Disclaimer: I do not own trc.


"We were meant to suffer, dear," she said to him, quite calmly. She called for him right after she woke up, right after she had that dream. Interpreting her dreams weren't any problem for her now—she had mastered the art many years ago. The problem was she wasn't always sure what she was going to do about it. So she called for him immediately. And immediately he came. After more or less two decades of being together they were so attuned to each other that he knew the urgency of her call.

He was quiet upon her announcement. She was staring at him, telling him with her eyes the words that were too painful to say. For the "we" in her statement not only meant the two of them, but him too, their light, their joy, their life.

After a long time he spoke up, "But we cannot do anything, right." It wasn't a question. It was a statement, and she could only nod. For it was fate. Like that fate that had given her power, like the fate that had given him to her, like the fate that had given him to them. And now fate will take everything away. And they couldn't do anything about it.

He drew a huge breath and expelled it. "Should I go and get the stuffed toy and make him bring the staff to the witch?"

She smiled at him. The sullen faced kid from years ago had turned into a handsome man, but he still wouldn't let go of the nickname that still made the guardian pop veins and seethe in anger. But then you couldn't blame the man either, because the guardian got so used to his small form that he went around flying like he usually did when they were still eleven.

He was still looking distracted, though he hid it well. Only she, who was with him ever since, could see the expression lurking beneath the chocolate eyes. She placed a hand on his arm and he looked at her. "It's okay," she said. "No matter what happens it's okay." She told him of her dream.

"We may hope that he chooses a different path, but I doubt it, he is far too headstrong to try to turn his back on what he is supposed to do." He told her.

There was a pause, then the two of them chorused, "Just like you." They laughed gently, the sound mixed with a tinge of unhappiness. "Like parents like son," she said ruefully.

"So I guess that's that."

"Do we hope that he can change the future set for him and make it his own?" She said, her eyes imploring.

"The future is not set in stone. It may seem that way, especially to the two of us, and I know that that is what you believe. But fate is fickle, I think, and we can definitely make our own future according to what makes us happy." He said.

"That was quite long," she commented. He raised his eyebrows at her.

She stood up and hugged him. "I guess that's why I didn't bother to change fate. I was happy with what it gave me. Thank you."

He smiled and rested his chin atop her head. "That's what happened to me too. I stopped wrestling with it once I knew that I would be happy if I let it take the reins. And in the twenty odd years we've been together I've never been less satisfied." Then his voice became thoughtful, "Say, we could change fate…"

Her soft chuckle was muffled by his shirt, "Our generation is long gone. This story isn't ours anymore, but our son's." She tipped her head back to look at him. "Give him his own adventure, though it may be painful for him, and for us." Her eyes were sorrowful.

"I know," her husband tucked her head back under his chin and caressed the honey locks softly. "I know."

They stayed like that for a few moments until she stirred and muttered, "Now, about the staff…"

He laughed self-consciously. He could hear the hidden "before you get carried away…" in her sentence. Years hadn't dimmed the fact that he loved his wife dearly and was still privy to the urges of a man in love.

He released her and took her hand, "Now that I think of it, its better that we go pay Yuko a personal visit, Sakura."

She smiled and voiced her assent, "Sure, Syaoran."

As they left their quaint little house, their little boy looked up from playing with the sun guardian.

"Where are they going?"

"Nowhere, nowhere." The guardian answered the boy's question, but there was a dark look in his eyes. He had a bad feeling about what was going to happen in the weeks to come. He had overheard a bit, and like the couple before him, there wasn't anything he could do about the bit that he knew. He could only watch them walk, the pink staff hidden under his mistress' robes.

It was a few days later when the little boy got lost, after his parents sent him on an errand. It was another few days when he was found. But the sadness present in the couple's eyes ever since the day they took a walk didn't vanish. And there was something about the boy who returned that he couldn't put a finger on. The couple still treated him as their own son, but it was different with how they treated him before he got lost. As if he was a different child entirely, but still their own son.

Weeks later, in attempting to save the boy, the couple died.

---

Sakura was drifting in and out of consciousness. She felt a light pressure on her right arm and turned to see Syaoran looking at her.

"The time I spent with you were the times where I can say that I truly lived, Sakura. Thank you."

"Me too," she replied, and if anyone could have seen them at that instant, they would swear that amid all the shouting and the wreckage, even if they were smeared with their own blood, the husband and wife still looked at each other with eyes reflecting unspeakable love.

Together, they closed their eyes.


AN: Just a little one. I think I'm supposed to be posting this on the xxxHolic fandom, but since I haven't read anything about it except for a few spoilers in wiki, I'm putting this up in TRC. Though I think this should be posted in xxxHolic... Never mind, at least it's posted. Reviews are food for an author's soul, everyone! Thanks!