Somewhere in Time

03

Sakura stood in front of a full-length mirror and examined herself. She turned her body to the left, to the right, turned around, reached her hands up high, then bent over. The sundress she wore reached almost to her ankles and was of a feminine floral print, perfect for the warmer days of the end of summer. The only thing missing was a hat. She reached over to her coat stand and picked a floppy straw hat and jammed it straight on her head. Perfect!

"Dad! I'm leaving! Be back later!" Sakura called out as her feet trampled down their wooden stairs. Just a tad late now, she had to run to save time. Her purse found itself on her shoulder and her shoes miraculously found themselves on the correct feet and away she went into the summer afternoon.

Outside, the sun was shining high in the sky with a few clouds sprinkled around to the north. Not too hot and not too cool either, the temperature was just perfect for a picnic date. But it wasn't just any picnic date, no, today was her very first date and it was with him, no less. Her cheeks flushed and she touched them in a fit of giggles to feel the heat of her embarrassment. "I can't believe it! It's like some sort of dream!" She twirled herself around and watched her dress flow out around her. She giggled once more and continued on her way to the penguin park on foot.

Once there she looked around. No one was around. She frowned, looked at her watch and confirmed the time. Indeed she was there, two o'clock sharp. Was it some sort of trickery on his part? Did she mishear the time over the phone perhaps? "Mou..." The estatic mood she felt as she flew out the door a dozen or so minutes ago slowly became extinguished as she walked deeper into the park and seeing no sign of him or picnic.

"HOE!" a pair of hands wrapped around her face and covered her eyes. In a fluster, Sakura flailed her arms about and struggled to regain her composure. In the nonsense and surprise of losing her sight, the young girl tripped over her own feet and fell backwards on top of her assailant.

A loud "Urfh" followed as Sakura plopped straight on top of the other young person in the park with her. "Sakura! It's me!" The familiar voice that owned the hands rescinded his grip over her face and waited for the startled girl to turn around and see that she was indeed not under any attack or in any danger.

"Hoe...!" Sakura turned around finally and all that excitement that had been extinguished was reignited and in moments she had thrown herself at Sayoran and hugged him close. "Don't do that again!"

Syaoran hugged back with one hand and pushed himself up into a proper sitting position with his other hand. Sakura fumbled in his lap as she scolded him. "Sorry..." Syaoran mumbled while he let her go from the hug. "I set up over there, I wanted it to be a bit more private," Syaoran pointed the the edge of the park where the trees started to cluster. Sakura nodded energetically and sprung to her feet. She offered Syaoran a hand up, which he took. Using her strength she pulled the young man up to his feet, yet misjudged how much pull she needed and they found themselves mashed together by the force in which Syaoran sprung from the ground.

The pair giggled amongst themselves at their silly antics and walked hand-in-hand to Syaoran's special picnic set up exclusively for their very first real date.

It was a marvelous spread Syaoran put out for her, full of yummy favorites of hers and delicious treats from Hong Kong he thought she may want to try. "I made you an omelet too," Syaoran pointed to a dish with his egg creation on it.

"Whaaa, Syaoran, I'm so lucky!" She smiled and they sat down on opposite sides of the blanket facing one another. "I can't believe you made all this for me," Sakura looked around and not a single course was missing. There was a small salad, a cup of soup, her omelet and a wide array of candies and desserts to pick from. "I think I'll eat it all," she said with excitement.

Syaoran just sat and watched with a smile on his face. He had wanted everything to be perfect and despite the small bout of clumsiness the two had a few moments ago, everything seemed to be running by smoothly. It was simple, but memorable. At last he picked up his own chop sticks and began to dig in to his own lunch once he was satisfied that things were running smoothly.

After their meal both laid down on the now cleared-off blanket. There was still plenty of daylight left to enjoy, though the sun had now moved away from the apex of the sky and was slowly coming down to sit in the western part of the sky. The young couple created a T shape with their bodies, Sakura's head lying pressed against Syaoran's full belly. She felt a slight food coma sitting in after devouring all her food and stuffing herself with a handful of the candies Syaoran had brought her from Hong Kong. The sun did not aid to her state, making her rather lethargic in it's warm rays.

"Did you enjoy?" Syaoran broke the silence as his fingers found her hair. Quickly Sakura found that this was something she enjoyed. His fingers slipped through her short locks with ease, sometimes a finger would wind itself around a section of hair. All Sakura could do was manage a nod and a smile. Her head moved a bit to catch Syaoran's glance. That smile, it stretched from the ends of her mouth up to her eyes. He patted the top of her head and went back to watching the clouds form in the sky. "Can I ask you something?"

Sakura nodded energetically.

"Well... it's not really a question..." Syaoran trailed off now, starting to get lost in the moment. "... I just wanted to tell you that I haven't felt happy in a long time. Thank you," He pushed himself and disrupted Sakura's position. To replace his stomach, Syaoran slipped his hands around her head to cradle it. In one of the boldest moves of his life, he brought his face down to hers and caught her lips.

A moment later he lifted his face up and smiled down at her. "I promise I won't leave again, I promise to stay in Japan."