A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate it! I know the story is a little slow at first, but don't worry, it won't be in the end.
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura. Or 'Glass Shoes'.
CinderSakura
By: Lotus Dreams
Chapter 1: Memory Loss
"Good morning, Kinomoto-sama." Mr. Kinomoto grunted at him and entered his office.
"Call for some coffee."
"Hai." [Yes.]
A brand new fresh newspaper was placed on his desk. After taking a sip of his coffee, he opened it and looked at the contents. One headline caught his eye, accompanied by his son's picture.
MAN DIES OF BLOOD CANCER
42-year-old Fujitaka Kinomoto collapsed and died in his home yesterday, due to the fact that he did not take his pills. Further investigation concluded that Fujitaka Kinomoto died of blood cancer. He could have taken surgery, but was unable to afford it, so never did.
Mr. Kinomoto's eyes widened. "Korin," he called. Korin, one of his managers, entered the room.
"You called, Kinomoto-sama?"
"When did this happen?" Mr. Kinomoto gestured wildly at the article.
Korin glanced at it. "Yesterday, sir."
Mr. Kinomoto was breathing heavily.
I had thought the one person who I could rely on to take care of my children would be you. But I guess I thought wrong.
"No wonder he told me to take care of his children," he said. "Why didn't he tell me before? Korin! Quickly, get a car! We're going to raise Fujitaka's children from now on! Do you understand?"
Korin bowed his head. "Hai, wakarimasu." [Yes, I understand.]
Fujitaka had been rushed to the hospital, but it was already too late. Now, Touya was holding a small box containing his father's ashes. Both of them were clad in white. Touya held Sakura's hand, and together they walked for half an hour to a small lake. There, Touya sprinkled his father's ashes silently. He didn't even have the heart to call Sakura 'kaijuu'.
When they reached home, they were shocked to find the landlord having people taking their stuff away.
"Hey, what are you doing?" cried Sakura. The landlord looked at them haughtily.
"Oh, it's you two brats. Well, seeing as your father didn't have the courtesy to pay me the rent for three months, I have decided to take matters into my own hands. These things will pay off, so you won't be indebted to me."
"No!" cried Sakura. "You can't do this!"
"Oh?" sneered the landlord. "Naze desu ka?" [Why?]
"Because they're ours! Right, Touya?" Touya looked away.
"Sakura," he said quietly, "We haven't paid them in months. They have a right to take our possessions."
"But--"
"Iie!" [No!] said Touya forcefully. "Be quiet!"
After an hour, more than half of what they owned was gone. Touya and Sakura were left sitting in a small, empty living room. Then they heard somebody knock on the door.
"Is anybody home?" Touya hushed Sakura to be quiet, and then walked and opened the door. A policeman stood there, with a lady.
"Yes?" said Touya.
"Hi," said the policeman. "There is a very nice lady who is going to take you away."
"What?" croaked Touya. "Away? Where?"
"To the orphanage, of course," said the lady in a nice voice. "You will meet other orphans there and make lots of friends. You can come right now."
"Chotto matte kudasai!" [Please wait a moment!] cried Touya. "You can't take us to the orphanage!"
"Yes we can, because you have no relatives now," said the lady kindly.
"Give--Give me and my sister a day to think about it. This is a little too sudden. I...I don't think Sakura will agree to it." The lady and the policeman looked at each other.
"Very well. Tomorrow, at the same time, we will come and listen to you."
"Domo arigatou gozaimasu," [Thank you very much] said Touya, relieved. Then the lady and policeman left.
Sakura came out of her hiding place.
"Touya-chan...are we really going to go to an orphanage?" Touya smiled grimly.
"'Course not." He took out his wallet. He flipped to a picture of Fujitaka and an old man.
"See this old man? This is ojii-chan. [grandfather] He is still a relative. We will go to him. He's in Tomoeda." Sakura memorized the man's face.
"That's ojii-chan."
"Hai. We're going to pack today, right now," whispered Touya. "We will leave when the moon comes."
Sakura gasped. "Right now?"
Touya nodded. "Right now."
When they were finally done packing, and the moon came out, Touya grasped his sister's hand firmly, and together they ran out of the house. They had few possessions, and little money, but Touya took what money he had and put it in his wallet. When they were outside, Touya stopped and bent down. He took something from inside his sock.
"Listen, kaijuu," he whispered urgently. "You see these?" In his hand were two rings strung on two seperate strings. One was silver, and the other was gold. "These are mom and dad's rings. I'll take care of dad's ring, and you take care of mom's." He hung their mother's ring onto Sakura's neck. Sakura looked at the inscription inside: Kinomoto Nadeshiko.
"These rings will bring us good luck. Come on, let's go now." He and Sakura ran. They ran and ran, for hours and hours, until they reached a bus station. By then it was already morning. Sakura's legs were tired. They rested in front of the bus station on a bench. Touya went inside and bought a small cookie bar for them to share. Sakura was thinking as she ate her share.
"Are we doing the right thing, Touya?" she asked finally. "I mean..."
"Don't think about it now," said Touya sharply. "Keep eating. We're going on the subway to Tomoeda. I already bought the tickets."
The two children entered the bus station. At about five o'clock, their subway train came. Touya held Sakura's hand tightly as they boarded the train. As they sat on the soft velvet seats, it occurred to Touya how long ago they had slept. His eyelids were drooping, and he was yawning. Sakura was already asleep. Unable to open his eyes anymore, he fell asleep instantly.
When they awoke, it was their stop, Tomoeda. Touya helped Sakura off the bus, and walked up the stairs into the busy streets of Tomoeda. Sakura was in awe of the sheer size of the buildings and cars speeding on the roads.
"Is this where ojii-chan lives?"
"Hai," replied Touya. "Come on, Dad's--" They fell silent. Every time their father was mentioned, a horrible silence overtook them. "Dad--" Touya managed to choke out, "Dad said that ojii-chan is--is at a company called 'Kinomoto Inc.'"
"Do we go there?"
"Hai," answered Touya. "Come on, let's go."
Just then, a pickpocket saw Touya's wallet sticking out of his jacket coat. He tiptoed up to them, and walked casually in step with them.
"Excuse me," said the pickpocket. Touya turned around.
"Yes?"
"I'm looking for directions to the Tabako [cigarette] store." He reached his hand into Touya's pocket.
"Gomen nasai[sorry], I can't help you, I'm new here."
"Oh, that's okay." The wallet in his hand, the pickpocket retreated back into the crowd. Touya sighed.
"I'm hungry," Sakura announced.
"Okay, I'll..." Touya reached into his pocket. His eyes widened. Where did it go? he thought frantically. Where? I just had it!
Then his thoughts wandered to the man who had asked him for directions. Did he...
"Sakura," Touya told her urgently, "Stay here, somebody stole my wallet, I have to get it back! It has all our money it! Stay right here, don't move, okay?" The pickpocket had crossed the street. Touya grabbed his bags, and chased after him. His hand slipped out of Sakura's.
"Touya!" yelled Sakura. He began to run far away. "Touya, don't leave me here!" She ran after him. However, just then, a big truck was speeding towards her, and--
CRASH.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk...'
"Poor girl..."
"Looks like she's only ten..."
"Bleeding badly..."
The owner of the truck got out of the car, with his wife. The wife gave a small scream.
"Shut up!" barked the owner.
"Oh my goodness, Matsuo," cried the woman. "What have we done? I told you not to buy a car when you don't even have a license--"
"Shut--it!" hissed Matsuo. "Are you crazy, woman?"
"My name is Katsatsu--I mean, Harada Makiko," said the woman haughtily, "Not woman!"
"Doesn't matter, Makiko," said the man. "We've caused a crime! What do we do? AUGH--I'm going crazy!"
"Just--Just--just take her with us!" cried the woman, panicking. "Take her to our house and then see what we can do!"
"Right!" With that, Matsuo and Makiko carried the girl to their car, and yelled, "Hey, what are you people doing here? GET!" And drove off.
Sakura lay there, her head bleeding badly. Matsuo and Makiko's ten-year-old daughter, Manami, poked at Sakura tentatively.
"Leave her alone!" cried Makiko. "We've done something to a little komodo[child]! Oh, what are we going to do what are we going to do what are we going to do WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!"
"SHUT UP!!" roared Matsuo. "LET ME THINK, WILL YOU, WOMAN?" Several moments of silence passed between the three. Finally, unable to think of anything to do, Matsuo, Makiko, and Manami went to bed, leaving Sakura lying on the ground.
She woke with a start. Where am I? she wondered. Her stomach growled. Then, instinctively, she went into the kitchen, dug into one of the cupboards, and took out a bag of popcorn. She opened it and started eating.
Manami, hearing the noise, woke up and stood to investigate.
"DADDY! DADDY!" she started screaming when she ran into her parents's bedroom. "THE LITTLE GIRL IS GONE!!"
"WHAT?" yelled Matsuo. He jumped out of bed and ran around their tiny house. When they reached the kitchen, they found the little girl eating THEIR food, sitting at THEIR table, on one of THEIR chairs, and messing up THEIR floor.
But the three of them were too scared to do anything.
Makiko recovered first. "Matsuo," she squeaked. "Go...Go talk to her."
"Why me?"
"GO!" She poked him. Matsuo stepped forward nervously.
"Erm...hi." The little girl looked at him questioningly.
"Hi."
"Um...the bruise--I mean, your head--I mean, does your head hurt anywhere?"
The girl shook her head.
"Are you sure?"
She nodded.
"Erm...what's your name?"
She blinked.
"I don't have one."
"You must have a name!" burst out Makiko. "You know, your mother or your father who calls you...a name?"
The little girl paused, and then fished from her neck a ring. She looked at the inscription inside:
Kinomoto Nadeshiko.
"My name is Kinomoto Nadeshiko."
"Nadeshiko?" inquired Matsuo. "Your name is Nadeshiko?"
"I think so," said Nadeshiko, tucking the ring back into her clothes.
"Okay, well, that's settled..."
"Settled?" shrieked Makiko. "What are the police going to say once they find out we have a KINOMOTO from Kinomoto Inc. in our house?!"
REVIEW!! BTW, whoever is confused, Sakura thinks her name is Nadeshiko. So she will be referred to as Nadeshiko from now on. Don't be too confused! Sakura has just lost her memory, so the first name she sees is the first name she thinks she is called. Don't worry, Touya's coming soon!
