Legend: "speech" 'thought'
Chibi Heero: Just forget that already (everyone already knows) and start the fic! Of all the fics you have that aren't about me, I seem to like this one the best.
Chapter 2: Daddy
Yukito burrowed his face into his mother's chest, inhaling her sweet scent. A strong sense of warmth flowed through his small form as he relished the moment of being with his mommy once more after so long apart. How he had dreamed of this moment. Now that it was happening, there was simply no way he way going to let go of her. "Mommy, I've missed you so much. Please, don't leave me and Daddy again. Come home with us."
Sakura stared down at the little boy in her arms and felt like crying. She didn't know what to do, but the kid seemed so happy to see her... 'He thinks I'm his mother. Of course he is happy! What am I going to do? I can't go home with him. Oh, gods, Touya is going to kill me. I should bring him to the security office...'
A loud grumbling interrupted her rushing confused thoughts. Instinctively, she flinched, clinging tighter to the child in her arms at the thought of thunder. She didn't hate it, but she didn't like it, either... "And I thought it was supposed to be sunny today," she sighed, peeking up the sunny sky.
She blinked. "Where did that thunder come from?" she asked in bewilderment, looking down at the boy next to her. He gave her a sheepish look.
A smile tugged at the lips of the copper-haired girl. "That was you, wasn't it? Are you hungry?"
He gave her a vigorous nod and she smiled, lifting him into her arms. At least there was something she could do to help the poor kid, and she could always report him after food. "Let's eat!"
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"He has silvery hair and he wears eyeglasses. He was wearing a-a blue jumper and... Are you listening to me?" Meiling wailed, grabbing the patrol officer's collar in a fierce grip. "My nephew – who is just a baby – is out there somewhere! Alone! And if you don't find him, I'm going to get you fired!" She paused and her eyes flashed. "What are you still doing here? Start looking!"
"Y-yes, ma'am!" the man hastened to answer as he pried her fingers away from his shirt and hurried towards the door. Normally, he would have protested such treatment, but obeying was far easier than standing up to an enraged aunt who was missing a nephew.
Touya continued to search all of the rides and booths for a child that fit the description given – anything was better than admitting defeat to that woman. But even with the entire available staff searching, they had been unable to track down the missing child and he grew more concerned with every minute that passed.
He took a brief break to sip from his water bottle and noticed a staff member running towards him. Touya at first hoped that they had tracked down the boy, but his hopes were destroyed by the worried looks on the their faces and the fact that there was a taller man racing after them – a man that Touya recognized as the kid's father and an actor from the many posters that adorned Sakura's walls.
"Did you find him?" Syaoran demanded, gasping for breath.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Li, but we've looked everywhere and we just haven't been able to find your son," Touya answered slowly, praying that this one wouldn't lash out at him like his sister had.
"Everywhere? Have you tried the food stalls?" the actor questioned.
The other employee blinked and shared a puzzled look with Touya. "Actually... No, we have not, sir. We believed that, like most kids, he would be around the rides and games," the other man replied.
"Well, my son is not like most kids!" shouted Syaoran. A sense of rising dread gripped him with every passing second. He had lost his wife – was he going to lose his son, too?
'Please, please let Yukito be safe!' Syaoran prayed as the four of them rushed towards the food stalls, hoping against all odds that the small toddler would be there safely.
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"All right, Sakura, is that all?" the elderly man asked, setting the last of the ordered dishes on the straining picnic table. Sakura flashed him an embarrassed smile and nodded. "You've ordered everything on the menu, so I hope so."
A sweat-drop formed on her brow, and she sighed silently. 'I hope I can pay for all of this,' she thought worriedly, eyeing the food that was piled before them. She had a mental image of her money flying away.
She gave the boy beside her a bright smile, concealing her thoughts, and said, "well, sweetie, dig in!"
Without hesitation, the gray–haired toddler eagerly obeyed, "Mmmmm! Hey, Mommy... Is sweetie my new nickname?"
Sakura paused, feeling guilty. She hadn't wanted to ask the kid his name since he thought she was his mommy. She had the feeling that it would offend him, so she had decided on 'sweetie', which was something her own father called her by.
"Why? Don't you like it?" she asked, going with the safe route.
"Oh, I do! It's much better than just plain Yukito! It makes me feel all warm inside when you call me sweetie!" he smiled up at her and then turned back to the food.
Sakura felt a warm surge of emotion inside herself when she saw that adorable smile. It made her feel happy to think that she was the cause of that smile. Yukito was so very cute, almost like her own nephew Eriol. But when Eriol smiled at her, she felt like an aunt, but when Yukito smiled she felt like a mother.
"Yukito!" The child turned in the direction of the voice, eyes lighting up.
"Daddy!" he said happily, leaping into the arms of his father who hugged him as hard as he could.
Sakura watched the loving scene with tear-filled eyes. 'Wow, he must love his son so much...' she thought, oddly reminded of her own father relationship with her father.
"Sakura! What are you doing here?" Touya asked in surprise upon seeing his sister seated at the table in her penguin suit. His eyes widened. "And did you eat all of this food! I always knew you were a kaijuu, but I didn't think you were a piglet, too."
Sakura's emerald eyes flashed and the tears vanished. "Mou, Touya! I'm not a kaijuu or a piglet! Stop calling me all of these weird names! And for your information, no, I did not eat all of this food. I haven't eaten at all today!"
"I ate it!" a cheerful voice interrupted before Touya could respond.
"What!"
"It's true," said Sakura tiredly. Her head was beginning to ache. "He ate all that food."
"Wait a minute!" Touya blurted suddenly. "You were with this kid all along? Didn't you know that we've been searching for him for hours?"
Sakura scowled and rubbed her forehead. She could feel a migraine starting to come on. "I was about to take him to security, but he was hungry."
It occurred to Syaoran just then that this stranger – this person in the weirdo suit – must have cared for his son since he went missing. "Excuse me, Miss, but did you buy all this food for my son?"
"Ummm..." Sakura hesitated, unsure of whether her actions had been right. What if Yukito had just ate or was supposed to be going out to dinner ? "Well..."
Before Syaoran could offer to pay for all the food Yukito had devoured, the boy decided to pipe up his opinion once again. "Daddy, Mommy did buy all that food for me."
At this statement, the group save Sakura stopped and stared at the child. Sakura merely sighed and began to massage her temples. She would be hearing about this from Touya for weeks to come.
"Mommy?" Touya repeated in an incredulous tone, gawking from his sister to the child with enormous eyes.
Without so much as a blink, Li Syaoran mumbled an apology and a good-bye and turned to leave, his son in his arms and his sister in tow.
"Eh! Daddy, what are you doing? Stop! I found Mommy! Why are we leaving? Mommy!" Yukito screamed as he began to struggle to get out of his father's strong grip.
Without warning, Yukito kicked his father in the chest and screamed as loud as he could. Syaoran could only embrace his son, burying his face into the child's hair to try and hide his own tears. "She isn't your mother, Yukito. Please, just stop it. Don't make this harder than it already is."
"She is Mommy! Daddy, don't leave her! Please!"
Sakura, Touya and Meiling could only watch powerlessly as the two argued. Yukito struggled to get away from his father and Syaoran fought to strap his son into the car. Passer-bys were beginning to look at them uneasily, but as Sakura watched, she felt only sympathy and a growing pain in her heart. She knew all too well what it was like to want your mommy... to not understand why she wasn't coming. She also knew the burden of not being able to understand, of feeling unbearable helpless, of having a great hole inside of you that couldn't be filled.
She knew that she had to do something, somehow, to help them both.
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"Kinomoto-san, I'm really sorry for all the trouble that we have caused you. Yukito isn't usually like this. He misses his mother so much that sometimes, he will see women that resemble her and believe that they are her," Meiling explained in a whisper. She didn't want to wake up the toddler that was now tucked into bed.
"It's nothing, really," Sakura asserted softly. She had finally gone back to the Li estate with the family to calm Yukito. Now that the child was sleeping, she could leave. "Yukito is a sweetheart. I understand how he feels. It must have been so hard for the both of them..." she trailed off, pity glimmering in her emerald eyes.
"Yes..." Meiling sighed. "Whenever Yukito gets like this, we just don't know how to handle him. Syaoran gets frustrated at his inability to do anything. It would be much easier if Yukito were older."
"I understand," Sakura patted Meiling's arm comfortingly, "But I need to be heading home. Onii-san is going to throw a fit if I don't get home soon and tell him all that happened today."
The two women tip-toed out of the room and down the stairs. "I'll have Jerry drive you home," Meiling offered as they reached the double doors of the main entrance. She paused and turned to Sakura. "Before I forget, Syaoran wanted you to have this." The Chinese woman handed the other girl an envelope containing money.
Sakura winced and eased the envelope back into Meiling's hands. "Please, I-I didn't do this to get something in return. I did it because I saw myself in Yukito. Thanks anyway, and good-bye." She hurried out the door before she could hear Meiling's reply and by-passed the car with a polite wave of refusal. All she wanted to do was go home and sit in her bedroom alone with a picture of her mother so that she could finally cry the tears that had been building up all day since meeting Yukito.
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Syaoran watched Sakura run towards the gates from his study window. He did not turn even when he realized that he was no longer alone in the room. As the sky outside darkened to night, he said, "Did she take the money?"
"No. She said that she did it because she saw herself in Yukito. She is very unusual and kind."
"Hmm... Yes, I can see why Yukito was so persistent that she was his mother. She resembles Amaya a great deal... Except for her eyes, of course." He glanced down at the picture that he was holding in his hands, examining the beautiful features he had already memorized.
His finger traced every details of the shimmering, waist-length auburn curls, to the contours of her slender, beaming face and finally to her vibrant, chocolate brown eyes. The same eyes that haunted him in his sleep every night. How he had loved those eyes...
"Li-sama, come quickly! It's Yukito!" The maid called Nikki shouted as she appeared in the doorway. She beckoned them to follow, then turned and rushed up the corridor with Syaoran and Meiling right behind her.
"Mommy! I want my mommy! Where is she?" screamed Yukito. His normally peaceful face was bright red and his eyes were filled with tears. His nose was running and he was crying so hard he could hardly breathe as he threw another toy against the wall.
"Yukito, stop that!" Syaoran ordered. "Doing that will not bring your mommy back!"
"I thought you love me!" Yukito wailed. "I thought you loved mommy, too, but you don't! You don't love either of us! You told her to go away, didn't you! She never would have left me otherwise. I hate you, Daddy! I hate you!" Yukito seized another of his toys and hurtled it as his father as he spoke.
Syaoran stood frozen as blood trickled down his cheek from the toy striking him. The flesh wound stung, but the words Yukito had spoken hurt more. "How could you even begin to think that, Yuki? You and your mother are the people that matter the most to me," he whispered in a pained voice.
"I'm sorry, Daddy!" Yukito sobbed, sprinting into his father's warm embrace. "I miss her so much. Please make Mommy come home. I promise I'll be good and I won't throw my toys anymore and I'll behave at your jobs!" he cried, tugging on his father's wet shirt. "Please, Daddy! I love you, but I love Mommy, too, and I need her!"
"Don't worry, Yuki..." Syaoran swore, looking down at his only child with love in his eyes. "I promise you. Mommy WILL come home to you."
Author's Note: Uh-oh! Syaoran promised Yukito that Mommy will be back! How is he planning to do that when his wife is dead? Tune in next time for –
Chibi Heero: Oh, shut up. You sound like an old TV show! Just tell them to leave a review and be done with it.
Kawaii Authoress: Oh, but we're not done. We still have to reply to our loyal and wonderful reviewers! Yay, my favorite part of writing a fic! XD Here we go!
Reply to Reviewers:
Replty to All: I don't actually like addressing you all like this, but since you're sooooooo many and since majority of you are saying the same thing I decided to put most of my reply here.
I'd like to thank everyone who thought that my fic was funny and to those who liked it even if I was only at the introduction part, I'm REALLY very sorry for the long update though...I was really busy for the past month. Also I'd like to say that I really like reading all of your reveiws it always brightens up my day!
Anyway I hope you liked this new update and don't worry, you just might like what will happen on the next chapter AND I'll try to update ASAP. And I'd like the others to read the reply for nearinsane and dreaming-twilight since it might clear a few things up for you.
heartluv: My first reviewer for this story! glad you thought that Mommy was really funny...I really hoped it would be funny!
ashley-chan: hey you have the same name as my friend! Anyway thanks for thinking that my story is cute...thank you that makes me really happy when people think that my ideas are cute since I usually try to think of something eye-catching.
Lady Golden Flower: Sorry for the long update...I hope you liked this update and that you keep Reading and reviewing my fic.
midnite-goddess: Aww that was so sweet! I'm glad you think that my story is good and thank you for thinking that I'm a good authoress, but I can't take all the credit...I mean my beta really helped in improving it. :)
the nadja: Well I hope it won't be that similar...but I am so touched that you thought that my fic is better! THANK YOU! i hope you liked this new update!
Faeza: Actually I was wondering which son should be which...but then I thought Eriol has more connection with the Kinomotos and Eriol is somewhat involved with Kaho. And Yukito is about 4 and so is Eriol... the others are around 20.
obitakuhlet: Actually I got my penname in honor of my hardworking beta...and I'm sure she'll really like what you said about her name. And thanks for thinking it was cute...I really like my new penname much better.
Lyra Sakura: Hmmm I don't think I know that movie...well hope you liked this new update
Mesya: I'll try to mention them, but I can't guarantee since it's usually hard to hold so many characters.
candy-chan-chan: Oh no! Not the puppy dog pout! How can I resist puppy dog eyes with a pout? So here's your update!
animelover2: And A+ I'm so touched thank you! And did you see your name there? Yay, and this isn't going to be the only chapter you'll see your name in! So keep reading, kay?
lor: You're the only who tried to save Syaoran from the alligators! Looking forward to seeing you again at school! Yeah aren't those two just look so cute as kids! I mean I can just eat them up! And yes since Yukito is a kid, no way Sakura will ever have a crush on him! LOL! HAPPY BIRTHDAY:)
Pink Cherry Blossoms White Peonies: Thanks for reviewing twice...hey those are the Sakura's and Syaoran's favorite flowers!
LadyAkina: I think this chapter has just answered your questions.
Little Wolf's Cherry Blossom: I'm not sure if kawaiiness is a word...but I'll take it since it's a BIG compliment to my fic!
nearinsane: Sad to say Yukito's mom is dead...and just for clarification Sakura isn't really Yukito's mom (most reviews I get are sort of implying it) he just thinks that she is his mom. Anyway I think this chapter has answered that question.
dreaming-twilight: An observant one...well usually in anime they don't usually care about genetic codes, maybe similarity in looks but the hair color usually varies (I mean where do you find a kid with gray hair anyway?). But here's my more logical answer to that...maybe one of Amamiya's parents have grayis hair...I mean after all Nadeshiko has gray hair but neither Sakura nor Touya inherited it so it's probably a recessive trait (I'm not implying that Sakura is Yukito's mom...just using them as examples). I hope you understand...if you're still confused you just say so I'm willing to give an explanation.
