The Violin

The characters don't belong to me.

I was watching this movie "The Red Violin", it has nothing to do with this. But there was a scene in which a women handed a man a violin. It was under different circumstances but it gave me an idea. I actually wrote this out with a different idea in mind but this is what it turned out to be. I am not a hopeless romantic, no i usally like humor. I am suppose to be doing my HW and all that i felt like writing, HW can wait. So enjoy. RR.

"Hurry up!" the girl shouted. She pedaled faster down the lane. Her hair waving in the air like silk blowing the wind. The boy was behind, pumping his legs as fast as he can. He was trying to catch up with the girl. His face red, his caramel colored hair damp and clinging to his forehead as beads of sweat rolled down his cheeks. He panted.

"I'm trying!" He cried. A large picnic basket was tied to the back of his bike weighing him down. He had asked to carry her violin case but she refused. No matter how much they trusted each other, the violin she trusted no one with. He was glad now that she was carrying the case, it would be another weight on the bike.

"Well, try harder!" The girl shouted back, giggling. Soon they were pedaling across a sunflower field. Yellow pedals of the sunflowers covered both sides of the road, a river of never ending brightness. The girl stopped in awe and looked out as far her eyes could see. The boy caught up with her, still panting. His hair soaked with sweat through like his shirt.

"Can we stop for a minute?" He asked. Then he looked up, he too was amazed by the grandeur of the sunflower field. The rested and continued on their journey. Passing the sunflower field they reached an open grassy plain. A lone tree stood on a hill providing the only shade for miles. They decided to stay here.

The boy took the picnic basket off his bike and the girl set the picnic blanket under the tree. The red and white checkered sheet wavered in the wind. The boy took out the food. Packages of sandwiches, fruit salads, mashed potatoes and other foods he took out. He placed plates for each parson and poured the girl a cup of water.

"Ah! Water." The girl took a drink.

"I'm hungry." The boy said.

"You are always hungry, Syaoran." The girl told the boy named Syaoran. His brown eyes flashed with anger.

"What is that suppose to mean?" He asked. The girl laughed her emerald eyes twinkling with joy, her hair bounced as she laughed. How can he stay mad at her? He could not. Soon he was laughing.

They opened the sandwiches and opened the other containers. They ate hungrily for they have been pedaling a long time. Both were tired and hungry. They ate until there was nothing left but crumbs.

The girl laid down on the boy's lap. Syaoran was leaning against the tree. He hair now dried was gently swaying on his head. The girl looked up him, his handsome face, his eyes, care free and cautious at the same time. She felt his hands on her shoulder. His hands, soft and gentle always careful, holding her as if she was a cumbersome toy, too fragile that any force would her. How she loved him. Deep down in her heart, she always loved him. She wondered if this was the right time to tell him.

"Syaoran," she began, making up her mind that she would tell him, "Can I tell you something? A secret, a very important secret that you will not tell anyone no matter what."

"A secret? That I should not tell anyone?" Syaoran inquired, puzzled now, "What secret of yours that I don't already know, Sakura?"

The girl, Sakura, paused, thought it over, her face flushed, red with embarrassment, she turned away from him. "I," She began only to stop again, "Quiet frankly, love you. I love you." She repeated this time with defiance and certainty.

Syaoran was even more lost. He was shocked, surprised, his heart jumped out of his chest. He stopped breathing. He regained his breath in time to say something, "You...do?"

Sakura and him were best friends ever since elementary school. They were...friends. Nothing more than friends, he would say to himself only to be answered by a deeper part of him that he wanted to be more than friends. Secretly he had grown to love her. The outer shell of himself presented a casual out going guy to which girls are attracted and over the course of high school he would date them. But the one girl on his mind was her, Sakura. She was his drug, she was his cure, she was longing in his heart, she was his warmth and passion, and she was his only one. She would always be with him. She was his treasure.

He dared not to tell of his feelings to Sakura, fearing that she might not share the feelings. But now, Sakura has told his of her feelings, he did not know what to say.

"Yes, I do love you. I always have." Sakura replied, "Do you love me Syaoran?"

Syaoran still deep in his thoughts did not reply. Sakura waited for an answer, she feared the worst. Tears formed in her eyes. Then the reply came.

"Yes."

They spent the rest of the day under the tree, talking, not mentioning the conversation. Sakura played her violin and Syaoran told Sakura facts about the tree. At night, they wheeled their bikes further down the road which lead to a beach. They were at this beach before, a long time ago with their friends and their teachers. Now they were back it felt oddly like déjà vu.

They sat on the beach in each others' arms, talking of the past and future. Syaoran named the stars and made one of them Sakura. They sat there in silence. Sakura looked at Syaoran who returned her gaze. They leaned forward, closer to each other until they were inches away. His lips met hers.

He wrapped his arms around her, she returned the embrace. He held her face in his hands. They looked at each other. Sakura's cheeks were red, blushing. The moment lingered in the air and slow dissolved into the rest of the world.

They decided to return home. They wheeled their bikes past the tree, past the sunflower field and back into town. Syaoran walked Sakura home, kissed her again before she left. And then he returned to his own home. He unlocked the door, a stream of light spilled into the dark room. He did not take off his clothing, he never would, and he wanted it to stay this way forever.

Sakura found her brother in the kitchen, reading a newspaper, upside down.

"Touya, I know you were watching." Sakura stated as she hung her coat on the coat rack.

"So?"

"Why do you hate him?" She asked.

"Why do you want to know?" he asked.

"Whatever Touya." Sakura gave up and went upstairs to her room.

A year went by, Sakura and Syaoran's relationship grew closer, spent all or most of their time together. They learned the meaning of love. Life was as good as they wanted. To Syaoran it did last forever. Until one day.

"What?" Syaoran shouted. It was a clear summer day. Early in the morning Syaoran found a note taped to his refrigerator. He opened it.

Dear Syaoran,

I can't explain to you why but I can't stay here anymore. I am sorry I haven't told you this earlier but I have to go. I left you something for you. Meet me in the park at 4:00.

Sakura

Syaoran did not understand this note and why she had to leave. But he was heartbroken. He wanted the life he shared with Sakura to last forever. Happy summer days at the beach, trips with Tomoyo and Eriol, dinner together at Syaorans. It was all he ever wanted and now it was gone. In one simple note, it was all gone.

He wandered around town deep in his thoughts and memories. He walked past Sakura's house, stopped and looked at it, remembering that night, that night when he had kissed her. He felt tears in eyes, he stopped them.

Around 4:00 he wandered into the park. He found her sitting in a swing. Swinging slightly, her violin case against the pole, she sat there. Her hair covering her face, drops of water fell on the ground.

He looked at her and didn't say anything. The silence filled the air. She looked up at him. "Syaoran," She whispered, her voice cutting through the silence.

"Sakura," he replied.

"I don't know how to say this, or anything," Suddenly her voice cracked, "I miss you! I'll always miss you! I don't want to leave you! I love you!" She ran into Syaoran's arms.

"I love you too and I'll miss you."

She let go of him and picked up her violin case. She looked at it. The leather tattered and old, the zipper and buttons rusty, she loved this violin almost as much as she loved Syaoran. She remembered all the times she played it for him and he would listen. She loved those times, she didn't want to let go.

She turned around to look at Syaoran. She handed him the case.

"For you," she said, "Keep it safe, I'll be back to pick up. The same time after school. Wait for me." With that she ran out of the park, crying. Her voice was still in the air. Wait for me. Syaoran repeated.

"I'm waiting."

He'd wait until time ended for her. He'd never forget her smiles, her big emerald eyes, sparkling with happiness, her auburn hair like creamy chocolate in his hands, her body against his, her warmth, he would never forget.

Her violin he carried as a reminder, a reminder to him that she was still out there. She would never leave her violin, never. She would always return to pick it up and play it for him after school. Her fingers dancing across the wooden instrument, her arm moving up and down with each stroke, a dreamy look across her face, one more thing he would never forget.

He would never forget and never forget to remember. He would replay his memories like movies in his head. Rewinding the good parts and skipping the bad, reliving all of them as if it was yesterday. He would always play one memory. That one was his and only his, special in its right and he would watch it and live it again and again.

Years pasted, Syaoran still lived in his house even though he went on to be the head of the Li Clan and large corporation. Hope that Sakura would ever return dwindled as time pasted. But Syaoran never gave up, waiting for her in the park. Waiting for her after school. Watching for her auburn hair, her voice, never to see her, never to hear her voice, but still he waited.

Women chased after him in packs. He shared relationships but he never forgot her and what it felt like to be with her. No one could replace her.

On one normal afternoon, his sectary handed him a slip of paper. On it was the time and date of a flight from New York to Tomoeda. It told him to meet him after school and "I'll be picking it up."

"Where did you get this?" Syaoran almost screamed.

"In the mail Mr. Li." The secatary replied.

Syaoran checked his watch, it was almost time. His heart jumped, he was sweating. He brown eyes flushed with nervousness, his body shaking with excitement. "Get me my car!" Syaoran grabbed his coat from his office and headed for the elevator. Getting out of the 24 floor building was hard. The elevator took forever to reach the lobby. He rushed to the garage and flew down the street.

"Hey you! STOP!" A police officer shouted. He was waiting on the corner for some stranger to come by and catch him. Syaoran stopped, annoyed by this.

"Now, you are speeding and I'm going to need your license and number." The police officer took out a pad.

"Sir, I need to get somewhere in a hurry." Syaoran tried to stay clam and explain.

"Yeah yeah, we all need to get somewhere. License and number, now." The officer didn't look up from filing out Syaoran's ticket. Angered even more by this, Syaoran pushed down on the gas pedal and rushed off leaving the officer confused for a few seconds.

Syaoran was still nervous and excited. He heart was beating faster and faster, he remembered her smile, remembered her, a tall 19 year old girl, pedaling down the road, sitting in the swing, blushing on the beach, handing him the violin. His memories flooded his brain. He rushed into his apartment, and fumbled through his closet for the violin. He felt the torn and tattered leather, the cold handle. He pulled it out and raced back outside. Forgetting to lock the apartment door, forgetting his car he ran down the street towards the park in a sprint.

The sun was setting creating a hazy golden orange blur in the sky. The Penguin King slide still there, the cherry blossoms blowing in the wind, the swings. And here he was, again and still waiting for her.

"I'm waiting." He muttered under his breath, a feeling of déjà vu came over him.

She turned the corner, walking briskly. After all these years, nothing changed except her. Now she felt out of place. She saw the park, still the same old park, she was right nothing changed.

She stopped and prepared herself for this. Will he be there? Has he waited? What if he left and she was just chasing a hopeless cause? She didn't want to find out but she did. She slowly approached the park, scanning the skyline, the Penguin King Slide with its crown pointed out. She entered the park, no one was there. She felt like crying. Tears were in her eyes and sliding down her cheeks.

"Sakura?"

She whirled around, a man stood by the swings, she didn't see him earlier. His caramel hair clinging to his forehead, patches of sweat on his shirt. Her emerald eyes met his amber ones. He waited, all these years he waited. He waited for her to come back.

"You waited."

"You came back."

"My violin?"

"I have it."

"Syaoran?"

"Sakura?"

"I missed you."

"I missed you too."