Hey guys! Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews! My exams are officially over, and I've passed ALL of them! Summer's starting and hopefully more chapters will be posted. I am not sure how many chapters this story will have, I'm aiming for 20 but I think I'll need to see how things go first. But thanks again for all your support.
Story: See to Believe
Author: hugsxkisses
Summary: Three years ago, Kinomoto Sakura met Li Syaoran… after he died. Now Sakura and Syaoran are married. It's been peaceful, until something happens. Sakura must choose between the life she loves and the life she's destined to live.
Pairings: Sakura/Syaoran Eriol/Tomoyo
Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Card Captor Sakura, all characters belong to them. The prequel to this story was inspired by the series 'The Mediator' by Meg Cabot, any references from the prequel in this story does not belong to me.
Chapter 9: Officially getting into business
Sakura never heard such a silence coming from the two people in front of her. Tomoyo was looking nervous, scared… but not for herself, for her best friend. Eriol had such a serious look on him, Sakura didn't dare try to crack and joke, afraid Eriol might just snap from the tension. Syaoran remained ever diligent by her side, only this time the arm he draped around her shoulder was tight, his face gaunt and his knuckles white.
"Guys, it's really not a big deal," Sakura said slowly,
"Oh really, forgive me for thinking it is a big deal when he just threatened to kill my wife," Syaoran said in a semi cool voice.
"We'll he wasn't specific I mean… he didn't exactly say he was going to kill me," Sakura reasoned weakly, Syaoran rolled his eyes,
"Well excuse me for thinking 'I will take my revenge' as another term for 'hope you trip and fall and not hurt yourself'" Syaoran said back.
"Guys," Eriol broke up their argument, "Listen, Sakura I need you to explain to me in detail what he said and how he looked." Sakura took a deep breath,
"That black thing… when we were in the washroom, it… transformed, it was like clay and it was moulding itself into shapes, and then it formed a man, and… and he said he warned me and that just because Syaoran was here doesn't mean he can't take his revenge." Sakura said softly, flashes of images came to her mind and she shut her eyes to block them off. There was a moment of silence,
"But… Sakura how do you know it…him?" Tomoyo asked timidly. Sakura chewed on her bottom lip,
"Tomoyo-chan, remember when I just turned 16, and we were walking back from school and suddenly it looked like I had a seizure or something?" Sakura asked, Tomoyo nodded,
"Yea, I didn't know you could… see things, I almost called the police," Tomoyo remembered, Sakura smiled softly,
"Yes well… that… he was the first ghost I ever exorcised."
Flashback
"I can't believe how much homework Mina-sensei gave us," Sakura whined as she and her best friend Tomoyo walked home on day. Tomoyo giggled,
"You just don't like it because of the math homework," Tomoyo giggled, Sakura blushed,
"It's hard I just don't get-" Sakura froze. Her muscles tensing, her hearing acute, her eyes sharpening and things suddenly going into focus so sharply was something she'd take years to get use to, but it wasn't new to her. No, it had been happening a week before her birthday, and after her birthday exactly a month ago, she started realizing whenever she felt like that, something unnatural was bound to show up.
"I'm sure you'll get it-Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo stopped seeing her friend a few steps behind her, frozen and still. Worried, Tomoyo stepped closer to her, when Sakura suddenly jerked to the left as if she wasn't able to control her body's actions.
Sakura could barely hold back a scream when a man suddenly popped up in front of her, and took her left arm and jerking her away from Tomoyo. Frightened she fought back, trying to elbow the man in his chest, leg, shins, anywhere! But her attacks literally fell right through him.
"Stand still," he growled into her ear. In Tomoyo's point of view, her best friend was jerking and pulling in thin air,
"Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo squeaked, Sakura tried to speak but came out as a muffle as the man covered her mouth also. Panicking, Tomoyo started for the nearest house, once her back was turned, Sakura-now living on instincts- felt the power brew up from her guts and shooting outwards. Almost instantly the ghost was repelled back, as if burned by her light. Coughing and stumbling forward Sakura turned to face him and saw the anger in his eyes.
As if all the dreams she had had for the past month came rushing back to her, Sakura muttered in a language she didn't know she knew, her hands were out in a position that seemed like a second nature and a shot of a dull pink light appeared and slammed right into the chest of the man…ghost… what ever he was! The ghost froze before letting out a piercing scream, and the light spread from the middle as if painfully devouring him before he disappeared completely, leaving a cold draft of wind. Sakura shivered as she called hoarsely to Tomoyo, as her best friend came and helped her back home, Sakura didn't need any dream to know what she had just done.
She just banished a soul.
End of Flashback
The long moment of silence was broken by Tomoyo,
"Was… was that what really happened?" Tomoyo asked quietly, Sakura nodded,
"How did Tomoyo find out?" Syaoran asked, Sakura actually giggled slightly and Tomoyo let out the smallest of smiles,
"Oh, well she was coming over one day and I forgot to lock my room door because I was dealing with a ghost, and she just saw." Sakura said amusedly and the two best friends shared a smile.
"Sakura what was the man's name?" Eriol asked bring all seriousness back, Sakura frowned slightly,
"Kane… he said his name was Kane," she said quietly
"A warrior…" Syaoran interpreted the meaning. All of a sudden, by the shelf, the music box rattled violently and a mist flew out and formed the shape of a young woman,
"Yakima?" Sakura remembered the young ghost they had found in their car, the young woman who wasn't supposed to have died, the young woman who had just turned 17 and was about to become a mediator. Yakima nodded her face pale,
"Who's this?" Eriol asked,
"Her name's Yakima Cheung, Sakura and I found her in our car one day after work, she was killed by Kane and she couldn't move on." Syaoran filled him in, "She was supposed to be a mediator."
"Sakura-san, Syaoran-san, did you… did you just mention someone with the name 'warrior'?" Yakima asked. Sakura nodded,
"His name is Kane, it means warrior," she said, Yakima looked nervous all of a sudden,
"What's wrong?" Eriol asked, Yakima looked unsure of telling them with Eriol and Tomoyo in the room, but Sakura gave the ghost a nod and Yakima told her story,
"Before… before my birthday I had these dreams, they told me I was a mediator and such… then they said to be careful on my 17th birthday because that is the day I will mature, and that a man with the name of a warrior would come and try and harm me," Yakima laughed sadly, "Before I didn't know what was going on so I ignored it… and I thought it was just insane and crazy,"
Sakura smiled sadly at the young girl,
"Wait I'm confused," Tomoyo said, "If 17 is the maturing age of mediators, how come Sakura-chan matured 16?"
"I… I never thought of that," Sakura thought to herself. Eriol thought deeply for a second,
"Sakura's mother was a mediator, and if I'm not mistaken, her grandmother must've been one too. Yakima, was there anyone in your family that was a mediator?" Eriol asked and Yakima shook her head, "Just as I thought. There are very few mediators whose powers are genetically passed on, if I am correct, Sakura must be a descendent of many mediators back from the originals."
"Eriol-san, would you call Sakura-san a reincarnation of sorts?" Yakima suddenly asked. Eriol thought about it,
"Yes it can be described like that too, why?" he asked. Yakima looked as though she was struggling with her memories,
"I-I can't remember it as clearly now," Yakima said slowly, "But, one day before my birthday, the dream was the same but then… then it went on further, and it said something about a warrior rising up for revenge and that the reincarnated one will be the one that will stop him as she has stopped the enemy three years ago, and it made no sense until now."
"Three years ago?" Tomoyo suddenly said, Syaoran's eyes frosted over,
"Ronin," he growled out the name, and then his mind clicked, "Eriol, would it be possible that Kane is trying to get rid of all mediators except Sakura? I mean, if there are none left, then Sakura would pretty much be all on her own and defenceless if he becomes any stronger,"
"That could be a possibility," Eriol said thoughtfully. The four of them plus the ghost were silent for a while,
"Well… I guess I should go back, I hope it helped," Yakima offered, Sakura smiled warmly,
"It did arigatou Yakima." Sakura thanked the young girl, like the way she entered, in a cloud of smoke; she disappeared back into the music box which let out a couple of notes before going silent once again. Sakura sighed, placing the cold cup in her hands onto the table,
"It's too much for one day," Tomoyo said, feeling sorry for her friend, Sakura laughed,
"Tell me about it," She leaned into Syaoran and placed her arms across her stomach, and felt a smile tug on her face, something Tomoyo's keen and trained eyes didn't miss,
"So did you guys think about names?" Tomoyo asked brightly, Sakura laughed and Syaoran looked at her with a weird expression,
"It's only one week," Syaoran said,
"So? You'd be surprised how long it'd take to think up of a name," Tomoyo said professionally,
"Yea, I think my mom took about three months to decide what to name me," Eriol said thoughtfully, Syaoran smirked; ready to give him a comment when Wei entered the room,
"Syaoran-sama, Sakura-san, Yelen-sama is on the phone." Wei said, Sakura said her thanks and eyed Syaoran,
"Who's going to take it?" she asked, Syaoran looked hesitant, and she added, "Hey she's your mother," she giggled. Syaoran sighed and took the cordless,
"Hello Mother," Syaoran said courteously, Tomoyo giggled and Eriol snickered at his change in personality and Syaoran aimed daggers at them, "Yes mother, Sakura is here as well, there wasn't much to do at the company so we came home early" Sakura could here Yelen saying something, "Tonight?" Syaoran turned to her,
"What?" Sakura mouthed, and Syaoran covered the mouth piece,
"She's asking if she could come over for dinner," Syaoran said,
"Don't you guys usually go?" Tomoyo asked and Sakura nodded,
"Oh what, oh no Eriol and Tomoyo are over," Syaoran spoke back into the phone, "No it won't be trouble but-well no I didn't mean it that way… no it's alright, tonight at 7 then? Yes mother… bye." Syaoran hung up with an exasperated look. "She's coming at 7," he said, Sakura giggled, hitting him on his arm,
"It's your mother Syaoran, at least try to look happy," she laughed, Eriol chuckled,
"I guess we'll be on our way then, do you need a ride Tomoyo?" he asked,
"Oh mother said you guys could stay too, besides I'm sure Sakura will need the help to cook," he smirked making his wife aim a glare at her,
"I'll have you know I am a very good cook," she said proudly,
"You are Sakura-chan, but it tends to change when you seem to throw up at everything you see," Tomoyo smiled and Sakura blushed,
"Ok I need the help, but let me change first," Sakura gave Syaoran a peck, and ran up the stairs into their room. Eriol laughed,
"I'd hate to see her during labour."
By 6:00PM, Sakura had run to the washroom at least 4 times, which basically cancelled fish for dinner. By 6:15, Sakura stole some chocolate to eat which-not only tasted sweet to her-managed to hold down her sickness which was a relief to all of them-more so Sakura. And by 6:40, Syaoran had ushered Tomoyo out of the kitchen so that he wouldn't have to stay with Eriol any longer, and the Li couple were working together, a pink apron around Sakura and a green one forced onto Syaoran.
"If this is how you cook I want mother to come and eat more often," Syaoran joked, seeing the salad, pasta and bread being prepared. Sakura stuck her tongue out as she chopped up tomatoes and added it into the pasta to make some stir fry.
"If you ate like this every day I could forget about going to work because I'll be stuck in here the whole day," she laughed. Syaoran grinned, wiping his hands on his apron to clean off the cantaloupe juice form the cantaloupe he had been cutting for dessert and came up behind her and wrapped his arm around her stomach,
"We do need to think up a name for this one ne?" he smirked, slightly tapping on her stomach.
"Syaoran, you're the one who said it's only been one week," Sakura giggled, continuing to cut up some carrots.
"Yea well it gets you thinking doesn't it?" he said goofily, Sakura giggled putting the last few ingredients in,
"Syaoran, I've got to cook," Sakura complained, Syaoran grinned turning her around so she faced him,
"I was thinking… Syaoran Junior," he grinned, Sakura wrinkled her nose, "What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing," she laughed,
"We can have a Sakura Junior too," he winked, Sakura laughed,
"And if you don't let me go, you'll have burnt stir fry," she chided, Syaoran let her go letting her stir her… stir fry, "Now, be a good daddy and go set the table," she giggled. Syaoran mocked glared at her but went to get chopsticks and plates. A few minutes later, as Syaoran was setting the table and putting the readied dishes on the table and Sakura was pouring the stir fry into a bowl, Yelen walked in.
"My, it seems like you've got everything under control," Yelen praised, Sakura laughed putting the last dish and taking off her apron,
"Sort of, it would've gone a lot smoother if he hadn't complained about everything," she teased her husband,
"I did not complain, it was simply constructive criticism," he said,
"Mmm… smells good," Eriol's head popped in followed by Tomoyo, sniffing the air he followed the waft of delicious smelling foods and landed himself a place right in front of the stir fry. He was about to lift his chop sticks for a taste when Syaoran glared at him shocking him to drop his chop sticks.
"Ouch, harsh man," Eriol complained,
"No powers at the table," Sakura scolded him quietly, Syaoran grinned sheepishly, even though he didn't mean to accidentally set his powers on Eriol-though he certainly didn't regret it.
Once everyone was settled, dinner began. Mild conversation drifted to and from the table, most of the time Sakura had to kick Syaoran under the table to not look so sour. Then, when they were almost through with dinner and Sakura was ready to bring out dessert, the TV in the living room suddenly flicked on.
"What's that?" Yelen asked, hearing the cartoon running. Eriol, Sakura and Syaoran shore a look, glancing at the living room uneasily to see a flash of something small.
"Uh… automatic timer, I forgot to turn it off," Syaoran said, "I'll go… turn it off," he said and excused himself quickly. Going into the living room, he saw-for a brief moment- a little girl on the couch staring at the TV in wonder, but when she saw Syaoran enter, she gave a small squeak and disappeared. Sighing, Syaoran went to turn off the TV before walking back to dinner.
"Excuse me I've got to go to the bathroom," Eriol said politely, walking out, dinner went smoothly for another 5 minutes, before the TV was turned on…again.
"Xiao Lang didn't you turn off the timer?" Yelen inquired, "Maybe I should go see,"
"No!" Sakura and Syaoran burst out together, they looked at one another uneasily, unsure of what to say,
"It's probably Eriol," Tomoyo offered, "Um… he likes his…" Tomoyo listened intently and sweat dropped, "He likes his Bugs Bunny." Sakura and Syaoran both coughed slightly,
"Maybe we should go and… tell him to leave Bugs Bunny alone," Syaoran said in a slightly chocked voice. Both Sakura and Syaoran excused themselves quickly, walking to their living room and saw Eriol coming out of the washroom,
"What's up?" Eriol asked seeing their faces,
"Oh nothing, I'm going to officially introduce Syaoran into the business," Sakura joked, "Oh by the way, you like Bugs Bunny and your favourite quote from the cartoon is 'What's up Doc?', anything else just nod and smile," Sakura added, the couple left Eriol with confusing looks.
Entering their living room, the little girl was once again there. She was about to disappear when Sakura called to her,
"Wait! We, we won't hurt you," Sakura said gently, slowly she knelt onto the floor to level her height, "What's you're name?" she asked gently, the little girl with flowing caramel locks looked like she had been living near the 1970.
"Natasha," the little girl said quietly, Sakura smiled,
"Hi Natasha, my name is Sakura, and this is Syaoran," Sakura said softly, and tugged Syaoran's hand so he knelt down with her, Syaoran followed and added himself,
"How old are you?" he asked, Natasha gave him a tiny confused look,
"I'm… I'm 9 years old," she said quietly. They were quiet before Natasha's gaze drifted to an old painting hanging above the fire place, Sakura and Syaoran followed and saw an old drawing of an average sized white house.
"Do you like it?" Sakura asked, Natasha nodded,
"That's my house," she said. Sakura's eyes widened looking at Syaoran,
"Isn't… didn't that house use to be…here?" She asked softly, Syaoran nodded,
"It did, but no one's lived in it for ages, so the government had it torn down," Syaoran said, then he glanced at the little girl, "Are you saying she's been here since… all the way back then?"
"She might, we didn't hang that painting up until recently, maybe that's why she showed up now?" Sakura said thoughtfully, "Maybe if she has the painting she'll move on."
"What are we supposed to do? We can't burn the painting now, mother will get suspicious," Syaoran whispered.
"No, she'll get suspicious if you and I both go out, if you stay, I'll say I need to go some where and I'll take the painting with me and I'll burn it." Sakura said, Syaoran was about to disagree when she added, "Syaoran you don't want a ghost haunting our dinner with your mom here do you?" she said. Sighing Syaoran reluctantly agreed,
"Fine, but bring your phone and make sure to call immediately when you need help." Syaoran said seriously, Sakura attempted to hide her rolling eyes but failed to do so, because Syaoran added, "I'm serious,"
"I know, I'll be careful I promise," she said sincerely, Syaoran went and gently took the painting down-thanking god it wasn't a big painting-and he felt Natasha's eyes follow its every move, and then he handed it to Sakura.
"Sakura's going to give the painting back to you so you could be with your family again ok?" Syaoran said gently, Natasha nodded, smiling for the first time they saw her and he watched her follow Sakura out the door. Then he made his way back into the kitchen where dessert was already served. Syaoran guessed Tomoyo had probably brought it out to make their absences less awkward.
"Oh Xiao Lang, where's Sakura?" Yelen asked, mid way through a piece of cantaloupe,
"Oh she went out… to get something." Syaoran said, sitting back down, "Eriol told you about the TV right?"
"Yes I told Aunt Yelen how much I love Bugs Bunny," Eriol said through gritted teeth. Syaoran smirked through dessert.
15 minutes later, Sakura came back in through the door, slightly out of breath and possibly a bit teary judging by her slightly puffy red eyes.
"Sorry, it was kind of an emergency," she apologized once she joined the table again. Syaoran caught her eyes,
"So?" he mouthed, Sakura flashed him a beaming smile and nodded. Syaoran smiled secretly to himself.
"Sakura, Syaoran, is something going on?" Yelen asked, and Sakura and Syaoran both felt their heart rate increase,
"What do you mean?" Syaoran asked as calmly as possible.
"The both of you seemed so… distracted tonight and Syaoran since when have you left the office in the middle of the day?" Yelen asked. Sakura bit the bottom of her lip, glancing at Syaoran,
"Should we tell her?" her eyes said. Syaoran looked doubtful,
"She might send us to some insanity ward," Syaoran thought to himself, and then Sakura cleared her throat.
"Yelen-san… we have something to tell you, you might want to stay sitting for this."
A/N: Is Sakura going to tell her the truth?? How will Yelen react? Why do I keep asking all these questions? LOL thank you so much for all your reviews, they mean a lot to me. Now that summer's started I can focus more on writing now.
