Chapter Title: Okaa-san

A/N: er...yo...this one...is short...

Susumu was a very serious student. Sakura felt enough decency to be sorry that he had to handle her art.

She sat and was lectured for over two hours. It seems as if her gallery was ready, withjust one small exception.

Her new piece.

Apparently, a new piece was mandatory. Not only did it count for a grade and allowed one to pass, but the art dealers could keep up with current work.

Sakura had yet to submit new artwork.

Hell, she had yet to start one.

Long after Susumu left her alone in her unopened gallery ("You have so much talent, but deadlines and dealers make your career!"), she found herself sitting in front of Ye Lan Li.

"Why don't you an I go out for lunch?"

By lunch, Sakura assumed, she meant interview. Because, really, she did nothing more than answer questions as best as she could, though her shyness seemed to overpower her. She picked at her food and drank a lot of prune juice, which she seemed to have been craving lately.

"So how long have you been pregnant?"

Sakura nearly choked on her juice and stared at her would be mother-in-law with shocked eyes.

"Don't look so surprised. I did give birth to five children. Naturally, I went through five pregnacies."

Sakura shuffled quite a bit.

"Even Mei Lin noticed, and is very concerned."

Only Mei Lin?

"I do admit, I am bit worried as well, seeing as how my grandchild is in the womb of an ex-cam girl."

Sakura's insides went numb. She placed her hand on her belly; the act soothing her a bit.

"I assume my son does not know?"

Sakrua nodded slowly. Ye Lan sighed.

"I want to be respectful, I really do, but this is my only son. I had different dreams for him. He is heir to an entire clan, to an entire fortune. And the child in you can also be an heir to that. The wife of such a powerful person needs to be strong, to be ready."

Sakura sniffed, unable to look into the woman's eyes.

"Yet, the entire time I have been here, I have only seen my son work harder than he's ever had to, and cater to your every need, care for the house, and put in too much effort into this relationship. Do you have any inkling as to how greatly he cares for you? How much my son loves you? Maybe you do, but you have yet to put in as much effort."

Sakura looked at Ye Lan with a soft fierceness, the insult at her person and relationship burning.

"That is not the only thing that worries me. You are carrying a child. Being a wife is challenging, but being a mother is worse. Your life is different now, and a mother needs to be strong. Are you capable of raising such a child? Kinomoto, I have decided to discard your past, but I will not be able to gloss over your apparent incompetence at giving my son a family."

"I am trying!" Sakura yelled.

She gasped and covered her mouth, running away from Ye Lan, from the woman who voiced her doubts. Stopping short in front of a baby store, she began to cry.

Ye Lan was right. She was weak. This year did not allow her to grow. She had watched Syaoran change, but did she? No. She continued to hide.

But now was not the time for hiding. She was a mother now, and soon a wife.

A wife needed to be strong.

A mother needs to be stronger.

And the child inside her was counting on her, dependent on her.

It was time she grew up.

Yet, she never felt more smaller.