Chapter Twelve: Realisation
Syaoran hesitated in front of the plain white door. He hardly ever came down this corridor and has actually been avoiding his home altogether as much as he could lately. However, whenever he did come home, he never ventured far from his room, and instead kept himself busy. Tonight was the exception. With all his work out the way, his mind hadn't been able to stop reeling with thoughts of Sakura and now that insomnia had kicked in as well, his legs had followed his mind and brought him to where he now stood.
The room was pristine and had also been cleaned recently, leaving no trace of the last occupant. Luckily, Syaoran knew where to look. All of Sakura's stuff had been removed and returned to her, all except the dresses which had been placed in the room before she arrived to welcome her. It seemed wrong that these clothes had been here before Sakura and still remained after she had gone. There were far too many for her to have worn the all in her short stay, but a couple still held a soft fading scent.
He had ordered a dress to be delivered to the tea house a few days before but had not had the courage to choose which one himself. Instead he had sent Tomoyo, but with clear instructions to send one which she had not worn before. This was mainly because he did not want to send away the only things he had left which helped ignite the memory inside him of the girl he had fallen in love with, however, he reasoned that it was because one she had worn may bring back memories which the doctor had warned against doing.
He had enough memories for the both of them and they were currently overtaking his mind. Events of how badly he had treated her before her accident, which were also most likely the cause of her starvation, replayed regularly in his dreams as well as this thoughts when he was awake. Gradually they were beginning to suffercate him. Each time he pictured seeing her laying deadly still in the hospital bed, his guilt practically doubled, then tripled as he tried to think up so many 'what if...'situations. Many lines of thought he had had over the past months started with 'if only...''
"If only you what?"
Syaoran jumped at the abrupt question. Had he been so preoccupied with his trail of thought that he had ended up citing them out loud? And who had been listening to him divulge these personal secrets? If he had not been in such a fragile state from such lack off sleep he would have been a lot more infuriated that someone had managed to sneak past his personal defences and listened in to his inner most feelings of regret. Instead all he could do was turn and helplessly look at who was standing in the doorway and glare. Tomoyo, however, had too much on her own mind to even acknowledge the piercing stare that was being aimed in her direction and continued to let her feelings become known.
"If only you... what? Had visited her more when she was ill and actually helped her regain her memory of you instead of being so pigheaded and stubborn? Let her come back here instead of sending her back to that dreadful place just because it seemed like the easy way out? Maybe even go and see her now and take her out of that place and just tell her how much you miss her and want her back here? Which one is it?"
Tears were now streaming down the poor girl's face as she held no emotion back. At this point she no longer was seeing him as the heir to the clan that she was hired by, but an ignorant male who had chucked out an innocent girl and dumped her in the seedy underworld of the teahouse district. Both of them knew he had the power to take her from that place and bring her back to the very room they wee standing in, but Tomoyo had now lost all respect she had ever had for this gutless human being now in front of her.
"I'd really like to know what it is that you WISHED you could have done? Maybe send her one of the dresses that may remind her of here? Like you specifically ordered me not to do? Well, it didn't work! Are you even listening to me? I tried, and it didn't work, she still hasn't remembered! And guess what, now you're too late! So it's all fine and well sitting here pondering 'what if...' but what help is that to Sakura now?"
With the first movement that Syaoran had made in a few minutes, he blinked away his icy stare as his head suddenly hung low.
"Too late...?" He mumbled into his chest. This thought, even though it took a few seconds to fall into place, seemed to flick a switch somewhere in his body, suddenly mobilising it into action as he grabbed Tomoyo by the shoulders and looked her square in the eyes as he practically yelled, "What do you mean too late?"
It was quite early for Sakura to be retiring for the night, but she had decided she needed an early night and was currently on her way back to the teahouse. Her name had been down to attend another party, but after making a quick appearance, she had made her excuses and retreated from town, heading for her home.
The night's sky had been clear, giving a perfect view of the ecliptic moon which seemed to magnetically attract many stars to gather around it as well. This whole scene would have been missed by Sakura's emerald eyes, had it not rained the previous night, leaving a puddle that reflected everything as the girl walked past with her head firmly fixed in place with her gaze to the floor. Still, even though the landscape had found a way to be received by her eyes, Sakura hardly seemed to notice and kept walking with her wooden soled sandals echoing against the pebbled path she followed. Luckily this route was very familiar to her, giving her no reason to look up, or even distract her attention from a situation that had been puzzling her all day.
"How can I have a Danna?"
Tomoyo had visited the day before to lend a kimono that she had insisted Sakura wear out tonight. It had seemed like a strange request, especially since nothing out of the ordinary would be occurring and to Sakura the kimono looked extremely expensive which she confirmed when she felt the softness of the silk it was made from. On any other occasion she would have taken more notice of such an offering from her friend, and probably even questioned the reasoning behind lending such a garment. Instead, Sakura had something she wanted to get off her chest, and started to recall the recent events that she had heard from Mother's office that late night.
Sakura had been slightly confused as to why Tomoyo had reacted more to the news of the conversation between the man from the registry office and Mother instead of the issue of her having a Danna.
"Are you sure you heard right? He wanted to sell your mizu-age even though he was told you have a Danna?" Tomoyo's face could not hide her anticipation in waiting for an answer even if her life depended on it. If what she had just heard was true, then she didn't have long. It might have been a good few years since she herself had been part of the geisha circuit, being passed around as the registry saw fit, but it was something that would still not be forgotten for another good few years more.
"I know I heard right! They were saying that I have a Danna, but I can't see how that could be possible. Well, of course it could be possible, but then why didn't they tell me about him? I have to meet him at some point right, so why hide it from me?"
The innocence radiating from the younger of the two astounded Tomoyo and she realised that she was not going to get anything more substantial from Sakura. Giving a slight sigh as she simultaneously shook her head, Tomoyo gave up her line of questioning and made excuses to leave – she needed time to try and think of a plan.
Recalling these events still brought no extra light onto the situation, leaving Sakura as clueless as ever about what she should really be worried about. Of course she had been slightly scared by the threatening tone that the registry guy had used, but, like most other people would have done, she only concentrated on what she wanted to think about, and at that moment, it was the issue of the mysterious Danna.
Syaoran had made it across to the teahouse in record time and had no trouble storming into the main office of the place, as the building was practically empty with all the geisha's out for the night. Flinging the door open got the attention of the older woman at the desk who cowered in fear at the sight of the young man. Granted, he was a lot younger than her and therefore he would've normally had to treat her with respect, this condition was reverse due to the fact of who he was. His family had money, and with that came power, leaving him with the upper hand.
The Mother of the teahouse was not dumb and knew that there could only be one reason for this visit – he knew. She didn't know how he could have found out but he knew. Thinking quickly she tried to hurriedly apologise and give her version of events.
"Master Li, I tried, I really did." All the while that she spoke, the greying lady kept bowing repeatedly, trying to show the up most respect to her visitor. "I kept telling him that he couldn't sell Sakura as it was part of the contract we had, but he would not listen. Please believe me Master Li, I really tried to explain but he just threatened to take my job and go through with it anyway"
Keeping her head bowed, she waited for the onslaught that she expected to receive, but after a long silence, she slowly raised he head to make sure he was actually still there. On making eye contact she looked away quickly, but looked back when she realised that she had been mistaken earlier – his eyes had not been filled with anger... but determination.
As Sakura reached the building she called home, she placed her shoes by the door herself as no one had been stationed there this early in the evening as no one was expected to return at this kind of time. Sliding on a pair of slippers she made her way down the narrow corridor, still slightly self obsessed with her own thoughts, but this was knocked out of her when she saw the door ahead of her open.
It was Mother's office. Was he here again? Sakura stopped in her tracks at the thought of the last person that she had known to be in Mother's office, but ridded herself of that fear by thinking of who else it could be. What if the person in there... is my Danna?
Stepping out of the office, Syaoran was confronted with the last sight he expected to see. The sight was even more poignant with the dress that was wrapped tightly around the petite figure, showing how every curve of her body had matured since he had last laid eyes upon the girl. Even with this new attraction to the dress, he still could not think past the memories that it brought back of Sakura sitting in his room on his bed as she waited expectantly to meet her new 'owner'.
The light blue material with silver thread weaving in and out of it made her whole body seem to shine - especially in such a dark corridor. This made Syaoran realise that he really had done wrong by this girl. However, even being trapped in such a drab place had not managed to dampen the light that radiated from Sakura. If anything he spirit had grown stronger as she had blossomed in his admiring hazel eyes.
Her hair had grown, he could tell from the small bunch of silky auburn hair that had fallen from the neatly styled bun and laid to rest on the make-up painted face. Apart from that, she had returned to exactly how he remembered her on their first meeting here. Her eyes also gave some hint of recognition even though they still searched his face as a stranger would have, to take in his features. He knew it wouldn't be long now until she looked at him in the same intense way that his eyes were gazing at the perfect figure in front of him.
Sakura had not broken her line of sight from where she had seen the boy standing even though he was now no longer in that same place but walking towards her. It was not until he was right next to her that she finally managed to regain her posture and went to bow in case he was an important customer to the teahouse. Her eyes widened in shock however when she suddenly felt his warm sweet breath on the back of her exposed next, sending shivers up her spine.
"Come on Sakura..."
His voice seemed familiar and his words echoed the ones that she had heard many times in her youth when she had had the same reoccurring dream time and time again. How could he know her name? Her real name and not her Geisha name? Did this boy know her?
Raising her head slowly, she looked curiously in to the shining eyes in front of her. They gave off a feeling of friendliness and she knew she could trust him as his hand lightly gripped her own before he finished his sentence.
"...I'm taking you home."
Syaoran hesitated in front of the plain white door. He hardly ever came down this corridor and has actually been avoiding his home altogether as much as he could lately. However, whenever he did come home, he never ventured far from his room, and instead kept himself busy. Tonight was the exception. With all his work out the way, his mind hadn't been able to stop reeling with thoughts of Sakura and now that insomnia had kicked in as well, his legs had followed his mind and brought him to where he now stood.
The room was pristine and had also been cleaned recently, leaving no trace of the last occupant. Luckily, Syaoran knew where to look. All of Sakura's stuff had been removed and returned to her, all except the dresses which had been placed in the room before she arrived to welcome her. It seemed wrong that these clothes had been here before Sakura and still remained after she had gone. There were far too many for her to have worn the all in her short stay, but a couple still held a soft fading scent.
He had ordered a dress to be delivered to the tea house a few days before but had not had the courage to choose which one himself. Instead he had sent Tomoyo, but with clear instructions to send one which she had not worn before. This was mainly because he did not want to send away the only things he had left which helped ignite the memory inside him of the girl he had fallen in love with, however, he reasoned that it was because one she had worn may bring back memories which the doctor had warned against doing.
He had enough memories for the both of them and they were currently overtaking his mind. Events of how badly he had treated her before her accident, which were also most likely the cause of her starvation, replayed regularly in his dreams as well as this thoughts when he was awake. Gradually they were beginning to suffercate him. Each time he pictured seeing her laying deadly still in the hospital bed, his guilt practically doubled, then tripled as he tried to think up so many 'what if...'situations. Many lines of thought he had had over the past months started with 'if only...''
"If only you what?"
Syaoran jumped at the abrupt question. Had he been so preoccupied with his trail of thought that he had ended up citing them out loud? And who had been listening to him divulge these personal secrets? If he had not been in such a fragile state from such lack off sleep he would have been a lot more infuriated that someone had managed to sneak past his personal defences and listened in to his inner most feelings of regret. Instead all he could do was turn and helplessly look at who was standing in the doorway and glare. Tomoyo, however, had too much on her own mind to even acknowledge the piercing stare that was being aimed in her direction and continued to let her feelings become known.
"If only you... what? Had visited her more when she was ill and actually helped her regain her memory of you instead of being so pigheaded and stubborn? Let her come back here instead of sending her back to that dreadful place just because it seemed like the easy way out? Maybe even go and see her now and take her out of that place and just tell her how much you miss her and want her back here? Which one is it?"
Tears were now streaming down the poor girl's face as she held no emotion back. At this point she no longer was seeing him as the heir to the clan that she was hired by, but an ignorant male who had chucked out an innocent girl and dumped her in the seedy underworld of the teahouse district. Both of them knew he had the power to take her from that place and bring her back to the very room they wee standing in, but Tomoyo had now lost all respect she had ever had for this gutless human being now in front of her.
"I'd really like to know what it is that you WISHED you could have done? Maybe send her one of the dresses that may remind her of here? Like you specifically ordered me not to do? Well, it didn't work! Are you even listening to me? I tried, and it didn't work, she still hasn't remembered! And guess what, now you're too late! So it's all fine and well sitting here pondering 'what if...' but what help is that to Sakura now?"
With the first movement that Syaoran had made in a few minutes, he blinked away his icy stare as his head suddenly hung low.
"Too late...?" He mumbled into his chest. This thought, even though it took a few seconds to fall into place, seemed to flick a switch somewhere in his body, suddenly mobilising it into action as he grabbed Tomoyo by the shoulders and looked her square in the eyes as he practically yelled, "What do you mean too late?"
It was quite early for Sakura to be retiring for the night, but she had decided she needed an early night and was currently on her way back to the teahouse. Her name had been down to attend another party, but after making a quick appearance, she had made her excuses and retreated from town, heading for her home.
The night's sky had been clear, giving a perfect view of the ecliptic moon which seemed to magnetically attract many stars to gather around it as well. This whole scene would have been missed by Sakura's emerald eyes, had it not rained the previous night, leaving a puddle that reflected everything as the girl walked past with her head firmly fixed in place with her gaze to the floor. Still, even though the landscape had found a way to be received by her eyes, Sakura hardly seemed to notice and kept walking with her wooden soled sandals echoing against the pebbled path she followed. Luckily this route was very familiar to her, giving her no reason to look up, or even distract her attention from a situation that had been puzzling her all day.
"How can I have a Danna?"
Tomoyo had visited the day before to lend a kimono that she had insisted Sakura wear out tonight. It had seemed like a strange request, especially since nothing out of the ordinary would be occurring and to Sakura the kimono looked extremely expensive which she confirmed when she felt the softness of the silk it was made from. On any other occasion she would have taken more notice of such an offering from her friend, and probably even questioned the reasoning behind lending such a garment. Instead, Sakura had something she wanted to get off her chest, and started to recall the recent events that she had heard from Mother's office that late night.
Sakura had been slightly confused as to why Tomoyo had reacted more to the news of the conversation between the man from the registry office and Mother instead of the issue of her having a Danna.
"Are you sure you heard right? He wanted to sell your mizu-age even though he was told you have a Danna?" Tomoyo's face could not hide her anticipation in waiting for an answer even if her life depended on it. If what she had just heard was true, then she didn't have long. It might have been a good few years since she herself had been part of the geisha circuit, being passed around as the registry saw fit, but it was something that would still not be forgotten for another good few years more.
"I know I heard right! They were saying that I have a Danna, but I can't see how that could be possible. Well, of course it could be possible, but then why didn't they tell me about him? I have to meet him at some point right, so why hide it from me?"
The innocence radiating from the younger of the two astounded Tomoyo and she realised that she was not going to get anything more substantial from Sakura. Giving a slight sigh as she simultaneously shook her head, Tomoyo gave up her line of questioning and made excuses to leave – she needed time to try and think of a plan.
Recalling these events still brought no extra light onto the situation, leaving Sakura as clueless as ever about what she should really be worried about. Of course she had been slightly scared by the threatening tone that the registry guy had used, but, like most other people would have done, she only concentrated on what she wanted to think about, and at that moment, it was the issue of the mysterious Danna.
Syaoran had made it across to the teahouse in record time and had no trouble storming into the main office of the place, as the building was practically empty with all the geisha's out for the night. Flinging the door open got the attention of the older woman at the desk who cowered in fear at the sight of the young man. Granted, he was a lot younger than her and therefore he would've normally had to treat her with respect, this condition was reverse due to the fact of who he was. His family had money, and with that came power, leaving him with the upper hand.
The Mother of the teahouse was not dumb and knew that there could only be one reason for this visit – he knew. She didn't know how he could have found out but he knew. Thinking quickly she tried to hurriedly apologise and give her version of events.
"Master Li, I tried, I really did." All the while that she spoke, the greying lady kept bowing repeatedly, trying to show the up most respect to her visitor. "I kept telling him that he couldn't sell Sakura as it was part of the contract we had, but he would not listen. Please believe me Master Li, I really tried to explain but he just threatened to take my job and go through with it anyway"
Keeping her head bowed, she waited for the onslaught that she expected to receive, but after a long silence, she slowly raised he head to make sure he was actually still there. On making eye contact she looked away quickly, but looked back when she realised that she had been mistaken earlier – his eyes had not been filled with anger... but determination.
As Sakura reached the building she called home, she placed her shoes by the door herself as no one had been stationed there this early in the evening as no one was expected to return at this kind of time. Sliding on a pair of slippers she made her way down the narrow corridor, still slightly self obsessed with her own thoughts, but this was knocked out of her when she saw the door ahead of her open.
It was Mother's office. Was he here again? Sakura stopped in her tracks at the thought of the last person that she had known to be in Mother's office, but ridded herself of that fear by thinking of who else it could be. What if the person in there... is my Danna?
Stepping out of the office, Syaoran was confronted with the last sight he expected to see. The sight was even more poignant with the dress that was wrapped tightly around the petite figure, showing how every curve of her body had matured since he had last laid eyes upon the girl. Even with this new attraction to the dress, he still could not think past the memories that it brought back of Sakura sitting in his room on his bed as she waited expectantly to meet her new 'owner'.
The light blue material with silver thread weaving in and out of it made her whole body seem to shine - especially in such a dark corridor. This made Syaoran realise that he really had done wrong by this girl. However, even being trapped in such a drab place had not managed to dampen the light that radiated from Sakura. If anything he spirit had grown stronger as she had blossomed in his admiring hazel eyes.
Her hair had grown, he could tell from the small bunch of silky auburn hair that had fallen from the neatly styled bun and laid to rest on the make-up painted face. Apart from that, she had returned to exactly how he remembered her on their first meeting here. Her eyes also gave some hint of recognition even though they still searched his face as a stranger would have, to take in his features. He knew it wouldn't be long now until she looked at him in the same intense way that his eyes were gazing at the perfect figure in front of him.
Sakura had not broken her line of sight from where she had seen the boy standing even though he was now no longer in that same place but walking towards her. It was not until he was right next to her that she finally managed to regain her posture and went to bow in case he was an important customer to the teahouse. Her eyes widened in shock however when she suddenly felt his warm sweet breath on the back of her exposed next, sending shivers up her spine.
"Come on Sakura..."
His voice seemed familiar and his words echoed the ones that she had heard many times in her youth when she had had the same reoccurring dream time and time again. How could he know her name? Her real name and not her Geisha name? Did this boy know her?
Raising her head slowly, she looked curiously in to the shining eyes in front of her. They gave off a feeling of friendliness and she knew she could trust him as his hand lightly gripped her own before he finished his sentence.
"...I'm taking you home."