Author (09/15/13): I remember my first publishing of this fiction work. Originally entitled Am I a Dreamer, and Gift, this fic was written by a young girl ten years ago. Obviously, not having any background on creative writing nor fiction writing, the girl somehow can only pattern her work on other popular media such as television and movies, and fan fictions she had read.
This is dedicated to the following people who became my inspiration: my closest friends,Sigma X-Law, who was always been my constant guide of right and wrong during my high school days. Separated by hundreds or thousands of miles between each other, we remain good friends.We've been through every obstacles as high school students and still we are strongly bonded, and to my wonderful friend, Mhavesheart, who truly understood the true meaning of otaku love.
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THE MOST WONDERFUL GIFT
A Sakura/Syaoran One-Shot
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It has been a long time.
Five years ago, something magical started to happen to me. I was chosen to become the new master of magical and powerful cards that were left by the late powerful man, Clow Reed.
As I captured and learned to manipulate the cards, I met many people related to it: Eriol, the half reincarnation of Clow Reed, Suppi-chan, a black guardian just like Kero-chan, Ruby Moon, one of Eriol's guardian and sort like the counterpart of Yue, Kaho Mizuki, a teacher who possessed an extraordinary power and my two ever loyal guardians, Yue and Keroberos.
I still have Keroberos hidden in my room and Yue still emerges from Yukito's body whenever I need him, a habit I am constantly worried about since Touya, my brother, has some sixth sense.
Both Yukito and my brother, Touya worked as doctors in a well-known hospital. My brother now had a fiancé whom he met at the hospital he worked as a doctor.
Together, Tomoyo and I graduated from junior high and my life seemed to be perfectly good. Yet, something in my heart kept on telling me that there is something missing in my life. It was a void that is needed to be filled in.
Tomoyo told me to think about it and maybe I could ask it as a birthday wish soon.
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One day while I was walking from the mall with Tomoyo, someone called my name. It was a familiar voice. I looked around and saw a man standing five meters behind us.
"Sakura-chan!" He called.
Suddenly, Tomoyo squealed in excitement, "Eriol!"
It was truly Eriol with his jet black hair and cerulean eyes. He walked straight towards us. Eriol went back to England after I managed to be the new master of the Clow Cards. His demeanor never changed. He took my hand a kissed it lightly and said, "how are you?"
He was still a gentleman based on the looks, demeanor and articulation. I hugged him tightly. I never thought of the idea that he would come back to Japan again.
"This is all so sudden," Tomoyo was surprised as the English gentleman initiated a hug to her. "What is with this sudden idea of surprising us here?"
"Not intending to surprise you, ladies," he answered courteously, "I just came back here in Japan to have a few weeks of vacation. It has been a while since I last saw Cherry Blossom trees."
"I am also thrilled to see how well everyone is doing here," he added with a smile plastered on her face, "and an advance greeting of happy birthday for you, Sakura-chan."
"Thank uou," I enthusiastically replied.
"Eriol-kun, it's nice to see you again." Tomoyo smiled at the gentleman in front of them.
Eriol smiled at him and kissed her hand politely. Tomoyo blushed, "the pleasure is all mine, To-chan."
"Oh! You two can be a cute couple." I squealed as I watched the two of them blush furiously.
"Oh no!" Tomoyo panicked. The black-haired daughter of one of the richest businesswoman in Japan cleared her throat and changed the topic, "Sakura, what do you want for your birthday? A great big party? A ball? A fashion show?
"Nothing too grand," I replied shyly. Tomoyo has the tendency to make thing over the top, "I just want a simple gathering with my closest friends and family."
"How about something to decorate your room with," Tomoyo suggested as she racked her mind for different options for my birthday.
"I certainly do not need anything for my room," I blushed faintly. I have no idea how to express this void that I am feeling. It was as if I do not need anything material. It was certainly not a material thing that I am hoping for. Keroberos already has too much stuff inside the room – a playstation, a set of teacups, an iPad.
"How about a stuff toy?" Eriol asked.
I felt a sudden thug in her heart. Eriol's mentioning the word stuff toy made me recall a certain object inside my room. It was a teddy bear, hidden inside my cabinet for a very long time, and it reminded me of someone.
I snapped out of my unconscious trance when Tomoyo tried to catch my attention by suddenly by snapping his finger in front of me. "Hey, what is happening to you? You are not daydreaming, aren't you?"
"Huh? Oh, no! Not really." I replied defensively.
"The heat must be getting to you," Tomoyo smiled and offered to buy her a soda and then asked the reincarnation of Clow Reed, "how about you, Hiiragizawa-kun?"
"Okay," Tomoyo enthusiastically said while she walked towards the vending machine situated few meters away from them, "I will get some for each of us."
With the raven-haired lady outside the earshot distance, Eriol suddenly asked Sakura as his eyes narrowed a bit, "are you sure you do not want anything nor anyone for your birthday?"
Anyone. Hearing what the reincarnation of Clow Reed had said, I could not help but think of someone I have been pining to see for these past few years.
We have been in constant communication with each other through postal letters. Even though he was miles away from me, he would never fail to send me a mail about his latest endeavours or plain inquiries about my health and my life.
Deep inside my heart, I felt a yearning to see his smile and his brown eyes. Deep inside, I wanted to see him. Syaoran Li.
Eriol interrupted my train of thoughts by placing a hand on my shoulder, asking, "do you have someone in your mind, Sakura-chan?"
His interruption made me feel a little bit jumpy. I immediately jerked back and gave him a soft tap on his arm. "Stop teasing me, Eriol-kun."
"I mean, something in your mind," the cerulean-haired man corrected himself. He shifted his gaze towards the approaching raven-haired woman who was carrying three cans of soda. She was smiling warmly as she gave the cans to each of them.
"Have you considered having a birthday party at my villa?" Tomoyo offered as she opened her can of soda. A faint whizzing sound came out of the can.
I shook my head and answered, "I prefer to celebrate my birthday in my house. How about a simple dinner?"
My bestfriend's eyes twinkled as she said, "I am more than willing to prepare for a scrumptious dinner for your birthday."
"Father will be the one who's going to do the cooking," I heartily laughed, "he already pledged for that work."
"How about your cake?"
"Well, I have not yet taken care of that," I thoughtfully answered.
"Dibs," Tomoyo chuckled.
"How about 6:00 in the evening?" I asked the two. "I am also expecting your presence, Eriol-kun."
"Count me in," he answered with a mischievous smile on his face. Somehow, I doubt whether the twinkling of his eye behind his glasses was a figment of imagination or not.
"I am expecting the two of you at my birthday party," I gleefully squealed, "our other classmates are already invited as well."
This made my heart feel a little bit jumpy. It has been a while since I last saw my elementary friends. Getting an opportunity to bond together as a group somehow made me remind of the good old days.
"Well, then, ladies," Eriol suddenly bid farewell, "I have to get going since I haven't fed Suppi his lunch."
He waved his hand to us as he walked out. His figure diminishing in our naked eyes. Tomoyo also bade farewell as we separated on our way home. Her mansion has a different path to my house.
On my way to my house, I thought of the only person I wanted to see. To see the young man clad in his green Chinese traditional clothing is the only thing I wanted for my birthday.
I sighed on the impossible thought. It would be painstakingly difficult and impossible for him to visit Japan again. After all, he mentioned in his letter how busy he was with his academics and other extra-curricular activities. As expected from the heir of Li Group of Companies, he had been striving to become excellent.
He once asked me what I wanted for my birthday and told me that he could ship it to Japan; however, I failed to respond clearly on his question. It was not that I wanted to totally ignore him. It was just that I cannot think of anything from him. I wanted to ask for a different thing. I want to ask him.
The last time we saw each other, I never replied his affection. It was in the airport and instead, I asked for his teddy bear. I felt scared confessing my confused feelings; however, right after he left, that is when I realized the meaning behind the confusion: I truly love Syaoran Li.
I came home and my dad welcomed me. My brother also came home with his girlfriend. Yukito arrived a minute after I had arrived. I ate dinner with them and brought some cupcake for Keroberos. After that, I immediately went into my room with a handful of mini cupcakes and locked up. Keroberos suddenly appeared as he shouted, "Sakura!"
"Ssh," I told my guardian, "you could have been heard by my father."
Yue suddenly appeared near the window of my room.
"Here, I have cupcake for you, Kero-chan," I told the yellow mini lion as I handed some of the cupcakes to him.
"Do you want some, Yue?" I hesitated.
"You know, I do not consume such human edibles," he replied calmly, "I get my sustenance from your powers."
I smiled at the white-haired guardian.
"Unlike the other guardian who would stubbornly consume everything when given a chance," Yue blurted out in front of Keroberos.
Keroberos shrugged off Yue's comment and greeted with his mouth full, "Sakura-chan, tomorrow is your birthday!
"He is right," Yue agreed, "what are your plans?"
"Just a simple birthday dinner as always," I answered with a weak smile, "here in our house, as usual."
Keroberos started chanting while jumping on my study table. "Cake, cake, cake! Cookies, cookies, cookies!"
Yue smirked at him as he watched the animal-form guardian stupidly dancing in circles. I took a plain shirt and my pair of pajaas from the closet and changed in the bathroom. After that, I laid on my bed thinking of nothing but Syaoran.
What am I thinking? I never thought of him like this before. I have realized my feelings for him for a long time but thinking of him seriously like this – this is definitely unusual for me.
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It was mid-afternoon and it was our vacation. I locked myself inside my room. As I sat on my chair, I stared at Sakura's picture taken and sent by Tomoyo last month.
I sighed as I could not believe how she changed into such beautiful woman in only a short span of time. She had always been one of the stunners back in elementary, catching the eyes of every boy in Tomoeda Elementary School. However, as I fixed my gaze upon her picture, I could not help myself but be amazed on how she became more beautiful. Her hair was now long and her eyes are still the same.
I glanced at my calendar and thought, "it will be her birthday tomorrow."
For the last five years, I have only been giving her a birthday card for her. Somehow, I wanted to give something different to her every time but each time I ask her about what she wanted, she would always ignore my question.
I ponder on the thought of what to give Sakura but failed to elicit a great birthday gift idea.
While I was pondering, someone knocked on my door. I stood from my seatand hurriedly opened it. It was Wei, our family butler, standing outside the door. He showed me a cordless phone and said, "a phone call for Master Syaoran."
I received the cordless phone with confusion. I was not expecting a call from anyone. I thanked the butler and closed the door. I went back to my original seat and answered the call, "Moshi moshi."
"Li Syaoran?"
At the end of the line, there was a sweet soft voice. I felt a lump on my throat and cleared it. "May I know who this is?"
"This is Tomoyo Daidouji," she greeted with a warm response, "a classmate of yours back in Tomoeda Elementary School."
A sudden rush of memories penetrated my mind – the raven-haired songstress with a penchant for designing clothes and filming, "I was not expecting a call from you, Daidouji-san."
"Well, this is rather an outcome of a sudden decision-making," she snickered at the end of the line, "I am actually with Eriol Hiiragizawa. Remember him?"
"Of course," I smiled, replying to the question of the songstress, "the one with spectacles and cerulean-colored hair."
"Correct," Tomoyo enthusiastically squealed, "well, we prepared a private jet for you tomorrow afternoon. Can you make it to the Hong Kong airport by 5:00?"
I looked at my calendar. There will be a student meeting after class yet I felt an urge to skip my extracurricular. However, I felt a pang of pain. I knew that being a president of the student council means responsibility and certain sacrifices.
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It was my birthday party. It should have been a special day yet something was lacking.
I surely appreciated all the efforts that my family and my friends did to come up with this party. My dad prepared the food for my party and Tomoyo baked the best birthday cake I had ever seen.
I was quite sure that if Keroberos were to see this, he will surely finish it before anybody else does so to prevent him from sneaking up to my party, I brought him a basket full of goodies that I snuck from our kitchen. My brother along with her fiancé was at the dining room with Yukito, taste-testing some of Dad's works.
A minute later, my friends came: Chiharu, Naoko, Rika, Yamazaki & other friends of mine. They brought gifts for me and I accepted them happily and gratefully.
Even though the cake was already delivered to our house by Tomoyo's bodyguard, I could not help but worry about my two other friends, Eriol and Tomoyo. Both of them still had not shown up.
When the clock strikes 7:30, my friends bade farewell but still, Eriol and Tomoyo were still missing. While expecting the two would come around and remember my party. Patienty waiting for them, I opened the presents given by my friends and other. Firstly, I opened my friends' presents.
The last present came from my dad. It was a beautiful necklace. Together with the necklace, it has a message written in a piece of paper. It was the handwriting of her mother.
"To my beloved only daughter for your happy 16th birthday, I hope you loved this necklace as much as I do. This necklace belongs to me for over many years. My mother gave it to me and now I'm passing this to you, hoping that you would love this."
I cried as I read the letter.
"Nadesico really kept this for your 16th birthday. She was supposed to hand it you personally but since she's not here with us anymore, I'm the one responsible to give this to you in behalf of her. I hope you like it."
I hurriedly gave him a hug, "thank you."
He smiled back at me and patted my head. Suddenly, someone rang at our doorbell. I went to see who it was and at last, it was Eriol and also my best friend, Tomoyo.
"I thought that you two would never come," I said, teary-eyed.
"Do you actually think that we will forget your birthday?" Eriol smiled mischievously.
"You should come with us," Tomoyo squealed in delight as she took my hands and dragged me out of the house.
"We wanted to show you something," Eriol added.
I unwittingly followed Tomoyo and Eriol. They stopped walking in front of the the Penguin Park.
"we're here, Tomoyo muttered in delight.
We started walking in the park until we were near the swing. It was the same spot where we used to hang out after school. As I looked closely, I noticed that someone was sitting in one of those swing seats. I stared blankly at the person, trying to decipher his face. Somehow, the poor illumination in the park gave me a hard time recognizing the figure. It was until Eriol approached the figure and greeted, "Syaoran-kun."
I stiffened at the sound of his name. I think already have a hearing problem.
The figure from the swing stood up and moved forward, coming closer to the park lights. It was definitely Syaoran clad in a turtle neck shirt and a pair of pants. He still has the same hairstyle and the pair of brown eyes – just like the elementary days. He was smiling at me. On the other hand, I lost my voice and I remained speechless. It was definitely Syaoran.
"Happy birthday, Sakura," he greeted with a smile. A faint blush on his cheeks manifested and I felt the heat coming up to my cheeks and ears as well.
Eriol cleared his throat, breaking the gazing between the two of us. Tomoyo greeted, "we could not think of anything to give you so we decided to bring him here."
"Happy birthday, Sakura-chan!" The cerulean-haired man and the raven-haired woman greeted the me. I felt tears starting to form from the corner of my eyes.
I wanted to pinch myself. Is this real? Am I really in front of the person I wanted to see for a very long time?
"Happy birthday, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo greeted me again with a whisper, "we know what, or rather, who you want."
I fixed my eyes on the Chinese visitor and blushed furiously. We both blushed madly.
"Maybe we have to leave them," Eriol whispered to Tomoyo as he took her arm and drag the songstress away from the scene.
It was so surreal – standing in front of Syaoran. For a very long time, silence occurred between the two of us. I looked at Syaoran the entire time and then smiled. He finally took the courage to break the silence by offering me a seat. He offered me the seat in the swing next to his seat.
"I never thought that I'd be here on your birthday," Syaoran said shyly, "I flew here using Tomoyo's private plane."
"She surely has her ways," I giggled. It was no longer a surprise to me that Tomoyo can actually do something as spontaneous as this one. She has her resources.
"Well, then, I'll be flying later night," Syaoran smiled, "I just wanted to greet you personally so I grabbed the chance when it was offered to me by To-chan."
Suddenly, I stood up and he also stood up. I never wanted him to go but I realized that it is a selfish thing to do. He was never a citizen of Japan and his commitments were all in Hong Kong.
I felt a big lump on my throat. I whispered shyly, inaudible to him, "I've always wanted to tell you this."
He did not hear what I muttered. Instead, he pulled out a long box inside his pocket and opened it. Inside was a beautiful bracelet with stars and moons as ornaments, "I want to give this to you."
He took my arm and immediately placed the piece of jewelry around my wrist. I never thought that he would give something to me. I stared at him for a moment and suddenly had an urge to hug him tight. I placed my arms around him and my actions seemed to have made him shocked.
I could not help but cry. My sobs muffled by the cloth of his shirt. "you have given me the best gift ever."
"The bracelet?"
"No," I answered with a cry of laughter, "it's you."
He smiled at me and kissed me on my forehead. "For a very long time, I always wanted to see you. I want you."
I paused for a moment and looked straight into his eyes, "I love you."
He smiled at me and wiped the tears off my face, "you have no idea how long I have waited for your response."
I giggled and hugged him tightly again, never wanting to let go of the one I wanted the most.
I suddenly wrapped my arms around his neck, tiptoed, and gave him a light kiss on the lips.
"Remind me to thank the two devils," I whispered to Syaoran after breaking the kiss. He nodded happily.
In a not too far distance, Eriol and Tomoyo watched the whole scene as they giggled and snickered. Tomoyo taped everything as she intently smiled. She was so happy for her bestfriend. "It was so beautiful."
"Yeah," Eriol muttered in an uneven pattern of breathing, mesmerized by the scene, "so beautiful."
However, Tomoyo had no idea that the guy sitting right beside her was gazing at her the entire time.
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FIN
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Author: Editing the fourth editing of this work makes me feel more alive as a writer. I have corrected some of my grammatical mistakes and elaborated the ideas. Don't worry as I retained the original flow of the story. I would also like to thank all those who complimented this work even before I made any form of revision.