Before anything else, I feel the need to get a something out in the open:
Some of you have been commenting on Tomoyo's un-Tomoyo-ish behaviour.
There is a simple explanation for this; she was concerned with Sakura's well being and was convinced that, while she was sleeping with Syaoran, that she may eventually do something that she may regret. Unfortunately, she was too late. Upon realising this, she is now urging Sakura to do the 'right thing' by her child. She is not telling Sakura to marry Syaoran. She is not telling her to get involved with him at all. She is merely acknowledging and pointing out Syaoran's rights as the biological father and the rights of the child to have that father.
Furthermore, I had Tomoyo lash out for a very particular reason. I wanted to remind people that she is, in fact, only human – and therefore she does have emotions. I think I succeeded, don't you?
Something of Yours
Chapter Twelve
Butterflies
"I'm getting fat!"
"No Sakura," Fujitaka sighed from his place at the stove as his daughter evaluated her growing abdomen in the hall mirror, "that's just the baby."
"The doctor said that the baby's only about five ounces!" Sakura whined. "I've put on fourteen pounds! I'm getting fat!" She plucked at her cheeks. "And I look like I'm running a fever! And my hair is falling out! I look horrible!" She tugged at the thinning braid.
"Sakura, this is all perfectly normal." Fujitaka tried to reason with her. "You put on more weight because your body is storing away fluids and fatty tissue for the baby. Your hormones are making the capillaries in your face bigger, and making your hair thinner. Its normal, sweetheart."
"There is nothing normal about an eighteen year old girl losing her hair." Sakura pouted, slinking into the kitchen and pulling herself up to sit on the counter. "I don't want to eat anymore." She complained, watching her dad prepare chicken dumplings – her favourite dinner. "Don't make me any. I don't want it."
Her father, who had been patiently putting up with all of Sakura's complaining, finally turned around. He snapped the hot metal tongs he was holding in her face. "Now you listen to me, Kinomoto Sakura," He said slowly and deliberately, no trace of his frustration in his tone, "you are going to eat, because if you don't, you could lose the baby." He pursed his lips, turning away from her and back toward the stove just in time to stop the food from burning. "I never told you that you had an older sister, did I?" He sighed.
Sakura almost fell off the counter in shock. A sister? Since when? How could she not know about this? Older? Was she older than Touya? Or the middle child? Unable to say anything, she shook her head dumbly. Her father couldn't see her, but he continued anyway.
"Her name was supposed to be Aoi. You mother was so depressed about putting on all that weight again. Touya was five, and was giving her a run around, as all little boys do to their mothers." He said in a low voice. "When we found out she was pregnant again, we were overjoyed, but your mother slowly got more and more depressed with each passing day. Eventually, when she was about fifteen weeks, she stopped eating. No cutting back, no alternatives. She just stopped." He stopped a moment to collect his thoughts. "Two weeks of nothing but fluids later, she lost the baby. Because she was past the abortion deadline, she had to deliver her as a stillborn. She's buried in the same cemetery as your mother, two rows back."
Silence reigned supreme for several minutes. Sakura was lost for words, staring off into space. Her mind was full of a strange buzzing sound, the kind that one would attribute to being shocked senseless. A sense of 'oh my Kami' passed over her. How could they have kept this from her for her entire life?
"Your mother was devastated." Fujitaka went on. "She swore off ever having children again. As you well know, it only took two years to convince her otherwise, but she was still so scared. Her attitude with your pregnancy was so much more positive and apprehensive than with Aoi. She was so scared of losing you; she did everything by the book. Followed Doctor's Orders to the tee."
Sakura swallowed. "Alright… I – I won't skip eating." She bit her lip. "D-does Touya remember?" She asked softly.
Fujitaka paused. "He named her." He admitted, his head down. "She was so blue… I think that's where he got the name. We still speak about it sometimes. It's harder for Touya. He thinks he's the reason your mother was so depressed. He still blames himself. He's scared for you too. He's seen you picking at your food when he's here."
Sakura bit back tears, nodding silently. "Well, I guess I'm lucky, then." She murmured as she slipped off the counter. "I'll be in my room."
"I'll call you when dinner's ready."
OoOoOoOoOoOTomoyo stared at the phone, biting her lip. She knew she had to, but…
"Oh for Kami's sake!" Syaoran stomped over, yanking it off the charger and stuffing it into her hand. "We've got limited time before my father finds out we're here. I'd like to see her before then, if you don't mind."
"R-right." Tomoyo slowly dialled the number. She stood huddled in the payphone booth, while Eriol and Syaoran stood on guard outside, keeping a lookout for Mr Li's operatives that were likely to be out looking for them within the hour.
"H-hello?" Tomoyo said when the phone picked up. "Yeah, Mom. It's me. I'm back in Japan for a bit. Listen; can I bring Eriol and Syaoran around? We need to ask you something."
OoOoOoOoOoOMr Li was fuming. His son had disappeared, and his wife was refusing to answer his calls. How dare they disobey him?! He was the leader of the Li Clan! He was one of the most important and influential men in all of Asia! And his own wife and son dared defy him?!
This would not do.
Mr Li never failed at anything. He was a master businessman. He had women a finger click away. He had agents in every corner of Asia, and the world, and no one opposed hm and got away with it. There were only about twenty-two weeks before the Kinomoto girl delivered the brat that could destroy the Li Clan for good. He had to get a plan before then, and execute it.
He riffled through the manila folders on his desk, examining his options one at a time. None of them were very… legal, but he wasn't known for playing by the rules. No truly powerful man always played by society's rules; he was a law unto himself. He would find the perfect solution and carry it out, legal or not. It mattered not to him.
He grinned as he picked up the final one. None of them had really been his taste. There was the old-fashioned bumping her off, but that would be too easy to trace back to him. There was also the option of hiring thugs to beat her until the kid miscarried. There was good old-fashioned torture, or… Yes… that would do.
That would do nicely.
OoOoOoOoOoOSyaoran sat stiffly in Tomoyo's parlour, next to a more relaxed Eriol. Unlike Eriol, he hadn't had the… pleasure… of meeting Tomoyo's mother before. They had attempted to warn him of her, that she was more like his father than he could imagine – though more compassionate toward her family. The very thought of someone else acting like his father made him physically ill.
"Mr Li-" She said in a business-like tone. Syaoran's attention snapped back to her.
"Call me Syaoran. Mr Li is my father." He said stiffly.
Sonomi eyed him cautiously before proceeding. "Syaoran." She pursed her lips. "I don't see what was so secret that you could not have discussed it with me on the telephone. I trust you will be explaining it to me?" She pressed, raising a finely plucked eyebrow.
Tomoyo sat next to her mother, chewing her lip and glancing between her mother's disciplined, curious face, to Syaoran's desperate, concerned one. He nodded. "I apologise for the lack of information, but it is of the utmost importance that we discuss this in private. My father has ears everywhere – and disobeying him openly over the phone isn't exactly good for my life expectancy." He paused. "I wish to discuss options for your daughter and her cousin." Tomoyo had warned him of referring to Sakura as one of Sonomi's family members. To Sonomi, Sakura was now simply 'my daughter's second cousin'.
"What about my daughter?" Sonomi shot a withering glance to the young woman in question. "She doesn't have anything to do with that girl anymore."
"Mr Li doesn't know that." Tomoyo said in a small voice. "I think I gave him the impression that we were still close…"
"…and that could be dangerous for her." Eriol concluded. "Please, Mrs Daidouji, understand… you've met Mr Li; you know what he's like. He's willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. He wont be averse to using a much-loved family member to get to Sakura. This is really about Tomoyo's safety as anything else."
"Well marry her, like they are saying on the news." Sonomi scowled.
Syaoran shook his head. "My father would hurt one, or all, of us if that were the case. He wants custody."
"Then let him have it!"
"Mother!"
All eyes snapped to Tomoyo. She was red in the face and he eyes were puffy from concealed tears. They made tracks down her cheeks as she glared heavily at her. "She's your cousin's daughter! She your second cousin too! Mother, she's family! We can't just leave her out there alone with a baby on the way! We just can't!"
"But you already have." Her mother pointed out.
"And you don't think I regret it?!"
Everyone practically stopped breathing as Tomoyo continued on.
"I admit it, I hated Sakura for a while there; she kept blaming me for everything that was going on, knowing fully well that it was her fault." She took a deep breath. "I… I tried so hard to be the supportive friend. I haven't spoken to my best friend in… in six weeks! Don't you think that's killing me? I love her to bits, but I'm only human! There's only so much I can take before I bite back. Of course I got mad and flew off the handle!"
"Tomoyo… honey…" Sonomi murmured, reaching out to crush her daughter in a fierce hug. As Tomoyo sniffled softly into her mother's shirt, Sonomi turned her attention to the stunned Syaoran and Eriol. "Alright…" she sighed, "…what did you have in mind for our cousin?"
Syaoran and Eriol heaved a sigh of relief as they began a detailed explanation of their ideas.
OoOoOoOoOoOSakura was sitting down to dinner with her father. They seemed to be distant – it was obvious that Sakura was thinking about what her father had told her earlier, but there was no telling what Fujitaka was thinking about. Sakura pushed the remains of her dinner about her plate with a distracted gaze out the window to her left. The soft humming of the lights and the murmur of the television down the hall were the only noises in the house.
Sighing, Sakura began to eat the rest of her meal. She was only halfway through, and wasn't particularly hungry to begin with, but her talk with her father earlier had knocked back into gear. She didn't want to end up like her mother and lose her child.
She came to a conscious decision at that point in time. No more moping around. She was going to get a job, and support herself, and stop being a burden to her father. She was going to take life by the reins and make it work for her. She would get her life back on track and make a life for herself and her baby. There would be nothing that could stop her. She wouldn't let anything stop her!
A knock at the front door startled them out of their thoughts. Sakura got back to eating her dinner with renewed vigour as her father sighed and stood to answer the door. She was so wrapped up in her excitement about her new decision that she didn't register the familiar voices at the door, opting instead to happily hum to herself blissfully.
She felt something in the pit of her stomach. Butterflies from her anticipation? No… this was something else. It was a shock to her to realise that she was actually physically feeling something move around in her belly, as if there was something fluttering around inside her. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped as her hands clamped to her belly. She could feel her baby moving for the first time!
She jumped out of the seat and practically flew into the living room, shouting all the way; "Dad! Dad! I felt the baby move!"
"That's wonderful, sweetie!" Her father came out of the living room to crush her into a hug. Sakura wrapped her arms around her father, allowing a giddy giggle to bubble up with her and she bounced on the spot.
A small cough snapped the two of them out of their secluded little family world. All the giddiness seemed to simply vanish from Sakura's veins as her brain began to process who she was seeing. There, sitting on her couch, were Eriol, Tomoyo, Sonomi, Yelan, and… staring straight at her…
"…Syaoran?"
Ok… you may now shoot me. Oh, but then again, you wouldn't know what happens next, would you? Nyah! Oh well, I can't make any promises that it'll be up in the next few weeks; I have exams for the next week or so and then I'm going away after that so I may not be able to get anything done. I can only try. Sakura's pregnancy: 18 weeks
Questions? Comments? You know how to reach me!