Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura
A/n: This fic goes out to KIC/ KyteAura/ Kyte, nee-chan, who is the best E+T reviewer there is on fanfiction.net. She plays a very big role in the E+T Society if there was one existing right now. My dear reviewer, friend, sister is turning 17. Happy Birthday Nee-chan! Best wishes and best of luck in life and I hope you enjoy this fic. :D
~*~
Walking through the sands of time,
I speak no words and I speak no mind,
There is no one in this world, who would understand,
The emotions I can't control, out of hand,
If I could just change my feelings….
Nothing I feel would be worth keeping…
~*~
Walking through the silent streets of Tomoeda brings back solid memories that one would always remember especially to her, Tomoyo Daidouji. Born to the world with raven beauty, porcelain features, Asian intelligence and the world's riches in her hand. One would have thought that she was beyond the word perfection. It had been almost 8 years since she left Tomoeda to further her tertiary education in one of the most prestigious Universities in the world, the University Of Cambridge, England. Now, she stood at the tall height of 5'8 and a fashion designer at the age of 26 years old. Now that everything she wanted to accomplish, she had accomplished. She decided that it was finally time to come back home to where she belongs.
She had just arrived from the airport after her flight from Shenzhen. The driver which her mom hired came to pick her up and drove her back to the Daidouji mansion where she lived all her childhood and teenage years at. Sonomi Daidouji was still running the Toy company at the age of 48 years old and the company was still standing as one of the most stabile companies in the Japanese market. Tomoyo got her driver to stop at the town and at the park so that she could take a look at the place that she had not seen in a long time.
"Things have changed", she said softly, to herself.
She took in the sight of the Penguin Park. The position of the playground changed. The swings were facing North while before it was facing East and the huge Penguin Slide was bigger than before. Even the shop names in Tomoeda town had changed and the shops looked so different to her. The whole place looked different to her, almost alien. Then again, it was 3 am in the morning, what wouldn't look alien at this time of the morning. She sighed and got back into the car where the driver drove her straight back to the Daidouji mansion. It took about 5 minutes to get there and got there, they did.
The driver stopped and got out to open the door for her. She thanked the driver, got her handbag and headed towards the main door of the mansion. She didn't expect her mother or anyone to be awake at this time but to her surprise, the house was brightly lighted and maids were already up and down cleaning. She walked from the greeting room to the lounge where the lights were even brighter, if possible. In the lounge, she saw an old man holding a feather duster, dusting the fireplace. The old man sensed her presence in the room and turned around.
"Ah… Young Mistress Daidouji", he greeted, pleasantly.
Tomoyo smiled as she walked over and gave the old man a big hug as she shed a tear.
"Alfred! Oh my lord, I missed you so much", she said, hugging the man.
They broke apart. Alfred looked at her and gave her a big smile.
"You have grown a lot, young mistress. I remember when you were just a little girl and now look at you, all grown up", Alfred said, showing her the height that she used to be.
Tomoyo smiled and laughed.
"Is my mother awake?" Tomoyo asked.
"She is, she's been waiting for you to come back since last night. She's in her room", Alfred said.
"Thank you, Alfred", Tomoyo said.
Tomoyo waved to Alfred, the house butler as she made her way to the staircase which would bring her upstairs where her room and her mother's room would be. Again, she took in the sight and the scent of the house. For some reason, the house always smelled of plum blossoms and pine. The house did not seem to change. The walls were still wallpapered with flourish designs of peach coloring and the ceilings were still hanging chandeliers of different designs. She made her way to her mother's room and knocked on the door.
"Come in", a voice said.
Tomoyo slowly opened the door and quietly crept into the room, knowing that her mother would be standing at the balcony, looking out at the gardens. She was right. Her mother stood at the balcony, leaning on the rails, looking out.
"Mother?" Tomoyo said.
Her mother turned around and her hand flung to her mouth, in joy and happiness. Tomoyo immediately went to give her mother a hug. Both mother and daughter were crying tears of joy in not seeing each other for a very long period of time. It was a sight to remember and also, a moment to remember.
~*~
She was the one who gave me life,
She was the one who pushed me to strive,
She was the one I will always love in my heart,
She's my mother and she and I will never part.
~*~
The next morning, Tomoyo slept in due to jet lag from the flight that she took the previous night. She didn't wake up until 3 pm in the afternoon. She went to refresh herself and went downstairs to eat brunch before taking one of the cars in the garage for a drive around Tomoeda. Her first stop would be the Kinomoto household since she hasn't seen her best friend, in a very long time. 8 years was a very long time and it was quite hard to keep contact when both of them were busy. The last thing she heard was that Sakura finally met back with Syaoran in University and they got married right after they both graduated. She also heard that Touya and Yukito made it official that they were a 'gay couple' and they got married as well. When she got to the Kinomoto household, she parked her car outside. The pathway to the household was just the same. She made careful steps up the steps towards the door and rang the bell when she got there. After 30 seconds, she could hear footsteps running down the staircase and a very loud 'Hoeeeeeeee' from behind the door. Then, the door opened and Tomoyo was greeted by a brown haired and emerald eyed girl who was the exact height as she was.
"To….To….Tomoyo-chan????" The girl whispered.
Tomoyo smiled, warmly at the girl.
"Zettai daijoubu da yo, Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo asked.
Then, Sakura squealed and gave Tomoyo a big bear hug, almost squeezing the life out of her.
"Sakura? What's with the racket? Who's at the door?" a rather deep voice asked.
Sakura let go of Tomoyo and turned around, facing Syaoran.
"Guess who decided to turn up on our doorstep today, Syao-kun?" Sakura said.
Syaoran looked at Tomoyo and his eyes widened, in disbelief.
"Konnichiwa Li-kun", Tomoyo said.
Syaoran got excited and gave her a hug too.
"Did you just called me Li-kun?! The HUMANITY! The HUMANITY!" Syaoran started to exaggerate.
Tomoyo raised an eyebrow.
"I've always called you Li-kun. What are you on about?" Tomoyo said, jokingly.
"That's the problem! You still call me Li-kun after knowing me for so long! Shouldn't you change it to Syaoran-kun or something? Or maybe Syaoran?" he corrected.
"Hai hai, Syaoran-kun. Gomen ne, didn't mean to offend you", Tomoyo said.
Then, Sakura invited Tomoyo in to join them both for tea. In the house, Tomoyo saw Fujitaka Kinomoto drinking tea, looking pleasant as ever only with a few grey hairs. She greeted him with a smile and a formal greeting. She noticed the warmness in the Kinomoto household, as always, this will never change. Syaoran made tea while Sakura cut some sponge cake. Tomoyo looked around the house; there were pictures of the whole family. She took in the scent of the house and the memory of it. Sure, it has changed a bit but the smell of Chocolate pudding will never leave the kitchen. Speaking of the smell of pudding, Kero must be lingering near by.
"Sakura-chan, where is Kero?" Tomoyo asked.
"I SMELL CAKE!!!!!!!!! Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?? I'm getting the biggest piece!" a loud squeaky voice said.
Then, a little squishy toy flew into the kitchen and headed right for the cake. That was until Sakura knocked its head with the metal spoon and caused the little toy to heat up into aggravated mode.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" he shouted.
"Little soft toy, greedy as ever. Too greedy to even notice who is here", Syaoran said.
Slowly, the little guardian turned around and as soon as he saw her, he flew right to her and hugged her face.
"Tomoyo-chan! Did you come to bring me cake or dessert?" Kero said.
Tomoyo couldn't help but laugh and shake her head. Sakura pinched the soft toy and it gave Sakura the meanest look. Tomoyo smiled at the sight of her friend. Sakura Kinomoto, her best friend ever. She never changed, she was still the same. That was what she loved about her friend. She noticed how happy Sakura looked whenever Syaoran was around. She knew then that Syaoran must have taken good care of Sakura. She had to admit that she's jealous but learnt to accept the fact that Sakura is where she belongs. For that, she's content enough to know that her friend is fine.
~*~
She was there with me through it all,
She was there to pick me up when I fall,
She will always be in my heart,
She's my friend and she and I will never part.
~*~
For all of her life, she has always been confused with the word 'love'. It was pretty strange when she was in England and everytime a guy asks her out, she would usually reject them unless she really did click with them. Strange to say but she only had a few relationships that hardly lasted more than 2 months. She never really enjoyed being in the company of guys who were just dating her to get her into bed with them. She was looking for something more. She was pretty much looking for a fairytale. Well, not the whole Knight in shining armor scenario, more of a guy who can sweep her off her feet and completely blow her away just by talking to him. It was impossible but what harm could it do, to hope?
Living in England by herself, wasn't very easy. She made a lot of friends and was possibly one of the social butterflies which were quite socially involved in everything but she still didn't find herself living in a very easy going life in England. After graduation, her friends became her rivals in the world of fashion designing. She didn't enjoy that part of the course. There was an incident where one of her so called 'friends' deliberately bang into her car so that she wouldn't be able to hand in her assignment on time. It was not a nice experience for her.
But there was one day when she felt like the day could never have been worst that she met the most extraordinary person ever and probably the most unexpected person as well. The day was rainy and miserable. She was in London and her car broke down in the middle of the road. So, she got out of her car and the cars from behind ran into her car, smashing her car. Not only did that happened, she had been mugged just before. So she was penniless and wet in London, on the side footpath freezing her ass off. Due to all the stress and the cold chilling weather, she fainted in the middle of the street. That was when a Good Samaritan turned up and took her back to his house to heal her. When she woke up, she found herself face to face with the one person she never thought she would ever see again in her life, Eriol Hiiragizawa.
After that day, they saw each other every weekend, just to keep each other company and to bond a friendship that was never really there in their younger years. At that time, Eriol was still with Kaho Mizuki in a relationship. It was also then when all the cracks in the relationship began. Kaho felt that Eriol was not spending as much time as he could with her and Eriol felt that Kaho was being a hypocrite. After a very huge argument which started from an unsuccessful soufflé, the two broke up. Tomoyo saw this as her fault but she was assured by Eriol that it had nothing to do with her.
Their friendship grew stronger and their emotions towards each other grew more and more. The attraction was there and the feeling was there, it was just waiting for the right time to spark. They both knew that they liked each other but neither did anything to pursue a relationship with each other. Until one day, in the cold Christmas winter underneath mistletoe, they shared a kiss and that changed everything. Tomoyo was afraid of her emotions and left London that morning to Hong Kong where she started off a popular clothing chain store by the name of 'Raven Sapphire'.
She had to admit that she still has emotions for Eriol but for some reason, she was afraid of her own emotions. She was afraid that the relationship would not have worked or it would have broken off easily and mostly, she was terrible horrified of being hurt. It was the biggest fear she had. She did not want to be emotionally scarred for life as much as she was too deep, in love with the man who blew her away and swept her off her feet.
~*~
He was there for me,
He was the one I'll always see,
He's the love of my heart,
He's my crush; he and I will never part
~*~
Again, she found sanctuary in the silent streets of Tomoeda. It's been 3 months since she's arrived from Shenzhen. She found herself getting reacquainted with all her old friend in the part 3 months. She met back with Yamazaki, Chiharu, Naoko and Reika. The old gang from Tomoeda Elementary straight to Tomoeda High school. She even spent a lot of time with her mother, keeping an eye on her mother's health. She caught up with Sakura's lifestyle. She was back to where she belongs and she was home and yet, she felt hollow and empty where she just felt like there was something missing. It was now her habit to wake up half an hour before the sunrises and take a run to Penguin Park to watch the sunrise. It was her 'downtime'. It was the time where she would take a nice jog and think about the things in her life.
Today wasn't just any other day. Today was specifically her birthday and it was all nice and warm. The morning air was fresh and absolutely fantastic. She was turning a year older. Another year has passed in such a swift move. She ran until she reached the playground and went to the swings. She faced east where she would greet the Sun with a smile. Then, she remembered how two years ago, Eriol brought her to see the sunrise on her birthday. It was 2 years ago today that he had shared something miraculous with her and now, she missed him and yet, was afraid to face him. She had the fear. The absolute fear of falling in love and getting hurt.
She felt a tear roll down her cheek and to the ground as she looked down at her feet, contemplating about her life for the past 27 years. She thought whether she had done all that she had really wanted to do. It was not like she wasn't satisfied with her accomplishments, it was like somehow, she felt she was still lost of something or maybe, just maybe, 'someone'. Just when she was about to get up, a plum blossom fell to her lap. She looked at it in awe, it was too early for flowers to blossom but the plum blossom was beautiful, in full bloom.
"I thought that the flower would make a birthday girl happy", a voice said.
She turned around to see him, Eriol Hiiragizawa holding a bouquet of plum blossoms in his hand. She felt tears rolling down her cheeks again. There he stood, the love of her life. The one that she ran away from. He was really here, holding a bouquet of her favourite flowers on her birthday in Tomoeda just when the sun was beginning to rise. He came closer to her, took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped her tears.
"The mistake that I made on Christmas was not for kissing you. It was not for letting you know how much you meant to me. You ran away that morning and hid away from me. It took me quite some time to track you down, with me not having much magic left. Then, I made a call to Sakura and she told me that you were back in Tomoeda. I knew that I had to come and find you", he said, holding her hand in his.
"You did? Why?" She asked, softly.
He looked at her in the eyes and cupped her cheek with his hands.
"Because Tomoyo, I'm in love with you and I just cannot control the feelings that I have for you", he continued.
Tomoyo smiled. It was what she wanted to hear for a long time. Eriol knew then, how she had felt. He flashed her one of his charming smiles before leaning in to claim her lips to seal the one kiss that will last for more sunrises and more birthdays to come.
~*~
Your heart will tell no lies,
Whether in visions and in minds,
Love may be found in various styles,
All you have to do is wait for the time,
Love will come to you,
When you least expect it to.
~*~
*The End*
A/n: Well, Kyte, I hope you like it! As for the other readers who are reading this, thank you for reading.
