.Prologue.
It was a perfect day.
A perfect day for bad things to come.
First, it had been her fight with Kero - it was over something trivial, something that neither of them could remember, as always. But for some reason, the argument had escalated much higher than usual, and Kero had snapped, firing every little insult he had at her.
"What kind of girl still lives with her dad AND her bro at 18?!
"You don't have any friends! You've just been moping and sulking ever since Tomoyo moved to the US!
"Even the cards are getting sick of you - you haven't practiced with them for yonks!
"Dammit, don't tell me you lost the staff! Idiot!
"You've gained weight, greedy guts!
"You have crap fashion sense!
"You cry so easily! Big baby!
"I know what you write in your diary!
"You still sleep with your silly little teddy-weddy at night!"
As the insults got more and more ridiculous, Sakura had calmed down and was about to apologize [for one thing, she'd stopped keeping a diary years ago] when Kero had suddenly dropped the mother of all bombs.
"Even that brat in Hong Kong doesn't like you anymore!" He'd yelled before flying out the window.
That comment hit her like a ton of rocks. She'd tried calling Tomoyo, to ask what to do. Sure, Tomoyo was in the US, but they still got in touch frequently.
The time zone problems made long chats quite difficult, though. Sakura had found her cousin needing to log off her IM or hang up soon after they got talking. But at least Tomoyo promised that they'd always be friends, no matter what.
Still, it was a little depressing, to say in the least.
But by then, after Kero had taken his dramatic leave, it was too late to call Tomoyo. She was probably asleep, or just getting up. Instead, she called Syaoran. She'd told herself that it was just to prove Kero wrong. After all, she'd been going out with him Syaoran for the past 8 years. That had to mean something.
Actually, when was the last time they'd spoken? When was the last time he came to Japan? True, he hadn't returned many of her calls, and he'd been putting off visits for a while, but he was busy preparing for university, or something like that. Sakura mulled it over as she dialled his number.
Syaoran had sounded withdrawn when he picked up, like he wasn't in a good mood.
"Syaoran!" Sakura tried sounding more cheerful. Maybe he was just having a bad day.
"Mmm. Wait, this is Sakura, right?"
"Of course, silly! Who did you think I was, my brother?" Sakura gave a high-pitched laugh that didn't really hide her shock at his comment. Did it just sound like he'd.. forgotten? No, it couldn't be.
"Well, the caller ID did say it was the Kinomoto residence. Just making sure." His voice was bland, expressionless, at most maybe a little defensive.
What the?
She tried making further small talk, trying to almost force a little conversation, but his short, curt replies meant that it wasn't long before an awkward, tense silence had fallen between them.
She tried one last time to revive the talk.
"So, Syaoran, what should we do for our wedding?"
It took quite a while for his reply. She suddenly felt like she'd just picked the wrong thing to say.
"Look, Sakura.."
"Yes?" She was getting a very bad feeling.
"Things aren't really working out."
"What do you mean?"
"I think we should break up."