What was Meant to Be

Tifa Strifeheart

Chapter Three

Sakura jerked awake. She rested back down on the pillow she had been lying on. She'd had the strangest dreams, something about stars, wands and dark eyes. Remembering was like trying to cup water with her bare hands and, like the water would, the fresh memories of her dream rapidly trickled away no matter how hard she tried to hold onto them. Soon, all of her dream was gone and she was left with a strange feeling in her chest, As if she were content and, at the same time, strangely empty. Snuggling deeper into her warm pillow Sakura mentally shrugged. Whatever he dream had been about she would have surly remembered if it had been important. Sighing contently she shook her head and froze mid-movement. Surly she should remember going to her room? More importantly, since when did her pillow have its own heart beat? Realization hits her when she heard a breathily sound from somewhere above her.

It was had to determine which was faster; Sakura's jerk into an upright position or the blush that raced into her face. She must have collapsed onto the chair beside the bed when she'd fallen asleep 'How had that happened anyways.' Her breath caught in her throat when she realized that his eyes were open. He had seen her! Had seen her snuggled up against his chest. The blood rushed to her cheeks. How would she possibly explain herself? Slowly her utter embarrassment started to ebb as she realized that he wasn't looking at anyone in particular but staring blindly at the ceiling above. His eyes were not focused just open. Cautiously she waved a hand in front of his face and couldn't help sighing deeply with relief at a lack of reaction.

"Yue…" The word was barely a whisper but in the silence it seemed to echo. Coming from him that almost silent word held all the anguish Sakura had ever felt in it and it pulled at something deep inside her. She didn't have much time to think of it because he suddenly sat bolt upright. The word, Yue, bursting from him as a shout. Sakura jumped up in surprise and stared at the figure of the man in the bed whoever he was watching him intently.

His silver hair fell around him in waves stopping a few inches after his shoulder blades and hid both his face an the upper portion of his bare chest. And his chest heaved as he desperately sucked in air. He had a white knuckled grip on the blanket that had slipped down to just below his bare stomach. She watched as his heaving chest slowed and his breathing came back down to normal; the grip he had on the blanket slowly loosing. With a deep sigh the person in the bed rand a hand through this long silver hair and froze mid-movement. He had finally seen her.

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He broke through the surface of the blackness, his name - the only word he could hold onto in this tide – on his lips. The air in his lungs expired on voicing that single word. He wanted to hear that word that word, to feel it, to know that it was more then something trapped in the depth of his mind. To know that at least his name his name was real. A sudden gripping fear crept on him. The fear that he was not there, that he was not real. Gulping in air he held the blanket in a death like grip. As one would hold a clump of grass as they dangled on the face of a cliff. Yet, like that clump of grass, the blanket was his life line. Being able to touch and feel something so solid made it true that he too was real. He too, like the blanket existed as well. He was real. For the moment all he could remember was a name and blackness but that didn't matter for there was something here. Something now.

Loosening his grip, he forced his breathing back to normal. Calming, he sighed and ran a hand through the hair he could remember not being there, and froze as he spotted her. She was staring at him and his body tensed at her intense gaze. Slowly he turned to gaze back at her everything inside him screaming a warning that he couldn't understand. He watched as warily as he now saw that she watched him. She had large emerald eyes and looked just a bit over average for her age – 18 he was sure. She had chestnut hair that was a shorter then his stopping just below her shoulders but it was her eyes that caught and held his attention. Large emerald eyes almost seemed to consume him even from their distance. He couldn't read the flicker of emotions that raced within them but they only increased the wonder of them. He was sure he had never seen such eyes before, so full of trust and… light. There was no other way to describe it. Something about this girl tugged at him. Standing and staring at him she barely seemed to breathe. Ignoring the storm of emotions warring within him he settled with simply staring at her, waiting.

Sakura was having trouble breathing as she watched him and the sensation only worsened when he turned his extremely light - almost silver – eyes on to her. Never before had she seen eyes so light. In them she saw his silent demand for an explanation but she was having trouble controlling her throat which seemed fine with merely tightening. Suddenly she wondered why she was so - scared. Afraid? Weary? – Of him. All he was doing was staring at her with eyes that seemed to want to devour her where she stood. Taking a shaky breath she did what she did best when she felt awkward, she smiled.

"You're awake." The doctor said that you would be unconscious for at least a week. The way you were found he thought that you must have been walking unprotected in the rain for nine hours at least." Those eyes flashed with an emotion gone as suddenly as it had come that Sakura couldn't read it. But his eyes refocused on her once again hard chips of cold burning ice.

"Who are you?" She had to suppress a shudder at the intense chill in his voice. Regardless of how he had stated it that was no question rather it had been a demand.

"I-I'm Kinomoto Sakura." Yue listened to her with half an ear still pondering on what she had previously said. Him? Walking around in the rain? That hardly sounded like him. For nine hours none the less. But then he wasn't sure what was him at the moment at all. His hands reached up and gripped his head almost of there own will, his thoughts seemingly too intense to stay in his head of their own accord. Instantly Sakura was by his side all nervousness about the stranger gone. She placed a hand on one of his hunched shoulders. "Are you alright?"

There was nothing there. Not even the faintest glimmer or feeling. It was all gone what should have been years simply gone. With an effort he released the death like grip he had on his head. Slowly he nodded as he removed his head from out of his hands. With that same clam slowness he turned to Sakura. "I am fine. As soon as that icy gaze fell on her once again, nerves rushed back into her wit a vengeance. Awkwardly she smiled at him as she stood up.

"Umm… that's good." Those eyes were piercing and made Sakura feel as if he were seeing into the depths of her mind. "Umm… my Dad washed your cloths. They should be in the top drawer." She gestured to the piece of furniture as she spoke." Why don't you take a shower and I'll go check my brothers room. He should have something that will fit you." She waved towards a door to the left. He just nodded and watched as she backed out of the room, never allowing that awkward smile fade once. When she had closed the door behind her he finally sighed.

His name was Yue.

"Moon." Why would someone be named after the moon? Why him? It had to have some meaning – some reason. It must. Because it was all he had left.

With a sigh 'Yue' slowly got out of the bed and stood naked at the side of it just managing to keep his balance. The mere act of standing up right was strangely difficult and – upon taking his first step – he realized tat he was learning how to do it all over again. The first few steps were unsteady but steadier steps came easier as he proceeded and he pretty much had the hang of it by the time he was halfway across the room. He stopped just as he took the cold door knob as a thought struck him. This place, he had never been here before. He had never been anywhere before. But e felt as if there was something he should know – that he must know Sighing he twisted the bathroom doorknob and made his way into the bathroom.

He would get answers from that Sakura girl. She had to know something.

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Sakura leaned against the guest room door in the hallway, a hand placed on her chest in a futile attempt to calm her heart rate.

Who would have guessed that someone so beautiful could be so… cold? 'Cold?' She paused considering that. His eyes had been like ice. His voice even his manner had been cold. Thinking about it she realized that he had even looked cold when he had been unconscious. She sighed and pushed off the wood door. Thinking about him didn't change much. She would get a few of Toya's clothes like she said she would and wait for him downstairs…

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It was the sudden creek of one rather annoying stair that alerted her. Sakura was jerked out of her thoughts and she twisted in her seat on the couch in time to watch him slowly come down the staircase. She stood up and made her way over to him as he was now standing at the foot of the stairs looking about. The bath had done him some good. He actually, in some way that Sakura couldn't figure out, looked better then he had before his white hair now gleaming in the light. As she approached that icy blue gaze fell on her and Sakura realized that all her nervousness had melted away. Whatever it was that had unsettled her about this guy was gone. Now she was only curious about him and had so many questions.

"Hey." He didn't reply. Instead he just stopped looking around and focused on her, not saying a thing to her. She peered up at her up at him. If he didn't know better, she would have said that it was weariness that she saw in his eyes. "Why don't we start afresh?" She offered her hand to him. "I'm Kinomoto Sakura." He stared at her, then at the hand she held out, and back. She wanted him to take her hand – a handshake? His mind repelled against the very idea. Obviously she got the idea that he wasn't about to shake her hand and dropped it, her face reddening. "Umm…. Can I at least know your name?" He stared down at her for a long moment. This girl – this Sakura – was asking for his name and he felt strangely incline to tell her.

"My name is Yue." She started in surprise when she heard his voice and grinned widely when she realized that he had given her his name.

"Yue?" She frowned slightly at that. "Well, that's a start. Is there anything after that?" There was a long still moment before he slowly shook his head seemingly with a bit of reluctance.

"I do not know." He shook his head a little. "No. I cannot remember." She stared up at him a confused look on her face before nodding slowly.

"Alright. Come on then." She turned her back to him and walked away from him towards the living room. Flopping down onto the sitting chair that she had been sitting on earlier and gestured to Yue to sit down on the couch opposite her. He sat down wearily his sharp blue eyes never once leaving her face. She stared at him for a long moment her emerald eyes intent. Suddenly she smiled a little. "So, Yue, what can you remember?" Yue just stared at her.

"Where am I?" She straightened a bit her eyes widening a little at the unexpected surprise. Sakura scratched her head.

"Well… umm… my house. Or my Dad's house if you want to get technical. We all live her. That is – my father, brother and I." His eyes narrowed somehow – in a way she couldn't see that was possible – making them even sharper.

"How did I come to be here?" Sakura cocked her head curiously. He didn't know?"

"My brother – Touya – found you. He says that you were lying in the middle of the road in a rain storm. You were unconscious. Don't you remember?" Yue was silent for a long time just staring across at the blindly. No – not at her – through her. Suddenly he shook his head.

"I remember nothing." With a sigh, Sakura leaned back into her chair and stared at Yue. Something uncomfortable shot through him; something familiar.

"So…" She crossed her hands. "What happens now?" She snapped her fingers and proceeded to answer her own question. "I guess… you'll stat here! Yeah! Dad won't mind and Touya will be for it too. Who really cares if he doesn't? You can stay with us until you recover your memory." Sakura nodded at her plan. Yue decided that it was finally time to put in end to this girls nonsense. He shook his head.

"I cannot. I am grateful to your bother for finding me as well as to you and your father for caring for me but I cannot – will not – stay here. I cannot allow you to." Sakura cocked her head the left.

"Yes, you will. End of discussion. You can't remember anything and you didn't have any id on you. The way I see it, you're stuck here until something turns up." Yue stood up and stared down at her. He had a feeling that this girl was determined and nothing he said would have changed her mind. He stayed silent.

"Alright!" With a short laugh Sakura surged up from her chair. "Now that that's settled… lets get something to eat." Gesturing for Yue to follow her she went into the kitchen. She waved at the dinner table. "Sit down. I'll whip up something for us." Yue took a seat and watched in silence as she rustled around the inside of the fridge. A minute or two later she emerged carrying a plate of rice balls and a small bowl of strawberries. She grinned across the tale at him as she set them down. "It's an odd combination but that's all that in there…" She suddenly gasped her hands flying to her mouth. "That's so un-thoughtful of me! You need some real food to get better!"

"It is alright. Anything you have will be fine. I do not want to be a burden." She waved his comment away with a hand but he ignored the gesture. "In truth I am not very hungry." Sakura, who had taken a seat opposite him, gave him a disbelieving look.

"How come I don't believe that?" She smiled at him and he just continued to stare at her. She sighed. "Come on Yue. Only God knows when it was the last time you ate. You have to?" He still hadn't stopped staring at her. Suddenly something she had been suspecting since he had awoken had suddenly become even more apparent – living with Yue wasn't going to be a walk in the park.

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So how is it? You like? Tell me and I'll continue! Please review. Sayarona.