Disclaimer: As before I own nothing!
Authors Note: Yes I remember that this is supposed to be a one shot, well I am writing this chapter… well epilogue for Jen because she asked and because she was my first proper reviewer J . So here you go Jen, the epilogue…
Cherry Blossom- Epilogue
Sometime in the future…
She was there again, sitting or rather lounging in the highest branch of the largest and oldest cherry blossom tree in the forest idly swinging the leg she wasn't sitting on back and fourth her auburn hair billowing in the breeze and her piercing green eyes looking straight ahead. "Time," She murmured sadly. "It will soon be time." She stood up and jumped off of the branch somersaulting in mid air and landing with a gentle thud on her feet.
"Sakura?" A feminine voice questioned behind her. Sakura sighed; she hadn't heard that name in a long time. Not since she had said goodbye to Syaoran. Smiling she turned around to face the voice. The branches of the cherry blossom tree, making it look like a Goddess had just set foot on the Earth, framed her. Her pink dress and auburn hair billowed around her caught in the breeze and the petals from the cherry blossom fell all around her.
She smiled at the figure and the smile broadened as the figure stepped out of the shadows and into the light revealing a slender girl about Sakura's age with long billowing black hair and amethyst eyes. "Tomoyo!" Sakura squealing hugging her friend tightly tears silently rolling down her cheeks. Tomoyo returned her hug just as tightly.
"It feels like Millennia since I last saw you." Tomoyo whispered sadly. Sakura drew back and smiled at Tomoyo.
"Perhaps it has been that long." Sakura agreed.
"It is Time, Sakura." Tomoyo said softly her amethyst eyes sad.
"Already?" Sakura gasped her emerald eyes wide. Tomoyo nodded ruefully.
"Mankind must now have the world to itself to do with as it pleases. Our time is over and our power is diminishing." Tomoyo looked up at the warm morning cloudless sky.
"I've felt my power seep away from me." Sakura agreed. "But I thought that I was just imagining it… just hoping… or that maybe it was because I still hold the power that isn't mine." Tomoyo raised an eyebrow.
"He doesn't remember does he and you don't want to burden him." Tomoyo remarked gently. "But the time has come. We can no longer stay here. It is time to collect the remaining three." Sakura smiled.
"It will be great to see everyone again." She said cheerfully. "Only it will be sad because we will be saying goodbye to our home." Her smile faltered slightly.
"Don't see it as an ending Sakura." Tomoyo advised. "See it rather as a beginning."
****
Eriol put the book down and looked at his companion a dark haired woman with mahogany eyes who was sitting fiddling with a sword absently. "Can you hear it?" He enquired. Meiling nodded. "The time has finally come." He stood up and looked around his house smiling sadly. "It is such a pity that we must leave them on their own, but we can only guide them so far on their path."
"What about Syaoran?" Meiling questioned standing up also and placing the sword on the coffee table. "Does he remember?" Eriol shook his head.
"He sealed her into the ground still guarding his power and he has not returned since, though many times I have felt her call to him." Eriol replied.
"So have I." Meiling replied looking worried. "Are you sure that he will answer her call?" Eriol walked to the window and looked outside, down to the cherry blossom forest that almost reached to the front door of his house. It was hard to believe that once the land had been barren and nothing had grown there.
"He has no choice but to answer, though he knows not why. Like us he cannot ignore Sakura's call."
****
He was sitting on the edge of a cliff staring down at the sea, his sword on the ground next to him glistening in the noon sun his green cloak wrapped around him protecting him from the majority of the iciness the wind was throwing at him. 'Syaoran!' There it was again, the voice that had been calling him every day for the past one hundred years. 'It is time, time to set me free. You buried me a long time ago to save mankind, now it is time to unburry me.' It said sounding pleading and commanding at the same time. The voice was female and sounded familiar, like he had heard it long ago under the branches of the…
"Sakura?!" He whispered aloud. "Is that you?" He wanted desperately to believe that it was her that was calling him, then he remembered she had said they would meet again. He stood up his amber eyes hard with purpose, his cloak billowing about him in the wind, and he headed back to the last place he had seen her. The place where she was buried until… did that mean it was the end of time?
****
All four of them sat in the branches of the cherry blossom tree and watched as the loan figure draped in a dark green cloak made his way towards him. "Are you sure it is Time?" Sakura asked again her emerald eyes troubled.
"It is his burden to carry not yours." Eriol said quietly. "You have carried it for him through the centuries out of love, now you must give it him back on the eve of our departure and with it a choice." Sakura nodded her emerald eyes growing sad.
"I understand." She whispered before jumping down to the ground from her branch, landing with a slight thud. Tomoyo and Meiling made a move to follow her but Eriol shook her head.
"Only she can do this."
**
Sakura stepped out of the branches as Syaoran drew near, his eyes widened in surprise. "You… you're free?" He whispered shocked, Sakura smiled at him sadly as she moved closer to him. Gently she placed her hand on his cheek and looked into his eyes. Syaoran looked back calmly. Startled he felt her trembling then he saw large tears role down her cheeks.
"I'm so sorry." She whispered her eyes tortured with pain.
"For what?" He asked calmly, wondering what she had to be sorry about if anything it was he who had something to be sorry about. Sakura licked her lips and drew away from him.
"A long time ago you gave me something, something you don't remember giving me. You gave it to me because what mankind was doing to the world was destroying you and you had no choice. Since then I have kept it and not returned it to you because… because I love you." She smiled. "Now I have to return your gift because it is time for you to remember." Syaoran looked at her shocked, what was she talking about? But it struck a chord deep within him and something within him began to stir, to awaken.
Sakura held out her hand, resting in her palm was a green ball of energy. She looked Syaoran in the eyes, within the depths of them Syaoran could see love, hope and understanding. "This is yours." She murmured as Syaoran held out his hand and covered the green ball. He bit his lip feeling divine power flow through his veins. He was surrounded by a blinding green light but Sakura stayed where she was looking into the ball watching as her love began to remember everything.
The five elements…
Eriol…Water…
Meiling… Fire…
Tomoyo… Air…
Himself, Syaoran… Earth…
Sakura… Spirit…
The choice…
The green light receded and it left Syaoran standing there apparently unchanged holding Sakura's hand. He looked into her emerald eyes with warm amber ones filled with love. "Thank you for guarding my power for me." He said. Sakura smiled tears of happiness falling down her cheeks. She hugged him tightly then drew back and kissed him gently on the lips, her arms entwining around his neck.
Eriol coughed behind them and Sakura and Syaoran guiltily broke apart and turned to face their friends who were still sitting in the tree. Meiling looking bored and Tomoyo and Eriol amused. "The choice." Eriol said reminding Sakura of what must be done. The smile dropped from her face and eyes and she turned to Syaoran.
"Eriol is right, love." She said quietly. "You have a choice ahead of you, that you alone can make. Perhaps I should have given you your powers back earlier so that the choice wouldn't be so hard." She stroked his face tenderly. "This was your planet and you had so little time to enjoy it." Syaoran caught her hand with his and held onto it tightly. "It is Time for us to leave, mankind is renouncing us and so our powers diminish- all except yours. This is your realm, you are master here and can rule it long after we are only dim memories to the stars." She swallowed and looked up at the night sky, then returned her gaze to his. "You can either remain here, on the world you created out of love, or you can join us on our journey into the unknown."
Syaoran smiled at her. "For millennia's of human time I have walked this world and I have seen many things that otherwise I would not have seen. The one thing that thinking I was mortal has taught me is how I feel without you; I cannot willingly go through that again. I choose to go with you, to wherever you want." Then he lent forward and captured her lips in a passionate kiss ignoring their audience. Sakura drew back and breathlessly smiled at him, some auburn hair falling across her face. With a wink she tucked it behind her ear and turned to their three companions watching as they joined them under the cherry blossom trees.
"It is TIME!!" Sakura called. Everything seemed to freeze in place for a couple of seconds, there was no sound, no movement, no light, no dark, no heat, no cold, there was nothing. Sakura and Syaoran held hands tightly, unconsciously Sakura moved closer to him. Tomoyo smiled at Eriol and stood next to him. Standing in the middle on her own Meiling rolled her eyes, amused by the couples' obvious displays of affection. Then everything seemed to rush towards them and they were surrounded by a warm glowing silver light that seemed to consume them and hide them from view, blinding everyone who looked in its direction momentarily.
When the light had cleared all that was left was a lone cherry blossom tree. From its top branch a Dove took flight heading into the unknown, like the five companions as they hurtled through space into the unknown.
Authors Note: Finally the finale *cheers* now there will definitely be no more chapters after this. I hope that you enjoyed it! Bex