A/N: Hello again everyone. I have to admit I had a headache writing this chapter. In my humble opinion, I really suck at writing anything... fluffy. (sweatdrops) Anyways, enjoy the read, and please tell me what you think!
Summary from last chapter: Sakura was very distressed about the mass exodus of his family and friends. Even her best friend Tomoyo was leaving! Eventually she accepted this fate thanks to their reassurances. However, when Sakura discovered that she would have to move out herself, she was overwhelmed! With a little lecture from Eriol, however, she calmed down and was ready to face it. And so, Sakura heads steadfastly into her new life at Kageyama Gakuen!
Chapter 3: The Fated Meeting
Dreams are one of life's greatest mysteries. To put it scientifically, it is a series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occuring involuntary in the mind during certain stages of sleep. It could be a jumbled recollection of the events you have experienced, or even forgotten. It can show your deepest desires, or reveal your most terrible fears. Luckily, for normal people, dreams are just that, whatever your mind decides to imagine in your sleep.
Of course, I'm no normal person.
Being attuned to the mystical arts as a child, I have learned to interpret dreams differently than most people. Because of my bloodline and magical affinity, in some cases, the dreams that I experience are more than just dreams. It could be a premonition, or even a future warning. You could say I was more 'aware' of myself during those times, meaning that sometimes, I knew it was a dream.
To tell you the truth, I didn't treasure this 'gift' of mine very much. I don't remember the last time I had a 'good' dream. And this dream I'm experiencing now is definitely not good at all.
I was walking through what seemed to be some kind of forest. It wasn't any normal forest, as I couldn't see a thing above the treeline's canopy. It seemed so surreal, as I would try to go in a direction but some kind of invisible force was stopping me.
There was only one direction where the forest allowed me to go, and I took it. Eventually I reached a clearing. I stepped onto it, the sky above me showed itself for the first time. It was a nighttime sky with now clouds, but for some reason, it was raining very heavily, with many flashes of thunder accompanying. For some reason, the rain spalshed harmlessly on me, and I didn't feel wet at all.
I saw a small cave carved into the mountain in a short distance, and I entered the cave in question. Though completely dark, I could see quite clearly in the cave and I walked on, wondering where it would take me.
Suddenly I felt my heart get heavy, as if a great load was placed on it. I started to feel uneasy, my breath quickening, my heart rate rising, my muscles twitching involuntarily in pain. What caused this? Looking forward, I saw what looked like to be a two flames roaring against each other. One was totally black, as if it whatever it consumed found nothingness. The other flame was bright green, and was desperately trying to hold back the black flame's path.
In an instance, the both flames seem to burn out, and what was left seemed to be three figures. On the left side was a very hazy figured object, I couldn't make out the size and shape of it at all. On the right side were three figures, each shaped like children. One seemed to be knocked on the ground, and the other two between the hazy figure and the downed figure, seemingly to shield the downed figure from harm.
"Why are you doing this!" I suddenly heard the protector's voices. It was a boy's voice.
"To prevent any of you from ever becoming a threat to me!" replied the hazy-figured substance.
The hazy figure slowly, but surely moved closer and closer to the other three. It had such a menacing and paralyzing effect as it kept its advance. I couldn't move an inch.The lone standing figure, seemingly realizing that they were cornered, merged closer with the other, looking like it was attempting to make a last stand.
Suddenly, the figure downed on the ground started to emit light, and started to become visible. It was still very unclear, butI could make out the child to be a little girl, trembling with fright.
"Help me!"
The two other child-like figures suddenly lunged at the hazy figure, taking it head on. "Haaaaa!" the hazy object shouted, and shot a pure red beam at the three of them...
Somewhere above Tokyo
11:00 AM
-Syaoran-
Attention all passengers, this is your captain speaking. In about 15 minutes, we will be landing at Narita International Airport, so please make sure you have all your belongings with you before you leave the plane. As a special treat for the passengers that have a window seat on the left side, if you look down and a little to the right, you can see a great overhead view of the Tokyo Tower. We hope you enjoyed your flight courtesy of Hong Kong Airlines.
"Oh, oh! Syaoran!" My consciousness was brought back to the real world by a loud screeching voice that could only belong to one person I know.
"Syaoran!" I heard again, feeling the person shaking my body violently in my seat. Rubbing my still drooping head on the window. "Move your big head! I wanna see!" Since I was still half asleep, it didn't really come out in any comprehensible words at the moment, but only as unwanted noise.
"Mei Ling could you keep it down?" I grunted. I was definitely NOT in a good mood at the moment. "I just woke up you know!"
"But, but look down there!" she practically yelled at me, pointing out the window. "Tokyo Tower! Wow, it's bigger than I imagined!" Trying to snap awake, I followed her finger. I looked down and then saw the great city of Tokyo, spotting the bright red and white spire known as Tokyo Tower. Looking back at Mei Ling, I sighed.
"Look, I'll switch seats with you. just promise that you'll leave me alone for a while."
Her eyes lit up. "You got yourself a deal!" she replied. Through much commotion an unwanted body impacts, we managed to do just that.
'Geez. Mei Ling can be such a child sometimes.' I thought, briefly debating whether the Li Clan picked the right person as his partner.
Trying to shut off the noise from the other people in our cabin, I closed my eyes, trying to getmy mindto wanderback to the dream I was so rudely interrupted. 'What a strange dream.' Like most people, when he woke up, he barely remembered any of the details of his dream, although he could still feel the overall impact of it. Thinking to himself, he tried to recall all the elements of that dream that was still in his mind.
A cave.
A hazy figured object.
Something about a threat.
A little girl.
"What does this mean?" I thought with frustration. "Is it all a vision? A past event? Someone else's thoughts? Arg! If only I could remember it all!" I tried to draw some conclusions from it, trying to connect it with any memory I had, with no luck.
"Then again, maybe this is just some stupid dream my mind conjured up. Still, it seemed like this isn't the first time I felt like that, for some reason. But, I'm sure I've never witnessed that event before! So why…?"
"Ooooh! I knew I shouldn't have left my camera with my luggage!" I once again heard some unwanted noise, this time to the left.
"Mei Ling! This isn't a vacation!"
Japan, Chiba Prefecture
Narita International Airport
11:30
"So Xiao Lang, what do you want to do first? Let's go see Tokyo Tower! Can we? I heard that..."
"The FIRST thing we're going to do." I interrupted, putting emphasis on the word 'first', "is to head for Kageyama Gakuen and get settled in. After that, we can began our search for our targets.
"Mou... Syaoran, you're no fun!" Mei Ling replied with an annoyed tone. "We're in a place we've never been to before! Might as well see the sights right?"
"There will be time for that later. You do forget we also start high school in a little less than a week. And it's Kageyama Gakuen at that, not those super-easy public schools. We should really head over there and get acquainted with the place." I reminded her.
"... fine! Have it your way, oh great leader." Mei Ling replied with a "hmph!"
Narita is the busiest international airport in Japan, and all day, people fly in or out to all over the globe, and today was no exception. After finally finishing the long and painstaking process known as customs, and the equally long and frustrating process called luggage pickup, we finally reached the huge, magestic airport lobby. It was then when, Mei Ling and I took our first real steps on Japanese soil. Well, not really 'soil' but you know what I mean.
"Ah we finally made it to Japan, doesn't it feel good to get off the plane?" Mei Ling said to me, stretching her arms.
"Yeah whatever." I automatically replied.
All of a sudden, I popped my eyes open in awareness. It was but only an instant, but my senses were suddenly overwhelmed. It was gone like the wind, but it was present long enough for me to be aware of it. It wasn't anything physical, or even magical for that matter, but it was powerful enough to leave an impression on me.
"Syaoran, what's wrong?" Meiling asked beside me. She obviously, sensed the sudden change in my facial expression.
"I don't know. but I just felt something." I answered looking around for a bit. The only thing he noticed that was remotely out of the ordinary was a girl with glasses shouting at someone to hurry, but it's not like that was something to worry over.
"Do you think it could be the evil presence, or maybe the card mistress?" Mei Ling suggested.
I shook my head. "I don't know, that strange feeling was only here for a moment. Maybe it was nothing. But keep your guard up just in case Mei Ling."
"Right." She replied, as we cautiously continued walking.
Eventually we relaxed once I sensed nothing within a 10-mile radius around us. Mei Ling's hightened senses didn't really notice anything either, and it was drowned out by the busy airport anyway. Feeling very relieved, Mei Ling and I grabbed a bite to eat. As I was eating, my mind was still bothered by what I felt that time. It was even stranger that it happened right after I had such a mysterious dream. I didn't believe in coincidence, so I was wondering if the two were related. Perhaps it could be somebody or something with strong magical power revealing itself for only a split second. But then, he was pretty sure it had nothing to do with magic, as he thought before.
In the end, he just put it in the back of his mind. It was way too confusing and there was too many variables... it might've been himself showing a slight headache or something. After lunch, we grabbed our luggage and came upon the airport lobby. I immediately started looking for a taxi...
... Only to find a huge limo waiting for us.
"You are Li-sama correct?"
"That's right." I answered.
"Your mother has requested that we take you to your new place of residence." The chauffer replied. Here, these attendants will take your luggage. Just sit back and relax while we drive you there!"
"Wow!" Mei Ling chirped. "Now this is traveling in style!"
"Okaa-san, you sure prepared every little detail, didn't you?" I thought.
Tokyo Prefecture, Japan
Kageyama Gakuen
1 Week Later
10:30 AM
Attention passengers, the next stop will be the Kageyama Gakuen Eki. Repeat: Next stop, Kageyama Gakuen Station.
"I'm almost there!" Sakura said to herself inaudibly. She was feeling a whole bunch of emotions: eagerness, curiosity, nervousness… Standing up, and picking up the rolling handle of her luggage, she looked at her sun-adorned reflection in one of the sliding door windows. "I hope I can fit in! I wonder how hard high school really is? Gotta make a good first impression! Uh oh, is my uniform on all right? Noooo my collar isn't straight enough!"
By the time the train arrived, she almost thought she would faint from worrying.
We have arrived at: Kageyama Gakuen Station. For those getting out, please watch your step.
The shinkansen was sparsely populated at the time, because the school year hasn't officially begun yet. Stepping out of the train, Sakura took her first step as a real student at Kageyama Gakuen. She didn't know how, but today, the grass seemed a little greener, the air a little fresher, and the buildings a lot less older today. As she walked slowly to the main pathway, she saw the infamous clock tower nestled above the school's main administration building. The whole school seemed like a mini replica of a classic, English university... and this was only a secondary school!
"Wow! It's so… so… big!" Sakura almost shouted. At that statement, she noticed that many people looked around to try to find the source of the sudden outburst. Their eyes turned and fixed a confusing stare at the person responsible for it. Frantically, she looked around. All she could do was turn a few shades of red.
"Sorry!" Sakura said a little louder than intended, and performing a much deeper bow than intended. "I was just excited, th-that's all!" she finished with a sheepish smile.
Most of them let out a small giggle before they went about their business.
"Hoe… I really have to stop doing that… you're making a bad first impression!" she thought, as she continued to stare at the massive high school. She couldn't help it though, even if she did go here once before, the ambience of the school was still very breathtaking.
"The huge building you see before you is none other than Kageyama Gakuen's main campus building." an unfamiliar female voice started speaking. "It was founded in 1955 by the prestigious Kageyama Satoshi. He graduated with top honors in Touzai, majoring in architecture. His inspiration to pass on knowledge to younger generations was his motivating factor in creating this school. He was also a genius in his field, and was able to design a classical English style look that was the envy of all Japan! Today, this school is among the best college prep schools in Japan. Almost 95 percent of the graduating seniors makes it in to the school of their choice! The courses however, are as rigorous and challenging as any college class, so it's definitely not a walk in the park…"
"Hoe…" I said in amazement, turning my head to locate the owner of the voice.
To Sakura's side stood a girl about her age with light brown eyes and long brown hair, tied up into two buns. She was wearing a light yellow shirt with a darker yellow skirt. Sakura's first impression of her was that yellow was definitely her favorite color. 'She's so pretty... yellow suits her well'.
"Did that satisfy your curiosity enough?" she smiled.
"Hai!" Sakura replied, bowing. "Thank you very much!"
"Iie, not a problem at all! Seeing how impressed you were just looking at the school, I figured you were new."
"Eh heh heh…" Sakura let out a nervous laugh. 'Was I that obvious?'
"... of course, the luggage you're rolling around is a dead giveaway too..."
"Hoe..."
"Well guess what? I'm new here too!"
At that Sakura widened her eyes in surprise. "Wow, unlike me, you sure know a lot more about Kageyama than I do… the only thing I knew for sure was the name…" Sakura said with a sweatdrop.
"Is that so…. well now you know more about it! Actually, did you think I did a good job explaining?"
"Yeah, that was perfect!" Sakura replied confidentially. "You sounded just like a professional tour guide!"
"That's great! Now I know I'll do well doing this from now on!"
"Really?… Wait a minute…" Sakura pondered. "You're just an incoming freshman, and the school is hiring you as a tour guide?"
"Yes, even though I am a freshman, I've been a TA here for the past few years while I was in Junior High. In fact, you could say I know this place like the back of my hand!"
"Sugoi…" Sakura said full of admiration.
"Well I've got to get to the dorms now! They're just starting to move in now! And my boy-- I mean roommate might be a bit annoyed if I don't get there in about 20 minutes…." the girl said, looking at the time on her cell phone. "By the way, I didn't catch your name yet. I'm Mihara Chiharu! Yoroshiku!" she cheerfully said, holding out her hand.
"Kinomoto… Kinomoto Sakura." Sakura replied nervously as she shook her hand.
"Catch you later then, Kinomoto-san!" Chiharu said as she walked off.
"Mihara Chiharu… what a nice person. I hope we can become good friends!" Sakura smiled as she was glad she already made a new acquaintance in such a short amount of time. "You were right, Eriol-kun. trying to expand your circle of friends really is a fun thing to do!"
"Let's see where should I head to first? Let's see, with this luggage I'm carrying around, I probably should check in with Rika and Naoko and start settling in." Sakura thought, thinking where the dorms might be. "Wait a minute, didn't Chiharu-san say they were getting ready to move everything in… and in about 20 minutes too?"
"…"
"HOE!" she almost screamed, once again grabbing the attention of nearby passerbys. "CHOTTO MATTE! MIHARA-SAN!" Sakura yelled out as she ran in her direction, her bag's wheels screeching on pavement.
Kageyama Gakuen: Sakura no Michi
10:40 AM
Sakura no Michi, or "The Path of Cherry Blossoms" in English… is the the most direct route between the school dorms and Kageyama Gakuen. The path itself is adorned with ageless granite, keeping a constant foundation even in the toughest of weather. The most defining feature however, was the two rows of Sakura trees adorning both sides of the pathway, hence the name, Sakura no Michi. The road was slightly elevated from the earth, and in doing so a side of the road had a remarkable view of the campus.
Since the student dorms were perched above a hill overlooking the campus, the road's path had two downward 15 degree incline that stacked on the other, the last half of the road going opposite the direction of the first half. Such a flat incline made the walk down to campus longer, but most of the students didn't mind. As the path leveled out, it headed straight toward the campuses west entrance. It took a while to traverse the path, unless you erm... decided to jump down from the top, which was too high to do anyway.
Looking around, Chiharu saw the same scenery and people she was used to. Despite not being crowded as it would be if it was the first day of class, there were still many students walking to and fro. She observed the Cherry Blossoms in full bloom, people jogging back and forth, good friends talking, couples snuggling on one of the many benches… and a frantic girl struggling to catch up with her.
Okay maybe that last thing was a bit abnormal.
"Well if it isn't Kinomoto-san. I could've sworn I just saw you a few seconds ago!" Chiharu teased.
"Hai…" Sakura replied, short of breath as she finally caught up to her. "I'm such a baka when it comes to remembering important stuff like this…"
"Remembering? Oh, you must be staying at the dorms too! It's a good thing you bumped into me a while back then!"
"Hai, I don't even know where it is! I hope you don't mind if I tag along with you? Do you?" Sakura said bashfully. "I'm being such a klutz today!"
Chiharu gave out a small chuckle. "It's ok Kinomoto-san, nobody's perfect."
"Just call me Sakura!"
"Sakura... san" Chiharu repeated slowly and unsurely.
"No don't call me that!" Sakura chuckled. "It makes me sound like an old woman!"
"Then... Sakura-chan" she said it to herself silently a few times. "Yes that suits you well! But, I'll only call you that if you call me Chiharu!"
"Sure, Chiharu-chan!"
So the two newfound friends walked side by side striking up conversations as they were kept walking towards the dorms. Sakura found Chiharu to be a very pleasant person to talk to, and was very good-natured at heart. From their conversations, she found out she was from Aoyama, which was really close to the campus. That explained how she was a TA and knew the campus so well. Sakura also learned about Chiharu's boyfriend, who went by the name of Yamazaki Takashi; but surprisingly, all Chiharu said was how much of an idiot he was, which made Sakura laugh inwardly quite a bit. Still, for some reason she talked on and on about him, and it struck Sakura that Chiharu and her boyfriend were probably pretty close, despite the abusive comments she was giving him. Sakura couldn't wait to meet him!
Eventually they ended up talking about family. "… and then there's my onni-chan, Touya. Hmm… what can I say? He can act like a jerk sometimes… ok actually he acts like a jerk most of the time, calling me 'kaijuu' day after day. It annoys me to no end, but he was always like twice the height I am! Someday I'm going to get taller than him and squash him under my foot, like this!" Sakura then proceeded to stomp her foot roughly on the granite road.
Chiharu let out a small laugh.
"Still, I know that deep down, onni-chan really does care for me. So I really don't mind that much. I suppose it's just tough love, I guess."
"It sounds like you come from a family that loves you very much." Chiharu replied, with a hint of envy in her voice.
Sakura not noticing, immediately asked: "So… how's your family Chiharu-chan?"
"…"
"Chiharu... chan?"
Hearing no immediate response, Sakura took a glance and was surprised to see her usual cheerful face a bit depressed. "Maybe… I shouldn't push the subject." Sakura thought to herself. As bright and cheerful and friendly as anyone could be, almost everyone had something they didn't want to talk about... herself especially!
"Sakura-chan?" I heard Chiharu ask quieter than usual.
"Hm?"
"So why did you decide to try for Kageyama out of all of the others?" Chiharu said, immediately changing the subject.
Sakura's face lit up with a renewed expression. "That's simple. I want to get into a good college, succeed in life, and…" abruptly, she stopped herself from saying more, and clamped a hand over her mouth.
"And… what?" Chiharu echoed back. She didn't get a reply. "Sakura-chan?"
"Nothing!" Sakura said with a sheepish smile, waving her hands in front of her.
"Oh c'mon! Now I know you're hiding something!" Chiharu plodded on, immediately curious. "You can tell me Sakura!" Sakura had her eyes downcast now, very embarrassed at Chiharu's constant inquiries. She tried her best to pass it off as nothing, but she was a really, really bad liar.
"It's nothing important! Really!"
"If it really is nothing important, then why are you trying so hard to hide it!" Chiharu retored back with a smirk.
Sakura winced... she got her there. While Chiharu was practically hopping up and down trying to get this piece of information out of her, surprisingly, Sakura was really considering just telling her. It was one of her deepest secrets, second to only her being a magician. "Wow… I've only ever told my four best friends: Eriol, Tomoyo, Rika, and Naoko… I haven't even told otou-san or onni-chan about it. Now I'm about to tell this to someone I just met!"
It wasn't a dark or scandelous reason for trying to get into Kageyama, but it was something very personal and pretty embarassing to talk about. Still, Chiharu didn't seem like a person that would make fun of her or break her trust. "... promise you won't tell anyone who doesn't know this Chiharu-chan!" Sakura said to Chiharu as Sakura motioned for them to sit on a nearby bench.
"Hai! I swear not to!"
"Alright, here goes." I said, taking a deep breath. "You see my memory is kind of blurry at that point in time but I'll tell you what I remember… about 9 years ago my family and I were planning to go to China to visit an old friend of my mother's. When we were packing up to go, my mom told me about her friend's son, and how he was a very handsome, intelligent, and strong boy, and asked me to be friends and play with him. It was like he was some kind of oji-sama! So, naturally, I started asking questions to myself like "What would he think of me?" After a while, I got really nervous over the whole thing."
Chiharu listened on, a faint smile tugging up her lips.
"So, when we arrived in China, I was really intimidated when I first saw him, I remember that quite well." Sakura giggled. "I remember when we first entered their huge mansion, I was hiding behind my mom, dad, and brother. When I finally met their son, however, he turned out to be really nice and asked me if I wanted to play with him! So we started playing together outside everyday in his huge estate."
"He must've been really cute back then?"
"Yeah, he definitely was… He really was like an oji-sama." Sakura replied dreamily. Chiharu saw that one coming. "Anyways, my memory is really fuzzy after that, but... we made a promise to see each other again, by getting into this school together!"
"Wow, that's one big promise! I mean this is a hard enough school to get in to... think of how hard it would be for a foreigner!" Chiharu exclaimed.
"Yes it is! I know it's just a silly childhood promise, but I still remembered it and kept it in my heart all this time..." Sakura then stood up, twirled around once, and looked down at her new friend. "And look where I am now! Who would've known I'd be in this uniform!"
"But still, are you sure the boy you met went through with that promise too. I mean, you two were really young after all. What if he totally forgot about it?"
To Chiharu's surprise, Sakura's expression didn't falter at all. "It's ok then, I mean... I'm much more thankful for all I've accomplished because of him. Thanks to it, I became a smarter, stronger, and a better person..."
"But..." Chiharu butted in, "... I bet you would really like to meet him again!"
Sakura's eyes softened. "Hai... even if it's not in this school, I would be so very happy to see him again. I hope he still remembers me..."
"Sooo…?" Chiharu said assumingly.
"Hoe?"
"Sooo… details, details! What did he look like? What was his name?"
"Ano…" Sakura once again let out that nervous smile of hers. "You see that's the problem, I totally forgot!"
Silence.
"Are you serious?"
"Hoe? Umm… yes…"
More silence.
"Hahaha HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Oh c'mon Chiharu, was it really that funny?"
Chiharu couldn't stop laughing as they continued their journey to the dormitories.
"I'm really sorry… Sakura." Chiharu finally said, wiping a tear from her eye. "It's just that you were inspired so, so much by that boy, and you don't even remember his name! That's just too kawaii!"
"She sure has a weird sense of humor." Sakura thought briefly.
"It was 9 years ago!" Sakura retorted. "I was only 5 back then, you know…" she continued while twiddling her thumbs.
"Well like you said, you really do forget the most important stuff don't you?"
"H-hai."
Chiharu couldn't help but flash a huge smile. "Still, that's sooo romantic Sakura-chan! Chasing your childhood love this far. I'm so happy for you!"
'Childhood love?'
Sakura turned a few shades of red. "Don't... don't misunderstand! He's just a really important friend back then, that's all... Mou... saying something like 'childhood lo-lo-lo..."
Chiharu looked at Sakura, she really wasn't a good liar. "Now now, don't deny it Sakura-chan. I know you must've been attracted to him back then, even just a little... ?"
"W-Well, maybe a little bit..."
"A little bit?"
"Oh! How can I help it? He was like a prince, and he treated me like a princess! How can I not fall in--" Sakura immediately clamped her mouth closed for the 3rd time today.
"Oooh, an unrequited first love! That's just so..."
"A-ANYWAY!" Sakura interrupted her in a very loud tone. "We really have to get going! We spent a lot of time talking you think?" she said, frantically trying to change the subject.
Seeing that she obviously teased to a point of discomfort (not that she would mind pushing it a bit further later), Chiharu looked at her cell phone, and was a little taken aback. "Oh! You're right we only have about 9 minutes left, we better hurry!" she said as she quickened her pace to a jog.
Relieved, Sakura broke into a jog with her, running a little ahead. Watching her retreating back, Chiharu thought about the story that Sakura just shared, about her and a chinese prince. Although Sakura looked very embarrassed on the topic in the surface, she noticed something light up in her eyes as she talked about her long-lost friend. She was very happy yes, but her eyes looked sad at the same time. Chiharu wondered why... was it because she had forgotten about him? It seemed like the right reason, but then she wondered about the topic of the question itself. For one, it was very odd that someone would remember so much detail but not even remember the boy's name or what he looks like! 'Yeah, I had a good laugh, but still, something was just wrong with that!'
In spite of that, Chiharu can tell that Sakura wasn't lying. Oh yes, if there was one thing she was good at, it was telling who was telling the truth or not. The way her eyes were, the way she spoke, her expression... that wasn't some made-up childhood fantasy. If only she remembered anything about that boy... then she would've done anything in her power to help her newfound friend find him! But for now, all she could do was pray.
''Sakura, I hope from the bottom of my heart that you two will reunite someday.'
Kageyama Gakuen Ryou (dormitory)
10:58 AM
"Here we are Sakura!" Chiharu said as they came upon the massive housing complex. "Those students that are planning to live in the dormitories are given a choice between the East Wing and the West Wing." Chiharu pointed out.
Sakura marveled as she stared at awe at the two buildings. Both the east wing, and the west wing were shaped into two upside down L-shaped structures from her point of view. Although they were both separated distinctly, but were joined together at their westernmost sides, at the stems of the "L". In the space between the two wings lay the plaza, with a majestic fountain in the middle, surrounded by many trees, pathways, benches, and tables. At the end of the plaza and the dorms on the easternmost side lay the entrance of the road she was standing on now, Sakura no michi, which lead to the campus. On and off the various pathways, many students were lying down or sitting on the grass under their favorite trees; either napping, studying, or having a picnic lunch with their friends.
"I heard the West Wing gets a little stuffy during the afternoon… so I hope you and your roommates chose the East Wing." Chiharu whispered.
"Hoe…" Sakura replied, not really paying attention.
As Chiharu walked towards the East Wing entrance, she noticed Sakura still behind him, looking around in wonder. "Coming Sakura?"
"I'll be there in a little bit…" she muttered back.
"Soaking up the sun and the scenery aren't you? Can't say I blame you, I mean I did the same thing." Chiharu smiled back. "Well take your time!" she waved as she entered the building.
East Wing Lobby
11:00 AM
"I'm just on time." Pulling her cell phone out once again and checking the time which read 11:00 AM, Chiharu sighed it relief. "Whew, it usually doesn't take a whole 20 minutes to get here from the station but... it was worth it." she smiled to herself, looking through the glass sliding doors to see an elated Sakura still looking around in wonder. "I hope Yamazaki isn't mad..."
Chiharu looked around the massive, but crowded lobby filled with new and old students with their luggage at their sides, chatting adamantly with their friends. Trying to catch that black spiky hair that she would be sure to recognize, her eyes found her target. He was standing somewhat close to the receptionist desk and seemed to be engaged in quite a conversation with two girls. One of the girls had shoulder-length, curled brown hair and the other girl had glasses with darker, shorter, and straighter hair.
"… so that's why ghosts usually choose to haunt old Victorian houses. Interesting huh?"
"Wow…" the longer haired girl said in fascination.
"I never knew that Yamazaki-kun! You're really smart!" the other girl said in praise.
"Ah…" Yamazaki said, grinning from ear to ear. "… thank you ladies, you praise me too much-- AUUGH!" Yamazaki yelled in surprise, suddenly discovering two hands choking him from behind.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Quit making up stories!"
The two girls, who not surprisingly were bewildered at what just happened, was staring at the two shockingly. However when they saw Yamazaki still smiling through the torture, a big sweatdrop formed on the back of their heads. "Ah! Sasaki-san, Yanagisawa-san, this is my girlfriend I was talking about earlier: Mihara Chiharu!" Yamazaki somehow was able to say.
Immediately letting go of her strangle hold, Chiharu smiled up at Rika and Naoko as Yamazaki fell down with a big THUD! "Oh how rude of me! Yes, my name is Mihara Chiharu. You can just call me Chiharu. I'm an incoming freshman and I'll be staying here in the East Wing..." Chiharu then looked down, and lightly kicked Yamazaki if only to make sure he was alive. "And as you probably know, this baka is my boyfriend, Takashi Yamazaki."
"Umm… Mihara-san, will he be ok?" Rika said as she looked at the battered Yamazaki sprawled on the floor. "It looks like you gave him a concussion..."
Kneeling down, Chiharu stared intently at her seemingly unconscious boyfriend's face. She placed a hand on his forehead. "Yamazaki-kun…" she said. Suddenly she bonked him hard on the head.
"STOP ACTING LIKE A DRAMA QUEEN AND GET UP!"
"Hai, hai Chiharu." Yamazaki said as he quickly popped up appearing to be in perfect health. "I know you'd see through it, but you've got to admit," he looked up at Rika and Naoko. "I put on an award-winning performance!"
Rika and Naoko gave a nervous smile and clapped their hands lightly.
"Yeah that was great Yamazaki-kun…" Rika complimented, a little reluctantly.
"Hehehe…" Yamazaki laughed, showing that wide grin of his.
"You really are a sucker for attention Yamazaki-kun." Chiharu said lowly.
"You betcha!" came Yamazaki's reply.
"Oh, we haven't properly introduced ourselves Mihara-san. I'm Sasaki Rika." she replied bowing.
"And I'm Yanagaisawa Naoko, writer extraordinaire!" Naoko winked.
"Oh yes, did you know that in ancient Persia, writers of fiction that had anything to do with romance were immediately imprisoned and thrown into the lion pit? That's because King Cyrus IV had his eyes on a princess that visited her castle one day, a very popular romance author at the time, and really wanted to be with her. But then, when King Cyrus proposed to her, she declined, saying 'Oooh sorry, I'd love to be your queen, but I need to go on a journey to clear this writer's block!', so then the king was so upset that he..." Yamazaki wasn't even fazed by the fact that Chiharu already had him in a choke hold for about 10 seconds already.
"Lies! Lies! All lies!" Chiharu exclaimed as more than one vein popped on her forehead.
Rika and Naoko just looked at each other nervously. It would probably be something they'd have to get used to. "Oh by the way, Chiharu…", Naoko started, "Have you seen our friend around here? She's about this tall… Auburn hair… Emerald Eyes… her name's Kinomoto Sakura. She's our 3rd roommate and she's running kind of late... not like I'm surprised or anything." she finished, remembering all those times in elementary school where she always got to class 'just on time'.
Chiharu giggled. "Actually your friend is…"
Sakura trotted over to the fountain, still marveling the very beautiful courtyard. "I could get used to this. Waking up, seeing this scenery every morning… how great is that? If this is how it's going to be like for 3 years..."
She sat down and took amount to breathe in the fresh air. It seemed so peaceful, so serene… she could probably doze of here for the whole afternoon.
"I wonder what Naoko and Rika thought when they first saw this…?" she thought to herself. She suddenly remembered something? "Rika! Naoko! Oh no, how long have I been sitting here! Hoeee! 5 minutes? I better go!" She hurriedly stood up and ran towards the East Wing's entrance.
"So, that rules out using the lasin board too…" Syaoran said, completing his silent incantation, observing the lasin board not reacting to anything at all. For the past week they went to many places around Tokyo, trying in vain to search for any of their two targets, being either the card mistress or 'the evil presence' as he coined it. From his mother's information, Syaoran was pretty sure both of their objectives was somewhere in all the areas they searched, since if 'the evil presence's' target was the card mistress, it would be sure to not be far from her. Syaoran concluded that their methods of searching was at fault.
Today, he even tried to use his most powerful search tool, his lasin board. He was really reluctant to use it, as it gave off a big surge of magical energy that is easily traceable. Syaoran could suppress the energy, but he wasn't sure he could conceal all of it. With much complaining from Mei Ling how there were no leads at all, he decided to give it a try. He flared his aura and surrounded the lasin board with all the magical strength he could muster before activating it, and he was successful in doing so.
Still, the lasin board itself didn't react to anything besides his own energy, so all that effort was futile.
"Oh man… and no leads so far either! This is going to take forever I know it!" Mei Ling said.
"Well what did you expect? If the Li Clan and my Mother couldn't locate her, it's not going be no easy task for us."
"That's a good point…" Mei Ling pondered.
Syaoran couldn't help but look back at her oddly. "What? You thought that we would just conveniently bump into her out of nowhere?"
"… Sort of. I mean it could happen right?" Mei Ling asked sheepishly.
The two rounded the end of the hallway, and viewed the massive, let luxurious, East Wing lobby. "Well, let's head back to our dorm room for now..." Syaoran said to Mei Ling behind him as he approached the sliding door to the exit. Because he had his back to the exit however, he did not notice the door already sliding open to a frantic, emerald-eyed girl rushing in..
"There they are!" Sakura thought as she spotted her friends. "Sorry I'm….!"
"Now what are the chances that will…" Syaoran started to say as he slowly turned his head back forward.
CRASH!
Feeling a body collide into his, Syaoran shifted his body weight accordingly to stand up. Thanks to his years of training, he did so easily. Quickly seeing the girl he bumped into starting to lose her balance, he immediately grabbed the her wrist to prevent her from falling.
"Gomen nasai!" Sakura hurriedly said as the unfortunate victim she crashed into held her up. "I'm such a klutz, thank you for catching…"
She stopped mid-sentence as she caught his gaze. Her heart stopped.
To be continued
Preview for the next chapter:
Tomoyo: How could you end it there! Oh you're so cruel! Leaving it a cliffhanger like that!
Me: Heh heh… hey wait a minute! Didn't I ship you off to England last chapter?
Tomoyo: Yeah but you can't get rid of me that easily! Thanks to the internet, I still have a chance to read about my kawaii Sakura-chan!
Me: Umm… yeah… (slowly walks away) Hey, isn't somebody supposed to do the preview?
Rika: I'll do it. (Ahem) It seems like hero and heroine finally meet! It's the moment all you readers were waiting for! But how will they react? Ahhh! So many possibilities!
Chiharu: (thinking) Maybe… it could be the boy Sakura was talking about earlier?
Touya: Oi! If that gaki ever lays a hand on my sister…!
Me: Arg! How did you get here?
Rika: Next time on A Feeling So Strong: Chapter 4: A Strange Feeling?. See you then!
Translations:
Iie: 'No', or a humble response to someone thanking you, like "It was nothing".
Sugoi: 'Incredible!', 'Fantastic!'
Chotto matte: 'Please wait!'
Arigatou: 'Thank you'
Oji-sama: Prince
Gomen nasai: 'I'm sorry!'
gaki: The closest translation would be 'brat'. Touya calls Syaoran this many times in CCS, and that little quote by Touya in my preview is in homage of that. :)
