Intertwined : Chapter 22

Tomoyo shifted uncomfortably in her spot hidden behind the bushes. Tomoyo's bodyguards, after checking that they both had their cells phones, dropped them off. Seeing that it was nearly seven, they both rushed off in separate directions – Sakura towards the park bench where Dark was sitting, and Tomoyo towards the secluded bushes off to the side of King Penguin.
She watched from her camera lens as Sakura appeared from behind Dark. Tomoyo made sure to zoom in on Dark's startled reaction. She began to chuckle as she noticed his desperate attempts to look calm. She then marveled over Dark's outfit – Sakura had not been joking when she said that he enjoyed preening himself.
She sighed happily and said, "Kawaii~" as Sakura sat down next to Dark and attempted to feel his forehead to check for a fever. Although Tomoyo knew very well that Sakura was with Daisuke and that they liked each other very much, she could just tell that Dark liked Sakura just as much. Although Sakura did not share that feeling with him, Tomoyo noticed, she was a bit concerned about the man.
Tomoyo leaned in a bit further in an attempt to hear what Dark was saying. She could tell he was teasing Sakura by his sideways grin and mirth in his eyes. Perhaps an anecdote? A joke? Sakura seemed to believe it, although from the looks of it, whatever Dark was saying, was a lie. Tomoyo shook her head in disappointment. She couldn't hear a thing. She resisted the urge to lip-read, seeing as that she ought to respect a little of Sakura's privacy.
Although she was crouching in the dirt and ruining her very meticulously sewn dress, Tomoyo couldn't feel happier. Sakura had allowed Tomoyo many times before to tape her, but now, she could feel Sakura opening up to her again – as she did five years before. She definitely was not the same girl she was, though. She had healed. The scar was still there, but it did not hurt anymore. Daisuke had made sure of that.
Tomoyo gave another silent thanks to Daisuke – perhaps she should buy him something to show her appreciation. Or maybe a card? Was there a card for that type of situation? "You've made my best friend happy, so I'm happy. Thanks!" Maybe she could make her own.
Although… although Sakura was happy, Tomoyo couldn't help feeling a bit jealous of Daisuke. Tomoyo's love for Sakura had not quelled over the past five years. With Syaoran's disappearance, she was partially glad that she could have Sakura to herself. It was wrong, she knew, for her to feel that way. But she treasured her time with Sakura, even if Sakura was not her best.
With Daisuke's entrance, she was surprised at how relieved she felt. She concluded, after hours of mulling over the topic, that she was not meant to be with Sakura. That it wasn't right for her to keep her all to herself and not allow Sakura to be on her own. She had caged Sakura for her own selfish desires, and it was preventing Sakura from flying. The first time that Sakura and Daisuke were together, she knew. She could see the beginning of adoration in Daisuke's eyes and Sakura's relaxation around him. She knew.
Now they were together, and happy, so Tomoyo felt that she should be too. She ignored her loneliness and instead focused on the next day's events. It would distract her from her pain. But she taught herself, forced herself, to live with it. She would heal. And … "everything will be alright".
She smiled at the memory of Sakura's motto. It would… now that she was not clinging so tightly onto Sakura, she'll have more time to move on. She will end up fine, and Tomoyo decided that she wouldn't worry about the future. It was the future, and she'll just have to deal with it a day at a time.
Tomoyo began to snort with laughter as Sakura cluelessly ran her fingers over Dark's stomach. How Dark convinced her to do that, she did not know. He saw his slight tremors, and knew that he was thinking something very naughty about Sakura. She tsked, and began to giggle.
She filmed the two patiently as they talked about something very serious, and then twitched with agitation as they moved towards the swings. She couldn't see them at that angle. Carefully making sure no one was watching, she crawled over to another area of the park.
Tomoyo quickly crouched down in a new area and continued to film the two as they swung casually on the swings. As she leaned in for a better view, she heard loud scuffling noises to her side. Startled, she sat up and tried to look as ordinary as possible.
"There! There! I see him, Kosuke-san!"
"Ah, Kinomoto-san is talking to him. What is she wearing…?"
Tomoyo sighed with exasperation. Dark fans, she thought to herself.
"He better not be doing anything sneaky!" a woman's voice said. "She's Daisuke's!"
…Too late, Tomoyo thought, remembering how forward Dark had been before.
"What are they saying? Can you hear?" the woman asked impatiently. Tomoyo could hear the man sigh.
Probably annoyed that his girlfriend likes Dark more than him, Tomoyo thought with a chuckle.
"Emiko-san, in order for us to hear, we'll have to be standing next to them," the man said.
"We should've brought Towa-chan!" the woman said, miffed. "She could have easily hidden from the both of them without any detection and report back to us!"
"Well, I'm sure Dark-san would've been able to detect Towa-chan," the man said. After a long silence in which the three of them watched Dark and Sakura converse, the man then asked, "Why exactly are we spying on Dark again?"
"He said he was meeting Sakura-chan tonight! We can't just let him safely talk to Sakura alone! He might try stealing her," the woman said.
…What? Tomoyo thought, perplexed.
"I believe he got Daisuke's approval before giving Sakura the invitation," the man said. "Otherwise, Daisuke would not allow Dark to be there, alone, with Kinomoto-san,"
Who are these two? Tomoyo wondered, straining to hear better.
"AND," the woman said, "I want to make sure the both of them don't confess to Sakura-chan without me around! I want to make sure that I can witness Daisuke's transformation… it'll be any day now, since Sakura-chan is starting to trust Dark more,"
Tomoyo was extremely confused. She wasn't sure she heard correctly.
Transformation? Daisuke? Dark? What do they have in common…?
Although these questions nagged at her, Tomoyo immediately reverted back to filming, seeing that –
"Oh my god!" the woman cried. "He kissed her!"
"What does he think he's doing?"
Tomoyo was startled. Not only that, but she needed to know who these people were. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she crawled over to where the voices were coming from.
"Excuse me?" Tomoyo asked. She pushed away a branch from a large shrub and revealed a woman in her late thirties crouching in the dirt with a very embarrassed man who looked remarkably like…
"Daisuke isn't going to like this," the man said. He shook his head, and then spotted Tomoyo, who was staring at them with perplexity. He nudged Emiko who was very intent on Dark and Sakura.
"Um, hello," Kosuke said nervously. "We didn't know you were using this bush. We'll just get going…"
"Wait!" Tomoyo said hurriedly. "Are you Daisuke's parents?"
This seemed to catch the woman's attention, and she turned to face Tomoyo. She gave a small gasp.
"Who are you?" Emiko cried. Tomoyo smiled despite the circumstances.
"I'm Daidouji Tomoyo. I'm Niwa-kun and Sakura-chan's classmate," she said elegantly. Daisuke's parents stared. Sweatdrops suddenly broke out between them.
"W-W-W-W-What are you doing here?!" the Emiko exclaimed. Tomoyo laughed nervously.
"I was hoping to ask you the same thing," she said.

+++

"I love you,"
Sakura gripped the chains of the swing even tighter at the words.
"Doushite?" she asked, a bit panicked. "Doushite?!" Tears began to form. "You don't even know me – you can't possibly--! How can you love someone who hurt you?!"
"I do know you. More than you know," Dark whispered.
Sakura shook her head wildly. "I-I-I… how can you… impossible…"
"It's not," Dark said, saddened at her reaction. He knelt in front of her and reached up to her face to wipe away the tears. "Please, don't…"
"I can't love you back," she said. "And I promised that I'd make you happy… and I can't… I can't because I don't feel the same…"
"You don't… I don't want anything from you. Just let me love you." Dark pleaded. He pushed the hair away from her face and wiped her tears with his sleeve. "Don't cry. Please, don't cry,"
"G-gomen…"
"No, no. No apologizing," Dark insisted. "You have a large heart, Sakura," he said. "To cry for someone else's pain is truly wondrous,"
"I don't want you to be hurt because of me," she said, rubbing her eyes.
"I know, but I'm not hurt," he lied.
"But I can feel you," she whispered. She held out a shaking hand to touch his chest – his heart. "It hurts."
Dark clasped Sakura's hand into his own and removed it from his chest. "That's cheating," he said, not letting go.
"I don't want you in pain. I don't want you to cause you this pain…" she murmured.
"Then accept me. For who I am." Dark said strongly. He got up and backed slowly away. "Tell me you'll accept me – everything about me,"
"D-Dark…"

+++

"What do Dark and Daisuke have to do with each other?" Tomoyo asked Daisuke's parents after they tried to explain what they were doing there. Emiko began to chuckle nervously and turned to see how Dark and Sakura were doing. She gasped with shock, and hurriedly shook Kosuke's arm.
"Kosuke-san! Dark! He's--!"
Tomoyo's head swiveled quickly, and she quickly turned on her camera.

+++

Sakura stared with amazement as large black wings enveloped Dark. She could feel surges of magic that she never felt before emanating from him.
Within seconds, black feathers fluttered into the air, obscuring her view.
"Dark?!" she cried, getting from up. She started to blindly walk through the cloud of feathers. "What--!"
Hands reached out and grabbed her by her shoulders. She gasped with shock.
"What did you do?" she asked, turning her head as the feathers tumbled down to the ground.
"Sakura."
Sakura felt her heart stop. She came face to face with a very sorrowful Daisuke.
"Daisuke? What… what happened?" she asked, her eyes filled with fear. "Y-You…"
"Will you accept us?" Daisuke asked quietly, despite her frightened look. "Can you accept Dark…? Can you accept that he is… me?"
"You're… You're Dark?!" Sakura exclaimed. Daisuke nodded calmly. Sakura froze and weeks of past events flashed by her eyes. Dark… Daisuke… Dark… Daisuke… She began to tremble violently.
"All this time! All this time you've been parading around as a different person?!" her gaze became accusatory. "You have been deceiving me!"
"I have not been deceiving you," Daisuke said with a sigh. "Dark is a different person from me. We… we share the same body. Out of all the people, I'd expected you to understand,"
"You see… you see what he sees?" she said. The hundreds of mysterious events began to fall in place for her. "Yue-san… and Yukito-san…" she said with amazement.
"…Excuse me?" Daisuke asked. He hadn't expected her to be confusing him. "What about them?"
"They're the same as you," she said, incredulous. "Sharing the same body? You two…?"
Daisuke brightened. "Then it's not unusual. Or not, that much… so do you accept me?"
Sakura began to glare at him angrily. "What have you been trying to pull?! Why were you playing these games on me?! You two!"
"They weren't games," Daisuke said, worriedly. "Dark is a thief… for generations, he has been with the Niwa family… we've been taking the Hikari paintings because it's our destiny…"
"Why did you take my magic?!" Sakura exclaimed. "Couldn't you see how weak I was without it?! You saw me suffering, and yet you did nothing!"
"I needed for you and Dark to get along," Daisuke said impatiently. "You two can't have a conversation without attacking each other! Or you attacking him,"
"It wasn't fair!" Sakura said. "You knew everything about me and I knew nothing about you! Why didn't you tell me this sooner?!"
"I didn't want you to leave," Daisuke said. "I don't want to lose you,"
Sakura's eyes welled. "A relationship is based on trust…! And we didn't have that?!"
Daisuke reached out for Sakura and leaned his forehead against hers. He forced their eyes to meet.
"I needed to be sure. I needed you to be prepared for this. If you didn't know Dark… if you didn't talk with him… didn't know him, you would leave me,"
"I wouldn't!" Sakura said.
"Yes," Daisuke said. "You would." Riku did, he thought sadly. Sakura continued to shake her head, though with less vigor.
"We needed to go slowly." Daisuke explained. "We couldn't just jump the gun and hope that everything will turn out alright. We needed to be sure."
He held her shoulders and felt the trembles slow. Her weariness grew apparent in her eyes and they replaced the previous fiery anger.
"Sakura," he whispered. He gently held her against him and stroked her back. "Nothing will change… we're still… I still…"
"Do you feel the same?" Sakura asked. She clutched him. "Everything Dark feels? The same?"
"Of course," he choked. Sakura felt her heart uplifting and something warm… something warm going through her body. She rested her head against his shoulder.
"Then… I love you, Daisuke," she said. Daisuke felt relief washing over him.
"And Dark?" he asked. "Will you…"
"I accept him," she said firmly.
Everything happened at once. Tomoyo, Emiko, and Kosuke came tearing out of the bushes. Daisuke backed away from Sakura and tripped onto the hard gravel. A small orb, the Abssorbire, fell out of his sweater and dropped onto the floor. As soon as it landed, it was broken into tiny glass pieces. Pink tendrils of magic made their way to Sakura and surrounded her.
Large yelling suddenly filled Sakura's mind. She nearly fainted from the amount of energy pulsating in the air.
"SAKURA-CHAN!"
"DAISUKE!"
"DAI-CHAN!"
Sakura fell to her knees as waves and waves of power washed over her. Through it all, she could feel pain. Excruciating pain.
DARK!!
Daisuke… it was fun while it lasted.
WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!
Hey, I told you this would happen sooner or later… don't act as if this comes as a surprise…
WAIT!! STOP!!
I'll see you in a couple of years, okay…?
"DARK!!" Daisuke yelled. He grabbed the large sweater and clutched it to his chest. Sakura grabbed hers as well – a feeling of great loss came over her. Unbidden tears sprang from her eyes and onto the floor. Tomoyo barely reached Sakura in time as she too fell to the ground.