Title: Spring Break
Rating: T
Warnings: Mild sexual content - discussion of breasts and boners. Some swearing, implied violence.
Summary: The travelers come to a new world and find that there is no feather, but the locals do have some strange and intriguing fertility festivals...
Author's Notes: I think this is the longest fic focusing exclusively on Syaoran/Sakura (with no KuroFai subtext at all) that I've ever written.

"Well, Mokona," Fai said as the magic of their dimensional transfer swirled to a halt around them. "Is there a feather in this world?"

Mokona hopped up on Fai's head and cocked her ears, looking for all the world like aerial antennae. Syaoran took a quick look around. The scene they had come to seemed peaceful enough; they stood on the edge of a wood verging sandy beach, the sky overhead filled with puffs of white cloud. A damp breeze blew in from the ocean, but it wasn't cold, and a short ways away Syaoran could see some houses and buildings on the other side of the trees.

"Nope," Mokona said, and her ears drooped sadly. "There's no feather in this world. Mokona thought there was, but the frequency doesn't match."

A sigh went through the travelers, but as usual, they tried to make the best of it. "Well," Syaoran said, "maybe we can take a day or two to relax and catch up before we move on to the next world?"

"Don't see why not," Kurogane said, relaxing and taking his hand off his hilt. "This world doesn't seem dangerous."

"That sounds wonderful!" Sakura said, and clapped her hands. "We can all have a nice, relaxing..."

"WOOOOO! SPRING BREEEEEAK!"

She was interrupted by a screaming figure that tore out of the woods behind them, pelting towards the water. As the travelers watched in shock, the young man shucked off his shirt and shorts, and ran pell-mell into the ocean in only his underwear.

"...rest?" Sakura finished weakly.

Within an hour, the peaceful scene had transformed into a rowdy party. None of the young men and women who crowded the beach seemed to find anything unusual about the travelers being there; it seemed that people from a lot of different schools in the area all had their vacation at the same time, so everyone just assumed they were from a different school.

Music thumped out of magic boxes all up and down the strand, surrounded by men and women dancing with careless abandon. Portable grills had also been set up on stone blocks away from the water, sizzling with delicious smells of animals turning into food.

They hadn't been able to stay aloof for long, even if they wanted to. Sakura was dragged away by a group of giggling teenage girls, and Kurogane had gotten roped into playing some sort of ball game over a net, strung on spikes driven into the sand. They'd convinced him to take off his heavy coat and shirt (his team was playing skins) and by now he was really relaxing and getting into the game.

It had taken him a few tries - and a few balls - to get a hang on the rules, but now that he had he was serving vicious spikes that drove the ball straight into the sand on his opponent's side every time.

"Come on, dude, major uncool," one of the boys from the opposing team (who bore a suspicious resemblance to Kentaro from Outo.) "Quit hogging the ball, man. Let the rest of us have a turn already, willya?"

"Too bad," Kurogane said with a gloating smirk. "If you can't handle the heat, you shouldn't have entered the game!"

Fai sighed, and drifted over to the captain of the opposing team. "Excuse me," he said, tapping the boy on the shoulder. "May I play?"

Kurogane's smile vanished into a scowl as the fair-haired man stepped onto the opposite side of the net. "Oh, come on," he complained. "You're not serious. You aren't even on the same level as these guys!"

"And you are?" Fai shot back, smiling. "Come on, Kuro-volley - let's see what you've got!"

With Kurogane and Fai on opposite teams, the game was much more even - Kurogane delivered vicious spike after spike, but the dodging and weaving Fai was somehow in a position to set every one of them drifting back to him. Kurogane grew more and more annoyed, driving the ball harder and harder, until at last a smiling Fai just stood back and let the ball zoom past him - out of bounds.

"That's a point for us!" he chirped brightly. "Our turn to serve now!"

As Kurogane stamped away across the sand, muttering and scowling, Syaoran turned up at Fai's elbow. "Where's Sakura-hime?" he asked, worried. "I looked away just for a moment, and she's disappeared!"

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Fai said lightly, turning to scan the beach. "You don't have to worry about her every moment, Syaoran-kun. You should relax and have fun!"

"But we don't know anything about this world," Syaoran fretted. "What if something happens and she's in danger?"

"What could she possibly be in danger from?" Fai scolded affectionately. "This is just a party, Syaoran-kun, and everyone is having fun. The worst thing that could happen is - "

"WET T-SHIRT CONTEST!" a female voice shrieked.

They both turned towards one of the long, low shed-like buildings that lined the edge of the beach. A group of teenage girls came tramping out of it, giggling and stumbling as they pushed each other playfully back and forth across the sand. Every one of them was wearing a tight pair of hip-hugging jean shorts, and a thin, white t-shirt.

"Sakura-hime!" Syaoran exclaimed, as he spotted a giggling Sakura among them. "What is she doing?"

"She's just having some fun with other girls," Fai said. "Really, she doesn't get much opportunity to make friends with other girls, traveling with us guys all the time. We shouldn't interfere with..."

He trailed off as a pair of teenage boys, shirtless and barefooted and hooting wildly, ran across the sand holding a sloshing bucket between them. They threw it over the group of girls, who screamed and splashed playfully; water sluiced over the t-shirts, immediately soaking them through and slicking them down to cling to wet skin. Syaoran's jaw dropped open, his eyes widening, as it became obvious that none of the girls were wearing anything under the shirts.

"I'll go talk to her," Fai said, standing up abruptly from the sand.

Syaoran barely even noticed the older man's departure, his eyes glued on the scene before him. Other boys with buckets had run up, flinging the frothy contents on the girls as they giggled and tried to dodge each new wave. Sakura hadn't been hit by one full-on, yet, but a backsplash had hit her in the shoulder and trickled down to soak one side of her chest. Other girls were more thoroughly soaked, but Syaoran's eyes were glued to Sakura as she laughed and dodged and weaved among the crowd of bodies.

The t-shirt hung more loosely on Sakura than on some of the other girls, but the thin, clinging material was still translucent enough to show the color of her golden-tan skin beneath. Stray droplets dripped from the ends of her hair and rolled mesmerizingly down her neck and shoulder. On her chest, the white fabric bunched and creased, clinging flat against the skin and puckering around the peak of one hard nipple...

Heat rushed to Syaoran's face, blushing so fiercely that he thought blood would explode right out of his cheeks and decorate the sand. It was matched by a similar rush of heat down his belly, heat thickening and stiffening in his groin as his body reacted the way any red-blooded male's would.

Frantically he glanced around to see if anyone had noticed, half-bent over in an attempt to conceal the tent in his shorts as he looked for someplace to hide. Fortunately no one was paying attention to him, and he was able to edge himself between some scrubby brushes and out of immediate sight.

"Not now, damn it!" he whispered between clenched teeth. "Go down!"

No matter how good his intentions were, though, he couldn't keep from peeking out across the sand at the crowd of girls. It didn't help that, although he'd never seen Sakura like this before in real life, he had seen images not too far off in his own perverted imagination. There had been one or two dreams - though he would never have admitted it - where he and Sakura had been sitting along in a cavern made of stone like Clow's, with water rushing on every side and gathering in a shimmering pool on the floor; and Sakura rising from the center of the pool, water streaming off every line and curve of her body, clad only in the thinnest of gossamer gowns...

This was not helping.

Unsexy thoughts. He needed unsexy thoughts - Archaeology. Books. Mokona. His father. Sakura's father. Sakura's older brother. The high priest of Clow - no, shit, that was exactly the opposite of unsexy -

On the other hand, there was an entire ocean of cold water just across the beach from him. Syaoran eyed the distance with concealed desperation. If he sprinted, could he make it before anyone noticed? Actually, a better question might be - could he even sprint at all with a tentpole between his legs?

The beach was cluttered with giggling girls. Best not to chance it. Syaoran hunkered down, and tried again to think cold thoughts.

"Sakura-chan," Fai said, materializing among the gaggle of girls and touching Sakura lightly on the elbow. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Of course, Fai-san," Sakura said with surprise. They stepped away from the group, and Fai bent towards her seriously. He caught a whiff of a familiar scent, and blinked. "Sakura-chan, have you been drinking?"

"Only a little bit! One of the girls in the dressing room had a bottle that we all shared," Sakura said, giggling.

"Sakura-chan, do you understand exactly what a 'wet t-shirt contest' is for?" Fai asked. "Maybe this is something you shouldn't be doing..."

"Why not?" Sakura said with surprise. "It's a beach game, isn't it? Where everybody splashes a lot and gets wet and has fun! I'm having fun!"

Fai sighed. Sakura was not a stupid girl, but she could be incredibly oblivious to some things. "It's not just that..." he tried.

"I'm not a little kid, you know! The other reason for the contest is to tease the boys, right?" She gave him a wink and a smile which were probably meant to be coy, but mostly succeeded in being goofy. "I understand that! I just hope Syaoran-kun is watching!"

She danced off back towards the group, and squealed and ducked as a well-timed splash of water caught her full in the face. Fai watched her go, a slight frown on his face.

"All right, that's everyone!" someone bawled. "Now it's time for the judging! Will all the lovely ladies, please line up in a row!"

With more giggling and shoving among the girls - and a couple of guys who were being a bit enthusiastic in 'helping' the girls to line up straight - the teenagers arranged themselves in a line. A crowd of other boys had gathered around, although Fai didn't see Syaoran among them. As the sun went down, he was beginning to see more and more open bottles and glasses.

"Some guardian you are," a voice said quietly, and Fai turned to see Kurogane standing by his elbow.

Fai shrugged. "She's not in any danger, Kuro-tan," he said. "We're not her parents -"

Kurogane raised an eyebrow and snorted. "We're not? Then what was all that 'Kuro-daddy' bullshit from earlier?"

" - and she's having fun," Fai finished firmly. "We'll keep an eye on her, make sure nothing happens. If it does -"

"Hey, flattie!" a male voice yelled out from the front of the crowd. "Yeah, you down in front, with the fake red hair! Who do you think you're trying to fool? You ain't got jack shit to show!"

Sakura stiffened, the smile dropping off her face in an instant.

Kurogane turned around, his frown as searing as a searchlight as he looked for the idiot who had spoken. Said idiot - a beefy red-faced young man with a bottle in hand and another already emptied on the sand beside him - made himself easy to pick out of the crowd by continuing to yell. "Nobody wants to look at that shit!" the heckler bawled. "Go eat a sandwich, or better yet, go get some plastic put in so you'll have titties worth showing!"

Sakura's eyes filled with tears, crossing her arms over her chest and hugging herself. She turned and fled; one or two of the other girls turned towards her as if to call her back, but the gesture was half-hearted at best. One of the blond teenagers sighed. "Geez, Brockman, look what you've done now," she complained. "Why d'ya always have to be such a jerk?"

"Hey, it's a free country, bitch!" the boy blustered. "She was asking for it! She put 'em out there for anyone to look at, what'd she think was going to happen?"

A shadow fell across the beach bully, and he looked up, squinting against the dark silhouette in front of him. Kurogane loomed like a granite cliffside against the setting sun, his red eyes glaring down at the loudmouth, and a hand reached out and clamped around his upper arm.

"What the hell are you doing? Let go of me!" the bully blustered, shrugging his shoulder in a futile attempt to free his arm. He turned in the other direction and met the steely glower of another stranger: this one not much more than a kid, barely five feet tall and skinny, but there was something about his expression that made him more than a little nervous.

"Let's take a little walk," Kurogane crooned, "and have a talk about what sort of man it is that makes girls run off crying."

Fai found Sakura sitting on a rock on the headlands, watching the last of the sunset. This part of the beach was rougher and rockier than the sand bar further up, so few of the students had ventured this far.

The beach had been warm enough in the sunlight, but as it grew darker it had become downright chilly. The wind had sheared around to blow from the land to the sea, now, and Sakura was shivering as the stiff breeze dried her shirt and shorts - and the tears off her face.

Fortunately Fai had anticipated this, and the first thing he did was drape a towel over her head before he wrapped a warm coat around her shoulders. Sakura looked up at him, startled, as she raised one hand to grab the towel. "Fai-san!" she exclaimed. "I didn't hear you... I'm sorry."

"It's all right," Fai said. He found a flat and mostly dry stretch of rock to sit on, and made himself comfortable beside her. "It's a beautiful sunset, isn't it?" he said lightly.

"I guess it is," Sakura agreed half-heartedly, and Fai knew she wasn't really seeing the sunset. She swiped the back of her hand against her cheek, then took hold of a corner of the towel and dried it more thoroughly.

"You know," Fai said in a careful tone, "that boy was just a thoughtless bully. You shouldn't listen to him, Sakura-chan, people like him are all mouth and no brain."

"Maybe," Sakura whispered. "But that doesn't mean he doesn't have eyes, does it?"

"Nonsense," Fai said, but Sakura wasn't listening. Her face shone with misery as she stared across the water.

"Fai-san," she said, "do you think I'll ever be beautiful?"

"You're already very beautiful, Sakura-chan," Fai assured her. She made a face.

"Oh, but - you know what I mean," she said miserably. She made a motion in front of her chest with both hands. "Not just cute like a little kid. I mean beautiful like some of those girls, like - like Yuuko-san."

Fai's eyebrows went up, surprised that she would have chosen that particular comparison. But then, he supposed, she didn't have very many memories of her old life, and of all the people they'd met in their journey, they hadn't stayed with any of them for long. Perhaps it was only natural that the Dimension Witch would stick in her mind.

On the other hand, if it came to breast size, the Dimension Witch would be a difficult model for any girl to live up to.

"Well," Fai said, "you're very young still. You have lots of time to grow -"

"I'm not young," Sakura objected heatedly. "I'm sixteen. If I haven't started growing boobs yet, then when will I?"

Fai sighed, rubbing the back of his head. This wasn't really the sort of conversation he was equipped to have; what did he know about girls and how they grew? He would have liked to reassure Sakura that she would grow into her body at the proper time, but he knew that such reassurances would only be hollow.

So he tried a different tack. "Sakura-chan, there are many different ways to be beautiful," he said. "A large bust size isn't the only thing, you know. Different cultures have different standards of what women should look like. Some consider women who are very fat to be beautiful, and others look for women who are very skinny.

"You can't change yourself to please every different world we come across, and you shouldn't even try. You should just be yourself, because we all love the Sakura-chan that you are the best."

Sakura scrunched her legs up against her body, bunching the towel across her knees and resting her chin on it. It was hard to tell in the sunset light, but he thought she might have been blushing. "Do you think Syaoran-kun would like me better if I had bigger boobs?" she asked. "Like some of those other girls?"

"I can promise you," Fai said with utter sincerity, "that there is no possible way for Syaoran to like you more than he already does."

Sakura blushed harder, and buried her face in the towel. Fai smiled and stood up, extending a hand down towards her. "Let's go onshore, shall we?" he said. "Because Syaoran-kun certainly wouldn't like it if you caught a cold, and I think Kuro-daddy would kill me if I let that happen."

Sakura let Fai help her up, and they turned back towards the mainland. Her face fell, though, as the lights and sounds of the students celebrating on the beach drifted back to her. "I don't really want to go back to the party," she confessed in a small voice.

"That's all right. We don't have to," Fai said. "We can have our own party."

They built a fire on the beach out driftwood, admiring the beautifully colored sparks the flames threw up when the salt burned. Mokona disgorged a pack of hot dogs and marshmallows that she refused to admit where they came from, and they skewered them on long sticks and toasted them in the flames. Before the hot dogs were quite done Kurogane and Syaoran reappeared, the former looking suspiciously smug and the latter sheepish. Fai didn't ask them where they'd been, but by the somewhat suspicious-looking dents on Syaoran's leather boots, he thought he already knew. Hopefully, they'd be gone the next day before any police came looking for them.

They ate hot dogs and marshmallows in the growing darkness, and Mokona tried to get them all to join her in a sing-a-long, which she said was a very important beach camping tradition. Sakura's marshmallows kept catching on fire, so Syaoran devoted himself to toasting one the perfect golden brown for her. Slowly, over the course of the evening, Sakura's smile came back.

The five of them slept that night in one of the empty shed buildings, sheltered from the cold breeze and wrapped in warm blankets, with the stars glittering brightly over the beach.

~end.