| Chapter Seven: He sat with his arms around her, embracing her close to his heart. She smelled of the cherry blossoms outside, sweet. Pure. The scent came from her hair, her soft skin. And she breathed gently, halfway between reality and dream. "Syaoran?" "Hmm?" He shifted a bit as she rose away from his chest and turned to face him, green eyes soft looking. And she merely gazed at him, studying him. He gazed back, tilting his head questioningly. And he took hold of her hand, thumb playing with the slender band upon her ring finger. "What's wrong?" he asked her. She hesitated still, glancing down at their hands and then staring almost sadly. "If something were to ever go wrong…" she whispered, fingers wrapping around his, "Would you still love me? Always?" He leaned forward, free hand lifting to cup her cheek and he gazed at her with all the tenderness he felt in his heart for her. "I would love you with everything I am, for the rest of my life," he murmured to her. "No matter what." She looked at him, for such a long time, green eyes shimmering. And then she looked down at her ring finger once more, a small smile lifting the corners of her lips. He watched her, not needing to say anything. "Aishiteru." They had both said it that day. And he had held true to that promise. He loved her still and knew he would love her always. I miss you so much… The Time Card was still in his hand. He had gone down to eat and then had rested for a few hours, waking up refreshed. And while everyone else had slept he had quietly gone down to the room where the festivities had been held and one by one he had started to revive the cards under his name. Not that the Syaoran Cards sounded as good as the Sakura Cards but nevertheless, they were his still. I hope you're watching me now, Sakura. And I hope you're proud that I have these now. That they're going to stay in the family. Now he stared at the Time Card. And almost like a flying baseball, something hit him upside the head. He stared intently, blinking in utter stupidity, anger directed at himself for having taken so long in coming up with the idea. He turned and left the room, heading for Eriol's room. Eriol was already up by the time he knocked on his door. "Hai." Xiao Lang entered, breathing hard and Eriol knew it wasn't from running the race he had just done. "Eriol! I have an idea! And you're probably not going to like it but I'm going to do it one way or the other." Eriol arched an eyebrow. "Then why ask me for permission? Because I know that's what you're going to do next." Xiao Lang stared at him suspiciously, hesitating. "Ok, you know I don't like it when you do that premonition thing…" he said slowly. And he came closer. "Just like modifying the Lock Card, what if I were to modify the Time Card?" The sheer excitement on his descendant's face scared even him. "What do you mean? Modify how?" Xiao Lang smiled. "Modify it so that it doesn't just stop Time but allow me to travel through it," he said carefully. Eriol didn't look very much surprised but then he was very good at hiding emotions. Almost as well as Yue. "Travel through it," he stated, echoing his descendant. And he nodded slowly, getting the gist of it. "You want to get to Sakura before she gets taken." Xiao Lang waited to see how he would react to the idea. Eriol thoughtfully hesitated, hooded eyes stopping on his hands as he sat back down on the edge of his bed. "If you want my opinion, I would say you should first revive all the cards under your name, finish modifying the Lock Card and then think about modifying Time." He broke off, lips parted. "Time…is a very difficult card, Xiao Lang. You do realize that if you were to go back and save her, you would erase everything that has happened until now." The look on Xiao Lang's face told him exactly that. And then that look was taken over by another, a measured one directed at Eriol. "But you don't mind, do you," he whispered slowly, staring at his ancestor. "Right now you should be the one telling me that this is dangerous, that it's bad. But you're not going to say that, are you?" Eriol looked at him, a long careful glance. And then he smiled wryly, shaking his head. "I think, anything that comes of this can only be for the better," he replied and he faced the window in his room, looking out at the moonlight filtering in. There was a small pause. "Is it because of Tomoyo-san?" Eriol didn't reply for a moment, eyes locked on the moon. "It's because of Sakura's death," he replied quietly. "Because everything that went wrong after was due to Sakura's death." He shrugged after another tense moment and sighed. "I suggest you finish reviving the cards before you talk to Yue and Keroberos about this." Xiao Lang nodded to his profile and turned, heading toward the door. "Xiao Lang." He paused and turned his head slowly toward Eriol. And his ancestor was smiling now, faintly in the darkness. "I wish you the best of luck." Yue was looking the slightest bit suspicious. Syaoran slowly took a bite of his dinner and chewed, eyes lifting to the Judge once more. The Judge had been staring at him all throughout, arms folded across his chest. With an inward sigh Syaoran put down his eating utensil, wiped his mouth with a napkin and asked, "Still surprised I'm the Master of the Cards?" The Judge's expression didn't waver although he did cast a sideward glance at Keroberos who was back in Stuffed Animal Mode, tossing every single sweet on his plate down his throat. "Not surprised," he answered after a moment. "I just realized now that you revived all the Cards." Syaoran arched his eyebrows as if to ask 'So?' Beside him, Meilin reached over and picked out a piece of his dinner, eating it. "Syaoran spent the whole night doing it," she replied, chewing quietly. "He didn't come to bed." Tomoyo sounded like she choked further down the table, and Eriol sympathetically patted her back. Yue cocked his head, white hair falling down the side of his eternally young face. "Why risk them by being so reckless?" he questioned quietly. "Sakura suffered trying to do them all at once. What's the hurry?" Eriol went back to eating, eyes trained on his plate. Syaoran stared at the Judge. "I'd rather have them under my control should the Mage decide to come back," he answered with a simple shrug and he also turned his attention to his dinner. Yue stayed shut, turning his face towards the windows absentmindedly. Syaoran chewed for another few moments thoughtfully. His gaze lifted to Eriol and the dark-haired young man seemed to feel his eyes for he lifted his head and met his stare. He arched a black eyebrow wordlessly and nodded. Syaoran frowned at him. Now? Eriol nodded once more and then looked pointedly at Meilin who was reaching into his plate once more. Syaoran glanced at her, lips parting, and she stopped halfway to bringing the stolen sample to her mouth. She chomped down on it, looking down guiltily. "I'm hungry but not for a full dinner," she whined. Syaoran wordlessly slid the plate to her, gazing at her sadly. She frowned at him. "I don't want all that. And you have to eat to get your strength back," she said, sounding as if she were scolding him. She slid it back to him. "Here." And she leaned forward in her chair, resting her head on his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his own, bent on the table. Syaoran pressed a small kiss to the top of her head sorrowfully. Eriol was back to eating but he ate small bites, chewing slowly. Yue looked back towards Syaoran as if aware that he had a question for him. He arched a white eyebrow, his gray eyes blank, arms crossed in the usual position. "If I wanted to modify the Lock Card so that it was no longer a simple Lock but also a magical Lock, would that be possible?" he asked the Judge slowly, reluctantly. Yue's expression seemed to lighten the slightest bit although it was too far from a smile to be called as such. "Yes, it is quite possible," he answered quietly. Syaoran nodded, now just picking at his food. He lifted a bit onto his fork and held it out to Meilin who glanced at him happily before swiping it off the fork. "How about the Time Card?" he asked softly. Down the table Eriol and Tomoyo both looked up, Tomoyo looking the slightest bit confused. Yue shook his head at that, head bowing. "The Time Card can't be modified," he responded, leaning back against the window almost lazily. Syaoran felt his chest tighten. "Why not?" he asked hoarsely. Eriol looked from him to the Judge. Yue shrugged. "Because the Mage already modified it," he answered simply. |
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