The final chapter! Yay!

It was a chilly evening with clouds beginning to close in on the beautiful pink and red sunset that decorated the sky.
Things were peaceful throughout the country with no unusual disturbances. The only disturbance that night was running around the house avoiding his mother.

Dimitri had just turned five and as usual there was a celebratory ball being held. Unfortunately he was much like his mother and tried to avoid anything he didn't like-and balls happened to be one of those many things.

The child stopped as he came up to a dead end and looked around quickly. He spotted the front door open and made his escape quickly. Sakura shouted after him and groaned. Her feet were tired and she was exhausted from chasing her son down all afternoon.

She chased after him out the door and past Syaoran who was busy talking with Tomoyo, stopping to look either way. Dimitri had turned right, so she headed off after him. How he was so quick she didn't know.

Spotting his mother he quickly scrambled up the nearest tree with ease and sat on one of the higher branches. He was light, so the branch wouldn't break anytime soon.

Sakura came to a stop beneath the tree and sighed. There wasn't anywhere for him to go unless he had climbed something; there was a fence but she doubted he'd climb over into someone else's yard. He knew better.

Then she looked up and sure enough sitting among the higher branches was Dimitri.
"Come down-that's dangerous." She said.
Dimitri didn't move and she bit her lip nervously. She hoped he hadn't injured himself on any of the branches-he had the same illness as she did and it would take longer for his cuts to heal compared to a normal child.

"Dimitri, please." She begged.

He scowled and started making his way down-as much as he hated social events, he hated seeing his mother worry more. Dimitri jumped onto the grass when he was low enough and Sakura picked him up, carrying him back to the house.

Syaoran looked up as they walked back through the gate and gave his son a look of disapproval.
"How far did you get this time?" he asked.
"Not very." Dimitri replied.

Sakura carried Dimitri inside and to his room before setting him down on his feet.
"Are you going to behave?" she asked.
He nodded unhappily and she sighed with relief. "Alright-go and play in the lounge until we call you-and don't run off anywhere."
Dimitri quickly disappeared out his bedroom door and downstairs to the lounge, passing his father who had just walked back into the house.

Syaoran walked up the stairs to meet Sakura and smiled. "Tired already?"
"I've just spent half an hour chasing our son down." She muttered.
"Hopefully he'll grow out of it."
"Or he'll just get worse as he gets older." Sakura sighed.
Syaoran tried not to think too much about that possibility. "I'll go keep an eye on him."
"Much appreciated."

He headed back down the stairs and into the lounge room where Dimitri was flicking through one of his picture books again. At least he hadn't run off.

Sakura walked out dressed in a hunter green coloured dress with lace capped sleeves and her locket sitting neatly around her neck.
"Ready to go?" she asked.
"Yeah. Dimitri, we're going now." Syaoran said.
"Have a good night." Dimitri mumbled.
Sakura stared at her son for a full minute before Dimitri finally looked up. Syaoran picked him up and carried him out of the house while Sakura locked the door. Tomoyo stood in wait, smiling, and escorted the family up to the castle.

The large hall was crowded and there were royals and nobles everywhere. Dimitri clung to his father for dear life, refusing to leave. Sakura smiled as other noble women spoke with her briefly before disappearing back into the crowd.

A familiar pair of faces appeared through the crowd and made their way over to them. Chii smiled cheerfully at the small five year old, "Happy birthday Dimitri-you've grown."
"T-thank you." He replied shyly.

"Di-mi-tri!" a soft voice the sound of bells came from behind Chii and Lirio poked her head around.
He muttered something under his breath only to receive a sharp glance from Syaoran who set him on the floor. He hid behind his leg but Lirio took his hand. "You shouldn't hide at your own party-it's rude. Let's go!" the young blonde princess smiled and dragged him away unwillingly as he complained.

"Well now that that's taken care of, let's see what happens." Sakura smiled.
"He still doesn't like parties?" Chii asked curiously.
"No, he doesn't." Syaoran replied.
"Well if he's anything like you, he'll get over it by the age of ten." Chii smiled.
"You mean we have to deal with this for another five years?" Sakura groaned.
"What-been chasing him around all afternoon again?" Fai asked.
"Yes." Sakura muttered unhappily. "And there they go…"

Dimitri ran from Lirio, ducking around guests and skidding around tables. Lirio chased after him relentlessly while the other kids just watched with fascination. Dimitri jumped over a table while Lirio climbed underneath it, refusing to let it deter her, and she finally got close enough to pounce on him.
Dimitri span around quickly holding one of the pies and tossed it at her-it hit the side of her face and it's contents spilled all over her dress as she had no time to dodge his messy attack. They bowled over into one of the nearby tables causing a very loud ruckus-plates crashed to the floor along with silverware and glass. Everyone stared.
Dimitri groaned.
"Right-you two have caused enough mess for one night." Syaoran said as he hauled Dimitri to his feet. Chii did the same with her daughter.
"He started it-"
"-she started it!"
The two children shouted over each other.
"I don't care who started it. Look." Syaoran pointed at the mess they made. Tables were scattered, there was food everywhere and chairs overturned and glasses smashed.
All of the guests were utterly horrified.
"You can both help with cleaning up the mess. Be careful with the glass." Syaoran said.
Dimitri opened his mouth to complain but stopped as he realised it wasn't a fight he was going to win. He and Lirio walked off to help the castle maids clean the awful mess they had made.

"Well that was quite an event."
Syaoran turned to see his mother and sighed. His father on the other hand was trying to keep a straight face and not laugh.
"They're just like you and Chii were." Rena smiled.
"I wasn't that bad…" Syaoran muttered.
"Oh no-you were worse."
"We were not!" Chii protested.

Sakura and Fai walked over to join them. "Well they've made a fine mess." She said.
"I bet once they've finished cleaning they'll do it all again." Fai said.

"Please no." Chii cringed.
Sakura laughed.

Dimitri put the last of the glass in the rubbish bag and looked over at his parents who were talking with Chii and Fai. His grandparents were with them as well.
Lirio tugged at his arm, signalling for him to go with her, and they slipped away unnoticed.

The party came to an end and many of the guests had left, but Dimitri and Lirio were nowhere to be found. Sakura and Syaoran were busy chasing down their son while Chii and Fai chased down Lirio.

Dimitri slid around a corner and spotted Syaoran who was only seconds away from spotting him, so he turned and fled back the opposite direction. Syaoran spotted him disappearing back around the corner and chased after him. Even though he was taller and could easily catch up to Dimitri in seconds, Dimitri was smaller and could slip through narrow gaps a lot easier.
"Dimitri!"

Dimitri kept running. He looked over his shoulder to see if anyone was pursuing him and was relieved to find there wasn't. He ran through the mud in the gardens and back up to the castle where his parents were waiting patiently.

He skidded to a halt and turned to get away from them but he wasn't fast enough. Syaoran picked him up quickly before he could go anywhere and Sakura sighed, turning to see Chii and Fai carrying an unhappy Lirio.
"Will you be heading home now?" Chii asked.
"Yes. What about you?" Sakura replied.
"We are too. Thank you for inviting us." The blonde smiled.
"Thank you for coming."

They headed their separate ways home. Sakura unlocked the door to the house and Syaoran carried Dimitri up to the bathroom to draw him a bath before bed.
Sakura followed after them after locking the door behind her.

Dimitri complained as he had the dirt washed from his hair and skin and ran out of the bathroom as soon as he had his towel. Sakura caught him and helped him dress before walking with him down to his room. She tucked his blankets in around him and sat on the edge of his bed for a little while before disappearing back to her room.
"Is he in bed?" Syaoran asked.
"Yeah-thankfully he didn't make too much of a fuss." Sakura replied with a smile.
"I'll go down and see him in a minute." He said.
She nodded and then changed into a pair of shorts and a top while Syaoran went down to Dimitri's room. He returned a few minutes later and flipped off the light before slipping in beside Sakura.

"Today was eventful." He said.
"Yeah, but it was fun." Sakura replied with a smile.
"Even with Dimitri running off at every given chance?" Syaoran asked.
"It's ok. As long as he isn't hurt, then at the end of the day I really don't mind."
Syaoran sighed softly. "Sometimes I worry about things that might become a problem in the future-for Dimitri and the country."
"There's no use worrying now. All we can do is raise him to the best of our ability and guide him." Sakura said softly as she tried to ease his worries.
"I suppose you're right." He said with a small smile.
She turned off the lamp and gave him a small hug before closing her eyes to go to sleep.

He didn't need to worry about the future-he would worry about those problems when they presented themselves, and hopefully they wouldn't be for some time.

At long last I've finally finished this story! How many years has it been? (oops)
Thank you all for reading-I really appreciate it. One day i'll go back over it and fix my awful mistakes. (One day...)
Hope you all enjoyed it (or bits of it).