Wings

By Yuki

Chapter 3

Author's note: Right. Ok. I do not own any of the characters, how I wish I do… but I really, sadly, don't.

Anyway, much much thanks to my wonderful beta-reader kawaii sakura

If somehow, there seems to be some odd grammar mistake or plot hole, any inconsistencies at all, that would be entirely my fault, for being so stubborn and not correcting them as they should have been.

Many, many thanks to everyone that had reviewed, I really appreciate it!

Wings

By Yuki

Chapter 3

The city was just beginning to stir. Everything seemed normal enough. Syaoran noticed that this place was a lot like the Hanshin Republic. It had the same strange architecture and paved streets. There were already people starting their days, and he would occasionally be greeted by smiles.

Their friendliness was appreciated, but it put him off a little. They smiled as if they recognized him. At one point, a man from a flower shop approached him and looked at him for a few seconds before exclaiming, "My, how tall you are now! How was your trip to China?" As he said this, the man's eyes suddenly lit up and he grabbed the nearest bouquet of flowers – a dozen white lilies, tied together by a pink ribbon. "Here, give these to Sakura-chan! I'm sure she'll like them!"

It startled Syaoran to hear the man say Sakura's name. That he had said it with affection – a note of a fond memory ringing clearly – didn't make Syaoran feel any better. He tried to keep calm, even though every fiber in his being was more alert than he already was.

Not everything is what it seems, he reminded himself silently.

So many worlds, so many dimensions – the only way to survive is to never trust anyone, sometimes, even yourself.

He had to be careful.

As casually as he could, Syaoran politely thanked the man and managed to show his appreciation of the gesture with what he hoped was a grateful smiled. He then very slowly walked away, keeping his eyes on the old man who went on to arrange the flowers on display outside the shop, seemingly having lost his interest in Sakura and himself.

As soon as he was sure that he was out of sight of the man, he ran; cursing himself for going so far from the temple and leaving Sakura alone.

What if she woke up and he wasn't there? Would she think that he had abandoned her? She might look for him. And the last thing he wanted was to lose the princess. He already had once. But he had at least had his suspicions of her whereabouts and his bearings in the Jade World. Here he had neither.

Stupid and sloppy. Syaoran thought, berating himself for his carelessness. He ran as fast and as hard as he could, pushing himself forward, ignoring the ache in his muscles, the painful pounding of his heart.

I'm coming hime. I'm coming Sakura.

In his haste, he dropped the lilies, but he didn't turn back to pick it up, he kept his eyes on the path towards Sakura.

Keep your eyes forward, don't look back. Never look back. Kurogane's words echoed in his mind.

And Syaoran kept on running.

"I'll be home in a few days, oni-chan." His sister growled on the phone. "You make such a big fuss out of such a small vacation."

Small vacation, she says! A small vacation! Touya made a face and shook his head. A few days at the beach, that's a small vacation. Camping for a few nights, that's a small vacation. Going to China for two whole weeks, well, that wasn't just a small vacation. No. It was a disaster waiting to happen.

"Can I talk to Yukito now?" Sakura asked impatiently. She knew that today Yukito was coming over for lunch and she had made him promise earlier that he would call as soon as Yukito arrived so she could say hi.

Touya narrowed his eyes. "Not before I talk to the brat."

There was a long suffering sigh, coupled with some incoherent mumbling. "Are you going to threaten him again?" Sakura finally asked irritably.

"Of course!" Touya said, rolling his eyes, sounding just as annoyed. "Why did you think I called?"

"Oni-chan!" Sakura said through gritted teeth and Touya forced himself not to chuckle out loud. He could clearly see his sister getting all worked up. At sixteen, she still hadn't learned the lesson that the more she reacted when he teased her, the more fun it was to tease her.

Even Touya had to admit that his sister could look cute when angry. "Where's the brat?"

"He's asleep." Sakura answered with a sigh and Touya didn't like her answer or the sound of her sigh.

"What?" He exploded, his voice loud enough to send the tea cups on the table rattling. "I thought you said you were in your room!"

"I am in my room!" Sakura told him, completely exasperated, all patience lost.

"Then he better be asleep in another room, kaiju. A hundred floors from your room," he replied huffily.

"I'm not a kaiju." Sakura muttered. "And Syaoran booked us adjoining rooms, oni-chan," she told him, sounding a little too pleased with herself and her brat of a boyfriend.

"That little…" Touya's grip on the phone tightened, he could see his knuckles slowly turning white. The audacity! The sheer audacity of that little punk to… to… "Don't think that just because…" he began through gritted teeth.

"I want to say hello too." Yukito suddenly interrupted, lightly touching Touya's arm.

Touya turned and scowled at Yukito, knowing perfectly well what he was doing. Yukito had appointed himself as the unofficial mediator between the warring siblings. It was sort of fitting, as Yuki always knew when to step in between an argument, when to distract them from strangling each other to death.

"Yuki, wants to say hi." Touya said in a gruff voice, shoving the phone into Yuki's waiting hand. He crossed his arms and listened intently to a rather one sided conversation as it was the only way for him to know exactly what was going on with his sister's vacation. Sakura told Yukito practically everything.

It sounded like Sakura was at least having fun, some of the stories he managed to decipher were about a recent trip to the beach, a small party that the Lis gave in her honor, and then after that a night out with Meilin and Syaoran's sisters. In between the talking about the "lovely blue ocean" and the "noisy clubs with bright yellow and pink lights" Yukito somehow managed to advise Sakura to take things slow with Syaoran, at which point Touya thought he was going to have a heart attack.

"Gimme that!" he raged at Yukito, holding out his arm in a particularly violent way.

"Be nice, ok?" Yukito said, before handing him the phone calmly.

Touya made grumbling noises at the back of his throat before snatching the phone away. He took a deep breath and reminded himself that Sakura was a smart girl and wouldn't do anything that he and his father would disapprove of. "Remember, I'll be picking you up at the airport, so don't be late."

"Airport?" Sakura asked him, sounding genuinely confused.

Touya could hear the sound of rustling papers and he was sure that his sister had forgotten that she was going to go home in two days time. She seemed to be having so much fun out there and somehow, this made Touya even more irritable. "Kaiju, I'm beginning to think that you don't want to go home at all! You do remember that you're supposed to be home by Friday, right?"

"Don't be so melodramatic, 'ni-chan. I just forgot, ok."

"You're so stupid sometimes, you forget about the simplest things!" His voice had risen, even before he could stop himself and he could feel Yukito looking at him with reprimanding eyes.

There was a rather long pause on the end on the other end of the line and Touya found himself gritting his teeth in frustration. He hadn't intended to sound so… mean. He was just about to apologize when he heard a delicate sniff followed by: "I'm not stupid, Touya." Sakura said in a low but firm tone of voice.

He cringed at that. She never usually called him by his name. It had always been "oni-chan". She only used his name when she was trying to annoy him or when she was upset about something that he had said or done.

"Well, stop acting like you are…" He grumbled. It was the closest thing he'd ever get to an apology.

"And what if the flight got delayed for a day or two?" Sakura asked, obviously trying to aggravate him even more.

And she was actually quite successful. "Do your thing then," Touya said, trying to keep his voice reasonably low, "do whatever it is that you do with those damn cards or whatever the hell that yellow toy of yours is good for but you better be at the airport on time, waiting for me to pick you up."

There was a pause before Sakura sighed her familiar sigh, the one that included a smile of amusement and then without any sort of warning, blurted out: "I miss you too, oni-chan!"

"W-wa…what?" Touya sputtered completely taken aback. She sounded like she meant it too and he could feel his throat suddenly aching.

"I said, I miss you too, oni-chan." Sakura repeated and Touya could very clearly see her smiling.

"I… I…" he stuttered helplessly; utterly and impossibly embarrassed by his sister's sudden outburst.

Thankfully, Sakura cut him off. "I'll see you soon, I promise, ne?"

Touya wanted to strangle Sakura for putting him in such a precarious position. He wanted to say he missed her too, but didn't quite know how. He gritted his teeth and formed the words inside his head… I miss you too, immotou-chan…

Had he ever called her that? Maybe now was the right time to say those words out loud. Touya opened his mouth and: "Yeah, yeah. Don't let the Brat…" He heard himself say before he could stop himself.

Suddenly understanding the words that were coming out of his mouth Touya felt his face suddenly go warm. He just had to get into this sort of talk now! From the corner of his eyes, he could see Yukito looking highly amused. "Just… just don't let him…" He faltered helplessly.

"Don't let Syaoran what?" Sakura asked, the sarcastic curiosity in her voice almost becoming audible. "C'mmon, onii-chan, say it. Don't let him?"

It was possible that at twenty-two, Touya also hadn't learned the lesson that Sakura was just as good when it came to teasing and nettling him. "Don't let him see you in your pajamas!" He growled before putting the phone down. He could feel his face burning up and could sense Yukito's eyes on him.

Toura slowly turned around, preparing himself for Yukito's endless teasing but was surprised to see Yukito without that silly grin on his face, though his eyes had a mischievous twinkle in them.

"Ne, Touya." Yukito said, chuckling softly.

Touya crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows, trying his best to ignore the bemused expression on his friend's face. "What?" He asked in a challenging voice.

Yukito shook his head and then knowingly nodded his head, as though he had just solved some great, big mystery and then, suddenly turning serious, he tilted his head and regarded him with a look of concern. "Are you ever going to tell me what's wrong?"

Touya paused and stared out of the window.

It seemed like today would be one of those perfect blue-skies, wonderful-weather day. But somehow, there was something outside that unnerved him. He remembered his dream.

"Feathers."

"Feathers?" This time it was Yukito's turn to raise his eyebrow.

"Feathers. Wings…" Touya mumbled distractedly, wondering if the dreams meant something else, something that had nothing to do with his little Kaijuu.

"Wings?" Yukito asked, frowning.

Touya shook his head and flopped himself down on the sofa, grabbing a piece of cake that Yukito had brought. "Never mind." He said, before stuffing the food into his mouth, preventing him from answering Yukito's questioning look. If it didn't have anything to with his sister, then he shouldn't worry so much. "Let's have lunch."

Yukito was silent for a few seconds, before giving in. He knew when to press for details and when to drop the subject. Touya would tell him when he was ready. It had always been that way. He reached out to briefly pat Touya's shoulder before smiling easily. "Ne, To-ya, did you cook your famous spaghetti?"

Touya hmpfed and crossed his arms against his chest. "Of course, I did!"

"That's so kind of you, To-ya!" Yukito said, delightedly clapping his hands.

It seemed to take him forever to return to the temple, and when he finally reached the door, his heart was thundering madly inside his chest. Breathless with worry, he had to stop for a few seconds to calm himself down. He'd be useless if he let his emotions get the best of him.

Breathe, Syaoran, dammit.

He clutched his chest, fingernails digging into his skin as he quickly surveyed the immediate surroundings, trying to remember if something was amiss, if there had been any slight changes around him.

No footprints anywhere. Nothing so out of the ordinary. Everything was exactly how he had left it but there was something inside him that was still alert, still on the edge and he was afraid to call Sakura's name and instead be answered with silence.

The fear was almost paralyzing. Syaoran gritted his teeth, managing to shake off the panic that was slowly clawing its way inside his heart.

"Sakura-hime?" He had meant to keep his voice low, so as not to startle the princess. He figured, she might still be asleep, or waiting for him by the door, in any case, she'd still hear him calling her.

But no one answered.

He called out once more, the panic that he had thought he had successfully stamped down was coming back stronger than before.

"Sakura-hime!" He practically broke down the door down rushing in, startling Sakura.

She let out a small scream, quickly biting down hard on her tongue when she realized it was only him. "Syaoran-kun!" She said, her voice low and a little breathless, her hand drifting over to her chest to press small delicate fingers against her heart.

"So-sorry." He mumbled, feeling his face flush. He stared down on the floor, chest heaving. "Sorry, princess. I called… but you didn't answer right away… I thought, I thought…" He gave her another apologetic bow, "I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's ok, Syaoran-kun." She answered softly. "I'm sorry I didn't hear you, I was on the other room and…" She waved her hand, indicating the opened door at her right, which had led into another room. She seemed to have been wandering inside the temple and Syaoran felt his throat tightening. Had she been looking for him all this time?

"I'm sorry I left you all alone…" he began and it seemed as though Sakura had read the fear in his voice as he sensed her moving towards him. Syaoran almost took a step forward but he stood his ground, even though a huge part of him wanted to meet her halfway, reach out and pull her towards him, wrap his arms around her. Hold her there, inside his arms and never, ever let her go.

"I knew you'd be back for me, Syaoran-kun." She assured him, taking his hands in hers. She gently squeezed his hands. Her fingers were warm and it grazed the skin of his writs, rubbing gently, soothingly.

Syaoran closed his eyes, unsure of what to say.

He didn't know if there was a way, in any of the spoken language of all the worlds and dimensions out there that they had been to, that he could use to let her know how much those words meant to him.

Her faith in him… it was worth it, everything that he had gone through… that she believed in him, even though she had no memory of him, even though he was almost as good as a stranger to her… it meant everything to Syaoran.

She let him have his silence. She was used to it by now. Some days, she'd ask him what's wrong and he'd shake his head, reassuring her that everything was fine. Some days, she'd let him have that moment, just holding his hand or just sitting beside him, watching him with those startling green eyes of hers.

When he finally opened his eyes, he gave her a small grateful smile and she finally let go of his hand. He missed it almost immediately, the warmth, the smoothness of her skin, but he let his hands fall to his sides.

"I… did you… I mean…" she paused, looking around him and realizing that he had come back alone, no Fai-san, no Kurogane-san and no Mokona-chan.

He looked at her then, her bright green eyes, hopeful and almost excited and he felt the weight of his failure to find their friends press down on him, the image of Sakura happily laughing quickly fading away.

Her eyes darkened, reading the emotion in his face and he quickly looked down, not wanting to see the flash of disappointment in her eyes. He saw her wring her fingers together and the silence around them was enough to send Syaoran spiraling to the edge: not good enough, not good enough...

Sakura grabbed his hand again, squeezing it gently and Syaoran forced himself to look at her and was greeted by her smile, "Did you find out where we are?"

Syaoran nodded quietly; here at least was something that he managed to accomplish. "Tomoeda" He answered, feeling the same effect that name had given him earlier that day when he had asked around, pretending to be lost.

"Excuse me, sir, but may I ask what this place is?"

"Tomoeda?" Sakura repeated, as though tasting the words in her mouth. "It sounds… awfully familiar."

Syaoran's eyes widened. He had felt the same thing, the same sense of familiarity. The princess had sensed it too. He remembered the old man from the flower shop. When he said Sakura's name, it had bothered him so much that he failed to realize that old man seemed to know him too.

"Where's Tomoeda? Is it a country?" Sakura asked him, still not letting go of his hands.

"It's a small town in Japan." He informed him, watching her face for any sign of… Syaoran frowned.

Any sign of what?

"Kurogane-san's Japan?" Sakura asked, her green eyes alight with curiosity.

Syaoran shook his head. "It doesn't seem like Kurogane-san's Japan." He told her, remembering the few stories that Kurogane-san had told him about his world.

He wanted to tell her that this Japan seemed the same as Yuuko-sama's Japan, but she wouldn't have remembered meeting Yuuko-sama in her world.

He also wanted to tell her that somehow, this place, this Tomoeda, felt more like… theirs.

Author's note: I hope you liked this update. Sorry if they're coming in a bit too slow, had been really busy with work. Please feel free to leave all your C&Cs!

See you in the next chapters!

And uhm, if it's a bit confusing, the itakized sentences/paragraphs are flashbacks.