A/N: Heyyyy my lovely rockstars! I'm back and this time for good. Let me tell you guys I edited and re-edited this chapter so much I had to split it in two. I wanted it to be perfect for you guys since I went MIA for a couple months. Anyways, I will be making a mini-series of epilogues about the years after high school and all that good stuff. So for now enjoy, and as always let me know your thoughts. :3
~R&R~
~DarkAngel~
-Syaoran's POV-
I made my way to the office and immediately started to search the web. Something had struck a chord with me when Sakura mentioned both her and Nadeshiko were missing their parent/child, it seemed too coincidental and if I knew anything it was that nothing in this world was coincidence it was merely the inevitable. I made a call to one of the Li investigators and ten minutes later I had the entire report on Nadeshiko's kidnapping. I looked at hospital paperwork for anything regarding the child and after what felt like an eternity I found a note on the baby's hair and eye color: auburn hair and green eyes. That's all it took for me to call up the one person who'd know for sure.
"Hey Tomoyo, sorry to bother you but I have a question regarding your aunt Nadeshiko." I asked.
"You're not bothering me, but it must be serious if you're asking me before we all meet up." She replied.
"Yeah, I have this hunch and did some research but I think you would know better than me, is there any chance Nadeshiko is Sakura's biological mom?" I asked, holding my breath.
I heard Tomoyo gasp softly before sighing deeply.
"My mom and I had some suspicions as well and confirmed it. Sakura is Nadeshiko's daughter and my cousin." She admitted and then went on to explain everything in detail to me, there was no point in hiding it from me anymore since I had figured it out.
"Wow, that's crazy." I sighed once she finished. There was a knock on my door and Sakura poked her head in.
"You ready Xiao? It's almost time to meet up everyone." She smiled and I nodded.
"Ok, thank you very much, I'll be expecting the revisions on my desk after the holidays." I said quickly into the phone and I heard Tomoyo giggle.
"I guess Sakura walked in, I'll see you guys in a few." She said and hung up. I felt bad for lying to Sakura but it wasn't my place to tell her what I'd find out. I locked my computer screen and made my way to her side.
"Sorry about that, you know last minute details about the launch." I kissed her temple and she seemed content with my sorry attempt of an excuse.
We made our way to the mall and the girls squealed once they saw each other, it had only been a week but they acted as if it had been years.
"So, how was China?" Chiharu asked Tomoyo and Sakura was clad in jeans, a yellow long-sleeved v-neck, brown combat boots and a brown jacket.
"Did you guys get to visit any temples?" Naoko asked in a baby blue sweater dress, white tights and black high heeled boots.
"Did you bring us souvenirs?" Rika asked with a smile,looking elegant in skinny jeans, a white turtleneck and brown high-heeled boots.
"Woah, missed you guys too." Meiling laughed in black leggings, tall black uggs and an oversized red sweater that reached her knees.
"Hey, don't you start missy! We didn't know you were leaving too!" Naoko scolded lightly at Meiling.
"We didn't know either." Tomoyo smiled lightly and Meiling glared at her playfully.
"Ok! Ok! I'm sorry I didn't tell anyone my plans but I needed it to be a surprise." She said throwing her hands up in fake surrender.
"It's ok Mei, we just like teasing you." Chiharu smiled and the girls laughed.
Sakura, Tomoyo and Meiling went on to tell them all that happened during our trip, leaving out only the kidnapping incident; we had all agreed it was better to keep that a secret from the gang otherwise they'd make a big fuss about it. After all agreeing on being hungry, we decided to stop at a restaurant to eat.
"So how were your Christmases?" Sakura asked from her seat next to mine, my hand automatically going to rest on her thigh.
"Hiro's parents invited me over to his house for dinner, but we had a lot of fun." Naoko smiled.
"Miki came over to mine and we went on a date afterwards." Rika smiled as well.
"Takashi and I go on a Christmas date every year." Chiharu said her cheeks turning a little red.
"Awww you guys are so cute!" Meiling teased and the girls threw balled up napkins at her.
"Ok, I'll stop." She laughed and we ordered our food.
"I'm so excited for the party tomorrow! I can't believe it's going to be a new year already." Chiharu said happily.
"Thinking back, this year came with a lot of surprises." Naoko pointed out.
"You're right, I mean just look at us! We hardly knew each other and now we're like family." Rika smiled.
"You're not wrong though, I mean look at Syaoran and Sakura." Meiling teased.
"What about us?" I glared which only made her laugh.
"You guys were the real wild card, I mean with you being Mr. Popular, heartbreaker, playboy bad boy and Sakura being Ms. Invisible, library ghost, little genius; nobody saw it coming." She smiled.
"You're right, I mean Eriol and Tomoyo kinda make sense because they're similar but you and Sakura are total polar opposites." Takashi teased making the gang laugh.
"I agree though." Sakura not skipping a beat.
"What?" I said surprised.
"I mean is no secret we're total opposites, we've even talked about it but I was surprised when we became best friends at the beginning of the year, dating you didn't cross my mind at all." Sakura said innocently and I couldn't help but agree.
"I guess you're right, I mean I had a hard time accepting my feelings for you." I admitted shyly, making her smile.
"Same." she smiled shyly as well.
"AWWWWWWW" The whole gang said at the same time and we glared at them almost identically.
"Even your glares match!" Meiling laughed.
"Nice job on the gifts Syaoran." Tomoyo smiled at our matching outfits.
"Yeah, real cute." Eriol smiled his cheshire cat smile and I threw a balled up napkin at him.
"Whatever, lets just order." I grunted and the table laughed.
The rest of the night went by quickly, full of stories and laughter. We ended up back at the mansion for drinks and it wasn't until 3 am that everyone left. Sakura had fallen asleep somewhere along the line on her pink bean bag chair and I smiled as I scooped her up with all the care in the world to carry her to bed. This girl was definitely making me soft, but as long as she never left I'd be ok with that.
*Sakura's POV*
I woke up in my bed and smiled knowing Syaoran had carried me back. Glancing over to my phone I noted it was only 9 am so I went through my morning routine and dressed in black sweats and a white cami. I picked up a book from my collection and made my way to the kitchen to make some tea.
The maids bowed respectfully as I passed them and I smiled warmly at them, it had been weird at first but after living here for the past two months I had gotten used to it. I made my tea and left for my room again, it wasn't often I got some quiet alone time between work, school, Syaoran and our friends but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I settled on my lounge couch and sighed in content.
I was absorbed in my book when a knock interrupted me.
"Come in." I called and a messy mop of chocolate hair poked its head in.
"Hey gorgeous." Syaoran smiled and made his way over to me.
"Hey yourself, handsome." I smiled and he kissed me sweetly on the lips before taking a seat next to me on the couch.
"Did you eat yet?" He asked glancing at my empty mug.
"Not yet, but it's still early-"
"Early? Cherry, it's 3pm." Syaoran interrupted with a smile.
"What?! But this is only my second book!" I said glancing at the finished book on the coffee table and at the almost finished one in my hands.
"It only takes you like 3 hours to finish one so I'm not surprised, but we gotta make our way to Tomoyo's soon. She wants us all to get ready at her place remember?"
"Crap, you're right." I put a bookmark in place and went to grab my high top vans and a hoodie.
I heard Syaoran chuckle as he watched me scramble to get ready.
"What did you do today?" I called from the closet.
"Work out in the morning, ate breakfast with my mom, and then just worked on the new launch we have next month. Thanks for all the notes by the way, they helped a lot"
"It's no problem, why didn't you come get me though? I would have helped you." I grabbed my bag and we left my room for the garage.
"I thought you might want some you time." He smiled and I kissed his cheek.
"Thank you." I smiled and he returned it fully.
"Nothing to thank me for." We reached the garage and he opened my door before getting in the car himself.
We drove listening and singing along to the radio and before we knew it we were at Tomoyo's. We pulled up and noticed everyone else's cars were already there.
We walked in and it was complete chaos. Well, organized chaos, maids and butlers running left and right putting up decorations, cleaning, making sure everything was in place.
"SAKURA!" Sonomi's voice seemed to boom from somewhere and next thing I knew I was engulfed in a hug.
"Can't breathe." I gasped out and she stepped back with a smile.
"It's so good to see you Sakura! You're as cute as always." Sonomi beamed and I returned it.
"Good to see you too Sonomi." I smiled.
"I told you to call me Auntie, and who is this handsome young man?" She asked gesturing Syaoran.
"I'm sorry Auntie, this is my boyfriend Syaoran Li. Syaoran, this is Sonomi Daidouji, Tomoyo's mom." I introduced.
"Nice to you meet you ma'am" Syaoran extended his hand and gave her a small smile.
"Oh gosh Sakura! Lucky you, he's so charming. Please Syaoran call me Auntie as well." Sonomi smiled brightly and I blushed lightly at her teasing.
"Thank you." He smirked at my reaction and they shook hands.
"Let me not hold you guys up any longer, the girls are all in Tomoyo's room, the guys are with Eriol in the room across, go ahead." She smiled again and left us to keep redirecting everyone.
"Don't take my breath too hard now." Syaoran teased as we reached Tomoyo's room.
"Same goes for you mister." I teased back. He kissed me soundly and we parted ways.
"Hey guys, what's up- WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED HERE?" I yelled mid-sentence upon seeing all the mess in Tomoyo's room. There were clothes and shoes littering the floor, the girls were all in rollers or messy buns and robes , make up was everywhere as well as glasses of wine.
"Us." Meiling laughed and the rest of the girls followed.
"Now come on, you're late and the party is in an hour and a half." Tomoyo chided me and sat me in front of her vanity.
"Here." Meiling pushes a glass of red wine in my hand while Rika who was wearing a black clay mask started in my hair.
"What's this?" I asked taking a sip, it was sweet unlike the nasty red wines I had drank.
"Sweet B*tch Merlot." Meiling laughed
"How fitting." I joked and the girls laughed.
Despite the mess in the room, our 6 dresses hung neatly in the closet and the rest of the girls were all semi done. Exactly an hour and a half later we were all ready to go and Tomoyo like always had outdone herself with us.
Tomoyo was dressed a navy, thin-strapped, georgette dress that reached the floor and flowed behind her a little. Gold heels decorated her feet and she put her hair up in a wavy ponytail with a gold cuff.
Rika was dressed in a burgundy, knee-high, halter-style chiffon dress that left her back bare. She had a snow-white faux fur shawl that matched her pearl necklace and earrings perfectly. Her hair was left down in waves and the black stilettos on her feet finished the look.
Naoko looked elegant in a black, strapless mermaid-style dress that reached the floor. She wore silver heels and a pretty silver flower pin held her hair swooped to one side. A beautiful silver necklace that Hiro had given her tied the entire outfit together.
Chiharu looked stunning a white satin dress that reached the floor and hugged all of her curves. It was held up by two thin straps and the neckline scooped a little. She had her hair in an elegant bun decorated by silver clips that matched her jewelry and high heels.
Meiling was gorgeous as always in a red satin dress that hung tight to her body and reached the floor. A slit ran up both sides up to mid-thigh and gold pumps could be seen. Her long hair was left straight and down with only a gold flower clip to decorate.
Then there was me clad in a sparkly gold, sleeveless, trumpet style gown. The dress shimmered and sparkled every time I moved, as did the sparkly gold pumps on my feet. My hair had been left down in beach waves and Meiling had insisted on giving me a Smokey eye and red lipstick combo.
We all took a look at one another and smiled.
"Girls, we clean up nice!" Chiharu squealed.
"Oh yes! That reminds me." I gasped and went over to my bag.
"What's wrong Sakura?" Tomoyo asked.
"Nothing, just wanted to give you these." I smiled and showed them the 6 identical bracelets I had bought for us. The were thin with the only difference being the jewel charm color.
They all gasped in unison.
"I just wanted you girls to know that even though I've never had this many girl friends before, I consider you all to be more than that; I consider you girls my sisters and I wanted something that the 6 of us could have together." I explained and went on to give each one of them their perspective bracelet. Purple for Tomoyo, red for Meiling, yellow for Chiharu, Aqua blue for Naoko, clear for Rika and pink for me.
"Awwww, we love you too Saku!" Meiling said in borderline tears and gave me a bone crushing hug. The girls lost no time and joined into the hug as well.
"Girls! The boys are waiting downstairs!" Sonomi yelled from outside the door making us laugh.
We broke off our hug laughing and wiping away the near tears.
"Coming!" Tomoyo yelled back.
"Makeup check." Rika laughed and we all took turns making sure our makeup was still intact.
"Let's go ladies! Time to knock them dead." Meiling cheered and we laughed.
We made our way to the wide staircase and there at the bottoms, our 6 handsome princes waited for us. The all wore identical black suits and white shirts, the only variation being their ties and pocket napkins. Eriol's tie was navy, Miki's was burgundy, Hiro's was black, Takashi's was silver, Ryu's was red and Syaoran's was gold.
I met Syaoran's eyes and almost melted at the wolfish smile he gave me. We descended the stairs and as we reached the bottom he offered his arm, which I happily took before he led us away towards the ballroom. Sonomi and Tomoyo had really outdone themselves because everything looked amazing. Everything had been decorated in gold, black and white and both chandeliers had been lit beautifully. Helium star-shaped balloons in gold,silver and black floated through out the room and regular balloons in the same colors covered the floor. The champagne colored curtains had been drawn and a light snowfall could be seen outside the floor to ceiling windows. High black-gloss, cocktail tables were spread around the edge of the dance floor and a string quartet played a beautiful melody as we walked in. Hors d'oeuvres were being passed around as well as drinks, to sum it up it was beautiful.
We all approached one of the cocktail tables and were served champagne.
"Ladies, you all look incredible." Ryu complimented us and Meiling kissed his cheek.
"Thank you." We all chorused cheekily.
Syaoran snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me closer until his lips tickled my ear.
"You though, you look beyond incredible. You look absolutely breathtaking." He whispered huskily in my ear and a chill ran down my spine as he did.
He kissed my temple and smirked at my now red face.
"Get a room you two." Miki joked and we laughed at his teasing.
People were now starting to pile in and soon the party was in full swing. Tomoyo and Eriol had excused themselves to help Sonomi with the hosting. A lot of the people at the party were business tycoons, so Syaoran kept getting recognized as well as me. The boys eventually asked us to dance and once again I felt like a princess and by the look on the girls faces they felt the same.
After an hour and a half of mingling we were served dinner in the dining room, and after we were all done with the delicious meal we were guided to the ballroom once again. Lights of different colors as well as a Dj has been set up, so unlike the upclass party it was before, the room now looked like a real party at a club.
"Sakura! Tomoyo!" A voice called as we walked to inside the room and I saw Nadeshiko approaching us with a smile. She looked beautiful in a simple grey halter-top dress that reached the floor. Her long hair had been let loose in waves and a simple emerald necklace pulled the look together.
"Auntie!" We both separated from the group and greeted her with smiles and she hugged each of us.
"You ladies look so beautiful!" She smiled.
"As do you." Tomoyo complimented back and I nodded in agreement.
A gentleman approached her then and placed a hand on her shoulder in which she automatically intertwined her fingers with his.
"Girls, this handsome man is my husband Fujitaka." Nadeshiko introduced to which the man smiled gently at us and I was able to get a proper look at him. He had honey auburn hair and kind brown eyes. He wore a grey suit with a white shirt and an emerald green tie, and seemed to have the same kindness as Nadeshiko in his demeanor.
"Nice to finally meet uncle." Tomoyo smiled.
"Nice to meet you." I smiled as well.
"Nice to meet you both as well, Tomoyo-San, Sakura-San." As he said each of our names he shook our hands and I couldn't help but feel a pang of nostalgia as I did. His voice and demeanor seemed comforting, but like something you'd forgotten from your childhood.
"Where are Touya and Yukito-san?" Tomoyo asked.
"They're running late from the hospital they are interning at, but they already called saying they were on their way." Fujitaka answered kindly.
"That's great, now if you'll excuse me my mom is calling me over." Tomoyo bowed and left.
"Sakura-chan, could we have a chat with you?" Nadeshiko asked kindly and I nodded with curiosity.
I looked back and met syaoran's eyes. I signaled that I was leaving with Nadeshiko and he gave me a smile and a nod before someone called his attention again.
She led us to the library across the hall from the ballroom and to our luck the fireplace was lit ablaze.
"Why don't we sit down?" Fujitaka proposed and and they took a seat in the loveseat facing the fireplace and I sat down in an armchair facing them.
"Well, I know it may be a little strange for us to bring you out here to talk to you but there's something we need to tell you." Nadeshiko started. "You know how I told you I was looking for my lost daughter?"
I nodded slowly.
"We found her." She smiled with tears threatening to form.
"That's great, I'm so happy for you." I beamed.
"Sakura-chan, you are our daughter." She said softly, a tear rolling down her cheek while she smiled.
A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the cliffhanger! But I need the reunion to be perfect and to stand on its own. I'm already working on the next chapter but I'm perfecting it to the T since you all deserve nothing less than. Till next time! Love you all :3
