WOAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH !!! It's been a while, heh?? Over 4 months, I think, ne? o_O( )
Well. I'm REALLY SORRY. My computer was...er...DEAD. I had to send it to my uncle for reparation (because I'm not good at repairing things) and it took him quite a long time to make it work again (well, it took him 4 months. Hehe) So I couldn't update, of course :-p. So once again, I'm sorry. (especially for all those who thought I had given up my fic. See? I didn't.)
Now, I wish I could say that I'm going to write a LOT, but unfortunatly, I'll have to work a lot for school, cuz I've an exam at the end of the year which I MUST pass. (And this will be HARD. Trust me.)
However, I'll try to find some time to write some chapters, I promise. (and I say it again : I WON'T stop that fic here.)
So...this is chapter 7 ( ...and I remember saying that it was on its way when I posted chapter 6...OH MY GOD.) I don't think it's very good, although you could expect a VERY good one from me, since I made you wait a long time. Well, sorry.
Anyway, enjoy !! ^___^
Warning : to all those who can't stand yaoi (boy-boy love) stuff, sorry there's some ahead (not much, just a mention of Touya and Yukito relationship, I'm just warning you for later chapters.)
"Namida no densetsu"
-The Legend Of Namida-
By :^*Kasumi*^
Chapter 7 : "Meetings"
Night was slowly falling on the mountains as the Kinomoto's car arrived near the chalet. Sakura gave a look at the shadowy landscape, remembering sadly that the first time she got there, her friend Yamazaki was still alive. She sighed and turned back her head to the two passengers at her right side, an angry little flying thing fighting with her tall dark-haired brother.
-"Do you EVER stop complaining, you stupid stuffed animal?"
-"Yeah, I would, if someone gave me something to eat."
Yukito Tsukishiro, Touya's bestfriend-and-a-bit-more-than-that was sitting in the front seat, next to Sakura's father.
-"Stop fighting, we're almost there." He said, smiling a bit at the two. His smile soon faded though, as he looked at Sakura.
-"You okay, Sakura?" Sakura looked up at him, blushing slightly at his concern for her. She had been in love with the grey-haired man for a long time, before learning that Yukito loved her own brother, Touya.
She smiled.
-"Yes, thanks."
Mister Kinomoto parked his car in front of the chalet, and they all got out. Sakura took her bag, but as the others were taking their luggage inside, she stopped to give a look at her surroundings.
'I was so happy to be here, last time...I thought I was going to enjoy the stay...'
She closed her eyes and remembered Yamazaki. Then, the boy's face vanished, and was replaced by the young ghost she had met earlier. Sakura shivered and opened her eyes quickly. '...I hate ghosts...but I must fight her.'
-"Sakura !! What are you doing?" came Yukito's voice.
-"I'm coming!"
Sakura went inside the chalet, and found her father speaking with the owner of the place. When she saw Sakura, the woman gasped.
-"Hey, you're one of the kids who were here a few days ago, aren't you?" She asked, quite harshly, pointing her finger at Sakura accusingly.
Sakura stepped back a little. The owner of the chalet was an old woman, about 50, with grey hair and grey eyes, and she was a bit scary, frowning at Sakura, with her hands on her hips.
-"...y-yes, I am..." The woman approached Sakura, studying her closely.
-"And why are you coming back, young girl?"
-"...er...I-I am on holiday with my family..." Sakura answered, stepping even further from the woman, looking desperatly at her father for support.
-"Please, can we have our rooms' keys?" he asked, and the woman turned her head to look at him, still frowning. She sighed, and gave them the keys. She looked at Sakura once again, then leaved.
Mister Kinomoto looked at his daughter, raising his eyebrows.
-"This woman doesn't seem too pleased to have you back here, Sakura."
Touya nodded.
-"Maybe it's because of that boy who died. I wouldn't be at ease either if someone had been killed near my house...and as Sakura was one of his friends, she's upset, and..." Touya stopped as he noticed a little girl spying on them from behind a door, next to the owner's office. When she saw him looking at her, she quickly disappeared, slamming the door.
-"Hoe?" Sakura looked at the door, but saw nobody. "Who was there?"
-"A girl." Touya answered.
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-"What are you going to do now, Sakura ?" Mister Kinomoto asked, looking at his upset daughter who was sitting on the edge of her bed, staring at the ceiling. The young girl sighed and closed her eyes.
-"I don't know." She got up and looked outside. From her room, she could see the path where she had seen the ghost before leaving. Sakura frowned.
-"I'm going outside, for a walk."
Fujitaka looked at his daughter.
-"I don't think it's a good idea to go alone, Sakura. I'm coming with you."
-"Er...thanks, but...I'd rather go alone, I need to think." She was not used to talking about magic with her father yet, and she wanted to go to the place where she had seen the ghost alone, to think of what to do.
-"I won't go very far, don't worry, Dad." She turned to the door and opened it quite fast, not wanting to worry her father.
On the doorstep, Sakura found a little girl knelt down in front of her door. She seemed to be around 7, had blond hair tied up in pigtails, big blue-grey eyes, and had obviously been spying through the keyhole. When she saw Sakura, the girl got up quickly, blushing furiously.
Sakura, being the good and naïve girl that she is, blinked, then smiled softly.
-"May I help you?"
The girl blushed even more, and ran away as fast as she could.
-"Hoe?"
Sakura blinked again, shrugged and went outside.
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Sakura went to the path and looked around her. 'I don't know why I came here in the first place. What am I supposed to look for?' She walked slowly, unconsciously heading towards the forest where Yamazaki had died. 'What am I going to do now? If I want to fight that ghost, I need to find her. But...I don't even know how to fight her...' She went on walking, deeper and deeper into the forest. 'There has to be a way to get rid of her...there has to be...'
Suddenly, Sakura stopped, and looked in a hurry at her surroundings.
-"Ho-Hoe???" She was completly surrounded by trees, and when she looked down at her feet, she realized that she had left the path a long time ago.
-"Where am I?? I...I'm LOST !!!"
Sakura heard nothing but the sound of the leaves rustling. And then...
-"May I help you?"
-"Hoe?"
Sakura looked up, for she thought she had heard the voice coming from somewhere above her head.
She studied the trees around her, but saw nothing and started to wonder if she had dreamt or not.
Suddenly, a boy appeared in front of her, jumping down from the highest tree on Sakura's left side.
He looked at her, smiling.
-"Good evening, young princess. What are you doing, wandering alone in such a scary place?"
He seemed a bit older than Sakura, was quite tall, and had short, messy, platinum blond hair.
Sakura sweatdropped, but smiled back.
-"I...er, well, I was just...having a walk before dinner...at the chalet..." He held out his hand at Sakura and smiled again.
-"Do you mind if I walk you home?" Sakura blushed as she looked into his aquamarine eyes. The boy was quite cute, and he had a gentle smile very much like Eriol's. He wore a black shirt and blue jeans, and Sakura felt her blush grow deeper while looking at him.
She slowly took his hand.
-"Er...excuse me, but...who are you?" The young man looked at her with his nice smile again.
-"I'm Keitaro. I live in the chalet."
-"I'm Sakura Kinomoto. I'm on holiday here." Keitaro looked surprised.
-"Really? That's strange, don't you know what happened here a few days ago? Grandma is complaining because nobody wants to come here anymore because of that..."
-"Are you talking about the boy who...who died?" Keitaro looked at her, even more surprised. Sakura stopped walking and looked down.
-"He was one of my friends. I was staying at your chalet when it happened." Keitaro was silent for a moment. But you could tell from his quick glances at Sakura than he wanted to ask her something.
-"Er...excuse me, Sakura, but...why did you come back?" Sakura gasped, and kept her head down, not to make him aware that she was trying to find a good reason to explain her coming back. '...I didn't think of that !!!What am I going to tell him? I can't have everyone in the chalet get suspicious at me!!!' She was thinking hard to find a lie to say to him when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
Startled, Sakura looked up to see Keitaro with a concerned look on his face.
-"I'm sorry. You don't seem to be wanting to answer, I shouldn't have asked.".
Sakura, suddenly relieved, gave him one of her best smiles. They started walking again, and Sakura tried to start the conversation.
-"And...what were you doing in the trees, Keitaro?" The young man looked at her and smiled once again.
-"Do you mind if I don't answer either?"
Sakura blushed again at his smile ('He's really cute...') and thought of another subjet to speak of.
-"Keitaro...when I was in the chalet a few days ago, how come I never saw you if you live there?"
-"Grandma doesn't want us to disturb the guests where there are a lot of them. So we don't usually hang around them."
-"We?"
-"Me and my little sister, Misaki."
-"I saw a girl before coming here, she was looking through my keyhole."
-"Small, blond, pigtails, grey eyes?" Sakura nodded.
-"That's her. Don't pay attention to whatever she does, she's weird. I'll lecture her for spying on you."
-"What do you mean she's weird?" He stopped walking and Sakura realized that they had reached the chalet.
-"We're here. Have a good evening, I must go now, Grandma doesn't like it when I speak to strangers."
He suddenly let go of Sakura's hand and went to a door at the side of the chalet.
-"Hey, wait!!" But he was gone. Sakura sighed.
-"Good evening to you, too."
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When Sakura came into the dining-room, she noticed that everyone was already sat around the table, and that the maid had filled up the plates.
Blushing furiously from the embarrassement of being late, Sakura quickly reached her seat and said, almost in a whisper, that she was sorry.
-"Where were you, Kaijuu?"
-"I was just having a walk in the forest and I'm not a kaijuu." Sakura started eating, trying to ignore her brother's attempts to make her angry. ("Hey, Sakura don't eat too much, the owners of the place can't afford to feed Moby Dick"). Yukito sweatdropped.
-"So...Sakura, did you have a nice walk?" he asked. The young girl stared at him.
-"Ah, yes. I needed some fresh air, it was great, and I--" Sakura stopped talking.
Misaki, wearing a pink night dress, was looking at her, on the doorstep. Noticing that Sakura had seen her, she ran away.
-"...and you?" asked Yukito. Sakura blinked.
-"Hoe? Oh!! And...I, er...enjoyed myself. Hehehe..."
As soon as she finished eating, Sakura excused herself and went to the corridor. She guessed that Misaki had just been there a few seconds ago, because she heard her soft footsteps not too far away.
Following the sound of Misaki's bare feet on the floor, she found Keitaro's sister in another corridor, running to its end.
-"Hello, Misaki."
Misaki stopped running and slowly turned back to stare at Sakura, looking a bit afraid. She looked quickly away from the card mistress, and started to walk away from her. Sakura's smile faded.
-"Hey, wait ! Did I scare you?"
Misaki turned to look at Sakura again, shaking her head no. She quickly went on walking.
Sakura walked after her, trying to start a conversation, but still, the little girl didn't stop.
-"Er...Misaki--"
-"How do you my name?" Misaki asked, not even glancing at Sakura.
-"I met your brother this afternoon. He told me."
Misaki stopped walking. Sakura stayed behind her.
-"So...you've met him."
The little girl bowed her head, and remained immobile.
She was silent for a long moment, then, slowly, she turned back, still looking down. When, finally, she looked up, the childish light in her eyes was gone. She was frowning at Sakura, her fists clenched, but she didn't say anything. Sakura looked at her, starting to worry a bit.
-"Er...Misaki? Is there anything wrong?"
The girl said nothing.
Then, she closed her eyes and started to walk away again. Before turning around the corner, she looked a last time at Sakura. She didn't look like a little girl anymore.
-"Be careful, Sakura. Appearances can be deceiving."
Sakura blinked at her, and remained where she was. 'Wow...for a little girl, she's quite...weird.' Sakura remembered Keitaro's words about his own sister. 'Don't pay attention at whatever she does, she's weird.'
Sakura walked to her room upstairs. 'They don't seem to be really close to each other...' Sakura had always been really close to her brother, and she couldn't quite understand how a brother and a sister could speak of each other like this.'...she's weird...','...you've met him.'
She sighed as she entered her room.
-"Sakura-chaaaaaaaaaan!!!"
Kero flew up to Sakura as soon as she came in.
-"Mmmmmh, Kero-chan?"
Kero looked at her with stars in his eyes.
-"OH !! KERO-CHAN I FORGOT TO SAVE YOU SOME FOOD!!!!"
-"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT????"
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Sakura, trembling, knocked at the door of the owner's room, remembering Kero's threats of killing his mistress if she didn't bring him food right away. As there was no response, she knocked again.
Still nothing. As she raised her hand to knock again, the door on her right flew open, and Keitaro appeared in the doorway. As soon as he saw Sakura, his smile was back.
-"Sakura !! What a nice surprise!"
-"Keitaro? Oh...I'm sorry for disturbing you..."
-"That's not a problem. Is there anything I can do for you?" Sakura blushed once again.
-"Er...well, yes. I'm...quite hungry, and...I was wandering if...if I could...have something to eat before going to bed..."
-"Sure. Come on." He grabbed her hand.
They quickly reached the kitchen and Keitaro opened the huge fridge.
-"Here. Help yourself." Sakura smiled as she looked into the fridge, which was full with the most delicious things Kero dreamt of every night. She looked at Keitaro.
-"May I...bring some upstairs?"
The young man nodded, and Sakura took anything she could hold in her hands to bring to Kero.
-"Well...thank you very much, Keitaro. Good night !"
-"While we're here, don't you want to have a drink with me before going to bed?"
Sakura was taken aback, but his smile was so cute, and Keitaro had been so nice with her that she couldn't refuse. (Of course. That's Sakura we're speaking about. ^__^)
She put the food on the table and sat down. Keitaro went to the gas cooker and put water to boil.
-"Tea?"
-"Yes, please."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, sipping their tea, before Sakura started speaking.
-"I'm sorry for disturbing your grandmother at this time of the night. I hope I didn't wake her up."
-"No, she was in the library when you knocked on her door. Besides, she's not my grandmother."
-"Hoe? But this afternoon, you called her Grandma...!" Keitaro smiled again.
-"That's how I call her, but I swear you she's not my grandmother. She's taking care of Misaki and I, because our parents are dead. I have no relatives alive anymore."
Sakura bowed her head.
-"I'm sorry."
Keitaro looked surprised, but after a blink his smile was back again.
-"You don't have to." He stared at Sakura for a long moment, and Sakura had to look down not to show him she was blushing.
-"What about you, Sakura? Who are those men with you, if that's not impolite to ask."
-"Oh...There's my father, my brother Touya and a friend of us." Keitaro's smile faded.
-"A friend? Is he...is he your boyfriend or something?" Sakura blushed furiously.
-"Wha-? NO!! No, he's not!! I mean...Yukito's my brother's boyfriend, not mine."
Keitaro looked relieved and smiled at Sakura.
-"That's good." Sakura quickly finished her tea, and got up. She took back Kero's food.
-"Once again, thanks a lot Keitaro." The young man also got up and approched Sakura.
-"Please, call me Kei." He followed her out of the kitchen.
-"Good night Sakura."
-"Good night...Kei."
...To Be Continued...
Kaijuu : monster. Means "Sakura" in Touya's language. ^__^
*Author collapses* Awwwwwwwww...I'm doooone, fiiiiiiiiiinally...I forgot how hard it was to type a whole chapter...
*Kero-chan appears from nowhere*
-"Hard? Your chapter isn't THAT long..."
-"Shut up. I'm trying to sleep, here."
-"HUH? You can't do that here !! What if your brothers want to play to the computer?"
-"They won't."
*Kero-chan scribbles something on a paper and shows it to readers*
Kasumi-chan is currently unable to write anything so she wishes you a good night and hopes you enjoyed the reading. She'll try to put chapter 8 online soon, and says good bye to the audiance.
Author : ....Mmmmh...good...good night...minna-san.....
Kero-chan : No, Good BYE !
Author : ...hn...omae o korosu, Kero-chan...
Kero-chan sweatdrops.
Author : ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...