Chapter 9: The Measuring of Worth
Ruby lead Sakura into the store house of her temple. On the floor there was huge amounts of wheat, millet, barley, birches, beans, and lentils that was prepared to be fed to her pigeons. Ruby let up her grip on Sakura's arm and faced her.
"Separate all of these grains and put them into their own barrels." Ruby ordered coldly.
"But, m'am, this seems impossible." Sakura said, stareing at the pile in shock.
Ruby moon smacked Sakura, who fell to the floor.
"Do not talk back to me!" Ruby said angrily.
"Of course." Sakura said, still sitting on the ground.
"Get up." Ruby ordered.
Sakura did as she was told.
"If you have any desire to see my son again you will have this done by this evening." Ruby said in a cold tone.
"Yes m'am"
"I will come back to check on you after the banquet for the gods." Ruby said, turning her back on Sakura and leaving her in the dingy storehouse by herself.
Sakura stared at the large pile for a long moment before falling to her knees and covering her face.
"Why? Why does she deny me my husband in such ways!! I just want to apologize.."
After a few moments of wiping her own tears she stood and walked over to the pile and started grabbing all of the millet she could find.
--
Tomoyo walked slowly into Ruby's castle, looking around for a sign of life.
"Hello?" She called down the long golden halls.
Ruby peeked out from one of the rooms, her hands in her hair, pulling it back.
"Hello Tomoyo. Give me just a moment." She pushed a pin into her hair and walked up to the young Tomoyo.
Tomoyo bowed politely. "Hello Ruby. How are you?" Tomoyo started with small talk.
"I am fine." she sighed. "Trying to take care of Syaoran, but he wont let me."
Just what Tomoyo wanted to talk about. "Oh? Then who is taking care of him?" she asked.
"I tried to offer my servants, but he refused. He would only allow his own servants to help him, so we had to call all his servants over." she sighed deeply.
"Oh? Then I am to assume that he will not be attending the banquet tonight?" Tomoyo asked, looking disappointed.
"Not a chance." Ruby said. "But if you would like you can go talk to him, Tomoyo. Perhaps you can talk some since into him!"
Tomoyo smiled brightly. "Defiantly!"
Ruby pointed down the golden hallway as the door at the very end. "He is in there. Don't hold her breath. I won't be here when you get out, I need to get to the banquet early."
"Ok." Tomoyo nodded with a smile and watched as she left the house.
Tomoyo ran back to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked.
"Li? Are you in there?" Tomoyo asked.
"Who is it?" A gentle female voice rang out.
"Come on Dream, it's me! Tomoyo, let me in!"
Dream turned and watched Li, who nodded.
Dream opened the door and let Tomoyo in. She went past all of the nurses and sat next to the bed that her friend was laying in. She smiled lightly at Li, who was curled up in the darkness.
"Are you ok, Li?" She asked gently.
He didn't respond.
"He hasn't been speaking much." Light said. She sat in the corner of the room, the only light in darkness. Her glowing lit the room lightly like a candle.
"Oh really?" Tomoyo looked over at Li again, sounding a little playful. "Is that right? Li, you've told me everything else in your whole life and you won't tell me how you're feeling now?"
Silence.
"Li! Don't act like a child!"
The young Mist sighed lightly "He hasn't spoken with any of us."
"Is there something wrong with him?" Tomoyo asked, sounding a little worried.
Sleep was sitting at the end of the bed with a thermometer. "The only thing we've found wrong with him physically is an oil burn on his shoulder."
"Well, I know that will not effect your voice." Tomoyo said, facing Li yet again.
Snow was sitting in the corner of the room. Her pale features reflected what little light there was in the room. "I don't believe his physical being is what is damaged." she said quietly
Through was standing next to Snow. "We were just discussing this." She said more loudly then Snow.
"His heart is broken." Snow said lightly. "He refuses to talk.. to eat... all he will do is drink water. I'm scared for him."
Tomoyo frowned at Li. "Is that so..? Li you can't do this..."
He was silent, he just curled in closer to himself. Tomoyo sighed lightly and tugged on his shirt. "Talk to me, Li."
"She betrayed me." he said lightly. "She didn't love me enough to heed my warnings... she didn't love me."
"Hmmn.. I see.. she didn't love you enough, huh?" Tomoyo smiled lightly. "But she does love you enough to face your mother's wrath."
Li turned over and stared at her. "What do you mean?"
"Sakura traveled to your mother's temple, starving, and offered herself as a slave, trying to prove that she is worth a damn." Tomoyo said.
Li was speechless again.
"At this very moment Sakura is in the store room of your mother's temple separating grains. It is an impossible task for a human, and she is attempting it any way. On top of that she has to have it done by this evening when your mother returns from the banquet."
Li sat up and put this hand to his head.
"I think she loves you. I know I wouldn't face Ruby's wrath for anything in the world." Tomoyo said with a small smile.
Li looked at Sleep. "Do you still know that little yellow creature?" he asked, his mind a blur.
"Kero? Yes."
"Kero... how quickly can he get to that store room...?" Li smiled ever so lightly in the darkness.
--
Sakura had tears in her eyes as she worked as quickly as she could.
This is hopeless.She thought to herself. But.. I can't stop.. I have to do this.. for Li.
She continued working until she heard a strange sound behind her. She turned and looked, she saw a small yellow ball flying at her, and it was screaming.
Is that thing alive?!
That yellow ball was moving very quickly towards the wall of the store house. Sakura dropped all of her millet and ran over, catching the little yellow creature and holding it to her chest. It took her breath away, but as soon as she took her first breath she slowly opened her hands to see what she was holding.
It was a small animal. It almost didn't look real with it's small eyes and childish wings. He was adorable, like the stuffed animals Sakura played with as a child. It made her smile happily
"Whoa. Dang he's got one hell of an arm." The thing said.
Sakura almost dropped it, shocked that it had talked.
"Whoa, don't drop me girly." he said quickly. It started flying and hovered in front of her face.
"Who.... are you?" Sakura asked with a small laugh. She wasn't trying to be rude, he was just so adorable.
"I am Kero." he replied with a smirk. "And I heard from a reliable source that you are in need of some help." He looked around at all of the grains spread on the floor. "Ehhh.. harsh."
Sakura looked around for a moment before looking back at Kero.
"Who is your 'reliable source?'" she asked curiously.
"I... can't tell you." Kero said with a laugh. "But hey, I'm here, I'm help. You need me right?"
"Yes." she replied looking back at the pile. "I need alot of help."
"Good." Kero flew over and landed ontop of the pile. "I'll sort, you start putting them away."
The little creature started taking hand fulls of of grains and quickly throwing them into separate piles. It looked like he was just aimlessly throwing things around.
"Are.. you sure you don't need help?" She asked, a little worried. She took a step towards the mess and realized that he was indeed separating the grains and not just throwing them aimlessly.
"Nah." He replied to her request. "You just start putting them into their bins. I am too small to carry all of this, so you do that. Leave the seperating to me."
Kero start moving through the pile quickly, like a dog digging a hole, and some how he knew exactly what he was doing.
Sakura smiled brightly.
There is a chance. Oh thank you Kero!
She bent over and started picking up the pile of barley and carried it to it's bin.
--
Shot sat in Li's large castle. He was just a speck in the large room, and he wasn't moving. He had a heavy heart and his thoughts were not helping. His large pink eyes were staring at the wall and his long red and yellow hair was messy. He hadn't been taking care of himself the past few days.
He was at a loss for what to do.
It is true that Sakura had only been there for a few months, but he couldn't remember his long life before her. He was hopeless. He hadn't really moved from that chair in two days. He had no reason to.
Hope had been watching him, sadly. No matter how she tried to cheer him up, he simply wouldn't move. She was so sad for her friend, but she felt hopeless.
Slowly she walked up to him and sat in the chair to his right. He continued to stare at the wall.
"Shot?" she asked quietly.
He looked at her for a moment, and then back at the wall. He looked very tired.
"I miss her too." Hope said, her eyes falling to her lap, unable to look at Shot in this condition.
He looked at her again, and then his eyes fell to the floor.
"I'm sorry." He replied quietly.
"You have no reason to be." She looked back up at him, she had tears in her eyes. "In the past few months you have gotten very close to her... I'm sorry Shot.. I'm sorry."
"Why.. are you sorry?" He asked.
"I'm sorry.. that bad things always seem to happen to good people." She looked into his eyes. "I know you truly loved her, Shot. And I know it had to hurt to know that she didn't love you back... and you loved her any way."
Shot was shocked, he didn't realize that any one had noticed. He looked at the ground.
"If it helps..." Hope said quietly. She took his hand into her shaking hands. "I know how you feel."
He looked at her, confused.
"I know what it's like to love and not have it returned."
--
Twilight had fallen across the land by the time Kero and Sakura were finished separating the grains.
"Whew!" Kero exclaimed as he wiped off his forehead. "That Ruby Moon is a beast! That would have been impossible for you!"
Sakura laughed a little. "Thank you for all of your help, Kero."
"Hey, no problem." He smiled brightly. "I'm voting for you and Li!" he said.
Sakura looked confused.
"Oop, looks like I have to go!" he exclaimed before disappearing into thin air.
Sakura didn't have a moment to take a breath when she heard someone walk up behind her. Sakura turned to face who it was. It was Ruby, and she looked very angry.
Sakura dropped her line of sight to the ground.
"What is this?!" Ruby asked, looking into all of the bins.
"Everything is separated, just like you asked, m'am." Sakura said lightly.
"This is not your work!" Ruby growled and threw some of the grain back onto the floor.
Sakura didn't reply.
"I guess I didn't set those standards." Ruby sighed angrily. She pulled the crown of roses off of her head and threw them to the ground before pulling hard bread from her robes and tossing it to Sakura.
"Here is your food." Ruby said storming out of the store house. "Make it last." echoed through the halls.
Sakura looked down at the bread for a long moment before picking it up off of the ground and taking a bite. It was terrible, and it hurt her teeth, but she smiled.
I'm almost there Li.
--
Li could hear his mother stomping angrily into her castle. Each foot step was loud and booming as she made her way back into his room. She slung the door open and slammed it shut behind her.
"Syaoran!"
He turned over slowly in his bed and looked at her stoically.
"What?" he asked wearily.
"I know Tomoyo told you about that girl." Ruby glared at him.
"So what?" he replied simply, rolling back over to face the wall.
"I know you sent someone to help that girl!" Ruby said angrily.
Li remained quiet.
"Don't help that girl, Syaoran! I will not allow you to be near someone like her. She's not worth a damn!"
Li felt both angry and sad as he curled into himself. He felt a sharp pain in his heart and he gasped for air.
Ruby frowned lightly, taking pity on her son. She slowly moved over to him and sat beside him on his bed.
"You shouldn't stress yourself, and don't worry about her. You will only rest. I won't permit any more visitors." she said, running her fingers through his hair. "You don't even think about that girl. If she is worth a damn then you will be seeing her soon enough." she kissed her son on his head and stood up. She moved slowly to the window and closed it tight.
"Don't let me find this window open again." she said leaving his room and closing the door tightly behind her.
All of the medics exchanged glances, and Snow moved over to Li, who quivered in his bed.
"What's wrong?" she asked quietly. She moved his hair and gently touched his face. He had a fever, and he was crying.
"I can't let her talk about Sakura that way." Li coughed. "She is a good person. I love her."
"Don't worry.." Snow whispered. "You can't worry... you have to get better."
Li was still shaking, there were sharp pains in his heart. "I love her." he heard himself whisper. He closed his eyes tightly and let his thoughts wander back to a few weeks ago. He and Sakura were so happy. He thought back to their first kiss. Soft and sweet.
He let himself be carried away by these thoughts until he was fast asleep, praying that he wouldn't wake back up.
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