Fading Dreams
By Tenchi1987
Chapter 1: Good Times
With youth comes a fantastical belief that we are impervious to harm and that illness, disease and death is a realm into which only the elderly walk. Of course this is, although a beautiful dream, no more real than the prospect of world peace.
It was deep into winter when Sakura realised the harsh truth of how very frail the human body is. At the tender age of eighteen this was a most grievous time for her, one that she almost didn't recover from.
December
"Ohayo!" Sakura, as lively as always, joined her father for breakfast, something they always made time to do, as it seemed a rare event that they were both home on the same evening.
"Ohayo Sakura. Only a week until Christmas, are you looking forward to it?" He asked whilst bringing in a sizeable feast of pancakes from the kitchen.
"Yeah, especially with Touya and Yukito coming to stay, we barely get to see them anymore." She smiled as she thought about it; it was always fun to see her older brother and his boyfriend. She only really got to see them if she needed Yue's help.
"Mmm that will be good. Any plans with your friends?" the words came out muffled over the numerous pancakes being consumed.
"Yeah, I'll be seeing Tomoyo, Syaoran and Eriol on Christmas eve for gift swapping!" She grinned, the four of them always hung out together, they were practically inseparable ever since they were kids.
Father and Daughter finished their small feast together until her dad headed off to the university and Sakura was left with the house to herself since her school had already closed for the holidays. Time off usually meant spending hours playing video games with her guardian Kero, but today there was more important stuff to do...
"Shopping!!! But I was about to beat my all time high score!!!" Kero yelled at the thought of having to stay stuffed inside a handbag for the day.
"Kero, it's Christmas in less than a week and I still don't have presents for my friends!" Sakura grabbed her bag, shoving Kero inside. His protests fell on deaf ears, once she had set her mind on something there was no way to deter Sakura from doing it.
So Kero had to spend the entire day being jostled from place to place whilst his Mistress tried to find the perfect gifts for her three friends. By four o'clock in the afternoon she sat in a secluded corner of a café and let the suffering animal out. "I'm so sorry it's taking this long! But I have Tomoyo and Eriol's gifts." Her reply was a glare from an angry Kero who was determined not to speak to her, "Hmm well if your so mad at me, I guess you wont be wanting this." As she spoke she pulled out a fresh piece of chocolate cake that she had bought from the counter.
"So what did you get them?" The rather more pleasant guardian asked, firmly taking hold of the cake and sitting on the table in front of her.
Sakura pulled out numerous bags from under the table and showed them to Kero, after hours of browsing she had picked out a beautiful deep purple dress, a book about advanced video recording, a recipe book and a CD for Tomoyo. For Eriol she had chosen a long coat, which was a red so dark it almost looked black and a beautiful hand bound diary. Kero looked very impressed, "Wow Sakura they will love these, but what about the Chinese brat?"
"I haven't found anything yet." She sighed, nothing she had looked at for Syaoran seemed special enough. She had no idea what she could get for him that would have any meaning whatsoever.
"But you've been looking for hours, I'm sure there must be something that kids into. How about video games!"
"Err he says they are a waste of time." Sakura closed her ears as she began to receive the 'Video games help to prepare me for battle in the real world' lecture. Her eyes wandered to the café window and a small shop opposite she hadn't noticed before. As she looked a jade coloured top seemed to call to her from the display. It was a beautifully embroidered Chinese style shirt, which seemed almost too good to be true.
Grabbing Kero she exited the café immediately despite his protests about not having had the chance to finish his cake and stood in front of the store. "Hoe! It's so perfect!" she whispered to herself.
"No way Sakura that's far to good for the brat, I mean what if you buy him this and all he gets you is a lousy box of chocolates." Passers by started to looked inquisitively at Sakura's handbag so she quickly went inside the little shop.
"Can I help you madam?" A friendly shop assistant approached and apart from him Sakura couldn't see anyone else in the entire place.
"Um yes, I was wondering about the green shirt in your window, it's for a friend." Her cheeks turned a faint shade of rose as she thought about Syaoran.
"The Chinese one I presume, it is lovely isn't. We have it in all sizes if you know which you need." She didn't and had to spend a good amount of time trying to figure out which size would in fact be right. After much thinking she finally came to a decision. "I'm glad I could be of service, the shirt is fifty pounds (92 US dollars or 10,062 Yen)"
"OK great, I'll have to use my credit card though," Sakura didn't care how much or little she spent on her friends, just as long as she had the right presents she was happy, and so after hours of perusing round the mall she could go home content that everyone would love her gifts.
Thanks for reading, I'll update as soon as possible, please review.
By Tenchi1987
Chapter 1: Good Times
With youth comes a fantastical belief that we are impervious to harm and that illness, disease and death is a realm into which only the elderly walk. Of course this is, although a beautiful dream, no more real than the prospect of world peace.
It was deep into winter when Sakura realised the harsh truth of how very frail the human body is. At the tender age of eighteen this was a most grievous time for her, one that she almost didn't recover from.
December
"Ohayo!" Sakura, as lively as always, joined her father for breakfast, something they always made time to do, as it seemed a rare event that they were both home on the same evening.
"Ohayo Sakura. Only a week until Christmas, are you looking forward to it?" He asked whilst bringing in a sizeable feast of pancakes from the kitchen.
"Yeah, especially with Touya and Yukito coming to stay, we barely get to see them anymore." She smiled as she thought about it; it was always fun to see her older brother and his boyfriend. She only really got to see them if she needed Yue's help.
"Mmm that will be good. Any plans with your friends?" the words came out muffled over the numerous pancakes being consumed.
"Yeah, I'll be seeing Tomoyo, Syaoran and Eriol on Christmas eve for gift swapping!" She grinned, the four of them always hung out together, they were practically inseparable ever since they were kids.
Father and Daughter finished their small feast together until her dad headed off to the university and Sakura was left with the house to herself since her school had already closed for the holidays. Time off usually meant spending hours playing video games with her guardian Kero, but today there was more important stuff to do...
"Shopping!!! But I was about to beat my all time high score!!!" Kero yelled at the thought of having to stay stuffed inside a handbag for the day.
"Kero, it's Christmas in less than a week and I still don't have presents for my friends!" Sakura grabbed her bag, shoving Kero inside. His protests fell on deaf ears, once she had set her mind on something there was no way to deter Sakura from doing it.
So Kero had to spend the entire day being jostled from place to place whilst his Mistress tried to find the perfect gifts for her three friends. By four o'clock in the afternoon she sat in a secluded corner of a café and let the suffering animal out. "I'm so sorry it's taking this long! But I have Tomoyo and Eriol's gifts." Her reply was a glare from an angry Kero who was determined not to speak to her, "Hmm well if your so mad at me, I guess you wont be wanting this." As she spoke she pulled out a fresh piece of chocolate cake that she had bought from the counter.
"So what did you get them?" The rather more pleasant guardian asked, firmly taking hold of the cake and sitting on the table in front of her.
Sakura pulled out numerous bags from under the table and showed them to Kero, after hours of browsing she had picked out a beautiful deep purple dress, a book about advanced video recording, a recipe book and a CD for Tomoyo. For Eriol she had chosen a long coat, which was a red so dark it almost looked black and a beautiful hand bound diary. Kero looked very impressed, "Wow Sakura they will love these, but what about the Chinese brat?"
"I haven't found anything yet." She sighed, nothing she had looked at for Syaoran seemed special enough. She had no idea what she could get for him that would have any meaning whatsoever.
"But you've been looking for hours, I'm sure there must be something that kids into. How about video games!"
"Err he says they are a waste of time." Sakura closed her ears as she began to receive the 'Video games help to prepare me for battle in the real world' lecture. Her eyes wandered to the café window and a small shop opposite she hadn't noticed before. As she looked a jade coloured top seemed to call to her from the display. It was a beautifully embroidered Chinese style shirt, which seemed almost too good to be true.
Grabbing Kero she exited the café immediately despite his protests about not having had the chance to finish his cake and stood in front of the store. "Hoe! It's so perfect!" she whispered to herself.
"No way Sakura that's far to good for the brat, I mean what if you buy him this and all he gets you is a lousy box of chocolates." Passers by started to looked inquisitively at Sakura's handbag so she quickly went inside the little shop.
"Can I help you madam?" A friendly shop assistant approached and apart from him Sakura couldn't see anyone else in the entire place.
"Um yes, I was wondering about the green shirt in your window, it's for a friend." Her cheeks turned a faint shade of rose as she thought about Syaoran.
"The Chinese one I presume, it is lovely isn't. We have it in all sizes if you know which you need." She didn't and had to spend a good amount of time trying to figure out which size would in fact be right. After much thinking she finally came to a decision. "I'm glad I could be of service, the shirt is fifty pounds (92 US dollars or 10,062 Yen)"
"OK great, I'll have to use my credit card though," Sakura didn't care how much or little she spent on her friends, just as long as she had the right presents she was happy, and so after hours of perusing round the mall she could go home content that everyone would love her gifts.
Thanks for reading, I'll update as soon as possible, please review.