Yui Miyamoto 
Author
Pairing
Rating
Subject
Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura isn't mine. It is by Clamp.
I don't
remember when and I don't remember how I had come to this park. It was peaceful
like all the others. But this one had sakura floating around as if they were
dancing beautifully to an unknown melody.
Tilting my head, all I could do was
watch patiently and quietly. But as one fell to the ground, I noticed someone
trying to catch it in his hands.
"If I ever have a daughter, I would
like to name her Sakura."
If I could, I would have said, "That is a very
beautiful name indeed."
If only...I could.If Only I Could
But I could not even lift my wing. A child had thought
it was funny to poke me by throwing rocks at me. So as the pebbles from the
passing river were thrown, I could feel the water and weight of the rock on my
back.
"Don't do that!" the man had shouted.
It was then that the
little boy's mother took him away and bowed towards the man.
There were
no apologies to me...
I was only a crane, ne?
I was stuck there not
knowing what to do. I had always just flown around with no one bothering me.
But now, I was helpless.
I wanted to cry as I saw my wing
bleeding a small stream with no way of helping it. It was so painful that I
couldn't even move.
"I..." the man started to say.
I looked up to
the young man from earlier. He smiled down at me and sat next to me for a short
while as he tried to pick me up without making it painful to me..
That
night, he attended to my wound. But as I sat patiently and quietly on the wooden
table, he went about his business of sitting at the other end of the table
looking at a newspaper. I tilted my head a bit in curiousity. I wondered what
was it that was so interesting. But since I was so tired, I fell
asleep.
When I woke up, I found myself on a pile of sheets in some basket
in his bedroom. I found it quite strange and yet I was very impressed by his
kindness. Most humans would have left me alone.
They usually didn't care.
What was a bird to them? But was I any different because I was a crane?
I
didn't think so.
The young seventeen-year-old man wasn't in his room. But
there I sat up and looked around the room. There were lots of books and some
gloves.
A laborer?
The house seemed kind of small, but it wasn't so bad.
It was kind of comfy and inviting. I liked the atmosphere very much.
"Good morning," he had said. Then, he dropped some bread crumbs in front
of me. "I've never had a crane before so please excuse me."
Then, he hit
his forehead. While laughing to himself and shaking his head, he commented,
"Gosh, I feel like I'm in a fairy tale. I'm the young man and you turn out to be
some mysterious, yet powerful entity."
He laughed to himself
again.
And that's how I lived for four days. He left in the morning and
came back occassionally to feed me. Then, he came back in the evenings to eat
dinner and feed me once more. After that, he would go read what I knew now was a
newspaper.
Though it was only four days, I was very happy. He was so kind
to me that I didn't even want to go. And what made it harder was that he always
smiled.
In this quiet abode where he lived by himself, he seemed content and
wanted very little. And for some reason, this made me happy. I liked his smile
very much.
I wanted to blend into that scene he had created for
himself.
So, on the fifth day, when he took off the bandages, he took me
back to the park and let me go. But I never forgot his kindness.
With that
alone, I didn't want to go. I hesitated to even fly away.
"I'll see you
again," he had said.
I'll see you again...
Again and again, I came
back to see him. But each time, he grew a little bit older. He would sit in the
park and I would come occassionally. He fed me bread crumbs like always and I
was satisfied with this.
But...
there was something different
everytime I saw him.
"You shouldn't mix with humans," one of the flock
had said, but I never listened. I wanted to see him more and more.
I
didn't understand people or what they thought or even how they felt, but...
I
wanted to become one.
Even for one time.
To live in a time where I
could actually say thank you...
Where I wouldn't have to go
away...
There are many in this world that don't believe in the
impossible. When they can't see it, they can't comprehend it. And magic had
always been that way.
I don't know how to describe it, but I knew I had felt
it that one evening...
A few months later, when I should have flown
elsewhere, I foolishly flew towards his direction. It was cold, but I had come
one full moonlit night.
And, for that one moment, I closed my eyes and
thought, "I...want to be human...just for him..."
Enveloped by the light,
somehow the gods had taken pity on me and I had become a beautiful human girl
kneeling in front of the lake with a white dress.
"Are you lost?" a
voice had said.
I was so intent on looking at my reflection that I did
not catch the voice the first time.
"Are you lost?" the voice questioned
once again.
I turned my head to find the man looking down at me
strangely, but still with that persistent smile that I loved.
"Yes." I
blinked my eyes.
He then laughed, "You know, I hope this isn't rude, but
I feel like I've seen you before."
"Really?" My heart began to beat
faster. In some distant way, he knew...that would be enough.
"My name..."
I looked around at moment.
I want him to know my name.
Remember
me.
White. "Yuki."
Then, I bowed and blurted, "I just wanted to
say thank you."
"Excuse me?" He blinked his eyes in surprise. "I don't
understand. I think you've-"
I shook my head and smiled. "You'll
remember. Someday."
Then, I ran away. He followed me but I had turned
back into a crane and hid in back of a tree.
When he stopped looking for 'the
strange girl', he went back home.
It was then that I grew sad and felt
heavy inside. As I flew away, I...
I would have cried.
If I only
could.
I could only watch, but I couldn't even touch you.
I am
thankful for that weird yet wonderful and painful moment, I shall never forget
it...
If I'm ever to be reborn, I hope that I will be with you.
I
hope that I won't have to hide and go away.
I hope that I will see your
smile again.
I hope that...
I can at least find you.
That will
be enough.
I'm sorry I will never see you again...
And I floated as I
closed my eyes while ice ran through my blood making it
cold...
Years later...
"What do you think his name
should be?" his daughter said to him. "We wanted you to name him,
Father."
Looking up at the sky, the now old man touched a piece of snow
that floated effortlessly to his palm. "Yuki...to..."
"Eh?" the woman
asked with her hand on her stomach.
"I mean, Yukito." He looked at her
while smiling and nodding to himself. "His name will be
Yukito.""...and that's the end of my weird dream." I
smiled at Touya. "I was the crane, but when I died I still watched over the man
as if I could protect him. He looked and looked for me but he could never find
me. And then, when he was about to die, he named his grandson
that."
Laughing a bit, I thought, "Could this be...?"
"But you
know what?" I said to Touya, "I feel like there's something right before me but
I'm not seeing it."
I tilted my head. "I know it's strange, but that's
the only way I could say it."
Nervously, I looked around. It was then
that I jumped off the swing I had being standing on and stood in front of Touya.
Taking off my glasses, I leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips.
"Thanks for listening."
Touya sat there for a moment blushing lightly.
Once again wearing my glasses, he got off the swing and we started to
walk home.
"I don't think it's so abnormal." He kept his hands in his
pant pockets and looked at the road before him.
His eyes...
He looked
as if he knew what was the secret sleeping inside of me...somehow...
"You
don't?" I then smiled even more.
He always understood...
He will
always understand.
He shook his head and smirked slightly to himself,
"But you know what, Yuki?"
"Yes?" I glanced at him.
"I think I've
heard this story before." He then tilted his head.
I looked at him
curiously as he looked up to the sky. As if the image of the strange man in my
dream were exact, Touya had reached out for a single piece of snow.
"A
long time ago..." he trailed off.
In some locked part of my mind and
heart, I felt a great relief inside of myself.
Then, in some recess of my
mind, this thought floated to the surface, "I was able to come back to
you."
"Did you say something, Yuki?"
I shook my head and
smiled happily. "No, nothing at all."
That's why I always smile. I am
so content.
Why? There are some things I can't understand myself. But as
long you're next to me, everything is all right.
I...
I cannot
describe it to you. This feeling...
It is more than I could ever say
to you, Touya.
---
Author's note: This is my first CCS
fic. ^_^v Touya has been a very very bad obsession. The only reasons I watch
CCS: Li-kun and Touya.
I was playing with the pun of "Yuki" and "to".
Separately, they mean, "Snow...and..."
But I don't know why, I was
picturing Yue, who was sleeping inside of Yukito. And in order to make such a
deep connection, I wanted a reincarnation story. And since my favorite childhood
story is the 'The Crane' (a Japanese folktale), I wanted it to be about
that.
Yui Miyamoto
Author
Pairing
Rating
Subject
