Spoil of War

Summary: The beautiful dreamseer is his captive, abducted from her home and made to share her prophetic dreams by the ruthless, handsome general. As his spoil of war, she belongs to him, body and soul. But there are other—more sensual—ties that bind them, beginning with their meeting in dreams.

Warnings: Adult themes and content.

Disclaimer: YES I own CCS and a hunky adult Syaoran, but only in my wildest dreams.

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Chapter One: Dreams

Dreams. They can lie. They can tell the truth. But dreams can also be the sweetest of traps. - Princess Tomoyo

There are those whom the gods have given the power to see the future, or what could be, in their dreams. Beautiful young Sakura Kinomoto was one of them.

She was a young noblewoman, twenty years of age, who resided in the small kingdom of Tomoeda in Japan. Green eyes, healthily flushed cheeks, and rosebud pink lips made her quite pretty and dainty. Though she was not as devastatingly beautiful as her cousin Princess Tomoyo Amamiya Daidouji, Sakura was a lovely young girl, and her cheerful disposition endeared her to those around her.

As the priestess in training of the Clow Card Temple, she had been selected to serve under Lady Kaho Mizuki, who was the Card custodian. Sakura loved her life; it was her duty to check on the Cards, do errands around the temple, and lead the physical exercises for the young acolytes.

Her overprotective older brother, General Touya Kinomoto, had pretty much ensured that all suitors fled in fear of his wrath. For a long time, Sakura had been in love with the magician Yukito Tsukishiro, a gentle and kind young man, who had been friendly to her but who had never made a move to court her, much to her confusion. Her brother had tolerated her friendship with Yukito, to her surprise, and Yukito often spent the night in her brother's rooms in the dwelling she and Touya shared with her father Fujitaka Kinomoto, the chief historian and archaeologist of Queen Sonomi Daidouji.

Sakura had wondered about her brother's closeness to Yukito. Touya had tried explaining their closeness to her, often to turn away in exasperation; she could not understand her brother's vague lines of "I love him sort of like the way you love him," and "Yuki might not be the one for you because of me," until one night, when she was fifteen, she had accidentally come upon the two kissing in Touya's room. Then she had finally understood: they were in love, and they had been trying to let her down gently.

But the unseen side effect was that Sakura began to dream of a lover whose face was unknown to her. He certainly resembled no one in Tomoeda, and Sakura searched the faces of all travellers and strangers who presented themselves to the Queen. None of them had the warm brown eyes, the thick brown hair, the stern yet sensual lips of the man who first came to her dreams when she turned sixteen.

She had been dreaming of a field of flowers: peony flowers, the kind that could only be found in China. Sakura walked through the field, enjoying the breeze in her hair, when she walked into a young man about her age who had been looking in the distance.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she apologized.

He turned, and Sakura's mouth dropped open; he was very . . . Sakura searched her vocabulary for a word, but failed to find one. It was like his entire being called out to her, like he was the something she had not known she was looking for.

He stared at her as well, then he snatched a pink peony and offered it to her.

"You . . ." he said softly. "It's you . . ."

"Hoe . . . Me?"

And to her shock, when she reached out and took the flower, he pulled her into his arms and looked into her eyes, as if he was searching for something.

"What is your name?" It was disconcerting having his face so close to hers.

"S-Sakura," she said.

"My God you're beautiful . . ."

Sakura stepped backwards; she could see something in his eyes, and she shied away from what she would later realize was the fervent desire he had for her.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"My name is Li Xiao Lang," he said. "Call me Syaoran."

Li. A Chinese name, Sakura thought, but her attention was captured by his hold on her. Her skin tingled where his hands were on her arms, and she blushed.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I just . . . I know this has to be a dream because no one here is as beautiful as you. And you, I . . ."

He stammered, then lowered his head to kiss her.

It was Sakura's first kiss, and at first she stood still, like a deer in headlights. His lips feathered gently over hers, taking her lower lip between them and caressing it gently.

"You taste so sweet," Syaoran said as he pulled away from her and caressed one cheek with his hand.

Sakura blushed again. If her pupils could see her now, they would laugh. Brave, feisty Sakura Kinomoto, who had fought a gang called the Mirror in the marketplace once, who had faced down a wild animal named Erase in the outskirts of Tomoeda, blushing and unable to speak in the presence of a mere man?

Not a mere man. A beautiful young man. One who had kissed her and stirred something strange inside her body, like her blood had suddenly awakened and was moving throughout a body that had been asleep for years.

"I . . . I have to go," Sakura gathered her long robes about her and turned to leave, but Syaoran ran after her, catching hold of her arm.

"Please . . . Will I ever see you again?"

She looked at him; his brows were knitted, and he was looking at her desperately.

"I don't know," she said softly.

"Then let me kiss you. Just one more time," he pleaded. He let go of her arm but was watching her anxiously. "That way, when I wake up . . ."

She would never know what he had been about to say, because that was when she flung herself into his arms and kissed him for all she was worth.

When Sakura awoke from the dream, she had tears on her cheeks. It had been so real, and when she touched her lips, she was surprised to find them gently swollen. Sitting up in her bed, she turned to the mirror, and found that she was flushed and pink.

And in her hand . . .

In her hand was a small pink peony.

"Syaoran," she breathed softly, and closed her eyes to summon up his image in her mind. "His name was Syaoran."

For the rest of the morning, Sakura floated in her beautiful memories. She poured salt into the sweet orange juice a servant poured from her, took a bite of the fish that was her morning meal without tasting it, then said "Excuse me" to the empty chair next to her as she left the table.

Her brother Touya's eyes narrowed.

Fujitaka Kinomoto chuckled. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say Sakura-san was in love."

"She can't be!" Touya put a hand on his sword. "If I find out who her lover is. . ."

"Calm down, son. She is past the age of marrying, and if she falls in love, she has every right," Fujitaka said as he smiled at his son. "Besides, you did not hear a word from her about your, ah, affair with Tsukishiro-kun."

"Oh, Father," Touya rolled his eyes. "This is different."

"How so?"

Touya could not answer and Fujitaka chuckled. "Eat your pancakes, Touya-kun, and we shall go to the castle. Queen Sonomi is waiting for us."

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A loud cry whipped from the lips of the young man with the tousled dark hair. His eyes flashed an intense bronze as he fought against three opponents simultaneously on the practice field. He parried the slash aimed at him by the opponent with a scythe, dodged the sword thrust of another, and punched the third in the gut, making the man drop his club. The young men watching him gasped in awe; he moved fast, and the fight was over within minutes.

Syaoran Li, general of the Li armies in Hong Kong, did not acknowledge the applause of his trainees, nodding merely to his erstwhile opponents, who bowed their respects to him. His training sessions were feared and admired, as he believed that blood spilled on the practice field meant blood prevented on the battlefield.

Queen Yelan Li was his mother, and the crown princess was his eldest sister Fanren Li. He'd begun training in the martial and other arts since he was six years old, and originally he had been betrothed to the most beautiful woman in Hong Kong, Meiling Li, his distant cousin who adored him. That didn't stop other women from trying to seduce him, because he was very handsome. He didn't care about his looks though, as all that mattered to him was learning his martial history and mastering the martial arts.

But all that changed when he was sixteen . . . all because of a dream.

Sakura. He murmured the word as he walked off the practice field. He was twenty now, and at first, he had only seen the girl once every few months.

He was the last person anyone would accuse of impulsiveness or fancies, but she had been the only person for him ever since he had seen her in his dream on his sixteenth birthday. When Syaoran had seen her, he kissed her, terrified he would never see her again. Her memory haunted her until the winter solstice, when he'd found himself wandering the corridors of a deserted house.

He'd heard sobbing, and when he followed the sound, he could hear a soft murmured "I can't find my way out, why can't I get out?" The voice was familiar . . .

Thrilled, he rushed to the source of the sound, and threw the rice paper door open.

Sakura. She looked up at him with her great green eyes filled with tears, and disbelievingly, she asked, "Syaoran?"

Syaoran had rushed to take her into his arms, crooning, "Don't cry . . . there, there, I'm here . . ." He'd buried his nose into her sweet-smelling hair, like aloe and a flower he couldn't identify, and just like that, the house disappeared and they were standing in a field of peonies and sakura blossoms. Not that he noticed, because, afraid he would lose her again to waking up, he'd kissed her immediately.

Since then Syaoran had met her every now and then in dreams. They had talked about their lives every now and then; more often than not they wandered the dreamscape hand-in-hand, kissing and sitting in each other's arms. Whenever Syaoran tried to tell her about himself, or Sakura tried to describe where she lived, they could not hear each other, for some reason; it was like the dream refused to allow them to meet in real life. Still Syaoran looked forward to those dreams, and had broken off his engagement to Meiling.

Meiling had sulked and pouted for a while before flouncing off and, to everyone's surprise, meeting a young man who turned out to be the prince of some foreign country. Married and happy, Meiling now bombarded Syaoran with letters urging him to marry and to forget his 'silly dreams."

He ignored her letters. Why pay attention when there were nights when Syaoran could give up the world to be with his Sakura?

When he turned twenty, the dreams had come fewer and further between. War was stirring in the region, and sleep was a luxury he couldn't afford often. But he never lost the hope of finding her; every now and then, even while on scouting missions for his clan, he would sometimes turn to his memory of her.

And then the dreams had recently intensified. The Lis had received intelligence that a dreamseer of terrific accuracy existed in Japan. As they were fighting an enemy they could not identify—they would be attacked and no one would claim responsibility—Syaoran decided it would be the best idea to find and take that dreamseer back with him to Hong Kong.

A spell had been prepared to transport him quickly to Tomoeda, and to bring him back just as fast. The clan's spellcasters, which included his mother Yelan and his sister Fuutie, had prepared for months, and as their best warrior, it was his responsibility to find the dreamseer at the Temple of the Clow Cards and bring her back.

The best way to make the dreamseer cooperate was to claim her as a spoil of war, take her virginity, and marry her, which then forced her to obey her husband and would make her a part of the Li clan. Syaoran intended to give the girl to Lord Eriol Hiiragizawa, the clan's mercenary spellcaster. It would actually be a blessing; though Syaoran didn't care much for Eriol, whom he thought of as a know-it-all, Eriol was kind and fair-hearted. He would actually be giving the girl a chance at a better life, as Eriol was young, handsome, and wealthy.

As for him, all Syaoran wanted was Sakura. He'd searched across Hong Kong, then when he'd learned that Sakura was a Japanese name, had secretly hired mercenaries to search for him. But without a location and only a description, his men had found nothing.

Disappointed, and a little nervous about the kidnapping mission he was planning, Syaoran lay down to rest in his room at the large Li castle. As soon as he slept, though, the dream came.

He was looking into a beautiful pair of emerald-green eyes, and she was looking back at him as the moonlight flowed over her honey-brown hair. He bent down and began to kiss her neck; it was gracefully curved, and he loved exploring her young body ever since he had boldly begun making love to her without consummation or penetration a year ago. She sighed, and ran her fingers through his thick dark brown hair—and he loved it.

His kisses became more urgent, and he opened his mouth to lick her skin. The girl shuddered in pleasure; he wanted to make her shudder more, to call out his name just as he called hers out now: Sakura!

Syaoran was slowly pulling her sleeping gown down to expose her small breasts; he wanted to see her body. She gasped, and tried to resist; she wasn't afraid, he could tell, but was shy.

He chuckled, a low, gentle sound. "My sweet lover, are you shy? You know I've seen this before . . . and I won't rest until I taste you again."

He raised his lips to hers and began to kiss her tenderly, one hand caressing her cheek, and she began to accept his kisses; when his tongue entered her mouth, she moaned throatily. He slid his hips between her thighs, letting her feel his hardness; he was proud of it as it was large and pleasurable for women. Thank the gods I sleep naked, he thought.

He broke off kissing her mouth and she whimpered in protest; he laughed softly, and pushed her sleeping gown off her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" she asked, and when he lowered his lips to her shoulder and began to kiss, then suck on it, hard, she cried out in pleasure.

He sent one of his large, weapon-callused hands into her sleeping gown, and he smiled when he found her breast; he gently cupped it, then began to tease the nipple with this thumb. She gasped, and cried, "Syaoran!"

Syaoran raised himself off her lips and chuckled. "If that's how you react to this then what happens when I take you to be mine completely?" He smiled at her blushing reaction, then began to kiss her again, his lips traveling down to her nipple, his hands beginning to slide lower, lower...between her thighs..."I will find you, and when I do," he promised as he fondled her, eliciting gasps from Sakura, "I will make you mine."

Syaoran had woken up breathing hard. He was so hard, it was painful. Why do I have to keep waking up at that point? I want that girl! How many times was he going to dream of that girl in that way?

Sakura. The name rolled off his lips. He had never heard that kind of a name before, but he heard himself say it over and over in his dreams.

He could still taste her on his lips. It seemed so real! She tasted sweet, like the best cakes made by his kingdom's bakers. Unbidden his hand strayed under his blanket as he prepared to pleasure himself with the memory of Sakura.

As he reached his climax, he softly gasped her name. When he calmed down, he thought of a better reason for his mission: perhaps the dreamseer he was abducting could provide him with a clue as to where that girl was.

And I will make her mine...if she isn't mine already, he thought, as he readied the vial with the sleeping herb essence on it in the morning he was to be transported to Tomoeda. He smiled. Sakura.

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Sakura rolled over in her sleep, tangling the beddings in her wake. She was having that dream again, and she was beginning to sweat.

She was looking into a deep pair of amber eyes. The eyes were heavy-lidded with desire, and the young man bent down and began to kiss her neck. She sighed, and ran her fingers through his thick dark brown hair.

His kisses became more urgent, and he opened his mouth to lick her skin. Sakura shuddered in pleasure; she'd never been touched by a boy before, no thanks to her overprotective brother Lord Touya, and now she understood why he was so worried. Because this young man was arousing in her the urge to get rid of all their clothes and to just touch.

And that was what the handsome young man was doing; he was slowly pulling her sleeping gown down to expose her small breasts. She gasped, and tried to resist; he's not my husband! she thought frantically.

He chuckled, a low, gentle sound. "My sweet lover, are you shy?"

Lover!

He raised his lips to hers and began to kiss her tenderly, one hand caressing her cheek, and Sakura began to accept his kisses. Good thing, because he could drown her with his kisses; when his tongue entered her mouth, she moaned against his tongue.

He broke off kissing her mouth and she whimpered in protest; he laughed softly, and pushed her sleeping gown off her shoulder. He was hovering above her, his hips between her thighs, and she could feel that he was completely naked...and there was something very hard between his legs pressing against her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, and when he lowered his lips to her shoulder and began to kiss, then suck on it, hard, she cried out in pleasure.

She could feel one of his large, weapon-callused hands slide into her sleeping gown, and as he found one small breast, he gently cupped it, then began to tease the nipple with this thumb. Sakura gasped, and cried, "Syaoran!"

A virgin in waking life, Sakura had not even kissed a boy before meeting Syaoran in her dreams. But in their secret meetings, she abandoned herself to his touch, wanting him shamefully. How could one young man make her feel so much?

He raised himself off her lips and chuckled. "If that's how you react to this then what happens when I take you to be mine completely?" He smiled at her blushing reaction, then began to kiss her again, his lips moving down towards her nipple, his hand beginning to slide lower, lower . . . between her thighs . . . "I will find you, and when I do," he promised as he fondled her, eliciting gasps from Sakura, "I will make you mine."

Sakura woke up breathing hard. Her sleeping gown had slid low enough to expose her small breasts, and when she pulled it up, she noticed that one nipple was hard and tender...as if someone had been fondling it. Worse, and she blushed as she pulled her gown up, was a bruise in the shape of Syaoran's lips above one of her nipples. And there was that strange moisture between her thighs again.

How many times was she going to dream of that man in that way? Syaoran. The name rolled off her lips. She had never heard that kind of a name before, but she heard herself say it over and over in her dreams.

A female guard poked a head into Sakura's sleeping chamber. "Noble one, are you all right?" Her voice carried some awe; Sakura was, after all, the Tomoeda dreamseer, she who could predict their destinies. "Were you dreaming, my Lady?"

"I...I'm all right," she murmured, and the guard, relieved, closed the door.

The next morning, she was summoned to have breakfast at the palace with her cousin and best friend Princess Tomoyo. The Princess took one look at Sakura, who was quietly pushing food around on her plate. She excused herself from the table then put a hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"Come with me," she said.

In her quarters, she turned to Sakura. "You dreamt of him again?" she smiled.

Sakura nodded, distracted. "Yes, and it was . . . different this time." She described the dream to the Princess, who squealed and laughed.

"And this time...he called me his lover," she said.

Princess Tomoyo smiled. "You know that can't be just a dream." She knew Sakura had dreamt of the Syaoran boy for years, and she believed he was real.

"I know. That's what scares me," Sakura said. "Because . . " and she whispered the rest of the story into the delighted Tomoyo's ear. Tomoyo then pulled on Sakura's gown, and giggled when she saw the bruise on her shoulder. "There's another bruise . . .

The Princess looked thoughtful, then put a hand on Sakura's cheek. "He can manifest himself to you physically? It's a sign, Sakura. Destiny comes to us in strange ways, sister of my heart. I have a feeling you will meet this 'Syaoran' soon."

"Tomoyo," Sakura said, "I'm scared. My mind tells me I should preserve my maidenhood for my husband, tells me I should not be with this man but my heart says he is the one. And my body . . ." and she blushed.

"Look at you," Tomoyo said fondly. "Brave little battle maiden turning into honey at the thought of this Syaoran."

Clenching her fists, Sakura punched her thigh. "I can't be weak! I turn into a puddle of mud when he's around. I can't tell him to stop. I . . . maybe I'm no better than the nighthawks who service the soldiers . . ."

"Sakura," Princess Tomoyo said firmly. "Do not deny your body's desires. We are of marrying age. You are not an ordinary girl, and I am sure this young man is not ordinary either. Besides, preserving your maidenhood for your husband is an ancient tradition we can ignore now."

Sakura gasped. "Easy for you to say; you're a Princess!"

Princess Tomoyo laughed. "Well, why resist him when you find him?"

"I have no idea where he is or how I will meet him!" Sakura protested. "And . . . what if he's a peasant or a soldier? My father and my brother will never let it be," she said.

"Would it matter if he were?" Tomoyo asked.

"I don't care if he is," Sakura declared. "Even if he is a slave."

"Sakura..." Princess Tomoyo said warningly. "If he were, it might not be a good idea. He will have no future to give you. And you are special. I won't let you, if he were. You would be exiled, and as an exile, neither of you would have any rights to speak of."

Then she smiled suddenly. "But...that he can talk to you in our language . . . I suspect he isn't. And from how you described the room...that he has a bed means he is at least a man of wealth."

"Hoe . . . how did you know?" Sakura asked.

"I'm not called the Observant Princess for nothing," Princess Tomoyo clapped her hands and grinned. "Now. Have you had any dreams of me with someone?" she asked eagerly.

Sakura smiled. "I'm sorry. All I see for you are dark hair and dark blue eyes."

Princess Tomoyo sighed. "Ah well. Full moon tonight, so you'd better make your ablutions for the moon ceremony."

"I always hate being alone in the temple of Clow at night," Sakura pouted.

"No ghosts there, I assure you," Tomoyo giggled.

"Yes, but for some reason I have a bad feeling about the place...especially tonight." Sakura sighed.

"Cheer up," Tomoyo said. "We'll have a few answers by tomorrow, okay?"

She would have the answers, certainly, but not the one to tell them to because Sakura would be gone by then.

To be continued in Chapter 2

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In Chapter 2: Syaoran kidnaps someone very interesting and Sakura discovers how to tell lies.

If you liked it, please review so I'll know if I should continue? Thank you! Accidental Playboy is slowly being drafted, but I have this in the meantime, and people voted for it on my profile so here you all go!