Author's Note: My second fanfic…hope you like it! Well, here goes…
Disclaimer: I don't own the CCS Characters! Only some of them…I'll be sure to name them once they come up! (: (Don't know their names for sure yet!)
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Worthy Love
Prologue…
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A girl no more than 16 with shiny auburn hair to her shoulders stood in front of a small brown house. She had beautiful bright emerald eyes in a fine bone structured face framed with her short auburn hair complimented her looks perfectly. Her cheeks, a rosy pink, with full lips and a small delicate nose, also contributed to her appearance.
As she raised one hand, which held a long cooking spoon, for the other held the horse's reins, and waved, yelling, "Good-bye big Brother! Good-bye Father! Come back soon! Pleasant journey to the both of you!"
She watched as the two figures disappeared. Turning to put the horse in it's stall she patted the horse and turned once more to look at the dark silhouettes of her brother and father.
A girl about her age ran up the dirt road that led to her house. The girl had long, dark violet hair pulled back and amethyst eyes. She was also very beautiful.
The girl, finally spotting her auburn haired friend said, "Sakura!"
Hearing her name called, Sakura looked up at the direction of the melodious voice. "Huh? Tomoyo-chan?" She smiled, seeing her life-time friend wave at her, trying to get her attention. "What are you doing here?"
"Ahhh! Finally! I thought that I would never find you! And didn't I tell you to just call me Tomoyo?" Tomoyo said in a breathless voice. "Where have you been? You were supposed to be at my mother's seamstress store for a fitting an hour ago. When you didn't show up, we all got worried!"
Sakura let out a musical, care-free laugh, which softened Tomoyo's angry expression. "Oh! I forgot about that! I'm so sorry Tomoyo-chan! You see, I was going to tell you that I was going to see my brother and father off. They're going to the next town today."
"Oh. They left already?"
"Yes. You just missed them." Sakura said, a bit saddened.
Tomoyo tried to reassure her, remembering what had happened to her mother. "Sakura…don't fret. They'll be alright."
"Yes, I know. Of course they can take care of themselves. Touya made sure of that." Sakura said, trying to reassure herself, also.
"Yeah. And he made sure that you were able to take care of yourself, also!"
Sakura smiled. 'This is so like Tomoyo-chan, always trying to make her feel better.'
Tomoyo smiled. "Ahh! Now there's the smile I know and love!"
"Well, I better get back to work. Shinju (pearl) here is not going to get groomed by just standing around." Sakura said, turning to the white horse. "Plus, I have dinner to make." Sakura turned toward the stables and walked, the horse following behind.
"Dinner? For whom?" Tomoyo asked teasingly. "Sakura, just come with me and stay at my house. It's not safe staying home by yourself without Touya-san or your father."
"May I remind you, you said soyourself that Touya made sure I could defend myself, didn't you? Tomoyo-chan, there's nothing to worry about. It's perfectly safe."
"Oh, sure. It's so safe that you live far from the town, beside a dark scary forest, with no one around for a couple of leagues." Tomoyo said sarcastically. "Oh, and did I forget that there might be ghosts?"
At this, Sakura stopped and turned to look at Tomoyo. "Tomoyo, stop it with your childish sarcasm. It doesn't work on me anymore. I believe that ghosts are not frightening. They saved my life once, remember?" Sakura raised her head and looked up at the darkening sky. That day was one that she will never forget. Her worst fear had saved her life. The memory flashed back to the time when she was out in the woods, looking for mushrooms.
"Sakura, hurry up with the mushrooms! We want to eat before the year ends you know!" Touya's voice floated back to her.
"I'm almost done! You can afford to starve for a bit, can't you? You just ate last night's dinner!" A young Sakura called back, annoyed.
"Yeah! But that was five minutes ago!"
Sakura mumble to herself, irritated by Touya's constant complaint about hunger. She kept picking the tiny mushrooms in front of her, looking for the plump ones and leaving the shriveled ones for the animals. Just then, something caught her eye. She stood straight and looked at the big mushroom, never having seen one so big and juicy in her life. As she walked toward the mushroom, she spotted more of them.
Sakura lost track of time, picking the juicy mushrooms and thinking how proud Touya and her father would be when they see the mushrooms. As Sakura bent to pick yet another mushroom, she heard the snap of a stick behind her. Sakura turned around to see who was there, but there appeared to be no one.
"Just a thought of my imagination." Sakura said aloud, trying to stop her mind from wandering about things that weren't real.
Another snap of a twig made Sakura stop what she was doing. Whipping her head left to right, Sakura could not see anyone.
'Maybe I should get back, it's getting pretty dark.' Sakura thought.
Sakura jumped as another snap went off. 'Ok. That was definitely not my imagination!'
As Sakura began to stand up, something grabbed her arm. The grip hardened, preventing her from running. Sakura turned to look at her captor to only see a white mist.
It spoke with a soft whisper. "Don't run or they will chase you. They can smell fear."
'This is not happening!' Sakura closed her eyes and re-opened them, only to see the ghost still there.
"Please! Let go of me. I didn't do anything wrong!"
"Be quiet, girl, or the beasts will surely get you." The ghost hissed, but not harshly.
"But-" Sakura gasped as a pack of countless wolves surrounded her. "Oh, no!"
The ghost floated in front of Sakura, blocking her from the hungry wolves. "Leave her be. She will not be your dinner tonight."
The wolves whined and turned to leave, but looked at Sakura once more before leaving.
Sakura couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Y-You sa-save-d my l-life. B-But w-hy?" Her voice shaky from the situation.
When the spirit did not reply, Sakura asked, a little bit more confident, "What can I do in return?"
"Humph. That's the question I was waiting for. In due time, you will know." With that, the ghost disappeared.
Touya's voice sounded in Sakura's ears. "Sakura! Sakura! Answer me! Sakura!"
"Sakura! Sakura!" Fujitaka voice floated to her ears, also.
Sakura looked up and followed the voices, yelling desperately, "Touya? Papa? Touya! Papa! Touya! Papa!"
"Sakura! Sakura!" Touya came through the clearing, a relieved expression on her face. Sakura jumped into Touya's arms, laughing and crying at the same time.
"Sakura! Thank God your ok! I thought that I would never see you again!" Fujitaka said, worried and relieved.
Sakura pulled away from Touya's embrace and hugged her father tightly. "Papa!"
When her father let go of her, she looked at Touya, knowing what would come next. Sakura shut her eyes and lowered her head when Touya took a step forward, expecting a hit to the head, or worse. Instead, she was pulled into a hard embrace. She felt droplets of water on her shoulders, soaking it.
"Ugh…Touya?" Sakura looked at her brother, only to see he was crying. This was the first time she had ever seen her big brother cry. "Touya?"
"Sakura. I-I-I thought th-at w-we would never s-see you again." Touya pulled Sakura closer.
"Touya. I'm sorry." Hot tears began stinging her eyes. "I-I'm s-s-so s-s-s-or-r-ry." Sakura tried to wipe her tears, but Touya grabbed both her hands and held them in his.
"Sakura. I promise to always protect you from now on. I promise."
Sakura smiled and nodded. "A spirit saved me." 'Thank you spirit. Thank you!'
"Sakura?" Sakura was snapped out of her memory.
"Huh? Oh! Sorry! I was…thinking." Sakura smiled and resumed walking.
"I was asking you if you would like to come and stay with my and my mother. You know, auntie would love to have you and so would your dear sweet cousin!" Tomoyo smiled, trying to charm her way into making Sakura go with her. "Oh, please?" Tomoyo blinked cutely at her cousin.
"Tomoyo, dear sweet cousin," Sakura teased, "You know that I have lots of work to do here. I can't put anything off right now. I have too many things to do."
'Well, when charming doesn't work, she'll bring on the whining!' This thought made Sakura smile.
"But-Sa-Kur-Aaa! Come-On! You-Have-N't-Been-To-Vi-Sit-For-The-Long-Est-Time!" Tomoyo started to whine. "Come-On!"
Sakura smiled, knowing what will make Tomoyo angry. "Oh, Tomoyo-chan! Stop it! You are way too childish when you don't get what you want. I think I need a talk with your mother about your attitude. You're too spoiled."
"What! I am NOT! I AM SO NOT SPOILED! TAKE THAT BACK!"
"Ha-ha-ha! Oh, Tomoyo-chan! You are just to fun to not tease!"
"Sakura! I mean it! Will you come? I promise to come and help tomorrow! I promise!" Tomoyo raised one hand and put the other to her heart.
"Oh, you'll help of course! You'll help make a mess!" Sakura teased once more, though it was true.
"Humph! If I'm only here to get teased, then I think I will take my leave. Good day!" Tomoyo turned to leave, hoping to get Sakura to apologize and agree to come with her, but to her great dismay, Sakura said nothing and continued walking to the house. 'Fine! I'm leaving-' Tomoyo turned and ran after Sakura. "Sakura! Wait! Are you really not coming?"
"No." was her reply.
"But-"
"If something happens, this will be the first place that will receive a notice."
Tomoyo looked down, not wanting to pursue statement and knowing Sakura didn't want to either. Making up her mind, Tomoyo said, "Then I'll stay here with you."
"And leave your mother alone? I don't think so."
"I won't leave you alone. And plus, my mother would agree." Tomoyo said, matter-of-factly.
Sakura sweat-dropped, thinking, 'Of course! The two of them practically have the same mind.' Sighing, Sakura said, "Fine."
"Huh? Fine? As in you'll come with me?"
"Ha-ha, nice try."
"Well, it was worth a try." Tomoyo sighed.
Next Day
"Tomoyo-chan! Tomoyo-chan! Wake-up!"
"Leave me alone, Sakura! I want more sleep." Tomoyo turned around.
"Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura sighed, knowing that it wouldn't wake her. A thought came to Sakura and she got off the bed and walked over to the door. Opening it, Sakura started to fan the aroma of the food she had made. "Breakfast is ready! I made eggs, bacon, rice cake and of course…" Before Sakura could finish, Tomoyo had gotten out of bed and was already half-way down the narrow stairs.
"Mmmmm! It smells delish!" Tomoyo said, rubbing her stomach. "Can't wait to eat! I'm starving!"
"Starving? But you ate a whole cow last night!" Sakura teased.
"No I didn't! I ate only 3/4th's of it!" Tomoyo said, playing along.
Sakura smiled. 'Guess the day has only begun!' Sakura followed her cousin and dearest friend down into the kitchen.
Horse Stables
"EWWWWW! Sakura! How could you do this?"
"Tomoyo-chan! I told you you wouldn't be of any help. Well, your helping making a mess."
"But, it's gross!"
"I know! But that doesn't matter! The stall has to be clean." Sakura said. She then took the broom from Tomoyo and startedsweeping. Looking at Tomoyo, again, she teased and said, "The objective is to sweep the horse'left-overs' into the pin and dump it into the waste. Not spread it all over the stall."
"Well, I am a seam-stress. So I wouldn't know how to do this stuff."
"And a seam-stress you will always be!" Sakura laughed.
"Ha-ha."
"Come- on! We have a long day to go before we're done. After this, how 'bout a nice dinner at your mother's place?" Sakura said, knowing this would make Tomoyo happy.
"Really? Then you'll come?" Tomoyo looked up eagerly.
"Yes."
Late at Night
Sakura looked around her room one last time to check if she had forgotten anything. 'No. I think that's about it.' Sakura started to wrap her things in her sack, when Tomoyo rushed in with a concern look.
"Sakura."
"Tomoyo-chan? What is it?" Sakura said, worriedly.
"Sakura, there's a messenger downstairs waiting for you. He seems to have-"
"Yes?"
"He seems to have a…a message for you. A very important message."
Sakura frowned and followed Tomoyo down into the Kitchen.
Once in the kitchen, Sakura saw that it was indeed a messenger.
"Yes? May I be of service?"
"Yes, madams. Please excuse me, but I am looking for the lady, Sakura."
Sakura nodded toward the messenger, signaling him that it was she. "I am she."
The messenger's face then took on a more saddened look. Casting his eyes down, he said, "My lady, I am sorry to be the one to bear this sadnews, but you must be informed."
"Yes? What is it?"
"Madam, your-"
TO BE CONTINUED…
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Author's Note: So how was it? Please review! And thank you for reading!