Moving On
Carmen: Here's chapter two, see disclaimer in chapter one. This is a really weird chapter. It's also a little… um… (For lack of a better word) yucky. Involves mention of a suicide attempt, and the reading of the results of the attempt. Not a very optimistic chapter, but I'm not in a good mood and I think it's okay. This chapter has a happy ending.
Chapter Two: Two Reunions
It had been three years since that day that nineteen-year-old Sakura up and moved far away from home. Now she was twenty-two and had completely forgotten everything about the eight years that had caused so much pain. She had moved countless times, and unknowingly moved to Hong Kong.
She had quite a bit of money somehow, and got herself a three-story brick house in a nice neighborhood. It seemed rather big, so she let the maids do what they wished with the top floor, even live there if they wished. Sakura never went up there.
She got a job as a salesclerk in a large store that sold magical items. (AN: Let's just pretend that they pay her A LOT… And that magic is normal ad ordinary and people actually DO buy stuff in the stores) Sakura was fascinated by the objects, and loved her job. She especially loved the books. They were books of stories, the legends about some of the items. Sakura was allowed to read them if she caused them no harm, and she had read nearly all of them. Customers were happy to hear some background on what they were buying, and so the shop prospered with Sakura behind the register. One day, another cashier quit because she was moving. Sakura hung a 'Help Wanted' sign in the front window.
The owner of the shop was a very nice woman named Ashley. She was in her mid-forties and had lived most of her life in America before moving to Hong Kong and opening the shop. A couple weeks after the sign was put up, Ashley told Sakura to interview a guy that wanted the job. She would be traveling again, getting new products for the shop. So Sakura agreed and the next day the man came in.
Sakura had grown her hair to shoulder-length, but otherwise she hadn't changed how she looked. The guy stared at her when he saw her. "Sakura?" he asked quietly. "You know, you're the first person to notice that I wear a name tag. Can I help you?" Sakura replied. "No, Sakura, don't you remember me? I'm Syaoran Li." Sakura nodded. "You're the guy I have to interview about the job," she said. She started to walk towards the office, but he grabbed her wrist.
"Sakura, what's wrong? I know it's been eleven years, but I thought you'd never forget. I spent two years in Tomoeda, and I promised I'd come back. But I wasn't allowed to. Don't you remember?" Syaoran pleaded. Sakura got angry. "Look, I don't know what you're trying to pull, but I have no idea who you are. And I don't know how you know I came from Tomoeda, but I left that place three years ago. I'm never going back. I don't remember why I left, but I know that Tomoeda is full of horrible memories that have long since been forgotten. I don't know what you're talking about. All I can remember is that for eight years I was depressed and now my friends don't like me. I don't remember why, and I don't want to. Now go away! Ashley can interview you when she gets back; I'm not doing it. OUT!" Sakura shouted.
Syaoran didn't leave. He kept on arguing. "Sakura, why don't you remember those things? At least tell me that much!" he yelled. Luckily, there was no one else in the shop. "Fine! You want to know why? Because I wanted so bad to forget that I couldn't stop thinking about it. So then I stopped thinking about whatever it was, and I've thought of it since. I don't even know what it was anymore. All I know is that I ignored my friends, I was barely passing in school, and I was depressed. I tried suicide once, a few months before I left. It was that bad. I hated it so much, but I enjoyed the pain of cutting my arms so deep that they're scarred forever. I have to wear bandages all the time so I can't see the scars. It would bring back those horrible memories. You have no idea how much I hated myself for being that horrible to my friends. I made myself forget. I burned all the pictures and diaries and I destroyed everything else that might bring a memory. And then I forgot. After everything that happened, I had to replace that frequent memory with another, and now all I ever think about is… my…" Sakura was sobbing and dropped to the floor, crying.
She hadn't bothered to put her hands to her face, and they rested on the floor next to her legs. While she was crying, he silently unraveled the bandage on one of her arms. He read the words that the jagged cuts made, and he froze. They said:
He's not here, where is he?
I love him, doesn't he know?
Sakura was still bawling and didn't notice as Syaoran also read the message on her other arm.
Hurts so much, feels good
Syaoran? Where? Why?
Love you
The 'u' trailed off as if Sakura had fallen unconscious and as her hand went limp the blade had cut the ragged line. Sakura was still just above hysterics, and she read the scars before she could realized what she was doing. Then she noticed the lengths of white gauze in her lap. She cried harder, remembering more with each fallen teardrop. Syaoran cried too. He couldn't believe he'd caused all that. He hugged her tightly and she cried for a while. They were out of view from the window, yet no one came in.
"I'm sorry Sakura, I really am. I didn't know something like that… I'll never forgive myself," Syaoran whispered to Sakura. "Not your fault," Sakura said in a small voice as if she were a child. "My fault. I wanted you to come too much. You couldn't have known. I went crazy," she said. "Not your fault," she repeated after a while.
After a few more minutes, Syaoran stood, picked Sakura up easily, and set her down in front of the bathroom. "Clean yourself up. I'll close the store and take you home," he told her. She nodded and he started to lock the place up.
"I'm going to give you the job," Sakura said in the car. "It's the least I can do to apologize for breaking down like that." Syaoran stopped at her house. "See you tomorrow then. Would you like me to drive you there tomorrow?" he asked. Sakura shook her head. "Dea will drive me. She's a very nice maid," she answered then went inside. She pulled out a big box from her closet. She opened it and took out the Christmas cards her friends had sent her. Only Tomoyo and Rika had written the return address on the envelope, and only Tomoyo had written a phone number in the card.
Sakura called the number. "Hello?" came a little girl's voice. "Hi. May I speak to Tomoyo?" Sakura asked. "Which one? My mommy or my sister?" the girl asked. "Your mom, please." Sakura could hear the girl calling for her mom, and then she heard Tomoyo's voice on the phone. "Hello? May I ask who is calling?" "It's me, Sakura." There was silence on the other end.
"Is it really you Sakura?" Tomoyo asked at last. "Uh huh. What's up with the little girl and the other Tomoyo?" Sakura replied. Tomoyo giggled. "Well for starters, I've been Tomoyo Hiiragizawa for three years, and I have Tomoyo and Churusea, twin little girls. They're almost three and then their brother E.J. will be one in a few months. E.J. is Eriol junior. How have you been doing? How are your… uh… arms?"
Sakura launched into the whole story that she'd told Syaoran, ending with the encounter at the shop. "Tomoyo, would you bring your whole family here for a visit? I haven't seen you in almost four years, and then those eight years… never mind. But do you think you could?" Sakura asked. "Don't be silly Sakura! We'll all be on the next plane from London to Hong Kong. Eriol just got a vacation from work, and we didn't know where were going to go with the kids. It sounds like you've got quite a bit of room on your second story, and I know the girls would love living with the maids upstairs. They're like that," Tomoyo said. They arranged everything, and then hung up. They would arrive in two days.
Rika's address was in northern Japan, but Sakura couldn't find a Rika Sasaki in the phone book listings for that area. Then she looked up Rika Terada, just out of curiosity, and there it was. She called and asked for Rika. "Hello?" "It's Sakura Kinomoto, from Tomoeda."
Unlike Tomoyo, Rika burst out in excitement. "Oh my gosh, Sakura! I never thought I'd hear from you again! I tried to call you to invite you to the wedding, but the person that answered said you'd moved. So where are you anyway?" Sakura, a bit taken aback, answered slowly. "I live in Hong Kong now. Guess who I ran into today?" And so they talked for a while, and then Rika agreed to come for a visit for the same two weeks that Tomoyo would. Mr. Terada, their fourth grade teacher, was unable to go, but she was.
From Rika, Sakura got the phone numbers for Naoko and Chiharu, and soon she had a full-fledged reunion planned for the next two weeks, starting in two days and lasting for two weeks.
*
Sakura met Syaoran at work the next day and he decided to help her transport the nine people from the airport to her house. Ashley had agreed to let one of the other girls take over Sakura's job for the next two weeks, so Sakura wouldn't have to go to work every day.
*
Finally, Sakura and Syaoran found themselves waiting at one of gates. This was the plane that Tomoyo's family was coming in on. They would be first to arrive, then Naoko, Chiharu and Yamazaki, and finally Rika. The woman came onto the speaker. "This flight is now landing. Please clear the waiting area so that the passengers can get through. Thank you." Sakura watched as a flight attendant opened the door to the hallway that the passengers would come down. She saw a blur of dark purple hair, and then her best friend was hugging her. "I missed you so much Sakura!" Tomoyo said loudly, nearly crying.
~
So, what do you think? I would appreciate it if you reviewed. Sorry for the whole suicide thing, I know that they're all way out of character. I hope this chapter is as long as it seems. I originally was going to cut it off before Syaoran agreed to help, but I figured I'd give you all a little happy reunion so that you don't go off feeling depressed. Oh and by the way, Sakura is almost always wearing long sleeves.
Review please!
-Carmen
Carmen: Here's chapter two, see disclaimer in chapter one. This is a really weird chapter. It's also a little… um… (For lack of a better word) yucky. Involves mention of a suicide attempt, and the reading of the results of the attempt. Not a very optimistic chapter, but I'm not in a good mood and I think it's okay. This chapter has a happy ending.
Chapter Two: Two Reunions
It had been three years since that day that nineteen-year-old Sakura up and moved far away from home. Now she was twenty-two and had completely forgotten everything about the eight years that had caused so much pain. She had moved countless times, and unknowingly moved to Hong Kong.
She had quite a bit of money somehow, and got herself a three-story brick house in a nice neighborhood. It seemed rather big, so she let the maids do what they wished with the top floor, even live there if they wished. Sakura never went up there.
She got a job as a salesclerk in a large store that sold magical items. (AN: Let's just pretend that they pay her A LOT… And that magic is normal ad ordinary and people actually DO buy stuff in the stores) Sakura was fascinated by the objects, and loved her job. She especially loved the books. They were books of stories, the legends about some of the items. Sakura was allowed to read them if she caused them no harm, and she had read nearly all of them. Customers were happy to hear some background on what they were buying, and so the shop prospered with Sakura behind the register. One day, another cashier quit because she was moving. Sakura hung a 'Help Wanted' sign in the front window.
The owner of the shop was a very nice woman named Ashley. She was in her mid-forties and had lived most of her life in America before moving to Hong Kong and opening the shop. A couple weeks after the sign was put up, Ashley told Sakura to interview a guy that wanted the job. She would be traveling again, getting new products for the shop. So Sakura agreed and the next day the man came in.
Sakura had grown her hair to shoulder-length, but otherwise she hadn't changed how she looked. The guy stared at her when he saw her. "Sakura?" he asked quietly. "You know, you're the first person to notice that I wear a name tag. Can I help you?" Sakura replied. "No, Sakura, don't you remember me? I'm Syaoran Li." Sakura nodded. "You're the guy I have to interview about the job," she said. She started to walk towards the office, but he grabbed her wrist.
"Sakura, what's wrong? I know it's been eleven years, but I thought you'd never forget. I spent two years in Tomoeda, and I promised I'd come back. But I wasn't allowed to. Don't you remember?" Syaoran pleaded. Sakura got angry. "Look, I don't know what you're trying to pull, but I have no idea who you are. And I don't know how you know I came from Tomoeda, but I left that place three years ago. I'm never going back. I don't remember why I left, but I know that Tomoeda is full of horrible memories that have long since been forgotten. I don't know what you're talking about. All I can remember is that for eight years I was depressed and now my friends don't like me. I don't remember why, and I don't want to. Now go away! Ashley can interview you when she gets back; I'm not doing it. OUT!" Sakura shouted.
Syaoran didn't leave. He kept on arguing. "Sakura, why don't you remember those things? At least tell me that much!" he yelled. Luckily, there was no one else in the shop. "Fine! You want to know why? Because I wanted so bad to forget that I couldn't stop thinking about it. So then I stopped thinking about whatever it was, and I've thought of it since. I don't even know what it was anymore. All I know is that I ignored my friends, I was barely passing in school, and I was depressed. I tried suicide once, a few months before I left. It was that bad. I hated it so much, but I enjoyed the pain of cutting my arms so deep that they're scarred forever. I have to wear bandages all the time so I can't see the scars. It would bring back those horrible memories. You have no idea how much I hated myself for being that horrible to my friends. I made myself forget. I burned all the pictures and diaries and I destroyed everything else that might bring a memory. And then I forgot. After everything that happened, I had to replace that frequent memory with another, and now all I ever think about is… my…" Sakura was sobbing and dropped to the floor, crying.
She hadn't bothered to put her hands to her face, and they rested on the floor next to her legs. While she was crying, he silently unraveled the bandage on one of her arms. He read the words that the jagged cuts made, and he froze. They said:
He's not here, where is he?
I love him, doesn't he know?
Sakura was still bawling and didn't notice as Syaoran also read the message on her other arm.
Hurts so much, feels good
Syaoran? Where? Why?
Love you
The 'u' trailed off as if Sakura had fallen unconscious and as her hand went limp the blade had cut the ragged line. Sakura was still just above hysterics, and she read the scars before she could realized what she was doing. Then she noticed the lengths of white gauze in her lap. She cried harder, remembering more with each fallen teardrop. Syaoran cried too. He couldn't believe he'd caused all that. He hugged her tightly and she cried for a while. They were out of view from the window, yet no one came in.
"I'm sorry Sakura, I really am. I didn't know something like that… I'll never forgive myself," Syaoran whispered to Sakura. "Not your fault," Sakura said in a small voice as if she were a child. "My fault. I wanted you to come too much. You couldn't have known. I went crazy," she said. "Not your fault," she repeated after a while.
After a few more minutes, Syaoran stood, picked Sakura up easily, and set her down in front of the bathroom. "Clean yourself up. I'll close the store and take you home," he told her. She nodded and he started to lock the place up.
"I'm going to give you the job," Sakura said in the car. "It's the least I can do to apologize for breaking down like that." Syaoran stopped at her house. "See you tomorrow then. Would you like me to drive you there tomorrow?" he asked. Sakura shook her head. "Dea will drive me. She's a very nice maid," she answered then went inside. She pulled out a big box from her closet. She opened it and took out the Christmas cards her friends had sent her. Only Tomoyo and Rika had written the return address on the envelope, and only Tomoyo had written a phone number in the card.
Sakura called the number. "Hello?" came a little girl's voice. "Hi. May I speak to Tomoyo?" Sakura asked. "Which one? My mommy or my sister?" the girl asked. "Your mom, please." Sakura could hear the girl calling for her mom, and then she heard Tomoyo's voice on the phone. "Hello? May I ask who is calling?" "It's me, Sakura." There was silence on the other end.
"Is it really you Sakura?" Tomoyo asked at last. "Uh huh. What's up with the little girl and the other Tomoyo?" Sakura replied. Tomoyo giggled. "Well for starters, I've been Tomoyo Hiiragizawa for three years, and I have Tomoyo and Churusea, twin little girls. They're almost three and then their brother E.J. will be one in a few months. E.J. is Eriol junior. How have you been doing? How are your… uh… arms?"
Sakura launched into the whole story that she'd told Syaoran, ending with the encounter at the shop. "Tomoyo, would you bring your whole family here for a visit? I haven't seen you in almost four years, and then those eight years… never mind. But do you think you could?" Sakura asked. "Don't be silly Sakura! We'll all be on the next plane from London to Hong Kong. Eriol just got a vacation from work, and we didn't know where were going to go with the kids. It sounds like you've got quite a bit of room on your second story, and I know the girls would love living with the maids upstairs. They're like that," Tomoyo said. They arranged everything, and then hung up. They would arrive in two days.
Rika's address was in northern Japan, but Sakura couldn't find a Rika Sasaki in the phone book listings for that area. Then she looked up Rika Terada, just out of curiosity, and there it was. She called and asked for Rika. "Hello?" "It's Sakura Kinomoto, from Tomoeda."
Unlike Tomoyo, Rika burst out in excitement. "Oh my gosh, Sakura! I never thought I'd hear from you again! I tried to call you to invite you to the wedding, but the person that answered said you'd moved. So where are you anyway?" Sakura, a bit taken aback, answered slowly. "I live in Hong Kong now. Guess who I ran into today?" And so they talked for a while, and then Rika agreed to come for a visit for the same two weeks that Tomoyo would. Mr. Terada, their fourth grade teacher, was unable to go, but she was.
From Rika, Sakura got the phone numbers for Naoko and Chiharu, and soon she had a full-fledged reunion planned for the next two weeks, starting in two days and lasting for two weeks.
*
Sakura met Syaoran at work the next day and he decided to help her transport the nine people from the airport to her house. Ashley had agreed to let one of the other girls take over Sakura's job for the next two weeks, so Sakura wouldn't have to go to work every day.
*
Finally, Sakura and Syaoran found themselves waiting at one of gates. This was the plane that Tomoyo's family was coming in on. They would be first to arrive, then Naoko, Chiharu and Yamazaki, and finally Rika. The woman came onto the speaker. "This flight is now landing. Please clear the waiting area so that the passengers can get through. Thank you." Sakura watched as a flight attendant opened the door to the hallway that the passengers would come down. She saw a blur of dark purple hair, and then her best friend was hugging her. "I missed you so much Sakura!" Tomoyo said loudly, nearly crying.
~
So, what do you think? I would appreciate it if you reviewed. Sorry for the whole suicide thing, I know that they're all way out of character. I hope this chapter is as long as it seems. I originally was going to cut it off before Syaoran agreed to help, but I figured I'd give you all a little happy reunion so that you don't go off feeling depressed. Oh and by the way, Sakura is almost always wearing long sleeves.
Review please!
-Carmen
