Chapter 16: Forever
Sakura was in her car, riding back home. She had just had the worst day; she had a test today, and completely forgot about it, so she flunked it. Her cell phone died in the middle of the morning, and she was supposed to meet with some friends to work on an assignment, but they never showed up.
Now she was just hoping she could go home, take a long bath eat a lot of junk food and go to bed wallowing over her non existent life.
When she got home there was no one there. Her brother had moved out, and her dad was constantly traveling again. Now that she was in college he could really devote to his work, not having to be concerned about Sakura being home alone.
She was studying journalism on a university not far away from her house. Tomoyo had left to Paris to study, and Eriol had gone with her. But she still had Yamazaki, Rika, and Naoko with her.
She entered her house, and immediately went to the fridge to get some food. The phone rang and she hurried to answer it.
"Hey Saku" Said Yamazaki's voice on the other end of the phone "What the hell happened to you cell? I've been calling you all day long!"
"Yeah" She said sitting on the couch and getting a bite from her cold pizza and taking a deep breath "I forgot to charge it last night and it died in the middle of the morning… anyway what's up?"
"We are all going out tonight, you know, have some beers, forget about our pathetic lives" He said mockingly, making her laugh a little.
"I'm sorry but I'm deserting you guys tonight, I just want to sleep! I swear today was one of those days when you just didn't have to get out of bed!"
"I get you" He said a little bummed by the fact that Sakura wasn't going out with them "Well if you change your mind call me!"
They hung up the phone after talking about nothing special for a while, and Sakura went back to eating her cold pizza, she had to admit she was becoming a little piggy when it came to food, living alone most of the time meant she had to cook, and somehow she had lost her interest in that art and decided that junk food was the way to go.
After her much needed relaxing bath, she was going to watch some TV and the go to sleep. She was about to leave her bedroom where she was getting dressed, when she thought she heard a guitar playing on the house next door, where Syaoran used to live. She thought she was going crazy but then she convinced herself that the guitar was real.
She peeked through the window. All lights were off on the house, besides no one had lived there since Syaoran had left, and that had been three years ago. They never sold it or anything it was just empty.
She had to be crazy, because she not only heard a guitar playing but she heard the melody of the song Syaoran had composed to her. She smiled to herself, she was crazy. And then went back to her plan of watching TV.
She fell asleep on the couch, like she usually did. But this time she woke up at two in the morning with a huge pain in the back because of the position she fell asleep in. So she went up to her room, and tried to fall asleep again, but sleep was just fighting to get into her body, she was lying there staring at the ceiling.
She decided to read a book, she was reading one, but she only took it out on nights like this, where she couldn't get asleep, and she sighed when she noticed that these sleepless nights were becoming more common.
Finally she got asleep.
She woke up the next day, still having that back pain, but it was not so much now. She had some breakfast and got ready to go to the university. She had classes most of the morning and she could get home early.
She noticed she had forgotten to charge her cell again, so she decided to leave it charging during the day and leave without it, no one interesting was going to call her anyway. When she was about to leave, the phone rang, she hesitated for a second and then went to answer it.
Recognizing Tomoyo's voice on the other end made her so happy she instantly forgot she had to go to school.
"Tomoyooooooo!" She greeted her friend "I'm so glad you called! How've you been?"
"All right" she said "You know studying a lot, how about you! I'm sorry I didn't call earlier this week, but I've had so much homework and Eriol too, so I couldn't make him call you!"
"It's ok! I've been fine, you know surviving" She said mockingly "When are you guys coming back?"
"I think we can visit in about two weeks" Tomoyo responded.
Those were great news. She had all her friends here, but she missed Tomoyo and Eriol so much, they were truly her best friends, and being without them was really hard.
Both girls told each other everything that had gone on in their lives for the last week, Sakura completely forgot she had to go to school she was so caught up in the conversation that anything else seemed less important. But then Tomoyo began scolding her for missing her lessons so they had to hung up, but her friend promised to call later that week.
Sakura left for school in a better mood. Tomoyo would come visit. She was planning on asking for a scholarship to France, so she would be nearer to her friends. She knew Tomoyo and Eriol would stay there, and probably get married, and she wanted to be near them, and maybe she would find herself a nice French man… who wouldn't leave her.
She hadn't been on a long term relationship since Syaoran. He had never called or e-mailed, but still, she couldn't find the strength to date another guy. Every guy she hanged up with wasn't as perfect as Syaoran was.
She was sure it wasn't healthy to live like that, in love with a man she would never see again, and rejecting every other man because deep down she hoped he would return. It was stupid and she knew it, but she couldn't help it.
If she ever found a man that was as good as or even better than Syaoran, she would stay with him, but for the moment being, it seemed that man didn't exist.
She went to school, received her classes, and almost fell asleep in one of them. She was walking over to the parking lot when she found a friend she met on the campus. They went to get a beer, which had become a common thing in her life, finishing lessons and go get a beer to finish off the day, but today she just stayed for a short while and then headed home.
It was early enough, she would get home at 4 o'clock. That gave her enough time to go to the forest. Somehow she kept that tradition, going there every once in a while. Sometimes she went to her tree, other times she went to Syaoran's secret spot.
Today she felt like going to his spot. She felt closer to him there; she felt that if she went there, someday he would appear just behind her, with his beautiful smile. She knew it was stupid, believing that. The place had no magic in it, and even if she went there every day, he wouldn't return. But she figured she lost nothing in believing so.
She had come to believe that life was more bearable when you believed in that kind of magic, in that kind of special bonds.
She parked her car, entered her house and fetched a sweater. It was getting a little cold, and she didn't want to freeze. And she started walking towards the forest.
As she reached it she smiled to herself. Every time she was there, she felt a strange comfort, she was really becoming crazy, but then she told herself that whatever served her to be happy was good enough. If a plain old forest made her happy, she had to go there; she had to try her best to be happy.
She walked for a while until she reached the secret place. It was greener than the last time. And more flowers had grown. The river was a little grown; the whole atmosphere was as perfect as usual. She sat on the soft grass, and spent a while looking at river, it was hypnotizing.
Then she lay on the grass and looked at the sky, at least what the tall trees permitted her to see. Suddenly she started to feel sleepy, she knew she wouldn't fall asleep there, but she liked to be in that "Zen state" where she could completely relax.
Suddenly, out of nowhere she heard a guitar playing. She stood up immediately a little mad that someone had found their way to her secret place and disrupted the peace of the place. She looked around to find where the music was coming from, and then abruptly stopped. She felt shivers all over her body.
It was the song, she hadn't imagined it. The song Syaoran wrote for her. But she couldn't find where it was coming from. She stood up and looked around. Then she thought she saw someone, not far away from her.
She hurried there; her heart was beating faster than ever. She wasn't imagining it; she was actually hearing the song.
Then she came to a halt. A man, with chocolate brown messy hair, wearing an old pair of jeans and a white t-shirt was there. It was him.
He stopped playing, and looked at her. The sudden revelation and happiness were written all over his face. That beautiful face, those beautiful amber eyes where looking at her again.
"Syaoran" she almost whispered, the words wouldn't come out, she felt as she was going to explode, tears started flowing from her eyes.
Once second later she was over him, his guitar thrown on the ground, his arms holding her strongly, her arms around his neck, their lips engaged on a fierce kiss. Tears were falling from her eyes. They kept kissing each other, touching their faces, kissing more and more.
Then Syaoran stopped to look at her.
"Don't cry" He said in that deep voice she had missed so much.
"I… Syaoran… I thought I was never going to see you again!" She said kissing him again "I thought I had lost you"
"No…" He said "Never… I am yours Sakura"
"But you… never called or wrote" She noticed a little affliction on his face as she said those words.
"They wouldn't let me" He started "They said that if I was going to be the proper leader of the Li clan I had to forget all about the people I met here, that my life was there, I tried to call, to write" He said "But they were all over me, and it was impossible"
Sakura listened to him intently
"But I came up with an idea Sakura" He said exited "I told them that the only way I was going to be the leader of the Li clan, was if they let me come back here, they were reluctant to allow to come back here, but… here I am"
He said kissing her
"I missed you so much" She said "Promise me you'll never leave me"
"I'll never leave you Sakura, never, you are the love of my life, I wouldn't even dare to spend another second without you"
She smiled at him and kissed him again.
They went back to her house after spending a while on the forest. He told her that he had arrived last night, but he found that the electricity on the house was dead, and in the morning he went to look for her but she was already gone.
She invited him to stay at her house. He cooked for her after scolding her for having only junk food. It was a perfect day, everything was just the way it was supposed to be. She invited him to stay with her, at least until the electricity was fixed on his house, and even if it was fixed, and he wanted to stay there, he could do it. And he did.
They decided not to tell Tomoyo he was back, to give her the surprise when she came back. And indeed it was a huge surprise. Tomoyo and Eriol had returned, believing they would have to take severe measures to bring joy back to their friend's life. But they found that she was perfect, living her dream.
Syaoran and Sakura decided she would finish school there, and then move to China with him, where he would assume his position as leader of the Li clan. He would stay with here all that time, until she finished school. He told her that nothing would ever make him leave her again.
Life just couldn't get any better. She had found the love of her life again, he had found his way back to her, and they would be together forever. No more lonely nights, no more painful days, thinking about him, wishing to be with him. Now nothing would ever separate them, they were together, forever.
THE END
AN: it's done! Did you guys like this chapter? I really hope you did, it took me a while to write it, and figure out the perfect ending for my story, but I found it!
Anyway, please review; tell me if you liked the fic!
By the way, soon I'll post a new one, so wait for it! Well it was great writing this fic, I really hope you liked it! Byeeee!... Review!