A/N 2007: I made some minor adjustments in this chapter. Biggest change would be the 2 names: Chelsea and Marc into Chiharu and Takashi

Disclaimer: I don't own CCS

Chapter 1

"You want to sell it?" Sakura turned around, facing her friend Mei Lin. She had just finished modeling for Tomoyo. Perplexed, she looked at her friend. "So if I refuse to go and spend the vacation there at Cherry's Lake you'll sell it?"

"Exactly" Mei Lin nodded her head.

"But it has been ours ever since we became friends! You can't just sell it like that!" Tomoyo put in. Getting up from her chair, Mei Lin dodged the with fabric sprawled over tables and went to the window that looked out to the busy streets of Tomoeda. The sun shone on her jet-black hair giving it a soft silver look. The shadow that fell over her face and the soft smile that played around her lips softened the hard look she had in her eyes.

That's true yes, and I won't deny it," she said, "but you never go there anymore. And me?" she shrugged, "I don't like going there all by myself."

Sakura frowned. " I can't stand the thought of people other than us living in that little cottage you bought." She said thoughtfully. "Very well. I haven't been there since a few years back-"

"Eight whole years!" Mei Lin said turning from the window and pointing her finger accusingly in Sakura's face.

"You haven't been there in eight years! Not since that thing with Syao-"

"Not since the summer when Chiharu and Takashi came home from France, for the funeral of his father!" Sakura interrupted. "I was seventeen back then." Sakura felt her cheeks glowing and walked to Tomoyo's latest design to get her composure back. When she turned around, she was her old self again. "You're right." She gave her a soft smile. "That's been eight years a go." For a second she wondered, not for the first time, if Mei Lin knew what happened that summer. She did hear something, Sakura was convinced of that. After all it was Mei Lin who found her there, crying on the sand, upset after the terrible way Li Syaoran had yelled at her.

"You know what I want?" she heard Tomoyo say, " I would like for us to go to the house this weekend. Then you two can decide to keep the cottage. If not we can keep a yard sale. Of course I'll be coming along with Eriol and stay in the house next to yours."

"But do you even have time?" Sakura asked, paling at the thought that Eriol would be there too. "And how am I going to fit it in my schedule?"

"Oh, I've got enough time," Tomoyo said rolling up the fabrics, "and as for you Sakura, I'll just give you the weekend off. I can reschedule the fashion show that was supposed to be this weekend."

"Well... I don't know..."

"Very well. I'll sell the cottage right away then..." Mei Lin's voice faltered. She shook her head and went back to her seat to sit down again.

Sakura didn't know what to do. She knew Mei Lin didn't want to sell the cottage, but she also knew that Mei Lin wanted to get her out of her busy life that she was leading. And Mei Lin would do anything to get her way.

Sakura sighed. She refused to listen to the little voice inside her head that was warning her and said: "Fine, I'll go."

Mei Lin was jumping for joy. She did it again! Again everything went the way she planned and she hugged Sakura.

"Thanks, Sakura." She beamed and looked over Sakura's shoulder at Tomoyo. "You will bring Eriol won't you?" she asked. Sakura paled once again at hearing Eriol's name, but no one noticed.

"Of course. And the little ones too." Tomoyo replied.

"Great! It will be like the old days, you'll see." And with that Mei Lin walked out of Tomoyo's office leaving an excited Tomoyo and a depressed Sakura.

'No,' Sakura thought, when she saw Mei Lin leaving, 'Nothing is gonna be like the old days. Misha and Eriol made sure of that.'

"How much further is it?" Hao Li's voice sounded sullen.

"A few miles, if I'm not mistaken." Syaoran Li casted a sideways glance at his 7 year old son, who sat in the passenger's seat, next to him in the jeep. He could see that his son was tired. He had bags under his eyes, his hair was a messy brown, just like his father's, and he was sulking.

"Are you tired?" he asked softly.

"Tired? From what dad? We spend 2 hours at the airport, then another 2 hours at the customhouse. Then another hour in a traffic jam till we were out of town Right now it's..." the boy looked at his watch, "10 minutes past midnight. Why should I be tired?"

Syaoran almost snapped at his son because of the sarcasm in his words, but he managed to restrain himself. This was not the time to lecture his son. He was already going through a tough time with the death of his mother. So he decided a little vacation to the beach cottage in Tomoeda that he owned would do the both of them well. Yes, he still owned that cottage. He once promised to Misha that he would keep it so that their children could have fun there, just like they did.

Who would have thought that Misha wouldn't make it to her 26th birthday? Now it was up to him to raise their son and close the gap that gaped between them.

He felt something fall against his elbow and looked sideways. His son fell asleep and was lying on him. He looked very young and vulnerable in his sorrow. Syaoran felt much love for his little son, though he didn't always show it. Very carefully, with one hand behind the wheel, he pushed the boy in a more comfortable position. When he looked up, he saw a sign in light that the car's headlights. There were three named engraved on the sign:

Li
Hiiragizawa
Kinomoto

Syaoran felt a sharp pain cutting through his heart when he saw the last name. Memories of Sakura flooded him, when he turned the jeep towards his cottage.

Oh god... years have passed since he last saw her and still... he could remember how she looked like, as if she was right in front of him. He combed through his hair with a shaking hand, when he thought of her. He always had a weak spot for her, but the last summer when she turned seventeen...

She had been at Cherry's Lake for a week with Mei Lin, his cousin, when he and Misha arrived. That was the first time in years he'd seen her. He remembered how his breath got caught in his throat when he looked at her. She already had a nice tan. But what really caught his attention was her auburn hair. As a child she made sure her hair was very short. But now she had let it grow and it looked as soft as silk, falling over her shoulders and cascading down her back and firm, round bosom. In short she looked astonishing.

Syaoran cursed under his breath. He didn't want to think about Sakura. All he wanted was to have a nice relaxing vacation with his son to get things back on track.

When he arrived at his cottage he stopped the jeep and got out. Going to the other side he opened the door and lifted Hao up in his arms.

"Wassa matter?" Hao asked sleepily.

"Shh." Syaoran soothed his child. "It's all alright. We're here, my boy. We're here."

TBC

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