Open Your Eyes
by Ukyou
Author's Note: Because I'm leaving for college on Thursday, I'm uploading the rest of the story now. The following are Chapters Eight and Nine and the Finale. I really hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Reviews, of course, are encouraged. It would be great to be able to read reviews on the last day of summer. It would make my day even if you left an insignificant one-word review. Reviews rock.
On with the story.
Chapter Eight - Holes to Heaven
Her home, for once, wasn't bright. It was a cloudy day outside, almost deliberately. Her living room was filled with the sound of a clock ticking, as if it were counting down the time left for something to happen. She sat on a chair on the other side of the room. I sat on the couch.
Her words now were like the small type at the bottom of a piece of paper. Something had taken over my head, these thoughts of deja-vu. Whenever we did something, it fell through this giant hole in my head. Nothing made sense anymore. Our experiences were plagued with feelings of "something is wrong".
Sakura … I had seen her in my dreams telling me that something was being repeated, but I didn't know what could be. Kaori and I were falling apart and I didn't know why. I had no idea why.
I could see her in front of me, climbing a ladder to go up to the attic. She stopped at the top, looking back at me. She was concerned. I could tell by the pitying look on her face.
Then, suddenly, I popped a random question.
"Kaori." I called. She responded with a weak "What?"
"You now that store in Kyoto? I was just wondering. Do you think I could take some of those amnesia pills they sell and possibly forget that right now, I'm just being a total asshole to you?" I asked her. She gave a short sigh and walked over to me. She seemed to have an infinite amount of patience with me.
"Syaoran, even if you could forget anything, you'd be doomed to do it again. Listen to me Syaoran, whatever it is that is bothering you - just please, just tell me what it is. I'm worried about you." she replied, holding back something. Maybe it was her tears, I could see trickles of water building up in her eyes.
I got closer to her, she got down next to me.
"Kaori, I don't know what it is."
---
I made myself a cup of tea, lying down on her couch. I put it down on the floor. Kaori was foraging through her attic for a box of her old books. This morning, she decided suddenly that she wanted to find her old copy of The Little Prince. She is the most impulsive person I've ever known.
"Whoa, what is this?" she then said from the attic. It caught my attention, I ran over to the attic's door, looking up as she motioned me to come up.
It was an old shoebox, opened to reveal what seemed to be an ocean of photographs and letters.
"Syaoran, look at this." she said, her voice faint. She picked up a picture at the top of the pile. It was a picture of me and her. A random picture of the two of us hidden in her basement. A picture we had never taken. There were letters, my address fading in the corners. In black ink, in my handwriting. I never wrote any of these.
I stayed silent. I could hear Sakura's voice bouncing around off the walls of my head.
Syaoran, you're doomed to repeat your mistakes if you forget what those mistakes were.
Kaori was just as quiet, shockingly quiet. She searched through the box to find more photos and other curiosities - a lonely left glove, an old now-brown dried-up flower, two tickets for the Giant Sky Wheel in Tokyo. These were the kinds of things that were supposed to make your memories spark up and appear suddenly in your head. But, looking at Kaori, I could tell she was just as clueless as I was.
"Kaori … what is all of this…?" I asked her. She was silent for a few moments, until she finally looked back at me.
"Syaoran … I don't know." She replied. "I mean, I don't remember ever … I never have seen these before … this isn't some kind of prank of yours, is it?"
"Kaori, it wasn't me, I swear … I'm just as clueless as you are." I said back, her face changed into something else. She was looking for some kind of sense to what was happening. None of this made any sense.
Then she found something that would make sense of it all, finally.
Another letter, but this one wasn't from me. Apparently, she wrote a small note to herself some time ago. She read it to herself, starting to lose control of that wonderful mechanism that kept her from crying. I could tell she was done reading when she took a deep breath. She handed it to me, motioning for me to read it to.
---
Kaori
Sorry.
Those pills you bought in Kyoto, the ones that erase people's memories - well, they work.
You know, you're such an idiot. You're such an impulsive idiot. How could you go and do such a thing?
Breaking up with Syaoran was enough - I mean, really … I don't know.
You're an idiot for falling in love with him and throwing that away. And you're an idiot for making him take those stupid pills to make him forget about you. You know why he took them? Because he wanted you to be happy.
I didn't want to throw any of this away. I knew you'd probably find this thing up here.
And just to sum it up, because I know you're confused… this all happened you're impulsive. That's all. You pitied him for that whole Sakura thing, everything went fine and then suddenly, you just hated him. You simply decided one day that he annoyed you and you just dropped him.
And now he's forgotten about you. Or me.
It's my turn to forget about him.
Kaori
---
I finished reading it, she leaned against one of the walls. Her face was imprinted with a stone gaze, her eyes frozen and aimed towards a random part of her floor. I spoke.
"Kaori."
"Syaoran…"
She was twirling her hair around her finger. She looked at me and then quickly looked back towards the floor.
"Kaori, do y-"
"No, Syaoran … it's okay … it's just really weird." she answered. She was shaking, and it seemed like she was trying to stay as far away from the shoebox as possible. "I don't know … what to say."
"It's okay."
"Syaoran … we had something before."
"Yea."
"Yea …"
"And it didn't work out?" she then asked, looking up at me finally.
"I … I guess not."
"So, do you think … I mean … Syaoran, do you think-"
"No, I … I mean … I don't know … but no I don't. You're too impulsive and I'm too brooding."
She then gave me a small smile.
"You really don't remember anything?"
"No, I don't."
"Well … me either"
Then we both laughed. An awkward laugh.
I came closer to her, but she edged away. This seemed like a similar situation. She tried her best to hide her tears.
"Syaoran … just … I don't deserve you … I don't want you to make the mistake of being with me again …" she said. Her lips barely moved. Her fingers moved frantically. "Syaoran, I think you should go."
"So do I." I responded.
Then she looked up, as if it were the only way she could possibly think of something to say. She cleared her throat with a small cough, her head behind her head as she sat. "Just don't forget me this time, okay?" she asked.
"Kaori, are you sure you don't think it can work out this time?"
It was quiet for what seemed to be a countless amount of time. I waited for her to answer. Then she finally said it.
"Syaoran … it was fun."
I nodded slightly, pausing to look at her, and then headed back downstairs.
"Syaoran … wait." she suddenly said. Her voice was as faint as a feather caught floating on a breeze.
"What?" I asked her, turning around.
She looked down, still twirling her hair around her finger. "I guess we're really losers now, aren't we?"
I didn't have an answer. I thought about it for a minute. Standing on top of a ladder, there isn't a lot you can possibly think about saying. Still, you always have that one line that you want to get across - but this one time when I needed it, it got stuck in my throat and wouldn't come out.
I'm always an idiot in these situations.
I took my last look of her. She was looking the other way, out the window. It was raining.
"Syaoran, I know you're still here … just please go."
And with that, I walked downstairs, put on my jacket and my helmet, and headed back to my motorcycle.
Maybe she was being impulsive. Maybe I was being impulsive. Maybe it was because we felt our hearts racing so fast that we were too afraid to really do anything. When I drove off, I thought to myself a thousand times that I should've turned around. It didn't change anything though.
I never saw Kaori Hideki again.
---
Chapter Nine - Sakura Kinomoto
Standing outside Sakura's door, I knew that I was probably going to say something stupid. I had figured out what I was going to say while riding here. I had known her for years. She was the old friend that I now discovered I had not seen in years.
Then I knocked. Five quick ones. I heard someone say something from inside. Then the door opened.
"Sakura?"
"Syaoran?"
She looked different. Her hair was longer, and there was something missing from her face. It was like she was living without actually truly living. Like her heart had been smashed into a million pieces.
"Syaoran, it's been … a really long time." she said, standing in her doorway. I smiled at her, shyly.
"Yea, it has been. You won't believe what I just went through." I laughed. It wasn't really funny to me. I really don't know why I laughed right then.
"Me too. Me too" Sakura then laughed. We both laughed at ourselves for a little, followed by a resigning "Well…"
"I came to give you something, Sakura." I then remembered, reaching into my bag. I took out the small box she gave me, messily tied shut with dragon's whiskers. You could tell at one point, I had opened it. The box gave a small chime as I handed it to her. She looked at it and showed a sad smile.
"Sakura … I, well, I have to go." I finally said. I could feel snowflakes melting on my face. "I mean, I thought I'd just give you that and be on my way."
Then we had one of those moments where someone just needed to break an awkward silence, I slowly turned around and headed back home.
"Wait … Syaoran." she then yelled, still holding the box in her hand.
"Wait for what Sakura?" I faced her. She seemed so far away with the snow thickening.
"Syaoran, would you like to come inside for some tea or something? I mean … it's been a long time. Let's just … lets talk over some things." she offered, looking at me with a sincere smile.
I looked at her for a second or two. I knew I had nothing to do, that if I were to make up some kind of clever excuse, it would be because I didn't want to cause any trouble for me or her. But then something cut through all that questioning and shot out my mouth.
"Sakura … okay. Tea sounds good." I answered.
"Okay."
"Okay."
Ending - Never Forget
She wore a pink flower in her hair. The snowflakes glittered as she moved. Her every action beckoned of an angelic impression. She was beautiful, and even as we rose higher and higher above the city's sea of lights, all I could do was stare at her. I could look at her forever.
"You know, Syaoran. They say that if you throw one of your gloves off the Giant Sky Wheel, you will be granted one wish." she said, resting her head on my shoulder. She took her right glove off, holding it in front of my face.
"Make a wish Syaoran." she then whispered to me. All around us, Tokyo glowed brilliantly. I took the glove and tossed it through one of the openings.
"There, I did it." I said to her.
"What did you wish for?" she asked, looking up at me. The moonlight reflected off her brown eyes. I had never felt so much more in love.
"I wished that we could be trapped in this moment forever."
She giggled and held me tightly.
"Syaoran, promise me that you'll never forget this moment." she then said, holding me as if I were about to float away. I put my arms around her. At this moment, it was just me and her. We were all alone at the top of the world and I couldn't be in a more perfect place.
"I promise."
fin
Special Thanks
Chris-kun - You were the first person to read this story. Your insight helped me figure out the different twists and turns this thing could possibly take and trying to explain the story to you alone at first was plenty of fun. Your comments and criticisms were absolutely priceless.
Brie - You found all those small grammatical errors that I was too lazy to find myself. I can only imagine what would've happened if you hadn't read this thing.
Xiaoyu and Akane - for also reading this thing before I released it.
Elena - You've always been the greatest to me. You're so beautiful inside and out and you've inspired me in about a million and a half ways. Thank you so much, Elena.
Vanilla - The one faithful reader of mine. When I started writing this thing, I was thinking about you and really wanted your screen name or anything just to contact you for an opinion. As usual, however, you're on the receiving end of the finished product. I hope this story was as good, or better, than the other ones.
Animegamer - For inspiring me to write in the first place.
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