haha the reason i'm writing this is cuz i'm bored... O_O too much homework in other words... lol so i'm going to just lay that aside (yay procrastinating is fun! lol) and just write... anyway i hope you enjoy it... hehe ^_^
Chapter 1 – The Garden
"Come on Li, let's go!" Eriol urged his friend. Once enemies, the two young men learned to tolerate each other and soon, to be friends. At the moment though, his friend was walking slowly, his head looking down. Eriol didn't want to push him but he knew exactly what was going on in Syaoran's head. And he knew what happened when Syaoran thought too much... it hurt Eriol to think about it too so he tried to keep it out of his thoughts. Now was one of those times. If he said it in his mind, he might just burst out and cry. Which is not a good thing. 'Think about Syaoran... this is much harder for him...' he thought to himself. He shook his head, and smiled. "Come on," he said, poking Li's shoulder.
"Nani?" Syaoran shook his head and looked up from the ground to see Eriol's worried face, though he was smiling. "Oh... hey... sorry, what did you say?"
"Oh, hehe, all I said was 'let's go', Syaoran... what were you daydreaming about?" Eriol asked, trying to lighten Syaoran's mood. Syaoran could tell and grinned for Eriol's sake. "I was thinking about raising fish." He grinned. Now it was Eriol's turn to be surprised. "What?! You're going to become a fish farmer??" Out of all the things Eriol would've expected to come out from Syaoran's smart-ass mouth... this was definitely the least. But it was good to know that Syaoran was trying to forget.
Eriol and Syaoran proceeded to go to the market to go grocery shopping. Once there, Eriol suddenly found something to occupy himself with, leaving Syaoran by himself to buy their food. "Oooh!! Stuffed animals! I can buy these and add them to my collection!! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Syaoran rolled his eyes and walked down the aisles. He looked over his list. 'Hm... we need more carrots, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, croutons, what the- are we planning to eat salad for a week? Damn Eriol, he'll probably get mad too if I don't get these... huh, we need milk too, don't we... Eriol forgot about that one... and... we need...' he continued reading off his long list, walking down the aisles and dropping them into his cart.
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Syaoran just walked out with six bags (SIX BAGS?! o_O) and decided he seriously needed help. "ERIOL!! DAMN YOU, HIIRAGIZAWA WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GO?!?!! ERIOL!!!!!" Syaoran's eye started twitching. Just as he thought he was going to collapse with anger and the strength that just went out, Eriol came out of the market with six bags himself (SIX BAGS?! o_O LOL) filled to the brim with stuffed animals. Syaoran got billions of veins popping out of his forehead. He suddenly grew fangs as he yelled at Eriol. "WHY DO YOU HAVE STUFFED ANIMALS, HIIRAGIZAWA??" he asked, calmly yelling (is that possible? ^_^;;) He continued talking when Eriol backed away with large eyes. "DIDN'T YOU REMEMBER THAT YOU WANTED FOUR OF THESE BAGS FULL OF SALAD INGREDIENTS FOR YOUR SALAD DIET THAT YOU WERE TRYING TO GET ME INTO?! TRADE ME YOUR BAGS SINCE YOU WANTED THESE MORE!!!" Eriol, obviously scared at the moment, took the six food bags and let Syaoran hold his precious six bags of stuffed animals. Syaoran felt relieved as he forgot about the fact that Eriol had feelings for the moment. 'Ah, my arms feel better...' he sighed in relief.
Meanwhile, Eriol carried the six heavy bags, four being his salad, and the other two being other food items that Syaoran and or Eriol would enjoy. Painfully, Eriol followed behind Syaoran who was now whistling with the six stuffed animal bags. Eriol was immensely jealous but didn't say anything because he didn't want Syaoran to blow up and then murder his poor animals. They finally got to the house that they both lived in, along with Eriol's soon-to-be wife. (guess who?!?!! lol)
"You guys came back pretty quickly!" Tomoyo exclaimed. Not that she didn't want them to come back quickly. She did; there was a lot of cleaning to do. She peered into the bags. "Oh no, you're still buying salad?" She raised an eyebrow at Eriol who blushed. "I guess so." He tried to shrug it off, but Syaoran smirked and said, "Told ya it wasn't good for you." Then he ran away cackling because Eriol would probably chase him for making fun of Eriol's beliefs.
Finally, Syaoran ran out of breath. He was pretty far away as he ran for 20 minutes straight. (lol and we all know how fast he runs ^_-) He stopped and bent down, holding his knees and breathing hard. He turned around to make sure Eriol wasn't still behind him. When he was satisfied that he couldn't see Eriol anywhere near him, or sense his aura, he started walking back, looking around him to see where he ended up. He wasn't exactly sure where he was, he had never been to this side of town.
Meanwhile...
"We're having a special guest tonight, Eriol!" Tomoyo was running around in worry. Eriol felt really guilty, guiltier than when Syaoran yelled at him. Because with Syaoran, you could always joke around and then have him chase you or something. But with Tomoyo... well, he couldn't really explain it. Well, she used to be very easy-going. But... ever since... Eriol shook his head. He had to stop thinking.
"I'm going to go out for a moment."
"Wait, Eriol-kun."
Eriol stopped, halfway out the door, and hoping that Tomoyo wouldn't scold him for anything. She didn't. She came up to the doorway and stopped in front of him. She looked straight into his eyes. He blushed, unable to stand the tension. Finally she blinked, allowing him to turn away, embarrassed. "I guess none of us can stop thinking about her..." she said. He looked at her, and saw her eyes watering, which it did every time she was mentioned. He hugged her. "Yeah, and Syaoran is definitely taking it pretty hard too... just like you." He frowned, it shouldn't have happened to her. Not to sweet Sakura-chan. But it did. He stroke her head as she sobbed silently into his shirt, soaking it. "Sshhh..."
Back to Syaoran...
He was still looking around, to make sure he didn't miss a place he would recognize so he can get home more quickly. His mind wandered around as his eyes did. His eyes landed on a lone Cherry Blossom tree and his mind suddenly landed on a Cherry Blossom. 'Sakura...'
He fought to hold back the tears that were threatening to pour out of his eyes. And his soul. His chest started hurting, from the emotion. He had to stop, his chest hurting too much. He looked around for something to sit on, but not seeing anything, he shrugged mentally and sat down under the Cherry Blossom Tree. "Why her?"
"Why who?"
Syaoran jumped, his heart and stomach coming up even faster than the rest of his body. He thought he was about to choke on them. He looked around swiftly and was about to take out his sword when he saw an old man. He thought, 'Well, I doubt an old man could do anything... but just in case, I'll just keep this in my pocket.'
"I won't hurt you." The man chuckled. Syaoran looked curiously at him. He seemed strange. Why? "I'm sorry, have I interrupted your thoughts?" the old man asked. Syaoran shook his head. "No that's alright. You may speak if you wish." Somehow the words coming out of his mouth made the old man laugh but Syaoran didn't see what was so funny. Finally, when he asked him, the old man said, "It's just that I didn't know such young men as yourself would talk so formally." 'Oh...'
"So who were you thinking about that caused you such pain?" the old man gently asked Syaoran. When he heard it, he was instantly sad again with the memory of Sakura. "Ah, I am sorry. You do not have to talk about it." Syaoran shook his head, "No, that's alright. I had... a friend... " he turned away, embarrassed already. The old man smiled encouragingly and invited him to continue. "Well, she... died... recently, about a month ago... she was... " he tried to lessen the pain on himself by wording it differently. "she got hurt very badly by... uh..." 'How do you explain that she died by magic to someone who doesn't have any?' Syaoran wondered. Because as he started talking about it, he found out that his chest pain was slowly ebbing away. The old man looked at Syaoran quizzically when Syaoran just suddenly stopped talking. He looked at Syaoran's anguished face and he could see everything written on his face. He suddenly understood.
"She was one of them..." he said suddenly.
Syaoran looked up quickly, puzzled by what the old man just said. "What?"
"She had magic." He said simply. 'How did he know?'
Syaoran asked politely, "How do you know she has magic?"
"I could see it in your face." He replied. "And... luckily for you, I have something for people with magic." He paused to see whether Syaoran was understanding this or not.
"Come." He said, and walked off. Syaoran stared after him, then shrugged his shoulders and followed.
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The old man and Syaoran went through the forest, through hard thorns, thick brush, big branches, and every other step, some mud. Syaoran cursed the rain that had come the day before, in his head. He didn't know if the old man would be offended or not by such language so he kept it to himself. He wondered whether or not they would ever stop walking. But just in case they got lost, he made kept mental track of everything that they passed in order to help them come back. He for one definitely didn't want to be lost in a forest. Especially one that he didn't know his way around. Finally, the old man stopped. Syaoran thanked Kami-sama and would've dropped to the ground to rest if there weren't any mud. The old man placed his hands between two very thick and bushy branches and pushed them aside. He stepped inside and disappeared. Syaoran raised an eyebrow. He carefully placed his hands where the old man placed his hands and looked in between them. What he saw made him gasp.
There were millions of flowers. Forget millions, there were BILLIONS. There were also many MANY MANY other plants besides just flowers. And what caught his eye first... his Sakura Tree. And then his all time favorite flower- peony. He couldn't believe his eyes. "Wow... " he breathed. He forgot for the moment that the old man was standing next to him, grinning at his response to seeing the garden. Syaoran carefully walked around the huge garden that was in the middle of nowhere. He gazed at them in amazement. He went over to sniff one of the flowers. When he looked at it closely, he could see it blooming before his eyes, that widened. He looked around at the rest of the plants and had no doubts that they were probably growing quickly after confirming it. He then saw the old man still standing near the entrance. He blushed. "G-Gomen..."
The old man smiled and said it was alright. He motioned for Syaoran to come back to him though. Syaoran came. "I'm assuming from your face that you enjoy being here in The Garden of Hope." He chuckled. Syaoran looked at him. 'Garden of Hope?'
"Yes, Garden of Hope." He smiled at Syaoran's questioning face. "No, I cannot read your mind; You're easy to read." Syaoran wasn't so sure that was a good thing but he didn't say anything. "Would you like it?"
"Nani??"
"Did you not understand my question, or did you want me to repeat it?" The old man was smiling though, and Syaoran got more interested at the garden by the second. But surely he couldn't take it away from this old man! It must be the only thing he has left!
"Then it's settled." 'What's settled?' "These plants here can help you. At least to help take away your pain if nothing else. The one thing you'll have to do though is to come in at least once a week." He smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry you have to come in so often, but if you neglect it, it will not be shown to you anymore. You will not be able to find it. Do you understand?" Syaoran nodded, speechless. "Good." The old man left, but not without saying first, "Remember how to get here... in case you need it, here's a map."
Syaoran wondered, 'Where's the map?' Suddenly out of nowhere, a wind blew and a lone leaf flew. It landed on his hand, and when he looked closely, he could see the veins moving around, almost writhing like a worm. The veins became a map, astonishingly. But Syaoran didn't really have time to notice that as he clutched it in his fist. 'All... mine? Hope? Nani? Kami, I'm so confused... Oh well, I'm sure someone will be able to help me figure it out.' Syaoran went through the entrance and toward where he had first met the man. But when he came out to where he had seen the old man in the first place, he wasn't there. He looked around, then decided that the old man must have just been there at the perfect time. But he couldn't help but wonder...
"Oh! Crap!" Syaoran started cussing, in surprise at seeing his watch. If he didn't come home soon, he would be late for dinner. And if he missed dinner... uh, let's just say that that's very bad. He started running.
R+R... i want to know how it is so far... i'll love you forever if you do even if it's a flame ^_^;; haha so you gonna click that purple button thingy on the bottom or what?