Sakura stopped at the bottom of the stairs. She glanced around if the coast was clear before starting to walk down the hall. She was embarrassed to let anyone see her looking like this. Tomoyo did her make-up before leaving her with Marisa to help her with her hair and to get into her gown.
Her gown was Tomoyo's gift for her and she loved it dearly. It wasn't tight from top to bottom like how most gowns are. This gown was tight around her breast down to her stomach, hugging every curve of her upper body. The cloth is made of expensive pink silk with beads clustered forming elegant shapes that glittered brightly under the light. From her waist down to her ankles, the cloth was now thinner and see-through which is why it had four layers of the same fabric but with different shades of pink, the darkest at the innermost and the lightest at the outermost layer. The part for the lower body of her gown was very loose and had a free feel to it, allowing her to move around. Sakura felt like she was princess of the fairies, having her tiara sparkle brightly on top of her elegantly pinned up hair.
'All I need now is a wand and a pair of wings' she giggled in the inside at the thought.
However, her thoughts were cut off as a voice spoke…or rather, shouted.
"Sakura!" Tomoyo exclaimed with more stars in her eyes than usual. Sakura sweat dropped as she turned to look at Tomoyo who started circling around her, focusing her video camera on her face then down her gown then up again. "You look…you look…"
"Beautiful" someone finished for her from behind Sakura.
Sakura's body tensed and her eyes widened at the sound of the voice. The voice which she remembered usually teased and annoyed her through out her childhood, the voice which chased away the guys who had gotten too close to her, the voice which comforted her when she felt upset and had no one to turn to, and the voice which made her smile and laugh whenever she felt miserable.
Sakura slowly turned around and came face to face with one of the most important people in her life.
"Touya" she whispered. A tear slid down her cheek as she stared at her older brother.
Touya smiled whole-heartedly at his grown-up sister as he watched a tear fall from her eyes.
"What? Don't I get a hug?" he said with a grin, stretching out his arms.
Sakura wiped away her tears and ran towards her brother and jumped into his arms.
"I missed you Onii-chan" she whispered near his ear, with great happiness.
"I missed you too, kaijuu" he whispered back to her.
Sakura couldn't help but smile at the childish name he used to call her.
"Sakura no kaijuu" she replied softly, hugging him more tightly.
Touya chuckled and hugged her more tightly as well, realizing that he really did miss his sister so much more than he thought.
"Ok, cut!" Tomoyo stated loudly with a dreamy expression, making the siblings look at her. "What? That was a very touching scene. I shall call this: 'The Siblings Reunite'. Oh, another addition to my collection!" she squealed, making Sakura and Touya cover their ears.
"Sorry to break this to you kids, but we must go meet and attend to the guests soon" Mona announced from behind the group.
Tomoyo looked at her and nodded.
"Sakura, we must go back up and fix your make-up" she said grabbing Sakura's hand, and then glanced at Touya. "We'll be right back, you can go ahead to the back, I take it Yukito, Nakuru and more other guests are there" she added with a smile.
Touya nodded at Tomoyo then turned to his sister. "Make sure not to break anything valuable on your way up kaijuu. I hear you're still as clumsy as before" he told her with a grin on his face.
"I-I won't" she muttered, eyes twitching at what he had just said. He patted her head lightly before walking down the hall towards the back yard.
"I can't believe it, he hasn't changed a bit" Sakura said furiously at Tomoyo as they walked up the stairs. "I may have missed him but he is sooo annoying!"
Tomoyo giggled following her down the hall, taping her every move.
*****
"Good evening to you all" Rika's voice echoed through out the grounds of the field, making all the guests who were talking animatedly hush down. "Welcome family, friends, colleagues and other guests to the birthday gathering and debut of a very important person to all of us. Some of us may see her currently as a sister, a friend, and even a child through some people's eyes. But some of you who have worked with her family but have yet to with her, in the years to come you may see her as a future colleague, a future boss or even as a future queen of all Japan if Japan isn't a Parliament, don't you agree?"
The people who were listening to her speech laughed at this.
"On a serious note, we all know Sakura as the girl with a jolly attitude up until now that she has become a lady with beauty and class. Now, instead of me boring you to death about this extraordinary seeming girl, I would want you to meet her personally instead. Finally, introducing and presenting to you all, Kinomoto Sakura"
Everyone clapped and glanced around in hope to finally meet and greet Sakura. Friends, hoping to see her as she turned into age of womanhood, some, who were much older than her, were just eager to meet the new member to the business society and most probably will be the one to lead them to success, just as her parents and ancestors have done.
Hearing a beautiful and peaceful melody, everyone turned around to see the once empty stage, occupied by a girl playing notes on the large grand piano with her eyes closed. Some of the guests smiled at her, loving the wonderful tune of the calming melody. Some were enjoying themselves as well but was curious as to who the lady was.
*****
Fingers pressing lightly on the keys of the piano, Sakura was on the verge of crying. This was the very first song she had learned to play, a song composed and taught to her by her mother since she was young.
She had stopped playing the piano two months after the incident occurred. She thought it would be pointless to continue learning when there was no one there to be proud of you.
The past few weeks however, she had been paying Rika visits at her house so she may use her piano to practice just in preparation for this occasion. She had told Rika to never reveal to anyone that she had resumed with playing the piano to keep it as a surprise to many.
She smiled as visions of her family and friends gathered together for her 15th birthday drifted in her thoughts. Sakura had composed her very own piece, dedicating it to everyone she knew in thanks for being there for her. In the end, everyone cried, loving the melody the song had erupted that seemed to have touched their hearts. That was the first and last time she had played her own compositions to an audience for they seem to react differently than she would've wanted.
Unaware of it, a tear escaped her eyes and landed on the smooth skin of her moving hands. People were watching her intently as she still continued with her song, noticing that she was lost in her own soft music.
*****
Knowing the song fully well, Touya noticed it was nearing its end. He opened his eyes and looked up at Sakura who gave away more tears until she played the final note. He sighed looking at his sister feeling his heart slowly breaking. He wasn't supposed to be allowed to come back to Japan anymore but he forced his way out of China. Plus he was supposed to deliver some news to Sakura but now found himself unable to do so. He looked away and found himself looking at his wife and love of his life.
"What's wrong?" Kaho asked him softly, seeing his troubled expression.
Touya smiled sadly and shook his head, holding tightly onto his wife's hand. "It seems I don't have the guts to break her heart…I mean, who would?"
Kaho sighed and looked back at her young sister-in-law whom she too cared for. Trying to remove her sad face, she stood up along with many others and applauded for Sakura when she stood and gave a curtsy to her audience.
'Okaa-san' Touya thought sadly while clapping his hands.
*****
Sakura patted her cheeks lightly to make sure her tears weren't that obvious. She mentally thanked Tomoyo for not re-doing her make-up too thick and for giving her pink-red eye shadow, now her eyes didn't seem unnaturally pink yet it was a little puffy.
She stood up from her seat and faced her guests. There were at most 150 people there and she doesn't even know half of them. She flashed the biggest smile she could muster at that moment and did a curtsy as they applauded for her. She waved slightly then led herself down the short steps to the grounds towards the doors to the house where her friends were waiting.
*****
"Sakura! Happy Birthday!" they all greeted in unison making sure she was near enough to hear them.
Sakura smiled at her closest friends as they gave each other hugs.
"Thank you so much guys. By the way, nice speech Rika. Who would've thought you had it in you" she said raising an eye brow.
Rika winked at her and grinned slyly. "Life is full of surprises, ne?"
"What are you thinking?" Chiharu asked accusingly, also raising an eyebrow at her.
"Oh this and that…nothing really" she replied innocently, looking over the crowd as they chattered away.
"Knowing you, it's never 'nothing'" Chiharu countered.
"Oh you know me too well" Rika said in mock exasperation.
Everyone grinned at this.
"So, what are you thinking?" Naoko asked her softly, narrowing her eyes at Rika who smiled.
"How's about we bust this place?" she answered as if it was nothing.
"This is your stupidest idea yet" Chiharu said, waving at someone from behind them.
"No it isn't, I just thought we could all go out and have a real party at a club when this is all over"
The girls considered this until someone interrupted them.
"Hello ladies" a sly voice said from behind them, making Chiharu smile.
"Hey" all but Chiharu replied, not turning around to look at him knowing full well who it was.
"You guys aren't fun at all" they all grinned at him. "Oh and happy birthday Sakura" he added to Sakura, taking her hand in his and kissing it softly.
"Thank you Takashi" he winked at her before taking Chiharu away to have their personal time.
The rest of the girls smirked, watched them leave before resuming their conversation.
"What do you say girls?" Rika asked enthusiastically. "I mean come one…you're turning 18 Sakura. You have to have the suitable party for your age"
"Technically, this is the suitable party for her age" Naoko filled in.
"Yah, for rich people" Rika replied with a tinge of annoyance in her voice. "I was talking about normal, average teenagers"
"Hmm…It's alright with me I guess. As long as we wrap up this party by 11" Sakura finally said.
"Well, I go wherever Sakura goes, so I'm in as well" Tomoyo spoke up.
The three girls looked at Naoko who had an unconvinced expression on her features.
"Oh alright, I don't want to be left out so I'll go"
"Great!" Rika squealed. "It won't be a problem to convince Chiharu if I get Takashi to go with us. We do need at least one guy to go with us"
*****
"I don't think she's one of them" a girl informed in a serious tone.
"How would you know? You barely had a look on her coz you left your damned post" her sister muttered.
Kimi scowled at her older sister. "Well, I wouldn't have thought of leaving my post if you had given me a better place to watch from"
"Kyoumi! Kimi! Will you two cut it out? I'm sick of you two bickering all the time!" Katsumi boomed at her sisters.
Katsumi Nayumi was the oldest of her sisters. Kimi was 19 and the youngest while Kyoumi was 22, just like her since as they were twins. Both of them were totally alike in every single way. One can only tell the difference by how they act. Katsumi acted like the big sister of the bunch, being very mature since as she was older than Kyoumi by one minute.
"It's not my fault! Kaye started it!" she said, pointing a finger at Kyoumi.
"Well, I wouldn't have started it if you weren't being stupid!" she said, glaring at Kimi.
"Enough!" a harsh male voice boomed, bringing total silence into the room.
The sisters all sat back down on their chairs and looked at him. Katsumi shook her head in surrender at her sisters' behavior. Kyoumi and Kimi sat in silence, constantly shooting daggers at the other.
"Look girls," the voice started, but this time, much softer "I wouldn't want you to fight each other just because of this. I just wanted you to check them out and tell me anything you know about them"
"Ok then Tsu," Katsumi started standing up as the man sat back down, looking at her, expecting information "The owner of the mansion is a girl named Tomoyo Daidouji, 18 years old" she filled in, looking down at the folder with papers in her hands. "She lives with her helpers Mona Tadaaki and Marisa Shizuya. Her mother lives outside the country but sometimes visits her"
"What else?" Tsuyoshi inquired getting impatient. He was hoping for more vital information instead of her life story.
"Well, she's almost graduating high school. There's nothing more interesting about her other than she's in a very wealthy family. Her mother helps develop new gadgets abroad but nothing close to artillery and new weaponry, just normal gadgets. We also saw another girl living with her, but I think she's just a friend of hers or something. She didn't look any more of a threat than the Daidouji girl. Both of them looked pretty innocent to be a member of the Wolves"
Tsuyoshi sighed at the last part getting annoyed. He had let his men follow the Wolves around whenever they are on the go at something out of the ordinary. They reported him to have snuck in the Daidouji mansion but he knew better than to think it was nothing. He let the Nayumi sisters check it out for themselves but it seems there really isn't anything there.
"You may leave then" he finally said. Just as they opened the door he quickly added, "But I want you girls to watch her and the girl she is with for anything new"
"We have to baby-sit!" Kyoumi yelled, not believing what he had just said.
Hearing no reply, Kyoumi stormed out of the room with looks that could kill. Her sisters walked after her, hearing her rant.
"Really! We're one of the best assassins and important members he has, and what does he do? Turn us into baby-sitters!" she yelled at no one in particular.
*****
"Rika, I'm sorry we didn't get to go out after my party, I hadn't expected it to last until 1 o'clock in the morning"
"It's ok Sakura, but you did agree so we should still go out sometime soon"
Sakura smiled at her friend. It was Monday afternoon and school had just ended for the day. She wanted to go home and rest, she was dead tired especially because of the Math subjects she had that day. Advanced Algebra and Trigonometry just didn't agree with her.
She sighed and packed her things in her back pack and headed down the stairs and across the grounds towards the main gate to find Tomoyo.
Standing by the gate, she hummed a soft tune while looking around at the people enjoying themselves, conversing with each other. She was totally engrossed in her own thoughts that she didn't notice someone walk behind her. Hands slid their way across her eyes, covering her vision.
Sakura stood still, trying to figure out who it was. She felt the person's hands and noticed it was too big and muscled to belong to a girl.
"Takashi?" she guessed, making the person chuckle.
"Nope, guess again"
"I'm too tired to guess, there are hundreds of guys in this school"
"Well, here's a clue, I'm someone close to you"
Sakura pondered on this, who else did she know was close to her? The only guy whom she was very close to was Takashi since he was Chiharu's fiancé and best friend. He was and still is the only closest friend she ever had who was a guy. Who else is there?
"Umm…I dunno. The only guy I know who is close to me is Takashi, and since you aren't him, then who are you?" she felt the hands loosen from her eyes at this. She turned around and came face to face with…
"Yasuki!" she gasped.
*****
"So far, the Kins haven't done anything since that explosion at the factory"
Syaoran nodded at this. 'What the hell is Tsuyoshi up to?' he thought, eyebrows furrowed.
"Well then, this meeting is over. Just tell me if anything new and important comes up" he emphasized the word since he didn't want to be disturbed by useless things. It had been a week since he saw that Sakura girl and her face was still fresh in his memory. "Damn it" he whispered to himself as he got up from his chair when everyone had already left. "Might as well go out for a smooth ride to calm myself" he muttered, going out of the huge mansion and towards the garage which was just as large.
Looking at all the expensive cars and motorcycles that were being tended to by several people he stood and looked through the cars to see what he wanted to drive. He went over to the key rack were hundreds of keys were being hung and organized according to its car type and the speed it can handle. He smirked and took the 6th one on the rack. He looked at the key then at the alarm which was chained with it, staring at the insignia of a BMW. He pressed the button for the alarm.
He walked over to the black Z4 3.0i BMW Roadster Convertible whose alarm echoed through the garage, making a few people look at him. He didn't usually use this car, it was Mika who usually used this one but hey, if he broke it, he could always by a new one, no big deal.
As he started the engine and slowly pulled the car out of the garage, he set off in a suitable speed under the speed limit, unknown to him the three black bikes following him not far behind.
*****
"Don't worry Sakura, he'll be gone before you know it" Tomoyo assured her.
Sakura and sighed at what she said. Yasuki had been paying her unwanted visits for the whole week and she didn't like it at all. The Sumiya family was close to her family mainly because of business. Yasuki's parents and her parents constantly sought each other for help when it came to businesses. This was the main reason she met Yasuki in the first place. She and Yasuki had been friends since they were kids, along with Tomoyo and then Yasuki wanted Sakura more than just friends, but Sakura didn't. He hadn't stopped bugging her until last year when he had to move out of the school for college. She was glad at this but now wondered why he was back, she didn't want him to be there and bother her again.
Walking along the sidewalk in silence, Sakura and Tomoyo enjoyed their Friday afternoon on shopping. They stopped when they saw very familiar faces.
"Rika! Naoko! Chiharu!" Sakura shouted over the chatter of several people around them.
Form across the street, the three girls whirled around and smiled at them as they waved the duo over.
"Sakura, I'm just gonna go get something from this shop. You and the girls can wait for me across the street. I won't be long"
Sakura nodded as her friend walked into the shop behind them. Seeing no cars in sight on the silent road, Sakura crossed. Not paying attention to where she was going, she bumped into someone and dropped her shopping bags on the road.
"Watch it" the lady hissed at her before she moved on, leaving Sakura to pick up her things.
"Gomen na sai" she called out to the lady who walked off hurriedly away from her. "Geeze" she whispered, picking up the last of her bags and heading over to the girls who walked over to her, looking worried.
"Are you alright Sakura?" Naoko asked.
"Hai, it was nothing" she assured. "By the way, we have to wait for Tomoyo. She's gone to buy something for awhile"
The rest of the girls nodded at this but stopped and listened, hearing sirens go off far from them but getting nearer. Sakura on the other hand was rummaging through one of her shopping bags in search for something. The sirens were getting louder and the girls were wondering what it was about. There was no signal of smoke in the air to be a fire truck, so it must've been police sirens.
"Where the heck is it?" Sakura whispered to herself, now looking through her purse, oblivious to the loudening sound of sirens.
*****
"Damn them" Syaoran hissed, seeing the three bikes behind him. "Why can't they leave me alone?"
He speeded up the road and left the bikers to catch up. He smirked and turned around several corners, leaving them to figure out where he went. Glancing at the rear-view mirror, he raised an eyebrow seeing the flashes of red and blue light.
Seven police cars were on his trail.
"Here we go again" Syaoran muttered and relaxed in his seat, as he floored the pedal, making him speed faster, the police cars trying to catch up.
*****
Sakura looked around the sidewalk in search for the little blue box. Her eyes strayed towards the road where she dropped her shopping bag, and there the box lay, unscathed. She sighed in relief as she walked towards it.
"Sakura! Get off the road!" a voice called out in front of her shouted.
She looked up and saw Tomoyo at the door of the shop looking frantic and pointing down the road. Sakura turned her head to where she was pointing and saw a black convertible car speed up towards her, followed by several police cars. Her eyes widened at this and everything after that happened so fast.
*****
"Oh shit" Syaoran said, seeing the very familiar girl who was standing in the middle of the road.
*****
Tomoyo looked at the sight in front of her as the car came closer to Sakura who was just looking at it...
...and then everything was black.
Tomoyo fainted.