As Sakura looked out of the glass walls, her phone vibrated in her pocket. It was only early evening, but the sky was dark because of the heavy cloud cover. Raindrops raced down the walls and left spotted patterns on the glass. The light of the cars moving outside reflected on the droplets which now looked like tiny gems floating in mid air.
Sakura had a shopping bag filled with groceries in one hand, and a handbag with her cafe uniform in another. With a lot of difficulty, she took out her phone to check her messages.
-
Yukito: Thought of changing the outdoor venue because of the rains. Can you help me check them out? Touya is too busy with work.
Sakura: Sure! Don't let him miss the appointment with Tomoyo this Friday.
Yukito: You have my word. Did you return home from work? The forecast doesn't look very good.
Sakura: Yeah I'm at home.
-
"Sakura? What are you doing here?"
She looked back to see Shiro standing behind her with a packet of buns and cakes.
"Shiro... I had to do some emergency shopping, but now I'm stuck because of the rain."
Shiro stood beside Sakura looking outside the blurred windows. The violent crash of the raindrops outside filled the silence between them.
"You didn't have work today?" Shiro asked without looking at Sakura.
"I did... I asked Miku to cover my end shift." Sakura replied plainly. She was used to this - conversations that were pointless, ended nowhere and had no life when they exchanged them.
"You could have told me, I would have met you sooner" Shiro sighed.
"No no. I wouldn't bother you. Besides... I Had to tell you something..." Sakura played with the straps of the paper bag with her fingers.
Li had not replied back ever since he slept over at her place, his intentions were clear, that night was a mistake.
He had probably even gone back to Hong Kong, so there was no use hoping things would be back to normal with him. He would disappear like he did 5 years back, and she would be alone again.
But... This time it was different... Even though she knew she would be alone, she didn't want this meaningless toil to continue. She had to face the truth, even though it was hard to do so.
"Tell me." Shiro put his arm around her shoulder. She shrugged under his affection.
"I don't think we should continue seeing each other." Sakura whispered. She didn't have to talk loudly for him to understand what she wanted to say, even though the rain swallowed up all the voices around them.
"Is it someone else?" Shiro coldly asked.
"No..."
"I know you're lying Sakura." He tightened his grip on her shoulder.
"There is no one... I just... Don't think we should" Sakura chose her words carefully as she could sense the whiff of danger. Her fingers automatically went up to her bag where she had kept the cards.
"But I love you." Shiro snuggled into her hair.
"I'm sorry... But..." Suddenly Sakura noticed a familiar face walking on the sidewalk across the road, with an unfaithful umbrella over his head.
The heavy rains made her vision blurry but she was sure it was someone she knew. She instantly turned around and ran into the rain without thinking. Shiro was shocked by her unpredictable actions and stood staring at her cross the street with a lot of chaos.
Sakura's heart was beating fast and her fingers were turning numb from the cold, but she did not stop. Her eyes were clouded with terror and her legs were trembling as she ran dashing into people walking on the sidewalk. She couldn't use her Clow Cards for a situation like this, and wished to get as far away from Shiro as possible.
The unforgiving rain poured down and Sakura ran leaving behind a few tomatoes and butter cubes scattered on the road as she chased the man with the umbrella.
"Li! Wait!" Sakura screamed as she stood panting for more breath.
Li turned back in surprise and looked at Sakura who seemed like she was at the verge of crying. She was fully drenched in the rain and her hair stuck to her face like vines and creepers.
"Sakura?" Li looked puzzled as she gripped onto her handbag tightly. He walked towards her and offered his umbrella over her head.
--
Sakura sat on the sofa as Li brought her a mug of warm tea. She wore his shirt and shorts which were a little oversized for her. Her drenched clothes lay hanging outside along with her bag and uniform. They were clipped tightly to prevent from flying away with the wind that blew angrily.
"Why were you running around without an umbrella?" Li asked her as he gave her the warm mug to hold. He looked at her from the corner of his eye, trying to avoid direct eye contact.
"I got stuck... I didn't expect it to rain." Sakura thought of what happened at the mall and shrugged slightly. The wind howled and the rains crashed ruthlessly outside.
"You won't be able to go back in this weather." Li looked away from her. This was the first time they were talking after the episode at her apartment.
Sakura looked down at the dancing light in her tea and spoke softly. "I didn't want to be a nuisance."
Li sat down on the sofa beside her and tried to convince her that it was absolutely fine. Although in his head, he knew it was a bad idea. He was trying his best to get over what happened, and now she somehow found a way to him.
Sakura took out her phone and texted Kero saying she would return back to the apartment the next day, and to eat the cup noodles she had stashed in her kitchen.
"I didn't know you lived here." Sakura tried to keep the conversation going, although she was feeling extremely awkward.
"I have a firm nearby, where I go frequently for meetings, and then the shopping store is nearby, so the location is great."
Sakura smiled but the small talk was killing her. There were a lot of unresolved issues that needed to be addressed but she was beating around the bush.
"Li, why didn't you contact me after... That." She bit her lip and finally decided to start somewhere.
"I actually got really busy with work." He answered laughing sheepishly.
"You know... I know whatever happened was a mistake... I don't expect something to come out of it." She spoke reasonably.
He was reminded of the night when he met her at the cafe, how the consequence of his pestering had completely pushed her off the edge. Did he do that again?
"Sakura, I didn't mean to hurt you..."
"You didn't. It's okay. I didn't expect much out of it either." Her fingers played around the handle of the mug.
"But you need to tell me... Why did you try to steal the cards... Why don't you have another way? Why do you need them?"
Li got up without looking at Sakura. He walked up towards the door and spoke without turning back.
"You want to help me make dinner?"
--
Sakura stood with her back resting on the table as Syaoran chopped fresh cabbages finely. His style of cutting vegetables hadn't really changed from what it was in school. He wielded the knife skillfully, like the way he would control his sword.
Sakura looked around the kitchen in silence. She looked at the few pots and pans he had in the shelf. There were hardly any plates or spoons and the cupboards were eerily empty. She could understand that he'd shifted back to Tomoeda just for a short while. As he looked for a tray to keep the diced cabbage, Sakura rushed to help him with it.
"I think I owe you an explanation." He spoke with a cold tone.
Sakura nodded.
"After all the chaos with the sealed card, and I went back to Hong Kong, your magic started getting stronger."
"Yeah. Sometimes when I used the cards to help Tomoyo make videos, they spiralled out of control."
"The powers you were given, were too strong for you to tame, and you had no background study so you were clueless." Li cracked open an egg and let it sizzle in the hot pan.
Sakura looked down at her feet.
"It should have been Keroberos' duty to help you out with these anyway... I have a feeling there are a lot of things about the cards we still don't know about." Syaoran explained.
Sakura looked at Syaoran with confusion.
"Is it something to be concerned about?" She asked.
"I'm not sure... But... There is something else you should know about as well..."
Sakura tilted her head in curiousity.
"The change was so faint, I couldn't realise it at all... but for some reason... my powers have grown weaker." He sighed.
"What?" Sakura looked at him in shock. He nodded.
"What do you mean by it is weaker? How is that possible?" She asked huddling bedside him. Syaoran blushed and looked away. Without any words, he went to the other room and came back with his sword summoning chain.
He placed it in his hand, and whispered some incantations. The chain floated, and a glow flashed around it, only to fall back down onto his palm. Sakura looked at his hands with suspicion.
I can hardly use any spells, even if I do, it takes a lot of hardwork to get it to work. Sakura remembered what Meilin had told her about Syaoran working very hard with his training. He wasn't training with the sole purpose of stealing the cards, it was to make up for his disappearing magic.
"Is this why Yue could not sense your presence when you came here?"
"Yeah... I guess... Then things got more complicated... I don't know how to resolve this." He clutched onto the chain and put it inside his pocket.
Sakura took a deep breath and convinced herself to let her guard down, for once he seemed like he was telling the truth.
"I think I can help..." She whispered. Syaoran looked at her in confusion.