I was walking in the rain, my umbrella noisily spilling water down its sides as I traveled. The raindrops hitting the street were quiet in comparison, their soft pitter-patter soothing to my ears.

I looked ahead of me and saw a girl standing in the rain, nothing over her head, her school uniform soaking wet. She was in the middle of the road, and she kneels down to pick something up, walking towards me.

Her hair dropped over her face, heavy and wet, but I knew who she was before I even approached her.

Her name is Sakura Kinomoto.

My best friend…and the love of my life.

I saw the bundle of fur in her arms, and the red liquid that stained her dress and spilled down onto the sidewalk.

I looked into her eyes, and what I saw was something I would rarely ever see from this girl. Something that could only be described as…a gentle fury, perhaps. Her anger was not towards anyone or anything at all…that was not it at all.

She looked as if she was angry at the fate of this poor animal she held in her arms. Angry at the flow of destiny itself. Wishing that she could see into the future at every direction at once.

She didn't have to say a word. I could see all of it in her eyes.

Sakura understood that, and so she only gave me a glance as she walked on. I followed without hesitation.

We stopped under a big tree, raindrops only trickling down to the ground by sheer luck as they hit the leaves.

Sakura knelt down into the dirt, and with her hands scooped away earth, making a good-sized hole. She widened it a bit as she worked, her dress stained with dirt. I held the small bundle in my arms.

To anyone else, it was just a cat that died in the middle of the road. Just another collision for the day.

Sakura wasn't anyone else, though.

It was the reason I loved her the way I did.

I heard her stop digging, and so I held out the cat towards her, letting her place it softly into the makeshift grave. She stood up and held her hands towards me. I placed my hands in hers.

We both said a short prayer together.

She whispered a 'thank you' before kneeling down again to fill the hole with dirt again. She took great care in it, smoothing the top layer with her hands repeatedly.

We held hands again to say another prayer before we made our way home once more.

Sakura walked out from under the cover of the tree, into the rain, and then stopped.

I knew this girl well, you see. I could see the subtle twitches in her hands, the way her head moved ever so slightly as she looked into the sky. All of this was weighing heavily on her. It must have hurt so much to watch a life disappear just like that.

I walked out to her without my umbrella, letting the rain fall over me softly. As soon as I got close enough, I touched her shoulder, and she looked at me.

"Tomoyo…I…feel so powerless."

She said it so quietly, as if she didn't have the strength to speak.

"I couldn't do anything else…I couldn't help. I feel like there was something I should have been able to do…that there was some way for me to make it better. But I… I couldn't do a thing! I'm supposed to be strong, right? So why couldn't I do anything? How come I feel so helpless?"

I wished that I had all of the answers to those questions, but I did not.

"Why does the world have to be this way? I hate this so much! I can't stand it all! There always has to be someone crying, always has to be someone hurting…there's always pain and misery and sadness, and I want to get rid of all that…! But no matter how hard I try…!"

She screamed all of that through the rain.

"No matter how hard…I try…I…"

I pulled her close to me as the tears started to fall. I could feel her body shaking as she cried into my shoulder, her hair brushing past my cheek.

There were words I wanted to say.

I decided against that.

It wasn't that I couldn't…just that I chose not to. I wanted Sakura to feel better, but that was not the way to do so.

It sounds selfish, but seeing Sakura cry like that was the most painful thing to happen that day. I felt helpless as well…just like she did. This was the only thing I could do.

Words would not help.

I wanted her sorrow to wash away with the rain as it fell.