Destiny

Chapter 19

By Sakura aka Michelle

December 16, 2011

"Are you all right?" Sakura asked anxiously after savoring the feeling of being in her loving mother's arms after ten long years. The feeling of pure contentment remained the same and that almost brought back a fresh batch of tears to her eyes. No wonder Syaoran had called her a crybaby; she totally deserved the title he bestowed upon her.

Nadeshiko released Sakura from her embrace and took a small step backwards so that she could take a good look at her long lost daughter and frowned when the single lit candle on the other corner of the room did not provide sufficient light to her liking. "Why wouldn't we be all right?" She questioned as she shifted to light more candles to brighten up the room. Sakura stepped forward to help and both mother and daughter set worked together to light up several candles and handed one to Syaoran.

With a lit candle in her hands, she walked carefully over to the other side of the bed where her father was currently sleeping, undisturbed by the noises within the room. Surprisingly, no guards had barged into the room to investigate the causes for the noise they were making and Nadeshiko did not seem to care about it too.

"I heard from Queen Li that otou-sama fell down the stairs and was sickly ever since that incident," Sakura replied, her emotions almost choking her when she stared down at Fujitaka. Fine lines had started to appear on the edges of his eyes and his auburn hair was tinted with grey. It has been a very long time to all of them. While Sakura was growing up, her parents were ageing.

She reached out a hair to smooth a fallen lock over his eyes and gasped when he grumbled a little at her actions and then opened his eyes. Sakura blinked and Fujitaka blinked back, both equally astonished by what they saw. "Otou… sama?" Sakura managed to utter out before she faint from a heart-attack.

Fujitaka sat up on the bed, with his hair in a mess, and looked around the room. He seemed extremely surprised to find the small group on the other side of the room and then his attention was on the open cupboard that led to the secret tunnel. His face broke into a smile and then he started booming in laughter and caught everyone's attention.

Nadeshiko was beside them in an instant and beaming at her husband with so much happiness that the air around her sparkled brightly. Sakura blinked again, confused by their strange reaction to the whole situation. "And I was right," Fujikata managed to say that few words amidst his laughter.

Sakura turned to glance at the door warily, afraid that the guards might charge into the room at any instant. Syaoran also had the same thought as well, for he came forward and stood near the door in anticipation of any incoming guards.

"Oka-sama, otou-sama?" Sakura called out softly, as if afraid to alert the guards outside. "Are you both really all right? Are you locked inside your own room?"

Fujitaka had to suppress his laughter before he could reply her. Nadeshiko only giggled at his efforts before she took pity on him and helped him to answer. "We are not being imprisoned by force, if that is what you are asking."

"Not imprisoned by force?" Sakura repeated and her brow burrowed even deeper. "You mean you are imprisoned willingly? This is so confusing…"

"It is like this," Fujitaka explained and turning sheepish as he spoke. "I was careless and fell down the long flight of stairs and ending up breaking my leg," he paused and took a significant look at the bulge at the foot of the bed where his leg was. He shifted the blankets to show them his cast covered leg with a grimace; it was an ugly sight. "Physician Tsukishiro advised me to stay in bed for one month if I ever want to recover from my fall and walk again. I've been a good patient and listening to his advice."

"Then you are not being imprisoned by Hikaru-sensei?" Sakura pressed on, wanting to get her answers and was a little anxious when her parents did not answer them directly.

"Hikaru-sensei…" Fujitaka drawled out and then his expression turned serious. All traces of good humor were gone in an instant and the transformation was in place. "He was imprisoned, for his devious treachery."

Sakura eyes widened upon hearing the astonishing piece of news. Even Syaoran seemed astounded. "He was imprisoned?" Sakura asked and then realized she was always repeating whatever her parents had said. "I mean if Hikaru-sensei was imprisoned then… what about the princess?"

Nadeshiko looked apologetically at Sakura and then told her gently, "I really thought she was you. She looks almost like you, with the same hairstyle and build. It's just her mannerism that was a drastic difference but I was blinded by my desire to find you for so many years and I just accepted her as my own. Your father refused to believe her and kept ranting on about wanting to find the real you and I kept laughing it off, treating it as some kind of joke. How wrong I was when I finally saw you and the real evidence."

"Don't blame your mother, Sakura-san," Fujitaka interrupted reached out to clasp Sakura's small hands in his bigger and warmer ones. "The Clow book was actually quite a convincing evidence, just that she could not identify what was inside the book without the key," he said and fingered the visible chain of the necklace on Sakura's neck. He pulled it out to reveal one small key that would definitely be a perfect fit to the lock on the Clow book.

"I have the key and I know what is inside the book," Sakura argued fiercely. "I can prove it to you!"

Fujitaka chuckled and patted Sakura on her head. He looked over at the open cupboard with a knowing smile. "That was a concrete evidence of being a member of the Kinomoto family," he assured her with a gentle smile.

Sakura's eyes became teary again and she hurriedly brushed the tears away with the back of her hands when it threatened to fall. Fujitaka pulled her awkwardly into her arms and patted her on her back and told her, "Welcome back, Sakura-san."

Sakura hugged her father tightly, as if he would fade away when she let go of him. Fujitaka chuckled again when Sakura tightened her hold on him and snuggled deeper into his embrace. This was what he had been missing for ten long years and he would take lots of pleasure from being able to hold his own kin again.

"So that was the ruckus that I have heard," a third male voice rang in the room and Sakura stiffened immediately and straightened up to glare at the intruder. "And here I thought was some thief who managed to break into our strong castle."

"Who are you," Sakura asked coldly and stood protectively in front of her parents who took in the scene calmly. When the tall black-haired man did not answer, Sakura repeated her question with more venom in her voice than ever. He seemed to have came out from the cupboard too, for the door to the bedchamber did not open even once after they got in.

"Are you daft?" Touya asked back, crossing his arms in front of him and glaring back at his sister. "You can't even recognize your own brother?"

"Where is your wound?" Sakura asked yet again. "Show me your wound. I know you have one on your arm. You took the blow when we were at the forest."

"Oh… that was…" Nadeshiko took a step forward and tried to interrupt. Syaoran came forward to stop her immediately and gently pushing her back behind Sakura before he stepped up to the prince and glared at him from eye to eye straight on.

Nobody dared to move a muscle and the tenseness within the room was suffocating. "I told you where Sakura was," Syaoran broke the silence, his voice laced with accusation. "You went to the place and tried to kill her didn't you?"

"Me? Trying to kill my own sister?" Touya scoffed. "You've got to be kidding me, brat. If you think I would ever hurt my own little sister, think again. I can kill you this instant for trying to accuse me."

"Touya-kun," Fujitaka warned. "Manners."

"To this brat?" Touya asked, aghast. "I think not!"

"Show me your arms," Syaoran instructed and glared at Touya even harder when the latter refused to do as he was instructed to. "Fine, if you are unwilling to show me the prove, then I can only conclude that you have something that you are hiding from us and that would lead me to think that you are some kind of imposter trying to harm Sakura."

"For goodness sake, this is getting far too ridiculous," Touya said and let out an irritated sigh. With another glare, he thrust out both his arms and rolled up the sleeves for Syaoran's inspection, albeit a little unwillingly.

Syaoran stepped back with a suspicious look at Touya. "There's no wound on your arms as Sakura has witnessed. Why?"

"That is why I am trying to explain," Nadeshiko said and all attention was focused on her. "Touya-kun did come to me after Prince Li has informed him of Sakura-chan's location. I was the one who told him to bring her back so that I can see for myself which one was the real Sakura-chan and which one was the fake one."

"And so I went to find her," Touya continued grumpily. "And I wanted to play a trick on her since she made us so worried for that many long years. You didn't get to see how otou-sama and oka-sama was feeling all these years with you missing somewhere out there and wondering if you are still alive. So, this was sort of my little revenge on you but the plan backfired when the over-clever guard decided to push you off the ledge. He was lucky that it was not very high, though he did take the brunt of the fall and ended up with a broken leg."

"That was mean!" Sakura complained and gave her brother an angry punch. "You tricked me! I was worried for nothing! Physician Tsukishiro too!"

"Well, he didn't exactly deceive you," Touya protested and tried to explain further. "He did say that I was fine."

"It's still the same no matter what you say," Sakura retorted with a frown. She too crossed her arms in front of her chest in defiance, her eyes spitting fire at her brother.

"Kinomoto-sama," Syaoran started, addressing both the rulers of the Kingdom. "What are we going to do about the princess?"

Sakura's ears perked upon hearing Syaoran's question and her brother was suddenly forgotten as she turned her full attention to the discussion at hand. She did not miss Nadeshiko's reaction; she had cringed when presented with the question.

"She came a little earlier…" Nadeshiko started but then paused, unable to continue when she looked at Sakura and Syaoran standing so close together. "And was very excited that Prince Li is willing to push the wedding forward."

Syaoran slapped a hand on his face and sighed into it, "She took it for real…"

Sakura looked accusingly at Syaoran and pouted at him, "That's what you get for agreeing with her haphazardly."

"You are two-timing my sister?" Touya roared and pulled Syaoran up by the front of his shirt. "You better explain yourself."

"I did not!" Syaoran replied defensively. "I had no choice in that situation and I didn't clearly say yes to her."

"And you didn't clearly said no to her either," Touya completed his sentence for him and began shaking Syaoran like a leaf in the tree. "You two-timing brat!"

Her anger started anew upon remembering the scene she witnessed at the throne room. The princess had actually flung herself into Syaoran's arms and he made no move to disentangle from her. The closeness between them unnerved Sakura to the point that her jealousy rose sky high and she began to doubt their relationship with each other. Who were they to each other?

"Otou-sama, oka-sama," Sakura called out softly, totally ignoring the battling two guys in the room. "Is my old room still in use?"

Fujitaka shook his head. "I left it for you and knew you will come back someday, somehow. You must be tired, you can use it for the night."

"Thank you," Sakura said gratefully and turned to leave the room by the door. She had so much to think that she doubted she would be able to sleep peacefully that night. Nevertheless, she needed some time alone to think about everything: how was she going to face that princess? It seemed that her parents were somehow attached to the lady even though she was not the real princess.

Would Syaoran really be marrying that lady?

Sakura suddenly had a bad premonition about everything.

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