Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction / Tokyo Babylon Fan Fiction ❯ The Bet ❯ Visiting Dad ( Chapter 3 )

The Bet:

Chapter Three

Disclaimer: Tokyo Babylon and Card Captor Sakura do not belong to me, and I make no money from this work of fanfiction at all.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Touya muttered, as he and his little sister stood outside the door of their old house.

"Dad will be happy to see you," Sakura sighed, crossing her arms in a pout. It had taken all of her persuasive skill- along with Yukito's as well- along with the Little Sister Begging Eyes of Doom to get him to come here. She was afraid it still might not be enough- he looked like he was about to bolt any minute.

Yue was now standing behind them, watching Touya warily- Sakura had given him orders to grab her brother should he try and run- but considering that he was empowered with magic, that was problematic.

His master knocked on the door gingerly, wondering what her father would be like this morning. He would drift in and out of sanity, sometimes being almost normal, to forgetting to bathe for days on end. She had tried, when it had started, to take care of him, but all her efforts had resulted in frustration. Quite simply- her father hadn't wanted to be helped. She hoped that seeing her brother alive would bring Fujitaka back to himself.

After what seemed to be an eternal pause- the door cracked open. The eldest Kinomoto didn't see the person behind his daughter, and smiled down, vaguely, at his child.

"Sakura," he whispered tiredly, his voice a bare ghost of itself.

"Hey, Dad," she smiled up at him, but it didn't reach her eyes. It was clearly one of her father's 'bad days'. He sported about a week's worth of beard, his clothing was rumpled, and his face was both pasty and oily.

"Dad," she said slowly and stepped to the side. "Touya's here."

There was a slow blink as the elder man looked up, his eyes starting from Touya's shoes, moving up his body, to his chest- and then his face.

"You aren't here," he murmured, resigned. "I see you so often, along with Nadeshiko. It's just a dream. I dream about you so often, Touya. When I dream, you didn't die. Nadeshiko didn't die. We're all together, and happy…"

Sakura swallowed hard and looked away. Behind both Kinomotos, Yue shifted his weight uncomfortably. It was hard, to see any part of Clow acting like this.

"I'm here, Dad," Touya said back, swallowing hard and moving forward, taking his hand. "I couldn't touch you if I was a dream, could I?"

"Touya?" the ill man muttered, incredulous. Abruptly he stepped backwards and slammed the door in his face.

The sound of the door impacting on its frame echoed throughout the neighborhood, and the three people on the doorstep were frozen in surprise.

Yue finally broke the silence.

"I think… that could have gone better."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Inside the house, Fujitaka Kinomoto sagged against the door, eyes wide and breathing like he had completed a thirty mile marathon.

"Why?" he whispered, and he looked over his shoulder to see his wife's ghost, angelic as always, sitting/floating over the couch.

"Why didn't you tell me he was still alive?" he spoke painfully.

"Because," she paused, and looked away. "Because, his body breathes, his heart beats- but he is not alive. No more than I was."

"Nadeshiko, I don't understand," he begged with his eyes.

"I hope you never have to," she gently sighed. "You never knew your own son, Fujitaka. I loved you with all my heart, I loved our children, but you never knew me. We both wanted you to be happy…"

"Tell me, please."

"No."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Why hasn't anyone tried to get him help?" Touya asked, his voice too calm, as Sakura chewed on her fingernails as they walked away from their old home. Yue continued to trail behind them- dressed in modern clothing, very fashionable because Tomoyo had dressed him, but still modern clothing. He had, since going to college, been using 'participant observation' to learn about normal mortals. It was an anthropology thing. Yukito would titter in his head whenever Yue brought it up- to which Yue would reply that he didn't understand people either and at least he was doing something about it.

This brought Yue back to following his mistress. He had refused to get a haircut, but did have it looped around his belt so that it didn't trail on the ground. The moon guardian was uncomfortable to say the least- he was in unfamiliar clothes and was also walking next to the tall, imposing form of Touya, who would brush against him ever so often, causing him to blush. Being fair skinned already... This was bad. It didn't help that Touya was smiling into his eyes again, and now he was putting a hand on his shoulder- it was a very warm hand, soaking through his sweater and button down shirt...

"So, when's the wedding?" Sakura realized getting their attention was going to become a habit. It surprised her that it was Yue, though, who was off in sugar-dreamland.

"W-wedding?"

"I still have to convince Yukito and Yue to leave Kero-chan for me," Touya mock sighed, pulling his hand from Yue's shoulder to cover his heart.

"I'm sure we can," Sakura nodded emphatically, crossing her arms. The silly bantering was already lifting her sagging spirits. She just couldn't stand seeing her father like that. "It had been a tragic one night stand that got Kero-chan pregnant. He's not that far along- maybe we can ask him to get an abortion?"

"No," Touya, mournfully, disagreed. "I could not ask that."

"S-stop that! Mistress- I am NOT marrying Cerberus, he is NOT baring my child so I don't have to leave anyone for Touya-san!"

"OH!" Sakura perked up even more. "So- this means we can start planning your wedding?"

The beautiful moon guardian just gaped like a stranded fish.

"Oh, then there is nothing to stand in our way, Yue-san!" Touya put the back of his hand to his forehead, overdramatically. It then dropped to cover his heart. "We can be together." Just as quickly, he snatched both of Yue's hands and looked deep into his cat-like eyes.

"Do you think I'm sexy?"

"T-TO-YA!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Why are you here this time, Eriol-kun?" Tomoyo, polite as ever, had invited the young/old sorcerer and the Li Clan Head to her home for tea while Sakura went to visit her father.

"Why, Tomoyo-san! Isn't it enough that I want to spend time with my friends?" Eriol looked hurt. The ash haired young woman smiled at him, not believing a word. Eriol sighed- the way this young woman saw through him was unnerving.

"I'm here, because something is going to happen soon. I don't know what- just that it will. I can't dream the future anymore- something I am grateful for. However, I would be a poor sorcerer if I couldn't sense portents- and a BIG one is coming."

"Ah," she said softly, staring into her tea. These deep pauses were getting rather too heavy for her liking.

Tomoyo looked over at her other guest, who was sitting beside Eriol, not touching his cup of tea.

"We've been getting the same ones in my Clan," Li said, voice dead. "I ran into Eriol, who had been using our magical library- we've expanded since Clow was alive- and we both decided to see if there was anything at all that we could do about it. We think its tied in to who and how Mizuki-sensei died- so we're going to investigate while we're here."

Tomoyo didn't say anything.

"We don't too attract much attention- that's why I left Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun at the hotel. I know," Eriol put his hand up to forestall the incredulous exclamation of Tomoyo's. "They are under strict orders to behave themselves. Nakuru can leave any time she feels like it, but she can't molest Spinel Sun. Actually- I hope she doesn't, despite the risk of cabin fever. Her power is great, but what we are looking for is powerful, cunning and ruthless."

Their hostess shifted in her seat. She could feel the feeling of doom hanging over them like a great cloud, and her intuition was tingling.

"You think it has something to do with Touya-san resurfacing?"

Eriol nodded, while Li shuddered.

"I have NO idea what Kinomoto-san coming back has to do with anything," Syaoran sighed, and started absently cracking his knuckles. It was a nervous habit he had acquired. "I can't feel any new powers around him, like before he gave them to Yue."

"I don't think he would lie about this," Tomoyo tapped her finger on her chin. "Yet I could tell he wasn't telling everything. He's very good at covering for himself- but I hoped I was being paranoid. Sakura-chan has been so sad since Touya-san left. She needed all the good news she could find."

"Maybe we are just being paranoid?" Syaoran replied- and the intensity of their conversation was broken by the sudden shrill of the phone.

"Excuse me," the graceful young woman got up and walked to the other room. Eriol and Li could only make out a bit of the conversation, when Tomoyo returned, holding a bit of paper.

"That was a new job for Sakura-chan," she smiled. "It seems there has been many accidents at the MCC cooperation's new water front construction. Many people have died there," she frowned at that. "The workers think the site is cursed. They want Sakura to investigate."

Eriol blinked- he hadn't realized Sakura had gotten that well known.

"Do you think she would need our help?" Li looked at Tomoyo, concerned.

"Oh, no!" Tomoyo laughed it off. "This sounds like a typical job, actually! We've handled harder cases than this before! You two need to be looking for what happened to Kaho, ne?"

Li looked like he was about to protest, but Eriol nodded. Tomoyo would never let anything happen to her precious Sakura-chan, and so if she said Sakura could handle it, well, she could.

"We'll be on our way," the mage said, getting to his feet, taking Tomoyo's hand and kissing her knuckles, while Li looked on, scandalized. "We don't want to get you in trouble with your mother for coming over unannounced."

"Oh," Tomoyo's ever-present smile turned brittle. "There's no need for that."

Li had just bowed to her and both young men had turned towards the door. They twisted back to look at her.

"Why?"

"She died two years ago."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"MCC Cooperation?" Sakura blinked, not watching where she was going as she and Tomoyo strolled down to Touya's clinic. The young sorceress' eyes were glued to the paper with the details of her job.

"The president called me earlier. You can call him from Touya's place when we get th- Sakura-chan! Watch where you're going!" Tomoyo barked suddenly, pulling her friend out of the way, before she could stumble over the large wolf-like dog that had just limped out of Touya's office. The gray animal turned and growled at her, before its owner put a soothing hand on its back. The owner, a young man, stared at Sakura apologetically, before turning sad eyes to the dog.

"I'm sorry!" Sakura apologized profusely, bowing over and over again, as Tomoyo watched her darling Sakura-chan be adorable.

"She'll be fine in a few days," called a voice, and Touya walked from clinic door. "It was just a deep scrape with a slight infection," he told the boy, and knelt to scratch the dog's ears. She accepted the caress regally.

"Thank you for helping Duchess," the boy murmured, before leading the dog away.

"You are much better with animals now, To-ya," said another voice from inside, and Sakura stopped blushing long enough to grin at her Guardian.

"Yuki! You're here! And before Tomoyo and me!" she giggled and put her hands on her hips, before wagging a finger at him.

"Now, you really don't want to lead up to the same situation that made you have to get married to Kero-chan! What would happen if you became pregnant?" she looked indignant. "We'll have to start planning the wedding early!"

Tomoyo looked a bit lost but giggled anyways, seeing Yuki's face turn red immediately. Touya sighed.

"No, we haven't done anything to risk Yukito getting pregnant," he held the door open for Sakura and Tomoyo as they entered. "Myself, on the other hand…"

"TO-YA!"

"Seriously though-" Tomoyo interrupted. "Sakura-chan has an appointment this afternoon with the president of the MCC cooperation." At Touya's inquiring glance, Tomoyo shrugged. "I take all the calls for Sakura's cases. It makes a good camouflage. People look to me first, and see my company, and don't look much farther."

"Ah," Touya nodded in understanding. Too much understanding, in Tomoyo's opinion.

"She slices, she dices, she runs her company AND takes calls for me," Sakura shook her head in admiration, before heading to the phone. "Can I use this?"

"Her company?"

"Yeah, Sonomi-san died a few years ago," Sakura sighed and shuddered. "It was… bad."

"How?" Touya blinked, putting a wealth of meaning into that word. He then gestured that she could use it.

"Heart trouble," Tomoyo interrupted shortly. She was twiddling her fingers- she did not like this topic.

Yukito cleared his throat. "Will Sakura be needing myself or me?"

Touya blinked again.

"No, it sounds fairly standard," Tomoyo sighed in relief.

Sakura had just gotten off the phone- and turned to beam at Yukito, mischievously. "Meanwhile- you and Touya can go on a date! Just don't get Touya pregnant," she sniggered.

Yukito was turning extremely purple, before suddenly changing forms to Yue. However- it should be noted that Yue was not doing much better than Yukito.

"He ran!" Yue was incensed!

"I didn't know Yukito could do that," Sakura blinked.

"I didn't either!"

"Well, since Yukito left, YOU can take Touya on a date and get him pregnant," Sakura grinned. "That's an order from your mistress!"

"SAKURA-SAMA! THERE'S NO WAY I CAN DO THAT!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sakura stood, dressed in one of Tomoyo's more business-like creations- save for the elaborate draping and lace spilling over her hands and skirt- in front of one of the massive, half built skyscrapers across Tokyo. A crowd of workers mulled around, and Sakura wondered where her contact was. The president had said he would meet her there this afternoon- but he was a no-show.

"Well, he probably IS a busy man," she said aloud, and looked around. Turning a corner- she stopped dead when she found an ambulance having a stretcher lifted into it- a stretcher with a body bag.

"Excuse me," she asked timidly to a nearby uniformed policeman. "What happened? Is President Tanaka around? Did something happen to him?"

"I'm afraid Tanaka-san kept his final appointment," said a tall, grizzled detective, looking over at her, and then gesturing to the ambulance. Sakura's eyes widened and her hand covered her mouth in dismay.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That was how Sakura found herself standing in front of an almost young man in a power suit. He was propped up with a crutch under one arm, but that did not detract from his posturing as a cool, calm executive. Had Sakura not previous experience with people like this- her own great-grandfather and Sonomi- she would have been intimidated. As it was, she recognized his bluff for what it was.

"Odd," the business suit clad man murmured, bored. "You are not what I expected a witch to look like." He did not offer his name.

"I'm a psychic investigator," Sakura replied, stressing the last two words. Let him take from that what he would. "I would like to continue to investigate what has been happening here."

"I," the man said, "while saddened by the loss of our great president, am grateful that this afternoon's accident rid this company of a very superstitious man. We can move boldly now, into the future. Don't worry," he sounded condescending now. "You will still be paid. It just isn't your business now."

There wasn't much that Sakura could answer with- so she bowed stiffly and left.

That didn't mean she was just going to leave this alone. No way in hell.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What did you think?" she asked her purse, which was open enough to let Kero-chan, in his plushy form, stick his head out.

"There was definitely something more going on than what that man said," the Sun Guardian said, voice serious. "I sensed great spiritual power in him. It was like," he tried to find a word for it.

"I don't know what it was- but we'll have to keep looking into this," Sakura muttered, reaching into her purse to find the Jump card, and walking into an ally to circle back and wait for nightfall. If there were people dying around here, hell, she would take this job for free.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"It's been a while since I've been to Ueno Park," Yue said softly as Touya and he walked through the fall trees. The reds and oranges and browns of the leaf carpet crunched beneath their feet, the sweet smell of moldering leaves drifting up with their steps. Weak sunlight filtered through the trees. The whole scene had an unearthly feel to it.

Touya suddenly snapped his fingers. "I'll go buy us some obento, and we can have a picnic," he smiled slyly at Yue. "Will that make your mistress happy, you think?"

The silver Moon Guardian gave Touya a long-suffering look. "I would do anything to protect my Mistress. I would do anything she tells me to, so long as it is possible. I suppose that means going on a date with you."

"Good!" Touya brushed by him, and Yue was grateful the taller man was looking the other way- because he flushed warmly from the contact.

He still has that effect on, even after all this time, Yukito commented, with a mental sigh. Yue shifted his attention to his feet before answering.

Now that we are aware of what we feel for him, was all Yue could reply with.

We're nowhere near as oblivious to our own feelings now, Yukito murmured. But then, you did that on purpose to keep from getting attached. Though it didn't work.

Give me a break, will you? I was still getting over Clow, and I thought if I didn't feel attracted to someone LIKE THAT I wouldn't get hurt.

Yue shifted his weight and started walking, distracting himself with finding a nice picnic spot.

Yukito's tone tasted of irony. We got hurt anyways. He didn't mean it though. Living means getting hurt.

All right, I was wrong, Yue bitterly told his other self, even as they approached an enormous tree. There was a brief tingle on his pale skin- and the moon Guardian stopped, looking up at the most enormous cherry tree he had ever seen. Its blossoms were a deep blush pink, especially for the usually pale Sakura. Yet the most bizarre part was that it was blooming at all- it was late fall!

Standing transfixed, he could feel pain and fear undulate in waves from the serene tree as it wept petals. The ground was littered with them, more so than the fall leaves he had previously been walking on.

//Kaho dead on the ground-

-someone with blood all over them-

"Lets make a bet."//

Yue couldn't move. He could only feel the brands on his palms flare with pain.

"Yue?"

He was still trying to figure out who was looking at him, blood dripping…

Drip, drip, drip…

"YUE?"

"Touya-san," Yue swayed, nearly falling over as the larger man caught him.

"Are you all right?"

Yue looked back up- and the tree he had been staring at for so long was nothing but a normal, barren fall tree, waiting for spring.

"I was just thinking," Yue tried to cover his lapse. "I was thinking that… Sakura are beautiful in spring."

Touya smiled faintly at him, and sat down on one of the boles of the tree. "They are. Do you know what makes them so beautiful?"

Yue didn't answer, but sat beside him on the ground as Touya handed him a bento box.

"Sakura are usually as white as snow, as white as the moon. Then a jealous emperor, who did not like the color, decided that a fallen warrior should be buried under each one. The tree's roots consume the blood of the samurai, turning the petals into that lovely shade of pale pink."

Yue looked at Touya, shivering despite the heavy sweater he was wearing. That tree he had seen… it was so pink. How many people had it consumed?

"It's the wrong season for ghost stories," Yue looked away.

"Who said it was a ghost story?" the young vet opened his box and started eating. Yue did the same… but he had no appetite. Nor could he stop shivering.

To be continued!

A/N: Thank you, Tam Chronin, JJ and everyone who helped me with this!