Chapter 18: Sakura's Fantasy Come True
Tokyo, Japan
"You awake?" whispered Heero into Sakura's ear. Sakura was resting against Heero's chest as the couple sat under a large tree in the middle of a secluded area of forest nearby to where Heero kept his Gundam. Sakura didn't bother responding with words, instead she merely purred quietly to indicate she wasn't sleeping. "Do you remember a couple months ago when we captured the Lightning and Air Cards?"
"I remember," said Sakura, a little confused as to why Heero would bring up that fight all of a sudden.
"There was something I wanted to say before the cards showed up, and right now seems like a perfect time to say it." Knowing Heero couldn't see, Sakura let a wide smile cross her face. She knew exactly what Heero was about to say to her, and she had been waiting impatiently for the last two months to hear the magical words. "I love you, Kinomoto Sakura. With all my heart."
Sakura whipped her head around and gave Heero a deep passionate kiss. When she finally broke the kiss, Sakura left her arms wrapped tightly around Heero's neck and placed her lips near to his ear. "I love you too, Heero-kun. With all my heart."
"Then," began Heero as he pulled away just slightly from the beautiful Card Mistress. Bringing one of his hands between them, Heero handed Sakura a very small velvet box. Sakura slowly opened the gift and her eyes went wide when she saw the contents. Inside the box was a small white gold ring adorned with a flawless princess-cut diamond. "Will you marry me?"
Sakura was speechless for several moments, her eyes darting between the gorgeous piece of jewelry and the deepness of Heero's cobalt blue gaze, while her brain struggled to comprehend what had just happened. After what seemed like an eternity, Sakura's brain finally returned to reality. "Yes!" squealed Sakura as she pulled Heero into yet another deep passionate kiss. "Yes, I will marry you."
Heero smiled a genuine smile and carefully plucked the engagement ring from the box and slowly slid it onto Sakura's finger. Once Heero had finished putting the ring on Sakura' hand, she held her hand in front of her face to take another look at her new engagement ring. In front of her eyes, the diamond slowly changed color just slightly to become a light pink. Watching the diamond change color made Sakura unconsciously smile as she realized it was the same type of diamond that her necklace was made from. Sakura closed her eyes and grasped her necklace with her hand. When she opened her eyes again she stared deeply into Heero's gaze. "I love you so much, Heero-kun."
"And I love you, Sakura-chan. Now and forever." The newly engaged couple stayed in each other's embrace for hours before finally deciding to head back home.
Sanc Kingdom Three Months Later
"You look so beautiful," commented Ami.
Even though it was probably the hundredth time she had heard it in the day, Sakura still blushed and avoided eye contact at the compliment. "Thanks, Ami-chan." Sakura was in one of the many luxurious bedrooms of the Peacecraft Castle with all of her friends, getting ready for her wedding. The ceremony was scheduled to begin in under an hour, and while she was unquestionably ecstatic at the fact that she was marrying Heero, the magnitude of the whole situation was finally starting to hit her.
It was only a short three months ago that Heero had changed her life and proposed marriage to her on that beautiful evening in the forest, and since that day, Sakura's life had moved at the speed of light. Fortunately, Heero had proposed at the end of the school year, so Sakura had been able to get through the last of her classes without much distraction. However, once summer hit, it was anything but a vacation for the Card Mistress. That is not to say that Sakura disliked the work or regretted her decision of agreeing to marry Heero, but she had been wholly unprepared for just how much work went into planning a wedding. And to make matters worse, Sakura's wedding wasn't a normal wedding either. She was marrying into the prestigious Li Clan, where tradition was very valuable and the ceremonies for an occasion such as the wedding of one of the future leaders of the Clan were extremely extensive.
The original plan was to have the wedding in Tokyo somewhere, however, when Princess Relena found out about the wedding she immediately suggested the Peacecraft castle for the ceremony, and along with her offer to help fly the guests to the Sanc Kingdom, the gesture was just too nice to pass up. Of course, Princess Relena was not the only friend helping Sakura with all the planning. Her best friend Tomoyo was an invaluable resource, assisting Sakura with everything from a guest list, to creating her the perfect wedding dress. Ami and the other roommates also helped Sakura as much as they could, although Tomoyo, who had been looking forward to this day her whole life, unintentionally left the other girls in a totally different league, leaving them to mainly be supportive when Sakura felt overwhelmed. For the majority of the Li Clan ceremonies, Syaoran's mother, Yelan, along with Meilin, took care of all the details and preparation letting Sakura focus her time elsewhere.
Despite all the help, however, Sakura was still busy as a bee the entire summer, and it wasn't until the few hours she got to relax before the ceremony, that she could really take it all in. As Sakura scanned the room, she couldn't help but marvel a little at how the most magical day of her life was unfolding. Just like any little girl, Sakura had always dreamed about her wedding day. However, she had always pictured having a normal small ceremony filled with family and friends. And not that it made her unhappy in any way, but her real wedding was turning out to be just the opposite. The guest list was easily four hundred people long, close to half of whom were Li Clan members and associates that Sakura had never met before in her life. The location of the wedding was at a magnificent castle in a foreign country, and just by looking around the room, it was clear this occasion was anything but ordinary. Not only was she a powerful sorceress as the Mistress of the Clow Cards, but she was surrounded by two Sailor Senshi in her roommates Ami and Minako, a powerful leader of the Li Clan in Li Yelan, the daughter of the CEO of one of the most profitable companies in Japan in her best friend Tomoyo, and the ruler and Princess of her own country in Relena Peacecraft. And that was only the females that were involved in the wedding. On the other side was the groom, the Master of the Clow Cards and a leader of the Li Clan in Heero, his cousin and also a powerful magician in his own right in Syaoran, four elite soldiers who pilot the most powerful weapons on the planet in Heero's comrades Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wu-Fei, and the reincarnation of Clow Reed himself in Eriol. Then you add in the guests, and the list gets ridiculous. In addition to all the members of the Li Clan, including all five elders, there was also the other Sailor Senshi, including all the Outer Senshi, Sailor Moon's husband, Tuxedo Mask, Sakura's own guardians Kero and Yue, although Yue was currently in the form of Yukito, and the Prince of the Sanc Kingdom, Milliardo Peacecraft. And on top of all this there were still all of Sakura's friends and family from Tomoeda and from college, as well as some of Heero's comrades from different parts of the world.
To the untrained eye, Sakura looked perfectly normal, but both Tomoyo and Ami knew the sweet girl well enough to know that something was bothering her. Even though all the girls in the room were close to the Card Mistress, neither Ami or Tomoyo wanted to bring up the issue with Sakura until they had some privacy. Fortunately, since Ami and Tomoyo were the only two bridesmaids, a decision that was made mainly so that Heero would only need to pick a pair of groomsmen, all the two girls had to do was tell everyone else that they should get to their seats before the ceremony was to begin. Once all the girls were gone, Ami and Tomoyo went to Sakura, each sitting on either side of her.
"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" asked Tomoyo.
"Nothing at all," Sakura replied, smiling, although she doubted her smile would fool her best friend.
"Sakura-chan. You aren't fooling anyone. Now tell us what's bothering you."
"Are you getting nervous about marrying Heero-kun?"
"No!" stated Sakura emphatically. "Well, not exactly. I want to marry Heero-kun more than anything else in my life…"
"So then what is the problem?" Ami questioned when Sakura stopped speaking.
"What if…" Sakura began. "What if Heero-kun gets bored with me?"
"Sakura-chan," consoled Tomoyo as she gave her best friend a hug. "You know as well as anyone that that will never happen."
"Heero loves you," added Ami. "Probably more than life itself. I know you will be happy together for years and years to come."
"Thanks guys. I guess since I have been so busy planning everything lately that I hadn't had any time to think. And now that I have a moment, I was getting a little nervous."
"I think every bride has a moment of doubt before they get married, but the trick is just to know how you feel about each other, and to know this is truly what both of you desire from the bottom of your hearts."
"You're right, Ami-chan," said Sakura. "I'm so lucky I have you guys."
"We love you, Sakura-chan."
"And only want what's best for you."
"I love you guys too," said Sakura as she pulled both girls into a loving group embrace.
A moment later there was a knock at the door and Ranma poked his head in. "Everybody decent?"
"Come on in, Ranma-kun," Tomoyo replied.
"You look beautiful, Sakura-san."
"Thank you, Ranma-kun," Sakura answered shyly as always when someone complimented her. "How is Heero-kun?"
"You know him," answered Ranma with a shrug. "As Duo would say, he's the perfect soldier."
"You know he really is very sweet," said Sakura.
"When you are around, sure. He loves you. But when he's with only us, he always has up that cold exterior. Anyway, Li-sama and Princess Relena told me to come let you know that everything is ready and we can begin as soon as you are set, Sakura-san. Or should I start calling you Yuy-san?" joked Ranma, causing Sakura to blush at the sound of having her name being the same as Heero's. "Or maybe Li-san, since you will be a part of the Li Clan after all."
"Yuy Sakura-chan," said Tomoyo to herself. "I like it. It's cute, just like you, right Yuy Sakura-chan?"
"Tomoyo-chan…" whined an embarrassed Sakura.
"You can tell everyone that we are set, Saotome-kun," said Ami, who was also smiling at the thought of Sakura taking Heero's name. "We will be there momentarily."
"Sure thing. And Sakura-san, Yuy really is a lucky guy, so enjoy yourself today."
Before she could even respond, Ranma was out the door and Sakura was left staring, realizing just how great all of her friends really were. "Yuy Sakura, huh?" whispered Sakura to herself, causing an unconscious smile to begin to form upon her lips.
"What was that, Sakura-chan?" questioned Tomoyo, who was pretty sure what Sakura had mumbled to herself, but liked to have fun with her best friend.
"No-nothing," stuttered Sakura as a bit of a blush spread across her cheeks. "We should get going. we don't want to keep everyone waiting."
"Getting impatient to see Heero-kun, or shall I call him your new husband?"
"Tomoyo-chan…"
Tomoyo giggled before pulling Sakura into a hug. "I'm so happy for you, Sakura-chan. I love you so much."
"I love you too, Tomoyo-chan."
"Ready?" asked Ami from the doorway after the two best friends had finished their embrace.
Sakura took a deep breath and then replied. "Ready."
The walk from Sakura's room to the reception hall, although not especially far, felt like it took an eternity. Despite the fact that Tomoyo and Ami had substantially calmed her down, this was still the biggest day in the young girl's life, and she knew it. Upon reaching the lavish reception hall where the ceremony was to be held inside the Peacecraft Castle, Sakura took a peak inside. Although she had seen the list of all the people coming to the wedding, she hadn't really realized just how many people were going to be there. She knew exactly how long the list was, but until she saw the spacious room filled to capacity with over four hundred people, at least half of whom Sakura was embarrassed to admit she had never met, did the girl really come to grips with just how large of a wedding it was going to be. The Card Mistress was able to spot a good number of her friends amongst the crowd, but couldn't quite see up to the very front where her family was sitting. She did see Heero standing with Syaoran and Duo at the front of the room, looking calm and collected as always. Even though everybody had told her it was bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding, Sakura couldn't help but say hello to the love of her life.
"Heero-kun," said Sakura telepathically.
At hearing Sakura's voice in his head, Heero looked up. He didn't physically show it, but he was just the slightest bit surprised, since he could tell she was very close by. He had figured he would have noticed the moment she entered the room, if not by feeling, then definitely by the commotion it would cause, considering she was definitely the girl of the hour. Heero scanned the room, doing two sweeps before he finally caught a glimpse of his bride-to-be's giggling face peeking through a crack in the doors at the far end of the room. Heero couldn't keep a half smile from crossing his lips when he caught sight of the love of his life. "Sakura…"
Sakura hadn't been able to keep herself from giggling when she felt Heero's confusion. Because Heero wasn't normally an overly emotional guy, Sakura had gotten fairly accustomed to being able to sense the rare few times Heero had mood or mental changes. "I know everybody says it is bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding, but I kind of just wanted to hear your voice."
"I missed you too," responded Heero. "But I understand all the preparations are complete, so whenever you are ready, I believe we can begin, and then we won't have to be separated for any longer."
"Hai. I will see you up there soon!"
"I can't wait." Heero paused for a moment until he saw Sakura duck her head back out of the doorway opening. "My beautiful new bride."
At hearing Heero call her both beautiful and his bride, Sakura blushed such an incredibly bright shade of red, she was almost certain Ami and Tomoyo could tell, despite having her white silk veil now draped in front of her face. Fortunately for the Card Mistress, the two bridesmaids didn't notice, or at least chose not to comment on, the bride's cherry red colored cheeks. Instead, when the doors to the reception hall opened and the music started playing, the two lovely girls started their walk down the aisle, followed a minute later by the beautiful bride. As Sakura made her way down the center aisle of the room full of people, she found herself exceptionally glad to have a veil covering her face. Her blush from Heero's earlier comment had still yet to recede, and seeing the faces of hundreds of people staring at her as she glanced from side to side, wasn't helping any. Sakura almost wished she had asked Tomoyo and the others, who had been helping her get ready, to put on more makeup to hide the current color of her cheeks, but Sakura had never liked wearing makeup, and with her natural beauty and flawless complexion, she didn't need it anyway. Using a technique Syaoran had taught her years ago, Sakura cleared her mind in hopes of relieving some of the color in her face, however, once she reached the front alter, it turned out to be unnecessary, as the shock completely cleared out all her embarrassment. Sitting in the front row, right between her father and her older brother was the one person in the world she would never have expected to see.
"Okaasan?"
Author's Notes:
Surprise, I'm still alive! So here's my like once per year update. I would update faster, but like I say every time, I just don't have as much time as I would like. Plus it doesn't really help that me and the main person I was always writing this for have kinda drifted apart, so I lost a lot of my interest in writing my stories. But that's not really important, so yeah, here's the update, and another one will come eventually.
