Chapter 12

"Uso!" the response was unanimous. [uso: something like 'no way!']

"Are you sure, Sakura? Absolutely sure?" asked Eriol, the repetition of his question scratching off some of his cool façade.

Almost immediately as Sakura uttered her dream, Yukito felt himself drawn against his will into that deep slumber again. In no time, the transformation was over, and Yue stood in Yukito's place, obviously paying close attention to whatever his mistress had to say. "Doyatte?" was the only word he could bring his constricted throat to produce, no doubt in as much shock as anyone else in the room. True, he was still very disturbed over the whole incident with Seika with her memories still haunting him, and he wasn't at all prepared to face her yet, but this… this was different. Somehow, it seemed to call him out of whatever hiding place he wanted to stay in, almost like a reflex action. He glanced across at Seika; afraid that looking directly at her would evoke all those unexplained memories. Already he noticed the soft silver glow that used to surround her was dimming. Her spirits were low. [Doyatte: how]

"I… I don't really know," said Sakura timidly. "It all started strangely, like I was in some other place. But somehow, through all that cloudy mist… I knew it was were Clow-sama stayed."

"Clow?" Eriol said.

"Hai, Clow-sama. I felt it so strongly, but the presence there was slightly different from Clow-sama's. I don't really have an idea of who it is. Gomen neh, Eriol-kun."

"Iie, its fine. Please continue, Sakura-san."

"Well… All I remember is that someone, I don't know who, but it was the one whose presence felt like Clow-sama's, said that Seika has to die." Sakura paused here as she recollected the rest of what happened. "He… he stretched out his hand towards her, and a dark aura covered her." Sakura's voice started to quiver slightly. "And then… she was gone…"

The room was silent. Not a whisper, not a sound, everything was still. Yue looked at his mistress. Her face was a picture of devastation of such an innocent nature that it was just painful to see. In his mind, he contemplated whether he should go to his mistress, or should he go to Seika. Tough question.

"Is it true? Will I die?" Seika asked. "Will someone, really kill me?" she looked at Sakura with calm expectancy.

"Gomen nasai Seika-san!" said Sakura as her eyes started to water. "I really wish I knew!"

Seika watched the young card mistress as she turned to her boyfriend for support, before looking away from her. "I suppose it doesn't really matter even if you didn't know," she said. "It's better if I died anyway, and I might as well know I will now."

"Seika!" said Yue in objection.

"Seika-san…" said Eriol.

"Seika-san dame! Onegai, please don't talk that way!" cried Sakura. "I will find a way! You won't die! Shinjinai!" [Dame: stop, not good /Shinjinai: I won't believe it]

A shadow crossed Seika's face as she spoke again, "There's no need to cry Sakura-san. I don't really have a purpose to serve here anyway, and my loved ones have already gone before me. I long to be with them."

"Loved ones?" asked Sakura.

"Aa, my family. Besides, none of you really care for me do you? It doesn't matter if I leave.

Without thinking, Yue moved to grab Seika's arm. Somehow, even if he felt her words shouldn't have bothered him at all, he felt somewhat offended at them. "What did you say?"

Seika spun around to look at the aggravated Moon Guardian; a slight confusion in her eyes reflected only the possessiveness in Yue's. Yes, possessiveness. Even Yue was shocked to see that in her eyes; his own reflection of how he was feeling right at that moment. Realising his move, he let go of her arm and retreated murmuring a faint, "sumimasen." Behind him Sakura's soft crying had silenced, and he knew she was watching him. Him, the cold calm Moon Guardian, giving way to his instincts so suddenly. No doubt it was quite a surprise, he thought. Why had he been so stupid? He had thought he would be more careful about those sudden impulses after what happened in the room with Seika. How he almost kissed her… no! I hadn't planned to let Sakura-sama know. He couldn't explain himself, why he was acting this way towards her.

"What do you care?" Seika raised her voice at him after he let go. "You don't know anything! You look so much like him, yet you are not the same person at all. What has this got to do with you if you don't know anything to begin with? You have no right to be questioning me about what I want and what I do. You don't even remember when…"

The scenes flashed in his head again. There he was with Seika, resting up on the branches of a tall tree, and he was making a trail of kisses down her neck, and speaking into her ear softly, the words of love and affection…

"Ai… shi…" he whispered to Seika, his mouth close to her ear, "te… ru…"

She smiled and turned her body to face him as he lowered himself onto her, their lips meeting. "Watashi mo, anata wa aishite," she said to him in-between their butterfly kisses, "zutto… zutto aishiteru." [I love you too. I'll always, always love you.]

"…zutto…"
[always]

…

"Zutto ashiteru…"
[I'll always love you]

…

"You see them don't you?" Seika asked, after watching Yue's blank expression in silence for a few moments.

"Hoe?" said Sakura in surprise. She obviously had no idea what was going on.

"I'll explain to you later," whispered Eriol to her. "Let these two talk it out first."

Yue turned away, refusing to answer her question.

"I don't really know how to say this," Seika persisted, though in a tone warmer than before. "I'm sorry if it troubles you, Yue-san, the memories I mean. You didn't need to save me, but you did, knowing full well the circumstances. I… I love you, Yue. I always have."

Yue felt his body go rigid at Seika words. "I know," he said in response.

"Though," she continued, "I can understand why you reject me. I can understand it now," she smiled sadly to herself. "You don't need to return my love. It wouldn't have been the same as before anyway, now that I know. I'm sorry for being rash."

His heart was beating fast. He clenched his fist, determined not to give himself away again, and said in a voice carefully plucked of emotion, "Seika, I want you to live."

"Yes Seika-san, we all want you to live. We all want you around," added in Sakura and releasing some of the tension between the two Guardians. Yue couldn't have imagined a better time for her to interfere.

"W-what do you mean?"

"Please Seika-san," said Sakura, "even if my dreams speak of your death, I want to fight to prevent it! I'm sure everyone here in this room agrees too, even Yue-san, right Yue-san?" Yue nodded. "You may think you don't mean much to us, but you do, Seika-san. We want to find out more about you and we want to be friends with you. We want to be able to be a new family to you, and we hope that you feel the same way.

"I know things have not been too well during the past few days, and I haven't been of much help to you at all. Demo, if you let us try, maybe we can help you with this. I'm sure no one wants to let you die, Seika-san. So please, please for us and the hope for your future, please don't think that way." Sakura finished earnestly.

"And this does not concern only you, Seika. This concerns every one of us here too," said Eriol stepping in to help.

Seika was a little surprised, as she looked round the room at all the worried faces, showing their approval of what Sakura and Eriol said. Her emotions were starting to well up within her, and tear droplets were forming at the sides of her eyes. She nodded and smiled to Sakura's relief and said the word that released the burden in Yue's heart, "I will live. I will live on."

*~*~*~*~*

"Okaeri nasai, Sakura-chan," greeted Fujitaka as Sakura slipped of her shoes at the door.

"Tadaima," she said, smiling happily. "Gomen neh, Ottou-san. I haven't been home much."

"That's ok, I understand. I'm sure you had to attend to lots of things with Hiiragizawa-san," said Fujitaka, smiling at his daughter.

"Oi Kaijuu! You're late," came a voice from the stairs.

"ONII-CHAN!"

Touya walked down the flight of stairs to meet his sister, all the time keeping his eye on the retreating figure outside the window on the street even as he was popping strawberries from the bowl he was carrying into his mouth. "Omae…" he muttered under his breath fiercely. [omae: 'you' in casual terms]

"Hoe?"

"Did Yuki come with you as well?" he asked.

"Oh Eriol-kun asked him to stay back awhile, so I left first," said Sakura.

"Sou…"

Sakura noticed her brother had a distant look in his eyes just as she mentioned about Yukito. Aside the fact that she still hated being called 'kaijuu', she was concerned. Hoe? It's about 10am, and Ottou-san is still at home! Now that was a weird factor to consider too. Just then she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura-chan, how about you go put down your bag and freshen up? Come to the living room later, we have something to talk about," said her father with cheerfully.

"Ah aa…"

Up the flight of stairs she went, closing the door after she stepped into her room. No sooner had she done so did Kero pop out of her bag.

"Waiii! It feels good to be back!" he said, zooming in for the drawer his 'room' was in. "I forgot to bring along my stash of sweets when we went to Tomoyo-chan's house," he said, taking out a plastic bag of goodies from a corner of the drawer and waving it around like a maniac on a high. "Too bad Suppi can't have these!!"

"Kero-chan!" reprimanded Sakura. "Didn't Tomoyo-chan feed you with enough cakes at her place already?" [^^6]

Opening her closet, Sakura reached for the dress closest within her reach and took it out. Facing the open closet, she undressed and slipped on the article of clothing, knowing that Kero was probably too hyped with his bag of sweets to notice she'd even changed. Normally, she would chase him out though. She'd been getting into the habit of chasing him out or closing his drawer shut when he refused to go ever since she hit 13.

"Neh Kero-chan, do you think that my dream will come true?"

Kero sighed and paused from his rampage on the plastic bag. "To tell you the truth, I don't know." The Sun Guardian looked solemnly at Sakura as he spoke. "Most of the time, dreams foretell the future, but no one can be 100% sure that whatever it is will happen. In most cases for magicians and sorcerers, the dreams are fulfilled as their minds are advanced enough to sort out the dreams that are fiction and the dreams that are not. However the magicians and sorcerers referred to in this line of magic have experience in fortune prediction. For amateurs such as yourself, it's best not to trust these dreams, but to be wary of them."

"Demo Kero-chan, you told me last time that my dream was important, the one of the last judgment."

"That's because it was! It's important that you take note of your dreams, whether or not you think they are reliable or not because you can't be sure of either yet. That's why I told you it was important."

"Hmm… I suppose you are right, Kero-chan. Well, I have to go down now."

"Remember to bring up some snacks for me!"

"Hai hai," said Sakura as she heading out of her room and down to the living room. Her father and brother were already seated there and waiting for her, and Sakura suddenly felt that there was definitely some serious news waiting to be heard.

Sakura moved to the middle of the room and sat on the couch facing her father, who smiled at her as their eyes met. Touya was looking a little put-off for some reason.

"Sakura-chan, I suppose I should start by telling you about Touya-kun," said Fujitaka.

"Hoe? Onii-chan?"

"Sou neh. Touya will be going abroad to England to study, and will be leaving today."

"HOEEE!!!!"

"No need to get so excited, Kaijuu. I won't be gone long," said Touya, poking fun at Sakura as usual.

"How come you're going all of a sudden? I thought you didn't want to go to college because you wanted to start working early," said Sakura.

"Touya-kun wanted to do that to help with our family's financial situation," explained Fujitaka, "but I encouraged him to take up a scholarship. Your brother is very smart you know."

"What time will you be going?" asked Sakura.

"Quite soon actually," said Fujitaka. "We've already got our luggage packed."

"Hoe?" said Sakura, as she saw the large suitcases behind the sofa. Then she saw something on one of them. "Ottou-san, you're going too?" she asked, holding the baggage tag with his name and particulars written on it.

"Aa, that was the other thing I was going to tell you."

"Hoe?"

"There is an exhibition near Touya's new college that the university I work at has set up, and they need my help there," said Fujitaka.

Sakura bowed her head as she realised what this would mean. Will I be alone at home? Sakura thought to herself as she fingered with the edges of her dress. "How long will you be away?" she asked.

"About two weeks and I will be back," said Fujitaka smiling. "I know what you are thinking, and I've already gotten it planned. You'll be staying at the Daidouji place till I get back. I arranged it with Sonomi-kun just before she left this morning."

"Hontou?" said Sakura, her face lighting up with joy.

"Hai."

"Cheh, why do we need to leave her to that kuso gaki," grumbled Touya as he crossed his arms in annoyance. [kuso gaki: damn brat]

"Onii-chan!"

"Mah mah! Futari tomo," said Fujitaka, amused still by his two children despite the passing of years. "Well, Touya and I had better get moving to the airport now if we want to get there on time." [calm down you two]

"HOEE!!! SO EARLY?"

"Yeah," said Touya, "I told you you were late."

"Demo demo… you won't get to say goodbye to Yukito-san will you?" asked Sakura. Touya remained silent.

"Our decision was quite last-minute actually, and we didn't inform you earlier because we figured you were busy," said Fujitaka.

So that's why he looked disappointed when I said that Yukito-san wasn't with me. Sakura lifted her eyes to look at her brother's stern face, with that same distant look on it again. Poor Onii-chan… If I were to go away, I would like to be able to say goodbye to my close friends too. And I guess for Onii-chan, Yukito-san is more than a friend.

"Well then, let's go, Touya-kun," said Fujitaka, getting up and moving towards the suitcases.

"Aa."

Sakura watched as they put on their coats and lifted the suitcases by their handles, arms straining with the weight. Even though she knew she would be staying with Tomoyo, Sakura couldn't help but feel lonely just then. To have both her family members gone and not having to follow her usual daily schedule of either cooking or cleaning would feel a little unusual.

"Ottou-san, will you be taking a cab to the airport?" asked Sakura.

"Hai. Oh would you like to go hail one for us? I forgot I left some notes back in my office," said Fujitaka as he put down the suitcase and turned to walk back down the corridor of their house.

"Hai!" said Sakura as she smiled, glad that she could be of help. She rushed to unlatch the front door and ran out to the main road, Touya not far behind bringing out the luggage. While she stood by the roadside trying to flag down a cab, she couldn't help but feel the scene being a reply of how Kaho left that day. Demo, she thought to herself in an attempt to keep her spirits up, they'll be back. They'll be back soon.

Soon the cab was ready and waiting, and Fujitaka emerged from the house carrying his neatly packed envelopes of documents. "Arigatou," he said to Sakura as he got into the cab with Touya. "We'll be back before you know it."

Sakura smiled and waved, and she continued waving as the cab disappeared down the bend in the road. Slowly, she turned around and walked back to the house, knowing her own luggage needed to be packed. No sooner had she thought so that her cell phone started ringing. Fishing for her phone in her pocket, she finally got it out and answered the call.

"Moushi moushi, Sakura desu."

"Sakura-chan!" cried Tomoyo over the phone.

"Tomoyo-chan?" said Sakura, glad to hear her friend's voice.

"Kaa-san just informed me that you're coming over to stay! You don't need to bring any clothes; I'll provide everything! Oh hohohohohoho~! (Tomoyo's evil laugher here)"

"Hoe… [^^6]"

"Sakura-chan, you'll be coming over soon right?"

"Hai. Neh Tomoyo-chan, is Yukito-san still at your place?"

"Yukito-san? Hai, he's still here. Li-kun is here too."

"Hoe? I thought he went home after walking me home!"

"I thought so too, but he came back."

"Sou desu ka? I think I should go back quickly too, Eriol must have something important planned but let me go because he knew about Ottou-san."

"I think so too," said Tomoyo.

"Dewa, I'll see you soon, Tomoyo-chan!" said Sakura cheerfully.

"Hai!"

*~*~*~*~*

Scribbles
*stretches her limbs* ahhhh.... I've been sitting in front of the com for about 4 hours trying to get this pathetic chapter out. Not that it sounds anything near satisfactory anyway. I took longer for this chapter than the last, mostly because school started and I didn't really notice the time passing with the amount of homework dumped on us poor schooling idiots. Believe me, I felt really bad when I realised I put this on hold for over a month. My holidays began this week though, and so after spending half the holidays going back to bloody school for their bloody extra lessons, I was finally able to sit myself down to do this thing.

Poor Syaoran's been left out a lot during these few chapters neh? ^^666 gomen nasai Li-kun~! I promise you'll get fist place in the next chapter. Hmm... what else.... hmm... oh if you're wondering, I sent Touya to England for a reason. Go figure. Well well... we are progressing a little with the Yue and Seika thing are we not? ^_^ I don't know how many people are reading this and are already Yue and Seika fans (i think the number is 0), but the reason i started this fic actually is from the idea of Yue and Seika. Along the way of story development then did I add in Tomoyo and Eriol, just for the sake of it, since my mother and I are a Tomoyo fans to a certain extent. Well I just said all those crap up there 'cuz there's gonna be more Yue and Seika moments up ahead, being that the story is based on them, so er well.... its just a warning. ah yes! i got out this scan of the two, its till incomplete (as usual), but can be viewed here:
http://www.geocities.com/tender_tailz/yue_seika2.jpg

well then, as usual, review onegai~! Perhaps i should do those threats.... if i don't get a nice 10 reviews concerning the story... either I don't continue, or Tomoyo and Eriol fans will just have to start weeping. bleah :þ

check out the nice time that i've finally finished this thing and am ready to post: 4.17AM