Everlasting Dawn
Chapter One: A Promise Abandoned
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Author's Notes: I apologize for the very, very, very late delay on this chapter. I could go as forever as to why, but I won't. Because, well, I'm sure you won't care. I'm sure you'd rather read than hear me rambling.
Also, fyi, I changed the plot. Syaoran is not really an 'assassin' anymore. Well, actually... er, you know what, never mind. You'll find out what I mean later on.
And just a reminder, any flames you have should be e-mailed to me at battousaixangel@hotmail.com and not to be left in a review, thank you. If it is left in a review, I will delete it and disregard it immediately. So if you want a response from me, at least have the decency to e-mail me about it personally.
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It was getting dark.
But it didn't matter. The cheerful people of Tokyo continued to shop as the snow fell down lightly from the dusky sky, filling up the busy night streets. Hundreds of people continued to roam the shops as well as the streets—some getting ready for Christmas, and others heading back home for a peaceful night's rest. One girl, however, was not seen in the nightlights of the engaged city.
She was hidden under a tree. Under a tree in which she and her best friend used to come for comfort in. It was their tree. Their cherry blossom tree.
Well, it was—not anymore though. He was gone. He had been gone for nearly six years now. She had never seen or heard from him ever since. And on that day that he left, she had changed completely.
Actually, it wasn't like she had changed so drastically to the point where she was always depressed and suicidal. She just never felt the same after that. After he left, she felt as if half of herself had left her as well. And indeed, half of her had. It had left along with him.
However, she was still the girl everyone loved and admired. She was still the sweet and smart auburn-haired girl from many years ago. She was still kind and patient. She was still the same girl...
Or so everyone thought.
Everyone knew how his disappearance affected her, they just didn't realize how much. And she knew that they would never be able to comprehend, so she put on a masquerade to hide her true loneliness. Her true agony, her true discomfort, and her true doubts. She didn't want pity from them. She didn't want pity from anybody. All she wanted was him. For him to come back to her. To comfort her once more, as he always had before.
But she knew he wouldn't come back. But despite that, there was still a small spark of hope inside of her. A part of her would never give up. No, she would never give up on him, just like he never did on her so many times long ago.
But the thing was, she didn't even know if he was still alive or not. And that bugged her the most. Not only bugged, but pained her too. She was very sensitive on that subject. Whenever she thought about it, she would cry for days, drowning herself in her own sorrow.
Which was why she was here on this very night. Under the very same tree she had met him under. Under the very same tree he comforted her in. Under the very tree they made wishes together when they were young.
She remembered they made one wish on their 6th Christmas together that still stuck with her...
* * *
"The snow's very pretty, isn't it, Syaoran?" Sakura asked as she hugged her knees to her chest, smiling happily up at the white frost. As she sat there waiting for an answer, she couldn't help but smile. The snow had always put her in a good mood, even if she was in the downest of the dumps. She continued to just smile at the snow as she waited for an answer. An answer never came.
She slowly turned her head to him, wondering why he wasn't answering her. She noticed that there was a mournful look in his eyes. Her smile quickly faded and she scooted slowly over to him, wrapping a warm arm around his small neck. Lately, she had been noticing that he had that look in his eyes a lot. And she had no idea why.
She pressed her rosy cheek from the cold against his, closing her eyes. He gave no response. Slowly, she pulled away from him, and placed her head on his shoulder.
"Don't worry about me," he said abruptly, almost making her flinch.
She didn't understand. "Why? You always worry about me," she objected softly.
He continued to sit there passionless as if he had been stoned by the cold. Sakura proceeded to stare at him, until eventually, he turned his head to meet her eyes. "That's because you're very careless," he said firmly, "And because you deserve it. It gives me a meaning to stay active. To care about you."
"That's not fair, Syaoran," she spoke quietly, "If you're able to worry about me, but then I should be able to worry about you too. I love you, you know. And that's why I worry about you, whether I want to or not. You're my best friend. If something's bugging you, you should tell me."
"I don't want you to worry. I don't need you to worry. I can take care of it by myself," he said defensively, "I'm not a kid. I really can take care of myself."
"Can you?" she shot back, "And yes, you are a kid. But you just don't have fun. It's like you hate having fun. You never do anything enjoyable, Syaoran! You should! You deserve at least that much."
Syaoran looked at her, his eyes softening. "Promise me one thing then."
"Okay, of course. Anything. What is it?"
"Promise me you'll never leave me. Even if I'm pigheaded and impossible to handle, never leave me. Promise me we'll be best friends forever. You're the only one I ever enjoy being around with. I only ever have fun because of you. You're my joy, you're my fun. You already know that though, right?"
She nodded. "Yes. Yes, I do. And I promise. I'll never leave you. But only as long as you promise you won't leave me first. If I ever get too disgustingly cheerful, like you always say I am, you're going to have to deal with it. Just like I will. Whatever happens, talk it out with me. Just don't you dare ever leave me. If you do, I don't know what I'll do..."
"I promise. I really do promise. Of all our promises, this is the one I'll keep for sure. I promise."
"You swear?" she asked as she held out her pinky to him. He linked pinkies with her and brought her hand to his lips while their pinkies were still linked. He gave it a quick kiss before breaking away. Sakura smiled. "It's sealed with a kiss. It's official then."
"Of course," Syaoran whispered as he turned to look at the snow. "It has always been official."
Sakura held his hand.
"Yes... the snow is very pretty."
* * *
A small salty raindrop fell from her clouded eyes as she recollected that memory.
He had broken his promise to her. The one promise that he had promised to keep to her. So many times he had feared that she would leave him, but never in a thousand years would she have imagined him leaving her, especially after the pledge they shared that day.
Syaoran, you never had anything to worry about! It was me who had something to worry about! You left me! You're the one who abandoned... she thought bitterly, But then again... we were only eleven... what did we know...
In her heart, although full of torment, she still believed headstrong that he would come back. One day, someday... somehow.
She looked up at the tree. It was weird how the tree remained the same after all these years. She had grew up with this tree for sixteen years. She had changed and grew a lot—both mentally and physically. The cherry blossom tree, however, did not. It remained as beautiful and breathless as ever. And she smiled. In a way, she hoped that the tree would never grow old. That way, all her childhood memories would never fade away... they would forever stay young and true.
Her eyes wandered around the park until they halted at the street. She realized now that it was getting late. All the people who had been Christmas shopping a few hours ago had all went home. They were beginning to get ready for the big day tomorrow.
Tomorrow was finally Christmas Eve. And the day after that... well, that was going to be the biggest day of all.
She glanced down at her watch. 2:56 AM. She blinked.
Had she really been here for almost six hours? That was quite a long time. She hadn't even realized when the sun had set. She debated on whether she should leave or not. The snow was beginning to fall pretty hard... but she didn't want to leave. She wanted to linger back in her memories. And the only way she could was when she was here, under the tree.
She decided that she would stay until dawn, not caring if she got sick the next day. At least for now, she would be comforted.
From far away, though no one saw, a lone figure sat against a tree, waiting for daybreak to come while she recollected back on all of her childhood memories.
The snow only fell harder.
* * *
A young man of twenty-one wandered aimlessly down the sidewalk, ignoring all movement around him. His chestnut-colored hair was damp from the snow that stopped falling a few hours ago. Parts of his hair were frosted into ice, as he was outside all night long, despite the hurling blizzard.
Luckily, the night was slowly wearing out into dawn. He quickly made his way down the street, sticking his numb hands deep into the pockets of his black jacket.
When he finally reached his apartment building, he quickly made his way up to his apartment. When he stepped foot in, he sighed in relief. But his calm expression turned back to his usual emotionless face as he heard someone knock on his door. He swung it open in frustration.
"What the hell do you want now?"
Hajime, a friend of his, grinned in satisfaction. He loved annoying him. "I was just wondering where you were, man. Where have you been?"
Syaoran sneered. "None of your business."
Hajime sighed. "Syaoran, stop being so grim. It's just me. Sheesh."
Syaoran shook his head. "Exactly my point. Now, it's almost five in the morning, what do you want?"
Hajime stepped into the apartment and headed over to the couch, occupying all of it as he laid down. "Lets go to Tokyo tomorrow."
Syaoran shot his friend a look. "What? Why?"
He shrugged. "Well, to keep it short... I've been here, in Osaka, for all of my life. There's nothing for me here. And I've been thinking about it for a while now. Tokyo... there's a lot more there. What do you say?"
"I like Osaka better," Syaoran said bitterly, "You know I came from Tokyo before I got here. Trust me, there's nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing," he reaffirmed, "Absolutely nothing."
After a moment, Hajime stood up and headed out the door. "Well, I don't care. It should be interesting. It's something new. I'm leaving tomorrow at three. Come with me."
"I'm tired," Syaoran growled, "I'm not going anywhere tomorrow. You can go wherever you want, but I'm staying. That's it."
"But—"
Before Hajime was able to say anything else, Syaoran had shut the door in his face. Grumbling, he kicked the door before heading back to his own apartment next door.
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Author's Notes: That was short, I know. But it's only the beginning. I can't write much. Hopefully, the later chapters will be longer. I try to write a lot, but my attention span only allows me to write two thousand to three thousand words before it just dies. Also, you can tell that I sort of slacked off near the end. I tend to do that a lot, too... I start off the chapter pretty decent... and then near the end, it just goes down the drain. I apologize for that. This chapter was mainly focused on Sakura's thoughts, the next will be Syaoran's.
Also, I don't have a mailing list set up right now. So if you want to be alerted when I update, e-mail me and tell me so, with the subject as: EDML. Don't just tell me in the review because I get mixed up easily when that happens. (Digging through all those reviews to look for those who want to be informed gives me a headache, so when that happens, I tend not to follow though. E-mailing me would make both our lives a lot easier.)
