Chapter 4
"Where's Timmy?" Cheresa asked when Fai came down stairs alone "she said she's not hungry and that looking at food makes her sick" he said sitting down "she does have those days sometimes" Cheresa said and turned to Kurogane "you should go up to her and say thanks" she told her "for what? Stomping on my foot?" he growled "no, who the hell would thank someone for that?" Cheresa asked, oblivious to the sarcasm "anyway, no you don't thank her for stomping on your foot, you thank her for helping you with your wounds" she told him, Kurogane went to say something but Cheresa cut him off "and I know you didn't ask or want her help but she gave it to you so at least say thank you"
Kurogane grumbled and stood up "fine, but only this time" he said walking off towards the stairs "that's all I ask" Cheresa replied, Kurogane rolled his eyes and went up stairs.
Kurogane stopped at Tamara's door and knocked, he heard grumbling and rustling before the door flew open revealing a messy and angry Tamara "what?!" she growled, Kurogane blinked surprised before scowling "don't yell at me!" he shouted, Tamara blinked and looked up at him "oh its you Kurogane, sorry about that I'm not really a happy chappie when I get sleep deprived, did you want something?" she asked rubbing her eyes "um I just wanted to say thanks for helping me earlier" Kurogane replied, Tamara gave a surprised look before smiling widely "that's okay, glad I could help" she said "right, well I'm going down for dinner" he said turning to leave "wait a sec, I'll come with you I need to get a drink" Tamara said, walking back in her room she grabbed a few packets of tablets then went over to Kurogane "okay I'm set" she said closing her door, Kurogane grunted and walked off with Tamara trailing behind him.
When they got downstairs Tamara dodged the Cheresa rocket that flew at her and walked straight to the kitchen ignoring Cheresa's fake crying "Timmy doesn't love me anymore" she whined "oh shut up" Tamara said entering the room "Tamara-san is something wrong?" Fai asked, Tamara shook her head "no, I've just been woken up and usually no one wakes me up for fear of their own life, so to speak" Tamara replied taking a sip of her drink "why are you down here? Are you going to eat something?" Cheresa asked, Tamara glared at her "I thought we made it clear that I'm not eating now, no I'm down here cause I needed a drink to take with my tablets" she said waving her tablet packets in front of everyone "why what's wrong Timmy?" Cheresa asked "you are most of the time" Tamara said under her breath, she looked up and fake smiled "nothing" she said out loud before walking back upstairs.
"Something is definitely wrong" Cheresa said watching Tamara go up the stairs.
"She said everything was fine though" Fai replied "yes, well Timmy only smiles like that when she's lying about something" Cheresa explained.
"So she's a liar like the idiot here" Kurogane mumbled pointing to Fai "no!" Cheresa shouted "she only lies to me when she doesn't want me to know she's hurt or that she's sad, depressed, scared things like that. Look, Tamara never wants her friends to worry about her, most of the time she's so quiet we forget she's there" she explained "so most of the time she's like a living ghost" Kurogane suggested.
"I never thought of it like that but now that you mention it, it does sound like Tamara" Cheresa replied "Cheresa-san, I've never actually heard you say Tamara-san's name before" Fai said "I do say it sometime, it's just calling her Timmy even though she hates it always gets a reaction out of her so I know that she's still the same Timmy and nothing in her mind or soul has changed" she replied.
"Cheresa-san if I may, what were your wishes to Yuuko-san?" Fai asked, Cheresa looked at him "I'll tell you but please don't tell Timmy" she replied, everyone nodded "well when I met Yuuko I thought I recognized her from someplace but I couldn't place it then she asked me what my wishes were and it kinda clicked. I thought about Timmy then asked Yuuko if I could make a wish for Timmy, she said I could but then Timmy would be added in the payment, so I made Timmy's wish first. I wished that Timmy could find happiness and truly smile again, she accepted it and asked what my wish was, I thought that I could wish for anything, money, power, popularity but then I saw Timmy paying for her book at the counter of the store and I made my decision, I wished that I could help Timmy find her happiness and also protect her from those willing to harm her, but I still can't do that after all I didn't help out when she ran out of the house last night"
"But that's not true, you did help" Fai said, Cheresa looked at him in confusion "you may not have protected her yourself but, if you didn't send Kuro-tan after her when you did something even worse could have happened, I mean you worried about her safety and did something about it and that's how you helped" Fai explained "I don't want to say this but I agree with him" Kurogane added putting his bowl down, Syaoran nodded "thanks guys" Cheresa said before getting up "I'm going to bed, we've talked about a lot today so I need to sleep on all the info I've learned goodnight" she added as she walked to the stairs.
When Cheresa entered her room she saw Tamara laying in her futon but she could tell she was not asleep "you knew the feather was in a kudan right?" she asked sitting down on her futon "yes" Tamara replied not moving "you know which kudan?"
"Yes"
"Then why don't you tell them?" Cheresa asked "you think I don't want to! Yuuko has ordered me not to tell them anything so I don't even know why I'm here in the first place!" Tamara exclaimed sitting up.
"Yuuko would have a reason-"
"What reason would be good enough to tell me that while all the bad things I could have prevented happen, because I was told to just stand by and watch for some mysterious reason. I don't want to watch someone nearly die and they do more then once!" Tamara shouted, Cheresa got up and hugged her friend "I know that you don't want to but your not alone, I'll be with you all the way" she said as Tamara cried, after a while Cheresa put Tamara in bed because she cried herself to sleep.
Cheresa knocked on Syaoran's door and waited for him to answer "Cheresa-san?" Syaoran wondered when he opened the door "hey Syaoran-kun, is Mokona with you?" Cheresa asked, Syaoran shook his head "no he wanted to stay with Fai-san and Kurogane-san tonight, why?" he asked "I just need Mokona's help for a few minutes" Cheresa replied "goodnight Syaoran-kun" she added before walking to Fai and Kurogane's room "why the hell did Mokona want to come here, tonight of all nights?" Cheresa grumbled as she reached the door, she raised her fist to knock on the door when it flew open and she came face to face with Kurogane, well face to chest anyway.
Looking up Cheresa tried to restart her heart after that little shock "what do you want?" Kurogane asked a bit surprised to see her there "I wanted Mokona for a few minutes, is that okay?" Cheresa asked, Kurogane grumbled then disappeared for a few seconds before reappearing with Mokona "here take him, but can I ask why you need to take him?" Kurogane asked Cheresa looked down at the Mokona now snuggling in her arms "I need him to contact Yuuko for me, I need to talk to her" she replied before turning to leave "goodnight Kurogane" she added before leaving downstairs, Kurogane closed the door "who was that Kuro-rin? And why did you give them Mokona?" Fai asked "because she wanted the thing, and it was the girl brat" Kurogane replied "Cheresa-san or Tamara-san?" Fai asked "uh, Cheresa"
"I wonder what she needed Mokona for?" Fai said "she said something about contacting the witch to talk to her" Kurogane replied "hmm" Fai wondered.
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Cheresa went out the back before asking Mokona to contact the witch for her "well Cheresa, I wasn't expecting you to call me" Yuuko said when her projection came up "well its about Tamara so I had to call, look why did you send us here in the first place? You said it was for Tam to share her knowledge but you told Tamara not to tell the others anything so what's the real reason we're here?" Cheresa asked "your smarter then you seem" Yuuko replied "I'm not as stupid as everyone thinks, especially when it comes to my best friend, now please answer the question" Cheresa said, Yuuko smirked "alright the reason your on this quest is in your wishes" Yuuko told her, Cheresa looked at her confused "my wishes? You mean we're here because this will somehow bring Tamara happiness?" Cheresa asked, Yuuko nodded "well this quest have already done the opposite" Cheresa told Yuuko "what do you mean?" she asked "you, in telling Tamara she can't say anything about her knowledge you basically telling her to stand on the sidelines while some of the bad stuff she could have prevented happens in front of her and she can't do anything to stop it, its eating her up inside" Cheresa replied "well Tamara has to decide what she's going to do, whether she stands back and does as she's told or help the people she finds her happiness in" Yuuko replied before fading out "what? So that note is a test, but knowing Timmy she's going to do what it says because she would think she has no other choice" Cheresa said as she walked inside "but in knowing this you cannot tell Tamara-san, she needs to figure it out for herself" Mokona told her "what?! You want me to let her suffer without telling her the reason why?" Cheresa asked the meat bun, narrowing her eyes she glared at Mokona "you have five seconds before I throw you" she growled, Mokona squealed and ran off up the stairs "what's up with you?" Cheresa turned around to see Kurogane leaning against the wall watching her "why are you down here?" she asked "I have the idiot for a roommate-"
"Say no more" Cheresa said chuckling, she sat down on the floor against the wall "so, what wrong?" Cheresa sighed "well Mokona did say that I couldn't tell Timmy he didn't say anything about you" she said rubbing her forehead "as you know Timmy knows everything about this quest, that's why she was coming along on it" Kurogane nodded "well that's not true, Tamara got a note from Yuuko telling her not to say anything so I contacted Yuuko to find out why Tamara wasn't allowed to tell you guys anything about the quest, I mean that's a bit weird if the reason she was on the quest was her knowledge. So I talked to Yuuko and she told me she lied, Tamara isn't here because of her knowledge she's here because of my wishes" Cheresa explained "it's all my fault"
"What's wrong with that?" Kurogane asked "I mean the reason why she came along shouldn't make any difference should it?"
"Listen, because Tamara's not here for her knowledge means she's not allowed to tell you a thing about the quest, so all the bad things she knows about is going to happen because she can't say a thing about it, its killing her inside and I don't know what to do. Yuuko said it was a test but I know Tamara and she'll do as she's told no matter how much it hurts, which for her is going to be a hell of a fuckin' lot" Cheresa explained, putting her head in her hands "why don't you tell her?" Kurogane asked "because I can't apparently, I made the wishes to Yuuko so I have to do as she says but Tamara doesn't and she doesn't know that" Cheresa said "fine wait here and don't move" Cheresa looked up in surprise at Kurogane who was walking to the stairs "uh, okay" she said.
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Kurogane moved up the stairs and stopped in front of the girls door "can't believe I'm doing this" he grumbled before knocking, Tamara opened up and Kurogane saw her red puffy eyes I guess the brat was telling the truth he thought "y-yes?" Tamara asked, Kurogane stepped around her and entered the room "look I'm going straight to the point, you got a letter from the witch?" he asked, Tamara nodded meekly "hand it to me" Kurogane ordered "b-but-"
"I'm not going to read it trust me, I'm doing you a favor" he said cutting her off, Tamara stood there for a few second before she went over to her bag and pulled out Yuuko's note and handed it to Kurogane who ripped it up "wait! Wh-why?" Tamara asked, Kurogane bent down to her level and stared her in the eyes "don't listen to that witch, if what she asks you to do hurt you badly, don't do it. You don't have to do a thing she tells you to do, its eating at you and you acting like this is hurting Cheresa so be strong and ignore the witch, you don't owe her anything" Kurogane said standing up straight, Tamara stared straight ahead, Kurogane turned to leave and got to the door before Tamara spoke "Kurogane?" she said, he turned to her to see she was still looking straight ahead "thank you, I guess I needed to hear that from someone other then Cheresa, she's always trying to keep me happy that after a while it stops working" she told him "yeah well, I don't need two kids moping around while we trying to find these feathers" he said, Tamara gave him a true smile before he turned around and left.
He went downstairs and saw Cheresa right where he left her "oi, you can go now" he told her, she looked up at him "what did you do?" she asked "you a favor, look we never had this conversation, right?" he asked, Cheresa grinned "what conversation?" she asked innocently "good, now go to bed" Kurogane said facing away from her, Cheresa hugged him and ran up the stairs, when she opened she saw Tamara on her knees picking up ripped pieces of paper "what happened here?" she asked innocently, Tamara stood up and placed the pieces of paper in the bin "Kurogane came in and knocked some sense into me, I've decided not to tell the others who the bad guys are" Tamara told her, Cheresa's jaw dropped "what? Why?" she asked "because some of the bad stuff that happens help their relationship grow, I won't tell them who the bad guys are but I will give them hints and try stop the bad stuff without telling them" she said smirking, Cheresa smiled and hugged Tamara "so you won't be sad about it anymore?" she asked "Cheresa, I'll still be sad, especially when it happens. How would you feel knowing something bad was going to happen to me and knowing it would be better if that bad thing happened to me, wouldn't you still feel sad?" Tamara asked, Cheresa sighed "of course, you're my best friend and I will look out for you no matter what" she said Tamara smiled and Cheresa gasped "did you just smile?" she asked dramatically, Tamara whacked her up-side the head "I have smiled before, in fact I smiled a few minutes ago when Kurogane was here" she told her "the bastard, he got to see your first true smile after years of fake smiling" Cheresa whined "go to sleep Chi, otherwise I'll make you sleep" Tamara threatened as she got into bed "but I'm not tired" Cheresa complained "we have a big day tomorrow, trust me" Tamara told her, Cheresa sighed "alright, goodnight Timmy" Tamara grumbled at the name "goodnight, bitch"