Nobody has Ever Seen{.:Fay D. Flourite:.}Behind my Mask{.:Tsubasa Chronicles:.}\\o17

~#Chapter 17: Sakura Disappears?!#~

"Win what?" I asked breathlessly to Fay.

"This!" he shouted and started to tickle me again.

"Ah!~ You're mean! No fair!" I shouted.

"I'm going to pretened I never saw this," we both heard Kurogane say from the door.

"Hmm?" I asked, looking from around Fay, "Ah~ Kurorin! Did you come to play?"

"I didn't come to play!" he shouted angrily.

I nodded, "Then what?"

Fay got up off of me, and he sat down beside me. I sat up and crossed my legs in the indian style.

"I came to tell you that the doc said lights out," he grumbled under his breath in annoyance.

"Lights...out?" I asked in annoyance as well, "What does he think we are?! 10?!"

Fay sighed, "Well, we have to listen, I guess. He is letting us stay here."

"Ehhhh?" I asked Fay in a disbelieving tone, "Are you serious?!"

"I'm not kidding," the doc came up behind Kurogane, and he smirked at us, "Lights out, you two."

I glared at him in distaste and distrust. He looked at me for a moment, as if studying me.

"You, Girl," he pointed to me.

"My name isn't 'Girl.' My name is 'Midori,'" I told him.

"Well, Midori-san, have you ever been tested for anger problems?" he asked me with a smirk.

"How rude! I would've expected you asking that of Kuromuu, not me! Just so know, I have not been tested for it, and I never will be," I glared at him.

"Well, when you get home, I advise you do get tested for it. I see an evil force ready to break behind those pretty eyes of yours," he smiled.

"That's impossible to get tested back home, you arse," I whispered under my breath.

The doc and Kurogane left the room. Kurogane stayed to watch mine and the doc's conversation. He was actually amused by it. When the doc left, Kurogane looked at me with interest, and I just glared and told him to leave.

I now paced the room, with the lights out like the doc said, and I was complaining with aggrivation.

"Who does that dude think he is?!" I asked Fay, who was laying on the bed, ready for sleep.

"I don't know, Midori-chan," Fay yawned, "but can't you just think about it in the morning? It's late."

I sighed, "Fine~! I'm not letting this go tomorrow, Mister!"

I pointed at Fay, and he smiled a little. I climbed into the bed, and I fell backwards, my arms behind my head.

"Hey," Fay asked, "Midori-chan."

"What?" I asked.

"What did you mean by it's impossible to get tested in your world?" he asked.

I sat there in silence for a moment, "It's just impossible."

"How so?" he pushed.

"Well, where I live at the moment there, we don't have those kinds of doctors," I replied.

"Are you poor?" he asked.

I shook my head, "No, it's just that there are none. Though, I'm not sure if it is possible to get tested in other areas in my world."

He nodded, "If you say so."

"Good night," I whispered to Fay, rolling over to fall asleep.

Though, before I did, I checked my amulet, which shone a bright green. I gasped mentally, looking at my amulet with interest.

'Jackpot,' I smirked.

The next morning eventually rolled around, with no nightmare present, thankfully. Today, I was alert. I was ready to find the jinchuuriki at all costs. I even got up early, much to everyone's surprise.

"Why are you up so early, Midori?" Mokona asked, jumping into my arms.

"What I need to complete my mission is here~" I said in a sing-song voice.

"Ehh? Really?" Mokona asked with interest.

I nodded, and I pulled out my amulet which shone green, "You see this?"

Mokona nodded.

"When it's green, that means what I need is here," I smiled.

"What do you need?" Mokona asked me.

I put my finger to my lips, and I winked, "S-E-C-R-E-T!"

"Ehhh? No fair!~ No Fair!~" Mokona whined, and I giggled.

"Well, someone seems in a good mood today," the doc said, and I immediately grew quiet.

I smiled fakely, and I turned around to face him, smiling big, "Top of the Morning to you, Doc!"

He nodded, confused, "Good morning. How did you and your fiance sleep last night?"

I nodded, "Pretty well."

He smirked, and I sensed something strong coming from him.

'Is he...what I think he is?' I thought.

"What? Is there something on my face?" he asked me.

I shook my head, and I smiled nervously, "N-No, sorry! It's nothing."

He looked at me in an unsure way, but he just nodded and left. We all heard commotion going on outside, and we left through the door to take a look.

Fay laced his fingers through mine, and I did the same.

"I can't find my child anywhere!" this lady shouted.

"Please calm down," the guy from yesterday held her arms.

I frowned sadly, thinking of what my mom would do in this situation.

"I even made sure to lock the door," the lady admitted.

"It might be the work of the golden haired princess after all," the guy concluded.

I used my other hand to straighten my light blue dress out of a nervous habit, and Fay noticed this.

"Are you all right?" he whispered to me.

I nodded, "I'm fine."

"Then..." Sakura started while staring at the lady, "It wasn't a dream."

I looked over at Sakura with curiousity, and the guy that was calming the lady down turned to look at her.

"What did you say?" the guy asked.

"I saw it," Sakura told us, "A golden-haired woman was walking with some black birds."

"That's the princess from the northern castle!" a random guy said.

"Please hear me out," Sakura said to die down the chatter among the townsfolk, "She seemed incredibly sad. She's not the kind of person to drag off a child."

"Don't say such foolish things!" the guy that calmed down the lady shouted, "What the hell could you random strangers know anyway?!"

I stared at the man, kind of sad. He must of been through a lot. Out of my new habit, I reached up and held my amulet. He was right in a way, you know. I didn't have any reason to be angry.

"Can you stop?" Mr. Grosum asked the man that was yelling at us.

"Did another child go missing?" the doc came over to the crowd, asking.

"Those strangers didn't happen to leave your home last night by perchance, did they?" Mr. Grosum asked the doc.

"My room is located directly next to the front door, to be ready whenever an emergency happens," the doc explained to Mr. Grosum, "If anyone had left, I would known about it. This has nothing to do with them."

"Everyone, we can't do anything here," the mayor concluded, "Let's split up and look for the missing child."

"We'll help too," Syaoran said.

"That's quite all right," the guy that had been comforting the lady replied.

As everyone started to go away, Fay spoke up, "Wow, did you see the looks we were getting?"

"They all suspect us," Kurogane told Fay.

"It's because I said such a strange thing," Sakura believed.

"It's got nothing to do with that," I told Sakura.

"I believe every word you said," Syaoran also told her.

"Thank you," Sakura told us with a reassured smile.

Syaoran became serious suddenly, and he turned around and looked up at the birds.

"Crows..." I said while looking at them.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked.

Syaoran didn't answer, but he just stood there in silence, watching them. We eventually retreated back into the house, where it's warm, much to my pleasure. The doc called us into the dining room for tea.

I sat down in my seat next to Fay, and I sighed mentally in boredom.

"So I heard you saw the golden-haired princess?" the doc asked.

'I could be out searching right now~!' I shouted mentally.

"I'm so sorry," Sakura said, "If I had gone outside when I saw her, I could have..."

"But you thought it was a dream, right?" the doc asked her again.

"Yes," Sakura replied.

"Then it's perfectly understandable. You have to realize that to the townsmen that legend is considered the truth," the doc explained to us.

'Well, I believe the legend, and I haven't even been here a a complete 2 days!' I shouted mentally.

"Do you mean that like a historical fact?" Syaoran asked.

"It's recorded in the historical archieves of our land. Three hundred years ago, there existed a princess named Emeraude. After the king and his wife suddently died, she began making the children disappear one by one," the doc answered.

"Does it say what happened to the children after they disappeared?" Syaoran asked another question.

"'After disappearing, not one of them was ever seen again in their original form,'" the doc quoted, "is what it says."

"You could take that to mean that they were alive but just never came home, right?" I responded.

"The castle on the northern side of town has fallen completely into ruin," to doc explained, "but the events happening now are all to similar to what is recorded in the texts..."

'Weird...' I thought mentally, 'that almost seems like it would be impossible to happen again, yet it is.'

"The townsmen think that it's happening all over again," the doc finished.

"Has anyone in town ever seen the princess?" I asked.

"No," the doc replied, "Sakura-san, you are the first."

"So Sakura-san is the first eye witness," Fay smiled.

"Is it possible to read the historical archieves?" Syaoran asked.

"Absolutely. If you'd like, you could read my copy," the doctor smiled.

I glared at him mentally.

'Suspsicous~' I thought.

We walked outside as Syaoran followed, reading his book. He eventually walked ahead of us, dodging tree branches and everything while reading. I stared at him in amazement.

'He's a nicer and more patient Sasori~ Only he could do that back home...amazing. Well, him, that copy ninja from Konoha, and Itachi...' I concluded thoughtfully.

"Amazing," Sakura breathed.

"So true," I replied, smiling at Sakura.

"Hyuu~" Fay fake-whistled.

Mokona popped out of Kurogane's jacket with a big grin spraed across is face. Kurogane looked irritated.

"So you'll even move around in people's clothing?!" he asked.

"Haha!" Mokona laughed, "He's mad at me!"

I giggled and smiled at Mokona, and we stopped walking when we arrived at this broken bridge. There was no other way accross, it seemed. Well, none that I could see.

"There's no way anyone could cross that," Kurogane said while watching the strong, fast current of the river.

"Especially if they were carrying children with them," Fay finished for Kurogane.

"So how did people get to the castle in the olden days?" Sakura asked.

"This bridge used to extend across," I answered Sakura.

I looked up at where Fay turned his head in curiousity, and I saw Mr. Grosum.

"Oh my," Fay whispered.

"That's..." I replied.

"Mr. Grosum, isn't it?" Syaoran finished my sentence.

"Weird~ Why would be over there?" I asked.

"I wonder..." Fay replied.

I let go of Fay's hand, and I pulled my cloak thing closer to my body for warmth.

'Why the hell is the jinchuuriki here in the cold of all places?!' I shouted in my head.

"Are you cold?" Fay asked as we continued to walk back to the doc's house.

I nodded, "J-Just a b-bit."

He smiled and put his arm around me. I smiled up at him, blushing again.

We arrived at the doc's house just as a patient, I think it was a patient, left.

"Welcome back," the doc said.

"That girl..." Syaoran questioned.

"She's a friend of the girl who disappeared last night," the doc explained, "Her mother was worried about her because she became unable to eat. She brought her here for an examination."

"That poor little girl..." Sakura said.

We sat down in the sitting room, and Fay got up to look over Syaoran's shoulder, "Did it say anything?"

"There's a little bit written in regard to the period of Princess Emeraude's reign three hundred years ago," Syaoran explained, "They were undergoing a period of poor harvests, just like they are now."

"Is there anything written about a feather with mysterious powers?" I asked.

"There's nothing on that," Syaoran said, "but common opinion was that the king and his wife's sudden deaths had something to do with the town's missing children."

"So maybe it didn't have anything to do with Sakura-chan's feather after all," Fay smiled.

"I don't know about that," Syaoran said, "What I do know is...there is more to truth than what is written in books or history archieves."

Syaoran shut the book, and I sighed, curling up onto the chair. It was night now, and Sakura and I still reside in the sitting room.

She wrapped her arms around herself.

"Cold?" I asked her.

She nodded, "Yeah."

"I am too," I smiled and giggled a little.

I felt a blanket fall around my shoulders, and I saw one fall over Sakura's too.

"It gets pretty cold at night," Syaoran stated.

I smiled up at Fay, happily pulling the blanket closer to me. Fay motioned for me to follow him, and I followed him out, knowing there was a reason.

"Leaving them alone again?" I asked quietly.

He nodded, and I smiled happily, wanting to go back and spy on them. He caught my longing gaze, and he smiled and pulled me to our bedroom.

When we got inside and the door was shut, I started to talk, "Why can't we go spy?~"

"It's not nice," Fay pointed out.

"Who said I was nice?" I rose an eyebrow, making a funny pose.

He chuckled, "Let's go to bed."

I nodded, a little upset.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Ah, don't worry about it," I smiled fakely.

He looked at me a little strange, but he shut the light off as I got the bed ready. I felt arms wrap around me in the dark, and I knew it was Fay.

"Why can't you tell me?" he asked.

I tensed a little at the sound of his voice. It was in pain.

"W-What...?" I whispered, so only I could hear.

"Pleae," he paused, "Tell me."

"Sorry," I replied a little hurt, "It's embarrassing to say."

"Embarrassing...?" he asked, confused.

I nodded quickly, saying yes.

"Whatever you have to say, won't be embarrassing. Well, not to me," he explained, turning me around and holding my shoulders, "now, please, tell me?"

I nodded, gulped, and replied quietly, "Well, I was sorta expecting a kiss..."

"Ehhh?" Fay smiled, "How cute! Midori-chan, you're cute."

If it wasn't so dark, my crimson blush would've been very noticable, so I was thankful for Fay turning out the light...very thankful. In the middle of my train of thought, I felt lips crash on to mine, and I was dragged to the bed. As Fay pulled the blankets up over us, he broke the kiss and said good night.

I woke up the next morning by Fay shaking my shoulder. I groaned and rolled over, hugging the pillow.

"Go away..." I grumbled.

"Midori-chan, please wake up," I heard the doc say.

"Shut up and and go away, you filthy piece of trash," I opened my eyes and glared at the door where he stood.

The doc seemed taken aback.

"I'm sorry!~ She's not a morning person," Fay explained nervously.

He nodded, "It's all right. It's understandable. Just get her out of bed."

"Midori-chan, please get up," Fay said.

I made a whining and sound, and I tried to pull the covers up furthur. Fay pulled them back and off of me.

I sighed, defeated, and I sat up, running my fingers through my hair to smooth it down. I gave Fay a defeated look, and he smiled.

"Let's go. We're going to wake up Sakura-chan," Fay explained.

I nodded, and I sat up and stretched, yawned, and then followed Fay out the door. We walked down the hallway to her room, and the doc unlocked her door. I noticed Syaoran was already there waiting to see her.

When we opened the door, Sakura was nowhere to be seen. The window was open, I noticed.

"She's...not here?!" I exclaimed in fear, becoming wide awake.

"Sakura's...missing," Syaoaran said in a disbelieving tone.

Out of reflex, I gripped Fay's hand for life.

"You there, Strangers!" the townsmen called from downstairs.

We walked out the door and down the stairs, and they were all down there holding stakes and such.

"Is something the matter?" I asked.

"More children are missing. This time 5 of them left!" they shouted.

"What?" Syaoran asked.

"Hey, what happened to that other girl?" one of them asked.

"Sakura-chan's missing as well," Fay replied.

"So that girl is the culprit," one of them assumed.

"She took the children and blamed it on the legend," another added.

"Sakura-chan...wouldn't do anything like that," I death-glared at them, "Besides, we've only arrived here. How could she of started it if he had already begun before we arrived?"

It was quiet for a moment.

"There's no other suspect, so capture them all!" the leader-type of guy shouted.

They ran up, and one of them tried to hit me with their pole. I grabbed it, pushed him back, and pulled it out of his grasp, causing him to fall. I tripped the one aiming at Fay from behind, and he smiled his thanks.

One of them aimed their gun at me, and Syaoran kicked the gun from his grasp. Kurogane spun around and caught it before anyone else could. The leader backed up in surprise, and I walked over next to Syaoran.

"Thank you," I whispered to him, and he nodded.

"W-What...?" the man asked.

"If you want to play chase, you better be prepared as well," Kurogane explained.

"Hyuu~ Kuro-sama's amazing," Fay whispered.

"Yay! Fay, Syaoran, and Midori looked great too!" Mokona said.

"Why, thanks," Fay said.

I smiled at Mokona, and I continued to watch the scene unfold.

"We have nothing to do with these events," Syaoran said.

"Plus, where I come from, you wouldn't be able to capture anyone without a certain amount of evidence," I explained, "It's rude to assume things upon people without facts."

"Save it. They won't believe us," Kurogane said.

I sighed, and nodded, "True."

"Of course not! Until we find the children, you guys are the top suspects!" the man shouted.

I shrugged, being used to it. The Akatsuki isn't exactly the good guys in my world, after all.

"I'll search for them then," Syaoran replied.

"Eh?" the man stared.

"I'll find out why and where they've gone. And also, I'll find the most treasured person to me," Syaoran finished.