Seasons
Epilogue: Taiyou
Taiyou.
The sky was dark and filled with the dark loom of clouds. It was drizzling, the rain coming in gentle wisps. The grass and flowers drank the water appreciatively, the little drops gentle and kind.
A young woman walked through a meadow of green, her dark hair up, her umbrella up. She was dressed in all white, her stomach softly rounding. A little girl hung to her hand tightly, looking so much like her mother, but her eyes were the deepest, deepest blue.
Across the distance, the young woman saw another expectant mother. Her brown hair was curled delicately about her face, and she had kind brown eyes. As they approached each other, both sets of eyes lighted up in recognition.
"Tomoyo-san!" she exclaimed softly. "I haven't seen you since your wedding and that was four years ago!" She positively beamed. "I'm glad you came back. Chiharu-chan and Yamazaki-kun…" she caught sight of the little girl hanging on to Tomoyo's hand, with the deep blue eyes, and gasped. "Oh my, what a darling! Is she…?" she looked at Tomoyo, who nodded.
"Sakura-chan," Tomoyo's voice changed little over the last few years, "this is Terada-san." The little girl named Sakura looked up at the woman, dimpling in a smile.
"How old is she?" she bent down running her hand over the girl's ebony curls.
"Three," Tomoyo replied, she too smiling. "Expecting again, Rika-san?"
Rika blushed proudly. "Yes."
Tomoyo watched her hand curl at the soft rounding and this time no pang struck her heart. "Where is Miyuki-chan?" she asked, curious as to where her daughter was.
"Oh, with Yoshiyuki. I was just going over there myself right now. Do you want me to," she glanced at the bright pink petals and white peonies in Tomoyo's arms, a memory of long ago, "take Sakura-chan to meet Miyuki-chan?"
Tomoyo nodded, her eyes filled with gratefulness. "Sakura-chan," she spoke gently to her daughter, "Terada-san will take you to play with her daughter okay?" Sakura looked at her mother quizzically but obediently nodded. They went off hand in hand.
Tomoyo quickly reached that fateful place, where two clean tombstones lay side by side, under a cherry tree. She got down on her knees, not caring whether or not her white dress would get dirty. Her umbrella fell to one side, forgotten, and her dark head bowed in reverent respect. "Sakura-chan, Li-kun," she spoke, a tremor in her voice. "I'm sorry I've been away for so long. I'm married, see?" she held out her left hand, a sparkling amethyst surrounded by diamonds on her ring finger. "And I have a daughter. She's named after you, Sakura. I hope…I hope you're somewhere watching over us." Her left hand now touched her rounding stomach. "And Li-kun, you'd better be taking good care of Sakura-chan," she laughed, a lone voice in the full emptiness. "I'm expecting again," she sighed. "Anyway, Sakura-chan, Li-kun…I came to say that I'm happy. And I can finally let go."
There was a sparkle of sun that touched the slabs of stones and her shoulders. She looked up, surprised at the light. There was a slight pressure on her shoulder and he turned to meet the blue, blue eyes she knew so well. "Hi," he said. Sakura was holding his hand.
Tomoyo blinked. "Wasn't she with Rika-san, Eriol?"
"Yes, but I brought her back," he said cheerfully, helping her up. "Let's go home."
The three of them walked home hand in hand.
The sky was slowly clearing; the rain stopped. The sun continued to shine on the two tombstones, wreathed with flowers. But even if it were still raining, happiness would be easy to find.
You only had to look at yourself to find it.
Taiyou.
- end -
Notes:
It's been fun, writing and rewriting this fic. And finally done with it's first edition! I'm so proud. XD I really have nothing more to say except that I can't believe how stupid I used to be. And so dramatic! I'm so ashamed.
Much thanks and love to Wusai darling; thanks to her, the chapter is now correctly named.
Took out all the lyrics and whatnot. With lots and lots of grammar/spelling/syntax corrections.
Hope you all enjoyed the edited version.
~meemee
Old notes:
::sighs:: It's the end. My first multi-chaptered fic I finished. It's really all symbolic. Did you notice how Tomoyo dresses? First it's dark, then at the end it's light. ^^;; Oh and the chapter titles, Ame to Taiyou, Rain to Sun. Anyhow, I need to thank some people [in no particular order], because I'm sure you really don't care about the symbolism. ^^;;
white phoenix [and the other 'whites']: Thank you for 'beta'ing. I really appreciated it.
Kasumi Izukawa: Thank you so much for your reviews. I don't think I would've continued without your reviews.
Eevetta: Thank you for your reviews. Hope your site is doing well.
L. Hiiragizawa: Les!! I'm glad you liked my humble little fic.
Ekai Ungson: Kai 'nee-san, thank you for answering my email and helping me.
Kazezero: I loved all your reviews. Besides Kasumi-san, you were the other one that kept me going.
likeafallingstar, KyteAura, Kuarri, raven, Polgara-C, Psych, silverg3r: Thank you for reviewing! I always feel so flattered when I read them. And KyteAura, it was //very// rushed.
I thank Minky, Midnight Arrow, Linda, meg, natasha, FinalYinYan, rakko- chan, saturnkj, watergoddess14, Midnight Dreamer, Erika, Autumn Moon, BoScOsGuRl, bluedragongirl, M&M, Peony Angel, lye-chan, Umeko and Kokori Inc., Linky-chan, Dark Tenshi, and slegna for reviewing 1 or 2 of the beginning chapters.
~meemee