Disclaimer: Neither Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle or Cardcaptor Sakura belong to me.

Author natterings: I just rewatched the first Cardcaptor Sakura movie and the second, so I was inspired I guess you could say. If you don't have an understanding of CCS, this story might make less of an impact on you. But it shouldn't be too hard to follow even so.
Comments and criticisms are apreciated. Thanks for reading!

Tomoeda

"Syaoran!" The lack of honorific stops him in his tracks.

She is so beautiful. She runs on younger legs. She runs to him. Petals catch in her clothes.

"Sakura," he says, and envelopes her into a loving embrace. They can't be more than fifteen, yet he feels it - what they have shared. As if the Syaoran standing there, holding Sakura, shares his soul, and so shows his love.

"I missed you," she sighs into his neck.

"It's only been a day," he laughs. But his voice softens, and so do his eyes. "I missed you too."

Syaoran stands beneath the shade of a tree, a street away from them. The sight is so simple, ordinary - a girlfriend greeting a boyfriend - yet it tightens his throat. It's who it is that makes him stop and watch. How could this be?

"It feels so much longer, Syaoran," she tells him. Her eyes are closed in bliss. It is clear - they have been together for a long time, but their love burns strong.

He backs against the tree, the shadows cover him further. The weather is pleasant, typical for spring. Still, he feels numb, finds it hard to breathe.

"I know, Sakura." He doesn't use an honorific for her either. "Come on, let's take a walk together."

They break their embrace, but still, their hands entwine. They walk past a mailbox that suddenly falls open, and Syaoran closes it using his left hand, though it's less convenient.

"Touya said he wants to come with us over summer break. I can't help but think he's just being protective again," she tells him, a small pout on her face, barely visible at this distance.

He chuckles in reply. The sound carries, emphasizing the emptiness, the two walk with only each other. Syaoran is just a spectator.

No, no, no. This isn't right. He shakes his head. Touya... King Touya is supposed to be wary of him. He should be the one to call Sakura without a 'san' or a 'chan' or a 'hime'. It should be his hand in hers...

And not for the first time he wonders how it would've been if the princess's wings had never left her. If he had never left Clow and the ruins and yellow apples and her memory of him. It was so hard, knowing that she'd die if he didn't pay his price. It's almost harder to see this, to see what they could've been in another dimension. In love.

He steps around the tree and lets them walk away, unobserved. He can still hear their comfortable banter, echoing down the street, so he closes his eyes and breathes in deeply the smell of sakura blossoms.

"Syaoran-kun?"

He opens his eyes. She's here.

"Syaoran-kun, are you alright?" She's concerned. She is so beautiful.

It flickers across his face then, all the what-ifs. But it's so quick she can barely catch it before he stands up again.

"I'm fine, Sakura-hime," he lies and walks away from her, his heart crippled.