Disclaimer: All Cardcaptor's characters belong to Clamp.
A Requiem for My Love
The gardens of the Daidouji Manor remained in the neighborhood's memory even though it had been such a long time since the last green leaf of the last vivid tree had fallen into the grass, tall and thick from so many years of abandon. Those who used to walk near by the house liked to sneak between the garden's iron bars just to stare at the stone fountain where water jiggled and drained happily into a little pond. There were stone tables, randomly disposed in the grass, inviting imaginary guests. There were also swings and slides under the leafy trees. The manor stood at the bottom of the garden, full of color and light. Those who were lucky enough to put a feet inside the manor and wander around the nice clean corridors, worthies of a king, never forgot the sensation of being small and insignificant towards the house's magnificence. All of them clearly remembered the surprise they felt when they first look at the diamante looking chandeliers, which tilted from the ceiling, in a crushing attitude.
But even though it had been more than twenty years, haunted by the enormous wooden boards which covered the rusty gate, people always remembered the Manor as a prosperous house, with a gentle yet stubborn housewife and her lovely daughter always wandering around the gardens, with her long hair flicking behind her.
In Manor's last golden years a new area had been created. A small cemetery was hidden deep in the gardens, covered by tall cherry trees, the only thing kept alive in that dead place. In fact it wasn't a graveyard at all – there were just two graves made of white stone. One of them had a curious symbol – a star in a circle – and the other one had Chinese characters, almost erased by time's passage. Over the two graves were flatted two cherry trees' branches. Just branches, because the petals were long gone. All the neighbors knew who was buried in those two graves but now they didn't dare to pronounce their names. It was painful and sad. It was something none of the elders of that city wanted to recall. The happiest couple that ever had visited that house was now buried within the gardens. They used to call the man small wolf, Syaoran Li. His wife was a cherry tree flower. Sakura.
In the Manor, there is a dark room, obscured by black curtains (full of spider webs), which doors give direct access to the little shrine with the two graves. Once in a while, many of the neighbors swear they can clearly listen to a soft music from a piano inside the decadent manor. However, everyone knows the housewife is dead for a long time and that her daughter had married an Englishmen.
No one dares to think that there are still people living in that dark manor, haunted by stormy nights, and that there are ghosts wandering around the two graves. The fact is that no one dares to get to much closer to the manor, afraid to see the eyes of the Hiragisawa singer. Those eyes, according to the stories grandpas and grandmas told their children when they misbehave, were two bright purple diamonds which could hypnotize any man. They were always hidden by a beautiful and fluid dark hair, which smelled like lavender. The elders also say that whoever sees those eyes will feel the same grief as the little girl who used to walk and sing among the flowers.
Only the elders know that the little girl came back home with her husband. Only they remember the immense amount of travel bags and the beautiful piano they brought with them. They gave parties sometimes – they were extremely happy and extremely rich.
And then they died.
***
Daidouji Tomoyo always was an elegant and gifted girl. She had the purest angelic voice, which could cease any pain. Those who had the chance to hear her singing got stunned by the beauty and the harmony of the sounds she sang. And she was beautiful, dreadfully beautiful. The small girl who used to shyly sing in birthday parties and school festivals grew up and gained delicate and soft curves – Tomoyo became a marvelous woman, almost too beautiful too be touched.
Except to Sakura, her best friend. She grew up together with Tomoyo, in a perfect innocence. Although they look like a small duck and a gracious swan together, she never really cared about it. She was happy as long as she could teach her little children to twirl in the air and to lose their fear to jump and run. She saw happiness in every little detail. After all, it was her kind heart which made Syaoran Li fell irremediably in love with her. According to some old magic books, he should always be his rival but they changed the Time and, after becoming his fight partner and afterwards his best friend, Syaoran Li ended up as her lover and spouse. The Story was rewritten and everything had an happy ending. The Li couple had a gorgeous son, a perfect copy from his father, chosen to do great things and to live a great love. The Li family lived inside a love and tenderness aura, impossible for normal and real people to achieve.
Tomoyo had always been real close to Sakura, even after the wedding and the child's birth – she recorded every single moment through her video camera. Sakura, the poor innocent women, never knew how much she loved her. Yet, Syaoran knew perhaps, although he cared too much for her to say something about it. Sakura, no matter how harder she loved her husband, wouldn't allow him to say such things about her best friend – her beloved Tomoyo-chan, her sister and confidant.
There is another room in the Manor, whose walls are covered with video tapes and DVD's. Tomoyo is there now, wearing the same dress she's been wearing for months and weeks. A white dress, slightly touching the dusty dark carpets. Her left hand, dry and grimy, still carries a shiny ring – a wedding ring.
The ring that represents her biggest mistake.
Dragging her feet slowly all the way through the carpets, lighter than the air itself, Tomoyo floated to the piano room, muttering a little song with her alcohol and pills embargoed voice. She must remember Eriol it's dinner time. He really doesn't like to be late, isn't that right dear?
She opened the door and glissaded into the room's darkness like a ballerina. At the piano there is a skeleton. Tomoyo smiled while she paddled the skull, which seemed to be looking at her. She sited by the piano, still opened. The keyboard was full of dust.
"Play for me my love…"
The skeleton didn't move but she though it did. In her mind, next to her is Eriol, his beloved spouse, the greatest piano player the world had met.
"Play our song my love… The one Sakura-chan loved so much…"
In her distorted mind, the man started to play calmly. She smiled and laid over the piano, looking at the closed window. Sakura. Strange thing people didn't find her attractive. Her eyes looked like emeralds. Her hair – always short and weirdly combed – used to make her a lot younger than she really was. And her body, soft and tanned, was like a willow tree, thin and slim. Sakura always had that vague cherry blossom essence… She was so fragile, so small… Perfectly small, with her body highlighting from her pajamas…
Tomoyo slowly rolled a tress, while closing her eyes. In her head, Eriol was still playing. She remembered then one night, a particularly hot night. Sakura had fallen asleep in the couch, still wearing her cheerleader uniform. Tomoyo got near her best friend and gently touched her hair. How beautiful her small cherry blossom was… Quietly, she planted a kiss in her mouth, just for a brief moment. It was the happiest moment of her life.
Tomoyo's senses were suddenly flooded my memories until she opened her eyes to stare at the horrific skeleton in front of her. She screamed hysterically and ran to the window, trying to open it desperately. Tears blossomed from her eyes, mixed with screams of despair.
Why? Why did she have to die? Why did she have to marry him…?
Tomoyo grabbed her legs, crouching down against the wall. She had been stuck in that manor for too many years, too much time between madness and lucidity.
Too much time amongst dead people.
She grabbed one of the curtains, wiping the tears. In her hand was the image of an happy Sakura, showing her wedding ring. And then… The image of Sakura and Syaoran kissing, too intimately.
Quick, put your hand in my belly Tomoyo-chan! I think I felt something kicking me!
And she smiled happily, with a strange glow in her emerald eyes. Tomoyo approached her hand to touch Sakura's abdomen, always with a comprehensive smile in her marmoreal face.
Eriol came back from England one day. Smart, elegant, a young man with long dark hair. He started asking Tomoyo out whenever he could. Tomoyo, dying to get away from Sakura's pregnancy issues, used Eriol's sudden interest in her to escape. To escape from the one she loved the most.
It wasn't bad being his spouse, she guessed. He was kind and even sweet – and a good listener. He just couldn't quite get his woman's fascination for Sakura. He took Tomoyo to England, promising a prosperous future, full with success on the stages. And it was. For years and years they sang and played the piano in the most prestigious operas. Until one day, when Sakura's baby was already twelve, after a heated discussion between Tomoyo and Eriol, she received a call from Touya. His sister and brother in law had perished in an attempt to save their child. With honor and courage, like they were known for.
She looked at the skeleton, fallen over the piano. They had come back to Japan, to her best friend's house, where, for so many years, Sakura and Tomoyo had been happy together.
I love you Sakura.
Tomoyo got up and pushed her husband down, making the skeleton fall and create a cloud of dust. Now she couldn't even recall of how he would have died, but something was telling her that she might have been the cause. Drunk and angry at each other, they had had another fight about Sakura. She might have said that she was the only one she had ever loved truly and… Not even when they were in bed she was totally his. Only she could think about was her, even when Eriol touched her and kissed her tenderly and devotedly. Even when he used to whisper "I love you" at her ear, it was always Sakura's voice that crossed her mind. He should have had a seizure while playing. Who cared? He was a perfect husband, indeed, but he just couldn't understand love.
She ran and opened the window, letting new air got into the rom. Then she sat at the piano and, with a tearful look, she straighten her sheets music. She would play in that moment, after so many years. Her poor little Sakura loved music deeply and it had been so much time since the last time she dedicated a song to her…
The surrounding air was flooded by tender and sweet piano notes – sad melodies, with long harpejos, together with a voice released from tears.
Two days later, Tomoyo was found in the graves, holding scores in her hand tightly. A Requiem for her love. From her throat still blossomed small drops of blood, spreading across her white dress and creating an eternal red river.
Eternal, like her love had been.