There is a reason I wrote this, I explain after the story. For time does go by, and we can never find the lost moments again.
Lyrics are from a translation of the song Praan, which I felt fit what today means in some way.
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
Runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures
It was a lovely spring day, that first of April, clear and warm. Daidouji Tomoyo waited outside of a cafe, sitting quietly perched on a white lawn chair that seemed wholly appropriate for the brightness of the day.
She was twenty now, and in college. Usually she would be in class on a Friday, but she had gotten permission to miss this class for a very important reason.
"Tomoyo-chan!" her best friend called, running up from the crosswalk, waving excitedly, and she smiled brightly. "Am I so very late? Syaoran told me I should leave half an hour early just in case, and to not overtax myself if I got a later start, but I got caught up in traffic!" Li Sakura leaned over and gasped for breath as Tomoyo laughed softly.
"Happy birthday Sakura-chan." she greeted calmly, standing up to hug her dearest friend. "It's fine. I don't mind waiting a few minutes at all in weather such as this, if you needed a little more time. And your husband is right," she added with a touch of protectiveness. "You shouldn't be overtaxing yourself. Not now."
Sakura returned the embrace, laughing too, "I should have left earlier though. Now I feel bad. You and Syaoran and Onii-chan are so worried with making sure I'm not pushing myself. Everything's fine with us." There was a deeply maternal edge to her smile. "But thank you."
Tomoyo pulled away enough to look her friend in the eyes. "Don't feel bad. There's nothing wrong with taking a little time." then she smiled again. Sakura had changed in some ways so much in the last eleven years, and in some ways not at all. She still had some trouble with waking up on time, still ran her way through the world to whatever she was missing. Yet there used to be a bubbly effervescense about her that, while it hadn't vanished, had calmed, had matured.
They all had really, that was what growing did.
"Are you waiting for anything out here Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura's voice pulled her out of her thoughts, and she smiled at the young woman before replying. "Just you."
Sakura laughed briefly, another one of those brilliant smiles lighting up Tomoyo's world. "Would you like to walk in the park then? I'm sorry, but I'm really not up for anything really rich right now."
Tomoyo picked up the bag she had brought with her. "That's fine with me Sakura-chan, it is your birthday."
The streets were busy, but only moderately so, and they crossed with hands linked together, to the Penguin Park not too far away. It was also filled by the playground section, with the shrieks and laughter of happy children filling the air with cheer. Tomoyo saw Sakura looking at them with a new expression on her face, one that Tomoyo was sure she'd grow to know as well as all the others as the years went on.
"It seems like only yesterday since we played there." the woman mused, as they passed by on one of the winding paths, towards a quieter space. "The years have gone by so fast."
"They have. It feels like yesterday I was designing clothes for you to catch Clow Cards with. Now, we're in college." Tomoyo and Sakura walked over the bridge, almost aimlessly. Yet she was pretty sure she knew where her best friend was going.
The bench was well concealed on the shores of the pond that the Illusion had once been in, where she and Kero and Sakura had been so sure they had seen Sakura's mother in. Made of twisting willow wood, Sakura had made it a few years back with the Wood and the Flowery, to make a lovely little space for them. Sitting down together, they watched willow trees around the pond sway in the light breeze and white apple blossoms tumble into the water.
"It's been twelve years now, hasn't it?" Sakura said softly, holding onto a flower gently in her hand. "Since we met, since everything's happened. And you've been my friend all that time."
Tomoyo nodded. "Twelve years. And it's been wonderful all along." she smiled at her friend, tilting her head to see her face better. "I couldn't ever have had a better friend in all the worlds, both real and imaginary."
Sakura smiled. "I don't think I could either, Tomoyo-chan."
The breeze whipped across the water, stirring it into waves that never made it to the shore. Across the way, two girls, maybe eight were playing at the edge, one handing flowers to the other and setting them afloat on the pond. "I wanted to ask you, and Syaoran agrees, would you be godmother? When we have children?"
Her heart throbbed happily, and Tomoyo felt faint tears prick at her eyes, though not enough to cry. "That's what you want?" She knew full well it was, but she wanted to hear it anyway.
Sakura smiled. "Yes. I love you Tomoyo-chan, I don't want you to be left out of our lives just because we got older."
Their hands were still laced together innocently, two girls that had been together for so long it seemed. "I would be very honored Sakura-chan, to be the godmother to your children."
She tossed the flower into the water and watched it float, her hand resting on the hollow of her stomach, still flat. "Thank you, Tomoyo-chan."
They sat together on that bench, watching first the petals float apart, then the two little girls on the bank laughing together, holding hands as they ran back to their mothers.
"I love you too Sakura-chan." Tomoyo whispered as the girls, almost like an echo of their past vanished, "Happy birthday."
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.
This is important to me, for a very important reason. At the age of six years, eleven months, eleven days, I picked up a book at my library to take home and read. This book, was the first book of Cardcaptor Sakura, the first release that Tokyopop did. I had never read anything like it before, but even at six, I knew that it was something special.
Eleven years later, I realized that I wanted to do something for this series, that has brought me so much in life. I daresay it changed my life in so many ways that I will never know just how much.
Maybe it seems silly that a manga series picked up at a young age could do so much, but I think of this:
Cardcaptor Sakura brought me into the world of CLAMP, the world of manga. And as a first step, I can think of no better all these years later. With an enduring story, indentifiable characters and a sweetness, but not a bad sweetness that has stayed with me. And reading it has changed me in the way I see things.
In a way, these books were my first enduring friends of the manga world and I am proud of having picked them up all those years ago.
So today, eleven years after I first read it, on November eleventh, 2011, I write for it, eleven years, with two friends who love each other just as enduringly. And I say, for all those years.
Thank you.