Left With A Flower
By Ukyou
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Chapter Five - Real or Imagined?
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'Here it is' Tomoyo said, opening the heavy glass doors with both hands. It was a small cafe, and I followed her to a table in the corner. Eriol told me during the walk here that the coffee and food were both excellent here, and I took his word. Other than that, the view out to the street was one in which the light touched even the darkest corner, neon signs and screens flashing everywhere.
My attention was taken away from me when Eriol tapped my shoulder with a menu, and I shook at first, and then thanked the man and opened it. It was a fine selection of things to order, and I took a current special, which according to the description, must be good. I then reached for my wallet, but Eriol stopped me.
'We'll take care of the tip, Syaoran. We still owe you for that dinner long ago, if you remember.' he said, and I listened. I put my wallet back into my pocket, glad that such people existed around me. I smiled and nodded to him, and the waitress took our orders.
It was a few minutes of fumbling for coins that followed. It was a tradition, I could guess, that they needed to both operate the small music player every time they came here.
'Don't mind us, Syaoran. Its like this everytime.' Tomoyo told me, laughing. They started to playfully steal coins from eachother, in order to be the one that put it into the machine. Finally, Eriol nearly jumped for it and was the one that pressed the button.
'I'll take it you won't mind to dance while we're waiting for the food to come?' Eriol then asked Tomoyo, getting out of his seat and offering his hand in a dance. The music hadn't even been chosen yet, but she smiled at him.
'I never thought you would have asked' she said to him, taking his hand, standing up and taken in by his arms. They danced, despite the fact that no music played. Then, Eriol lifted his head and his hand, as well as four of his fingers. I nodded, and put on the appropriate track, track four. It was like that until the song ended. People looked at the young couple, taking in their joy...and couldn't help but smile. I smiled as well, but not because I wanted to, but almost because I had to. In reality, I was very much jealous, but it wasn't enough to stop them from having a good time.
The two finally sat back down, the machine giving a 'whir', and you could hear the coins drop in. That was the end of that.
'You still dance like an angel, Tomoyo.' Eriol smiled, as he sat down. 'You'd wish you could dance like that forever.'
They didn't hug or kiss in front of me, however, as though they knew it would hurt me. They were good at hiding it though, and they were lucky that the food arrived so soon, because I would've gone crankier....I was hungry.
'Dance like that forever?' I asked Eriol. 'Wouldnt you get tired of it eventually?' I laughed as I said it, hiding it as a joke. He laughed too, a fake laugh, for he knew it wasn't funny. Perhaps he even sensed it wasn't even supposed to be a joke.
Tomoyo could immediatly sense some tension, and went right into work to change the subject.
'So, Syaoran, how are your photographs? I haven't seen your portfolio in ages.' she asked me, while feeding her mouth with fries. I chuckled and then replied: 'Fine, as usual'
I continued, 'I'm planning to go out to the mountains, camp there, and probably take some pictures while hiking. If you want, I have extra sleeping bags if you want to come. I have more than enough room in my truck.'
Eriol looked at Tomoyo for approval, much as he usually did. She nodded, and he turned and noddeed to me back.
'We'd love to go, Syaoran. Give us a date though, Eriol might be going to Nagoya for business again.' Tomoyo said back, offering me a french fry. I declined, I had half a plate of them already.
I knew that there were topics that Tomoyo and Eriol didn't want to touch, however, and I knew they wouldn't bring them up at all. Instead, I decided to bring them up, and see what they would say.
'I heard Sakura got hurt bad a few days ago.' I said, taking a large bite out of the burger I held. Tomoyo was silent at first, and then replied. 'Yea, she ... actually, she was attacked while walking home on Tuesday morning. Don't act stupid Syaoran, I was the one that called you, silly.'
She laughed, and I laughed also, after about a second's pause. 'Yea, she was raped so you told me. While walking back home from the store, yes, you did tell me that.'
'Have you visited her in the hospital yet?' Eriol asked me, and I nodded.
'She was sleeping, both times I saw her actually.' I replied. 'Both times, however, I could tell that someone was there before me. Perhaps she has a new man already?'
'Yea, I believe so too. Tomoyo wouldn't tell me, so I did a little sneaking of my own just for fun.' Eriol snickered, Tomoyo turned her head and glared at him.
'You idiot!' She said to him, and he laughed.
'You can't stop me from having a little fun, Tomoyo. Besides, I didn't kill anyone.' he sneered. She turned her face, knowing that she couldn't shut the man up.
'Anyways, as I was saying, he's about your age, maybe about 5'10, and he's got a pretty stable job, so I hear' he said. 'She was actually on the way to his house when she was attacked, but I've been hearing that things weren't too good for the both of them during it all.'
What he said took me by surprise, and i dropped my fork, quite rudely. 'Excuse me, they weren't happy with one another?' I asked, not believing him at all.
'Yeah, she told me that she was probably going to call it all off' Tomoyo continued. 'That might be why she was going to his house, she usually would call, right?'
I quickly took out my wallet and threw down the money for the meal. 'I...I think I have to go.' I told them both, thanking them and walking towards the door.
'Wait a sec, Syaoran!' Tomoyo inturrupted. 'Where are you going?!'
I quickly opened the door, but before I ran out, I yelled to both of them.
'I'm going to see Sakura!'
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It wasn't such a long walk to the hospital, after all. I at least didn't get lost while looking at the street signs...the cafe was merely four blocks from the hospital.
The doors were still unlocked, and I walked in, the air conditioning turned on too high, making me shiver with only the first step.
'Wait a minute, Syaoran' I heard someone speak from behind me, and I turned around to see who it was. It was someone I didn't know, but he was around the same age as me, only slightly taller. My first guess was that he was Sakura's man, but his introduction proved me wrong.
'Syaoran, tell me, what do you plan to do when you walk up those stairs, much as you always do, and open that door? What if her man is sitting right there reading her a bedtime story, how will you walk away from that?' he said to me, taking the step ahead of me as to stop me.
'You're only going to get yourself hurt, Syaoran. You know it.'
I pushed him out of the way, thrusting the stair doors open and making my way up. Lo and behold, however, the same man reappeared, sitting on the railing.
'Perhaps I should introduce myself. I am John. Perhaps a Johnny, or a Johnathan to you, a riddle already in my name. Would you call me foolish if I said that I was here to stop you from doing what you are about to do?' he said, tilting his head slightly to the right as he did so. He seemed like a nut, and I was probably right in thinking so.
'Johnny, or whoever you are, don't get yourself involved in something that has nothing to do with you at all.' I said, running past him and onto Sakura's floor.
I walked down the hall, and was about to open the door when I felt a tap upon my shoulder.
'You called me Johnny, while in the meantime I told you my name is John. You strayed from the direction again, Syaoran, didn't you?' he asked, and it was obviously the same man again.
'How do you know my name?' I asked him, and he shrugged.
'I know a lot about you, Syaoran. Believe me.' he said, and with that, he snapped his fingers. A certain familiar piano tune played once again, and I glared at the man.
'She told you not to stray from the path, Syaoran, and here you are, in front of the big wooden door again, right about to stray once again.' he said, shaking his head. A nurse soon walked down the hall, and I stopped her.
'Excuse me, Miss, but do you see anyone else in this hallway?' I asked her, and she looked at me strangely. She shook her head and made her way back down the hall. I turned to John again, and shook my head.
'You aren't real, John, I'm just seeing things again, aren't I?' I asked him, and he leaned his shoulder against the wall.
'No, Syaoran, but before you go off asking if I am real or imagined, be sure to wonder whether or not the feeling you seek right now is real...or could it be imagined? Or possibly...a deception...' he leered, frolicing though his pockets and throwing me a small pocketwatch.
'Be sure to check the day, Syaoran. You never know when it could be the last to find out beforehand.' he said, walking down the hall. I gave a look at the watch, and then looked back up to where he was.
He was gone.
And when I looked back down, I saw nothing more than an empty hand. It soon wasn't empty anymore, however. I turned the knob with it and made my way inside.
'Sakura, are you awake?' I asked, turning on the light switch.
...and indeed she was.
~to be continued
Author's Note: Quite a riddle John has left us there. Perhaps Syaoran can tell he isn't real, that he is merely a figment of his imagination, but the question John poses to him is indefinitly haunting, perhaps what Syaoran desires more than ever now is fake as well, that it is not true.
Not straying from the path is his constant warning, and what if Syaoran does so? Will he be expecting another disappointment at the end of a long trail of footsteps? Or perhaps, the footsteps will go on forever, and he will be stuck in that dance forever in his mind, forever dancing alone.
Don't think this is the last time that you'll see these ilusions either. They seem to be his only warning, and maybe Syaoran will find that he should've listened to them. Or maybe the story won't go that way at all, and instead, it will be the illusions that are proven wrong. Take a side, pick a card from the deck. Will it either be red or black?
~Ukyou
By the way, more reviews = the more I feel like writing. Be sure to leave a tab at least, or ask a question in a review. I'll be glad to read them over, and I'll probably answer them in the next author's note.
Until then, keep reading, and keep reviewing.
July 27th 2002 4:43 AM, EST