storypaint (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
storypaint) wrote2006-08-30 01:12 pm
storypaint) wrote2006-08-30 01:12 pm
[Cardcaptor Sakura] Her Own Star (Fujitaka/Nadeshiko)
Title: Her Own Star
Fandom: Cardcaptor Sakrua
Length: 820 words
Prompt:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
30_lessons: 4. Astronomy or Astrology
Pairing: Fujitaka/Nadeshiko
Other: Precanon.
Excerpt: The rest of the hospital was quiet and dim and when he climbed the stairs to her room he found himself almost holding his breath so as not to break the respectful silence. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before he went into the room, some part of him still caring what he looked like to her, even though he knew she didn't care.
"What brightens the darkness?" the card said to her, and Sakura said, "Light!" The word shone in the blackness and the card said to her sister, "She is the girl whose heart I could live in..."
~
The rest of the hospital was quiet and dim and when he climbed the stairs to her room he found himself almost holding his breath so as not to break the respectful silence. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before he went into the room, some part of him still caring what he looked like to her, even though he knew she didn't care. The birth had been hard in the dark of the night and they were both worried about what the doctor had told them. A possible irregularity, the man had said carefully, in her womb, but the baby had been delivered well and there was probably nothing to worry about.
They had named her Sakura, just like Fujitaka had wanted. The night they found out they were pregnant again he had dreamed, which he did rarely, and he had dreamed of cherry blossoms and a little girl's laughter. Nadeshiko had loved the idea.
He wondered if she had fallen asleep yet. The nurse had taken the baby to the nursery for the night, and Nadeshiko had looked so ashen and weary. She had lost more blood than he remembered with Touya, but she looked so peaceful that moment that they put her daughter in her arms. Sakura had stopped wailing almost immediately and opened her eyes. They were green, a beautiful deep green, and Fugitaka suddenly had another woman in his life that he loved just as much as his wife. He had held her while the doctor and nurses cleaned up the bed and his wife, and then the nurse took the baby and he went downstairs to the cafeteria (thank God for all-night hospital cafeterias, he had thought, until he'd tasted his lukewarm coffee, anyway) to get some water for Nadeshiko. He figured she'd probably fallen asleep.
As soon as the door creaked open, however, she opened her eyes and smiled at him. Without her pregnancy bump she looked so frail and small. Her legs were like sticks. He was starting to wonder quietly if this irregularity in her body was really a bigger problem than the doctor had told them. Who would tell a woman on the day that she gives life to another that her own might be cut short?
He pushed the thoughts away and went to Nadeshiko's side. She took the water bottle gratefully, her expression that of contentment. They wouldn't talk about her health tonight.
"Is it still dark out?" she asked him, yawning. He reassured her that it was and that she had plenty of time to sleep. She had to stay the night for observation, after all. She shook her head stubbornly, shooing his good intentions away, and asked him to open the curtains. Fugitaka shrugged and did as she asked. Her room faced away from the well-lit parking lot to the undeveloped, unlit properties beside the hospital. The world was dark but the sky was scattered with bright stars. He'd never seen it so monochromely beautiful.
"It's like someone punched holes into the velvet cloak of night and let the light of Heaven through," Nadeshiko said dreamily, and he nodded in agreement. He took her hand in his and they stared out the window, lost in awe. Finally she lifted her and and pointed, wincing a little as she pulled on her IV.
"That one," she said, pointing to a small star on the edge of their vision, which twinkled brighter than the other stars in the area.
"What?" Fujitaka said, confused.
"That's going to be Sakura's own star," she said serenely, resting her hand on the bed again. A drop of blood eased itself free from her IV and slid onto the sheets. Whenever he thought of her illness later, he always thought it as beginning here, illogical as it was, with that drop of blood on the new white sheets. She fell asleep with a sigh not long after that, but the staff found them both in the morning wide awake as the sun rose, the curtains flung open as though obstructing nature's beauty was a sin. Sakura left with them that afternoon, into the noisy sunshine she would grow to love. There would be a few more sunny days left for Fujitaka and Nadeshiko, a few sweaty cool nights, and several long days of rain. Then he was alone. But nothing really dampened Sakura's spirits as she grew and shone with the light of her own star.
Perhaps, he thought one day as he watched her speed down the sidewalk after her brother, like she always did, the best gift we gave her was that little light to shine valiantly in the darkness.
Fandom: Cardcaptor Sakrua
Length: 820 words
Prompt:
30_lessons: 4. Astronomy or AstrologyPairing: Fujitaka/Nadeshiko
Other: Precanon.
Excerpt: The rest of the hospital was quiet and dim and when he climbed the stairs to her room he found himself almost holding his breath so as not to break the respectful silence. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before he went into the room, some part of him still caring what he looked like to her, even though he knew she didn't care.
"What brightens the darkness?" the card said to her, and Sakura said, "Light!" The word shone in the blackness and the card said to her sister, "She is the girl whose heart I could live in..."
~
The rest of the hospital was quiet and dim and when he climbed the stairs to her room he found himself almost holding his breath so as not to break the respectful silence. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before he went into the room, some part of him still caring what he looked like to her, even though he knew she didn't care. The birth had been hard in the dark of the night and they were both worried about what the doctor had told them. A possible irregularity, the man had said carefully, in her womb, but the baby had been delivered well and there was probably nothing to worry about.
They had named her Sakura, just like Fujitaka had wanted. The night they found out they were pregnant again he had dreamed, which he did rarely, and he had dreamed of cherry blossoms and a little girl's laughter. Nadeshiko had loved the idea.
He wondered if she had fallen asleep yet. The nurse had taken the baby to the nursery for the night, and Nadeshiko had looked so ashen and weary. She had lost more blood than he remembered with Touya, but she looked so peaceful that moment that they put her daughter in her arms. Sakura had stopped wailing almost immediately and opened her eyes. They were green, a beautiful deep green, and Fugitaka suddenly had another woman in his life that he loved just as much as his wife. He had held her while the doctor and nurses cleaned up the bed and his wife, and then the nurse took the baby and he went downstairs to the cafeteria (thank God for all-night hospital cafeterias, he had thought, until he'd tasted his lukewarm coffee, anyway) to get some water for Nadeshiko. He figured she'd probably fallen asleep.
As soon as the door creaked open, however, she opened her eyes and smiled at him. Without her pregnancy bump she looked so frail and small. Her legs were like sticks. He was starting to wonder quietly if this irregularity in her body was really a bigger problem than the doctor had told them. Who would tell a woman on the day that she gives life to another that her own might be cut short?
He pushed the thoughts away and went to Nadeshiko's side. She took the water bottle gratefully, her expression that of contentment. They wouldn't talk about her health tonight.
"Is it still dark out?" she asked him, yawning. He reassured her that it was and that she had plenty of time to sleep. She had to stay the night for observation, after all. She shook her head stubbornly, shooing his good intentions away, and asked him to open the curtains. Fugitaka shrugged and did as she asked. Her room faced away from the well-lit parking lot to the undeveloped, unlit properties beside the hospital. The world was dark but the sky was scattered with bright stars. He'd never seen it so monochromely beautiful.
"It's like someone punched holes into the velvet cloak of night and let the light of Heaven through," Nadeshiko said dreamily, and he nodded in agreement. He took her hand in his and they stared out the window, lost in awe. Finally she lifted her and and pointed, wincing a little as she pulled on her IV.
"That one," she said, pointing to a small star on the edge of their vision, which twinkled brighter than the other stars in the area.
"What?" Fujitaka said, confused.
"That's going to be Sakura's own star," she said serenely, resting her hand on the bed again. A drop of blood eased itself free from her IV and slid onto the sheets. Whenever he thought of her illness later, he always thought it as beginning here, illogical as it was, with that drop of blood on the new white sheets. She fell asleep with a sigh not long after that, but the staff found them both in the morning wide awake as the sun rose, the curtains flung open as though obstructing nature's beauty was a sin. Sakura left with them that afternoon, into the noisy sunshine she would grow to love. There would be a few more sunny days left for Fujitaka and Nadeshiko, a few sweaty cool nights, and several long days of rain. Then he was alone. But nothing really dampened Sakura's spirits as she grew and shone with the light of her own star.
Perhaps, he thought one day as he watched her speed down the sidewalk after her brother, like she always did, the best gift we gave her was that little light to shine valiantly in the darkness.