That Should Be…
By Major Mike Powell III
Every maiden dreams of a day like this, her Big Day, the day where her heart would forever be joined with her beloved's in holy matrimony.
Sakura-chan had never looked more beautiful than she did on this day. An astonishing and majestic wedding dress. Glitter here and there. The most enchanting of blushes on her face.
Sakura-chan looked like an angel as she stood at the altar with her soon-to-be-husband.
Sakura-chan's happiness was her happiness and this was the happiest day of Sakura-chan's life…so, then, why did it feel like she was driving a white-hot knife into her own chest? Why did her heart shatter upon seeing him slide the ring onto Sakura-chan's finger?
Most of all…why was Sakura-chan's beautiful face marred with tears? Why was her smile so fake?
Under different circumstances, Tomoyo would commend Sakura for such a feat. After all, if anyone knew how to pull off the perfect fake smile, it was her. Tomoyo had to master the skill years prior.
Tomoyo did not question when ethereal white feathers fluttered around her. Neither did she question when she felt the soothing embrace of a woman envelope her from behind.
Long, silky, curly tresses caressed Tomoyo's milky-white, tear-streaked cheek as the woman, the angel on her back, squeezed her gently and tenderly in her embrace.
She smelled of carnations.
"That should be you by her side."
"This is what's best for her."
"Is it? That's quite the claim. She thinks this is what she wants. However, she doesn't really know what she wants and needs."
"This is for the best. I let it happen. I made it happen."
"You take responsibility to comfort who? Yourself or your guilty conscience? Or is that an excuse?"
"Being oblivious isn't an excuse. It's not her fault. I don't think things could've been any different if she weren't oblivious and dense from the start."
"If being oblivious isn't an excuse, then, cowardice is?"
"Nadeshiko-san, what do you want from me? What do you want me to do?!"
There was only so much poker-faced bravado a girl like Tomoyo could display. Her body shook within the angel's embrace with suppressed sobs.
"I want you to be honest with Sakura and yourself, and also, I want you to make Sakura be honest with you in return. You deserve that much, at the very least."
Tomoyo whirled around in Nadeshiko's embrace yet she gasped when the angel moved a hand to gently cover the upper half of the girl's face.
"What?! Why? Why do you sabotage Sakura-chan's happiness like this?!"
Tomoyo was starting to lose it, yet the ethereal woman chuckled softly and leaned in to kiss the distraught girl's forehead soothingly.
"Because she is making a mistake and you, my dear, are making the same mistake that your mother did long ago."
Tomoyo bit her lip and clenched her fists hard for the whole of three seconds before she shook Nadeshiko's warm hand off of her upper face and then, the child of Sonomi hugged the mother of her beloved Sakura-chan like she had never hugged anyone, not Sakura-chan and neither even her own mother.
The Kinomoto matriarch's arms and ethereal, warm angel wings wrapped around Tomoyo like a soothing cocoon as the girl cried into her chest.
"I'm afraid! I'm scared! I'm so, so sorry! Nadeshiko-san, Okaa-san, I'm so sorry!" Tomoyo cried, letting out years of pent-up frustration and self-pity and pure fear all at once.
The spirit hugged and cradled Tomoyo in this realm of one possibility, time seemingly having stopped completely, at the gates of a chapel that played host to a wedding that Tomoyo wanted oh-so-desperately to be Sakura-chan's and hers.
Time held no meaning here, so the black-haired maiden gave no regard to however long she cried in Nadeshiko's heavenly embrace.
"I don't want to lose Sakura-chan if she doesn't accept me…she's just, oh God, she's just so oblivious and she just can't see it!"
"You know better than anyone that Sakura values honesty above all else. Just be honest, my dear. Be honest and demand that Sakura be honest with you kind. You deserve that much, Tomoyo-san. Just keep in mind: everyone loves Sakura. That's just a power that she doesn't realize she has…but only you love Sakura like no-one else ever will. You just have to make Sakura realize that."
"…yes." Tomoyo raised her eyes, lifted her gaze from the crook of Nadeshiko's neck to meet the most stunning shade of emerald eyes she had ever gazed into. Nadeshiko's approving, encouraging smile dazzled the child of her old, dear friend. "You're right, Nadeshiko-san…you're right. I've…" Tomoyo gulped to get her breath back, having been star-struck by the sheer radiance of her beloved's late mother. "I've kept quiet for far too long. I've been a coward for too long! I'll do my best, Nadeshiko-san!" Then, Tomoyo smiled wide…and then, blushed adorably when the angel holding her smiled a coy little smile.
"Oh my~! Sakura has rubbed off on you, I see!"
"M-Mou, Nadeshiko-san!" Tomoyo whined yet smiled all the while. The black-haired girl wiped her tears away and then, clenched one hand and her eyes blazed with resolve as she stepped out of Nadeshiko's heavenly embrace to then walk up to the still, frozen image of Sakura, her beloved Sakura-chan, the only person in this ephemeral chapel other than Nadeshiko and Tomoyo, herself, who had color among grey figures with human visage.
Tomoyo took a deep breath and she moved to hold Sakura, the blushing, crying bride, from behind. Her arms wrapped around her beloved's waist yet she didn't dare touch the actual visage of Sakura. Tomoyo closed her eyes as she gave a short prayer to whoever was out there.
"I won't fail. I won't run away anymore. This, I vow."
As she felt the tug of awareness and the eminent sunrise outside of this dream world beckoning her to wake up, as Nadeshiko's ethereal angel wings spread and sent feathers fluttering around the visage of her child and that of her best friend Sonomi's, the last moment from the experience Tomoyo could feel was…a hand that wasn't Nadeshiko's gently squeezing hers and fingers intertwining with her own.
-o-
When she woke up, Tomoyo marveled at the fact that her pillow wasn't wet nor had any tear stains anywhere. She did not have much time to wonder, however. She had a job to do. She had a wedding to prepare.
-o-
Sakura's wedding was as magnificently majestic as could be, just as Tomoyo planned. Her beloved Sakura-chan put all her trust and faith in her best friend to make her Big Day one to remember and damn it all, unrequited love or not, Sakura-chan got what Sakura-chan wanted.
Hours of neglected sleep, hours of planning, hours of sewing the perfect wedding dress…Tomoyo did just as she told the late Mrs Kinomoto she would do…well, almost everything. There was just one final card to play along with one final roll of the dice for good measure.
Under Sakura's shocked emerald gaze, Tomoyo stood up by the sheer power of her determination alone with a loud, clear shout of "I object!" before the priest had even finished speaking the actual words that merited Tomoyo's course of action.
"I have held my piece long enough!" Tomoyo exuded resolve and everybody sitting around her felt that resolve. Actually, though? The heiress had never been more scared in her life. "Sakura-chan, I have been dishonest long enough and now, you deserve the truth…and I deserve your honesty in kind!"
Sakura did not even register her would-be-husband's white-gloved hand letting go of hers, stepping aside without a word (and if he said anything, Sakura did not hear a word anyhow) as Tomoyo strode up the isle with confident, elegant high-heeled steps. Her best friend's hand seizing hers brought her back to the correct state of awareness.
"Tomoyo-chan!"
"Sakura-chan, I love you. I love you more than anyone on this world or the next ever could or ever will. I've been in love with you for so long, I don't even remember how old I was when you first smiled at me! It was love at first sight and I've never loved you any less since then!" The young woman's stormy-blue's seemingly stared into Sakura's very soul and now she realized…Tomoyo had the most beautiful eyes she had ever gazed into.
The Kinomoto child closed her eyes to pull herself together, smiling softly as she did so. A moment of silence passed, a silence that meant Sakura was deep in thought, as if searching for the answer to a particularly difficult math problem. Tomoyo smiled with ample amusement.
"Sakura-chan, you know I'll give you all the time in the world to think, but please, don't make this awkward, hm? We are in the middle of a wedding, you know?"
Sakura had always looked incredibly adorable when she pouted, and age would never change that, not even when she was the bride on her wedding day.
"Hmph! Tomoyo-chan, don't be mean! This is my wedding. Give me some freedom, hmph!" The bride's pout and childish remark made Tomoyo giggle and coo as she reached a hand up to squeeze Sakura's puffed-out cheek.
As for the rest of the people in the chapel, there was no lack of eye rolls (mainly from the two young women's old classmates), some heads shaking in dismay (such as Sakura's own brother, "That little kaiju never grew up. I knew it!") and plenty of awkward sweatdrops from all present, really.
Eventually, Tomoyo and Sakura stopped their childish shenanigans. Sakura took a deep breath and slowly let it out. And then, she smiled like she had never smiled before.
Tomoyo's heart skipped a beat.
"Tomoyo-chan, I feel like I don't deserve you. Your heart and kindness know no bounds. I should have seen it before…I should have known so much sooner! Damn it, Tomoyo-chan, why didn't you tell me sooner?! I put you through this much suffering because I'm so oblivious! I'm so, so sorry, Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura wrapped her arms around her best friend in an embrace unlike any either of the two had ever shared before. Sakura sobbed with gut-wrenching regret as well as relief in Tomoyo's arms.
After a small eternity of sorrowful relief from Sakura and unwavering support and courage from Tomoyo, the two best friends pulled away and held each other's hands again. The bride did not bother trying to wipe away her tears because Tomoyo deserved to see her at the weakest and most vulnerable, and also because more tears would replace the old ones no matter how much Sakura wiped them away.
"Tomoyo-chan…please…may I get a chance to love you like we both now know you deserve?" Sakura smiled tenderly as she moved one hand clasped with Tomoyo's up to intertwine their fingers over the heiress' chest. The black-haired young woman in love then smiled like she had never smiled before.
"You know you don't even have to ask, Sakura-chan~"
"But I do, because I want to and you deserve it. I've already taken enough from you without asking."
"Then…Ok, Sakura-chan. I love you. Please, take care of me~"
And then, the two young women kissed right then and there, at the altar of the chapel hosting Sakura Kinomoto's wedding. As they lost themselves to each other's lips, Sakura idly wondered, in the back of her mind, where she wasn't thinking of ways to make it up to Tomoyo-chan, that "Daidouji-Kinomoto" had a far better ring to it than "Kinomoto-Li" ever could.
When Sakura and Tomoyo pulled away from their kiss, their ears rang with the cheers and applause from the rest of the world around them. Their friends and family all smiled with the utmost admiration, affection and support.
Sharing a look, Sakura and Tomoyo held hands as they jogged through the cheers and confetti and flower petals along the isle. Before they stepped through the chapel's gates, however…
"DAIDOUJI!"
There was a short silence as Syaoran Li crossed his arms and gave Tomoyo and Sakura a blank look, which made Tomoyo take just a small, subtle step closer to Sakura, not unlike a person poised to take a blow for their loved one…
"If you're going to run off with the bride, at least leave in style, won't you?" Then, car keys were thrown their way. Tomoyo caught the keys with impressive skill and style, looking down at them and back at Syaoran. The two women relaxed and Tomoyo gave the no-longer-husband-to-be a look of respect. She nodded and Sakura gave the young man an apologetic smile.
He returned the smile in kind, waving them off.
Sakura and Tomoyo turned to each other and then, back out the chapel's gates. They shared a soft, short, lingering kiss before taking two steps forward past the threshold.
Amidst the flowers left in Sakura and Tomoyo's trail as they left in the sleek black sports car that was so graciously given to them as an impromptu wedding present, there were red roses, pink cherry blossoms, lilies of the purest white and a single white carnation.
FIN