The ground felt cold but not too hard. It was smooth, yet gritty, like it had a small layer of dirt. A gentle smell, a wet smell, wafted through the air mixed with earth. A gentle sound, like raindrops, pelted from outside.

Sakura found herself slowly coming to, waking up to these sensations. A makeshift pillow was stuck underneath her head, and aside from her own cloak, she was wrapped in green - probably to keep her from getting dirty.

She slowly rose into a sitting position, eyelids half open, the pull of sleep still evident. There was no one else she could see inside the cave. No Mokona, no Fai, no Kurogane. But as she turned her head, her gaze fell upon the familiar figure of a young man her age that has been by her side since she had been stricken with her strange memory condition.

Syaoran was by the cave opening. Dull light shined through, bright enough to light the cave up, but dim enough not to burn your eyes. He was staring out into the rain that fell neither heavy nor light. The sight was almost mesmerising - the princess found herself staring too as the drops trickled down from the edging of the cave's mouth. Taking a breath, she silently enjoyed with Syaoran the sound of pelting rain.

"You're awake!" she heard his voice break her from her trance. His face was turned toward her, a warm smile the expression he wore. "How are you feeling, Princess?"

"Oh... I'm fine..." she replied, her voice still tired from having just woken up. "Oh... this is yours, isn't it? Won't you be cold?"

Syaoran shook his head. "I'm fine, Princess. You hold onto it. I just wanted to make sure you were warm and comfortable."

"Mm..." she slid her hand over the cloak he had laid out for her, the one she had been sleeping on for the past few hours. Syaoran was always so thoughtful, sometimes too thoughtful, disregarding his own comfort. It was sweet, but she wished he could take care of himself too. "Syaoran...?"

"Hm?"

"Are we alone? I don't see Mokona... or Fai... or Kurogane... did they go somewhere?"

"No... I... I'm not sure where they are." he told her. "When we arrived in this world, it seems we got separated."

It wouldn't be the first time that had happened, but it didn't make the situation any less stressful. They would need to look for them if they wanted to leave to the next world. After all, Mokona was the only way through dimensions.

"We'll try to find our way back to them once the rain lets up," Syaoran assured her. "It's probably a good thing Mokona is with them; depending how far apart we are, they wouldn't be able to understand each other."

"So do we speak the same language then?" Sakura asked.

"Nn..!"

That caught him off guard.

"I think you were from my country too, right?"

"...yes." a delayed response.

That had to make sense, though. He was the one to explain the severity of her situation, the loss of her memories, and out of everyone, getting her feathers back was mainly his priority. He always called her princess, so she must be his princess; that is to say, the princess of his country. She always accepted it as merely that, since why else would you want to help a stranger?

But something inside of her seemed to tell her it was more than that. And for awhile, she's suspected it, but she was never able to hold that thought for very long. So she stopped thinking about it too hard. The answer was never given to her, one way or the other. Either he'd avoid it or she'd forget it.

And so, once again, things became quiet as the rain continued to fall - the only sound, aside from their own breathing which they could only hear when they listened for it. It was drowned out by the rain after all.

As Syaoran thoughtfully stared into the overcast world, he felt a gentle warmth emitting next to him. Sakura was now standing beside him, staring out into the distance too. A warm smile graced her features, almost a mirror of the smile he gave her upon waking up. She looked outside with fondness, and yet there was a twinge of something else - as if she were troubled over something.

"Hey Syaoran..." she began. "Do you like the rain?"

Immediately, a certain image flashed in his mind. Getting wet, all alone, bandaged eye, and the man he would come to call father covering him with a jacket. It stirred such a confusing mix of emotion, he wasn't sure what to think of it at times.

"Well," he said. "It's not something I usually like to get caught up in."

"Mm..." she closed her eyes, as if warm with nostalgia. "I think it's fun."

For some reason, that caused him to smile. A small laugh escaped his mouth. "Really? How come?"

"Well..." she opened her eyes, staring into the mist. It was hard to really figure out what's in this world since it was so blurred by the rain and the fog. "Upon receiving my most recent feather, I saw rain. Apparently, it hadn't rained in a few months. There were... so many puddles in the sand..."

"Look Syal! It's raining!"

Sakura had grabbed Syaoran by the hand, pulling him toward the window and jumping up and down excitedly.

"Come on!" she shouted, now pulling him from the window and running into the palace courtyard. "Hahahaha!"

"Won't we get in trouble?" Syaoran said cautiously, still standing under the overhang as the little princess giggled.

"Oh, don't worry about it, we haven't run away!" she assured him.

"But you could get sick."

"No, I won't!"

"It's made me sick before."

Though his expression was blank, she could tell by his eyes he didn't see rain the same way she did. That meant she had to show him to see it differently!

"Princess?" Syaoran questioned as Sakura once again took both his hands.

However, his address made her pout. "Is saying my name really that hard?"

"N-No, Princess, it's just-"

"You're doing it again."

"I'm sorry-huh?" he paused, just having realized they were both in the middle of the courtyard, getting soaked by the rain. 'Nn... Sakura...!"

"Hahahaha!" she laughed. "You said it, you said it!"

Sakura let go of his hands and spun around, splashing in a nearby puddle. "I'm so happy!"

"Nn..." for some reason, Syaoran felt a sense of embarrassment, but it was OK to call her by her name, right? She's always insisted on it.

"Isn't the rain fun?" she said, still splashing as she spun around in circles.

Her enthusiasm was contagious, he couldn't stop the spread of a smile that formed upon his face. "Uh-huh. I guess it is fun."

"Then dance with me!" she giggled, taking his hands and spinning around, making both of them dizzy until they fell apart backwards into two separate puddles.

"I ended up getting sick later that day..." Sakura admitted. "But I had so much fun. I was bubbling over with happiness. It was such a simple thing, playing in the rain like that."

Syaoran felt the same. As she iterated that memory, it played vividly in his mind. It was the first time he saw rain in another context.

"But..." Sakura's voice trailed off, sounding troubled. "...something's not right, the memory doesn't feel quite complete... I was happy, but why? For the rain? No... someone was there with me... we were playing in the rain... who are they? How come they're always absent? Why..."

Sakura's eyes began to sting and visibly water. "Why is this person always missing from the most meaningful memories in my life?"

Her lips trembled and her cheeks were streaked with tears. The sight felt like a stabbing pain in Syaoran's chest and stomach. It hurt enough he was always subtracted from her recollection, that was the price he agreed to pay. But he had no idea it'd be this painful to Sakura. She always seemed puzzled by the apparent gaps, but she seemed to pay no mind to it. She never really dwelt upon it all that much, or so he thought.

"Princess..." he reached out his hand, gently brushing the tears away with his index finger. "Your memories are still incomplete. It'll be awhile before it's whole again."

"But what if it's never whole, Syaoran?"

"Nn..." he grimaced. The sight of her face, pained with sorrow, wet with tears. The question stabbed him like a thousand needles pricking his skin because he knew the answer to that, and he couldn't bear to answer it. She wouldn't remember him saying it anyway.

This was what rain initially meant to him. Pain, loneliness. But it was... warm too. He was found in the rain, after all.

"Hey, Princess?"

"Huh?" she lifted her head and saw him outstretching his hand for hers.

"Dance with me?"

Her eyes widened. "H-Huh?"

"In the rain." he smiled. "I'll give you a better memory. One without any holes."

Sakura put her hand to her mouth and shyly looked away. The gesture was sweet and her cheeks flushed, but she was smiling too. She took his hand without any hesitation, and immediately could feel her body being pulled out of the cave and into the rain.

The sound increased when they stood outside. Their footsteps splashed and got their shoes covered in mud. It wasn't so bad for Syaoran's boots, but Sakura's shoes weren't meant for this kind of weather. But she didn't care, her soaked shoes didn't even cross her mind as the two of them laughed and spun around like little children.

Almost losing her balance, Sakura nearly fell backwards, until Syaoran caught her in his arms just in time. Their eyes locked, their breaths were heavy from all the spinning. She stared at him, a probing stare. "It was you."

Those words nearly caused Syaoran to drop her, but he recomposed himself, kept his grip.

"You're the one from my memories..." she reached her hand to touch his face. "Syaoran, you-"

A crack of thunder roared through the sky exactly as a surge of pain assaulted the princess' head. Her eyes were empty, and she fell limp, rolling out of Syaoran's grip into the mud.

"SAKURA!"

He quickly scooped her up and brought her back into the cave, drying her off as much as he possibly could (it was difficult without a fire), and covered her up with both their cloaks to keep her warm.

"She got too close again..." he sighed, running his fingers through her hair as she slept.

The rainfall quickly brewed up into a full on storm by evening. Luckily the wind was blowing in a direction that didn't spew water into the mouth of the cave. The only bit of light that they had was from a small oil lantern acquired from one of the many worlds they journeyed. "I hope the others are doing alright out there..." Syaoran said to himself.

"Nnn..." Sakura stirred after being asleep for sometime now. She unknowingly crawled over to Syaoran, resting her head upon his lap. "I had the most wonderful dream..." she said sleepily.

"Oh? What was it?" Syaoran asked politely.

"We were dancing in the rain..."

Syaoran paused.

"And then..." Sakura's eyes opened, looking around the place, confused. "Umm... Syaoran, where are we?"

His breath caught. She had forgotten everything prior 'till now.

"The next world, Princess..." he managed to reply calmly. "We seemed to have gotten separated from the others, but we'll have to look for them after the rain lets up."

"Oh... that's why we must be soaking wet, huh?" she laid her head back down on his lap. "The sound of the rain must've influenced my dream."

Sighing, she closed her eyes, slowly drifting off. "It was a nice dream."

Syaoran swallowed the lump in his throat as Sakura fell back asleep. "I'm sure it was, Princess."