It had been months, Sakura couldn't count how many, since she and Syaoran first kissed. Just the memory of it left the tiniest flowers as she walked, or made the sky a bit clearer. School was over for the summer, and they had spent nearly ever day together. Syaoran had gone on a tirade of cleaning up the streets and forest, convinced it would help the Earth heal. Sakura went along with it, knowing it gave him some peace of mind. Either that or he was distracting himself from the inevitable. He had even got Tomoyo, Takashi and Eriol involved. Takashi sometimes brought Chiharu along too. He had finally gotten the courage to talk to her. There were bets going on about when everyone thought they would start dating.

Syaoran was still asking questions. "Can you eat any food?" "What happens if you stay in water too long? Will you get all prune-y or is it different?" "What about when it snows?" "Can you use sunscreen?" Again and again Sakura would give him answers to the best of her knowledge.

It was one day out on the beach though that Sakura had realized that their relationship had been all about her. She knew some things about Syaoran but there was a lot that she was sure she didn't know about him.

"When were you born?" She asked.

"October fourth. My mom was hoping to have me in August but I was a couple months late." He shrugged.

"Did your mother not want any other kids?"

"I don't know. My father died before I was even born, and Nobu, I think all along she sort of knew something was off about him."

Sakura leaned on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said, now wishing she didn't bring it up. "What's your favourite colour?"

"Right now, green. It reminds me of you." Syaoran put his arm around her warm shoulder. The clouds cleared a bit. "Does that mean you're happy?" He pointed up at the sky.

Sakura giggled like a little girl, "Yes." She said simply. "What's your favourite sport?"

"Since I was a boy, soccer. But I never play anymore."

"Why? Did you get injured?"

"No, I just got too consumed with my life to concentrate on it." Another shrug.

Syaoran was silent for a moment."I was thinking," He said finally, looking a little nervous.

"Ok, about what?" Sakura looked at him. Whatever it was, it was bothering him.

"I just...what about...sex?" Syaoran's face went red. Shocked, all Sakura could do was stare. Syaoran thought of her that way? Sakura had been to enough schools to know what sex was and that babies happened because of it. But she had never thought she herself could do it.

Seeing Sakura's face, Syaoran quickly said, "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer. It's a stupid question."

There was a small spark of anger that lit inside Sakura. She felt as though he was asking her this because that's what he wanted from her. That if he was nice enough to her, she would give herself to him in that way.

"You want to...do that with me?" Sakura asked a little bluntly.

Taken aback, Syaoran answered, "Well, it is in human nature. But I just want to know if you can I guess."

"It's in human nature? Is that all?" Sakura stood up from where they sat on the beach and walked into the waves, needing to keep her body cool from the heat emerging from inside herself.

Syaoran followed her. "No. You're taking this the wrong way."

"Am I? It sounds to me like you're asking me if I am capable of having sex so you can sate your own physical needs." Sakura crossed her arms. A hot angry wind blew around them.

"Please don't be mad. I really was just wondering." Syaoran reached to touch her shoulder but thought better of it. Instead he said, "We can stop talking about it if you want. I won't ever bring it up again."

Sakura, not looking at Syaoran, nodded, wanting desperately that he had never even asked her in the first place.

She dived under the water and swam for as long as she could have held her breath if she had been a real human being. Sakura wondered if she could give up her long lasting, painful life to be a real human. To be able to know that you could be with the person you think about and feel deeply for, for the rest of your life. Then maybe Syaoran's question about sex wouldn't be so farfetched. When she surfaced, Syaoran still stood where she left him, watching her. Another angry wind. Syaoran threw his hands up and shook his head.

Sakura let her body fall backwards into the water then, not wanting Syaoran to see her look like a child. This time she laid her body down flat, letting herself sink to the floor of the lake. Being the Earth had it's perks. She was air, so she didn't need to breathe if she didn't want to. Most times she did it just to look more normal, but sometimes she just forgot. She let her body drift around with the waves. It felt wonderful. Sakura didn't know where her limbs ended and the water begun. Her heart felt at peace here. That was, until she felt the water around her being disturbed. Suddenly and arm wrapped itself around her and pulled her up to the surface.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Syaoran seethed at her. "People started to think you'd drowned." He stood her up on her own and started walking back to the shore, Sakura followed slowly. Syaoran was angrily packing up their things when she caught up. "Come on, let's go home."

Sakura was a little hurt that Syaoran wanted to just up and leave, but she knew when to apologize. "I'm sorry. I just forget sometimes. And it felt so good."

"You can't just do that Sakura. Do you want other people knowing what you are?" Syaoran threw the backpack over his shoulder and took the cooler in his other hand then started walking to the parking area.

Sakura slipped on her sandals and walked behind him, embarrassed. She had let her emotions get the better of her. It seemed, even though she wasn't human, she had very human emotions and acted on them just as irrationally as they did. No one had ever made her loose her control like that before. She had had many encounters before, but she managed to stay neutral, unfeeling for those people.

They both got into the car, and for a while they said nothing to each other as Syaoran drove. Both consumed in their own feelings, both feeling as though they'd wronged one another. Sakura could still feel the anger coming off of Syaoran, making his own waves. She had never made him mad before, it was new to the both of them. It wasn't until they were back in town that Syaoran said, "You scared me."

"I can't drown Syaoran. I was fine." Sakura rested her head on her arm that leaned against the car window.

"I know that," Syaoran started to sound frustrated. "You scared me because someone could have seen. You're different, and if you let yourself be so open like that people are going to figure it out."

Sakura closed her eyes. Clouds pulled up around the sun. "I know. It's just...not being able to be who I really am...it makes me sad."

"I'm sorry, Sakura." Syaoran took a chance at took his eyes off the road to look at her. "I guess, for nothing but selfish reasons, I want to be the only one who truly knows you."

The clouds receded. Sakura gave Syaoran an understanding smile. She wanted Syaoran to be the only one too.

"It scares me."

"What does?" Syaoran asked.

"Sex," she said honestly. "I don't know if I can do it. I don't know what will happen."

Syaoran thought about his words carefully before he said, "All I was wondering is if you thought it was possible. I didn't intend on sounding like a jerk. And you don't have to do anything with me if you don't want to ok?"

Sakura looked at him and nodded. She reached for his hand and he gladly took hers, kissing her knuckles.

At that moment, down the street, a car coming from the opposite way blew a tire. It started careening out of control. It was the awful screech on the pavement that made Syaoran look back up at the road. He barely heard Sakura say "Watch out!" and he tried to swerve out of the way. But as he moved the trunk end of the other car swung right into the front of Syaoran's car. There was a loud bang and glass shattered everywhere. Sakura flung forward in her seat but was thankfully held inside the car by her seat belt. She felt a sharp pain in her abdomen as the car made a sudden stop. The world was still spinning as she tried to get her bearings. Her hand blindly reached for Syaoran, scared because he wasn't making a sound.

"Sy-Syaoran. Syaoran." She said weakly. She felt his shirt and tried to concentrate on looking at him. As her vision became stable she saw Syaoran slumped in his seat. Blood was pouring out of his head. His arms were embedded with shards of glass.

"Syaoran?" She shook his arm. Nothing. "Oh no." She whispered. She rushed to undo her seat belt which made her clumsy and missed the release button. She looked around outside. It looked like the man in the other was knocked out as well. Sakura silently thanked that she had privacy for at least a minute. It would be long enough.

Finally releasing her seat belt, Sakura reached over and touched Syaoran's head where there was a giant gash. She concentrated her energy and tried to heal him. There was a small sputter of red light. But then it went dim. She couldn't feel her healing power working. Sakura tried again. Nothing.

"No, no," she said. "Please work." She tried again. And again, nothing.

"No! Work!" Sakura started yelling. The more she tried the more it seemed to fade into herself. Her own body was using all it's energy to heal itself.

Without thinking about it, Sakura pushed it away and out of her body. That was when the pain became worse. But it didn't matter. She had to help Syaoran. With all of the energy and will power she had, Sakura pushed her mind as hard as she could to heal Syaoran. Finally, thankfully, the red light appeared, bright and strong. Within seconds the gash started to close. Sakura's vision was going blurry, her head spun. She could feel warm liquid running down her stomach.

Just as she started to slump back into her seat she could hear voices say, "Sakura? Sakura!" "Oh my god are you ok?" "Call for help!" "Sakura!"

...

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