The Man in the Glass
Chapter Seven
By Hayai-Akurei
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Omigod! Thank you for the wonderful reviews! You're all so good to me! I think I'm actually moving out of this bloody slump! Whee! You all make my day! Warm fuzzies for everyone! If it weren't for you, this would probably be a dead story. And that wouldn't be good, considering this is the first long story that I've ever written that might actually be finished for once! Here's hoping!
Kai Angel: Well, that's for me to know and for you to find out, ne? And…well, you'll find out.
Meowzy-chan: Yes, I am, aren't I? I LIVE to be evil! evil laughter ensues But yes, it's like a drug, to leave cliffhangers and watch your readers squirm. It's kind of funny, not that I find pain funny… poke poke
Evvy: Well, I'm glad that you think so! I'm actually getting my job done for once!
Cerulean Soul: Is it really? I thought I totally copped out on the S/S scene, I tried to make up for it in this chapter. I could have made it so much more SQUISHY, but my romance muse left me.
Raindrops: You'll find out soon enough, I promise! And if I'm doing this right, you won't expect it! But if you've got an idea, shoot!
Noir Rose: I know, I torture them all. I don't know why.
Evilteddybear: I don't know why fangirls seem to live on angst. We just do.
DarkAngel36: Thanks! I've always loved the stories where it just makes your heart ache and you wanna scream and yell, "GET TOGETHER ALREADY!" I read a Yami no Matsuei fic like that once. It was so beautiful… Four more chapters…I can't believe I'm almost done, over halfway at least. I might even throw in an epilogue, it all depends.
DemonUntilDeath: Thanks! And the reason for his illness took me a while to figure out. I just hope I explain it enough when I finally reveal why he is the way he is.
Apelles: Oh my god, I love you! That is like, the longest review anyone has written me! And really constructive too! And here I thought I was overdoing it with the lovesick Syaoran bits…I almost deleted them too.
R.S.Azalea: Soon. And suspense is good. Keeps people coming back for more. Manipulative, yes, but it gets the job done.
WhiteDenkou: Thank you, I will!
And now, without further delay, ON WITH THE FIC!
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Sakura gasped.
It was beautiful. The pale pink light emanating from the shooting star outside filled the rooms, filtering through the window in a dazzling display. Although she had seen her feathers before, this one, with its warm glow contrasted against the night sky, stole her breath away. Even from this distance, she could feel light waves of heat warm her skin.
Mokona was at the windowsill, his indigo eyes wide as he bounced about. Kakei-sensei, who had arrived not too long ago, also found himself entranced by the celestial light. For his part, Kurogane sat next to her by the magician's side, although his eyes followed the path of the small comet as well. Lying still among the covers, Fai looked on with glazed eyes.
Her heart contracted painfully and she gently felt his forehead, which was still burning beneath the ice-cold cloth. There were so many wounds, and many of them still hadn't healed.
"You feeling okay?" Kurogane asked gruffly, looking down at him. Fai gave a slight nod with his eyes. He looked so tired. His normally ever-present smile was gone, replaced by an expression of discomfort.
"How badly does it hurt?" asked Kakei-sensei, inspecting his patient's wounds. Fai only managed a faint whimper, unable to say anything, and Sakura felt a wave of fear overcome her. He was so strong, so energetic and full of life, and now, to see him in such a state broke her heart.
"Fai-san…"
"I'M BACK!" a voice suddenly shouted, followed by the sound of the front door slamming open and Sakura turned to see Syaoran hurtle into the room, his face flushed from his run. A glass jar was held protectively to his chest, where she could see several white flower petals.
"Syaoran-kun!" she exclaimed, immediately coming to his side.
"Those are ambrosia blossoms," remarked Kakei-sensei, looking a little startled. "Where did you get those?" he asked. Huffing and puffing, Syaoran gave him the jar.
"I…I went by your house to get…some medicine for Fai-san, and…you weren't there. There was…a girl. She gave me this and told me to boil them."
"I see," he said, giving it back. "Go ahead and prepare them if you would, I must see to your friend."
Sakura quickly followed Syaoran into the kitchen, quietly closing the bedroom door as they left. Handing her the jar, he said, "Take this, I'm going to get some more wood from out back."
She nodded as he went outside, and she started opening the cabinets and riffling around for a pot. As two of them clanged together, she winced, hoping that she hadn't woken Kohaku up. The little girl was asleep upstairs in her father's room, where Kokuyo-san now sat watching over her. Finally hauling one out, Sakura filled it with water and set it over the fireplace, dumping the jar's contents inside.
From behind her, she heard the back door open, and Syaoran hurried in, several small logs in his arms. Setting them onto the fireplace and blowing on the sparking embers, he looked up at her and asked, "How does he look?"
"Not good," she admitted, stirring the pot's contents around. Worrying her lower lip, Sakura turned to face him. "How do you think he got all those injuries? You don't think he got into a fight, do you?"
"I'm not sure," he replied, taking off his coat and sitting down to catch his breath. "But right now, those wounds need to be treated. We'll take the next step from there."
Waiting for the broth to heat up, the young princess sat down next to him. "That shooting star…" she began, "Did you see it?"
He picked his head up, snapping to attention. "Yes I did, and I'm positive that was one of your feathers."
"It is," Sakura confirmed, "Mokona told us." She wrung her hands nervously. What if they couldn't reach it in time? And Fai-san certainly couldn't go with them. He was far too hurt to go anywhere.
"We'll set out as soon as Fai-san's been taken care of," he said with a determined look on his face. She lifted her head in surprise upon hearing him answer her unspoken question. His expression softened into a tender smile as he cupped her face, caressing her cheek with his thumb. "Kurogane-san and I can go look for it at first light. Don't worry, I'll bring it back. I made a promise to you last night that I'd get all your feathers back to you, didn't I?"
She smiled, leaning against him and resting her head on his shoulder. His hand then fell from her face and took her own, settling in her lap.
"You did."
He smelled so good, as she nestled her face into the crook of his neck, and the touch of his fingers running through her hair was so soothing, calming her worried nerves from all of tonight's events.
"Syaoran-kun, why are you so good to me?" she asked, squeezing his hand. She felt him smile as he laughed softly, "Because I love you, hime."
She pouted. "I thought I asked you to call me Sakura."
Suddenly, they were interrupted by the sound of violent bubbling. With a startled, "HOEE!" Sakura sprang out of his arms and adjusted the pot, stirring it gently to get it to stop spluttering. Ladling some of the sweet-smelling liquid into a cup, she added some cool water to bring the temperature down. It wouldn't do for Fai-san to scald his tongue on boiling hot medicine. That would've just made him worse.
Syaoran opened the bedroom door for her and they walked in together. Looking up from where he sat, Kakei-san asked, "Oh good. Is it ready?"
The princess nodded.
"Okay, bring it here," Kakei-sensei said, turning back around and tying off the last of the bandages.
Gently, Sakura blew on the small cup of liquid as she walked over. It was still rather hot, and she didn't want to somehow make his injuries worse. Kurogane slid an arm under Fai's shoulders and gently lifted him into a semi-sitting position. Grimacing at the sudden movement, the blonde rested his head against the ninja's chest, his face unnaturally pale, almost a pallid gray.
"Slowly now," instructed Kakei, taking the cup and inclining Fai's head. The blond swallowed automatically, and choked, spitting it on the comforters. Kurogane rubbed the man's back as the coughing fits dwindled, looking rather concerned.
"Just take small sips," the doctor said, once again lifting the cup to Fai's lips. "There."
Fai slowly drained the cup, and fell back into Kurogane's arms. "Kuro…"
"Shh," interrupted Kurogane, his voice lacking its usual anger, "Just get some rest." The mage didn't argue, settling back into the pillows and closing his eyes.
"Just leave him to me," said Kakei-sensei, "I'll find out what's wrong. You all get some sleep. It's very late. I'll let you know when I'm done."
"But…" Sakura began, but Syaoran took hold of her arm, and the princess realized that she was swaying a little. Giving her a tender smile, he said, "He's right. We'll rest for a little while. It couldn't hurt."
Worried green eyes once again fell upon the all too pale man lying battered and bruised upon the white sheets. She whispered a silent prayer that it would all turn out fine, and nodded. "Okay."
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It was morning when Sakura next awoke (not that she got much sleep anyway), and Kokuyo came to tell them that the doctor was waiting in the bedroom to give them the news. The young princess couldn't keep from biting her lip in worry, and Syaoran gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze as they walked inside. Fai was awake, Kurogane sitting next to them and Mokona perched upon the pillow by his head.
"To get right to it, it's worse than I feared," the doctor said, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes, "You have consumption." Sakura had no idea what it was or what it meant, but simply hearing it sent chills down her spine.
Kurogane frowned at the Fai's lack of response to the news, turning to the young doctor. "Consumption? What's that?"
Kakei ran a hand through his hair, setting his glasses back on his nose. "In other countries, they call it tuberculosis. But massive internal bleeding isn't one of the symptoms, as I recall. He's far past the contagious stage, so we're not in any danger."
"But when did he get it?" asked Syaoran. "We've met no one who has had it!"
The young doctor sighed. "I don't know. And the worst thing is, at this point, there's nothing I can do to help."
"So he's…" Sakura couldn't even finish her thoughts.
"I'm sorry…" Kakei apologized, turning to Fai, who had surprisingly remained quiet throughout this entire exchange. "This is far beyond my skill to heal. I can't do any more for you."
"I see," replied Fai quietly. The princess's thoughts ground to a halt as one of her recovered memories fluttered forward in her mind.
Several palace servants were crying, the doctor looking resigned. Dark eyes were calm, despite the tragic news. Off in the corner, Touya sat with Yukito, his grief turned icy cold by his anger.
"So I'm dying." The words seemed to echo in her ears.
"Yes…Your Majesty. I'm afraid that you are."
The servants wept harder.
" I see…"This only proved to make her brother bolt out of the room in a fury, Yukito-san following him, and tears rolled down her face as she ran out of her nursemaid's arms and over to the large bed.
"I don't want you to die! Please don't go!"
Sakura felt the tears overwhelm her, her mind a mess of memories and feelings. Running forward, she hugged the blonde man as tight as his injuries would allow and sobbed into his chest.
"Sakura-chan?" questioned Fai. The princess buried her face into the crook of his neck, her shoulders shaking with tears.
"I don't want you to go!" she wept. "Please, there must be something we can do!"
Beside her, Syaoran seemed to be at a loss for words. Kakei sadly left the room, leaving the group to deal with the news.
"Go on," Fai mouthed, waving Kurogane and Syaoran off. "I'll talk to her."
Understanding, the two turned to leave, Mokona hopping onto Kurogane's shoulder as they closed the door behind them.
"Please…" Sakura begged, "Please don't go…don't leave me the way he did…"
"Sakura…?" Fai looked a little confused, pulling her back so that he could look her in the eye. "What's all this about, hm? You don't want me to leave like who did?"
"Like Father," Sakura explained, trying to speak coherently past the tears and sniffling, "He got really sick one day. At first, he was just really tired, but then he couldn't get out of bed." The memories arose anew, as did the tears. "And he died!" she sobbed, burying her face in her hands. "And I don't want you to die, Fai-san! I don't want you to leave me the way Father did!"
Blue eyes softened in pity, and he reached out to hug her, which she did. "Oh, Sakura-chan…"
"Please!" she repeated, "I'm afraid you'll go and leave me like Father and Mother! Please don't go!"
"You know I can't promise you that," Fai said, "I'd end up breaking it at some point, wouldn't I? It'll be okay, that I can promise."
"But aren't you afraid to die?" she asked, lifting teary emerald eyes to meet his.
"A little, but there isn't really a reason to be afraid of death, Sakura-chan," Fai said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "It's just something unknown to us, that's why we're scared. The only thing you need to be afraid of is a life not lived to its fullest." He smiled at her, trying to provide some comfort to the distraught girl. "And I've lived a lot, especially since I met you and the others. How many other people can say that they've been to other worlds that no one else has seen? That's more than I could ever ask for, especially after meeting such wonderful people like you, Syaoran-kun, Mokona and Kuro-tan. And after all, you still need to find the rest of your feathers."
"I don't care about my feathers!" she cried, unrelenting. Part of her knew that wasn't true, but the other part of her was rather sick of seeing so many people suffering because of the immense power that her memories carried. She didn't want anyone else to suffer, least of the all the people who become a second family to her. Fai frowned sternly.
"You mustn't say that! Surely you don't mean that, Sakura-chan."
"I don't want them if it means you'll die!"
"Now I think you're being just a little bit unreasonable," he pressed, "I'm going to die anyhow, whether or not my death is a result of your feathers. Everyone dies sometime, you know that."
She nodded, hiccupping into shoulder.
"But I'm not sick because of your memories, Sakura-chan. Even though they are powerful, how could your precious memories possibly do me harm? After all, you need those feathers," he reasoned, "You don't want to continue on not knowing who you are or where you came from, do you?"
Silently, Sakura shook her head, sniffling.
"Of course not," he said, hugging her back. "And I'm certain you've met many more people before you lost your memories, and you need those to remember them. Doubtless, they still remember you. And after all, you still have your memories of me," Fai said, "You haven't lost those. What you need more than anything right now are the ones that are still missing. I'm still in your heart, aren't I?"
The princess nodded tearfully.
"I'll go when my time has come," he said, his forehead meeting hers as he looked deep into her eyes. "Whether it be tomorrow, next week or ten years from now."
"But I'll miss you."
"I know you will. I'd be kind of unhappy if you didn't. But I don't want you to be sad. We've had a lot of happy times together, right?"
"Fai-san…" Sakura sniffed, tears rolling down her face. He looked to be in such pain as he looked at her. And there was nothing they could do to help.
"It will all be all right," he repeated, kissing her chastely on the forehead. "That's your motto isn't it? Everything will surely be all right." She nodded, hoping and praying those words that had become her personal mantra would not fail her or Fai-san.
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Slowly, Sakura walked outside, watching as the sky overhead grayed over, promising the coming rain.
Why? Why did all the people close to her have to suffer so much? Even if it wasn't her doing, it hurt to see them in such pain. She bit back tears, remembering the pain reflected in Fai-san's face the night before. And just now…he looked as if he were resigned to his fate, which was understandable, but all the same, she didn't want him to leave!
More tears began to roll down her face and she sat down on the retaining wall, the wind tugging at her dress and hair. There was the sound of footsteps, and she turned to see Syaoran walking up to her.
"Hime…" He looked so concerned, it made her want to cry harder.
Sakura turned back around, wiping away the tears, which were replaced by even more. She was ashamed enough as it was to been seen like this, so distraught and upset. She must have looked a proper mess. And in front of the boy she loved, no less.
"Sakura."
A tiny gasp left her lips, startled green eyes meeting rich brown pools that she had grown to adore so dearly. Syaoran continued to gaze at her, extending his arms out to her.
"Sakura."
She broke when she heard him say her name, jumping down and running into his embrace with a sob. No titles, no honorifics…they didn't matter. Here, in this world, in this boy's heart, she was just Sakura. Only Sakura.
Clinging to him, she let the dams in her heart crumble, feeling his hands rub her back as he repeated her name over and over, planting several kisses in her hair.
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Author's Notes: Oy, oy! I finally did S/S some justice in this chapter! Fweet! Please review! Chapters get done faster that way! Especially now since I have a week off until summer school starts!