Identity's Past
by AlterEthereal
Hey folks! Not much to say here except that I would like to thank all my reviewers... you are all excellent and I sincerely hope that you win the lottery or get superpowers or whatever your fancy because I LOVE YOU! *tear* Oh! And also, I'm sorry if last chapter was a bit short. I know you all just want to keep on reading and reading and rea-- *gets dizzy, falls over* @_@
Alter-chan: *breathlessly* Zuri... *pant* ...please... *pant* ...put down... *pant* ...the mallet...
Zuri: ok! *"puts it down" onto Alter-chan's head*
Alter-chan: X_x
Anaru: *sweatdrops* well, i guess that does it for the chase...
Zuri: damn straight it does! *puffs out chest proudly*
Anaru: um... niiiiice... *walks off*
Zuri: *looks around for someone to do disclaimer**groans* haiiiii.... you mean i bonked the only other person left to do disclaimer? *sigh* fine then. DISCLAIMER: neither Alter-chan nor myself owns any part of CCS. this story however, belongs to the unconscious Alter-chan.
RANDOM A/N: in the above, when Zuri whines "haiiiii...." it is NOT meant as "yes" in japanese. it is just her typical groaning.
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Chapter Nine: Welcome
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Syaoran was becoming nervous. She hadn't been at the house, and no one there had seen or heard from her since the day before. If she wasn't at the lake…
He shuddered at the thought. His steps through the thick grass sped up a bit as he made his way across the vast expanse of meadow between the city gates and the lake.
The fog hadn't lifted yet, so it was difficult to sight the dead oak until he was within mere yards of the lake. He looked around, but couldn't see much past it. His heart skipped a beat as his hawk eyes scanned the area but couldn't see anything near the tree. He came closer, hoping that he had missed something through the mist that surrounded him.
He had.
On the ground next to the tree, shrouded by the thick fog, was a pile of what appeared to be clothing--awfully familiar clothing, at that. His heart skipped another beat, but this time, the cause made him blush furiously. She must be in the lake.
He heard a faint splashing from the direction of the shoreline and his head impulsively turned to face it. He took several unconscious steps in the direction of the sound, but stopped when he remembered what would be on the other side of the wall of clouds. He turned around and prepared to run, as the splashing sound seemed to grow closer. Before he could make his escape, however, something stopped him.
"Li?" Her voice was soft, but she sounded infinitely nervous, as if biting back a stutter. He jerked to a halt mid-step, scarlet-faced, and mentally slapping himself for his lousy timing. "I- Is that you?"
"Um… are you in the water?"
"Y- Yes…"
"All the way, I mean."
He heard another few splashes.
"Yeah. You can look now."
He turned around hesitantly. A wave of relief rushed over him as he realized that she was, indeed, fully beneath the surface, with only her head and the tops of her shoulders protruding from the water. He noticed, with a smile tugging at his lips, that she was so pale that her skin barely contrasted the water. Only her cinnamon hair really distinguished her from the lake itself.
"I was looking for you," he stated plainly, suddenly feeling the need to justify his presence.
~*~
He was worried about me? She thought to herself. Even after what happened, he was still worried…
"I see," she muttered distractedly.
After a long, awkward pause, composed mostly of Syaoran averting his gaze downward, not successful in hiding his crimson cheeks, he cleared his throat and mumbled something incomprehensible.
"What?"
"I said I should probably leave," he answered, and then turned around and began back toward the oak.
"Um, wait!" She called after him. "Er… could you bring me my clothes?"
He looked back toward her, but only enough to manage a quick nod before disappearing into the mist.
He returned shortly, bearing the small bundle of clothes in his arms and a cute blush on his face. He set the mess down on the shore beside the lake and looked at her briefly, then turned back around to go.
"You can stay, i-if you want," she stuttered. "I'll be out in just a minute."
"Nah, I'll leave you alone here."
"Please stay… I want you to."
~*~
Royally confused, but not without charisma, Syaoran replied that he would wait for her, then wandered off into the fog to find the oak tree. After feeling around for the exact location of the trunk, he sat and leaned back against the cool bark, trying not to pay attention to the humidity. This wasn't difficult, since his thoughts were mostly focused on Artemis.
Why would she want me to stay? I thought for sure she wanted nothing to do with me, after what happened. Otherwise, why would she have just run off like that? He became more confused the more he thought. There must be a reason she's doing this… "What's she holding back?" he asked himself quietly.
"What?"
His head jerked up at the sound of her voice, and he saw a figure approaching him through the thickening mists. She was fully dressed, though still quite damp.
"It was nothing." He gazed softly at her shivering form and lifted himself from the wet grass. "We should probably get you to the house--you look like you could use some dry clothes."
"Li?" she asked, seeming to ignore his previous statement. She paused, as if waiting for an acknowledgement.
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry," she continued, "for running off like that." He could tell, just by the sound of her voice, that tears were forming in her wide, emerald eyes. He wanted to believe that she would've stayed if she had the chance to recreate the scene, but he knew that wasn't likely.
"You don't have to be sorry." He muttered, his voice a bit more caustic than he had intended. It didn't bother him much.
"I don't care. I'm sorry anyway."
"Would you have done things differently?"
She was silent for a few moments, obviously taken aback by his question. Every second of that silence felt like a knife at his throat, begging him to repeat the inquiry. "If you could go back and do it over again, would you do things differently?"
"Yes, I think I would."
Syaoran, slightly shocked, couldn't think of anything appropriate to say for a few moments himself. Not that he needed to--before he could even find the words, let alone get them out, the wet girl ran to him and hugged him squarely around the middle. Once he was quite recovered, he placed his arms around her also, hoping that it would be a welcomed response.
Her dripping hair grazed across his shirt, leaving little damp spots in it's wake. In less than a minute, he was close to as wet as she was. But he didn't care. All that really mattered was that she was there with him.
"Now can I ask you a question?" She pulled away slowly and met his eyes.
"It's only fair, isn't it?"
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Zuri: eh, i think i'm just gonna leave you guys to ponder the last few sentences of the chapter, rather than go off into some random spiel on something. so please review!! thanx! ^_^
~AlterEthereal