The Color of Tears

AU SyaoSaku, following the storyline of ef ~a tale of memories~

He first laid eyes on her at an abandoned, run-down train station.

The breeze was cool and refreshing, and he stood and balanced on the side of the rail tracks. The autumn air was still getting colder by the day towards winter, and Syaoran pulled slightly on his shirt to lengthen it out from the wrinkly mess it was. He sighed as he glanced at the small folded piece of paper in his pocket that was the reason for his meandering and paused as he detected somebody's presence.

Who would visit an abandoned train station?

Pretty jade-green eyes looked at him with an interested gaze.

"Hello," greeted the green-eyed girl who sat on the train stop bench. She smiled and looked at him with a gentle gaze, and Syaoran wobbled off-balance and hurriedly stepped off the tracks, rubbing the back of his head as he sheepishly smiled back with a flush in his features.

"It's nice to know that somebody visits here," she said to him. "The scenery's beautiful, but this place is so lonely."

He looked around and glanced at the withering plants and weed that sprouted around the area. "So it seems," he agreed somewhat laconically. Pausing, Syaoran looked up at the station a bit above his height and down at the train railroad, where he stood.

In big, quick steps, Syaoran swiftly made his way up the station stairs and eased his steps near the girl on the creaking wooden floor.

"I'm Syaoran," he told her, putting his hands out in front of her and smiling lightly. "What's your name?"

The girl continued to smile at him as she took his hands and shook it. "Sakura. It's a pleasure to meet you, Syaoran-kun."

"Do you mind if I take a seat next to you?" Syaoran asked somewhat awkwardly.

Immediately, Sakura moved a bit to the side to increase Syaoran's space. "Of course not! Please, go ahead."

The two fell into an awkward silence soon after that, with Syaoran thinking about what his goal in life was and Sakura next to him writing into a small notebook with a teddy-bear adorned pen.

Looking at the girl through the corner of his eyes, Syaoran wondered at how delicate she looked. She looked his age, but he was curious as to why he had never saw her at school. There was only one high school in the vicinity, and if she was his age, he had to have seen her at school before.

"Sakura-san?"

Looking up at hearing her name, she paused writing and looked at Syaoran. "What is it?"

"How old are you?" he asked, somewhat fearful that she might think of him as a stalker. "It's not like I-I'm going to stalk you, I'm just curious..." The last part of the statement came out as a half-mumble, and Sakura put her hand over her mouth to try and hide a giggle.

"I'm seventeen," she replied, still stifling some occasional giggles. "And you?"

"Same," he replied. "How come I never saw you before at Tomoeda High?"

Sakura smiled, but this smile was a shadow of the smiles before. "I'm...homeschooled."

"Oh," Syaoran replied rather smartly. For some strange, manic reason, he found all his well-mannered upbringing useless in front of this girl with green eyes and a pretty smile. He sighed.

As the air around them went stale from lack of conversation, Syaoran looked at the girl's pale-white skin and at her delicate hands. "Uh...what's your hobby?"

Sakura blinked. "I like to write. And you, Syaoran-kun?"

Syaoran pondered. "I...don't really know. I like to read, I guess... What were you doing out here by yourself?"

She smiled. "I was enjoying the scenery," she explained. "And I was also enjoying someone's presence." Sakura looked at him knowingly. "It's not every day that a boy comes to a run-down train station."

The sky was beautifully blue with a tint of orange, and Sakura looked at the sky with appreciating eyes. Syaoran looked at the girl. Wasn't this something that occurred every day?

"I love the sunset," Sakura told him. "The sky is always so pretty."

Syaoran nodded absentmindedly. "Mm," he acknowledged. "It must be getting late." He peered at his cellphone that peeked out from his pocket. Five o'clock.

"It's five right now," Syaoran stated mechanically.

Sakura's eyes went wide. "Oh, no. Nii-chan's going to get my head for this!" she cried. "Syaoran-kun, it was a pleasure to meet you!" Hurriedly putting her notebook into a small bag on her lap, a page flapped out of the notebook that went unnoticed by the girl.

"Thank you for the company, Syaoran-kun! I really appreciated it!" Waving enthusiastically, Sakura hurriedly walked away from the abandoned railroad station.

Smiling at Sakura, he waited until she was gone to show a blush coloring his face.

"I shouldn't have said the time..." he told himself, mentally kicking him for making her leave. "Now I don't know--"

His eyes fell on the fallen piece of paper that Sakura had dropped.

Picking it up from the wooden floor, Syaoran took a glance at it, curious as to what could have been written there.

'The girl was the only person in the world. Thus, that made her god.'

Syaoran blinked.

A writer?

Shrugging, but unable to completely thrust away the image of the brown-haired girl sitting alone, he walked home.

Please read and review~!