Amaaii. Scroll down at your own risk of cavities. :p But there's a saving twist - read all the way to the end. S&S fans, enjoy, since you won't be seeing stuff like this from me for some time.
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Sakura
Seven-year old Li Syaoran flopped down onto the grass, letting out a glum sigh. His sisters had deserted him *again*. Hahaue had forced him to tag along on their shopping expedition, and they had cheerfully dumped him in the local park to wait for them while they toured the entire district of this Tomoeda town. Normally he wouldn't have minded, but this was Japan, after all. Not Hong Kong. He wasn't stupid enough to wander off on his own and get hopelessly lost.
Sisters. He scowled, lying back on the springy patch of turf. Closed his eyes. Decided to catch some shut-eye, since there was nothing else to do anyway. Hopefully his four elder siblings would remember where they had left him and be back before sunset.
Clow's knees, he *hated* family vacations.
Darkness suddenly fell over him. His eyes shot open as he instinctively tumbled away from the shadow and leapt to his feet, poised in a defensive stance. "Dare da?!"
Two large, luminous emeralds blinked. Taken aback, Syaoran blinked in surprise too. A small person about his age was facing him, someone with silky brown hair and bright green eyes and a soft white dress.
A _girl_. He huffed in exasperation and instantly relaxed. No danger there, obviously.
"Anou" the girl cautiously said. Her piping voice was clear and high and rang pleasantly in his ears.
"Whaddya want?" he brusquely demanded, dropping back to the ground and crossing his arms.
The girl moved to sit beside him. "What's your name?" she sweetly inquired. He frowned at her and moved a little further away. He didn't *like* girls. Not when the majority of the ones he'd met so far were younger copies of his sisters. His hair prickled just thinking about them. "None of your business," he growled, looking away.
"That's too bad," she innocently exclaimed. "My name's Sakura! Yoroshiku!" She tossed him a sunny smile, completely unfazed or not realising of his curtness. He stared at her uncomprehendingly.
"I'm here," she continued, "'cause my baka onii-chan went to play soccer when's he's actually s'posed to be looking after me. So he dumped me here to wait for him. But, " and he was gifted with another bright smile, "I don't think it'll be boring anymore."
Her story was oddly similar to his, and Syaoran found himself responding against his will. "My sisters left me here to go shopping," he disclosed, and was instantly shocked at himself. But there was something about this lovely girl-child with the sweet voice and bright eyes that struck him as utterly different from the other girls he knew, something that made him feel that it would be all right to open up - just a little - to her.
Strange as it was, he somehow felt that heliked her.
Sakura's brow was furrowed slightly. "AH!" she suddenly chirped, making him jump. "You're aa gaijin, aren't you - not from Japan, ne? Ne?"
He blinked. "How did you know?"
"You speak Japanese a bit funny. Like it's not what you say all the time." She beamed proudly, and he nodded, impressed. This girl was observant.
"Where're you from?"
"Hong Kong."
"I've never been there before. What's it like?"
"It's a big city."
"Who do you live with?"
"Hahaue and my four sisters."
Sakura's wide eyes widened even more. "Sugoi," she whispered. "Are they nice?"
If perpetual glomping and gushing and squealing could be considered nice', they probably were. "Quite," he dryly replied.
She giggled then, a liquid sound that bubbled up and down like the miniature waterfall in his garden. "I can't imagine having four brothers. One is bad enough already."
He cracked the smallest of smiles. "Maybe."
The breeze was up now, flowing past them in strong yet gentle waves of coolness. Sakura laughed joyously, jumping to her feet and twirling in the wind's embrace. Syaoran sat and watched her, with silky hair flying and white skirt billowing out about her slender form, and wondered. Different, indeed.
Something landed on his legs; something soft. He reached out and picked it off, and saw it was a petal, pale pink and shaped rather like an elongated heart. The breeze blew more of the same heart-shaped petals his way, dancing in the moving air that carried them.
Sakura caught some in her hands, still laughing. "These are me!"
"Huh?"
"Sakura," she said, holding out the petals to him. "We have the same name."
Sa-ku-ra.
Cherry blossom?
"You look like them." And he meant it.
She looked at him, and smiled. "Thank you."
"*Saakuraa*! Oi, kaijuu, where are you?" An older boy's voice, deeper and shouting impatiently. Sakura wrinkled her nose.
"That's Onii-chanI have to go now. Ne -" she paused a moment, then pulled out the clip that held back some of her hair and pressed it into his hand.
"Oi," he said in confusion. "What's this for?"
"So you'll remember me," she informed him. "It's for you - keep it!"
Syaoran gaped. "B-butI don't have anything to give you"
"What about your name?"
He looked at her, with her small serious face and candid emerald eyes, and found his voice.
"Syaoran," he said slowly.
And she smiled again. "Thank you!"
She ran off, waving to him, and he was left clutching the clip in his hand. He held it up and looked at it, and it was shaped like a sakura in full bloom.
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"" said Syaoran.
"Was it *that* awful?" Sakura asked nervously. "I mean, it _is_ a little far-fetched, but -"
"I will KILL Hiiragizawa when I next see him. And feed his guts to the pigeons."
"S-Syaoran"
"THAT CLIP," roared her boyfriend, pointing to the offending object on the table, "belongs to my ELDEST SISTER! She left it in my home when she came to visit last time! And THAT BOY actually wrote a *story* about it - and about you and me -" he choked in righteous wrath.
"Christmas is coming," Sakura weakly offered, sweatdropping violently.
Outside on a tree branch, Eriol was cackling.
-- owari --
Notes:
- Blame Eriol. XP
- C&C appreciated~~! ^^