Cardcaptor Sakura: The New Trials (Wish-luv)

Chapter 43: Not A Perfect World

 I had made up my mind that I would leave Japan without telling him. Some things are better unsaid. I know that the other members in the Li Clan would be disappointed in me, but I do not care. Maybe alone, I truly wish happiness for Syaoran. That’s why, after two weeks, I decided to return to Hong Kong and not spoil his current happiness.

But I think I fell into a trap. I don’t know how much time has passed nor where I am. All I know is I’m still somewhere in Japan, but nobody knows that. The last thing I remember is running and running, the sound of a snap and a sharp pain in my right ankle, and a cold, silvery, unearthly pair of eyes leering down on me as a ripping pain reverberated through my body. It’s cold and dark in here. It’s okay, Syaoran would find me. He’ll come find me. He always has…

******

“Meirin? Where are you? Answer me!” Kai called out. His voice echoed down the dark alley. He gripped Meirin’s silver bracelet tightly in his hands, until the intricate engravings decorating the narrow bracelet embedded into his palm. Wrapped up in his thoughts, Kai was unaware that someone had been creeping behind his back until a cold hand on his throat in a tight, strangler’s grip. Never had he been so completely foolish as to let his mind slip while in such ghetto districts of the city during nighttime.

Yet, he did not panic. Years in the streets taught him how to handle people who attacked from behind. Slamming his elbow into the assaulter’s stomach easily loosened him from the grip. The attacker grasped Kai’s black shirt, readying to punch him. With speed and agility, Kai leaped up onto a stack of boxes with speed which he had always reserved for emergencies. He even ignored the ripping sound of his shirt as the assaulter made a desperate grab at him.

“My, my, who is this,” drawled the attacker, who was joined by three more masked men. “Isn’t it our favorite six-oh-three?”

0603. My criminal number. How did these people recognize me? I’m in disguise.

 Massaging his throat to get rid of the choking feeling, Kai stared down at the gangsters from his advantageous position on top of the piled wooden cartons. They could be any of the number of criminals he had encountered in his days. Despite Kai’s excellent night vision, the buildings on either side of him cast ghastly shadows making it impossible to decipher the features of the man who had tried to strangle him, especially since a tight black mask stretched over the man’s face.

Quickly, Kai calculated a plan of escape. That, he was an expert at. He prayed that Meirin was safe—somehow, her safety felt like his responsibility because he had been the last one to see her off. Had he been a little more persistent and a little less daunted by Meirin’s hostile attitude towards him, he could have safely escorted her to the airport. Despite his senses warning him last Friday that Meirin might get into trouble if he let her go off on her own, he had ignored it.

Observing his surroundings, he frowned. What had Meirin been doing in such a dangerous district, anyway, when she should have been heading to the airport? I knew I should have driven her, myself. Still, how can I be thinking about her when I’m probably in the worse scrape I’ve been since the police were chasing me this summer?