A/N: Wow! I didn't think that this story would ever have any audience…I thank you all very much for those who reviewed and who read my story! Please, keep reading! I'll try to update as fast as I can! Like I said, I have so many ideas, I just don't know how to put them down into words!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE+ (Christmas tree with a star) :D
Enjoy!
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Worthy Love
Chapter 9:
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"Yes, it's me. It's been long, hasn't it, Yamazaki?"
Yamazaki gawked for a few more minutes before realizing that his mouth was hanging open.
"You mouth is hanging open, Yamazaki." Syaoran said, irritated as well as amused.
Yamazaki quickly shut his mouth and said, "Chi-Chiharu!"
"Yes?" Said the brown haired girl.
"Wha-what are you doing here? I-I thought that you were moving?"
Chiharu raised her brows. "I did move, Yamazaki. I moved here."
Sakura smiled. "Well, I guess I don't have to introduce you two, since you seem to know each other so well." Sakura continued to smile and turned to Tomoyo. "Well, this is Tomoyo, everyone. And Tomoyo, this one is Eriol, this is Syaoran, and this is Yamazaki." Sakura said as she pointed to each.
"Hello. Nice to meet you all. So who was the one who dumped the cart of fish?"
At this, Syaoran took a step back, trying to hid from the girls.
"Let me guess. That would be him?" Tomoyo pointed at Syaoran. "He looks very suspicious. Taking a step back just after I asked who dumped that cart of fish. If only I was there to see it, I would have recorded his looks and what he had done."
Eriol took this as queue to step in. Taking Tomoyo's hand, he said in his most flirtatious voice, "Well, my lovely lady, you guess right. That man there WAS the one who had dumped that cart of fish, but being the rich prince he is, he doesn't know much about the ways of the poor."
"What did you say? A prince? Him?" Sakura asked, a bit bewildered. Then putting on a mask of carelessness, she said, "I thought as much."
Just then, Touya walked in, overhearing what Eriol had just said. "Him! A Prince!" he pointed at Syaoran. "Man! Now he's gonna get it for touching my sister! It's men like him that makes mistakes and doesn't claim anything!"
"Touya! How-Why would you say that!" Sakura yelled.
"Because! It's true!"
"Yes, but you didn't have to have me involved in there, did you? You made it sound as if I was gonna run off and do something like that!"
"I-No I didn't! you were just thinking the wrong thing!" Touya yelled back.
"You-"
"Hey now, you-" Syaoran tried to interrupt, but was very unsuccessful.
"And you! Who asked you to speak?" Touya looked at him. "Go find some other girl to mess with!"
"I didn't do anything!"
"He didn't do anything!"
Touya turned back to Sakura. "That's because I'm stopping him before he could do something!"
"He's not going to do anything, whether you stopped him or not! I'm not going to let him do anything!"
While the two siblings and Syaoran yelled back in forth, Chiharu decided to go outside and have a little chat with Yamazaki, catching up on things they had missed. This left Tomoyo and Eriol to themselves.
"Well, I guess I'll leave it to them to settle things. I'll just be upstairs unpacking my things in my bedroom if anyone needed me." Tomoyo started to leave put Eriol caught a hold of her hand.
"Wait, fair one, I would like to show you around the place, if you would like."
Tomoyo smiled her sweetest smile. "I would love a tour of the place, but as I already know it from visiting here often, I don't think I'll take you up on that offer." Tomoyo tilted her head to the side. "I guess I'll see you around, since we are boarding in the same inn."
Eriol watched her go with a defeated look upon his face from being turned down. "This is the first time I've ever been turned down before. I'll get her to be mine, if it's the last thing I do!" he whispered quietly to himself.
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(Next Day)
"Touya!" Screamed a feminine voice.
Touya ran down the hall, toward the scream and skidded to a halt in front of his father's room.
They had all moved back to their usual rooms when the cloud of crows had passed.
Touya opened the door to see a crying Sakura next to their father's bed.
In a weak, sobbing voice, Sakura hiccupped, "Touya, Papa's con-condi-tion is get-t-ting worst! I-I don't kn-know what t-t-to do."
Touya walked over to the edge of the bed and felt their father's head. "I'll-I'll get the doctor. Just stay with him, Sakura." He said in a shaky voice.
Sakura nodded, her throat choked with tears. Sakura watched Touya run down the flight of stairs and turned back to her father as Tomoyo walked in.
"How's he?"
Sakura remained quiet, not knowing how to explain to Tomoyo that his condition was getting worst, and not wanting to explain it, either. She didn't want it to be true, yet she had to accept it.
"That bad, huh?"
Sakura just nodded.
Tomoyo stood there for a minute longer and slowly closed the door.
"Is he really that bad?" a deep throat voice sounded behind her, making her jump.
Tomoyo turned around to see Eriol and Syaoran standing there.
"Maybe we can help." Syaoran offered.
Tomoyo looked at them and crossed her arms. "Help? Knowing the superior class, you'll want something in return, am I right?"
"I just wanted to offer help, see if there's anything I could do. Is that so wrong?"
"Yes, it is, because you rich and powerful people always want something in return."
"I don't want anything."
"Oh? Then why did you ask if there's anything that you could do? You could have done something to help without asking for permission."
"What if I did something to offend the people I'm trying to help?" Syaoran also crossed his arms.
"Well, then that will just be your problem, none of mine." Tomoyo took a couple of steps forward and stopped. "Excuse me, Prince, but your in my way." Then Tomoyo bowed and said in an informal voice, "Oh your majesty! Please! Pardon your oh so poor humble person!"
Tomoyo walked past them and went down the stairs. When she was gone, Eriol burst out with laughter.
"HA-HA! Syaoran, you-" Yamazaki said, as he came out of his room.
"Shut up, Yamazaki." Syaoran growled. "Stop laughing! It's not that funny, Eriol!"
Eriol stifled his laughter and said in his casual tone, "Ahem, your right. It wasn't funny. It was hilarious!" then he burst into laughter again and wiped imagined tears away from his eyes.
"Shut up!" Syaoran, not being able to take the laughter, stalked off to his own room, mumbling to himself.
"Man! Now I see why you like that girl, Eriol." Yamazaki said.
This stopped Eriol's laughter. "What? Like? I think you are mistaken."
"Did you not listen to what I said?" Yamazaki flicked his pointing finger up and began, "I said, if you not-" But before he could finish, Chiharu had magically appeared out of nowhere and dragged him off by his left ear.
"Stop with the story telling, will you? I had thought that you would grow out of that but I guess I thought wrong!"
"But Chiharu, dear! I didn't do anything!"
"That's because I stopped you in time!"
Eriol chuckled lightly to himself as he watched the Yamazaki get dragged off. Turning to the door, he opened it. There, sleeping peacefully at the edge of the bed, was Sakura. Eriol walked over to her. Seeing her shiver he looked around for a blanket. Not being able to find one, he used his magical abilities and spirited one out of thin air. Taking it, he wrapped covered Sakura's bare shoulders. Sakura stirred and woke. She looked up and met Eriol's eyes.
"Wha-what are you doing?" She asked sheepishly.
"Well, when I came in to check up on you, you shivered so I decided to wrap you up in a blanket. Sorry if I woke you."
"Oh. No. That's ok." Sakura stood up and stretched. "I was going to wake up anyway, so I guess you were my alarm." Sakura said with a bright smile.
Eriol observed Sakura and said, "You can't stop smiling, can't you? Even in bad times like this."
"Huh? Why stop smiling? No one can smiled enough in this world."
"In this world? So do you believe in more worlds that are out there somewhere?"
Sakura cocked her head to the side and looked quizzically at him. "Whatever do you mean?"
"I'm sorry, I must have phrased that strangely. What I mean to ask is, do you believe that there are more worlds out there that are different from ours?"
Sakura looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, now that you mention it, yes, I believe I do. Ever since I met Kero, I think that I've always thought that. He was something of a miracle that I experience."
"…"
Sakura turned to Eriol and smiled again. "You know, you have a strange calmness about yourself. Every time I talk to you, I seem to tell you everything that I wouldn't normally tell someone who isn't Tomoyo."
"Oh?" Eriol said, raising his eye brows.
"Yes."
"What are you two doing?" the voice came from the door and it sounded angry.
Sakura jumped and looked at who was talking. "Oh! Touya! Did you contact the doctor?"
"Don't change the subject, Sakura." Touya said, still angry.
"We didn't do anything! Why are you always so suspicious of things?"
"Be-Because!"
"Because what?"
"Just-Just because, alright? Do I have to explain myself to you?"
"Do I?"
"Yes!"
"Then you should, too!"
"Excuse me, but I think I'll leave the sibling bickering to the both of you. I'll just take my leave."
"Yeah, you do that."
Eriol walked over to the already opened door and went through, closing it behind him.
"Do you always have to embarrass me in front of everyone I meet?"
"Embarrassing you? I'm protecting you!" Touya yelled.
"From what?" Sakura yelled back.
Touya pointed behind him and yelled, "From-From people like them!"
Sakura threw up her hands. "Touya! You can't protect me forever! I'm bound to get hurt somewhere along the way! Just let me make my own decisions!"
This caused Touya to look at Sakura a bit bewildered. "No! Not 'til you're older."
"How older can I get? I'm almost as old as you were when you decided to go off and have an adventure!"
"I came back, didn't I?"
"Well, you went, didn't you? You got to choose your own path, didn't you?"
Touya calmed down a bit when their father moved. In a quiet, but commanding voice, Touya said, "Sakura, I'm only saying this once, I'll let you decide when you get older, and that's final."
"Fine!" Sakura stalked out of the room angrily, mumbling to herself, "So much for my independence!"
Touya sat back on his hunches.
(flashback)
"Touya, you really should let Sakura choose her own path. She's ready now, I believe, and she showing much strength. It's time."
Touya sighed. "I know, Kaho, but I just can't let her go. She's my little sister, and I'm supposed to be her older brother who takes care of her and makes sure she never gets hurt."
"Touya, you know that everyone's bound to get hurt along the way somewhere. No one can be protected from everything."
"…"
"I think it's time."
Touya looked up, "Time for what?"
"Time for the prophesy to be fulfilled. I told you once, didn't I? When I first met you when you were traveling?"
"You don't mean..?"
"Yes. That prophesy. Sakura's prophesy."
(end of flashback)
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A/N: was that long enough? Well, I hope so! I'll try to write some longer ones! Please keep reading! And please review and give me suggestions…it'll help me and I'll be really happy! I will also appreciate it!
