Everlasting Dawn
Chapter Two: The Meeting of Two Friends
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Author's Notes: Well, I'm not really happy with this chapter, but I guess it's better than continuing to let my readers wait. I've been getting so much e-mails telling me to update asap so here I am. This isn't an exciting chapter either, but things are definitely beginning to heat up.
And if you have some time, please read and review It's a Peter Pan 2003 movie-based fanfic and it does contain spoilers, so if you haven't seen the movie yet... well, you know, don't read it unless you want to. Anyway, I'd appreciate it very much.
So on with the chapter!
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He stepped out of the train and onto the grounds of Tokyo. As soon as he did, there was a nagging feeling from deep inside of him telling him that this wasn't such a good idea—that he was going to get much more than he wanted. But like he did with every other emotion that he rejected came in his way, he decided to ignore it. It was the only thing he could do.
"I knew you would come," a voice he instantly recognized said from behind, "I know you too well." Hajime stepped out from the shadows to greet him. Syaoran glared, finding the proud grin on his friend's face positively annoying.
"Shut up," he said with a threatening jerk of his head, "I don't even know why I came here."
Hajime smiled. "Well, my friend," he sighed happily, "We're about to find out."
They began to walk off, the night sky above them clear. The feeling continued to nag at him. Syaoran wasn't too eager like Hajime on finding out why he was here. Perhaps it was because he already knew the reason.
* * *
"I'm late!" the girl shouted as she jumped out of bed, quickly running to the bathroom. She stumbled over her own feet a few times before finally making it in. "I can't believe it! Late again! That's the third time this week!" she grumbled as she brushed her teeth.
The phone rang and she rolled her eyes, sighing loudly all the while. This was only wasting her time. She walked out of the bathroom and to the couch, where she sat down uncomfortably and picked up the phone.
"Hello?" she said through the toothpaste that was in her mouth.
"Sakura, are you still brushing your teeth? Do you realize you're late?" a soft, informative voice asked, "Hurry, Sakura. We need you here as soon as possible. The restaurant's getting really busy. Chiharu and I can't keep up."
"Hold on," Sakura said as she got up from the couch, heading back into the bathroom. She rinsed her mouth clean before continuing to talk again. "Okay, sorry, Tomoyo. I slept in again, but don't worry. I'll be there in 10."
A sigh could be heard from the other line. "Alright, hurry though. Mr. Hiro's getting very upset. We'll see you in 10 then. Bye."
As Sakura hung up the phone, only one thing passed through her mind: I am dead.
* * *
"Want some breakfast?" Hajime asked as he popped his head into the room.
Syaoran peeked an eye open at the question. Usually, he would've ignored Hajime, but he had awoken to a terribly empty stomach this morning. Sitting up, Syaoran scratched his head and pulled the sheets off of him before walking out to the kitchen table. He glanced around, looking for some food, but nothing edible was in sight.
"I guess I forgot to mention that we'd have to go out to get breakfast," Hajime laughed lightly, "But don't worry. Tokyo is a big place. We can find anything we want here."
Syaoran scowled and turned away, heading back into the room. "I'm not in the mood to go out right now."
Hajime frowned. "Then I guess you'll be starving until dinner then." He watched as Syaoran stopped abruptly in his steps. "Come on, have some fun. You don't need to be an ass all the time, you know. Lighten up."
"Sure," Syaoran said icily, "Right."
Hajime shrugged his shoulders. "Couldn't hurt," he shot back, "You don't need to be so apathetic about everything all the time. At least enjoy your life sometimes. Otherwise, what's the point? Trust me, just loosen up and you'll see that there's a lot out there."
Syaoran stared hard at him.
Hajime sighed. "Just go get ready. I mean, you're hungry, I'm hungry. The least we can do is satisfy our stomachs first before arguing."
Syaoran shook his head. "You go. I'll just wait until dinner instead." Without waiting for Hajime's last words, he continued to walk back into the room, where he slept once again.
* * *
"Thank you, Syaoran!" she shouted as she jumped into his arms, "You are the greatest—I promise I'll love you forever! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She hugged him tightly and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "You know that I love you, right?"
He pushed her away slowly. "If you really love me, you'll step away from me and let me breathe. And calm down. Sheesh. It's not a big deal."
"Yes it is," she smiled softly, "You told Toki that you wouldn't come to her party, but now you are. Because Ryuu cancelled on me. Again."
Syaoran turned away. He didn't really see what the big deal was. "What about it? You've been wanting to go to her party ever since... Thursday two weeks ago. Besides, I probably would've gone anyway. I figured that you would need someone to look after you."
"And what about you?" she asked curiously, "You're younger than me!"
"By only a few months!" he argued back, "But you know, I guess we could look out for each other."
Sakura stepped up to him and wrapped her arms securely around his neck. Something as simple as this always made her happy, even though she did it quite frequently. It made her feel special—and indeed she was, especially to Syaoran. It made it all the better because she knew that she was the only one who was able to touch him like this without having him growling or scowling. Although it may have made her seem selfish, she loved the attention Syaoran always gave her.
"We've always been doing that," she whispered to his ear, "We've been looking out for each other since we were five. Been best friends ever since and we're still going on strong, and forever will be, right?"
"Right," he said as he hugged her just as tightly, "And forever will be."
She smiled into his hair and closed her eyes. If only he knew how she honestly felt about him... "We're so corny, you know," she said tiredly, "We're always like this. Always together. I wonder though, what it would really be like if we were ever separated." She suddenly pulled away from him. "I don't think I would be able to make it."
His lips curved upward, but he did not smile. "You don't need to worry about that," he said, "We've made this promise before, and we can make it again if it'll make you feel better. I won't ever leave you. If, and I'm only saying if, though I highly doubt it would ever happen, if you ever left me, I would always still be with you. You'll never be alone."
"Thanks," she said calmly, "I believe you." But though she did, she couldn't help but feel that this promise was only made to be broken. It was just too good to be true. She was afraid that it would come to an end, that they would not be together anymore. Things were just too good... and something would eventually tear them apart.
"Don't you worry."
"I won't. I trust you, Syaoran. I trust you with everything I've got." And she did. She trusted her best friend with all of her heart.
* * *
He awoke in cold sweat and he was aggravated. Those dreams of him and her back in the old days kept becoming more and more frequent every night, and it bothered him to no end. He had tried so hard to forget, to erase her out of his mind, but he just couldn't, no matter how hard he tried. The past was the past. The only thing that mattered now was the future, right?
He frowned upon that too when he realized he truly had no real future. He was not happy, he knew, but he wasn't completely unhappy either. Over the years, after the death of his mother, he had become numb. So numb that he brought it to the point where he taught himself to rid of all emotions. He was successful in doing that too. But all of that seemed to disappear at this moment. At this very moment, he felt guilt, and he did not know why.
But then he was struck again with her honorable words: "I won't. I trust you, Syaoran. I trust you with everything I've got."
She was the one who was suffering now. And he was the one who kept promising her so many times that he would never leave her. And he broke it. Long ago, it was he who feared being left alone, which was why he kept reassuring her, so that she could promise the same in return.
A sigh broke from his dry lips as he turned his head to look out the window. It was snowing.
"Sakura," he breathed her name for the first time in years, "I'm sorry."
* * *
"So you're really not going to go?" Tomoyo asked again as they approached their apartment building.
Sakura shook her head. "Sorry, Tomoyo, but no. I'm tired; tomorrow is Christmas. We can do something then. I just need some rest. I don't know how you do it though. You go to work early in the morning, earlier than me, you do more, and you're still not tired."
"Well, I didn't sleep in the park yesterday," Tomoyo reasoned, "And you got sick from that. That explains why. But don't worry. Call me tomorrow and we'll do something, okay? Good night, Sakura."
"Yeah, good night, Sakura," Chiharu and Takashi added in, "See you tomorrow."
Sakura nodded. "Yeah, thanks guys. G'night. I'll see you all tomorrow."
* * *
"So I heard there was this restaurant down the street that's really good. Heard they had really cute waitresses there too."
Syaoran looked over at Hajime and narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Did I ever tell you that you're a damn fool? Look, I don't care where or even what we're eating as long as we do eat something. I'm starving here."
"I'll be right back then," Hajime said as he walked out the door. He looked to his left and knocked on the door next to his. "I'll ask one of our neighbors then."
A girl with long auburn hair answered the door. Her jaded green eyes stared through him inertly and Hajime found himself regretting ever disturbing her. The girl turned her head a bit in confusion. "Um, yes?"
"Hi, I'm Hajime," he acquainted himself to her, "I'm new here and I just moved into the apartment next to yours with a friend yesterday. And I was wondering... would you mind telling me any good restaurants around here? I mean, I know there's a lot of them around here, but I'm just not sure which one is good and which is not."
"Oh," she said in a tone of voice as if she was finally seeing the light, "Well, I work at a restaurant down the street from here. You could try that."
He nodded and smiled. "So it is true."
She stared at him. "What is?"
"That the waitresses there are really cute."
She found herself blushing at the compliment and the grin he had on his face didn't help her cool out much either. "Thanks... I guess."
"Yes, well, I'd better get going. My friend's probably getting very aggravated at me right now. I starved him all day today and he isn't too happy about it."
"I would probably be too." She laughed at his unfortunate situation. "But it was nice meeting you, Hajime. Maybe I'll talk to you some other time. I hope you have fun and I hope your friend won't hate the restaurant too much if you go there."
"Yeah. I will definitely talk to you later... um...?" he trailed off, hinting her to give him her name.
"Sakura," she finished for him, "Sakura Kinomoto."
"Ah, what a beautiful name. Well, okay. I'll talk to you later then, Sakura. Thanks for the help." He started back to his apartment.
"No problem," she said to him as he disappeared next door.
Hajime rubbed his hands together as he entered back through his door. "So it's settled then. We're going to the restaurant down the street from here. I just found out that one of the waitresses from that restaurant lives right next door to us. She's awfully nice. And cute, too."
"Figures," Syaoran mumbled under his breath, "You're such a damn fool."
Hajime nodded. "Yup, I think we established that already about five minutes ago."
"So to the restaurant down the street it is?" Syaoran asked again.
"Uh huh," Hajime replied as they walked out the door. While starting down the hall, Hajime couldn't help but knock on Sakura's door on the way down. "G'night, Sakura!" he shouted softly.
She answered him back with a loud but worn out "Bye!" from the other side.
At the sight of this, Syaoran stopped curtly in his steps.
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Author's Notes: That's the end of chapter two.
