The Guiding Star

Hearing the Truth: Chapter Seven

By: Sakura

“You’re kidding, right? Xiao Lang, you can’t be serious.”

Xiao Lang shook his head. “I’m not kidding,” he said. “I’m taking Sakura with me when I leave here.”

“But to see the Li Elders?” protested Di Xuan. “They’ll eat her alive! You know how they are…” Memories of their training still stuck out fresh in both of their minds. It hadn’t been easy - they, the Elders - hadn’t been easy on them.

“I’m going to ask if I can take her with me,” said Xiao Lang quietly.

“And if they refuse?”

“I’m not leaving her alone,” replied the Prince firmly. “I promised to protect her and I nearly broke that promise once. I’m not going to let that happen again.” Di Xuan was about to object again when Mei Ling entered the room.

By this time, she had changed out of her tunic and now wore a simple blue dress. She was tall for age and always opted to wearing flats instead of heels. The light blue skirt she wore lightly swept the ground as she walked. The top of her attire was dark blue and the buttons trailed from her high collar down through the right. Her sleeves were the same shade of blue as her skirt and hung loosely from her arms. Half of her hair was twisted into circular patterns and pinned to the top of her head, while the rest was braided and rested lightly on her back and shoulders.

Noticing that both her brother and cousin had ceased to talk when she entered, Mei Ling raised an eyebrow. “Magic talk again, I presume?” she asked. Di Xuan shook his head.

“Not exactly,” he replied. “Xiao Lang wants to take the Japanese Princess to see the Elders. I’ve been trying to talk him out of it, but he won’t listen.”

“Wing Kuen advised me to take her,” said Xiao Lang, “because Sakura has the star pendant. She could really help me out on my mission.”

“And she can get killed,” objected Di Xuan. “I still don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“What’s not a good idea?”

Xiao Lang whirled around at the voice. “Sakura,” he started, but his voice suddenly left him and his mouth felt very dry. Sakura was standing by the doorway. A few days before, Wing Kuen and Tomoyo, plotting with Mei Ling and Di Xuan, concluded that the latter two would be the ones to supply the runaway pair before Xiao Lang left to begin his mission. Mei Ling knew Tomoyo would send their items but was surprised at a rather large, extra trunk. Inside, she found dozens of clothes, shoes, hairpieces, and little trinkets.

Tomoyo wanted Sakura to have something to wear while she travelled with the Prince. Sakura could not believe Tomoyo would be so kind as to make so many clothes for her to wear and wanted to find some way of thanking her. Mei Ling told her that the best thanks she could give her faithful handmaiden was by wearing the clothes. So she helped the Princess choose something suitable for travelling.

Knowing elaborate clothing would stick out in a small town or village, Tomoyo made most of her clothes simple. Sakura’s current attire consisted of a long faint-pink skirt with a dark pink, almost vest-like shirt over. The shirt was buttoned down in the center with dark green borders and buttons, decorated in between with a flower pattern consisting of a variety of colours. She had long overhanging sleeves the same shade as her skirt, but also bordered with green and had the same flower pattern as her shirt. The sight of her took Xiao Lang’s breath away.

“Well,” he started.

“I said I didn’t think it was a good idea for you to be up and moving about too much,” interrupted Di Xuan, “after the previous excitement. You need to rest.” Di Xuan bowed formally to the Japanese Princess. “I’m Li Di Xuan, cousin to Li Xiao Lang and Li Mei Ling’s brother. It’s nice to meet you.” Sakura bowed and introduced herself as well. “Xiao Lang never told me how you beautiful you are,” commented Di Xuan, a twinkle in his eyes.

“Thank you,” replied Sakura shyly, her cheeks colouring lightly. Mei Ling glanced over at her cousin to see his reaction and she wasn’t the least bit surprised to catch him glaring at Di Xuan. Di Xuan noticed the venomous look aimed at him as well and responded indifferently.

“Di Xuan and I have something to take care of so we’ll be back later,” Mei Ling said suddenly, half-dragging Di Xuan out of the room. Di Xuan waved goodbye to the pair. After they left, Sakura turned back to Xiao Lang.

“Were you looking for me?” she asked him. Xiao Lang nodded.

“I just wanted to know how you were feeling.” The Chinese Prince smiled gently at her. “You see,” he continued, “I was thinking of leaving soon, but the journey may be long and I wanted to make sure you were rested before we started.”

“Journey?” repeated Sakura. “You mean…you want me to go with you?” Xiao Lang placed his hands on her shoulders.

“I would never leave you behind, ever,” reassured Xiao Lang, “but…” His voice suddenly faltered, his courage failed, and he released his grip on her. His eyes were focused on the ground, as if he saw something interesting to look at. “If you don’t want to come with me, it’s entirely up to you.”

“Xiao Lang…” Hearing his name made Xiao Lang look up and he locked his eyes with shining emerald ones. Sakura took his hand in hers and smiled at him. Her smile melted him inside and all doubt vanished from his mind. “Xiao Lang,” she said, “I do want to go with you. You saved me and I can never forget that. You helped me when no one else could. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for setting me free.” Xiao Lang smiled, his attitude almost veering to one of childlike happiness.

“I know it’ll be a little risky,” he said as he placed his arm around Sakura’s shoulder and began to lead her out of the room to the hallway, “but the first thing we’ll do is get my brother out of prison, all right?” Before Sakura could answer, he continued, “With him by our side, we can begin our journey…and my mission.” It pained Sakura to see Xiao Lang like this…not knowing his brother had already passed on…that he could no longer help anyone. She had to tell him. She would try to break it gently to him…but why? Why couldn’t she find the words to say it right?

“Xiao Lang,” she started, Xiao Lang’s eyes still on her. The words wouldn’t flow properly and came out nearly incoherently. “He…Wing Kuen…I mean…I…Xiao Lang, he’s-”

“Xiao Lang, come quickly!” cried Mei Ling, bursting into the room suddenly, cutting Sakura off.

“Is something wrong?” asked Xiao Lang, concern evident in his voice. Mei Ling shook her head.

“It’s nothing like that,” she said, “it’s just I heard our messenger has returned with news from the palace. I thought we could keep tabs through him to see how Wing Kuen and everyone else are doing there. I thought you might want to talk to him and maybe give him messages to send back.” Xiao Lang nodded and quickly followed Mei Ling out of the room. Sakura didn’t move from her spot. She was thinking about Li Wing Kuen. He looked so much like Xiao Lang and his smile…it was so carefree, nothing seemed to trouble him. But now…

“Are you coming, Sakura?” asked Xiao Lang, his voice breaking into her thoughts. Sakura nodded and the pair left to catch up with Mei Ling.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“The audacity of him! To think he could run away and make his own brother die in his place!” The man angrily slammed his fists on the table.

Shui Ken sipped his tea seemingly unfazed. “Don’t break the table,” he said. He then nodded in agreement to his brother. “Calm down, Kim Tang,” he added to the fifth son, “Xiao Lang is not worth getting angry over. He was just a fool - a selfish fool at that.” The third son, Li Tsai Fang, raised his eyebrow and watched his younger brother curiously.

“You’re taking this rather calmly, Shui Ken,” he commented. “Aren’t you the least bit furious that Xiao Lang took your concubine? What was her name? ‘Sakuma’?” Shui Ken’s grip suddenly tightened on the cup, but he took a deep breath and calmed himself before speaking.

“Her name is ‘Sakura’,” he corrected his brother, “and Xiao Lang might not have been the one to kidnap her. There’s no proof at all.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” scoffed Kim Tang unwisely, “it was Xiao Lang. No one else would dare to go near her for fear of you. Not to mention that-” Shui Ken cut him off by throwing his cup to the ground, causing the cup to shatter into millions of pieces, droplets of tea flinging everywhere. He stood up abruptly, anger in his eyes, and grabbed his brother by the collar, not caring that he was younger of the two. It didn’t matter; Kim Tang never held much power, even if he was much older, not to mention he was a bit of a coward.

“I will make Xiao Lang pay,” hissed Shui Ken. “No one takes something of mine and gets away with it. Not even my own brother. He will die in the end, and by my hand; I’ll make sure of it.” With that said, the ninth son released Kim Tang, brushed himself off, and left the room. Kim Tang quickly tried to scrape together whatever dignity he had left and hold it together.

“You should know better than to anger our little brother,” said Tsai Fang. Kim Tang sulked but said nothing. Tsai Fang glanced out the window and watched as Shui Ken greeted the first son, Chi Shing, formally as he walked by. Chi Shing was always accompanied by his ministers and guards now. “Looks like our older brother will soon be taking his position as Emperor of China,” said Tsai Fang quietly. He sighed inwardly. “I always wanted it…but never as desperately as Shui Ken…”

~*~*~*~*~*~

“…and Li Chi Shing will be named the new Emperor in three days.” Ng Fu Shan concluded and rolled up the last scroll he had brought along with him. Fu Shan was a close friend of the Li siblings and he worked in the palace as a messenger. To help the twins keep in touch with the events in the palace, he often wrote down vital information and sent it to them. This time, however, he was able to come along himself.

“You’ve caused quite a bit of commotion with your escape, Prince Xiao Lang,” said Fu Shan cheerfully, “although Prince Shui Ken is trying to keep it as quiet as possible. He doesn’t like being beaten at his own game. Of course, now that the Princess, Sakura, is missing, as well, it’s hard to keep these things hidden.”

“Yes, yes,” answered Xiao Lang, a little impatiently. He only wanted to hear about how his brother was faring in prison. “How’s Wing Kuen?”

“Prince Wing Kuen?” repeated Fu Shan. Sakura watched him quietly from where she sat and noticed his expression changed, becoming very grave. “Prince Li Xiao Lang had been sentenced to death four days ago,” he said quietly, his expression now sombre, “and Prince Li Wing Kuen had been executed in your place, mistaken for being you.”

Xiao Lang stared at Fu Shan in total shock. His face paled suddenly and he stood completely still, unable to move. Wing Kuen…he was…dead? No! He can’t be! It wasn’t true! “You’re mistaken, right?” he said, his voice barely audible. “Wing Kuen could never go…not him…”

Fu Shan shook his head sadly. “I wish I was mistaken, Prince Li,” he said softly, “but it’s no lie. The ministers really executed Wing Kuen, through poison. It had been discovered afterward by Prince Shui Ken that they had executed the wrong Prince and now soldiers are searching all over China for you, and the Japanese Princess.”

Unable to take the weight of the news any longer, Xiao Lang dropped into the nearest chair and stared at the ground, not saying a word. Mei Ling tried hard to suppress her tears - tears of sadness and outrage - while Di Xuan held his sister in his arms, speaking soothing words to her, but his face as pale as Xiao Lang’s. Fu Shan sat, still in his kneeled position, his head bowed as he thought of Wing Kuen. Wing Kuen had been his friend, too - he had been everyone’s friend.

In Xiao Lang’s eyes, shock slowly changed to anger…anger directed completely at Shui Ken. He had no doubt in his mind that Shui Ken had somehow convinced the Ministers to hurry with their judgement regarding “Xiao Lang”. And that their final judgement had been death…His heart…it was like something reached out and ripped a part of it away from him. His closest brother, the one he had cared for most out of all his siblings and had treated him the same, was gone…Anger burned in his amber eyes; and it would have been better if no one approached him while he was in this state. A hand lightly touched his shoulder, causing Xiao Lang to turn around swiftly, his face fixed in a glare.

“Xiao Lang,” started Sakura softly, the glare he gave her frightening her slightly, “I…I knew Wing Kuen had… Xiao Lang, I’m so sorry…”

Something inside Xiao Lang snapped and all reason disappeared. “You knew Wing Kuen had died?” he demanded in a cold fury, standing up slowly and facing her. Sakura stepped back, completely speechless. Xiao Lang had never used that tone of voice to her before. “Then how come you never told me?” he asked in the same tone. “Why didn’t you say anything until now?!”

“I…tried to…” stammered Sakura softly, “so many times, I-”

“I don’t ever want to see you ever again!” Still glowering, Xiao Lang turned on his heels and stormed out of the room. Sakura collapsed into the chair Xiao Lang had sat in just earlier, tears springing to her eyes. How had this happened? Why?

“It’s all my fault…” she whispered, “the reason I keep losing people…it’s because of me…”

“Sakura,” said Mei Ling, placing her hands reassuringly on the Princess’ shoulders, “Xiao Lang didn’t mean what he said. He’s just upset about Wing Kuen - we all are - but sometimes he can be unreasonable. It’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself. Ever.” Di Xuan didn’t say a word but slipped out of the room to follow Xiao Lang. Someone had to calm the Prince down and Di Xuan knew he could do it.

Author’s Note: Um… o_O I’d definitely have to say this is the weirdest chapter of all. I have no idea what I was thinking when I wrote this. *sighs* Was it really that bad? *total silence follows question* Hello? Anyone there? -_- So it was that bad, huh? If you’re still here, please review in that little box below this message (if you’re reading this from ). It would really help me in keeping my motivated to write the next chapter (I pretty much know what’s going to happen). I noticed each chapter has been getting less and less reviews…I hadn’t realized it was that horrible…

*Sakura
~The Animé Archives Team