2. Chapter 2 (1/2)

(a/n: i had meant to type this up a long time ago but kept putting it off. now trc seems to be rushing to its conclusion. i had better get to it!)

memories of the body

"you seem troubled," said the senior li syaoran to his wife. she was seated, looking out the window. "does it bother you so much that you don't recall the boy who calls himself syaoran?"

"i feel mostly sad for him dear. i know what happened, that he turned back time to save his own princess, wiping himself out from this world's existence and from our memories- his own father and mother! all the years that now never were."

mr. li syaoran smiled, carressing his wife's hair. after fourteen years of marriage, it still retained its sheen and

illiant colour. "so when the boys opened the door, what did you do?"

"i scooped them up and hugged them to death. both of them."

"yes, both of them, young syaoran as well as our kimihiro. you fussed over syaoran as if you'd known and raised him all your life!"

"speaking of kimihiro—he doesn't actually remember us," sakura said sadly.

"it's the same for him as for us: his body remembers. his tears don't lie. deep down, he knows that he belongs with us. if his memories are lacking, we'll just make new ones together," the elder syaoran turned and looked through the window, looking over the front garden.

a girl was walking down the path to the front door. he smiled knowingly and not without a little fondness.

the clone was not exactly lost, but he felt lost. perhaps he wanted to be lost. he shoould be getting back; doumeki would start worrying about him. ever since the wishing shop had vanished, its purpose accomplished, he had been staying with doumeki shizuka at his family temple/house. doumeki had looked surprised when he had asked to lodge with him. doumeki wouldn't say much, but likely thought he didn't belong there.

to the clone's mind, bent towards regret and guilt, it meant that the boy didn't want him around. little did he guess what doumeki actually thought where he should have gone.

the clone wasn't sure where he belonged. he didn't know what his original thought of him. after all, they had tried to kill each other at each previous encounter. and this new world made his head spin. he had gone running in the park trying to clear his mind, but that made him remember the training kurogane had obligingly given him before he turned rogue.

maybe i deserve to be alone, mused the young clone, whose name had been given as syaoran by his adoptive father, a world and an age away, in a land called clow. tired out, he sat on a bench. he tilted his head up, taking deep

eaths. it had been a good run. the late summer leaves were just starting to yellow at the edges, rustling in the

eeze. soon they would turn yellow, orange and red, falling like… a cloud of petals.

the young clone shuddered. how could he ever forget? sakura… princess. "no," he mumbled.

"no, what?" said the old man sitting next to him. syaoran almost jumped. the old man must have joined him while he was woolgathering. kurogane would have given him an earful.

"err, nothing really," he said, and then halted when he realized who he had been talking to.

"that's usually untrue," said old fujitaka kinomoto," but i won't dig in. would you like to have one?" he offered syaoran a can of fruit juice.

"fujitaka-san!" gasped the boy in confusion. then he stopped himself. this was not the same person who had adopted him. this man belonged to this world, father to this world's sakura kinomoto, and grandfather to this world's syaoran.

"ah so you know my name!"

syaoran saw the man's

iefcase leaning at his knee. lamely he pointed at the name in gold lettering.

"smart lad," the old man said putting the

iefcase at his side and pushing the drink into syaoran's hand (syaoran almost bolted). "there's nothing like a cold drink after a run. go on, take it."

"ah… thank you," syaoran's polite side resurfaced. he pulled a tab and drank. it really felt good.

"i haven't seen my daughter and son-in-law for a while. they moved away, you see. but now they're moving back into town, into their old place. they've invited me for some sort of reunion. somehow, you remind me so much of him." syaoran held very still. "i wish you all the best. take care!"

syaoran watched the old man totter away. he yearned to follow him, spill his heart to him, but… this man was not his adoptive father.

his adoptive father was now, in the restored continuum, the king of clow, father to clow country's sakura kinomoto. neither of them remembered now a clone who was a by-product of the spacetime anomaly caused when his original had wound back time.

in the restored time-line, his duplicate sakura had never existed. fei wong reed, retaliating at his creature's betrayal, had sealed away that timeline. the original and the clone had been returned to the earth where it had all begun, where the dimensional witch kept her shop. and fei wang made sure to restore the clone's memories, so that he would be plagued by conscience and guilt. having a heart culd be painful.

this earth was not the place where he belonged. he had nowhere to go. even yuuko ichihara's shop had moved on, its purpose here fulfilled. he was lucky doumeki had agreed to let him stay at his place.

then syaoran noticed that the old man had left his suitcase on the bench.

he had no idea where this world's fujitaka lived. he did know where the the original's li house was: yuuko had written it down in case he needed help of a magical nature. the old man was headed there.