Tsureteitte
Tsubasa: RESIVoir CHRoNiCLE
By Unfinished Song
Epilogue: Take Me Away
"Um… you know… That thing I wanted to tell you?" Sakura stammered with her back facing Syaoran. "When we meet next, I'll tell you then."
"Oh. Okay." He didn't understand why she was so nervous. She had tried to hide it by speaking with her back to him but he could see the blush extending as far as her ears.
"I will tell you," she assured, "so wait a bit. Okay?"
She'd dashed out the door before he could say anything else to her. He watched her go, the people in the streets greeting her as she passed with warmth and cheerfulness he hadn't gotten to see in his first memories.
But their warmth was a pale glow compared to her brilliant light.
"These emotions I'm feeling… can never be. Right, Father?" Though he was speaking to the photo of his deceased beloved father on the table by the window, his eyes were on Sakura as she greeted each person she saw in the street with a word and a smile. "We may have grown up together… but she's still a Princess."
Please, take me away to the town of wind on the other side of time.
Toki no mukou kaze no machi e nee tsureteitte
Grant the wish of my pure, white flower.
Shiroi hana no yume kanaaete.
"I'm sorry."
Sakura looked surprised, then puzzled. "Why are you sorry?"
"Because Your Highness has a worry on her face," he explained sadly.
"Is it bad for people to worry?" Sakura asked with a quizzical tilt to her head.
Syaoran shook his head violently, knowing it was alright for people to worry or feel scared since Fujitaka had taught him such.
"Just now," he tried to explain, "when my father looked worried, I said 'I'm sorry', but he looked really troubled by it." His shoulders slumped in defeat. "I don't want to be a bother, but nothing seems to work."
"Listen." Sakura leaned over towards his ear and whispered, "If he's worried, instead of apologizing, try saying this-"
"I brought some tea." Just as Sakura whispered the word Fujitaka returned with tea for his son's lovely little guest. He looked to Syaoran with one of his warm welcoming smiles and said, "Be careful with that hand of yours."
He was scared to say it, but he trusted Princess Sakura, so he looked up at his father and said in his most sincere voice, "Thank you."
Fujitaka looked surprised, then quickly set down the tray and hugged his son. "You're welcome!"
Shocked at the sudden show of warmth, he looked at Sakura to see if this was supposed to happen.
She smiled.
Grab me by the hand with your gentle fingers, and take me far away.
Amai yubi de kono te o tori nee tooi michi o
Guide me to your world, so I can be with you.
Michibiite boshi no anata no soba e.
"It must be really important for Her Highness to have me meet Her so late at night," Syaoran said, glancing around. "But is it really alright for me to be here?" It wouldn't be good if a guard caught him here since he would get in a lot of trouble and that in turn would get Fujitaka in trouble, and that was the last thing he wanted.
"Um… Syaoran-kun? Is it okay if I just call you 'Syaoran'?" young Princess Sakura asked.
Suddenly, being caught by one of the palace guards was the least of his worries as he stared at the Princess in surprise.
"My big brother says that if there is someone you especially like, you can call him by his name only!" she explained energetically. "And so… you can just call me Sakura!
"Okay? Syaoran?"
Again, like so many times in the presence of his friend, he smiled as her warmth reached inside him and was shared. "Okay… Sakura."
Without even a whisper of your song, on this fateful afternoon
Sono utagoe sae nai hirusagari
two lovers awaken to become one.
Mezamete futari wa hitotsu ni nari
For the first time, they'll learn what true happiness is.
Shiawase no imi o hajimete shiru no deshou.
"…Who… are you?"
If the entire world could have been broken by just three words, then for Syaoran it did when Sakura had spoken those words when she first opened her eyes. His throat had closed and for a moment he had thought he might cry, but he forced it back. It wouldn't do any good for him to cry with Sakura so confused and not knowing what had happened to her. He forced his expression into a neutral face, and spoke formally to her as he once had when they had only known each other a short time, telling her why she was there.
"You're doing this for a total stranger?"
His brows dropped and his expression saddened, but he quickly whipped it away and smiled for her. "I am," he replied.
Only for her could he smile while his heart was breaking.
Now he stood in the cold rain, the Kudan all around him offering their comforting presence. He didn't scream or wail or sob like most people would have in his situation. If anyone saw his face the most they could describe the expression as was 'forlorn'.
In the rain, no one would ever see the warm tears rolling down his cheeks.
But… I can remember for her, and that's enough… right? All the games we used to play… How we spent our time… All the great birthdays we celebrated together…
The feelings I never shared. The promise she can never keep.
It was gone forever as the price to save Sakura's life. Now he was far away from the world he knew and more alone than he remembered ever being. It was true he had been alone in the beginning, but at that time he couldn't remember what it was like to be around people that cared about him.
People that made his heart warm.
He wished he could escape the pain, to run to a new place somewhere far from the hurt, but he knew he never would.
He would never abandon the one he loved.
That didn't stop him from glancing at a puddle at his feet and seeing his reflection stare back at him. His right eye gave an unnoticeable twang as the reflection seemed to change to something more. He once again voiced the wish of an unwanted, unloved child one last time before going down a new, harsh, endless road: a road he would only walk for the most important person in his life.
"Tsureteitte."
Take me away.
"I have been meaning to ask: why did you interfere? Assisting him in such a manner is a bit much for us to do."
The young Chinese girl looked over her shoulder at her questioner, her eyes and face ever unreadable. "It was just something I wanted to do," she said simply.
"That is not a reason," he argued, his voice never rising but clearly showing that he was perplexed by her actions. "It may have been for our cause, but what spurred you to go to him and tend to his wounds that day?"
"It's just…," she looked up at the main source of light in the room; a glowing tube surrounded by runes holding the form of a boy within it, sealing his vast power away. "I wanted to see the day it happened. It never would have come to be if he died in that cold city."
Fei Wang seemed satisfied with that. "I see. So your actions were for the day when all the pieces come into play."
"No," she contradicted, smiling up at the sleeping other half of the one of whom they spoke.
The 'other' Syaoran.
She saw the mirror image's lips move, copying the wish of the one whose heart at that moment was so full of sorrow. Even though she could never hear his voice when she watched him like this, she had seen him say the same word enough to know what it was.
Tsureteitte…
"What I wanted to see, why I went to him and gave him that helping push by healing him, yet leaving him in that cold city with no clue as to who dressed his wounds," Xing Huo said, "was so I could see the day he became something more.
"I wanted to see the day he was taken away.
"I wanted to see the day he smiled."
FIN
Author's Notes: This story was completed on May 19, 2006 at 2:05AM. Each chapter until this finale was re-edited before uploading for best quality. This started as a practice to get back into writing, but then it grew into something more. I'm very proud of the finished work I managed to create. Final edit was finished shortly before this chapter was uploaded.
The way Syaoran saw things when he first awakened is a factual representation of how someone with tunnel vision (proper term for total blindness) in one eye would see. A young woman I know has tunnel vision in one of her eyes, and she can't judge distances, hits curbs when she drives, and hurts herself a lot at work much like Syaoran does in the manga when he misses hits and can't judge depth.
The story Fujitaka mentions in Family is a small cross over I tossed in. In the fairy tale, the person that warms the character Li Syaoran is Sakura Kinomoto/Avalon from Card Captor Sakura.
Taken from Volumes 8 and 9, when Syaoran looked at his reflection in two instances, one in each volume, his right eye had a reaction and CLAMP drew his image when this happens as being reflected in a nearby mirror over and over, almost refracting the image behind him. The instance in Vol. 8 was used as the theme for Stranger In The Mirror.
The above song uses the Live-evil & Dattebayo'sfan dubtranslation to the first verse of the OST Future SoundscapeII Track 9, and was the driving theme for Tsureteitte.
This is my first complete story. The characters and settings mentioned herein are the property of CLAMP and their many publishers. The only thing I own is the basic way in which this story is told and is based on the many cryptic scenes given to us in the manga series about Syaoran's early life.
Special Thanks To: Insanity Team, the tangerine otaku, and Ginger Ninja. Without your first reviews, this story would have been removed and left on my computer.
To All Others: THANKS FOR READING!
