Chapter 12

Kita slept for a long time, and she dreamed vivid dreams. She wandered down a dark hallway with locked doors on either side of her. In her hand she held a wand. The headpiece of the wand was an encircled star with snowy white wings emerging from the top. She tapped the locked doors with this wand, and the rusted locks broke free. She looked into the first room, but it was empty, except for a feather. She touched the feather and it disappeared, but she now felt different somehow.

"There were so many things I should have said to him while I had the chance," Kita mused.

She continued down the hallway, opening one door at a time. Inside each room was a single feather, and the more of them she touched, the more different she felt. She talked to herself as she made her way through the darkness.

"Dita said it was an accident, that it was not Yue's fault, nor was it his. Should I have forgiven him, or was I better off sealing him away?"

There seemed to be no way out of the darkened hallway, but there was one final door before her.

"Can I undo all that was done? Can I change the course of history? I would like it to be different, I would like to be happy, for him to be happy, for everyone to be happy, but how can I do that?"

She tapped the door lightly, absorbed in her own outward thinking. The door swung out slowly, it creaked loudly on its hinges, the others had swung silently and quickly. This door opened with great effort, but when it opened, it revealed a jewel far more valuable to Sakura than anything else in the other doors.

She smiled, her green eyes lighting up with joy. Yes, she would make sure she was happy this time. She flung herself into the arms of the emerald clad young man waiting for her behind the door.

"Syaoran!" Kita sat up with a start. She flung the sleeping bag off of her and sprang to her feet.

The sun was warm upon her face as she stared out to the creek some fifty feet away. Was it all a dream, she asked herself. Meilin was just beginning to stir in her sleeping bag on the tree house floor a couple of feet away. Kita looked around the room in the new morning light and frowned. A dresser was shoved in one corner of the room, next to a curtained window, and a neat bed was pushed against the wall opposite the missing one. Various fruits and breads were laid out on a dish in the center of a round table, and Kita suspected they came from the pantry a short distance away from the dresser.

Meilin stood up and looked around her, rubbing the sleep from her eyes to make sure that what she was seeing was real.

"What happened here?" She asked, as much confusion in her voice as Kita felt.

They heard footsteps on the stairs below them and dashed to the hatch in the floor and pulled it up to see who was coming. A short woman with black hair smiled up at them. Her top was fashioned like a coat in the back, and it swept down to her feet. She sported two large red buckles across her chest and stomach, and a pair of rather short black shorts. One of her boots was longer than the other, one went up to her thigh, the other her ankle, and on her bare legs, she wore black bands.

"Ah, you're finally awake. I wasn't sure when the two of you would get up, so I laid out a little bit to eat."

"Dita, how did we get here?" Kita was shocked at her question, and even more shocked that she knew this small woman's name.

"Well, you guys arrived late last night. You introduced your friend, Meilin, to me, then said that you were both ver exhausted from your long journey and asked to stay here for the night instead of crossing the creek and continuing to the village." She turned to Meilin. "You may have been too tired last night to remember, but I am Dita. Any friend of Sakura's is welcome in my home any time, please remember that."

"Sakura?" Meilin asked. Any further questions were cut off, Kita grabbed Meilin's arm and pulled her aside.

"I need to talk to you now, please meet me downstairs."

"Dita, please excuse us, we would like to stay and eat, but we need to be on our way." Kita ducked down the hole and dashed down the stairs.

"Oh, Sakura!" Dita shouted down at the green eyed young woman. "Syaoran has been looking for you, you should stop in and say hi before going anywhere else."

Kita nodded and grabbed Meilin's arm and pulled her all the way to the creek.

"What is going on here? Who is she, and how do you know her? Why did she call you Sakura?" Meilin fired the questions at Kita without pausing for an answer until she was all done.

"She called me Sakura because that is who I am. I have always known Dita, we have been friends for a very long time, every since I came to this part of the country. Meilin, we have traveled back in time, back to my time. You told me that you were told we would go on a very long journey. There could be no longer journey than traveling back in time like we have."

"But what about the city girl? What about Kita?"

Sakura smiled. "Kita was me, me before I remembered who I was."

"So she's gone?"

"You may look at it any way that you choose. For the time being, however, I would like to freshen up in this creek before we wander back into the village."

The water was crisp and cool, but slightly deeper than it was the previous day. Over time, the creek had been made to travel new paths, and had, as a result become more shallow. However, those events had not yet come to pass, so the creek was its original depth.

Sakura looked forward to the journey ahead of them. She didn't know what would happen, but she knew that she would see Syaoran, and that made everything better. She hummed to herself as she dressed and combed her fingers through her short brown hair.

"Good morning, ladies."

Sakura felt the gentle breeze created by flapping wings and smiled at Yue as she turned to face the winged man. His silvery white was tied in a loose ponytail past his waist. He smoothed out the front of his long white shirt. His entire outfit was white, save for various shades of blue trim, and a large blue stone at his chest. Yue walked gracefully on his bare, wrapped feet. As he approached Sakura, Yue let his wings spread out behind him to let the breeze rustle through his feathers.

Sakura smiled, Yue and Dita were complete opposites, Dita clad in darkness and Yue clad in light. They had been living together for as long as Sakura could remember. She supposed it worked out for them simply because they were opposites, yin and yang, she assumed.

Meilin stared in awe at the tall winged man. He was unlike anything she had ever seen or heard of in tales from her aunt. She watched as the winged creature known as Yue and Kita embraced in a friendly hug. He was easily twice her height, if you counted the top of his wings that rose over a foot above his head.

"Sakura, did Dita let you know that Master Li is looking for you? I know he had a question for you regaurding the manor he plans on building for his family. However, I am sure you two will find other things to talk about as well, you should find him as soon as you can."

Sakura turned to Meilin and smiled. "Syaoran has such a short temper, and little patience. We should hurry and find him to see what he wants before he throws a tantrum."

Meilin cocked her head to the side. She had never seen such a happy light side to Kita. But then again, she reminded herself, this wasn't exactly Kita anymore. There was a twinkling joy in her green eyes, and a happy, friendly tone to her voice. She moved and acted like someone who was deeply in love, and who knew the one she loved was in ove with her back. Meilin had to admit that she liked this side of Kita, or Sakura, or whoever the young woman was, a lot better than the cynical, stuck up city girl. It's a shame, Meilin thought, that the two were ill fated.

"Meilin, what do you think Syaoran would want?"

"Perhaps he wants to tell you how much he loves you?' Meilin decided that she would do all in her power to change their ill fate and make sure that the two would be happy, no matter how it affected the future.

Sakura giggled, her eyes sparkling. "Oh Meilin, he has told me many and many times how much he loves me. It is I who cannot tell him the same." Sakura's face became solemn and withdrawn. "I think I am just scared I guess, afraid to admit that I do love him. I mean, I know I do, and he knows I do, or at least, he can tell. But for me to actually tell him would make it official, and I am afraid of what will become of us if things do become 'official'."

Meilin frowned. 'Try not to worry about it so much. As far as I am concerned, if you know it and he knows it, it already is official. But still, I think you should admit it to him, so he can have the joy of hearing those words himself. You should not worry about the future too much, if you stop and contemplate cause and effect, you may loose your opportunity for happiness." Meilin placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "I know we weren't much good of friends before, but I have a feeling that it is going to change. As a friend, my best advice that I can give you is to simply follow your heart. Throw caution to the wind and do what your heart feels is right, and you will be happy."

"Follow my heart?" If I follow my heart, will I find happiness? Should I trust Meilin? Sakura tried to think of reasons Meilin would give her bad advice. Finding none, Sakura smiled some more. "I will follow my heart when the time is right."