Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP.

Chapter 10

When a person is allocated in front of a door, what is expected of that person? Sakura tilted her head; it was a very big door. I guess I should knock, she thought and took in a big breath.

"Come in," the resident of the room announced shortly after her fist met the fine cherry wood.

"Shaoran!" she chirped and poked her head into the room. It had a foreign feel – the Lee taste, perhaps. There was a lot green furniture as well, and, combined with the bare wooden floor, it was like being in a tree. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"No," her fiancé replied. He looked up and smiled while he put the sword and the piece of cloth away. "I was just cleaning my sword."

Sakura plopped down in the chair next to his. "I hope you weren't wiping blood off of that."

"What would you do if I was?"

"I'd scream and run away, but I have to accept you for who you are," she pouted, "And for whatever is on your sword."

"If you must, check my rag," Syaoran said, dangling the dirty thing in front of Sakura's face.

"I don't like the way you play, Prince."

"Me neither, sometimes. So, to what do I owe the honor of your visit?"

"It's been a while since my last reading lesson," Sakura mumbled in a soft manner. She eyed the bookshelf in the corner – if he had that much book in a guest room he stayed in, one could only imagine the amount in his real room.

"You're right," Syaoran said and got up. He walked to the cradle of knowledge and dug around in the books. "Where is that – here it is. I hope you remember where we stopped."

Sakura took the book from Syaoran's hands and laid it down in her lap. She looked up at the prince, her eyes suddenly filled with uncertainty. "Shaoran, why don't we read a book I brought?" she asked and revealed the novel that she hid under her sleeve.

"I don't mind," Syaoran muttered, confusion playing its way across his face. He took his seat while eyeing the thin, red book. There was no title on the cover. "What is it about?"

He watched Sakura doodle on the red with her finger, and his curiosity went up even more. Silence was usually his thing, but the quiet was making him uncomfortable. "Well," she opened her mouth. "I've only heard part of this story.

"It started out with a girl who lived in a big, dazzling mansion with her grandfather. When he passed away, she was only sixteen. Sad and broken, she left her home and moved to a small but prosperous village. There, she found her cousin and settled down.

"A year or two later, she gave birth to a boy. The father rarely showed himself, but she didn't mind. Time passed, and she soon had a daughter.

"The daughter," she glanced at Syaoran, "was named Sakura."

--

Mixed with the gentle warmth of spring were sprinkles of hot summer air; Touya grunted as the small armies of unwelcome heat charged at him whenever a breeze swept by. With each push at the stubborn water pump, squeals of delight from the village girls gushed out along with the liquid.

"Show's over, ladies. Come back tomorrow," he said, picking up the two buckets. The girls groaned and left – slowly, of course, because they wanted to savior every last glance at the man before watching him in action the next day.

"You know, one of these days you're going to marry one of them," Sonomi said with a sigh as she walked towards Touya.

"Be glad to know that it's not today or tomorrow."

"I'll be glad when you get yourself a family," said Sonomi. She unfolded a piece of paper that she was holding onto. "Here's a list of things the castle ordered. Do you think you could get them all delivered by next week?"

Touya put the water down in a shaded area, massaged his shoulder a bit and got the paper from his aunt. He skimmed through the items and nodded. "I think I can."

"That's good, but don't rush, alright? It's for the big wedding," Sonomi picked one of the buckets up and looked towards the market place. "We should get going. Tomoyo can never handle the bargaining ladies too well."

"Isn't Sakura helping?"

"She did for a while…"

"Che, I just hope she isn't with that Robert boy again."

"Touya, there's nothing to worry about. She's just being nice; Sakura's completely aware of his special condition."

Is she? Touya wondered as he watched the ripples in the water distort his reflection. If only the passion of summer couldn't chase away the innocence of spring.

--

"Princess, have some apples."

"You'd thing running away together would make us closer, and yet you still call me princess," said Aishi, frowning. Robert chuckled and put the plate next to her before sitting back down.

"Have you forgotten? We haven't run away," he said as he fetched for his sculpting knife. "And what's the deal – when are we leaving?"

"I was thinking," Aishi twirled a strand of hair thoughtfully, "we could go after the wedding."

"That's almost two months from now! I don't think I can wait. Something will go wrong if we keep pushing our departure back, I just know it."

"…"

"What about next week?" Robert asked. "You'll have time to say good bye to those fake relatives of yours, and I'll –"

"They aren't fake," Aishi pushed the plate of apples away. "I'm the one who's fake."

Robert closed his eyes for a brief moment, calming himself down; they've been fighting way too much. "Look," he said, his voice gentle once more, "Aishi, I know how much you're sacrificing."

"Don't say that," Aishi whispered and locked her face behind her fingers. "Don't pretend you understand."

"Fine, I won't. Just remember, you ripped up your family, wealth, status, and home – your whole life, like a piece of paper for me," he said, taking a fragile wooden board and crushing it. Aishi held her breath. "You can find a better one with me, or," he grabbed a bowl of glue mixture, "you can piece the thing back together, keeping in mind that it'll never be in the same condition it was before."

"Or," Aishi sighed and pulled her chair closer to his, "I will think about it this week and give you my answer the next."

"Sounds good."

Smiling, Aishi laid her head on his shoulder. "Do you think you could make me something? I want to give it to Sakura – not in person. Gosh, relax."

--

"S-Sakura?" Syaoran repeated. "Are you telling me the life story of your friend?"

She shook her head firmly. The prince let out a laugh of disbelief and reached for the little red book. "What kind of person is vain enough to write a book about her life?"

He flipped to the first page. The bewildered complexion evolved into a quintessence of shock when his eyes fell onto the picture. It wasn't the beauty of it that amazed him, absolutely not – the thing was just a child's snack time drawing of a chicken. He turned to the next page, its contents matching the previous picture: a flower and what seemed to be a house. "It's not a book without pictures…?" he mumbled to himself.

"Sakura's baby cousin drew that," said Sakura, pointing at the colorful blobs on the pages. Syaoran stared at her; the way she looked at the pictures, it was so gentle and full of adoration.

"She gave it to her on the day the, um, princess went to town."

"You mean…when you went."

She didn't respond; instead, she kept on examining the works of "art" as if she was waiting for something alive to parade out.

"…Who knew Sakura would be chosen? Who knew Sakura even existed?" she whispered.

Syaoran saw the artist's skill improve as he ventured deeper into the book. The child was growing up, and the things she saw were getting more complicated. From a triangle as a roof and a square with two squares inside as the windows, and a rectangle as the door, to the appearance of a chimney, some bricks, and the shadows to make the house seem realistic – Syaoran began to wonder which was more beautiful. Sakura reached for the cloth with which the prince cleaned the sword. She smiled; there was no blood.

"Sakura thought, why her of all people?"

– A picture of a dove in a red wheel barrel –

"Princesses are kind of selfish, she soon realized."

– A couple bunnies; one of them was eating a carrot –

"But so was she. She wanted to have fun."

– Books, some pencils, and crooked letters scribbled in the corner –

"And besides, she told herself, it was a win-win situation."

– Blank pages –

"It was for love, what the princess was doing."

– A castle. The Kinomoto castle. –

"What could go wrong?"

– The princess's room from the view of a person who was standing at the door, too timid to go in. –

"So, her dream came true."

– Princess Aishi. A self-portrait? No... –

"She became a princess, kind of like her mom."

Syaoran stopped in the middle of turning a page. The face of Princess Aishi stared back at him; she was the house with the chimney, bricks, and shadows.

"It all turned out to be a nightmare, though."

Turn, Syaoran.

"Then something happened. A miracle happened."

What are you afraid of?

"Sakura found her prince."

The grumpy face, messy chestnut hair – the artist had erased what she had previously and redrew the eyes, the soft, amber eyes. Syaoran was staring at Syaoran. He looked back at the girl in front of him, the cozy home made up of a triangle, two squares, and a rectangle.

"…Sakura…"

Finally.

Note: The ending reminds me of Fergie's song, Finally. xD Syaoran finally knows that Sakura is Sakura I hope you liked the little revelation! Three more chapters and this thing is done :( Touya's going to the castle...Robert has "problems" apparently...and what's Syaoran going to do about Sakura?