Destined Destiny
By Vapour and Fire (Nutty-brains)
Note: Clamp is the master of Cardcaptor Sakura. But Nutty-brains is the owner of this storyline. Please enjoy!
Darkness enveloped the place. The floor, stretched across the entire room, was made of wooden planks and they creaked with every footstep, disturbing the stillness of the area. The air in the mansion was chilly. The coldness, compounded with fear, made Sakura wrapped her arms around Meilin's. She dared not let go of her arm for a second and with a person like Meilin, it made her feel more secure. Maybe Sakura's fear had 'sealed' her power of looking into the future for that moment as she had completely overlooked about it. Syaoran walked with ease in front of the girls. He was not afraid of what was going to jump out from behind the doors or walls. After all, all these are just some people paid to do their job.
"BOOOOOOOO!!!"
A vampire-like monster vault from behind a door and tried with all his might to startle the trio. Sakura clutched onto Meilin tighter than before, squeezed her eyes close and buried her face in her back.
"Hahaha… " Meilin laughed. Syaoran wheeled around to look. "One of your fangs is falling off. Better luck scaring me next time. Haha" The 'monster' covered his mouth with his palm and felt the loose fang. He then gave a disappointing growl.
"Hey, Sakura? You alright?" Syaoran asked. Sakura pried open one eye. Then, the other. She eyed the guy standing in front of her face and noticed the concern look. But within the look, she could make out that he was secretly smiling at her.
"Ne, you should know that these monsters are sham. Nothing to be afraid of." Meilin gave the 'monster' a pet on the back. "See? They won't bite."
The girl loosened her grip and smiled. "I know," She answered. However, she knew she was still timorous against these 'monsters'.
As the three teenagers leave the room to the next hallway, they heard the 'monster' sighed. "Kids these days can't be scared easily."
All they did was to laugh in their hearts.
…
…
"I was expecting more than these. The monsters and ghosts and sorts look the same every where." Meilin said after they had walked through most of the 'deserted' rooms.
"Ha. I bet your expectations are tad to high. Look into the mirror and you will find one very hideous creature," Syaoran joked.
"Very funny"
"Then, you should laugh."
"WaaaAAAAaaa…-sobs- …waaa…"
"Pretty good at mimicry, eh, Meilin? I thought I told ya to laugh, not wail." Syaoran flashed his torchlight at Meilin.
"It wasn't me." Meilin shook her head. "I swear." She looked all serious. Syaoran turned to flash at Sakura. Nope, she was not the one. Another one of the 'oh-so-scary-monster'?
"I bet it's another 'eerie' sound effect to scare people," Meilin said with great confidence. "But they make this one sounds so real life. I'm impressed."
Sakura was still clutching on to her friend as if she's holding on to her dear life. Suddenly, she heard no more cries. Instead, it was soft thuds –footsteps- on the creaking floor. Meilin and Syaoran did too, but paid no attention to it. Every thud makes her heart skip a beat. The light from her torchlight bounced off the walls of the dark room.
The pace of the footstep grew faster. All of a sudden, there was a tug at Sakura's skirt (a/n she was wearing one).
"Ahhhh…" She screamed with such loudness that the other two were startled. Meilin and Syaoran immediately turned to stare at the girl to see what was wrong. Sakura's torchlight dropped and rolled aside while her heart skipped whole lots of beats. (a/n just to describe how Sakura was startled. She wasn't dead.)
"What's wrong, SAKURA?!?!" Meilin was getting frightened by Sakura's reaction. "Don't scare me… No, I am not scared…No, I'm not…" She intoned. The two girls began hugging each other.
"So-some thing pulled my ski-skirt…" Sakura stammered.
Syaoran was getting tense. Another sham? A pervert? "Maybe your skirt got caught by some sharp objects?"
Sakura could not move a muscle, so Meilin coerced her neck to turn to see if Sakura's skirt was indeed trapped by any objects. But her eyes automatically fix onto Sakura's torchlight. Following the path of light, she saw a pair of legs…
"Ahahaha…I must be seeing things…I thought I saw a pair of legs…"
Syaoran, baffled by what Meilin was saying, decided to go scrutinize what was going on. He shone his torchlight and saw a young boy crying.
"I want my –sob- mummy…" the boy cried.
"Hahaha…girls, it's only a lost child crying." Syaoran patted Meilin's shoulder. Both the gals looked behind and too, saw a boy holding on to Sakura's skirt.
Syaoran picked up the torchlight which had rolled in front of the boy's feet.
"Come on," he said. "Let's get out of here first…" He carried the boy who was about five on his back.
He had walked only to the door before realizing the girls are not following. He headed back and warned them to catch up with him before they end up lost like the boy.
"Erm…" Meilin blushed. Then, asked sheepishly, "Can you carry me too? I sort of…erm…my legs won't budge…"
Syaoran gave a troubled look. Then, smirk. "I'm going to miss you oh-so very much…" Followed by walking out of the room.
"SYAOOOOOOO-RANNNNNNNNNNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
…
…
Tomoyo sat on a bench, waiting for her partner to come back. 'I'll be back soon,' was all Eriol said before leaving her on the bench. She looked at her wristwatch and mumbled, "He's slow." A minute had just passed, but seemed like minutes to her. She felt her lips. What a selfish brat. Can't he make it last longer than just a peck? At that point, she was smiling to herself.
"Where's Eriol?" Tomoyo grumbled under her breath. Out of the blue, a pair of hands obscured her eyes and she was approaching the point of screaming when a voice asked,
"What are you smiling about?"
Tomoyo giggled. "I was thinking it would be nice having you off my back once a while… ne, Eriol."
"Really?" The hands loosened their grip. Tomoyo laid back her head and saw Eriol holding a balloon in one hand. Her eyes brightened up. Balloon!
"Balloon!" Tomoyo stretched out both her hands and indicated she wanted it.
"A special balloon for a very childish princess, I suppose," Eriol, teasing the girl, bowed and handed her the floating ball. It was indeed very special- a small, purple balloon inside a pink, heart-shaped balloon. "That little purple balloon is me, and that pink one is your heart. I'll always be in your heart, see."
"You are so tiny…You know I can contain more than a little purple balloon in my heart…"
"You dare?" Eriol gave a light pinch on her nose. "You said it is nice without me once in a while. Then, I bet this candy floss isn't meant for you."
Eriol took out a stick of candy floss from behind his back (a/n don't ask me how he made the candy floss appear) and pretended to look very disappointing about having to throw away the candy.
"But it is nice having a stick of candy floss once in a while." Tomoyo grabbed the stick and ate. "You're out to make me fat, eh?"
"Then, you are my fat angel that allows me to hug!" He said, cuddling the girl in his arms. Tomoyo felt so embarrassed, but she liked the warm feeling of being hugged. She could hear his breathing near her left ear. Is Eriol blushing?
"I want to take that," said the blushing-hard girl, pointing at the merry-go-round.
"A fat angel cannot take that."
"But Eriol's girlfriend can!" With that, she took off, bringing about a chasing Eriol.
…
…
Meilin, Sakura, Syaoran and the boy, all four of them, sat by a wishing fountain. The young boy was sobbing, but he looked calmer now that he was out of the mansion.
"Here you go, a lollipop for you," Sakura offered. The boy gladly took it, removed the wrapper it and began eating. From then onwards, there was no more sobbing.
Meilin whispered to Syaoran, "Sakura really knows how to handle a child, eh?" Syaoran nodded.
"So, little boy, what are you doing in the haunted mansion all alone?" Meiling inquired. The boy looked up with tearful eyes and she had a bad feeling that he's going to pour again. Luckily for her, Sakura added, "Now, don't cry. We are going to help you find your mummy. So, tell us what happened, ok?"
"Hm…" the child replied, sucking on the sweet. "Mummy and I came here to play… then, mummy wanted to buy something… So, I waited aside." The three teenagers listened on all. "Then, I thought I saw mummy and followed… she go into the house and I followed…" Syaoran was wondering how he managed to sneak into the mansion with the lady. "The door closed behind us and when she shone her torchlight…it was not mummy. It was a man." At the thought of this, Meilin shuddered. That's scary. "I could not get out by the door and the man walked away… So, I try to find my way out…in the dark"
"Did you see any monsters?" Syaoran asked. The child, sucking on the sweet, shook his head.
"Sakura, why didn't the 'monsters' come out?" Meilin whispered.
"I don't know." Sakura replied. "Maybe the so-called 'monsters' will only come out when they noted light from the torchlight. This boy did not have a light source."
"Didn't anyone, other than us, hear you?" Syaoran asked again. Once more, the answer was 'no'. He then turned to Sakura and Meilin. "I think we went in after the man did and do you remember, the last 'monster' we encounter was a few rooms away from where we saw the boy? So, maybe the worker heard no cries." Both the girls nodded.
"Did your mummy tell you where to find her in case you are lost?"
"Uh-" the boy tried hard to recall what his mother told him. " No"
"What should we do now?" Meilin's turn to speak. "Bring him to the information counter and announce his name loud and clear so his mummy will come running there?"
Sakura and Syaoran looked at each other with a slight nod of the head.
"Syaoran will try to ask him again… Meanwhile, let's think of other things." Sakura made a hand gesture to Syaoran. He walked over to the boy and held his hand.
"Really, you can't recall anything what your mother said… …"
Meilin was bamboozled. "What else?" Sakura tried to come up with a topic.
"Erm…where do you think the two lovebirds are doing now?"
"I bet they are having a drink… Both of them sharing a drink and Tomoyo feeding Eriol with… … …"
After a few minutes, Syaoran came back, ruffling his head full of hair. "I'd tried my best."
Sakura thought, maybe his mother really didn't tell him anything. "I go try…maybe he feel more comfortable telling me."
"Ya, Sakura can coax him…" Meilin said.
"So, what did Sakura and you talk about?" Syaoran tried to turn away Meilin's distraction. Meilin, sensing something was not quite right, request him to tell her why couldn't she stay by Sakura's side while she asked the child. "Well, if the boy sees you, maybe he won't tell her… Don't worry. We can just leave it up to Sakura to handle."
Actually, Sakura and Syaoran did not let Meilin came close to them was that they fear that she would get all mystified when the boy didn't tell them anything yet they knew where to find his parents.
Being the naïve (?) girl, Meilin took his words for real and conversed with him. Sakura gave the boy a coin and told him to make a wish. Then, he was supposed to throw it into the wishing fountain. The boy did as he was told, and make a wish with it while Sakura gently placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Mummy! Mummy!" the boy cried as he ran towards a lady. Sakura was in the boy's future. The lady picked up son as she cried. Sakura wheeled around to see where they would meet with the lady and saw a big clock there. The hands were pointing at three o'clock.
Sakura came back to the present time. She took a look at her watch. Two-fifty five in the afternoon.
"He, I wish that I could meet mummy…" he said, flashing his tiny grin.
"Meilin, Syaoran, he just made a wish." Meilin and Syaoran spun around. Sakura waved her right hand, holding the boy with the other and making their way towards them. "He said he wished he could see mummy near the big clock."
Meilin gave a thought. "Big clock…Oh, the only big clock is in the center of the amusement park…"
"Then, let's hurry…maybe his mother is already there…" Sakura said, with a look of hurry.
Hence, all four of them proceeded to the big clock with Meilin leading…
…
…
"Round and round the merry-go-round...lalala…" Tomoyo sang.
"You sure liked merry-go-rounds, don't you?" Eriol interrupted.
"Of course. I like other games too, but merry-go-rounds are the best."
"May I, this young man, have the privilege to ask this lady why so as to clear my curiosity?"
"You may, Sir." Tomoyo played around. "I, this young lady, wish to meet my prince charming on a white horse. But alas, not many prince charming can afford horses for they are a penny short. So, here I waited, on this merry-go-round horse, ten years or more. All these while, this lady, have been going round and round, hoping that a prince would be enchanted by her exquisiteness."
"Then, I must the chosen one to chance upon this lady of lone," Eriol countered.
Tomoyo chuckled as the 'horse' she was riding on went up and down. "I suppose the sweetest lip that I've found is just close at hand." She stripped some floss from the stick of candy. "Eriol…"
"Huh?" the boy turned to face her. Then, with such delicate fingers, she placed the piece of floss nicely in his open mouth. The candy melted in his mouth with a sugary tang. He licked his lips and savored the sweetness within. His face was redder than before. "Nice. Another one?"
Tomoyo, blushing hard, grabbed his hand gently and with some difficulty for both of them were at different level- When Tomoyo is up, Eriol will be down and vice versa. She next placed the stick in his palm and closed them so that he would hold them firmly. With a stuck out tongue, she said, "Every flow must have its ebb. Your fortune is up."
Eriol cocked his eyebrow. "Really? I was craving for more of that 'fortune'."
"Well, you cannot have your cake and eat it."
And both of them laughed at their own childishness.
…
…
Just on time. It's three o'clock sharp. Sakura heaved a sigh of relieve. They might miss the boy's mother if they were any later.
"Can you spot your mummy? Is she anywhere here?" Syaoran asked as the boy held on to Sakura's skirt.
He glanced through the crowd of people near the big clock and a look of disappointment aroused on his face. "Nope." At this point, he was near to the fact of crying out loud when suddenly, he heard a familiar voice.
"TERU! TERU! WHERE ARE YOU?"
Immediately, he wiped away his tears on his sleeve and yelled, "MUMMY! MUMMY! I'm HERE! HERE!" Instantly, a lady in red blouse and jeans came running towards them.
"That's the boy's mother, I suppose." Meilin whispered to Syaoran.
"Isn't that obvious?"
The boy, whom the lady called him Teru, rushed forwards and leaped right into his mother's arms. Both of them cried as his mother stroked his head. Some on-lookers turned to see what was going on, but later walked off as it was nothing concerning about them.
Meilin's eyes went teary. "I want to cry, Syaoran."
"Go ahead with it. Just don't lean on my shoulder."
Pang! And Syaoran was on the ground.
Finally, after a heartwarming scene of a son and mother, they went over to where Sakura and her friends were standing.
"I really appreciate your help. I've been searching the whole ground for my child since he disappeared." The lady bowed. "Thank you very much. How can I ever repay the three of you for your kindness?"
Syaoran got up from the ground. "Well, that's alright- ouch." Stupid Meilin.
"I insist we repay you for the trouble my son caused. I could give you a treat if you want."
Meilin thought about her lunch where she did not finish her packet of fries. "That's alright. Really. It was no trouble to us."
"Thank you, big sisters and big brother," the boy, clutching his mother's hand, bowed to them. "Sorry that I spoilt your day."
"Well, we could have fun if not for you though…" Sakura replied, which shocked Meilin and Syaoran. Sakura, have you lost your mind? The boy felt a surge of guilty running through him. Sakura squatted down so that she was near his height. "There's one thing you could do. Promise us that in future, you should never leave your mother's side. You worried her so much. Promise, Teru?" And she stuck out her last finger.
He looked up at his mother, then at Meilin, Syaoran and finally Sakura. "Promise. If I break my promise then I'll turned to a pumpkin."
Everyone laughed. As Meilin, Sakura and Syaoran bid farewell, they could hear Teru's shouting to them "Thank you, brown hair sister! My wish came true!" Sakura felt a happy spirit inside her for she had used her power to help the lost child.
"By the way, any idea where Eriol and Tomoyo are?" Meilin asked. The other two looked straight in her eyes and found that they are burning with mischievous. This girl is dangerous.
"Not a clue… Any way, let's us not be gooseberry," Wolf-boy replied.
"Awwww-"
"Hey, hey, who wants to play bumper-cars?" Sakura suggested, hopping in front of them and waving her hands in midair.
"I'll hit you with my car!" Meilin brightened up.
"Bring it on!"
"Last one to reach the place will get treat the other two to candy floss!" Syaoran dashed towards the place.
"Not fair, why do you always make the rules? And you keep always get the headstart- Ouch" A Hong Kong girl yelling her head off at the Hong Kong guy.
"See, you bit your tongue!"
Sakura smiled and overtook both of them…
…
…
"Missed again." Eriol said, digging his pocket for more coins. "Boss, I want another round."
"But, you've been at this for the pass half-an-hour. Give others a chance, would you?"
"I am going to shoot the bunny toy down."
Tomoyo stood at the side, embracing all the toys Eriol shot down from the game except the bunny. Silly boy. All I want is you to enjoy yourself today.
TBC
Vapour: I'm so glad that Eriol had change over a new leaf.
Fire: Ya ya… we made him do that, didn't we? Just press the keyboard and you can get him to do anything.
Vapour: How easy… How about this? (press shift and F1, F2…blah blah blah)
Fire: NOooooooooOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo-
(And the computer breaks down…Nay)
Hope you have enjoyed this silly ficcy. Like it or not, it's up to you. Reviews will be greatly appreciated.
Smooches