Beginnings

katlity

SO!! I heard that some people were disappointed in my lack of lemon. xD I'm sorry if I deceived you with me M rating, but it wasn't really something rated T. If you promise to keep reading my stories, I will give you a better lemon. ;) Enjoy. This will be the last chapter before the epilogue.

Tomoyo was left speechless. She opened her mouth to speak, but just closed it once more because nothing came out, and her mind was a blank. Tomoyo imagined taking a gun out of the large and expensive bag she clutched and shooting herself in the face. She should have known that her lifestyle in Canada would catch up with her eventually. She suddenly felt like the walls were closing in on her and she could not escape. She could only think of one thing.

Sakura stared at Tomoyo sitting across from her, praying to whoever that she had either a very good reason or that it had all been a lie. She could feel the escalating sting in her nose and then the horrible formation of tears that always came after. To hide her shameful emotions, she put her head in her hands. "Please, Tomoyo."

Tomoyo looked around the room in a panic, looking for something to inspire a good lie, or an act that would show Sakura she cared about her more than all the girls. She did the only thing she could save herself with other than, "I dunno." She knelt down before Sakura and stared deep into her glossy eyes that made her beautiful eyes magnified. This only made Tomoyo fall in love with her more. She took one of her hands in her own, "Sakura, you're the only one that I really care about-"

"Shut up!" she yanked her hand away from Tomoyo and practically sprung out of the chair she was sitting in, which caused Tomoyo to look after her in pain of guilt. Turned away, she said to her, "I didn't want to believe it, I..." it was evident that Sakura was becoming hysterical. She turned towards her again, and Tomoyo had to back up as the smaller girl started to inch towards her with her hands outstretched in a pleading way, "Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you break up with them when you started dating me? Was this some sort of roundabout way of getting me to sleep with you?! Do you have some personal vendetta against Lii that I don't know about?!" Sakura's voice got louder and higher in pitch with each question and the tears started to flow freely down her face as her breaths became shorter and more frequent.

Tomoyo only knelt for the time and gaped at Sakura. What was she thinking when she hadn't told her about the other girls, or broken up with them as soon as she started persuing Sakura? Obviously, she wasn't thinking at all. All she could do was shake her head and look at the floor in dismay. "I just don't know, Sakura. I can't explain it." She didn't think about it, because she didn't think it mattered anymore.

"Get out," she told her coldly after an awkward moment of silence.

"No!"

Sakura glared suddenly. It looked really scary. Her eyes slitted and they burned into Tomoyo's own eyes with the rage held within. "You forget that I can make you." she clutched at the key hanging around her chest. And it occured to Tomoyo that Sakura still had magical powers she could use at any time. Particularily she thought of the more violent cards. She had no choice but to leave the premesis totally in shock and feeling the biggest pang of guilt she'd felt since she found out that it was her fault for Sakura's breakdown. Her head fell into her hands, as she gasped for air, and tears stained the corners of her eyes. She got lost before she could make a fool of herself where her only love would be able to see her.

Sakura saw Tomoyo leave through the window. She saw as the young woman clutch her chest as it heaved and put a hand over her face as to hide her shame from passers-by.

Unknowingly, Kero sat and watched sadly from the stairs. His eyebrows were knit together in concern and confusion. What was going on? He had thought that they were so happy together. What could have possibly happened?

Oh, right. Lii.

Sakura closed the bright yellow curtains in a swift angry movement, then proceeded to pace the room mumbling to herself about how she deserved better, or how her life would and has been easier without Tomoyo screwing up her feelings. Kero saw Sakura stop suddenly, and her direction of her head was entirely focused on the coffee table. That was where Tomoyo had set down her designer bag when she went to take Sakura's hand. A sad muffled high pitched whining noise came from Sakura's throat. Kero recognized it as a silent scream and a sign that hysterical crying was about to begin. He grimaced when Sakura angrily flipped the table over as she screamed for real.

The table only flipped over and landed on the couch, but it did hit a small table carrying a picture of Nadeshiko and a small vase of flowers. Water, broken glass, and flowers were spilled all over the floor. And coincidentally, all over Tomoyo's handbag. She picked it up and threw that against the wall. Kero covered his own ears as she screamed sad things at the purse as it it were Tomoyo. "My heart is not a fucking plaything! You can't just do whatever the hell you want! I hope you enjoyed the good fuck you got out of it, because that's all you're ever getting out of this poor broken woman!" Then she broke down in sobs and knelt to the floor. She held herself and cried to the floor.

Kero couldn't handle this any more. He flew out the window. Before he left, he put the card that Sakura had made herself on top of her pillow in her room so that she would see it once she went to bed. Perhaps the love card would make her re-think about her anger towards Tomoyo.

Meanwhile Sakura was still sobbing to the floor downstairs. Her arms were still tightly wrapped around her own body. Her eyes were closed tight as water dripped constantly from them. A few minutes ran by of this. It was quite possible that bruises would form in the shape of hands at her elbows, but she decided to get up and fix the living room before her father got home. She managed with great effort to flip the coffee table back over without breaking anything else, and without scuffing the floor. She put her hands on her hips and looked on to the mess she had made with the flower table. She was just on her way to go get a mop when the phone rang.

"Hello?" she asked into the receiver without a trace of the feeling she had been experiencing beforehand.

Sakura almost hung up the phone when she heard the too familiar voice from the other end. "Hi, Sakura. Did you get my message?" He sounded too hopeful and happy about his question.

Sakura scowled into the phone. She could not believe him. She couldn't believe how the both of them had acted just to get her attention. "Yeah, I got your message," she told him sternly, "and if you even think for a second that I would come running back to you just because you ruined my perfectly fine relationship with Tomoyo, you have got to have something wrong with your brain." Click.

Sakura had only set down the telephone when her ears perked up at the sound of the door opening, and her father's voice yelling into the house, "I'm home!" All his movements were graceful; he set down his shoes, took off his winter coat, and walked into the house. As he saw and began to realize what happened int he living room, he was already setting down his suitcase and floating towards the chaos zone. He turned to Sakura with wide eyes. "What... Happened?" he said slowly.

All that the professor got out of his daughter was a sad sigh and a slump towards the mess to pick it up. That was when he spotted the large expensive purse that could only have been Tomoyo's. He picked up the now broken frame of his late wife. For the first time in so many years, he felt a surge of rage throughout his body. He gripped the ruined picture of Nadeshiko and set it back down on the floor. He took his daughter by the wrist, forcing her to look up at him.

SMACK!

A large red handprint stained Sakura's face. More tears rolled down her cheeks as she stared up at her father looking helpless. She had never seen such a look in her father. His eyes were closely knit together in anger and his face was the colour of rage. In his hand he clutched the wet and broken picture of his late wife and Sakura's late mother. All of a sudden, she felt like the worst person ever.

"Look," he said sternly, "I'm sick of this. You are my daughter. You've been through way worse times than this and have gotten through, but now you can't even operate independantly!" Fujitaka looked like her was frustratingly looking through his mind carefully for the rights words. Finally, he gave up and relaxed his shoulders. "Sakura, I don't know what exactly happened, but I think that you've overreacted. You need to fix this. And..." he took in a deep breath, "I think it's time you moved out."

Sakura's eyes widened in shock. She looked at her father and saw his eyes. They held so many emotions deep within them. She saw his deep love for his family, his dedication for whatever he does, and his general kindness to all. She suddenly felt so greatful. Sakura made her way back to her father, and embraced him, but she couldn't stop a few tears from staining the strong father in front of her. "I'm sorry," she told him, "And thank you. I love you so much." He hugged her back tightly and rested his head on her own.

"Sakura," he sighed, "I love you too." He pulled back, and wiped the tears from her eyes with his thumb. "I know you're so strong. I believe in you all the way, and if it doesn't work this time, you always have a home here."

"I know," she informed her father sincerely. "I'll clean up in here, so you should go relax." she pushed him away, and he happily obliged, but he took the picture with him. Undoubtedly to go restore it.

For now, the brunette wasn't worrying about what she was going to do. Right now she would solve the problem in front of her, which, at the moment, was the messy living room. The first thing she picked up was Tomoyo's soaking purse. She emptied the contents onto a dry towel, and proceeded to dry the purse with the towel mentioned. She couldn't help but sneak a peak at all the possesions, like the wallet, cell phone (which contained ridiculous amounts of names) and there was a large black book. Sakura was ever curious, so she just opened the first page.

It was Tomoyo's sketch book. This particular book looked like it was just all of her own ideas for costumes not meant for the stage, and every design was dated, the first of which was drawn the day Tomoyo left. She had mentioned she designed costumes for theatre, but something about this picture seemed particularily odd. Was it a futuristic style of the dress? No... The floating hat? No... It was the model. The petite form, accompanied by the short brown mousy hair and flashing green eyes. She frantically flipped through the rest of the book. Every model was the same, just wearing different clothes. So once again, she felt like a total asshole. Tomoyo had thought about her all along. She wondered just how long she had loved Sakura without saying anything. All at once, Sakura understood Tomoyo's pain and why she did what she did. Now she needed to fix it.

Tomoyo sat smack dab in the middle of the costume room, mumbling to herself about the "stupid clumsy actors" while she sewed some buttons on to a shirt soaked with sweat. Needless to say, this was a job for rubber gloves and thimbles. Today she wan't designing, but making alterations and fixing things that had gotten broken down in the process of theatre. However, few had the nerve to appraoch the crazy woman, and rumours began to fly around that the last person that bothered her while she was cranky got sewn to their own costume permanently.

There were small gasps heard throughout when only Brigitt had the gall to sit next to Tomoyo on the floor and give her a look all her own. "When will you stop being so immature?"

"You can't boss me around."

"Yeah, I can."

Tomoyo looked up at the ceiling in feigned thought. "What is it you do again?" a pause and then went right back to staring at her work again, "Oh yes! Not being my boss."

"That's 'administrative assistant' to you," she informed matter-of-factly, "besides, I am allowed to tell you what to do because I'm your best friend and right now I'm concered about you." Brigitt chose to take a more relaxed pose and lay her head down on top of pile of fluffy looking costumes. The back of her head was only pricked by a few pins. "I think you're thinking about it too much. You will have to get your stuff back some way. If you mails it to you: then it's over. If she delivers it personally: then you've still got a fighting chance. Plus, I'm sure she saw the design book and forgot aaalllll about your dirty naughty sexual adventures with all of your 'friends'" Brigitt made air quotes.

Tomoyo looked at her in shock, "I couldn't do it all of them at the same time!" she paused in actual thought, "although a few at a time might be nice."

Brigitt looked at her in amazement. And then a facepalm.

Tomoyo rolled her own eyes at Brigitt, but continued her repairing and sulking. Where her mind and thoughts usually flowed like a strong river, it seemed like her existence was like being stuck on the rocks in a shallow pond. But her eyes were drawn upwards and around the room when Brigitt nudged her side, which brought her attention to a practically hysterical high pitched voice.

It spoke Japanese.

She searched for the origin of the noise, and deduced that it was coming from the dressing room halls. She jumped up and made her way towards the sound using a hot-cold method. It was stange to passers-by who saw the veteran costume designer looking lost in her own place of work, but Tomoyo was on a mission. She had to stop a couple of times to wonder if she was going to toss her cookies, but continued to move forward. She couldn't miss her this time.

Meanwhile, Sakura was nearly in tears. She had made it all the way to Canada because she had gotten help from her father to find out where to go. God bless the internet. She had found her way across the country to the east side of Canada while understanding little to no English. Now that she was where she was supposed to be, it was a matter of finding the woman herself, but she was being confronted by what she assumed were actors in a dress rehearsal because of their costumes. She could tell right away that they were tomoyo's designs. She tried to ask them where Tomoyo was, but all she got back was a bunch of quizzical looks, and people pointing in different directions, and attempted slow English.

They all looked at each other, "Doesn't she look familiar?"

"Yeah, she does."

"But we haven't met have we? She only speaks Japanese or Chinese or whatever."

"Hey guys!" came one particularily loud voice, "She's the model for all of Tomoyo's designs. Look!" The person brought out a piece of paper and all of them looked at the same time and all let out an epiphanous, "Oooooohhhhhh..."

Right on time, Tomoyo came dashin around the corner, quickly followed by a panting Brigitt. Apparently, she had been following her. All the girls' eyes widened when they all saw each other. Tomoyo saw that Sakura carried her purse, with all the drawings in it. All she did was hold out her hand for it. Sakura obliged and handed it to her and bowed.

Tomoyo looked at her coldly which made Brigitt laugh on the inside because she knew the designer was feeling anything but cold, "Why did you come here?"

Sakura looked very humbled and bowed again while she spoke, "It was selfish of me to just dump you like that. I only did it because I do love you, Tomoyo," Tears crashed with the floor even though Sakura's head was still bowed. The actors became spectators of a television drama when they saw this. They somehow got the gist of what was going on. They all waited for Tomoyo's answer.

She stepped slowly towards Sakura's folded form and tipped her chin up to look at her. "I want you to understand," Sakura nodded, "You're not the only one who went through a touch time. I've been in love with you since I met you, and it was awful for me to be so close to you, yet you were in love with Lii, and I wasn't going to get in the way of your happiness." Tomoyo let go of Sakura's face, where it fell again. "I don't want you to get in the way of mine anymore. If we're going to make this work, it can't be all about you anymore. You haven't thought at all about what I went through all my grade school years, and I can't keep up a relationship all by myself." Tomoyo stepped back and watch Sakura for a minute while she waited for her to think about what she had just said.

The moment was intensified by the onlookers who stood by in silence while they looked concerned, and some of them were even crying. They were all quite entertained by the foriegn drama in front of them.

After about a full minute, Sakura stoof up straight and looked Tomoyo in the eye. "I know," she said strongly, "I'm not here to give you a second chance." Tomoyo's face was frozen in coldness at the realization that she wasn't taking her back, and then Sakura's softened, "I'm here to ask for one." She went to Tomoyo smoothly, got down on her knees, and took Tomoyo's hand in her own, which made Tomoyo reminiscent of when she did the same thing at Sakura's house the day they broke up.

Tomoyo suddenly felt the pressure. The spectators, Brigitt, and Sakura were all leaning towards her urging her to say yes. Tomoyo was at a loss for words, but all she had to do was look into the eyes of the girl she had loved more than half her own life, and she didn't need to search anymore.

She knew the answer.

What did you think? One more to go. Thanks so much for reading.