Seirya: Legacy II, The Unwanted Bride

Sakura’s plans go horribly wrong when, instead of eliminating the prince, she gets captured and, somehow, worked into being his bride. The plan now? Make his life as miserable as possible.

-x-Morning After -x-

Freshly out of his bath, Syaoran ventured to his wife’s bedroom—ugh, just the echo of the word gave him shudders. Merely a few short days ago she had wanted to plunge a knife into his heart, and here he was walking to her room. Thank the Lord he hadn’t made the vow to consummate with the woman that tried to kill him.

Imagine bedding her… Although he hadn’t had the touch of a woman for, well, since ever, he was fairly certain he didn’t want to touch her.

Wearing cotton pyjama pants, very unkingly if he did so say himself, he knocked on his wife’s door and heard a faint enter vibrate through to his eardrum. Pushing the door open, he acknowledged the fact that his wife was laying in bed, in a sheer cotton thin nightgown. He wanted to gawk, but refrained himself.

“Good evening,” He greeted with the fair bit of mannerism he had. Sakura raised an eyebrow at him.

“Evening,” She spoke coldly as he took a step into her room. He eyed his surroundings carefully, trying to analyze if there was a weapon stashed away from his line of vision. Apparently his wife caught his anxiousness.

“I didn’t hide anything,” She muttered, sitting up and glaring at him. Shrugging, Syaoran pushed up off the wall and strode towards Sakura. She glared up at him, unblinking, her eyes echoing the words of ancient betrayal—or something as such.

“How do you fair, as Lady Li?” He was teasing her and she knew it. “Quite amusing, hmm, how you came with a carriage-full of assassins, yet nobody was there at your hour of dire need. Amusing, nobody can be trusted these days, wouldn’t you say?”

“I suggest you be quiet,” She hissed, turning her glaring emerald orbs at him. He merely raised an eyebrow.

“How bold, considering the fact that you are now my wife.”

“Wife or not,” Sakura glowered at him, “I still intend on killing you.”

“And how, pray tell, do you hope to pull that off?”

“By making your life a living hell?” She shrugged, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Syaoran leaned forward, his body heat engulfing Sakura’s aura—

“Before you learn what hell stands for,” his voice was hardly audible, a devilish whisper, “you will be there thrice and back. Be glad your presence disgusts me—or else I would’ve taken your femininity away from you.”

Sakura snuffed, her eyes brimming with equal audacity and danger that his bordered. “If you aren’t my first kiss, Lord, what makes you believe that you will be the one to take my femininity away from me?”

Smirking, Syaoran took a step back. “Already dishonoured? How pitiful, but I would expect nothing more than a lowly assassin. You stoop low enough to clean my toilet chambers, you are probably low enough to sleep with a commoner.”

Fire engulfed Sakura as she stood up, eyes glaring up at him. True, he towered over her in an inhumane type of way, but she herself was a feline of much calibre. “I suggest you do not torment me, Lord,” She was very angry, “or I might do something I will not regret.”

He snorted. “Like what? Stab my heart with a dagger? That got you far, huh?”

She knew he was right and sighed. Taking a step back, her eyes were slightly staggering from its previous fiery glare. Her body had taken a toll on her and she needed sleep: Li Syaoran or not. “Will you leave my chambers now? I’m quite tired.”

He smirked. “This is my castle, my kingdom and you are now my wife. By tradition, I am supposed to bed you the night of our marital binding.”

“I am in no way allowing you to touch my body!” Her voice shrieked, unwanted tears springing to her eyes. Shock coursed through Syaoran as he saw his wife, the Midnight Assassin, fall to tears in front of him. Sure, she wiped them away with rigorous passion, and showed nothing more than a mere sniffle of her previous falter, yet the fact that she could act so… woman surprised him.

But it didn’t lessen his anger and hatred towards this woman.

Even though the woman wore his most prized possession and owned the most prized title in the entire land—the Seirya jewel and his wife; respectively.

“I shall see to it that you get your nights rest, my Lady,” his mannerism kicked back in again as he bowed before walking towards the door, his back never turning to his wife, “I shall await you in the courtyard, for our morning-after breakfast. Pray, do act seduced—the entire world does not need to know of our arrangement.”

Glowering at him, Sakura watched as Syaoran clicked the door shut before falling back onto her bed. This time, she allowed her tears to run freely. Damn him—damn this arrangement and damn the others!!

Curling into a defenceless little ball, Sakura wept herself to sleep: the very first night as somebody’s bride…

-x-

In a manner of great discontent, Sakura swept into the courtyard where she eyed her husband already sitting at a table, his body slouched in a rather dangerously good looking position. Sucking in a great breath of air, Sakura in a rather beautiful manner, walked up the seat beside him. Immediately, he jumped up, pulled the chair back for her and allowed her to take her seat.

She forced a blush.

And Syaoran had to admit, it looked pretty damn realistic.

“Many thanks,” She whispered in a rather post-passionate voice. Syaoran raised an eyebrow, wondering if she had encountered a night of passionate affairs previously…

“Anything for my bride,” He smirked seeing the emotion in her eyes disagree with what she was speaking to him. All that mattered was that they kept up a show…

They consumed their breakfast in silence, Sakura never looking at Syaoran—

“How about a round of chess?”

Shooting her eyes up, she showed shock and astonishment, “Chess?”

Syaoran managed to pull off a nonchalant shrug. “Of course, is that not how we met, sweetling?”

Sakura made a face, Sweetling? She mouthed at him. He merely smirked. “Chess?”

Nodding, she pushed her plate away from her. “Chess it is, my Lord.”

-x-

“Three games, sweetling,” Syaoran was well aware of many of his workers watching. He had chosen a select few that knew of the secret of his wife: bodyguards, the maids, and Nakuru herself. Otherwise, new maids, new bodyguards and the occasional cook and gardener did not know of their arrangement: and they watched with awe at the open display of affection between their Lord (a man who had vowed never to get married) and their new Lady (a woman whom they had never heard of previously).

“I’m just rough,” Sakura murmured, “I haven’t played in a long time.”

“It’s alright,” His voice did not mother masking the malice, “we have the rest of eternity.”

Looking up at him, Sakura could only see his eyes search her; for what, she didn’t know.

“Shall we make it best five out of seven?”

Shaking his head, Syaoran stood up and Sakura (who was seated on a cushion on the floor) looked up at him. She was wrapped up in a beautiful white kimono, her hair flowing behind her, and her face holding no makeup of any sort. “I’m tired of this useless game…”

Sakura merely glared at him. “I didn’t invite you to play with me.”

He smirked, “Don’t get to tense, sweeling—we’ll have true fun tonight.”

Sakura showed a look of disgust but knew he was speaking to hide the truth. “My lord,” he heard the sarcasm in her voice, “I shall be waiting impatiently for what amusement waits for me tonight.”

“Very well—I desire a ride through my estates, will you join me?”

Never in your life, Sakura thought but politely declined. “I fear that my uh,” Her what? Her what?! “My adventures from the night before has me sore. I wish, however, that I can…”

He rolled his eyes. Only Sakura saw it, and she eyed the gardener quietly walking past the room they were inside. She wanted to throw a vase at his head, Why are his servants so damned nosy?

“Very well, sweetling,” Syaoran made sure he sounded sickly sweet. “I shall await my return. Until then,” Leaning forward, he placed a kiss on her cheek and whispered, not before pulling away, “do anything stupid, you witch, and I’ll come back for something more than just an adventurous night.”

Sakura glared at him, watching him pull back, “You shouldn’t worry, my lord… what I desire is something you are unwilling to give me.”

Smirking, he merely turned around and walked away, leaving her sitting in the room alone: What you desire, sweetling, he thought tersely as he started towards his stables, is resting exactly on the finger that binds us together…

You know what I realized? This arc is going to be the shortest out of the five—Like, 10 chapters? Wow, eheh—this arc is one of the most important yet shortest. Oh well, all the better, I suppose.