storypaint | For the Better (Eriol/Sakura)

Title: For the Better
Length: 1189 words
Prompt: cardcaptorgifts for claire_chan: Write a Sakura/Eriol fic based around Eriol expressing his gratitude to Sakura for splitting his powers with Fujitaka.
Pairing: Eriol/Sakura; Touya/Yukito; Tomoyo/Meiling; Fujitaka/Nadeshiko; past Syaoran/Sakura mentioned; past Eriol/Kaho mentioned
Other: second-person POV, stream-of-consciousness
Excerpt: On birthdays you remember that people change, but you hold your head high and only your husband notices your quiet moment of reflection; you can't get anything by him, nothing at all, and you've ceased to try (he should know all of you, your body and mind and soul and heart).

On birthdays, you're always reminded that things change, people change, you changed. It is his fault of course (that you remember this), and you're captured in a thought; eleven years ago (May 10, exactly, at two p.m., your mind recalls, your brain a traitor because you don't really want to remember, not that much) Syaoran had stood in this very living room (how much you wanted to move after that, your traitor of a brain reminds you) and told you that you'd changed too much, he'd changed too much, and that was that.

On birthdays you remember that people change, but you hold your head high and only your husband notices your quiet moment of reflection; you can't get anything by him, nothing at all, and you've ceased to try (he should know all of you, your body and mind and soul and heart). He knows why you're sad and his hand tightens on your shoulder, just a little, in comfort.

"Happy birthday!" your father says cheerfully, and you break into a smile without even realizing, and so does your husband. You smile the most of any couple, your husband often jokes; strange, considering your history, the relationship built on the ashes of two others that were supposed to have lasted forever (but people change, but people change).

"Thank you, Father," you say and the warmth of your smile slides down into your heart and lives there. You never see him enough, this man who has made you smile for all your life, even when your mother was gone and he couldn't see past the pain. And there is your brother, and Yukito, standing in the doorway behind him, and the warmth threatens to burst your chest with happiness.

"Happy birthday, kaijuu," Onii-chan says sourly, and you grin at him. His mean words can't hurt at your birthday, and besides, Yuki is giving him that look that means Touya will have to be extra nice today, or he'll hear about it later. You grin and walk eagerly into the house, pulling your husband in behind you; your fingers are laced as always (you can never stop touching him, it seems, his hands, his face, his cheek: you love him too much to let him go, no matter how things change).

The party is wonderful and Yuki tells you about the children in his class this year; he is teaching first grade over at Tomoeda Elementary; three days of class and he already knows the children all by name. (By the end of the year, you will too, and their likes and dislikes and foibles, because you love Yuki-onii-chan and he loves his students.) Your father has retired now and is eager to listen to tales of students not his own, and you leave Yuki and him to talk and settle onto the couch next to your brother and your husband.

They are talking about something dull, stocks and business, and your husband is listening, rapt, to one of Touya's theories, one you find incomprehensible. Still you sit with your husband's hand in yours and nod, because showing solidarity is important to you. People change, but that just means that love should change along with it. You understand that now.

And twenty minutes late here are the guardians, whom you all have been holding the party for: Nakuru and Kero and Spinel tumbling through the door one after another in their false forms, adding a silly argument and proud smile to the gang. You and your husband rise to greet your family; Nakuru's arms wrap around you first and you smile, satisfied, and don't regret not having children, don't regret making Nakuru and Spinel your children too. You need nothing more than these people here who make you complete: your father, brother, brother-in-law, your husband, guardian, and his guardians-- and of course, sweet Tomoyo-chan, who enters on the heels of Nakuru holding a special birthday cake and smiling sweetest of them all.

Hugs all around and everyone talking at once; the warmth in your heart threatens to spill itself in tears across your face. You've been so hormonal and teary lately that you're starting to wonder if in fact there will soon be a new member of the family, but you're keeping that thought to yourself until you know for sure. It's just that you've been so happy lately, even Nakuru can't keep up with you. Everything is perfect, changing or the same.

Last week Tomoyo had made a cheesecake for your husband's birthday; this week she hands you a warm chocolate tart that smells divine. Eventually the crowd migrates into the kitchen and your birthday is officially celebrated with toasts and grins and hugs all around yet again. (You just can't help it-- you hug the people you love, right?)

The evening is spent in pleasant conversation, in games of Go Fish which Nakuru always manages to lose to Yue (these games have become legendary, as has Yue's poker face, and yet Nakuru always vows to win again next time). You and Tomoyo have a discussion about her dress shop, newly open, and Tomoyo's girlfriend, who is in Hong Kong this week to see her family (your heart stops and you think Syaoran is there, but the thought only lasts a moment) and you feel sorry for sweet Meiling, and tell Tomoyo that you hope Meiling will be home soon. Touya pulls you aside to demand your age and tell you that you'll always be a kaijuu to him; wryly you mention that his hair is beginning to gray and you may have to start referring to him as your wise old brother. That makes him quiet, makes you laugh.

Somehow the evening winds down to a semblance of quiet; Nakuru and the guardians have left to go home before you and your husband. Touya and Yuki don't stay much longer, since they have to work tomorrow, and Tomoyo offers everyone cake to take home and then she goes too. It is just you and your husband and your father now, in the home where you grew up and still feel safe and happy. It seems so much bigger now then it did when you were a child, and you lose yourself in nostalgia for a moment. The room goes quiet and then, there--

Your father looks up in a certain way and a wind blows through, bringing the scent of nadeshiko blossoms. He breathes your mother's name and you do begin to cry, because everything is perfect...

"Thank you," you whisper in your husband's ear, "for giving up your power," at the same time he turns to do the same, to thank you for splitting his magic, and you almost bump foreheads and it makes you giggle.

"Thank you," he says, kissing your forehead, and the eyes behind his glasses are loving (not fatherly, because people change and he is one of them, you know). Quietly you two slip away, leaving your father with your mother, and as you walk to the car, you slip your hand in Eriol's and breathe a sigh of joy.

It has been a wonderful birthday.

For the Better (Eriol/Sakura)

(don't care if I've commented before)