Disclaimer: I don't own CCS, Clamp does. But I do own this story.

Pairings: Syaoran x Sakura, Eriol x Tomoyo

This page is a preview chapter and is not related in any way with the story/characters from Mending Mistakes.

PARADISE

"Where are you now?"

With a sigh, she opened one eye to take a peek outside. All she could see was blue, blue, and… more blue.

"No clue."

"You don't sound enthusiastic."

She had to try and not scoff at this obvious statement.

"I'm not exactly here willingly now am I?"

"Oh come on, don't be like that. It's in your best interest. You've never been out of the country before… rather, have you even ever been outside of Tokyo until now?"

She retained her silence at this and in return a chuckle came through the earphones she was wearing.

"This is for your own good Sakura. You're way too into your work. Though this might be a good thing, you also still need to get out a little. Even I think this is good for you."

Another sigh escaped her lips and she unconsciously pulled down the black bucket hat she was wearing over her honey brown tresses in hopes to shield her from the sun despite full protection from the rays she currently had.

"Still doesn't make sense why I came all the way here of all places and all alone too. It would've made more sense if they bought me a trip to Okinawa or something closer to home. Who sends their employees all the way to South Korea?!"

There was a hint of hysteria to her voice and a few of the other passengers turned to look in her direction.

Sakura nodded at them with an apologetic look before sinking further down her seat and bowing her head low.

This was a mistake, however, as a bout of nausea suddenly hit her to which she immediately sat back up and held her head as far over the open window as possible. When she felt the cool sea breeze hit her face, her lunch decidedly settled back down into her stomach.

Had she known she was susceptible to seasickness, she wouldn't have bothered to take a ferry to the damned island. Heck, she would have skipped visiting the place altogether.

Whoever said that this island was a "must-go" destination when in South Korea anyway?! Seoul should have already been sufficient enough.

Before she or her poor excuse of a best friend could say anymore to the other, a light tune started playing over the overhead speakers inside the cabin before a woman's pleasant voice reverberated loudly for everyone to hear.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you look to your left you'll see that we have arrived. The boat will be docking in approximately 20 minutes."

Sakura stole her gaze from the window to look up at the nearest speaker before craning her neck to the opposite side. She was seated on the right side of the ferry and had fixed her gaze outside the window since her departure so all she saw since was the view of the water on the starboard side and nothing else. Now she was surprised with the large expanse of land so close by.

"Everyone, welcome to Jeju Island!"

Chapter One

"You thief!"

"Jeju Island's Hallasan Mountain is actually a dormant volcano. It is 1,950 meters above sea level. The last time the volcano erupted was-"

Sakura turned off the commentary. Before arriving on the island, she had downloaded a podcast recording of supposed "interesting facts" about Jeju Island but really it didn't sound the least bit interesting to her.

"Now if you'll follow me, the trail to the…"

She glanced towards the large group of Chinese tourists who were walking down the path she was currently on. They were lead by an eager looking guide who was carrying a flag.

Inwardly, Sakura was half regretful she didn't pay for an official tour. She had come to the island feeling confident that all she needed was her cell phone, some decent internet connection and then she'll be all set. She still thought this was true but now she also realized how much of a pain it was having to search for every little thing compared to having someone just tell you everything.

Sighing (yet again), Sakura walked towards a nearby rock and tiredly sat herself there.

She hadn't exactly walked a great deal yet but she simply wasn't cut out for this. Physical labor was never her thing. She worked a desk job for heaven's sake. If extreme exercises- and yes, walking a long arduous trail does count as extreme in her book -were a prerequisite for her job, she never would have accepted the position offered to her by her company in the first place.

This was turning out to be one pain in the ass vacation. Though the entire trip was paid for by the company she works for, it seemed like a total waste especially for the likes of her. Also, she never had any real interest in traveling. If they had to spend that much on her, she would have opted to use the cash for something worthwhile, like a new set of clothes or a new computer for her home or something.

Sakura didn't know how long she spent sitting there but by the time she decided to finally move, there was no one else left around nearby.

At this point she would have liked to just ask someone for directions to the nearest worthwhile attraction but there wasn't a single soul within view.

Out of options now, Sakura pulled out her cell phone once again and started up a map online while beginning a casual stroll down the path.

"Let's see…" she muttered to herself, her head down and eyes focused on the screen whilst still walking forward. "What is this? A beach? A port?"

A small picture of what looked like waves of water was drawn on the screen and it wasn't too far from where she was currently at.

Frustrated that she didn't understand the Korean script, Sakura proceeded to walk down the path while attempting to search for translations to the text which was provided with the pictures.

This proved to be a mistake however since not ten steps later she ended up banging against someone… hard.

Sakura was knocked off her feet and ended up dropping her cell phone.

"Ow, ow, owwww…" she said in pain before raising her palms. She instinctively broke her fall using her palms and ended up grazing them on the asphalt ground.

Raising her palms to check on them, Sakura's eyes widened when she saw red seep through the gashes. It wasn't that severe, even she could tell, but it still wasn't a pretty sight.

She looked up at the person who she bumped into, intending to apologize since she wasn't paying attention but the moment her eyes landed on him, her words seemed to escape her.

It was a man, a large and terrifying looking man.

Though he wasn't standing, Sakura knew he was a good deal taller than her. She could also see the large muscles through his ill-fitting shirt and the long unkempt hair and beard that left little to be seen of his face made him look like some kind of vicious thug rather than a homeless person which one would normally assume basing on his scruffy appearance.

Sakura continued to silently stare at him, her mouth slightly agape and her eyes wide and unblinking.

He, however, seemed to be unfazed by her presence or by their collision just now as he was currently kneeling in front of her.

She watched him, still unable to say anything… that is until she noticed that he had only been kneeling for the sake of reaching out to Sakura's dropped cell phone.

This made her snap out of her stupor.

"Ah, thank you and sor-" she had one still slightly bloodied hand held out to him, intending to ask receive her cell phone which he already hand in his grasp but when he heard her speak, he turned an icy look towards her which effectively made her shut up again.

His gaze was intense. Sakura couldn't look back at him at all but she couldn't look away completely either, so she settled on staring at a spot on his hair covered jaw.

"Hey, don't you think that guy just now looked familiar?"

This nearby voice caught both of their attention and just when Sakura turned her head towards the side path the man had apparently come from, the man in question stood with a surprising swiftness before he started running away from Sakura and down the path.

"HAAA?!" Sakura was watching his retreating form in shock for a while before she finally thought about getting up. "HEY YOU! GIVE ME BACK MY CELL PHONE! YOU THIEF!"

Lucky again, he thought as he started pressing his fingers on the large screen of the cell phone.

The text was in Japanese. Luck was definitely on his side today. He managed to get this far and he managed to get his hands on a cell phone from a Japanese tourist. Had he taken a Korean cell phone, then he'll definitely get caught before he could even make sense of how to use the damned thing. He was quite fluent with communicating in Korean speech but not so much when it comes to reading Hangul (Korean alphabet).

With quick fingers, he dialed the numbers he had already come to memorize while making his way down the path towards the nearest sea shore.

"Hello?"

"Where are you?"

"Oh? You're using another number, is this still-"

"Yes it's still me. Something came up, my partner got left behind. He has the other phone. Get ready to set sail," as he said this, he narrowed his eyes towards the waters. "I already see you from here. We'll leave as soon as I get there."

"Do you want me to call your partner?"

"There's no need. Another way out will be arranged for him later."

"Aye, aye!"

He pressed on the button before carefully placing the phone on the boat's dashboard. It looked quite out of place whilst everything else in the cockpit was quite old and even rusted in some areas.

"Sang-chul! He's close by, we're leaving soon!"

"Aye!" came his brother's voice from somewhere on the deck and Ji-woo started turning on levers to get the boat running.

It didn't take long.

Not 15 minutes later and they could hear the loud banging sounds of shoes hitting the old wooden pier where their boat was docked.

"Ah? Are you Mister Hiiragizawa?"

"Never mind that, are we ready to set sail?"

"Aye sir!"

"Good, let's get moving."

Ji-woo poked his head outside of the cabin to see their passenger and client.

"Good day to you Mister Hi-"

"Yes, yes," he interrupted without even looking at the captain as he got into the boat. "Where's the stuff he sent?"

"It's in the lower cabin sir, feel free to head on down and relax a little. The room is the second door to your left. We'll take care of taking you to where you need to be!" Ji-woo said joyfully, quite unfazed by the less than civil manner of speech of the younger man.

He jerked his head in a nod before making his way towards the lower confines of the old fishing boat.

"A bit uptight isn't he brother?" Sang-chul commented as he watched Syaoran disappear. He too was smiling and seemed unfazed by their new companion's lack of courtesy.

"That's city folk for you," the older brother said knowledgably. "Anyway, are we ready to set sail?"

"Yup! I can't wait to get to the-" he cut off as he heard the loud sounds of banging footsteps on the pier again.

Both brothers looked at each other before simultaneously turning towards the direction of the sound. A young woman who was clearly out of breath was heading towards them, half walking and half running. She was waving her arms in the air.

"Who is that?"

Ji-woo shrugged but nonetheless walked towards the edge of the boat just as the young woman panted to a stop a few feet away.

"That…*gasp*…guy…*gasp*…left…*gasp*…me!"

Then her knees finally gave wave and she hit the wooden panels of the pier with a resounding thud.

She fainted.

At the sight of the girl collapsing, Sang-chul scrambled towards his brother.

"What happened to her?!"

"Looks like heat stroke," Ji-woo said before climbing out of the boat and quickly heading towards the girl. Indeed, her skin was incredibly flushed and she wasn't sweating. "Sang-chul, go get some water and ice!"

He turned towards the door of the small room when he heard a door banging open.

The sound of someone opening cabinets could be heard before he could hear the same person running back up to the deck.

Inwardly, he cursed. What were they doing? Why haven't they set sail yet? He even bothered to call them just so they could quickly depart as soon as he arrived.

Trying to calm himself, he proceeded to change out of his clothes and into the new ones from inside the bag he had found waiting inside the room. It had the letters "E.H." printed on a tag tied to it so it was easy enough to assume that its contents was intended for him.

As soon as he changed his clothes, he inspected whatever else was inside but besides the fresh (and ugly looking) shirt, pants, and shoes he was now wearing, there was only a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a note in there.

He took the note and opened it quickly.

I'll be seeing you soon! :D

The corner of his eye twitched at the very sight of the smiley face.

"AND HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOO~!"

At the sound of this loud shout, his head snapped above head and a few seconds later, he could feel the boat finally move.

Finally, he could feel himself relax a little. He wasn't completely out of trouble yet but this was incredibly good progress thus far.

The very thought of it made his exhaustion return and overcome his body. He can't remember the last time he's had a decent sleep and the sight of the nearby bed though clearly much too small for him, looked incredibly inviting.

So without a second thought, he let his body fall onto the clean sheets.

Though the inside of the room was even smaller in size as his room for the last three years, just by the sound of the boat's engine and the smell of the sea water, his body could already tell and feel the difference.

Now he really did feel it… he actually made it out of prison. He's finally free.

To Be Continued...

Paradise is an ONGOING story currently uploaded here in FFN.

Please head on over to my profile and find it in my list of authored stories for the continuation!

Raeny