Okay. Wow. That took a long time. It's not LONG, though. I really should make the chapters long if I want to have things happening quickly. But then again, I've always taken it slow. Anyway, I hope you like it.
Married?
by xArcherx
Chapter Three
Spring always brought with it happy thoughts. For some, it brought pleasant memories and for others, it was a just a source of beauty. But there is always someone or the other for whom spring can never bring joy nor can it seem beautiful.
"Sakura, could you hold this for me?" Tomoyo thrust a glass vase into her friend's hand absentmindedly as she searched for a particular magazine. "Where could it have gone? I wrote the address on it…"
It took her a moment to register the sound of breaking glass and slight whimpering.
"Sakura? Sakura!" Tomoyo whipped around and hurried to her friend's side, just in time to catch her as she sank to the ground, her face pale. Tomoyo struggled to support her weight while she reached out with one hand for a clean towel to put on Sakura's wounded hands. More whimpering followed as Tomoyo dragged her to the bathroom where the first-aid kit was kept.
Sakura sat motionlessly the whole while and Tomoyo made no attempt to start any sort of conversation. She placed Sakura's physical wellbeing before everything else in order to prevent the numerous questions flooding her mind from voicing themselves out loud.
"There." She examined her work with satisfaction. "Don't move it too much, Sakura-chan. It seems to me that the glass shards cut into your skin pretty deeply. But nothing to worry about, I suppose." She added the last line more to convince herself.
Sakura stared at her bandaged hand and then slowly looked up at Tomoyo. The look on her face was enough to make Tomoyo cringe. The smile was so brittle that for once, Tomoyo wished she would stop smiling.
In spite of herself, Tomoyo caught hold of Sakura's shoulders and whispered, "Sakura-chan, what's wrong?"
And then, very, very slowly, Sakura pointed at the television in the living room. Tomoyo turned around just in time to hear the woman on television say, "The cause of the fire is unknown. But the major portion of the building had been destroyed before the firemen could arrive."
Behind her, stood the main branch of the Amamiya Corporations, or what was left of it. The debris of the building was all that Tomoyo could see. Men in white uniforms were transferring wounded people into a stretcher and placing them in an ambulance. Tomoyo could only watch numbly, her mind registering mild relief that her mother was still on her business trip in Hong Kong and had not been a victim of the fire.
Oh my God.
Tomoyo slowly looked around at Sakura, who had moved from her position near the bath tub to come and stand near the doorway. Their eyes met and Tomoyo could see the pain in those once-vibrant green eyes. Her mouth opened and she choked out the words, "Otou-san and Onii-san work there…"
"I know." Tomoyo whispered slowly. "Oh Sakura…I know.."
"They can't have been hurt, can they?" Sakura's tone was small – almost child-like. She let out a bitter chuckle. "They're fine, right? Nothing would have happened to them…right, Tomoyo-chan?"
What could she say? Tomoyo embraced Sakura, hoping wildly that it would be enough – for now. Sakura welcomed her arms and buried her face in her shoulder. They stood that way for a long while, both unwilling to break the embrace. The warmth of a companion was what Sakura needed right now and although Tomoyo was more than happy to give it to her, it was not her place to do so. Syaoran should have been here. It should have been Syaoran's arms that offered comfort.
'Oh where on earth are you, Syaoran?' she thought to herself.
Meiling composed herself as she stood in front of Syaoran's room again. She really could not understand her Aunt's ulterior motive. Yelan was not foolish or blind enough to not know how Meiling felt about her son – the son who was married. And yet it somehow seemed like she was trying to push them together by sending Meiling to call him whenever she wanted to talk to him.
Nevertheless, she knocked on the door. "Li-kun?"
No answer.
Maybe she was being too quiet. In a louder tone, she called for him. "Li-kun? Are you awake?"
No reply.
Meiling frowned; Syaoran was not a sound sleeper. He was always alert and conscious of his surroundings – even in his sleep. It came naturally to him, after training for so many years. Meiling remembered trying to wake him up once, when they were younger, and he, mistaking her for an intruder, had locked her in wrestler's grip before even opening his eyes to see who it was.
Sensing something out of place, Meiling tried the door-knob and stepped inside. The room was painfully neat and empty of its owner. She listened for any sound in the bathroom that would indicate his presence. None.
Where could he have gone? It was still too early to go out. And Meiling was sure Wei would have been informed of his whereabouts if he had decided to go calling this early in the morning. The old butler was just as clueless as Meiling was. Besides, Syaoran, of the late, had not proven to be an early-riser.
'Maybe he's lurking somewhere in the house and Aunt Yelan had not noticed.' This sounded ridiculous even in her head. Syaoran never spent time in the house doing nothing. He hated being jobless and bored. He always wanted to do something productive.
Taking one last look around his room to make sure he wasn't there, she made for the door, to inform Aunt Yelan about this strange occurrence. But the paper lying on the bedside table caught her attention. Meiling had an inkling as to what it might hold, but she refused to believe her own suspicions. No, Syaoran wouldn't just do that.
She reached for the paper. It was folded into four, albeit carelessly, and Meiling opened the 'letter' – she was sure of that now – with shaking hands. Written in the center of the paper, in Syaoran's hand were the words:
I will be back. I promise.
—Syaoran.
"No, Syaoran." Meiling moaned.
Eriol stared at the gross scene displayed before him – people screaming and running wildly in terror. A normal person would cower at the sight of so many corpses lying here and there, but Eriol was used to these sights and didn't so much as flinch when he saw a dead woman – her face so disfigured that no one could discern what she really looked like.
"That's enough." He muttered to himself. In a brighter tone, "Thank you, Mirror. You may stop now."
The shining mirror in front of him, took the form of a young woman with long hair, weaving in and out of which was a green ribbon. She bowed and lifted her sad eyes to his blank face, before disappearing into the Card he held in his hand. The gloom she left behind made both Ruby Moon and Spinel uncomfortable but Eriol seemed oblivious to this.
"At least Kaho-chan is safe and sound in Hong Kong." Ruby Moon said unwisely, in a desperate attempt to hold off the gloom. The warning look from Spinel was completely lost on her.
Eriol would be lying if he denied the fact that the same thought hadn't crossed his mind at least a couple of times that day. He made no reply, however, as he put away the Mirror Card along with the rest of the Sakura Cards.
The reason for the Cards discomfort was obvious enough – they did not take to being owned by another magician – other than their own Mistress – too well. Eriol did not particularly like putting them in misery but since the circumstances called for that, he couldn't help it. It seemed that giving them additional powers did not help in cheering them up. The Mirror Card was never able toshow things happening in different places before. She was only able to mirror a person.
"Co-incidence or fate? What does Spinel think it is?" His light tone caught Spinel off-guard.
The black beast did not understand what exactly his Master was referring to. Eriol was usually more conversational. He did not debate something in silence and then ask for his comrades' opinions. Spinel was not good at mind-reading but the answer to the question was easy enough. "Fate, of course. Nothing is co-incidental – it is always fate."
"Hm. So it is fate that brings me to Syaoran Li, is it?"
Spinel could see where this was going. "Definitely."
Eriol resumed his silent-debate while Spinel waited patiently. Ruby Moon cast confused glances at either of them. She did not like being left out of conversations but she was secretly glad that Eriol had not asked her the question. Spinel exuded more confidence than Ruby Moon did.
"That is how it goes." Eriol muttered finally. "Spinel, Ruby Moon, make arrangements for our journey. Book flight tickets. I'd prefer to use the Cards as less as possible. We are leaving for Tokyo."
This, Ruby Moon could understand. On their way out, she whispered to Spinel, "I hope Eriol knows what he's doing."
Spinel shot her a look. "Eriol always knows what he's doing."
Ruby Moon made no reply. After a while, she said tauntingly, "Well it looks like Syaoran misses his Sakura-chan too much. I can only pray that Eriol's comfort is satisfying."
Toya and Fujitaka stared at the wreckage all around them. How had it come to this? So many lives lost and all because of carelessness. They were still trying to find the source of the fire but Toya personally thought it was probably because some stupid worker smoked in a dangerous zone.
Fujitaka put a hand around his son's shoulder, both offering and looking for comfort. Toya straightened and stared at his father, his eyes burning with a firm resolve – a resolve to work hard and bring back everything that has been lost. But sad to say, lives cannot be revived and for the moment, Fujitaka grieved for the dead corpses lying everywhere.
"Toya! Fujitaka-san!" Yukito came running to them and pulled them into a tight embrace. "Oh you're all right. Thank God!"
Fujitaka excused himself to attend to something. Yukito held Toya at arm's length and took a good look at him. "You aren't hurt, are you?"
"No Yuki, I'm fine." Toya assured him. "We weren't in the office when it happened."
Yukito let out a relieved sigh and let go of him. "I was so worried. I thought—that maybe—you know…"
"Yes, I know." Toya patted his shoulder. Without meeting his gaze, he added, "I'm fine. Not hurt at all."
Yukito noticed the change in his tone but decided not to ask any questions. Toya had a lot more to deal with. This was a calamity – something worse than an earthquake, in Yukito's opinion, because it had almost taken away the lives of the people he cared about the most. Yukito didn't care that he was being selfish – he was allowed to be selfish. He had every right to be. He had come all the way from home, his anxiety eating him. He would never be able to describe the emotions he had felt as he had journeyed here.
Beside him, Toya and Fujitaka were talking in hushed tones. Yukito wanted to give them privacy, but he couldn't help but overhear a few words as he moved away.
"Is he still unconscious?" It was unnatural to hear Toya sound worried.
"Yes. Takashi offered to take him to the hospital. Toya, I…what am I going to tell Sakura? Why was he even here? This is-this is too much…"
Fujitaka's weak voice had Yukito stopping in his tracks. Who were they talking about? Even the calm and collected Fujitaka sounded vulnerable. Everything was a mess. This was never supposed to happen. What did they do to deserve this? How can those innocent lives just be taken away? Yukito noticed a dead man being taken away in a stretcher. How could the man have known what was going to happen? Had he had an inkling perhaps? That maybe something was going to wrong? Life wasn't fair. It was a famous saying. Yukito hadn't realized the truth of it until then.
"Otou-san…" Toya's strong voice broke through Yukito's thoughts clearly. "None of this is your fault. You must understand that. Otou-san, you should try to calm down. He is going to be all right."
One life. One life is going to be fine. But what did Toya have to say about the lives that have already been lost? Yukito had an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach. This fire seemed planned to him, somehow. How else could the carelessness of a single worker – Yukito had heard Toya's belief that it was the stupidity of a worker – cause the destruction of an entire building?
"Toya…" Fujitaka began and then stopped short. His voice laced with amazement, he called out at someone behind Toya. "Sakura? Tomoyo? What—"
"OTOU-SAN! TOYA!" Sakura yelled, throwing herself on her brother. "Oh-oh…"
Tomoyo came up behind her, sobbing happily. "You're both safe." She cried. "Oh thank goodness…"
Sakura was still lost for words. She wept quietly, never letting go of her family. It seemed almost as though she had to assure herself that they were alive – safe and sound.
"How did you get here so soon?" Toya asked, the surprise evident in his voice.
"Tomoyo..she..booked tickets..as soon as we heard…" Sakura said, through her tears. "Are you both really okay? No injuries?"
"No, we weren't here when it happened." Toya said, for the second time.
"Oh..good..that's so..I'm so relieved to hear that.." It was then that she caught sight of Yukito. "Yukito-san!"
"Sakura-chan." He said, trying to be as good-natured as possible in the midst of such a depressing incident. Behind Sakura, he noticed both Toya and Fujitaka looking highly uncomfortable. Tomoyo seemed to have noticed it too. She was about to ask them if something was wrong when she caught sight of Yukito shaking his head minutely. She immediately clamped her mouth shut, although confused.
Toya and Fujitaka exchanged glances while Sakura wondered why everybody was so silent all of a sudden. "What's the matter?" she asked, the panic rising with each word.
"Sakura-chan…" Fujitaka took hold of her hand. "There's something you should know."
"What is it? You're not hurt, are you? You seem all right. Otou-san, what—"
"Sakura, we need you to stay calm. Please." Toya said cautiously.
Sakura looked back at her father, who nodded. She took a deep breath, albeit shakily, and exhaled slowly. When she looked up, she seemed steadier, somehow. "I'm fine now. What is it?"
Toya's eyes flitted to his father as he spoke. "It's about Syaoran."
This caught all of them off-guard. What did Syaoran have to do with this? He was in Hong Kong, wasn't he? Both Tomoyo and Yukito frowned in confusion. Sakura seemed the most bewildered. She looked at her father again. "Syaoran? What about him?"
It was Fujitaka who replied. "He was in the office when the fire took place. He flew here this afternoon."
Would that be a cliff-hanger? I hope it was interesting enough. I would love some reviews too. Thank you for reading.
