Summary: What if Syaoran never made it back from Hong Kong? Correspondence dies off throughout the years, and Sakura finally feels she has to move on.
Disclaimer: Still don't own CCS.
Can I Say Goodbye?
Chapter Two
Wednesday, March 29th
Sakura finished closing yet another box with a sigh, trying unsuccessfully to blow the bits of hair that had fallen out of her messy bun out of her face.
It felt like the boxes were endless. First, it had been boxing up the majority of the stuff they intended to take with them overseas, in order to ship the boxes ahead of time. Given that shipping would take about two weeks, Touya's deadline had been having it all ready a week before they left, so they were only waiting for a week after they arrived.
Fujitaka had decided that it made the most sense to rent the house out for the time being, since he had been gone more than usual recently with work, and Touya's job was a two year minimum contract. So even though a lot of stuff wasn't making the move with them, pretty much everything was being packed up. A lot of the larger furniture items would be staying; the house was going to be rented to someone Fujitaka knew from the faculty at Towa University who was bringing his family to join him in the area.
Most of the main house had been packed up, with boxes stacked in a semi-organized manner in the different rooms. Which meant it was time for her to start on her room—which she'd been putting off. She'd dragged in several empty boxes, and just finished closing the second full box before she flopped down on her bed comfortably.
"I can't believe we leave tomorrow night..." she said to herself. "No, I can't believe we're leaving at all!"
She stared at the ceiling for awhile, her mind wandering from memory to memory that she had in here. Meeting each of her friends, the late nights in Penguin Park, the fun sleepovers, rollerblading to school... the last one prompted a sardonic smirk. I sure hope I'm better at getting to school on time when we move.
Sitting up, Sakura glanced around her room, looking at what she still needed to do. She still needed to box up the clothes she wanted stored away, as well as actually packing her suitcase. Most of her books were stored away, with the exception of the handful she was taking with her. She needed to go through her stuffed animals, all of her trinkets and personal treasures... it was a daunting task, but it needed doing.
"But first," she mumbled to herself, pushing off the bed and walking to her desk. "Music!" She grabbed her cell phone, pulling up her music collection and setting it to random. Hopefully that would provide the necessary motivation for productive packing.
She pulled the open box mostly full of books to be stored over to the chair in the corner of her room that served as a home for the stuffed animals she still had. She looked at the chair and a smile quirked at her mouth; sure, she was 17 years old with a collection of stuffed animals in her room, but each of them had a story. She could remember who gave her which and for what, and in their own way considered them to be her friends. She stood there for about a minute, running her eyes and hands over each of the animals and fondly recalling their stories.
But Touya would have thrown a hissy fit if he was paying to ship a bunch of stuffed animals; long-distance shipping like that didn't come cheap, he'd told her the other day.
Right. Packing.
She looked down and was surprised to find herself fingering a well-worn, somewhat faded green teddy bear. She picked it up briefly, looking at it with a small, sad smile before sitting it back in its place in favor of a couple others. The pink teddy bear holding sakura blossoms that Tomoyo had given her for her tenth birthday; the cute puppy Touya and Yuki had given her for her elementary school graduation; and the white angel bear her grandfather had given her almost two years ago for her sixteenth birthday. These she would take with her.
She started putting the others into the waiting box, topping it off with the lightweight toys since the books made it fairly heavy already. Eventually all that was left was the familiar green teddy bear, and she looked at the box, hesitating. It was the last present he'd given her, before he left.
She thought she'd been doing pretty well the last five days, since she put the letter in the mail. But... he was still in the back of her mind. She'd caught herself thinking about him multiple times, wondering if he'd gotten her letter, and trying to imagine what his response might be when he did.
Closure. That's what this was. She put the bear in the box with the other animals and books for storage, and grabbed the tape to close it up and mark it "STORAGE" before she changed her mind.
She'd made a lot of progress in the past two hours. The clothes had been sorted and packed into either storage boxes or her suitcase. Her walls were oddly bare, since she'd taken down all of her pictures; a few had been sent with the shipped boxes, wrapped carefully in clothes or linens to better protect them during transit. The ones she wasn't taking with had been wrapped up carefully in some of the linens she'd nabbed from the closet before all of that had been packed up. Her shelves were also empty, with all of her knick-knacks ready to be put in storage.
At some point she'd turned her music up a little louder, and she was currently going on her laptop trying to update the music to download to her phone.
"Hello, earth to Sakura." said a deep voice that came from nowhere.
Sakura yelped, jumping in her seat and banging both of her knees into the top of her desk. She turned around to glare at Touya, who was leaning casually against her doorframe with his arms crossed.
"Still as jumpy as ever; that'll eventually cause problems if you don't get over it, kaijuu." Sakura just rolled her eyes at the annoying little term of endearment that Touya refused to relinquish and opened her mouth to offer a retort, but Touya was quicker.
"I take it you didn't hear me calling you earlier?" He raised a brow and, at Sakura's sheepish smile, continued. "Well, you've got a guest waiting downstairs in the living room; Tomoyo just showed up, asking if you were ready to –"
"Hoe!" Sakura's eyes went wide as she pushed away from her desk. "I completely forgot we were going to hang out today! Crap crap crap!"
"Of all the stupid..." she mumbled to herself, frantically searching for the wallet she knew was here somewhere.
"Aha!" She finally located the offending object, triumphantly holding up a small black leather wallet with embroidered sakura petals on the front of it. Which had somehow ended up beneath her pillow—she wasn't really sure how that had happened.
"Thanks for telling me, 'nii-san! Love you, see you later, gotta run!" She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before rushing out of her room and down the stairs. Touya only laughed, following at a much slower pace.
A resounding "Sakura!" reached him as he began to descend the stairs, and he paused, debating if it would be better to retreat to his room until the two girls left just in case Tomoyo had wonderful ideas that might involve him.
While Tomoyo had mellowed out some over the years, no longer referring to Sakura almost exclusively as kawaii, or constantly recording everything she did, she could still be somewhat excitable with her favorite cousin. Like this afternoon, when she'd squealed and threw herself at Sakura as soon as she was down the stairs. The two were still as close as they had been when they were children.
"I'm so sorry I forg—" Sakura started to say, before Tomoyo cut her off.
"It's okay, Sakura; it's not like I was waiting long. Are you ready to go?" Tomoyo grabbed Sakura's arm and started pulling her out of the living room and to the front door. "My car's out front, and I'm driving!"
"Where are we going, anyway?" she asked, a little worried at the sing-song voice the dark-haired beauty had used, but still allowing herself to be pulled along.
"You'll see!" was the only response she got.
"See you later 'nii-san!" she called out.
"That's fine, kaijuu; don't buy out too many stores, 'Moyo." Touya called down from the top of the stairs. Tomoyo tried unsuccessfully to cover a grin before giving up and muttering something along the lines of "that was one time, okay?!" before pushing Sakura out the door.
She turned her head briefly and gave Touya what could be considered a suspicious wink, but Sakura missed it.
Four hours later, Sakura groaned, dropping onto one of the many benches in the large walkway at the mall. She glanced at her watch, then let her head fall against the bench back. "Tom, we've been shopping for four hours straight! I'm all shopped out... my arms are going numb from all the bags I'm carrying. Most of which are yours, I might add." Sakura looked pointedly at Tomoyo at that last statement, who just giggled as she sat down on the bench next to her friend.
"I can't help it, Kura," Tomoyo pouted cutely, gesturing to the shops lining the sides of the hall. "You're fun to shop with!"
She hesitated for a moment, the pout gone, before adding "who knows when we'll be able to do this again?"
Sakura looked down at her lap and sighed softly. It was true; she was leaving tomorrow evening, and she didn't know when she'd see Tomoyo again. Tomoyo had promised to visit, but the "when" was still up in the air.
Tomoyo saw Sakura's hesitation, and decided that things needed to lighten up a bit. She smiled, theatrically sighing. "Just think, Kura... the next time we do this, we'll be hitting a mall in America!" Then let out an excited squeal to punctuate.
"Umm, Tom... I don't know that I want to think that far ahead." Sakura grimaced slightly at the idea, because clothes shopping with Tomoyo was an experience that required some serious mental preparations on her part. When she looked at Tomoyo, she saw the dramatic pose, and realized what she'd done, and started laughing.
Tomoyo smiled, much more genuinely this time. Objective accomplished, she thought, mentally patted herself on the back for getting her cousin to start laughing again.
"How much longer do you expect to be at this, Tom?"
Tomoyo tapped her finger to her lips in a thoughtful gesture. "I've only got a couple more stops I want to make... maybe an hour?"
"I need to hit the restroom, so I'm going to leave all of this here with you," Sakura sighed, gesturing to all of the bags on the bench. "I expect you to be here when I get back, and not have flitted off to another store, got it?"
Tomoyo laughed, waving Sakura on in lieu of agreement. Once Sakura was out of sight, she pulled her phone out and quickly dialed a number.
"Hey, it's me. How are things?" She listened to the voice on the other end of the phone, a happy smile appearing on her face.
"That's great! How much longer will you need?" More listening.
"Awesome! We'll hit one more store here, and then be on our way; sound good?" Another pause.
"Great!" With that, she flipped the phone shut and returned it to its previous spot in her purse. She turned around only to see Sakura exiting the small hallway and walking back to her. Just in time, she thought, and sprang up off the bench.
"Alright, Tom; I'm ready to go." Sakura reached down and picked up the various bags again, a cheerful smile on her face, before awkwardly bowing in a teasing manner. "Lead on, oh great shopping master!"
Tomoyo laughed and grabbed her own bags. "I've got just the place in mind." Her eyes twinkled merrily as she led her friend through the crowded mall.
"Ta-DAH!" Tomoyo announced, indicating the big store in front of them. Sakura glanced up at the store front, then cocked her head at Tomoyo, somewhat perplexed. She'd expected another clothing store, but they were at the door of a bookstore. Tomoyo enjoyed reading as much as the next person, but given Tomoyo's flair for clothing it was rare that bookstores were included in their shopping expeditions.
Tomoyo giggled at the confusion on Sakura's face before leading the girl inside. "Since you're leaving tomorrow, I want you to pick out a book for the plane ride; I know it'll be long, and you love your books, so... this is one of my parting presents to you!"
"Ano... you really don't have to do this, Tom." Tomoyo dismissed her protests with a little wave of the hand.
"I know I don't have to, Sakura; but you're my best friend, so I want to. Just take your time picking out what you want. I'll wait right there." She pointed towards a spot by the registers.
Sakura smiled and nodded; this was so like Tomoyo, always sweet and thoughtful. She missed the mischievous grin that appeared as soon as she turned away.
After making sure Sakura was out of sight and not coming back, Tomoyo walked up the register, smiling. "Hi, I'm here to pick up the order for Tomoyo Daidouji."
"Ah yes, one moment please, Miss Daidouji." The young man gave her a smile before he turned around, disappearing behind the door marked "Employees Only." Tomoyo leisurely dropped her bags on the floor, leaning against the counter, tapping her fingers out of habit. Not a minute later the door opened back up and out came the clerk holding a package.
"Will this be all for you, miss?" At her nod, Kenji (at least, that's what his name tag said) scanned the item. "Would you like a bag?"
Tomoyo smiled, murmuring a soft "no thank you", slipping the item into one of the bags on the ground beside her. Picking up her purchases, she headed back to her previous spot, before turning her head back towards the registers.
"Oh, Kenji? One more thing... I haven't bought anything here, okay?" She sent a conspiratorial wink in his direction before nodding back to the shelves where Sakura had disappeared earlier.
Kenji grinned and winked back. "Of course, miss. The customer's always right."
Sakura happily threaded her way through the shelves of books; even though it'd been awhile, she knew exactly where she wanted to go. She passed through several sections, making sure to give the horror section a wide berth since she still didn't care for that sort of thing, and made her way to the recently-stocked fiction section that took up the entire back wall.
She loved this place; at least, places like this. Libraries, book stores... anywhere with a large selection of books. Naoko was the best known of her friends for reading, but Sakura had developed a passion of her own for the pastime over the years, loving the places that books could take her. Another city, another country, another world; the past, the present, the future; all of it was possible within the pages of a book.
Her eyes roamed the displayed merchandise, passing over both familiar and unfamiliar titles and authors. Her face lit up with a smile when she found a new book by one of her favorite authors on the shelf. She reached out and picked it up, reading the back, before tucking it under her arm and heading back to the front.
Tomoyo was waiting just as she had said she would. She plucked the book from Sakura's arm, taking it to the register and paying, then handing the book back to Sakura.
After they left the store, Tomoyo stopped and stretched, quickly checking her watch as she did. "What do you think, Kura; should we head back now?"
She laughed at the shocked look on Sakura's face; the girl obviously hadn't expected to hear those words from Tomoyo of all people. "Yes, I get tired, too. Plus, we did get quite a bit of stuff... unless of course, you want to keep going?"
This brought Sakura out of her shock, as she quickly shook her head. "Nope, I think it's a good idea to call it a day. We've been at it awhile, and there's still a little bit left to pack..." she trailed off; it really was hard for her to believe that she was leaving, even if it wasn't for forever.
"It's decided then!" Tomoyo's cheerful voice broke the sad silence as she turned on her heel and led Sakura out of the mall, back to her car.
Tomoyo pulled up into the driveway at Sakura's house, again checking her watch before parking the car. She waited to lock the door until after Sakura had opened the back door to grab her two bags; most of the bags in the backseat were hers, and she grabbed the only one she wanted before closing and locking the door. They'd be safe enough in her car for a bit.
"Thanks for coming with me today, Sakura. I had a lot of fun today." She gave Sakura a quick side hug.
Sakura smiled and returned the hug, softly replying "You're welcome, Tom; it was fun, wasn't it?"
She frowned when she got to the front door; it was locked, and it looked as though the lights in the front room were off. The lights being off wasn't too weird, but Touya had said earlier that he'd be home all day, so she didn't know why the door was locked. She grabbed her keys out of her pocket, mentally shrugging as she opened the door and motioned for Tomoyo to go inside.
Still puzzling over the locked door, Sakura walked into the front living room, flicking on the lights before shrieking.
"Surprise! Happy birthday!" There were a ton of people crowded into their living room. Close friends, Touya, Yuki, and even...
"Daddy!" She yelled before dropping the bags she held and launching herself at him. She hadn't seen him in two months because of one of the digs his department at the university had sent him on, and she hadn't been expecting to see him before they left. Fujitaka Kinomoto chuckled, opening his arms to catch his baby girl up in a huge hug. "Hey Princess," he whispered softly in her ear, smiling even wider.
Sakura pulled back to see his face, her arms still around his neck. "Dad... what're you doing home? I thought you weren't supposed to be here for another few months..." she trailed off, blinking her eyes in effort not to cry.
"I wanted to be here when you left, so I took a couple days' leave; they can do without me for that long." She felt herself being pulled close again, and hid her face in his neck, happy to just hug him.
She wasn't sure how long she stayed in her dad's arms, but when she heard the telltale shutter of a cell phone camera, she looked up to see Tomoyo standing near Touya and Yuki with her cell phone out and apparently recording. She let go of her father, walking up to Touya, jabbing her finger in his face.
"You planned this, didn't you? Both of you!" She pointed back forth between Touya and Tomoyo, both of whom just smiled. The stern look she'd been trying to maintain broke as she threw her arms around Tomoyo first, then her brother. Touya placed his arms around his little sister, squeezing her when he heard her soft "thank you." He lifted her off the floor before setting her back down and turning her around to face the other guests.
He whispered in her ear, "You deserve it, kaijuu." Then he added, "I think you should go say thanks to your other friends, though; they helped."
Sakura looked up, her eyes focusing on the people she'd known since childhood, taking in each of them in turn.
Chiharu, with her copper-colored hair pulled back into a single ponytail, instead of the pigtails she preferred as a young girl. Bouncy and bubbly, they'd had a lot of good times in the cheer club over the years before Sakura had moved to the track club.
Next to Chiharu was Takashi, her long-term best friend/boyfriend combination. He still told his absurd stories, which still amused (and often captivated) Sakura, even now; and Chiharu was still whacking him on the head each time he told them.
Naoko was next, glasses gone as she'd switched primarily to contacts years ago, brown hair still kept short, just the way she liked it. She still loved reading, and still loved to tell the scary stories that Sakura tried to avoid.
Rika, with her grey-blue eyes and long light brown hair left down around her shoulders. She was still generally considered the wiser, more mature one of the group; she was also still soft-spoken and sweet, and tried to avoid the spotlight when she could.
Then, of course, was Tomoyo; what else was there to say about her? She still loved Sakura, they were still best friends, and she still had an obsession with filming and/or taking pictures.
Next to her, with a hand on her shoulder stood Eriol, the most recent addition to the bunch, and Tomoyo's boyfriend. Black hair with a hint of a blue sheen, a little on the long side but kept very neat, and mysterious blue eyes; he'd produced a bit of a stir when he first arrived in Tomoeda, testing Sakura and her newfound powers, and then leaving immediately after his objective had been accomplished. A year and a half later he had returned; he'd said that England simply wasn't as enjoyable as it used to be, and he had missed the friends he made.
Sakura had secretly wondered if he hadn't enjoyed the taste of being just Eriol, rather than the powerful incarnation of Clow Reed, and that was why he came back. Regardless of his motivation, it hadn't taken long for him to become a part of their tight-knit circle of friends.
It took longer for him to win Tomoyo's affection, but he had maintained a steady, persistent presence. Sakura had watched, exceedingly pleased, as Tomoyo had warmed up to him and developed an unusual fondness. Sakura had done her best to support without interfering, though she would readily admit to dropping a few not-so-subtle hints that Eriol should step up and ask Tomoyo out. When he finally had, and Tomoyo had agreed, Sakura had been the first to offer her congratulations to the new couple.
He came back, unlike someone else... Sakura bit her lip at the thought, and scolded herself. It hadn't been Syaoran's fault that he was called away, nor Eriol's fault that he was able to return. You said goodbye, remember? Enjoy the time you have now, with your friends.
Eriol had caught the momentary flash of sadness in her eyes before she covered it up, and guessed the direction of her thoughts. Oh Sakura... I wish I knew what happened. He sighed softly. I know he cared.
He was surprised when he felt Tomoyo's hand covering his own. He'd evidently tightened his grip on her shoulder, and she knew he was thinking about something, but wasn't sure what. He looked down, her eyes questioning him, before slightly shaking his head; she reached up and gave him a peck on the cheek, but didn't ask.
Sakura hugged each of her friends, happy that they were here. While it's true that she had other friends, these six were special to her, and along with her family there's no one she'd rather spend her last day with.
Well, almost no one, she amended. It wasn't the first time she had wished he was around to celebrate, but she hoped it would be one of the last. A new life, a new me. But tonight is about enjoying the people who are here, not fixating on the one who's not.
"Sakura! Sakura!" Chiharu grabbed her hand, leading her to the table set up in the corner. "Cut the cake! Then the fun really begins!"
Sakura laughed, allowing herself to be pulled along and obliging the girl's excited request. She couldn't but think of Kero... he'd always gone nuts over his cakes and sweets, as she fondly remembered. But now he had been sealed back within the book... the book that held the cards that were hers.
Her powers had matured as she had, and her control over her magic had grown. Life had been relatively peaceful since she entered high school, with fewer and fewer situations (or opportunities) calling for use of the Sakura Cards. She and Kero-chan had had several long discussions before they reached an accord: he, and the cards, would return to the book to sleep under a light seal to afford them peace and pleasant dreams. As their master, they were responsive to her needs, and her feelings, and while she loved them for it, she also felt bad for subjecting them to the times when she felt alone.
The one concession she had made was regarding Yue. Rather than slumbering within the book and her seal, he remained apart, still residing in his host, Yuki, and watching out for her welfare. She had utilized the power of the moon more strongly in her seal, powering it with equal parts star and moon, so that he could break the seal if he ever thought his mistress was in danger. That was two years ago, and though she had removed the seal once or twice to simply be with her cards, because she loved them and they returned her affection, there hadn't been any cause for breaking the seal because of danger.
After Sakura cut the cake, her father, Touya, and Yuki had all excused themselves to continue their packing preparations, but insisted that she enjoy her time with her friends. They had all settled in the living room to enjoy the cake, and then conversation turned to old memories.
"-member that time Eriol and Takashi made up the nonsense about chocolate being forbidden in England because it was a narcotic, and you actually believed them, Sakura?" Chiharu was doubled over from her spot on the couch, clutching her stomach because she was laughing so hard.
Sakura pouted, eyes wide and lower lip slightly protruding. "Well, what did you expect? Eriol grew up there, and he didn't even hesitate to back Yamazaki's story..." Sakura trailed off, realizing how silly it all sounded, then re-joined the laughter.
And there had been much laughter, indeed. Naoko and Rika both had handkerchiefs out to wipe their watering eyes at various points. Yamazaki had literally fallen over from his seat on the floor, struggling to breath through his laughter. Even the fairly reserved Eriol had pulled his glasses off to wipe his eyes once or twice.
Tomoyo had been taping the whole thing, switching the view from her cell phone to her camera for the time being. She alternated between filming the group as a whole, and focusing on the person speaking or the person with the best reaction. She had her share of laughter, but it didn't stop her from recording. She looked at her watch, somewhat startled to see that it had been almost two hours that they'd been sitting, telling stories and reminiscing.
"I still think one of my favorite elementary school memories of Yamazaki was when we put on the Sleeping Beauty play in grade four for the festival. That was before you came, Eriol." Naoko said. "He was such a great evil witch! None of us knew he had it in him."
"And Sakura made such an adorable prince," Chiharu added.
"You know what? I think it's time now." Tomoyo smoothly interjected, wanting to cut off that particular line of thought before anyone brought up who had played the role of the princess; the night was going well, and she didn't want anything to ruin it for Sakura. She handed her camera to Eriol before perching on the couch next to Sakura.
Sakura looked a little confused, but the rest of the group excitedly agreed. Amidst the chorus of "Yes", "You bet!", and "Of course", there was also a singular "Did you know that the origin of that phrase was –" before Chiharu smacked Takashi in the back of the head, effectively shutting him up.
"You, my dear Sakura-chan," Tomoyo tapped her nose, "get to stay here. Now, shut your eyes, and no peeking!"
Bewildered, Sakura complied, waiting for... well, whatever it was. She heard footsteps and rustling, but Tomoyo had placed her hands over her eyes, as an added precaution to keep her from peeking so she wasn't sure what was going on. "Ready, Kura? You can open your eyes now."
Once Tomoyo's hands lifted, Sakura opened her eyes and saw a small stack of gifts in the middle of the floor in front of her, and her friends were back in the room, eyes on her.
Sakura just sat there, mouth opened in surprise, before her gaze flickered to each of them. "You didn't have to do this, guys..."
Chiharu snorted and waved a hand, dismissing the comment, then Naoko spoke up. "We know that, Sakura. But it's almost your birthday, and you're leaving; what else would you expect? Wouldn't you do the same thing for one of us?" she asked, gesturing around the room.
Rika's soft voice chimed in. "That's right, Sakura. We did it because you're our friend, and we'll miss you when you're gone. We want you to have little reminders of us to go along with all our memories."
Sakura's vision got a little blurry; she was blessed to have such great friends. A white kerchief was placed in her lap, courtesy of Eriol, for her to dry her eyes on. "Thanks... so much." The last part was barely a whisper.
Takashi laughed. "You're not supposed to say thanks 'til after you open the stuff, Sakura. Here," he picked up a brightly wrapped gift and handed it to her, "open mine first."
Ten minutes later, Sakura couldn't help but smile at the odd assortment of gifts piled in front of her; each was so like the person who gave it to her.
Takashi had given her a small book entitled "Stories: by Yamazaki Takashi," which he claimed he'd had published just for her. He pointed out he had included an author photo inside, and even signed it for her "so you won't forget the coolest guy in Japan!" (Chiharu did smack him for that).
Chiharu, Rika, and Naoko had banded together and gotten her a pocket-sized Japanese-English dictionary, and a couple of English CDs that were apparently popular right now, so she could get used to hearing the music now.
Eriol's contribution was a book-style picture frame, with two horizontal 4x6 photos from one of their more recent school outings. Their class had gone to a park with a river running through it for an "art field trip," where they could "practice their nature realism skills." At least, that was the excuse on the permission slip, but it had actually been more of an excuse to let them get outside and have some fun; their principal was pretty cool like that.
The first picture was of the seven of them all lined up on a bridge over the river, arms around shoulders and smiling for the picture they'd asked another student to take. The second one was taken almost immediately after, when they'd devolved. Chiharu and Eriol were flanking Takashi, each holding a shoulder over the bridge as if pushing him in, Tomoyo had jumped on Sakura's back and was giving her bunny ears, a silly grin on her face with Sakura laughing, and Rika and Naoko had posed as if they were boxers facing off in a ring.
Sakura let out a contented sigh, looking happily at the friends seated around the room. "Thanks, everyone," she said, eyes glistening. "You don't know how much these mean to me."
"Sakura-chan..." a soft, melodic voice spoke up from beside the girl. "You haven't opened my present yet."
Sakura looked at the raven haired girl in surprise, obviously confused. "You bought me the book earlier, right?"
"You don't think I'd stop at a single book, do you?" Tomoyo tsk'd as she stood up and headed for the hallway. She returned a couple of minutes later with a package that she plunked on the floor in front of Sakura. Eriol handed her camera back at her gesture.
Sakura inspected the gift; it was a large rectangle, about twelve inches tall and eight inches wide, covered in simple, pale-pink wrapping paper. It also had a weird little bump on the front of it. Carefully using her fingernail to slice through the tape on the package, she found two things: a small jump drive attached to a keychain with a simple gold "S" emblem with a note, and a second layer of wrapping.
Sakura picked up the jump drive and raised a questioning brow at Tomoyo. Half of Tomoyo's face was behind her camera, but Sakura could still see her smile.
"Read the note, Kura."
When Sakura opened up the small notecard and read it, she gasped. Tomoyo had evidently found a way to put together a compilation of the tapes she'd taken as a child of her and her friends and transfer them to a single digital drive.
"Now, that's not everything from throughout the years," said Tomoyo, her eyes still twinkling. "That's just some personal favorites of mine. Now, open the other one!" With that, she glued her eyes back to the camera screen.
Sakura set the jump drive to the side, carefully opening the second layer of wrapping paper. She softly gasped, eyes widening as she took in the gift. Sitting in her lap was a large photobook, the cover a beautiful navy blue with silver stars and lettering sprawled across the front; "Our Years: May memories never fade." The rest of the group crowded around Sakura's spot on the couch, except Tomoyo, who was of course still taping, and Eriol, who stood just behind her.
Flipping through the pages, Sakura found herself looking at pictures dating from kindergarten age to the past few weeks; some had funny little titles while others had explanations in paragraph form.
"So that's what that was for!" cried Rika, the others echoing her sentiments. "I was wondering why you asked me about that... wow, Tomoyo! How long did this take you?"
Tomoyo smirked slightly. "Well, with the help of my oh-so-wonderful boyfriend here," she swung the camera briefly in Eriol's direction, "it took me about a week and a half to actually put together. I started planning and collecting as soon as I heard that Sakura was leaving. I wanted her to have something to remember us – and Tomoeda – by." She shrugged. "This seemed like the best way I could think of."
Sakura looked back and forth between Rika and Tomoyo, not sure what she meant. Rika looked at Tomoyo, who nodded at her, and then began to explain. "See Sakura, Tomoyo called us all up not long ago and asked each of us to write up some of our favorite memories with you, as well as if we had any special pictures we'd want you to have."
Sakura looked more closely at a couple of the pages, and noticed that indeed some of the paragraphs had different text fonts and names indicating the contributor.
"So... do you like it, Sakura-chan?" asked Tomoyo, still behind the camera.
Sakura raised her head from its bowed position, eyes glistening with tears and a trembling grin on her face. "Of course I do! I'm just... a little overwhelmed, right now."
Sakura slid the book from her lap and stood up, walking over to Tomoyo and throwing her arms around her, squeezing her tightly. After letting go, she went around the group, giving everyone a hug.
After the last hug, she looked at the people sitting in her living room. "I am so lucky to have such awesome friends... I'll miss you all, but I'm not going away for forever! It's just for a year or two, and it's not like we won't be able to talk while I'm gone. But tonight, we enjoy the time we've got!"
Eriol smiled, happy to see Sakura so happy among her friends. Despite sharing Clow's soul with Fujitaka, there wasn't technically any actual relation between the two of them, but over the years she'd become like a little sister to him. Seeing her enjoying herself among friends made him happy, especially knowing how hard some things had been over the past several years. He had, on occasion, considered letting his cousin know the impact of his silence, but since he didn't have much contact with Syaoran himself, he'd always held back. Mostly. Though he would miss her, he suspected the change of scenery would do Sakura some good.
And they all stayed long into the night, talking and telling stories, with lots of laughter, a few tears, and new memories being made.
Author's note: Thank you to any readers for your patience! While it wasn't a necessarily action-packed chapter, I hope you enjoyed the interlude. As always, let me know if you see any errors or mistakes that I missed so I can fix them! -Firalyn Tiatra