-Syaoran

Picking up a pristine white envelope from his table, he regarded it curiously, and slit it open with a knife, as a piece of paper fell out, picking it up, he could smell the faint scent of cherry blossoms, and a smile crossed his lips, as he was reminded of his childhood friend, and he began reading the neat handwriting scrawled across the paper.

Syaoran,

Remember our promise…20 years ago, we said we would meet under the cherry tree during spring, because, it's when the tree blooms, and is at its prettiest, but now things are different, you're famous and rich, the heir to the Li clan. Of course, you wouldn't remember, it was only a childhood promise, so long ago. It's been a long time since I've been a child, I wonder if you would know me if you saw me now. I'm really different, well, so are you. Remember, we wrote letters in the beginning, but gradually, your letters grew more formal, shorter, and one day, you didn't reply to my letter, and I knew that you had forgotten me, but it's okay. I understand that you're getting married 2 weeks later; I'll be coming to your wedding, to make sure that you have a happy ending to your beautiful fairytale life, I'm happy for you; you had always belonged to another world, a world of glamour, of parties every night, expensive evening gowns and tuxedo suits, champagne… and of fairytales. Our two worlds should never have met in the first place, I'm really sorry if I came in and wrecked it, and disrupted your life. Gomen nasai.

Sakura

Millions of miles away…

Sakura

Sitting on my bed, with rumpled sheets, I held a photograph tightly I my hands, as I remembered a childhood memory faintly

It was the day before syaoran's departure to Hong Kong, and they were standing before his mansion, where all the furniture was being moved out.

'Hey syaoran, let's take a picture, so if we meet again, we'll be able to recognize each other with this photograph, also you'll be able to carry a picture of both of us around.'

Looking at sakura's hopeful face, he sighed, and agreed. 'Come on, smile syaoran, you don't want to look like a grump in your picture right?' as Wei said '1, 2, 3…' and at that moment, sakura lost her footing, as she was making funny faces trying to make syaoran smile, she didn't realize that she was moving backwards all the while, and fell into the pool. 'That historic moment was captured by wei on his camera.

Syaoran looked shocked, as he tried to help a drenched sakura out of the pool, but was greeted by a grinning sakura, who was dog paddling in the water with all her clothes on. Motioning for Li to come into the pool and join her, she grinned and said 'It's fun, syaoran, come on in.' but as he was shaking his head, sakura splashed him, he looked offended, and said, 'come up Sakura, you'll get sick. Pouting she replied 'No!' After much persuasion, he managed to convince sakura to take his hand, but as she firmly gripped his hand, he saw a mischievous glint in her, and realized his mistake, just as he was unceremoniously pulled into the pool by sakura, when he resurfaced, he looked for sakura, and said 'T-ttThat was evil sakura, you could have killed me.' At which sakura replied with big puppy eyes, 'Why, syaoran, this is YOUR pool after all ,surely you can't die.'

'W-well that's not the point' he answered. 'But isn't it fun syaoran?' she asked with the same big puppy eyes. Syaoran had to admit it was fun. So in the end, they paddled in the pool with their clothes on, and when they came up, sakura insisted they still take the picture, in which syaoran looked pissed off at being caught at such a moment, while sakura grinned cheekily with her bangs plastered to her wet forehead.

Now holding that memory in her hands, she whispered a simple gomen nasai, to it, still she hesitated a while before she tore it up, a ragged zigzag line separating the two carefree children in the picture, her blood red nails leaving behind a torn past. Stepping out of her flat, she shivered involuntarily as the chill wind whipped around her, threatening to dislodge her hat which was perched on her head, she wrapped a scarf around her neck to ward off the biting wind. Holding her head low, she made her way quickly across the road, and flagged down a taxi.

'Japan airport please.' She said softly to the driver, the rest of the ride was in silence, as the lady looked out of the window at the trees which were passing at such a high speed, and wondered since when had Tomeda seemed so small and dull, and at the same time, mused to herself the irony of things, as the trees were not moving, but she sitting in the taxi was. In the same way, Tomoeda had not changed, but she had, she had moved on to find higher grounds at a price, at a high price.

Shaking her awake from her reverie, were the short clipped words of '259 yen' from the driver, as she handed the money over silently, she wondered again since when had people stopped talking, since when had people become so cold. Stepping onto the curb, she made her way quickly to the booth, as the sound of her high-heeled boots against the polished floor of the airport made an unpleasant screeching sound. Waiting patiently in queue, she bought one of the last tickets of luxury class on flight b-206, which was due to take off in 2 hours. His wedding was in 10 hours.

Finally, the long awaited or dreaded announcement blared over the loudspeakers 'Passengers of flight b-206 please board now, I repeat passengers of flight b-206 please board now' still she hesitated a moment before making her way towards the plane, bringing no luggage along except her wallet and her clothes, the officials at the customs looked at her strangely as she passed the customs. 8 hours to his wedding. she could still turn back now, but she had condemned herself the moment she had picked up the phone call from 5 years ago, no use backing out now, what was done, was done, she might as well see it through. She boarded the gangplank. Finding her seat, was easy, settling down was difficult, images of their teenage romance flashed through her mind. The phone call from 5 years ago…

She had not seen syaoran since his departure for Hong Kong 7 years ago, she was now13 years old.

'Ring! Rriiiingggg!' the telephone ringed incessantly as a pretty 13 year-old sakura rushed down the staircase to get it, tripping over a few steps along the way.

'Moshi moshi, kinomoto residence.' chirped a perky sakura

'Uhmmn may I speak to sakura?' replied an awkward voice.

'Yes, speaking.' Replied sakura, now equally confused, as she did not recognize the voice on the other line.

'Uhmnn I'm syaoran, how have you been?' he asked with obvious discomfort

'SYAORRAANN! I haven't hearad from you in a long while, I thought you disappeared from the face of the earth!' she exclaimed.

The rest of the conversation progressed this way, both sakura and syaoran acting familiar, like as if they had never been apart, but in the end, the main point was that syaoran was coming back to Tomoeda, for the spring holidays, over that holiday, they made the most of it, playing at beaches, spending all their time with each other, and they gradually realized that they were not the kids they once were, and now their relationship progressed into something deeper ,but at the end of the spring holidays, syaoran left with a promise, 'Promise me, please meet me under the cherry blossom tree in spring, and we'll see it bloom together' , and every spring sakura waited there, and every spring he was never there, and she knew that he had forgotten her. By now pictures of the heir of the Li clan were appearing in the newspapers, every time, she saw his picture, her heart broke a little more, in the end, she changed. In the same way, he had changed into nothing more than a distant memory, a picture in the magazine…or had he?

5 years later, he was getting married, she had moved on in life…or had she? With these memories, she fell asleep, waking only when a flight attendant shook her gently awake, as the plane had landed, and everyone else had left. Blushing furiously, she apologized and quickly got off the plane. With only one aim, she made her way hastily towards the long taxi line, and boarded one almost immediately, 'West Phoenix Banquet Hall, please.'

Surprisingly, the driver answered her, asking 'Going there to attend the Li's wedding?' though his tone of voice made it sound like more of a statement than a question. When he saw the surprised expression on her face, he said 'everyone knows that the syaoran Li is getting married today, though, I'm not sure if you can go in these clothes though,' referring to her casual jeans and tank top, 'I heard it's very formal, and only those millionaires can attend.' Once again the rest of the ride was in silence.

When she reached the West Phoenix, the taxi was barred from going in as it did not have proper credentials, she paid the driver, as the security guard at the car park demanded her invitation card, having none, she pretended to be searching for it in her pockets, but it was obvious to anyone watching that an invitation card could not have been hidden anywhere in those small pockets of her jeans. Smirking, the security guard said 'If you don't have an invitation, please leave, the real guests will be arriving soon.' He said sarcastically.

Looking calculatingly at the guard, she pretended to trip and fall, as blood flowed out from an old wound on her knee which had not been fully healed, the wound, though shallow looked very serious due to the amount of blood flowing out, as she pretended to have twisted her ankle, and broken her knee, The security guard immediately walked over to help her up, 'Are you okay, m-i..' he never got to finish his sentence, as he as came nearer, sakura whirled around suddenly, twisted his hands behind his back, but before he could call security, she quickly hit him at the back of his neck, causing him to fall unconscious.

Smiling, she dragged his body into some bushes, and stripped him of his security uniform, and quickly undressed and left her own clothes in a heap at the security house, as she sneaked into the building, with her long auburn hair hidden messily underneath the cap, it was difficult to see that she was a girl, and had feminine features, unless you looked closely.

Tapping the first security guard she found on the shoulder, she whispered 'Time to change shifts. Car park entrance b-24, duty.' The other man simply answered confusedly, 'But I thought we were only sup…' but was cut off sharply by sakura saying 'New orders from Yelen.' Without protesting, he moved to his new destination. She went on giving these 'orders' to the subsequent security guards she met, making them take the place of the last one, all the while moving closer and closer to the banquet hall itself.

2 more hours to the actual wedding.

When she finally got inside the banquet hall, the wedding ceremony was about to start. With her head bowed low, she walked across the hall to conceal herself behind a pillar, from which she could see the ceremony without letting syaoran know she was there, when she suddenly ran into someone, who was obviously not looking where he was going, causing her to lose her balance and fall, landing on her butt, looking up at the person, ready to start swearing curses, they died on her lips as she saw the face which had graced so many magazines and newspapers, the face which she was so familiar with, but held few traces of her childhood friend, the face of the famous Syaoran Li.

Syaoran POV

'Shit bumped into someone, now my getaway, is foiled, I wanted to get away from my four weird sisters crying and sobbing over 'our cute little brother is finally getting married' They are seriously freaking me out. I better help the person up. damn, he's looking at me in that way, like as if I'm a god, in that oh so reverential way, not again, I know I'm famous and everything, but it really is very annoying, and it's a security guard too, really, Yelen should hire guards who don't stare, and aren't awed at the face of the Li Syaoran.

End Pov

'Syaoran…' I could only whisper, as I saw the face which I had hated or loved so many times, he was offering his hand to me, in the same way, he had offered his hand to me, when, I had fallen in the pool… but we were kids back then. I could only take it, and thank him, he seemed to be different from the last time I saw him, so distant, so cold, I couldn't help but remember once again that same, yet different scowling face, which I had tried so hard to bring a smile to,but that was so long ago, people change, times change, it's about time I moved along too.

Syaoran

Pulling that security guard up, he seemed lighter than expected, looking closely at him, he was somehow slightly familiar, stirring a distant memory, but it was probably just my imagination, his cap was pulled down low, covering his face, but I could swear I saw a hint of emerald, I musts be overworked, coping with my freaking sisters, but I couldn't help feel intrigued, the uniform looked like as if it didn't fit her, hanging quite loosely off her, I didn't know that mother was so inattentive to uniforms, but they weren't an important part of our business anyway, but it did give people a bad impression.

Help! Four freaky weird sisters approaching, straight for me! Save me kamisama!

Oh no, they were rushing towards me with that look on their faces again, and rushing straight for me at full speed, poor security guard he seems to be in danger of being knocked down again, poor guy.

Apologizing, I bent my head and walked quickly away, However, before I could get further than three paces away, four crazy woman knocked me down again, at the same time knocking the security cap off my head, and I could only look horrified, as my auburn curls came tumbling down around my shoulders, every thing suddenly seemed to happen in slow motion, the look of amazed recognition on syaoran's face prompted me into action, and I did the most cowardly thing in my whole life, I ran away. Even though I could hear him calling my name, I dared not turn back, for fear it would slow me down, I could hear his footsteps not far behind. I had to get out of here quickly, before he caught me. I knew it was a bad idea to come; I would once again disrupt his beautiful fairytale life.

It was only 1 hour to his wedding.

He finally caught up, and pinned me against a wall, and I couldn't help, but drown myself in the depths of those fiery amber eyes, that had once caught me, like no others.

'Sakura, so, it's finally you.' He panted, from the exertion of chasing after me.

'Yes, I came to wish you well, hope you have a marriage full of love, and joy, syaoran' as I tore my eyes from those captivating amber eyes.

'Thanks, Sakura, I didn't think you'd come, but thanks anyway, I should bring you to meet Yori, she's a really beautiful, and caring, I'm sure she'd love to meet you, Sakura, after all, you are my childhood friend.' Replied syaoran, with a dreamy look on his face, when he came the name Yori.

'Nah, I gotta leave, have an appointment at 4, oh, by the way, those security guards of yours sure are scared of Yelen, I mentioned her name, and they were practically wetting their pants.' Sakura grinned.

With that, she turned around, her wild auburn hair, flying in the breeze, she left Syaoran, the love of her life standing in his wedding suit, gazing after her, chuckling, and thinking, 'ne sakura doesn't ever change'

What he did not know was that, she had left, to give him his perfect fairy tale ending. They had their fun times in their childhood, but still, they were now only memories. Sometimes, saying sayonara to your past, and changing is a form of courage, and letting go is the best way to say 'I love you'. It's okay if you don't remember me, in the same way I remember you. I just need to hold your memory close to my heart, its okay if I'm only standing in the background, I can see your face smiling back at me, in the arms of another woman.

I love you.

Sayonara, syaoran.

Remember our promise, so long ago.

Of kisses and dreams, of pirates and gold.

And we were young, we were pretty,

So, we were there, in that world of innocence,

You never knew how much for you I yearned

Coz Every spring I waited there,

And every spring you never were there.

Echo (you never were there…never there)

So ... you will never know how you broke my heart.

We were once so near, now so far apart, o-o-o-o-o

When the tree blossomed in its full pride

And my heart died…

Coz you forgot.

Echo (you forgot… forgot…)

But it's okay,

I knew from the start it'd end up this way…

I told you I'd be brave, I'd live,

You told me you'd remember me, so what gives?

At least my eyes not blinded by love now, can see.

That we were never meant to be.