CHAPTER THREE: THE RETURN
"Flight 356 to Tokyo now boarding! Flight 356 now boarding!"
Syaoran says a final good-bye to a tearful Meiling and enters the gate. He can't believe he is actually returning to Japan. Going back to his Sakura...
But it's just a visit, he reminds himself grimly. Nothing will come of it...
The trip seems agonizingly lost to the impatient Syaoran. He thinks back to his meeting with Mother over the trip...
She had called him to her after hearing about the letter from one of the sisters. He had obeyed her, bringing the letter for her inspection.
She smiled. "Syaoran--"
He waited for her to say that he had to stay and lead the clan.
"Syaoran, I think this is a wonderful idea!"
He had fallen over with surprise.
"Go back to Japan! Set yourself right! Syaoran, if you don't go back you'll never know..." she said gently.
"And besides, I approve of this Sakura that Tomoyo speaks of. She's the Clow mistress, isn't she?"
"Yes, Mother," he had replied.
"We need new blood in this family."
He flushed a bit, and she dismissed him.
Syaoran comes back to himself. Finally, the plane lands and he disembarks. He begins to look for Tomoyo.
He does not see the black--haired young woman, but a nondescript man is holding up a sign with "Li Syaoran" printed on it, and squinting at a picture.
Syaoran moves to greet the man, slipping so easily back into the Japanese culture.
"Konnichiwa, sir. I am Li Syaoran." He bows.
"Ah, yes, young sir, you look just like your picture," the man says. "Miss Daidouji-san could not come at the last minute, so she sent me with the car. I am the chaffeur, Mr. Yukohama." He hands Syaoran the picture and starts walking toward the waiting car (limo, really, but I'm not picky).
Syaoran starts to follow Mr. Yukohama. He happens to glance down at the photograph.
It is one taken on a trip to the city. Tomoyo, Sakura, and Syaoran had all gone together and had a lot of fun. Syaoran stares at the picture.
It is him, smiling for once at Tomoyo's ever-present camera, and Sakura is behind him, grinning, with her arms around his neck. A slight flush colored his cheeks.
Such a smile Sakura has... He sees it every night in his dreams...
He stands there frozen until Mr. Yukohama reappears and takes him by the arm.
"Li-san, this way... I thought I lost you there for a moment." He smiles and glances down at the photo clutched in Syaoran's hand.
"Pretty girlfriend you have there... Miss Kinomoto-san, if I'm not mistaken."
Syaoran nods dumbly and allows himself to be led to the car.
Sakura sighs. Seven days until her birthday, and she does not really care anymore...
Tomoyo-chan is planning a party that Sakura does not want, and hinting of a surprise she does not want either.
She fingers the green ribbons in her hair and stares out the window, thinking.
Syaoran... Come back to me....
Mr. Yukohama shows Syaoran into the entrance hall and disappears to put the car away.
Syaoran glances at the picture once more. It sends a pang of sadness through him. Impulsively, he stuffs it into his pocket... He can't make himself throw it away.
He takes a step. It makes almost no sound.
"Tomoyo-chan!" he calls uncertainly. The sound is muffled. "Tomoyo-chan!" he calls a bit louder.
A figure with azure-colored hair steps into the hall. The light glints off his glasses.
"Eriol-san!" Syaoran says increduously. "Why are you here???
Eriol smiles. "I have come for a visit, my descendant. I am trying to teach Miss Daidouji-san how to make scones... She doesn't cook well, so we're going quite slowly..."
"Eriol-kun!" Tomoyo calls from what Syaoran supposes is the kitchen, "Who is it?"
"Li-kun has returned!" Eriol calls back.
"Show him in, silly!" Tomoyo laughs.
Syaoran follows Eriol into a huge kitchen.
"Li-kun!" Tomoyo calls, her hands kneading dough.
"I will take over for a while, Miss Daidouji-san. Talk with Li-kun," Eriol says, and takes Tomoyo's place.
"Call me Tomoyo, Eriol-kun!" she scolds.
"Yes, Miss Daidouji-san," Eriol answers obediently with a straight face, and continues to knead the dough.
Tomoyo sighs in exasperation. "I must have told him to call me Tomoyo a hundred times." She sweatdrops.
"Thirty-seven, actually," a dry voice informs them from Eriol's pocket.
Eriol, Tomoyo, and Syaoan sweatdrop.
"Go back to sleep, Suppi," Eriol scolds gently. "We wish to chat with Li-kun."
"Master, need I remind you that my name is Spinelsun, not Suppi?! Greetings, Li-kun," Spinel says, poking his head out, then returns to the pocket.
"Konnichiwa, Spinelsun, Tomoyo-chan, Eriol-kun," Syaoran says, nodding to each of them in turn.
There is silence for a couple minutes. They've been apart for so long...
"So, Li-kun," Eriol says after a moment, hands up to his elbows in the dough, "why have you returned?"
"Tomoyo sent me a ticket," he answers.
"Yes, I did," Tomoyo says happily. "Sakura-chan will be so glad to see you again!"
"She will?"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
"Li-kun," Eriol says, "Sakura-chan misses you. She goes through the day as if in a fog. She talks, answers questions, but she's not really there."
"So?" Syaoran says impatiently.
"Li-kun, you don't understand," Tomoyo says, spreading her hands wide. "I can count on one hand the amount of times she's smiled since you left!"
Sakura-chan wasn't smiling??? Syaoran had loved her smile so much...
"She wears green ribbons in her hair every day," Eriol says quietly, "and at four o'clock everyday she goes down to the park and sits there."
"She just sits there?" Syaoran says, puzzled.
"We have followed her before to see," Tomoyo says. "She sits there in her own little world. Sometimes she cries. Sometimes she takes her ribbons out and just stares at them."
"Sakura-chan?" Syaoran says worriedly. He is beginning to feel concern...
"One time, I asked her why she sits there," Tomoyo says seriously. "She said she doesn't want to forget. Just doesn't want to forget."
"She won't speak about you either. I brought it up once or twice, the old days... She said, 'I didn't tell him. I couldn't. But I wanted to, so badly...'" Eriol pauses here to let it sink in.
Syaoran's mind and heart fight a furious battle, and for once his heart wins.
"Where does she sit?" he asks. The clock says 3:30.
"You'll find it easily," Tomoyo says, wiping away a tear. "It's the only green bench in the whole park."
To be continued...