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Syaoran and Sakura were sitting on a cliff, side by side, hand in hand, dangling their feet of the edge, and looking out at the beautiful meadow down below them. It was filled with flowers of all kinds, and both of them agreed it was unlike anything they'd seen before. Syaoran felt like that was an exaggeration on their part, considering they'd seen a lot of amazing stuff. But, in this world, this ordinary world where he could live in peace with his most beloved, it was definitely a very beautiful sight.
They were eighteen now, out of high school just recently, and planning on moving in together. This life, filled with friends, family, happiness, and sadness caused by normal people problems, was a good one.
Not that Syaoran considered his last life a bad one. It was the life where he'd met Sakura, and fallen for her. It was the life where he met Fai-san, Kurogane-san, and Mokona. It was the life he'd traveled from dimension to dimension, and done extraordinary things.
But it was also the life where he'd ripped out Fai's eye.
The life where he'd killed hundreds of people.
The life where he'd killed Sakura.
But none of that matter, not for now, anyway. Now, it was just Sakura and him, away from the blood, death, and tears, sitting on a cliff, and looking out as the sun rose, casting light on the beautiful flowers beneath them. He remembered in Clow, when he and Sakura had sat like this, staring out at all the sand, glowing gold as the sun shone on it.
"Sakura." he said, and she looked over at him.
"Yes?"
But he just smiled. "I just wanted to say your name. I want to say it as many times as I possibly can. Before..."
And then he trailed off, and she squeezed his hand, and leaned on him. He leaned back, breathing in the beautiful scent of flowers and Sakura. He didn't want to think of that right now. Not when he was here, with Sakura.
"Look!" Sakura said, pointing into the sky. He followed her finger. "That cloud looks like Onii-chan and Yukito-san." Touya was Sakura's brother here, too. It seemed that a new life wasn't enough to get away from that tyrant. But in all honesty, Syaoran didn't hate any Touya. He was a good guy, with a good soul. He looked at the clouds in question, and saw, to his amazement, that they really kind of did look like Touya and Yukito.
"Take a picture with your cellphone." he told her, and she scrambled to get it out of her pocket, and held it up against the big blue sky to snap her picture. The camera clicked, and they looked at the picture together, to see how it came out, smiling as they viewed it.
But then, the phone slipped from Sakura's fingers.
"Oh no!" she gasped.
Syaoran reached out and tried to grab it, but it was hopeless. The cellphone fell into the bed of flowers, and they stared after it silently.
"Do you think it survived the fall?" Sakura asked, and Syaoran shrugged.
"Maybe. Do you want to go look for it?"
"I probably should. Onii-chan bought me that phone."
So they made their way down to the flowers, but once they got to the meadow, they were presented with a problem. Sakura, being the nature lover she was, did not want to step on a single flower, which made things rather difficult. They had to maneuver around all the flowers, pushing them aside very gently, Sakura apologizing the whole time. Syaoran smiled at her warmly, but returned to the matter at hand.
They found the phone some minutes later, but upon returning to the cliff top, realized they'd missed the sunrise they'd come for.
"Oh no..." Sakura said gloomily. "I made us miss it."
He hugged her with one arm, and they sat back down. "It's alright. We can come again tomorrow."
Sakura looked at him, and smiled. "I'm so glad I'm here with you, Syaoran." she whispered, and he saw tears in her eyes.
"Sakura," he started. It had taken a while before he'd stopped calling her Princess. Old habits died hard, and even though they had found it amusing, their friends and families had been sort of confused, when they realized he didn't mean it as an affectionate nickname. "Why are you crying?"
She wiped the tears away, and sniffled. "Because, I feel bad." she said, still whispering.
"Bad? Why?"
But he had a feeling he knew why. He often felt guilty too, thinking about their companions. The last time he'd seen them, they'd all been fighting Fei-Wang Reed, in a life or death battle. He'd told Sakura about it, and she'd looked sad. "They'll probably be there until we return to them."
He knew this was true. So while he was here with Sakura, they were there, fighting a deadly battle with the man who had created him. Part of him wanted to get back to them, right away, because they were his precious companions, but part of him wanted to hide here forever, with Sakura, even though he knew that was impossible.
Now that it was on their mind, it was impossible to return to the lightness and beauty of the moments before. He reached over, and gently touched her head, to try and reassure her that everything would be okay. He was glad that in this life, he was brave enough to touch Sakura, without blushing and stuttering an apology.
"We'll have to go back to them, won't we?" she whispered, her jade eyes focused on the sun, making them look golden in color for a moment, before she turned away.
He nodded, and whispered back, "Yes."
"I'll have to say goodbye to Touya, and Yukito. And Umi-chan, Fuu-chan, and Hikaru-chan."
He nodded again, and hugged her close to him. He knew how she felt. His heart was torn in two as well. He had friends and family in this life, who he loved, and didn't want to leave behind. He had a lifetime worth of memories, and he knew he'd be here long enough to gain just enough more happiness to make it even worse when their inevitable departure arrived.
Sakura was crying lightly into his chest, and she buried her head into his chest. Her sniffles made his heart hurt. No matter how many lives they lived, or how many worlds they went to, that would never change.
"But, I'm excited to see everybody again." she added, her tears lessening. He let her pull back, so they were face to face now. "Kurogane-san will be very angry with us, don't you think?"
He smiled, thinking of the man who'd become not only his mentor, but the second father he'd needed. "Yes. If he gets the chance, I'm sure he'll beat us up."
She giggled, and touched his arm. "Poor Syaoran."
"Poor me? He's going to hit you too!"
She smiled wide. "Yes, but I'm a girl. He'll definitely take it easy on me."
He shook his head. "If anybody is equal opportunity, it's Kurogane-san. You'll get a beating just as bad as mine."
She sighed. "Rats."
"I think Fai-san will be angry too." he added, and she nodded. A bird flew over head, tweeting something, and a few seconds later, a whole flock of birds followed behind it. Syaoran wasn't sure if they were all traveling together, or if that big group of birds was going to beat up the one in front.
"Yes, but he'll be too happy to see us to show it." Sakura said, bringing him back to their conversation.
Thinking about Fai, Syaoran got quiet, and Sakura instantly knew why, touching his arm again, with her dainty fingers.
"Don't feel bad anymore, Syaoran. Fai-san forgives you. I was with him for a while after you left, so I know."
"Still, I wish I could have apologized to him better."
"Maybe you'll get the chance."
He knew why she said, 'maybe.' There was no guarantee that after the fight with Fei-Wand Reed, that the two of them would still be alive. They both knew this. They'd accepted it a long time ago.
"I hope, after all this is over, Fai-san can go back to the way he was." Sakura added, and Syaoran knew she was remembering the time she'd spent with the wizard, after he had departed from the group. She'd told him about that too. Finding each other was a moment filled with excitement, and after they'd spent days and days just being happy with each other, they'd spent days and days more recounting their tale. Their close ones had been worried, and very confused.
"Annoying Kurogane-san?"
"Or so he pretends."
"I don't know. I think he really is annoyed."
"Yes, but we both know how they really feel." Sakura said, with a smile.
Syaoran nodded. He hadn't seen it at the time, not really. He'd been super focused on Sakura, and getting back her feathers. But, in the nights they'd filled with talking, Syaoran and Sakura, while talking about their two companions, had quickly come to the conclusion that all was not as it seemed with them.
"Mokona will be nothing but happy to see us." Syaoran said. Sakura smiled brightly at the mention of the white fluff ball.
"Moko-chan...I really do believe Mokona was the one who held everyone together."
Syaoran agreed. He knew that when he had left, Mokona had been the one to accept the original Syaoran with open arms, leading the charge. And once Sakura had died, he was sure Mokona had worked hard to keep everything alright. He felt bad. Poor Mokona, who hadn't even really signed on for the journey, had seen so much blood and violence. He knew Mokona had been watching when he ripped out Fai's eye, and ate it. Heck, Mokona, right now, was at the battle with Fei-Wang Reed, watching the others fight for their lives, and the lives of many others.
But still, Mokona smiled. A happy, genuine, beautiful smile, that even Kurogane couldn't say no to anymore.
"And..." Sakura started, then stopped again. He knew who they were talking about now.
"Syaoran." he filled in.
His original. The boy whose soul he'd been living with, all those years, unknowingly. Sakura had talked about him too, of course, and Syaoran really couldn't bring himself to hate him, even if he had been trying to kill him before. He was just like him, determined, loyal, and kind.
"He'll be alright." he said, sure of it. Sakura nodded.
"We'll make sure of it."
They stood up now, still holding hands, and still looking out at the sun.
"Hey, there you are! We've been looking for you!" It was Yukito, smiling brightly, and waving. Next to him, Touya was less than joyous, and simply waved them down.
"Hurry up!"
Before they went to join them, Syaoran hugged Sakura. One day, this peaceful life they'd been granted would end, and they would go back to the pain and suffering they'd known before. But as long as he got to live this life with Sakura, he didn't care.
"As long as I'm with you," he whispered into her ear, ignoring Touya's ranting from the bottom of the hill, as he yelled for Syaoran to let go of his little sister, "it doesn't matter where we are. I'll be happy."
Sakura hugged him tightly, and nodded into his chest.
"Me too, Syaoran. As long as I'm with you, I'm happy."