Prologue
It was four in the morning. Everything was dark, except for one place. The airport. A girl with tied up hair, about the age of 16, in seat 4-16, was sleeping on a boy who looked about her age. The boy stared at a piece of paper in his hand. A plane ticket. The flight boarded at 4:15 AM. He looked to his left to see that the girl was in fact sleeping on his shoulder. He let out a chuckle.
"She never could stay up late."
"...That's a lie, Syaoran. And you know it."
The boy put his arm around the girl in seat 4-16. He knew it was a lie. But he didn't expect an answer.
"Well look who's awake."
The girl in seat 4-16 opened her eyes and stretched her arms upward, letting out a big yawn.
"What time is it?"
Syaoran looked at his watch.
"Almost time."
"But it was 12 o'clock a few minutes..."
Syaoran chuckled once more.
"It must seem like it, sleepyhead."
"Oh no!"
The girl grabbed Syaoran's left arm and looked at the time on his watch. 4:02.
She looked up at Syaoran to see that he was looking at her, stroking her hair with his right hand.
"It had to happen eventually."
"But your mom knows that we--!"
"But you know I would have to do this eventually."
The girl took the hand on Syaoran's left arm and slid the hand down to reach his. She took her other to take the other side of it.
"You knew too, and you didn't try to stop it..."
"I did too!"
"Well apparently not hard enough!" the girl said letting out a playful smile.
Syaoran let out a smile.
"You know I tried my hardest, sweetheart."
"...I know. I know..."
Her smile faded. She lifted the armrest that was separating them and put her head down on Syaoaran's leg and looked straight up at him.
"Hi."
Syaoran laughed softly enough so he could not be heard.
"Hi."
Syaoran put his arms around the girl and looked down at her.
"We'll keep in touch..."
"But how will we see each other?"
"...We won't. We won't for a long while."
The girl let out a strong sigh.
"Yeah..."
Syaoran looked to the seat next to him. His bag was sitting in it. He unzipped it and took out an envelope. He dropped it below him to hit the young girl's face.
"Hey!"
"Hehe. Hi."
The girl examined the envelope.
"What's this?"
"A letter."
"Well I know that! But why are you giving it to me?"
"Just...just read it when I leave... okay?"
"The girl put the letter beside her and looked back up at Syaoran.
"Okay..."
"Flight to Japan! Now boarding!" yelled a flight attendant next to a walkway to what looked like a very expensive jet.
"I have to go, sweetheart."
The girl sat up and reached in the pocket to her jeans.
"This is for you."
Syaoran took the small piece of folded paper in her hands.
"What's this?"
"A letter."
"Yeah, yeah."
Syaoran started to un-fold it, but was stopped by the girl putting her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.
"Don't read it until you're on the plane...Okay?"
Syaoran smiled and put his arms around her waist.
"Okay."
The flight attendant let out another call for boarding.
"I really have to go, sweetheart."
"I know."
"Call me when you land in Japan...okay?"
"...Okay."
The girl kissed him on his cheek and finally let go of him, putting her hands in his.
"Bye Syaoran."
Syaoran let go of her hands and wiped a tear off of the young girl's face.
"Goodbye Mai."
Syoaran boarded the plane and the Mai opened the letter given to her. The envelope was now wet with her tears, and there was a sentence written in small handwriting on the first line.
"We're not meant for each other."
Mai put her face in the palms of her hands to try and keep the sound of her sobbing down.
It was bound to happen.
Syaoaran opened his letter and tried to read parts of it while walking.
"I'll call you every night, and we can meet once a month, so we don't--"
Syaoran re-folded the letter. Not wanting to read anymore.
He walked to his row and sat in the aisle seat. Another person had their face in a newspaper and did not bother to greet the person who just sat down.
Syaoran pulled out of his backpack a photograph. The edges were rough, and on one of the sides it was torn, a stain but an overlay of black on part of the right side. It was a picture of a boy in green standing next to a girl in pink.
"That was 5 years ago..." he whispered to himself in a soft voice, to not be heard.
Moving of papers was heard to the right of him. The person revealed himself to be a man with short brown hair and a large pair of glasses. He buckled his seatbelt to realize he now had someone sitting next to him. Holding a picture of what looked like his daughter at an earlier age and one of her old friends.
"Is that...my daughter?"
Syaoran panicked and folded the picture in half and slid it into his pants pocket. He then looked at the passenger next to him.
"Hi Mr. Kinimoto."
The man grabbed Syaoran's hand and shook it furiously.
"Syoaran! We haven't seen you at our house in years!"
"I had to go after that visit...I was really busy sir..." letting go of his hand.
"I understand. Families can be like that."
Syaoran tried to shut his mouth and not say anything, but blurted out something he knew was coming.
"How's Sakura?"
The man let out a smile.
"She's fine. She's still going to school with all of her friends."
"That's good."
"You know...she would never let us move. She said if you ever came back, she wanted you to have an idea of where she is."
Syaoran gulped.
"Yeah...I can't wait to see her."
"Great! How about after this flight we go and surprise her?"
"Um...actually I have to meet up with Wei. But I'll be over there in no time."
"Yeah...okay."
"Just...don't tell her I'm here. I want it to be a surprise. Kind of."
"Sure."
"Thanks. I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to sleep for this flight. I've had a long night."
"Yeah, I might too."
"Yeah."
Syaoran put his head on the back of his seat and closed his eyes. He had one thought on his mind.
"How will I explain all of this?
All charactors belong to their proper owners.
