Disclaimers :
I don't own Sakura Taisen

My other fanfic...please enjoy and R&r! Special thanks to everybody who have read my first fanfic, and certainly to Mark SYNTHESIS and Zauriel, who have encouraged me to write again with their reviews...

Velvet Road

*1953*

"You want to do what?" asked Oogami to his twenty-four years old son, Taro.

"I've said to both of you, Dad and Mom, that I want to ask for the hand of Eddie," answered the young naval officer firmly.

"Eddie? You mean Edelweiss, right?"

"Yes, Dad. I want to marry Edelweiss, my teammate, my youngest sister's best friend, my childhood neighbor, Aunt Maria's daughter."

"Have you thought about it seriously?" asked Sakura.

"I'm serious, Mom. I'm now twenty four, and Eddie is almost twenty three. We're mature enough, I think. Would you two please give your permission?"

Oogami and Sakura gazed at each other mysteriously. "We must talk first, Taro," said Oogami distinctly, "would you please give us some privacy?"

Taro nodded, than stood up and walked out of Oogami's office.

Sakura took a deep breath and walked closer to the big window. "Our son is matured already," she said, almost sadly.

Oogami smiled and looked at his wife, as he remembered the time their son was born. "Life must go on," he said, calming the sad Sakura, "now, it's Taro's turn."

"You remembered his first steps that brought him to us? It feels like it had just happened."

Oogami sealed Sakura with a warm kiss. "It's been twenty three years since that," he reminded.

"But, for me, he's still my little son, playing that colorfull ball with his father and his younger sisters, when I sewed his torn clothes," said Sakura softly, as she held her husband's shoulders and pressed her chest against his back.

"I know that this is a bit painful, since both of us love Taro very much," Oogami whispered, "but, we must let him get his own happiness by made his own family."

"He'll soon followed by Tanpopo. Then, by Suiren. And, after that, we'll be alone."

"We won't be alone," said Oogami, "they'll always be here...inside our hearts."

"Our heart," corrected Sakura, while she turned to Oogami and shared a passionate kiss with him, as their memory took them back to their twenties.

***

*1928*

"Wha...what?" asked Sakura surprisedly. She walked closer to Yoneda's desk and took the letter which was on the table, before Yoneda could opened his mouth just to forbid her.

Sakura read the letter, then fell down to the floor on her knees. "Why...why?!!!" she started to cry bitterly.

"That is what your mother wrote, Sakura," said Yoneda clearly, " she really really wants you to go home and meet your soon-to-be husband."

"He's actually not my soon-to-be husband!" screamed Sakura, while her tears started falling down on her dress. "He's just a boy from somewhere in the earth, whom I don't even know! Yoneda-shihainin, please do anything...anything...just to change my mother's mind!"

"Don't be selfish, Sakura. Your family actually had arranged that since you were thirteen."

"But they didn't tell me about that!!!"

"You like or you don't like, you must go home on January ninth. Now, you can leave my office."

Sakura stood up and raised her head. Her eyes, full of anger, sadness, and lacked of hope, met Yoneda's eyes, which was filled with mysterious glance. "I hate you! Hate you!" screamed her, while she threw the letter to the floor and ran out of Yoneda's office, sobbing and weeping.

Yoneda smiled and took another letter from his pocket. "It's your turn, Oogami," he said victoriously.

He didn't realize that two women were inside the room beside his office, breathless and sweaty.

***

"What do you mean by 'Yoneda-shihainin gets mad-crazy', Maria?"

"I mean that he is actually getting mad and crazy," replied Maria. Her usually calm face turned pale and panic.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, Orihime," the shocked Maria answered, "he have just tortured Sakura, and he'll soon torture our Taichou."

"How do you know?"

"I was sitting inside the new meeting room, which is beside Yoneda-shihainin's office, talking with Kaede-san, when I heard Sakura screamed and cried, and after Sakura ran out of his room, he said that now is Taichou's turn."

"Bad news!" said Orihime, as she stood up, almost jumping, "let's tell the others!"

***

Meanwhile, Kaede was walking quickly down the street, reaching the nearest public phone.

She put in some coins, then pressed someone-we-know-well's personal number. "Hello?" answered a woman's voice.

"Hello, Sumire," replied Kaede, "listen to me. I don't have much time."

"Calm down, Kaede-san. Now, tell me what have happened."

"Yoneda-shihainin is getting crazy."

"What?! Have you got a psychiatrist?"

"We don't have any courage to do that, and, that is not the only problem."

"So, please tell me the other problems."

"I can't tell them in a place such as this. It will be Tokyo's biggest scandal if somebody had heard them. So, please visit us as soon as possible."

"I'll visit you immediately!"

To be continued...

Author's notes :

I don't know if my second fanfiction will be better or rather worse than my first...so I hope you'll give me some reviews. I promise, if you like this story, I'll soon send the next chapters, and you'll soon know all the threads that formed the velvet...