XIII - Final Truths
-------------------

The sound of a phone ring woke up Sakura. "Guhhhhh." she moaned as
she blinked into the the dark room.

The phone kept ringing.

Sakura shivered, it had gotten cold in the room. She felt an arm wrap
around her waist and pull her closer to his body.

Sakura pressed close to his body, he was warm. She blushed
remembering what happened. She had confessed to Daisuke and fallen
asleep before she could hear his answer.

/If he had any answer at all./ she thought. She twined her fingers
with his.

The phone kept ringing.

"Uhghhhhhhhh." Daisuke muttered, "Can't Kentarou pick that up?" he
groaned groggily. His hand slipped from hers as he ran his hand
through his hair.

Sakura stayed quiet, she was unsure what to say to the man she had
just confessed to.

His cellphone went off.

He reached for the phone on his bedside table. "Hello?" he groaned
into the phone. "Saga-san." he said with a sigh. "Tomorrow?"

Sakura winced, tomorrow was their night together.

"I can't." he said. "What? Yes you just woke me up. I have to study
tomorrow, I already have plans with my girlfriend. Sorry. Yes I do
have a life Saga-san. You should try to get one yourself. Yes I'll be
in for work the day after. Yes, I know about the project. See you
then." he turned his phone off. "There silent mode." he muttered. He
wrapped his arm around Sakura and pulled her closer.

Sakura squeaked.

He chuckled, "Did I wake you up?" he asked his breath tickling her
ear.

"No." she said. "The phone did. I hope tomorrow's plans didn't keep
you away from work." she said.

"No. Speaking of tomorrow..." he said with a sigh. He sat up.

Sakura sat up afraid.

/Oh... now I've done it, I said it too early. He's going to cancel
plans. He said he had to study.../

"I was thinking instead of pizza we could go for a really nice
dinner."

Sakura's eyes widened.

"What?" he asked waking up.

She laughed.

He looked bewildered. "What?" he asked rubbing the sleep out of his
eyes.

Sakura fell over laughing. She pointed upward.

"What?" he asked again.

"Your... hair!" she exclaimed.

He turned to look at the mirror on the closet door. One half was
matted down. He laughed.

"Well you look sleep worn." he said.

Sakura sat up again and her laughter died down.

"I'm glad I make you laugh." he said, "I love hearing you laugh."

She blushed.

He held her hands and whispered in her ear, "Its one of the things I
love about you."

Even in the fading sunlight he could see Sakura blush even more. He
smiled.

"So about that dinner." he said as he looked down at their
hands. "Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere you want." she said, her voice wavering a bit. He looked up
to see her eyes shimmering. He smiled.

-----

"Daisuke." she said softly.

He looked up from his work and smiled, "What a sight." he said. "You
certainly brighten up my day."

Sakura smiled back at him. "I wanted to ask you something so I came
by." her Saga guest tag flashed at him.

"That's sweet, you could have just called." he said.

She blushed, "I wanted to see you so I came instead." Her eyes had a
mischievous glint, almost as if she had something up her sleeve.

"A-and th-that would be?" he stammered.

"Can you keep Sunday open?" she said as she leaned on the desk.

He nodded. "I'll ask Saga-san and see if I can. When Sunday?"

Her eyes looked serious for a moment as she nodded, "Afternoon." she
said. "We'll be going for a special picnic." her eyes returned to a
happy look.

"Where will we be going?" he asked curious.

She smiled slyly and gave him a kiss on his lips. "That's my secret,
just wear something warm this Sunday okay?"

His brain never functioned when Sakura turned seductive like
this. "Uhhhh sure." he said.

/Well luckily the office is used to this sort of thing between you
two./ Dark said.

/Uhh.../

/You're no help./ Dark muttered.

Daisuke smiled dumbly at her, his eyes half shut.

She laughed, "Silly, snap out of it."

He blinked.

"Remember," she said as she stood up, "Sunday."

"Wait..." he said in half whisper.

"Hmmm?" she asked.

"Kiss me again."

She laughed again and kissed him. "Now go back to work." she
whispered.

"One more."

"No." she said. "Go back to work or else I'll tell Keiji-san." she
wagged her finger.

"No, no, that's not necessary. I'm working. I'm working." he said as
he shuffled papers.

She smiled and let him go back to his work. He watched her leave the
office.

"Sakura-chan!" Keiji called.

"Konbanwa Keiji-san." Sakura said as she waved to his boss. They
started talking a bit. Daisuke looked up from his papers and admired
how her smile seemed to light up the room.

/Oh god, you're so bad... this was as bad as Riku./

/I think I'm in love.../

/Heh, I knew that before you even said it./

/What do you think she wants to do on Sunday?/

/A picnic, what else?/ Dark said.

Daisuke thought for a moment about her request. They had been going
out for a year now, he had a year more to go before he graduated.
Sakura had a semester. He was enjoying their relationship. At first
Sakura was unsure of what to do and how to say things, he patiently
let her do it her way.

/After all.../ he thought, /She had been so close to marrying
Shaoran./

Their relationship slowly but surely settled into one of routine. Not
that he minded it, it was a sign that they were a solid couple.

/And a cute one at that./ Dark said.

/Shush./ Daisuke said back feeling his face flush at the thought.

Sakura was honest about everything and anything. She was not afraid
to voice her opinions. It took her a bit of courage at times and a
few tries but she slowly learned that her words and actions were not
going to drive him away... yet.

But he waited patiently for the day that she would tell him her real
truth.

/And then.../ Dark said, /We can tell her about us./

Daisuke nodded.

/And then there would truly be no more hiding./

/Let's hope she'll accept the truth.../ Dark said.

-----

"So..." Ran said as she watched Sakura put things in a
basket. "You're going to finally tell him?"

"Yes." she said, "I think I'm ready."

Ran nodded. "After a year of dating him I'd say its alright."

Sakura nodded. "I think so." she looked up at Ran, "He's so special."
she said, "I don't want to lose him, I've wanted to tell him for so
long, but I wasn't sure and the time wasn't right."

Ran smiled at her, "I'm sure when he finds out that he'll be
accepting. He doesn't strike me as the kind of person that won't at
least give it a try."

Sakura smiled at Ran, "This is why you're my friend."

Ran laughed, "And I thought it was because I refused to make
costumes."

-----

Sakura made Daisuke drive to a park for the picnic dinner. They ate
sitting next to a lake. Daisuke noticed that she didn't say much nor
did she eat much.

"Sakura?" he asked. "Is something wrong?"

"No." she said, "I'm just not so hungry. I feel bad since I made this
great dinner and all."

He took her bento box from her hands and her chopsticks. "Its
alright, we can save it for later."

She nodded.

"I appreciate this, its very relaxing." he said.

She looked up at him, "Really?"

He nodded.

She smiled, "Oh good." she said.

"We could be eating take out at your apartment doing homework and I'd
still think that's romantic." he said.

She blushed.

"That's because I'm with you and that's what a matters most." he said.

"You really mean that?" she asked.

"I do." he said.

She put the covers on the boxes and put them in the basket.

"Sakura?" he asked.

She stood up and held her hand out. "Let's go."

"Where?"

She turned to him, "I want to show you something."

"The stars?"

She paused, "You could say that." she said.

He took her hand and stood up. She led him to a place in the woods.

"This is pretty, but wouldn't it be hard to see stars through the
trees?"

She didn't say much until she reached a clearing. Then she turned and
smiled at him, "A while back you asked me if I believed in magic."

He smiled back, "Yes." he said.

"Were you serious about that question?" she asked.

He paused for a moment, the look in her eyes bordered on
apprehension. "As serious as I could be about magic." he said.

"Well..." she said turning away. "I want to show you something." she
looked over her shoulder at him, "Promise you won't say anything
until I'm done?"

"Of course." he said.

"Stay there." she said and took a few steps away from him.

He sat on the tree stump near by. He knew what she was going to
do. 'I hope she'll have the same compassion as I will about her magic
as she will when she finds out about Dark.' he thought.

-----

Sakura turned, her hands clasped around her key. 'Please let him
understand.' she prayed.

She held the key out away from her at arm's length and began to say
the words that were part of her for so long.

"Yami no chikara o himeshi kagi yo! Shin no sugata o ware no mae ni
shime se keiyaku no moto sakura ga meijiru-- release!"

The key grew into her wand, and as the wind and residual magic
floated back down to the ground she looked at Daisuke who was sitting
on the stump.



Daisuke tried not to smile, he had never seen her wand or her
transformation before. He had only seen her magic in action. The wind
spiraled upwards picking up her hair and clothes. Her coat flapping
upwards.

She opened her eyes as she looked at him, the wind dying down around
her, the magic floating towards the ground like a beautiful halo.

'Yes. She's the one.' he thought.



She lowered the wand and looked down, "I have a confession," she
whispered, "I'm a magician. I control magic that is contained in
these cards." she fished out a card from her pocket. "I know its not
what you were expecting me to tell you. But... but I trust you!" she
exclaimed. "I don't want to lose you!"

He stood up and walked towards her. "I have a confession to make
too." he said. He took her hands in his, so they both held the
wand. "Promise you won't say anything either." he said.

She nodded her heart in her throat. Daisuke hadn't said anything.
Worry ran through her veins. Was he going to run away?

He closed his eyes and took a step back. He opened an eye and
smiled, "A bit dramatic ne?" he chuckled.

Sakura smiled back, tension dispelled.

As soon as she smiled, he changed. A flash of light and a darkening
of hair as it grew longer. He opened his eyes and looked at her.

Sakura covered her mouth with her hands.

Dark smiled a little sheepishly. "So you see... we both had secrets."

Sakura made her wand turn back into her key.

"Yes." she said.

"I like you." he said, "And so does Daisuke."

Sakura smiled, "Is Daisuke... awake?"

He smiled, "Yes, he's very happy right now. You finally trusted him
enough to tell him about being the Card Captor Mistress."

Sakura chuckled, she cupped his face, "He has a lot of explaining to
do."

"So do you." he said as he tugged on her key.

Her eyes turned serious, "I thought I'd never find someone that would
accept me."

"When Daisuke lost Riku he thought the same." he said.

Sakura nodded. No cards to hide, just another personality. But then
again...

"So..." Dark said, "Do you accept the both of us?"

Sakura nodded. She kissed him. She opened her eyes and let her gaze
settle in Daisuke's. "You knew and didn't say anything?"

He smiled softly, "I waited until you were comfortable with me. I
wanted you to tell me."

"You're not mad that I kept this from you?" she whispered.

He silently shook his head.

"Oh." was all she could say.

"I never thought I'd meet someone else like me." he said, "What were
the chances of meeting someone else that would understand Dark and I?
I thought I'd have to go through the whole explanation process but...
when you took your mask off that night..." he trailed off and looked
at her with wide eyes as if to say, /You were the answer to my
loneliness./

She nodded, her eyes looking up at him absolutely understanding
everything he was telling her. "I felt the same way." she whispered.

Daisuke looked at her, "I don't want to lose you either." he said, "I
love you a lot." he said with a lopsided grin, "I love you so much,
that I'm risking a lot to say that when all this college madness is
over, I hope to marry you."

Sakura stared at him with wide eyes.

"Only if you want to that is." he said quickly, "I can wait as long
as it takes, we can wait and see and then- because I've never felt so
sure of something like this-"

"Cards and all?" Sakura interrupted him, her eyes sparkling from the
tears that threatened to fall.

He nodded, "Cards and all."

She threw her arms around his neck.

--------------
Notes:
1) Long awaited chapter. ^^ But things aren't over yet. I have a few more
chapters of tortur- errr angst for Daisuke and Sakura.

2) I got a With plushie! =D Not that that's fic related, but he's sitting
next to my talking Kerochan, they look adorable together. ^^

3) this is how I expect Daisuke would reveal his "secret" to Sakura. In the
DNANgel manga they imply that Dark will go away when Daisuke reveals
his secret to the one he loves. I'm guessing that Dark goes away completely
which is kind of sad. Oh well.