PART 2
The next morning Sakura woke up really early to add the final touches to the snacks and recipes she was bringing. "There. Done," said Sakura as she finished adding icing to her last cupcake. "Kero! I'm about to leave!" called Sakura. Tori had left for work, and her dad had an important meeting to attend to, so there was no one at home except Sakura and Kero, which gave Kero a bit of freedom. "I still don't get why I can't go? You asked me before, now you're saying no yourself," asked Kero after he came down. "I told you already, I have to talk to Madison about something important," explained Sakura, as she got ready. "But, why can't I know? I'm like you're…you're guardian!" exclaimed Kero. Sakura looked at Kero "I'm really sorry Kero, but it's something you won't…you won't understand," explained Sakura "but…but," began Kero. "Bye Kero! See you in a few hours!" exclaimed Sakura as she left. "Bring back some sweets for me at least!" called Kero "Ok!" replied Sakura. As Kero was about looked away, he saw something black move behind Sakura. "Sakura…watch you're back," warned Kero in his head.
"Madison! Hey Madison!" called Sakura as she ran to catch up to her best friend. "Finally," said Madison relived "I thought you forgot and was just about to head back," "Hehehe, me? Forget? No," exclaimed Sakura as if she was shocked. Madison started to laugh. "Ok then lets go," suggested Sakura "ok, how about over there?" suggested Madison. She was pointing to a clear place in at the corner of the park, under a cherry blossom tree. Nikki used to say it was an 'enchanted' place. "Ok," agreed Sakura. As they walked over to their picnic area, Sakura felt 3 years younger. Like she was back in fourth grade, like she was a cardcaptor again. She let out a big sigh.
"After they had sat down, set up their picnic there was a moment of silence. "So," started Madison "Tell me what's been bothering you." Sakura looked at Madison and let out another big sigh, and then she looked down at the pink blanket she was sitting on. "Where…where do I start?" said Sakura as she looked up at Madison. Her eyes searched Madison's face as if doing that would solve her problems. "Sakura…I've never seen you like this," complained Madison "Come on tell me, you've always told me other things," said Madison sadly. "I know…but this time…this time it's bigger," said Sakura as a tear rolled down her cheek, suddenly she burst into tears. "Madison…I can't take it anymore! I don't want to be in love! It's hard! I don't want to posses stupid magic powers!" yelled Sakura as she fell into Madison's lap. She cried a while as Madison stroked her hair and tried to comfort her, Sakura finally looked up at her and whispered, "Just…just take it all away…I want to be normal…normal". "It's ok…I'm right here with you…we'll go through this together," comforted Madison "And soon Li will be here, he'll make it all go away," Hearing Li's name made Sakura even more hurt, she missed him more than ever.
Finally Sakura got up and dried her tears while Madison watched with concern. "Do you…think…maybe…he…he…forgot me? Or…" asked Sakura, Madison's eye's widened "Sakura…" "Please let me finish," whispered Sakura. "O…ok," agreed Madison "What if…what if…" Sakura paused and wiped away a tear "what if…he found…found," Sakura's eyes filled with tears again. "Someone…else?" finished Madison. Sakura nodded solemnly "Sakura…how can you think such a thing? He would never…" persuaded Madison "Madison! He hasn't written to me in weeks! No phone calls, nothing!" exclaimed Sakura out of pure pain. "Sakura…I," started Madison but Sakura got up and left before she could finish. "I'm sorry," finished Madison.
Sakura ran she ran as fast as her legs would take her. Soon she ran to a dead end. It was a cliff that had a view over the town. Sakura looked at Reedington, just stood there and let the wind push against her. "You're not coming back, are you," she whispered. Sakura looked down at the railing she was holding and saw a tear fall on her hand. Then she looked up wiped her tears and said, "Fine, I'll have to find someone else too," and she started walking home.
For the rest of the day Sakura didn't talk much, she would just nod or shake her head mostly but before either Tori or her father could say anything. She went upstairs.
At about 9:00, Sakura decided to get ready for bed. "Sakura, its only 9:00, why are you going to bed so early?" asked Kero "I'm just tired," replied Sakura as she pulled the cover over her head "So, how did the talk between you and Madison go? Are you feeling any better?" asked Kero "I don't want to talk about it, Kero," said Sakura as she turned to face the wall. "Oh…um…ok," said Kero with a confused face "I almost forgot! Someone called," said Kero suspiciously "They were asking to talk to you. You're dad told them you weren't home and when he asked for the name the phone went dead," Kero said suspiciously. That didn't bother Sakura even a little. "Good night Kero," said Sakura as if Kero had said nothing, which left Kero a bit disturbed.
After that little chat with Kero, Sakura didn't get a wink of sleep. Her mind kept wandering, and her thought got all jumbled up. This made Sakura even more cranky and mad so she got up and left to get a glass of water. She got out of bed carefully so she wouldn't wake Kero, who was not snoring like usual. "Must be having bad dreams," thought Sakura. She quietly tip toed down the stairs so that her dad wouldn't wake up. She started to walk past the living room but she saw the kitchen light was open. "Who would be up at this hour?" thought Sakura. She continued to tip toe and peeked into the kitchen. She almost fell sideways when she saw who was sitting on the table. "I think I heard something," said a beautiful young man with long silver hair, violet (blue) cat-like eyes and a pair of angelic wings. Sakura instantly backed against the wall and held her breath. "Probably nothing," answered the second person. "That's Kero, that's why he wasn't snoring," thought Sakura "And the other person…er…gaurdian is…Yue." Sakura was very shocked to see Yue again, she hadn't seen him for a long time. "I wonder what he's doing here?" wondered Sakura. "Anyway back to what I was saying," continued Kero "What do think this presence is?" "Well, I don't know," admitted Yue "Sakura has collected all the cards, she's turned them all into 'Sakura card', so there isn't anything left." "This doesn't make any sence," said Kero frustrated. "Have you told Sakura about this?" asked Yue "No, she's already got a lot on her mind," replied Kero, but Yue wasn't listening he was staring at the kitchen door. He sqinted his eyes as if trying to see through the door. "What's wrong?" asked Kero. Yue didn't answer for a long time until he sat back and said "You can come out, now that you've heard everything." Kero looked puzzled and on the other side of the wall Sakura was sweating. "Did he really find out?" wondered Sakura "Or is he just testing me." Sakura knew Yue had found out about her eavs dropping so she got up took a deep breath and faced the light.
When Sakura stepped in Kero seemed very surprised but Yue didn't. "Sakura?!" exclaimed Kero "Yes, looks like she knows everything now," said Yue. He never took his eyes of of her. "I already knew all this," confessed Sakura as she looked up "I just didn't know you knew." Kero looked at Yue but Yue didn't return the glance he kept staring at Sakura. "Sakura why didn't you tell me?" asked Kero "I had other problems on my mind so I forgot," confessed Sakura as she looked away "But I remember that the presnce hurt." "It…hurt?" asked Kero puzzeled. He looked up at Yue but Yue again ignored him. "Sorry for bothering you're chat," apologized Sakura as she started to leave "Wait," said Yue softly but firmly. Sakura turned around and for the first time all night he got up and walked over to Sakura. "You said it hurt?" asked Yue "Yeah…" replied Sakura "What kind of presence can that be?" asked Kero as he walked up beside where Sakura and Yue were standing."I don't know, but I'm going to find out," whispered Yue. Suddenly there was a light under Yue and he started to change back into his disguise. Kero looked as if he did't understand a thing that just happened. Sakura didn't stick around to meet Julian so she left and went to her room.
The rest of night Sakura didn't get any sleep, she even noticed when Kero climbed into bed. "Sakura? Are you awake?" whispered Kero, when Sakura didn't answer she thought that Kero had assumed she was asleep. Sakura let out a big sigh and put her covers over her and tried to get some sleep.
The next morining Sakura felt exausted. She had only slept for about an hour. "Maybe you shouldn't go to school today," suggested Kero when he saw how slow Sakura was moving. "I can't we have a math test tomorow and today we're going to review everything," replied Sakura as she slowly picked up her backpack "Bye Kero," she said glumly "Bye," said Kero uncertainly.
Down stairs , Sakura sat at the table with a thump which startled everyone. "You ok twerp? You're louder than usual," teased Tori. When Sakura didn't respond her father and Tori exchanged glances. Her father leaned over the counter and said "Sakura? Are you feeling ok?" "I'm fne I just didn't get enough sleep, please don't worry about me," assured Sakura. Tori and his father exchanged glances again. Sakura stared at her breakfast for a while, then got up to leave. "Sakura you haven't finnished you're breakfast," called her dad "I'm not hungry," she called back. As her father was about to stop her Tori got up and picked up his bag, "I'll get her something, don't worry," assurred Tori, his father nodded and Tori left.
Sakura rushed past everything she used to stare at before. She had a very stiff face and felt that way too. As she roller bladed faster she heard a familiar voice call her. "Sakura!" it was Julian. Sakura didn't feel like talking to anyone but she didn't want to be rude. "Hey Julian," she said finally. Julian looked around as if looking for something. "Where's Tori?" he finally asked "He left the house later than me," replied Sakura as she forced a smile. He looked at Sakura, at first puzzled then he smiled and let out a little chuckle "I take it my advice didn't help?" he asked. Sakura looked up and saw Julian smile.
She paused and they both started walking then finally said "No actually, it did," Julian looked kind of surprised "It helped me relize the person I chose wasn't the perason for me," she continued "that I need to find someone else," "I see…now will you tell me who he is that you quit on?" asked Julian as if he knew this would happen. This made Sakura wonder, "Julian did you know this was going to happen?" asked Sakura. Julian let out a little laugh "Of coarse," he replied. This shocked Sakura even more, "But…how?" she asked. Julian stopped and crouched down infront of Sakura and held her shoulders "Sakura…finding a person for yourself isn't easy…it may take years," explained Julian "especially for you. You don't just fall in love in the day and confirm it by night, this process takes time and you have to go through a lot of struggle," Sakura just stared at Julian as if lost in another dimension.
Julain finally got up and started walking again. Soon Sakura was all by herself, the wind light blowing her on her face "Takes time…" wondered Sakura "But we've know eachother for almost 3 years, that should be enough time," thought Sakura. "Hey twerp!" called Tori from behind "Hurry up! You're going to be late," Sakura pretended to care but really she didn't. Sakura bladed really fast and so did her thoughts. They came and went just as fast. Soon she got to school and unfortunatly she was late.
As soon as she entered through the gate and saw the courtyard empty she came back to her sences. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed and raced inside and took of her shoes. "Oh man oh man," she mumbled "I'm dead," "I wouldn't bet on that," said a voice from behind. Sakura turned around to see who it was. "Fye?" she exclaimed "Are you late too?" "Yes, unfourtunatly," he replied. Fye started taking off his shoes. Sakura stared at him for a while. She felt like she couldn't take her eyes off of him, again. "Is something the matter?" asked Fye when he saw Sakura staring. She got a little startled "No, no hehehe," She felt really stupid. After putting on his other shoes, Fye began to make his way upstairs to their classroom. "Um…" called Sakura. Fye stopped and turned around "Yes?". There was pause as Sakura searched for the right words to say.
"I just wanted to thank you for making me feel better," thanked Sakura. Fye came down the stairs and stood face to face with Sakura. He took her hands and said "No need to thank me, I care for you Sakura and I don't want anything to happen to you," Sakura, who was turning red, just stood silently. Fye bent down on one knee and looked up at Sakura. For a moment Sakura thought he was going to propose to her but he didn't. He took Sakura's hand and kissed it. Sakura turned bright red. Fye got up gave her smile and left for class, leaving Sakura, who was also smiling and very red, to prepare for class alone.
As Sakura tried to get into class unoticed she heard many voices. She opened the door expecting everyone to look at her, but instead there was a big crowd in the middle of the room. Madison quickly ran up to Sakura "Sakura! You're finally here," she exclaimed "Sorry I'm late," apologized Sakura in a puzzled manor. "Sakura?" said a familiar voice. Sakura saw someone push against the crowd. Suddenly someone very unexpected person appeared.
"Meilin?!" exclaimed Sakura when Meilin came and gave her a hug. "Who did you think it was?" asked Meilin. Seeing Meilin made Sakura both excited and nervous. If Meilin is here then so is Li which means I'll have to face him. This was all to confusing she hadn't done anything but she felt she had. "So, what brings you to Japan?" asked Sakura after they had sat down "Oh I was bored at home and all that, oh ya Li's mom had this strange feeling so she sent us here," explained Meilin. Sakura was too caught up in all this excitement that she didn't even hear the part about Li's mom. "So Li's here too?" asked Sakura with hope and doubt. "Yeah…but," started Meilin as she looked up at Madison who standing right beside Sakura "But what?" asked Sakura as she looked back and forth from Meilin to Madison. Suddenly Chelsea came and changed the whole mood and subject "Hey guys hurry up! Li's here!" she exclaimed. Madison and Meilin exchanged glances again. Chelsea got ahold of Sakura's arm and started pulling her towards the door "Come on guys!" she yelled to Madison and Meilin who got up as if they something big were to happen. "He's just down stairs," she explained "on the grass field." This was the moment of truth, this was it, after about a year Sakura was finally meeting her special someone, who she was going to be with forever or not…
Sakura walked behind Chelsea really slowly. "Am I ready for this?" she asked herself in her thoughts. "Is he ready for this?" "Sakura! Hurry up!" exclaimed Chelsea from downstairs. When Sakura caught up to Chelsea she was surpsised to hear what Chealsea said "I thought you would be racing down these stairs when I told you Li was here, but you're walking as if you're not sure if you want to see him," Sakura just smiled and walked on. Finally they reached the end of the stairs and the door was only a few steps away. Sakura could see the big crowd outside, which made her nervous. "Um…Chelsea I just remembered…uh…I have to…um…go see my brother," said Sakura as she started to walk towards the back door. "Sakura! Can't it wait?" esclaimed Chelsea "Li especially called you." That caught Sakura's attention right away. "He did?" she asked "Yeah! Why else would I pull you alone?" Sakura turned and faced the door. She was really happy. She turned around and said "Ok, fine," she said as if she were doing Chelsea a favor. Sakura walked towards the door making sure that she wouldn't make a fool of herself. Chelsea was about to open the door until Madison came yelling "Sakura! Um…don't go yet there's something I…Meilin has to tell you," "It can wait I want to say hi to Li first," Sakura replied with a smile "But…Sakura," started Madison but it was too late Chelsea had already opened the door and Sakura had stepped out. Madison had a very scared look on. Sakura expected to hear lots of noise instead she heard silence. When everyone turned around and saw Sakura they all forced a smile and started talking. This was it…her and Li were going to be together forver. When she took a step everyone made kinda of a path way and what she saw was enough to destroy her whole life, her worst nightmare…had come true…
It was 11:00 and Madison, Melin, Sakura's father, and Tori sat in the lounge in silence wondering what would happen to Sakura. Rika and Chelsea had just left. Madison started crying so Meilin let Madison's head rest on her shoulder. Tori looked frusterated and his dad looked worried. Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. Tori silently got up to see who it was. "What happened?!" exclaimed Julain as he entered the lounge. He looked at at everyone's faces and calmed down. He looked at Tori and started walking up the stairs.
In Sakura's room, the lights were turned off and it was almost completely dark. Kero sat on Sakura's desk with his eyes closed. Sakura was in sevear pain. What happened at school hit her heart like an arrow. She had just ran home, locked herself in her room and had been crying ever since. "How…why…" she kept on saying. There was a light knock on door. "Go away!," Sakura hollered. "It's me…Julian…" Sakura didn't reply so Julain tried opening the door, but it wouldn't budge. "Sakura…will open the door for me?" asked Julian calmly. Sakura didn't feel like talking to anyone, but she knew Julian would make her feel better. She shifted her head and looked at Kero. Kero, who had opened his eyes when he heard the knock, flew to the door and opend it. Julain looked at Kero who had started to fly towards the window. Julain waited till Kero had left through the window then walked over to Sakura's bed and knelt down beside it.
"Sakura…its ok…" he started "Maybe its not what you think…" Sakura shifted and faced the wall again. "Atleast look at me," pleaded Julain. Sakura really felt the words sink in to her so she shifted and looked Julian right in the eyes. They made her feel warm and safe. He started to stroke her hair. It felt good to be cared for after what Sakura had been through, so she eased up. Just by looking into Sakura's eyes Julain could feel Sakura's pain and what she had been through. He got up and sat beside Sakura on her bed. Sakura looked up and saw Julain smile. She felt safe at that moment. She felt happy and cared for, but most importantly she felt…loved.
Downstairs, Tori couldn't take it anymore. He stood up "That's it!" he yelled I knew that kid was no good," he started making his way to the door until his father put his hand on Tori's shoulder and shook his head. "Wait," was all he said. Tori's hands were fists now and he was sweating. He ignored his dad and left. "Call me when Julain comes down," he said as he left. His father nodded and sat back down. Madison looked up at Meilin and Melin looked back at her. Madison could tell Meilin was scared but mad at the same time. Finally Meilin looked away. She was now pure mad. She got up and walked out of the house. "Meilin!" Madison called after her and she ran out too. Now only Sakura's father remained.
Back in Sakura's room Julain and Sakura hadn't moved a muscle. "Sakura…are you ready to talk about it now?" asked Julain. "I guess," replied Sakura as she got up and wiped her tears. Julain got up and opened the lights. Sakura felt as if she hadn't seen the light for years. Instead of sitting beside Sakura again, Julian pulled up a chair. "Ok, now tell me evrything that happened," said Julian as he bent forward. "O…ok," agreed Sakura as she sat back leaning against her bed shelves. "This is what happened…wait, from the top?" asked Sakura "You're choice," replied Julain. "Ok…" Sakura looked down at her hands and started playing with the stuffed toy in her hands. "Me and Meilin were talking then we started talking about Li, that's when Meilin and Madison started acting weird. I wasn't sure myself…" started Sakura "Wasn't sure of what?" asked Julain. "I wasn't sure if I wanted to see Li…or even if I was ready to see him," confessed Sakura "I see, continue," said Julain. "Suddenly Chelsea came and dragged me down stairs to…to see Li…" Sakura paused for a moment. Julain knew the pain was coming back, so he waited paitently. "Before I opened the doors, Madison kinda warned me…but I… didn't listen," Sakura could feel tears swelling up in her eyes. "When Chelsea opened the doors…everyone was quiet, not lively like I thought," Sakura's voice was now a squeak. Julain put his hand on her's "Go on," he comferted. "I took one step and saw…saw…" Sakura instantly started crying and hid her face in her knees. "It's ok Sakura…everything will be alright…you can tell me," said Julain as he rubbed her back. Sakura looked up and stared at the wall infront of her "He was…" started Sakura "Yes…" encouraged Julain. "He was standing…with…"