AN: (SaddenedKimiko: Thanks for the suggestion, but I think it's too late to ask for help now, as the next chapter will be the last. I didn't know you know so much about law! Thanks!
Aharah Musici: There is no jury in Japan? Oh... I thought there were no judges. See, I didn't dig deep enough!
The Unknown: "Judge Judy"? She's mean... She sorta got me into law, and out of law. Lol.)
Shadows of the Heart
Chapter Fourteen
Court: Part II
"Daidouji Tomoyo!"
Tomoyo went on the stand. She told the story from her perspective.
Yumi went up to cross-examine her after she was finished. "So, what's your relationship with Kinomoto?"
"Friend and cousin."
"How long?"
"Since I can remember."
"Okay." Yumi walked back and forth for a few seconds. "Who is this other girl that was alledgely raped by my client?"
"Chamfort Joy."
"Are you sure it's not your fiancée who did it?"
"Yes!" Tomoyo growled.
Somewhere in the audience, Eriol twitched an eye.
"Objection!" Lang exclaimed. "Naozumi can't bring in an innocent man!"
"Naozumi," Judge Yule snapped.
"Please excuse me, Your Honor," Yumi replied. "No further questions." She went back to her chair.
Tomoyo was called off the stand.
Eriol was next. He glared at Yumi.
"Where were you at midnight of July 14th?" Yumi questioned.
"At my workplace."
"Do you have any evidence?"
"My fiancée."
"Ahh. So, you have met up with Kinomoto earlier that day?"
"Yes."
"Did you have a quarrel with her?"
"No."
"Have you any idea what Kinomoto was trying to do?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"She was trying to have a conference with Li Syaoran."
"Oh. No further questions." Yumi growled, going back to her seat.
Judge Yule slammed his gavel. "Fifteen-minute break," he announced.
Everyone dispersed.
Yumi approached Syaoran. "I'm going to win this case, Syaoran!"
"I'm sure you will," he shot back sarcastically.
She stomped her feet. "And you can come back on your knees after that."
"When that happens," he corrected.
She growled. She left, bumping right into Sakura along the way.
"Are you okay?" Tomoyo asked.
"Yeah, Tomoyo!" she said. "It's not like she walked directly to me and stabbed me or anything."
Eriol laughed. Tomoyo pouted.
"Sakura, you're going up there soon," Lang told her.
"What? But didn't I go last week?"
"That was when you have to present your case. Now, you have to defend yourself. The final verdict will be at the end of the day."
(An actual case takes very long, though. So don't base anything off my fic or it'll mislead you!)
Sakura groaned.
-
"Order in the court! Order in the court!" said the slamming judge.
After everything was in order, Lang stood up.
"Call your next witness, Lang," the judge said.
"I would like to call on Chamfort Joy, Your Honor."
"Chamfort Joy!" he called.
Joy nervously walked down the aisle and stepped onto the stand.
Yumi came towards her, studying her carefully. "How well do you know Kinomoto?"
"I don't know her."
"Oh, really? Then why are you here?"
"Objection!" Lang spat.
"Overruled. Please proceed, Naozumi."
"I– I was raped– by him," she stammered, pointing at Frank.
"Why? When?"
"I don't know. It was night, after a party. I was drunk, and-" She stopped, sobbing into her hankerchief.
"At the party, who went with you?"
"Eriol. Hiiragizawa Eriol," she mumbled.
"Are you sure he wasn't in your house at the time?"
"Objection!"
"Overruled!"
"Yes," Joy replied, shaking where she was sitting.
"Have you ever loved him?"
"No!" she denied. She shut her eyes, looking down.
Yumi smarked.
Tomoyo was kept still in her seat by Eriol, who was just as ticked. Sakura had to look away. Judge Yule shifted in his seat. They felt pity for Joy.
"Then why is he in the wheelchair and his fiancée have a cast around her arm?"
"I did it, okay? It was my fault!"
"So you admit you wanted revenge?"
"No! I just wanted Eriol!" she shot back, eyes red.
"And he raped you?"
"No! He never did! He's a good guy, more than that asshole can ever be!" she exclaimed, pointing a shaky finger at Frank. "And if you ask anymore about Eriol - I swear, bitch, I'll put you in jail for life!"
"He's not threatening to do it again?"
"No!" she snapped. She reached out, choking Yumi.
Yumi cried out in pain. It took a while for the court to react. The judge unexcitedly ordered for the bailiff to take Joy out of the courthouse. But she broke free and ran for Frank.
(See? I told you Yumi was gonna get it! As for Frank...)
Frank backed off. Joy started to slam his head onto the desk. Crap started coming out of his face.
"Someone! Help me!" he cried.
It took a few officers to bring Joy to her cell. She was struggling to get them again and kept screaming. Needless to say, Eriol, Tomoyo, Syaoran (kind of), Sakura, Lang, and everyone else wanted to laugh; they were relief there was a show to get away from the drama.
Yumi supported herself at her desk.
"Are you going to be fine?" Judge Yule asked, his lips twitching.
"Yes. Court can continue." She nodded, rubbing her wound.
Frank got some tissues for his face.
"Your next witness, Lang."
"Your Honor, I would like to call my client to the stand."
"Objection!" Yumi growled. "I'm afraid I will hurt Kinomoto, Your Honor," she explained, smirking.
"She will not back down," Lang said.
"Overruled. Kinomoto Sakura, come to the stand."
She did. She sat there, hands on her lap.
Yumi went to her, her eyes leering at Sakura. "Kinomoto, why were you contacting Frank?"
"To ask him to get me someone high so I can talk to that person about these cases."
"Oh." She nodded thoughtfully. "Did he get it for you?"
"No."
"Are you saying you planned out the incident for revenge?"
"No," she replied calmly.
"Then why?"
"I didn't plan it; Frank did."
"So, he killed your family?"
"Yes," she whispered, grasping her dress tightly.
"How did it happen?"
"He ran them over."
"Did you see it? Were you awake?"
"Yes."
"Yes to both questions?"
"Yes."
"How did you get into the company to try to murder him?"
"I sneaked in."
"You did it to hide the truth, yes? That my client was innocent?"
"No! He was denying everything! I thought he was my friend, until– " Sakura stopped abruptly, tears sliding down her cheeks. She swallowed.
Syaoran almost bent the banister in front of him. Tomoyo patted his hand.
"Do you know Li Syaoran?"
"Yes."
"How well?"
"Well enough."
"That he can be the perpetrator?"
"I know him well enough to know it's impossible for him to be the person who did it. Are you telling me I'm lying? I'm lying?"
"Where's the proof to disprove that?"
"I am the proof! I can still remember perfectly clear who it was, who did it that night! And I can't believe that he's still sitting there, as quiet as ever, as if he's never done anything wrong in his life. What is wrong with him?(!)"
"What is wrong with you?"
"Objection!"
"Overruled."
"Stop overruling my objections," Lang muttered to himself.
"How come you know Syaoran?"
"He came to the hospital to visit me."
"Why?"
"He lied that he was my boyfriend."
"Had you ever have an affair with him?"
"No."
"Then how come he's with you when he's supposed to be with me?"
"Maybe it's 'cause you're too overprotective. Who knows? Maybe you're as guilty as Frank, protecting him and all. You know he did it."
"He did not do it! Answer my question! Had you ever have an affair with Syaoran?"
"I - I don't know. I didn't know."
"You didn't know? Like you don't you who really is the rapist?"
"No! The rapist is Frank!"
"You went to the company to murder him and murder yourself?"
Sakura sniffed. She nodded, looking down to hide her face.
The juries and audience gasped, moving in their place. They whispered among themselves. Apparently, they've forgotten this was already mentioned the week prior.
"You made Syaoran cheat on me!"
"Stop it! I don't know! Just stop asking me questions!"
"Naozumi, your behavior is unacceptable," Judge Yule pointed out. "Your questions are too personal."
"I apologize, Your Honor. No further questions."
"I have no more witnesses," Lang said.
The judge nodded. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have heard all that is to be heard. The final verdict is up to you. If Fick Frank is guilty, his sentence is based upon the crimes he's committed. On the other hand, if Kinomoto Sakura is guilty, she will face a number of years in jail for attempt homicide and suicide."
The jury left, entering a divided room that cannot be heard from the outside.
For another half hour or so, everyone just sat there, waiting for the decision.
When the people came out, Sakura almost fainted from exhaustion.
Jury 1 stood in his seat. "Based upon the evidences, cross-examinations, and the witnesses, we came to the final decision: Fick Frank... is guilty."
"What?(!)" Yumi demanded, slamming the table as she got up.
"Kinomoto Sakura is innocent. Her records are clean. DNA was used to identify the identity of the perpetrator. Fick Frank has been in disguise all this time."
Frank ran out, but he was caught before he could even leave the room. Yumi looked around in panic. She looked at Syaoran, who was beside Sakura, talking to her. In her humiliation, she fell on her chair.
-
"You did great, Sakura!" Syaoran commented as they were walking out of the courthouse.
"I was crying. It was so embarrassing," she admitted, blushing.
"Nobody cares if you were crying. If you weren't, I'd have thought you were cold-hearted. But most of the people understood it once you started crying like Joy."
"Oh. Where is Joy?"
"Eriol and Tomoyo went to get her."
She sighed. "Hey, Syaoran, you never really got a chance to know Eriol, didn't you?"
"No, but we talked a bit on that first few times I was at the hospital."
"Do you like him?"
"As a friend, yeah."
"I liked him before."
"You did?"
She laughed. "I matchmade him and Tomoyo," she said proudly.
Syaoran chuckled.
She became quiet suddenly. He looked at what she was staring at.
"I'll see you when you're finished," Sakura told him, walking away.
He nodded.
Yumi was at the other side of the steps. She looked at him, a begging look in her eyes.
Syaoran shrugged. He returned the expression, only it meant that it wasn't going to work.
She chased him. "Please, Syaoran!"
"Stop it, Yumi! Sakura's waiting for me!"
"Sakura, Sakura! Why's everything about Sakura?(!) That – That so-called friend is using you!"
"She isn't, and you well know it! Listen to yourself, Yumi! You're so pathetic." He left her, then froze. "I forgive you," he said.
Sakura turned to him when he came into view. She smiled. "How did Yumi take it?"
"It doesn't matter. She won't in our lives anymore."
"Oh. So it won't work as friends?"
"No."
"No chances?"
"I gave her a chance when she didn't believe me. She lost it after she put me in jail."
Sakura nodded.
-
Tomoyo squealed, catching Eriol in her arms. "You made it," she said, crying into his shoulder.
"I wasn't going to stay crippled, Tomoyo. Let me try again."
"Okay."
Sakura stood up. "Eriol, you're smelling," she remarked.
He rolled his eyes. "Syaoran's staying away because of my smell?"
"Ooh, what is that smell?" Syaoran commented, entering the room. "Naw. I'm just joking."
Sakura laughed with him and Tomoyo.
Eriol scoffed, going back to the other end and returning to Tomoyo.
"He's like a kid, learning how to walk," Syaoran whispered.
"I heard that," Eriol snapped. "Okay, I'm going to try without help."
"Don't fall and break your legs again, Eriol," Tomoyo said.
He grunted. "Once, and they never forget it," he murmured. He took a few steps along the wall, Tomoyo following to help him if he loses his balance.
Syaoran walked up from behind. "Boo!" he yelled.
Tomoyo shrieked, tripping over her own foot. Eriol grabbed her hand, only to be pulled down along with her. They stayed in that position, Eriol grumbling something about never wanting a friend like Syaoran before.
"That's mean!" Sakura said.
"Okay. Sorry, but we can't help you. We've got plans," Syaoran informed them. He took Sakura's hand and led her out.
"You're heavy," Tomoyo joked, her arms around his neck.
"I'm sorry if you wanted a musculine guy," he shot back. He adjusted his glasses since they were sliding off his face. "You're not so light yourself."
"How would you know?"
He bit her neck gently. "All that loose skin."
She giggled. "Not at the hospital, Eriol," she whined.
"This isn't the hospital! We're at our house," he said.
Tomoyo gasped. "Oh, I forgot!"
"If you love the hospital so much, why don't you live there?"
"Oh, shut up. That's not a very nice insult, Eriol." She took his glasses and tried them on.
"Don't do that, Tomoyo. Your vision's gonna be affected if you do that."
"Oh, well. We can share glasses. Eww! It's all wet, Eriol."
"Of course, I've been exercising." He pushed the glasses over her head and slowly kissed her.
-
Syaoran panted.
"Are you okay, Syaoran?" Sakura asked.
"Oh, yeah."
"This is the first time we've officially went on a date, right?"
"Apart from the carnival place, yeah," he added.
"Yeah, I forgot."
Syaoran kicked something at the bottom of the table. Sakura indistinctly heard a yip, but Syaoran distracted her by telling her about the food that was placed on the table.
There was another yip.
"Is there a dog down there or something?"
"I'm not a dog!" a deep voice hissed.
"No, I'm not," Syaoran said, laughing nervously.
She raised an eyebrow.
"Sakura, uh..."
"What? There's something in your food?"
"No. How should I start?"
"Put it in her dessert!" came the same voice.
"Okay, who keeps making those noises?" Sakura whispered, looking around.
Syaoran remembered she was afraid of ghosts. "That's vanquitilism," he put in, finding it difficult to say the word.
"Vantriquilism-" someone corrected, only with a higher voice. "Is that right?"
"Good, huh? Every time I kick under the table– " –he kicked– "–I make a difference voice." He laughed.
"Can I try?"
"Sure!"
Whatever it is under the table squirmed to keep out of the way of the oncoming legs.
"Ow! Oooh! Ahh!"
"Stop it!"
"Please!"
"It hurts!" whined the high voice.
"Okay. That's enough. My throat is hurting." He cleared his throat, taking a drink of water afterwards. He began playing with his food.
Sakura stared at him. "What's on your mind?"
He breathed in deeply. Syaoran got on one knee.
Sakura started a gasp.
"Sakura," he said, presenting a ring.
She gasped fully.
"Sakura, I can't bear to see you hurt again, so I am asking you to marry me. Sakura, I love you, but I don't want to force you into doing something you would regret. I want you to be the child of my children– "
"What?" she asked.
They sweatdropped; Syaoran blinked.
"I was right. It's not smart to propose without a prepared speech!"
"Eriol? Tomoyo?" Sakura said, pulling up the tablecloth. She scoffed. "What are you doing down there?(!)"
"Oh. Hey, Sakura, Syaoran," they replied, grinning andrubbing themselves.
"What are you doing down there?" Syaoran repeated.
Tomoyo crawled out first. She brushed her skirt. "Well, besides from being kicked to death," she growled.
Syaoran laughed briefly; Sakura said something about being sorry for not knowing.
"We were just– "
"Here!" Eriol finished.
She hit him. "As I was saying, we came here." The grin on her face was bigger.
Sakura sighed.
Syaoran looked at her.
"What's your answer?" Tomoyo asked.
"Shouldn't it be obvious?" Eriol added.
Sakura stood up. "I–" She stopped, frozen. "I'm sorry... Syaoran." She fainted.
Syaoran caught her. "Sakura!" he cried.
-
Syaoran was pacing around the room, his hands behind him. Sakura had just fainted – actually, truly fainted – and after he proposed! Was that a sign? An omen?
He looked at the bed where she was lying. She was peaceful in that state, with no memories of her family or the incident. What will she do when she wakes up? Forget he ever proposed? Have another "amnesia" attack?
No, that wouldn't be Sakura. No, that wouldn't be her at all.
Sighing shakingly, he took out a pen and began to write.
-
Sakura woke up.
"She's just shocked," the doctor resumed. "Please refrain from telling her such sudden news."
"Yes, doctor," Eriol answered.
The doctor left and Tomoyo and Eriol came into the room.
"Where's Syaoran?" she questioned, sitting up.
Tomoyo smiled. "He's busy."
"Busy? With what?"
"With work," Eriol said.
"But he quit!"
They remained quiet.
"Where is he?" she demanded. "Tomoyo, tell me! Where is Syaoran?" she exclaimed, beginning to cry.
Tomoyo took out a note. "He left," she finally replied, "and left this. I'm sorry, Sakura."
"He left? No! No, he didn't leave!"
"Sakura, calm down! The doctor just told us we couldn't tell you–"
"Then you shouldn't have let her tell me, Eriol!" She pushed both of them away, hiding under the covers.
"Sakura," Tomoyo said. She sighed. "The note will be on the desk. I'll see you soon." She and Eriol left.
For a long time, Sakura stayed under the sheets. At midnight, when the window became dark, she came out. She looked at the note. Hesitantly, she reached out for it and opened it.
Dear Sakura,
I'm sorry for my sudden departure. I realize it's too early to tell you all that. I didn't know. I didn't think the pressure would be too much. I apologize for being so selfish and unthoughtful. I understand if you don't want to see me again. I probably have too much to deal with your accident and those memories, that you'll be hurt every time you're with me. I'm sorry. Please tell Eriol and Tomoyo I will wish the best for their marriage.
I will take care of myself. You don't need to look for me, Sakura. I love you.
Love,
Syaoran
-
Sakura cried for a long time. She went to places she went with Syaoran. At the hospital, she looked around the room, remembering where he had came in and when and where he dropped his cell phone. She went to the courtyard. She laid at the place they had laid down together and where she had kissed him.
She stayed outside the police station because she couldn't go in. Then she went to the theme park and rode in some of the rides, thinking back to the day he had enjoyed it with her.
After she couldn't take it anymore, she left.
And that was it. Torn into so many pieces, Sakura was determined to never let it happen again. Where Syaoran was from that day on, she didn't know. But one thing was for sure: He loves her, and she loves him, forever and always...
(Whoa, he left so sudden... Even I was confused when I was editting it! By the way, I will no longer be updating on the weekends from now on. Yesterday and today was an exception, since I had the chapters already typed. AndI didn't feel sad anymore... so this chapter turned unserious! Lol. Thanks to all the reviews and help! The last chapter will come out tomorrow, since it's July 4th!)