My Husband’s Wedding
Witch-Mistress-Animaru
A/N: I’m pissed off. No, that’s not the word. I’m disappointed. (To self: What did you expect?) Why? Because all the other fics are — well, to be honest, flops. In my opinion, that is. I’m not expecting them to be great, but I was hoping I could scrape a few more reviews. Otherwise I might decide to delete all of them (As if anyone listens to your threats, silly). I don’t know what the problem is; the only thing that keeps me going is the stats of the fics I posted. Many people seemed interested enough to visit them, but not interested enough to leave a review or two. Why do you think I’m saying this? Well, I’m doing some serious, shameless plugging to you guys: (Actually it’s more like begging) Won’t you please, please visit my other fics, try your best and understand them, then be so kind to leave a single review? Namely Chasing after Love, Finding Love, Gangster’s Paradise (An M, by the way), Fated, Stolen Moments and Beloved Enemy? I’m begging you; I’m losing my touch in writing when my creations yield depressing results. I don’t need you to tell me it’s great if it’s really crappy, but I just want you to say something…anything. I’m hoping you can help me out. Please? Pretty, pretty please? Help me out…I’ll try my best, I swear. Since this fic is drawing to an end, I’m thinking of uploading its sequel soon. Help, guys. Help. I’m depressed and disappointed!!! (Somebody give me Prozac or call the funny farm, ha-ha) (Now we’re cutting to a commercial.)
Thanks to the reviewers of the last chapter (Who hadn’t dropped by my other fics to do the same…Yeah, I’m bitter, I won’t hide that. You noticed all the side comments? Ha-ha.), namely:
Lyr (Chapter 16), rukz, JennyKim319, secret24, ffgirl-07, miz-anonymouz04, ruler of all evil, kianvelez, firegoddess372, anime-lover-forever2007, sasuke fanatic1, Filipina-baller09, ImmortalSoull, Strawberryz, bubuchacha, yukyungtang, syaoran143sakura, Elisandra1, eesul, Nightmiko, Animefreakkagome, ori-chan, VcChick, cherrylove05, Kawaii-CherryWolf, kaipanther, Lil LoveStar, meow-mix23, SakuraLover, MistressMizu, Kawaii Tenshi no Hikari, PinkCherryBlossomCutie, cherriblossomxz, Boheme, Lyphta, teenureen, liloazngurl03, syaoran101, pollyhi5, thereviewergirl, SacredBlade, MizUnapporachable, and miyu.
Last call (beg): Please read and if review my other fics if you can. Once more, the stories are
Beloved Enemy – it’s about Syaoran avenging his mother’s death which he blames to Fujitaka Kinomoto. His means of revenge is to hurt his daughter. He meets cheerful, sunny Sakura and falls for her, not knowing that she is the girl he swore revenge against.
Chasing after Love – Now, this one here is an SSET quadrangle. Namely: Sakura the nerd chasing after heartthrob and player Li who, unfortunately, cherishes a secret passion for Tomoyo, Sakura’s popular and pretty best friend who loathes Li and crushes on nerdy Eriol, who doesn’t like Tomoyo one bit and is pining after his best friend Sakura who has eyes only for Li. Talk about complicated!
Fated – This one’s set on a kingdom-like Japan, with the Lis ruling it, and pigheaded Syaoran as the Crown Prince. His stepbrother Eriol is soft-hearted but Syaoran isn’t. He loves to see chaos everywhere, being a reluctant and heartless prince. This drives Sakura and Tomoyo away to another place where they become successful women. But Sakura is intent on making the prince pay and teaching him a lesson he won’t forget. Only, she didn’t know that her heart would be at stake when she finally has the chance to hurt him.
Finding Love – (Now, this one is among the crowd favorites, why the hell didn’t you check it out?) This is about successful writer Sakura who decides to write a novel based on her own story, and in the process, she is forced to return to Tomoeda, where it all began. Thus, the inevitable happens: Meeting old friends, fiends and enemies, particularly a single jerk: Li Syaoran.
Gangster’s Paradise - This was rated M for a reason! There will be fight scenes, blood and everything! Lemon, I’m not sure yet, but certainly I could place lemon here. What you can consider a dark fic, but not really. About orphaned agent Sakura intent on stopping gang wars and underground communities from flourishing. Problem is, she begins to fall for her mortal enemies, the gang lords of two deadly associations. One, of course, is Li Syaoran. The other is a man named Kenji Hayaku.
Stolen Moments – This story originated when I read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, particularly the memory bit on Merope Gaunt and Tom Riddle Sr. Sakura is a poorer-than-poor peasant in the Li kingdom. Then one day, she gets to meet the prince in the worst circumstance possible. He laughed at her, ridiculed her, made fun of her in front of his oh-so-Royal visitors. Yet, she was still attracted to him. She loved him. But then, he was betrothed to a congenial princess of another kingdom, Tomoyo Daidouji, whom Sakura had befriended the summer before. Then the kingdom was plunged to war because of a rebel by the name Kenshin Ayuhara. The prince lost his memory and well…Sakura…uh, let us say that she ‘abducted’ him and gave him a new name and left the kingdom to go to another place, hoping he will finally love her this time. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not giving away the whole plot!
Please help me with them. Thanks!
Another thing! A grave mistake last chapter, the “big sister” thingy, I should really just have stuck with Big Sis, Kaho-san or “Ate,” (That’s big sister in Filipino, folks, Tagalog to be precise.) or “Manang” (Visayan for big sister.). Anyway all apologies to you, and for the people who took notice, I thank you for correcting me. At least I didn’t stay ignorant of that fact.
Note to self: Big Sister in Japanese is onee-san or onee-chan, okay, not oniisan!!! Got that, huh, self? Now quit babbling or I’ll have to say you really are losing your touch! (Told you I’m going crazy.)
On to the next chapter!
Last Chapter’s final scene… (Other than the crazed Keira bit, okay?)
It was now ten minutes past midnight.
Sakura was not asleep at all. Her eyes were swollen and puffed. She had been crying again. Her dreams had been punctured by nightmares and ghastly thoughts. She stared out the open window, and saw a car parked in the darkness. She frowned, but dared not look closer. It looked devastatingly familiar…
Syaoran’s car…
I must be hallucinating…
The clock struck 20 past midnight.
A car screeched to a halt in front of Touya Kinomoto’s residence.
Syaoran frowned thoughtfully, and he alighted from the car in time to see Touya and Fujitaka step out of the cab.
Sakura stared wide-eyed at the scene she witnessed below.
Father…oniichan…
…Syaoran…
Kaho was startled by the sound and opened the door to investigate.
Touya and Syaoran were eyeing each other intensely, sizing each other up.
The silence that surrounded them was awkward, evident, and crackling with tension.
And it must be broken soon.
23: Confrontation and Admission
For a moment, everybody had frozen in the scene.
There was no sound save for the light rustle of the leaves of the cherry tree in the garden.
The next thing that happened took place so quickly that nobody prevented it.
Touya moved swiftly and in a second he was in front of Syaoran. He seized his brother-in-law by the scruff at the neck and punched him straight in the nose.
“You baka! What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” He took hold of Syaoran who wasn’t even wasting his efforts fighting. “YOU’VE—GOT—THE—STINKING—GUTS—TO—COME—HERE—AFTER—WHAT—YOU’VE—DONE—TO—MY—SISTER?” Touya roared, his fists flying all over Syaoran’s face, chest, and just about his whole person.
Sakura stood frozen in place, and then she heard her sister-in-law shriek downstairs. Wasting no time, she rushed downstairs, hoping that Kaho will be able to rein in her brother’s lovely temper.
“Touya, please, don’t!”
“Son, if you kill that boy —”
“BOY? This stupid, worthless jerk who happens to be my brother-in-law?” Touya said incredulously, and he suddenly seemed to regain sanity as he dropped Syaoran to the ground (The honest term would have been ‘thrown bodily’), eyeing him with distaste. Sighing heavily, “But you’re right, Dad, this one’s not worth going to jail for.” He spat on the ground.
“Why don’t you fight back, huh, dumbass? Give me a reason to break your neck! Stand up! Fight like a man!”
“Touya, please…” Kaho rushed to his side, but he was already picking up Syaoran who was actually…crying?
“I won’t fight back, oniichan.” He said in a voice barely a whisper.
“You won’t?” Touya said, incredulous. “What’s this, what’s this crap, Li? And since when have you called me oniichan?” He said, eyeing Syaoran suspiciously.
“I don’t want to add more in my tab of what I owe you…or Sakura.”
“What do you mean?”
“Haven’t I given you enough reason to kill me?” He whispered, then to everybody’s amazement, Syaoran broke down and cried. “Haven’t I caused enough damage to begin with?”
Touya was taken aback. He stared at the sniffing, defeated form of Syaoran and felt his anger ebb away.
After a while, Syaoran stopped crying. He wiped his eyes gently before standing up.
All eyes were focused on him and nobody saw Sakura standing frozen on the doorway.
“Well…this was pretty embarrassing…I admit…But, yeah, it’s true, so I’m going to allow you to beat the hell out of me.” Syaoran shuffled at his feet, careful not to make eye contact with anyone…anyone.
“Nah.” Touya said suddenly, his eyes glinting. “I think someone else should do that. But let me do the honor of introducing you…”
“…To your father-in-law.” Touya was absolutely grinning now. Wise old Fujitaka Kinomoto always managed to intimidate any guy he meets.
“Touya, don’t be hard on him. He’s suffered too, I believe. How do you do, son?” Fujitaka took a stride forward, his eyes watering. “It seems like it is a dramatic night, don’t you think? I’m sorry we met only now. But I do have a few questions for you, young man.”
That was when the four of them turned to go inside and saw Sakura, who had fainted at the sight of Syaoran and his bloodied nose.
“Sakura!”
“My baby!”
“Squirt!”
Touya, Fujitaka, and Syaoran all had spoken at the same time before rushing to Sakura’s side. Kaho can’t help but smile. The three really had a soft spot for Sakura.
“Oh my God, what happened to her?”
“Overwork! It has to be overwork! Or stress perhaps!”
“It doesn’t matter, we need to carry her — place her somewhere comfortable, I think — I’ll carry her.” Syaoran kneeled over Sakura and carried her bridal style to the couch, before either Fujitaka or Touya can move.
Once Sakura was propped on the couch, the three men circled her worriedly. Touya was checking her pulse. Fujitaka was feeling her forehead and neck. Syaoran was holding her hand, squeezing it tightly.
“Is she all right?”
“I think she is!”
“Oh, baby, wake up…”
“Uh…won’t it be better if you three step away from her? You’re crowding her.” Kaho said, suppressing a giggle. Men can really be boys sometimes, she thought.
“Oh…yes, you’re right, hon, of course. You — boy, step away from my sister, now!”
It would have been all hilarious if Kaho did not see Syaoran’s state.
”She’ll be all right, don’t fret. We need to tend to your nose, Xiao Lang, it's bleeding. Hello, sir,” she said cautiously.
“Is she your wife, Touya?”
“Yes, Dad, she is. Sweetheart, this…uh, Dad, her name’s Kaho…You remember her? She, uh, used to be a grade school teacher in Tomoeda...”
“Hello…sir…” She repeated, slower this time.
“Oh, please call me Dad. And…well, it’s a bit late to say this but…”
“…Welcome to the family.”
After a moment, everyone busied themselves with work. Kaho tended to Syaoran's nose, which appeared to be broken (A/N: Ouch!). Touya began applying an ice bag on Sakura's forehead while Fujitaka took the smelling salts from the medicine cabinet.
A few minutes later, Sakura stirred. Everyone but Kaho rushed to her side, a worried frown on their faces.
"Hoe?" She slurred her favorite expression of surprise out as she stared at the unsmiling face of her father. "Otousan? Oniichan!" Her gaze fell on her husband and she looked away quickly, heat rushing to her pallid cheeks. "What...what happened?"
"You fainted, squirt," Touya said grimly, eyeing her with immense tenderness in his gaze.
Realization dawned in Sakura's emerald eyes.
"Oh! Yes...I remember now, well..." Then she stood up abruptly, gazing at Syaoran. "Are you all right?" She stepped forward toward him and began checking him up. Once assured that Syaoran was all right, she rounded up on her brother.
"What were you thinking, oniichan? You could have killed him! If you did...if you did..."
"Hey! How about the things he did to you? That baka is lucky that I didn't kill him!" Touya's temper flared once again, sending a fierce glance toward Syaoran.
"Enough. Touya, calm down." Fujitaka's voice sounded weary. "Your sister is big enough to know what's good for her."
"So you trust my judgment now, don't you, Dad?" Sakura's voice quavered with emotion. "Why the sudden change of heart? Keira suddenly disappeared from the picture, huh?"
"Sakura..."
"No, you listen to me, because I'm done with listening a long time ago — six years ago, to be exact, when you threw me out!"
"Sakura!" This time it was not Fujitaka who spoke up, but Touya, his eyes were fixed on Sakura reprimandingly. Fujitaka's eyes were glued on the ground, tears were very near from leaking out of them.
"What? Brother...Oniichan, don't tell me you forgot what I was forced to endure..."
"I suffered too." Fujitaka's voice was thin with tension and hoarse with trying to rein in his emotions. "Maybe you won't believe me, but I suffered too."
Sakura stared at her father, then back to her brother, who only eyed her warningly.
"You did?" She whispered. "I don't believe you."
"I didn't think you will. But please, give me a chance...it could mean everything, Sakura."
"You refused to give me a chance then, Dad. Why should I give you one now?" Her eyes began to water as she turned accusing eyes to her brother. This is all his fault. He brought Dad here, she thought desperately.
"It was a clear mistake, Sakura, as I found out earlier tonight...please don't make the same mistake..."
For a moment, Sakura only looked at Fujitaka. Then she nodded, feeling all her anger ebb away as she stared at the broken man that was her father.
"I don't know how I should start...But I must say it all begins...and ends, I must say, with my second marriage..." Fujitaka's voice floated clearly as he explained the things that had bothered him for more than a decade.
Meanwhile, Keira continues to travel from the far end of Tokyo. Her eyes continued to have that crazed look, and she kept her clutches on the small hand pistol she carried on her bag. Her eyes darted from side to side as she hailed a cab.
She rummaged through her handbag for money but found none, not even a spare change.
She smiled evilly as she pulled the pistol from her bag.
"Now, now, I don't want things to get nasty, mister, so..." The driver turned towards her, horrified, as she pointed the gun to his right temple.
"...just drive."
"...And I didn't know...I didn't want to believe Keira, but there you are with her boyfriend when I got home. That alone strengthened my resolve to keep an eye on you. I...I didn't know that she was the one I'm supposed to keep an eye on...I didn't." Fujitaka's eyes were positively swollen now. Sakura looked straight to her father's eyes. There was a lump in her throat as she hugged her father.
Touya was positively beaming beside them both, while Syaoran cleared his throat uncomfortably. Hearing all Keira's manipulations and deceptions now, he felt less terrible with himself. The four turned to him questioningly, father and daughter breaking away from each other.
"Er..." he started, faltering as discomfort gets the better of him, "Sakura...I...can I talk with my wife alone?" He said, gesturing helplessly with his hand.
Touya was about to object when Kaho held his hand and shook her head. She led her husband away to the stairs and Fujitaka followed suit.
"I...I'm sorry," he sputtered, not meeting Sakura's eyes. "I have no right...to intrude in your life again. But I can't live without you. I love you, no matter how you deem it otherwise."
She just remained passive, eyeing him with cool assessment.
"Please, this is hard for me, too...I...I'm to blame, but not all of it. See...I believed Keira when she told me that you were cheating on me."
This time Sakura's gaze sharpened as she eyed Syaoran.
"It...she had...evidence...I..." He was very agitated, pacing the floor to and fro. Then without another word he swept her to his arms and kissed her. Sakura was surprised and she gently pushed him away.
"I can't speak of what I feel. Now I know she must have...faked it all. Oh, I was such a fool. What's computer for, anyway?"
"Can't you see? So many years have been wasted because of Keira...I..."
This time Sakura smiled.
"I...never stopped loving you, too...How you broke my heart back then, Syaoran-kun..." She blushed scarlet as she hugged him.
"Do you...can you forgive me of all the terrible things I've said and done? I'd go down on my knees if you want me to..."
Sakura shook her head. "There's no need...I believe you. Where's Xiao Chen, by the way?"
"He's already asleep, I couldn't bring him."
"Oh...but, you know?"
"What is it, darling?" He held her close to his heart, stroking her auburn hair absently.
"I'm not yet through with my stepsister. She's...done too many things that hurt me, and I could forgive that, but not when she hurt Xiao Chen."
"I...I think so too, Sakura, but please...allow me to handle it?"
"Iie, it's my battle, Syaoran-kun, and not yours. I have to do it; I won't be able to forgive myself otherwise."
After a few minutes they called the three upstairs. Fujitaka is very excited for morning to come; he was going to come and see Xiao Chen. Touya's animosity for Syaoran had not lessened one bit, and everything was back to normal. Or so it seemed.
They were all preparing to go to bed when a car screeched to a halt in front of the place. Nobody paid much attention to it.
Keira alighted and the terrified driver drove away. Unbeknownst to her, the cab went directly to a the nearest police headquarters. But then, nothing much mattered to Keira anymore. She saw shadows move inside the house. She aimed her pistol at the window.
And fired.
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