Sealed In Our Fate...

Chapter 4 - Entering the New World
Meiling took a long, deep breath, and replied, "You don't want to mess with him. . ."

"But why though?? I though you were strong enough to take them on!" Sakura argued.

"Just trust me, don't do anything stupid. . ." Meiling warned, and her eye narrowed. "He's more than what he seems to be like. . ."

------Two days later------

Meiling and Sakura arrived to the front doors of the palace, like all the other young girls did. The area was more crowded than ever, especially when there are other people who came just to watch what's happening. Everyone waited impatiently for the guard to open the doors, since most of the people are anxious to see what the palace is like. Sakura's feet were trembling really badly, and even Meiling can feel her nervousness.

"Sakura, calm down before you kill yourself! I thought an earthquake was starting until I realized it was your feet that's thundering with fear!" Meiling told her.

Sakura was still very nervous, "I'm sorry, Meiling. I just can't control myself when I know for a fact that I was going to see the royal family! I just wish I could do something. . ."

"It's not as exciting as what you're thinking right now," Meiling explained. "You probably won't even be able to see anyone royal even when you're under the same roof with them. Don't forget, we're just servants, not high classed nobilities."

Merlin's words didn't help that much, which instead sent them both into silence for the next ten minutes.

Pretty soon, the same chubby looking guard from the other day appeared from the long front gates of the palace. The short little guy tried to scream through the crowd with his squeaky voice for attention, but no one seemed to listen. Sakura and Meiling couldn't control themselves from chuckling at the dinky looking guy.

"Silence please. . ." The chubby guard ordered with his barely audible voice. Miraculously, most of the people focused their attention to him.

"Please answer when I call your name for attendance!" The guard instructed the crowd. ("Makoto Adachi!!")

Sakura and Meiling, sighed, since they have to wait for the guard to go through the big fat list of people that's currently present in the jumble of people.

"Ahh!! I'm going to die from nervousness!" Sakura wailed.

("Reiko Chiba!!" The guard continued reciting his list.)

"Heh, I wouldn't blame you. You look like you have never seen the world before!" Meiling teased Sakura.

Sakura smiled, "Yeah, I've never been anywhere outside of the small town I lived in Japan."

("Aya Fukami!!")

"So, Meiling, what do you think of the palace?" Sakura asked curiously.

Meiling hesitated for a moment. ("Hinako Hara!!") "The palace. . . . . . . it's ok. . . . . . . . I guess"

Sakura was puzzled. "You've been to the palace before?"

"Not exactly. . . . . . I've only heard stories about it." Meiling replied.

("Keiko Honda!!")

"Wow!! Can you tell me about the stories?" Sakura asked again.

"Hmmm. . . Let me think. . . . there are lots of rumors about the ice prince." Meiling started.

"Ice prince?" Sakura questioned.

("Chiko Iwao!!)

"Yes, the ice prince. His whole name is Li Syaoran, but because of his temper and cold personality, he earned the rumored nickname as the ice prince. He is, of course, the only heir of the throne to be the future emperor of China and this day isn't trailing far since the previous emperor passed away a few years ago." Meiling explained. Sakura showed a lot of interest on the story.

("Mina Kamiya!!")

"The ice prince was very well trained in all aspects of life, especially in martial arts. His skills exceed many others, as well as his intelligence surpasses other members of the royal family. I've heard that he never gets along with anyone. . . . . . absolutely no one could understand him. Because of his weird temper, countless servants have tried escaping the palace, and the results of it was horrific. . ." Merlin's tone became more serious.

Sakura's head was suddenly exploded with could sweat and her face became pale. 'Ice prince. . . . . . . is he really like the way people think he is?'

"Sakura Kinomoto!!" The guard shouted across the crowd for attendance. Sakura didn't hear the guard because her mind was terrified by the thought of the ice prince.

"Sakura Kinomoto? Are you present?" The guard repeated her name. Sakura still didn't hear him. Meiling, who was standing beside her, nudged her ribs and to signal her. Sakura, finally jumping back to reality, answered immediately, "I'm present!!"

The short and chubby guard sent at cold stare at Sakura, then looked away to call out the next name. Sakura sighed deeply to relieve herself from her deep thoughts.

Meiling patted Sakura on her back, "I'm sorry for scaring you. The stories about the ice prince are just rumors, so don't take everything so seriously if it bugs you." She rubbed her back to and tried to comfort Sakura.

"Thank you. . ." Sakura smiled.

"Meiling Li!" The guard shouted her name.

Meiling raised her hand and yelled, "Present!" After their names were called, they waited patiently for the guard to finish the attendance. It didn't take him very long, and soon the next set of instructions was given out.

"When you hear your names, please follow me inside the palace. I will lead you to the location where you will start work." The chubby guard gave the directions. "The first group is Sakura Kinomoto, Meiling Li, Mina Kamiya, Keiko Honda, and Chiko Iwao!!" Sakura, Meiling, and the rest of the girls whose names were called immediately reported in front of the guard.

"Come with me," the chubby guard instructed as he opened the front gate of the palace.

Sakura's feet were trembling very heavily. She felt her heart beating faster and her whole body starts to shiver when the thought of the prince came to her mind. Meiling noticed her, again, and tried calming her down. "Sakura, like I said before, there is a slim chance that we'll ever see any royalty because the palace is such a huge place. Just act normal and you'll be fine!"

"I'll try. . ." Sakura bit her nails as the small group entered the palace.

~*~

Sakura felt like she has been walking forever in an endless maze. Like she always thought, the palace was like a dream. She passed by countless numbers of flower gardens with countless variety of flowers. The view was absolutely gorgeous, especially the cherry blossom field where rows of cherry blossoms were planted beside the sidewalk. Another flower garden that amazed Sakura was the one filled with blooming peonies, all planted in one large garden. In the middle of the garden was a small and attractive gazebo plus a mini fountain on the other side of the field to catch attention. The garden seemed more than a dream to Sakura, more like heaven.

They passed a few more bridges, another garden, inside a large arch, and finally they arrived to their destination, which was a small cottage inside one of the flower gardens. "God," Meiling said in an annoyed expression, "at this rate I thought we wouldn't arrive until next month!"

Sakura also found herself exhausted from the long walk and wiped the sweat off her forehead. The rest of the group gathered around the guard and waited for further instructions.

Finally, the guard started his next set of instructions, "Everyone, please let me introduce you to your personal instructors." When he finished, another group of people entered the cottage. They wore very sophisticated clothes, as if they were very rich peoples. Sakura especially noticed one man from the sophisticated group and stared at him. He also noticed Sakura, and returned a smile back to her. Meiling, on the other hand, snorted and waited impatiently.

The guard went and assigned the other girls their instructors while Sakura and Meiling waited. It seems like the day was dragging on forever every time they had to wait. Sakura kept looking at the sophisticated man over at the other side of the room, feeling that she knew him from very long time ago. The man had navy blue hair and shining blue eyes that seemed to give Sakura a very warm and welcome feeling. Again, he shot another smile at Sakura.

Finally, the guard went up to Sakura and Meiling. "You two ladies are assigned to those two instructors over there. They will be your guide for the rest of your days in the palace, so ask them any questions when you need to."

Sakura immediately noticed that her instructor was the same blue haired man that she was attracted to in the beginning. She walked up to him and bowed her head down as a traditional Japanese greeting. "My name is Sakura Kinomoto. Nice to meet you, sir."

The man smiled back at her, "Hmm. . . Sakura. . . . what a beautiful name for a beautiful person like you!" Sakura blushed slightly when she heard that. The man chuckled, and introduced himself. "My name is Eriol Hiiragizawa, and I'm glad that I can be your instructor! I'm in charge of the peony and cherry blossom fields in this palace, and you might as well follow what I teach you to do in order to work successfully in here."

Sakura examined his eyes and his tone when he talks. The warmth feeling that he sent to Sakura felt very tender, as though it was like a smile from a very close friend. Just by the first impression, Sakura admired him already.

Sakura gulped, then asked "Ummm. . . . . . sir? When should I start work. . ."

"Just call me Eriol!" He interrupted. "It's not like I'm an officer or anything so I'm not a 'sir'. And besides, we are both servants so we can call each other by names!"

Sakura was surprised. "You're. . . . also a. . . . servant?" Sakura thought he was one of the high-class noblemen, judging the clothes they wore.

"Yes," Eriol answered. "All of us instructors are first class servants, so that's why we are treated with higher respect because our status is higher. You, on the other hand, are fifth class servants because you've just started work. But don't worry, your rank will go higher if you work hard."

Sakura nodded politely, even though she didn't understand any of it. "So what can I do?" She asked.

"Oh, follow me to the cherry blossom field! It's the closest one here." He told her. Sakura followed him tightly as if she will get lost if she didn't. Again, they circled through many other gardens, bridges, fountains, and arches before arriving to the previous cherry blossom field that Sakura saw earlier.

Even though it was the second time she saw it, the view was still breath taking. "Wow," Sakura said, "I've never seen so much cherry blossoms in my life!"

Eriol chuckled at Sakura's amusement. "This garden is owned by prince Syaoran. When he was little, he visited Japan and fell in love with the cherry blossoms there. The minute he returned to the palace, he ordered us to grow a cherry blossom field similar to the ones in Japan, except ten times larger."

When Sakura heard the name 'Syaoran', she felt a chill running down her spine. But, she was also amused by the fact that the ice prince actually appreciates nature.

Eriol gave Sakura a tour around the garden while explaining to her what to do. Sakura's focus was dragged on to the scenario, completely omitting Eriol's words. Everywhere she looked was filled with blooming pink petals, some occasionally blown onto her face but it's delicacy only tickled as they walked by. She also noticed there were many servants watering the trees, many of them are probably in a higher class than Sakura was.

The two of them continued walking through the garden as Eriol introduced Sakura to every other person who's present. Suddenly, a tall woman with long, black hair caught everyone's attention. When Eriol saw the tall woman, he immediately bowed his head deeply, and as Sakura noticed, the other servants are already on their knees, bowing. Sakura, air-headed as ever, didn't know what to do and blurted out, "Good afternoon! My name is Sakura Kinomoto! Nice to meet you!"

The tall woman caught Sakura in the corner of her eyes as she gracefully turned her head and looked eye to eye with her. She was at least two full heads taller than Sakura, so she tipped her head down to get a better look at Sakura.

"And, who are you, young lady?" She questioned with a very strict voice.

Eriol, who was somewhat trembling, immediately answered for Sakura, "Your majesty, please forgive her rudeness, but she is a new servant that just reported today. Her name is Sakura Kinomoto."

The tall woman looked at Sakura seriously, then asked. "What was your name again Saku-what?"

"Sakura. Sakura Kinomoto." She answered confidently.

"Hmm. . .those Japanese names are so hard to pronounce. Is it Saku-ra? Sakura. . . . . . . cherry blossoms that bloom in the spring. . . . what a beautiful name." The tall woman stated.

"Thank you. . ." Sakura blushed.

The tall woman broke her seriousness into a small laugh. "You're such a sweet girl. Your instructor is Eriol, right? Since there are so many servants in the cherry blossom field, you can go work on the peony field with Eriol. I hope you'll do a good job on it." After that said, she walked away sophisticatedly. Everyone else got back up and started working again.

Sakura turned to Eriol and asked. "She's such a nice person. Who is she?"

Eriol literally choked when he heard Sakura's question. "Sakura, you really didn't know? She's Yelan Li, the Empress of China!"

Sakura stood like she was stunned. "Eh. . . . eh. . .Empress?!? HHHOOEEE!!!! I must've insulted her highness, how could I be so rude in front of her?? What will I do? Will I be hanged?"

Eriol couldn't help laughing. "No, Sakura. You'll be fine. She's very nice and considerate, so there's nothing to worry about. Us being servants don't have to worry because she never harms any of us." After his explanation, Sakura sighed in relief.

"Well, since there's nothing for you to work on in here, let's go to the peony garden." Eriol suggested. Sakura agreed then followed him to the peony garden.

~*~

Through another round of gardens, bridges, fountains, and arches, they finally found themselves in the peony garden. The beautiful beds of peonies, all lined up in straight and neat rows, again, amazed Sakura. She felt like she was back at her little flower garden behind her house in Japan. The peonies were as though they were exactly the same as the ones she sold everyday in the market. Slowly, the memory of her home seems to come back into her mind, especially the memories of her family. 'I wonder how they're doing right now. . .' She thought, and sighed deeply.

Sakura became so carried away with her thoughts that she suddenly bumped into someone, causing both herself and somebody to fall flat on their bottoms. Eriol immediately ran to Sakura and asked, "Are you ok?" But when Eriol saw the person across, his eyes widened and bowed his head low again.

Sakura shook her head so clear up her mind. "Ouch. . . . sorry for bumping into you. . ." She apologized. She lifted her head up to see who she bumped into, and immediately her eyes widened as well. 'Chestnut colored hair, amber eyes. . . . . .' Sakura's heartbeat suddenly sped up. "Could he be. . . . . . . the ice prince?"

"Uh. . . ." the prince murmured. "Who the hell are you? You blind or something?" He shook his head vigorously to clear his mind, and there he looked directly into Sakura's eyes. "Hmm. . . . . . . . . . . you look awfully familiar for some reason. . ."

Sakura broke into sweat. 'Oh no! What if he recognizes me from the market a few days ago? What will I do?'



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