Sealed In Our Fate...

Chapter 5 - Settlements
"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?'

"Hey, have I seen you from somewhere?" He questioned Sakura.

Sakura bowed her head as low as possible, trying her hardest to avoid his face. "Ah. . . no, sir. I've never seen you before, sir. Please forgive me!" Sakura's knees are trembling like crazy as she kneeled low. 'Please, god, don't let him remember me, or else I'll be doomed!'

"Hmm. . . .you still look very familiar to me. . . and don't call me sir! Don't you know how to greet the members of the royal family? Just by this rule, I could get you beheaded in a snap of my finger!" The prince threatened.

This frightened Sakura even more, making her bow even lower. "I'm sorry, your highness! I didn't know you were. . . . . um. . . . uh. . . . ."

"We're very sorry, Prince Syaoran," Eriol interrupted Sakura. He specifically emphasized the word 'prince Syaoran' to give Sakura a small cue.

'This is not good. . . . . . he really is prince Syaoran, the one known as the Ice Prince.' Sakura broke into more sweat when the thought hit her head. 'How I can I be so careless by insulting the prince? What should I do?'

"Who are you?" Prince Syaoran asked in a demanding tone.

"Sa. . . Sakura. . ." she answered, her voice sounding shaken.

"I don't give a damn about what your name is. Tell me your position and why you're in my private garden!" Prince Syaoran shouted at her.

"Um," Eriol attempted to cut in again. "Sakura is a newly hired fifth- class servant, specialized to take care of your peony garden. She grew up as a flower merchant, and she's really experienced with flower keeping. . ."

"Whatever. . ." Prince Syaoran shot back at Eriol, then turned to Sakura. "Show me your face."

Sakura remained frozen or a minute. 'Should I show him my face? I know I'll be dead if he recognizes my face! How am I going to get out of this?' She looked at Eriol at the corner of her eyes. 'Oh, Eriol! Please, do something to help me!' But Eriol just gave Sakura a blank look, signaling that there's nothing he could do.

"I said, show me your face!!" Prince Syaoran fired back at Sakura. His voice shocked Sakura, causing her head to jolt up perfectly in front of Prince Syaoran. Her emerald eyes pierced into his amber ones as this moment seemed to last a very long time. Sakura's heart was beating fast while unpleasant thoughts ran through her head. 'This is the end! He must have recognized me for sure by now! Hoe!!!!!!'

"Bah, probably just a normal peasant. . ." the prince snorted. "Whoever you are, don't you ever try bumping into me again, or else you shall suffer the consequences."

Sakura thought she was going to drop dead after she heard this. The prince got up on his feet, rubbed dust off his shirt, then walked away. Sakura sighed heavily, thinking how lucky she must've been to get out of this.

Eriol came over and picked Sakura up onto her feet. "You better be careful when you're around this garden. Prince Syaoran is much crueler than Empress Yelan, the woman you saw earlier."

She fixed her shirt after standing up then said, "Thank you for cautioning me, Eriol. I promise I'll be more careful from now on. Is there anything I can do?"

Eriol glanced around. "Hmm. . ." he replied, "since the garden is still in good shape, I'll let you rest for the rest of the day. Here, I'll show you to the servant's house."

"Hai!" Sakura answered cheerfully then followed Eriol.

~*~

"Here we are," Eriol announced. "This will be your home in the palace."

Sakura gazed at the towering building, at least ten stories high. The walls were decorated with crimson red paint, stacked with forest green tiles as the rooftop. The building was in the shape of a spiral, each floor has it's own balcony attached with a room. To Sakura, this looked more like the home of the royal family rather than a servant's house. Her mouth remained wide open by the spectacular structure in front of her eyes.

Eriol smiled lightly, and grabbed Sakura's arms. "Come on in. There's no need to stay outside of so long. I'll show you the way to your new room."

"But," Sakura blurted out, "this is so big. . .why is the servant's house so big?"

Eriol chuckled, "This is considered as one of the smallest structure in the palace! The royal home is about fifty times bigger than this. . .even the pet house is about the same size as the servant's house."

Sakura's eyes started spiraling with dizziness. "Fifty times bigger. . ." she repeated to herself. "HOOEEE!!! The palace is so unbelievable!"

Again, Eriol laughed, "Hurry and come in, before you catch a cold out here. Your room is on the second floor. . . I'll guide you there!"

"Hai," she replied. "What about your room, Eriol? Is your room close to mine?"

"Not at all," he answered. Eriol pointed up to the roof. "My room is on the highest floor of this building. The higher the rank you are, the higher your room is. I'm ranked as a first class servant, therefore I get a room in the highest floor."

Sakura's jaws dropped with amazement. "Wow, Eriol! You must've worked hard to serve the royal family!"

"Hehe, not really. . .my status is just gained by the generations of work my family has contributed to the palace. In fact, sometimes I'm treated as one of the noblemen by Empress Yelan, so the first class servants actually have lots of rights around here." Eriol explained. "Now stop questioning or else we'll never get to your room at this rate!"

"Ok!" Sakura replied cheerfully as she followed Eriol once again. They walked up a flight of spiraling staircase, walked around a few rooms, then opened one door labeled '26 - SK'.

"This is your room, Sakura. We have already imprinted your initials on the label, so people will know your room. Just remember your room number, and you'll be able to adapt here in no time!"

Sakura noticed her room looked very elegant with a small bed in the corner, covered with clean sheets. In the middle of the room was suspended with a tiny little table, while the other corner lies a tall closet. The room looked no bigger than her own in Japan, but this was the reason why Sakura immediately liked her new room.

"Here, I'll let you rest here while I have some errands to run. Just remember to wake up on time tomorrow morning and start working! Good night, Sakura!" Eriol said.

"Bye!" Sakura waved as watched him leave the room. She flopped herself onto her bed, feeling the soft cotton sheets while staring straight up onto the roof. 'Finally, I get to work at a good place. I wonder how mother and father is doing. . .and if Touya is working fine. . .' She sighed heavily, picturing the memories of her family.

When she was about to fall asleep, she was distracted by the voices in the neighboring room. Sakura tiptoed towards the wall and listened closely to what's happening next door. She snuck her ears closer to the wall and heard a feminine voice ringing loudly.

"What kind of room is this? I thought the palace is suppose to be huge!" the feminine voice complained.

Sakura found the voice very familiar. 'Meiling!!' she remembered and realized that she haven't heard from her since they parted in the waiting room. 'Wow, her room is right beside mine!'

"I'm sorry, but this is the only room for you.," a masculine voice argued with Meiling. "All the rooms of the other servants are the same size as this one."

Sakura can hear Meiling grunt. "God, some palace," Meiling murmured.

"Please rest here for tonight and report to work tomorrow," the masculine voice instructed, then he left the room.

After she heard the guy left, Sakura immediately ran to the door beside her room and knocked. "Meiling!! Hey Meiling! It's Sakura!"

"Coming. . ." Meiling answered, her voice didn't sound excited at all. "Hey Sakura, how's everything for you?" She opened the door and led Sakura into her room.

"Everything is fine for me, thank you!" Sakura cheerfully replied. "I've also met a very nice instructor! His name is Eriol! I'm in charge of the peony gardens in the palace! How about you, Meiling?"

"I'd rather you not mention me," Meiling sighed. "I got assigned to this guy named Takashi Yamazaki. God, he never stops talking!! That's why I was so grouchy to him all day."

"oh," Sakura muttered quietly. She didn't seem to show much attention towards Meiling.

"Sakura," Meiling asked. "Why are you so gloomy?"

"I've been doing so much dumb things today," Sakura explained, "like bumping into the Empress and the Prince."

Meiling widened her eyes. "Y-you met the Empress and the Prince right on your first day??" When Sakura nodded, Meiling felt as if she was going to faint. "Gosh, Sakura, you are really lucky to see them on the first day. Some who worked for as long as 50 years might not even get a peek at them!!"

"Oh, really. . ." Sakura didn't sound as excited as Meiling was. "But today I came upon both of them, and I don't think they like me that much. . ."

"Don't worry!" Meiling advised. "They probably had forgotten your face anyway! Just go to sleep peacefully tonight so you're ready for tomorrow's big day!"

"Big day?" Sakura wondered. "What big day?"

Meiling stared back at Sakura. "You mean your instructor didn't tell you anything about the big event coming up? What have you been doing for the last 3 hours?"

"Please, Meiling, just tell me what it is!" Sakura wailed impatiently.

"Ok, fine," She replied. "I've heard that Prince Syaoran and the Empress are making a trip to western China so they can meet their rivaling empire and try to become friends with each other. It has been rumored that the prince was actually going there to meet the western princess and marry her!!"

Sakura found this very interesting. "What does this have to do with tomorrow?"

"Oh, It's nothing really. . . it's just that everyone in the palace tomorrow is suppose be preparing everything for the trip."

"I see," Sakura said. The image of the Ice Prince suddenly appeared in her mind. There was no way that Sakura could imagine him in love with someone with his cold temper, but Sakura was curious about this whole trip overall.

"You have anymore questions?" Meiling questioned. "Because I'm dying to get some sleep now, and if you don't mind, I'm going to kick you out now."

Sakura smiled slightly back at Meiling. "Sure, perhaps I'll need some rest too. Good night, Meiling."

"Good night, Sakura," Meiling said back, then both girls went back to their rooms and slept for the night.



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