Disclaimer: I do not own these characters but I did tweak them a bit since they are in high school now. In other words, the characters are a bit OOC.

One Year Ago

Pain- that was all I felt when I woke up. White- that was all I saw when I woke up. Whispering- that was all I heard when I woke up in the hospital bed.

"Kinomoto?"

I tried to answer but only a breathy sound escaped between my dry lips. Lethargically moistening them, I tried again. "Yes?"

A relieved sigh as someone picked up my hand. I tilted my head a bit and saw an exhausted man with glasses.

"How are you feeling, Honey? Are your ankles feeling okay?"

Tears welled up in my eyes as I remembered everything again. My heart wrenched in two as I stuttered out, "what happened to... to..."

My father's eyes looked at me questioningly. "What are you talking about?"

I clenched my eyes shut, also remembering that I lied to my father about how I tore both of my Achilles heels. I feigned tiredness, when really I wanted to scream and cry. But I withheld it, tucking it away in my heart.

No one needed to know.

No one needed to know the real story.

"Home, sweet home."

I stood in front of a charming sunshine yellow house; a tall woman with light brown hair ran to open the gate for me. She greeted me with an enthusiastic embrace, her swollen belly sandwiched between us as I awkwardly hugged her back.

Wow. She felt really squishy. And her hair smelt nice. I wonder what shampoo she used...

"Easy with the hug, there." My older brother, Touya, chuckled. He ducked his upper half into the trunk of the car, effortlessly tugging my luggage out. After, he straightened his well-built body up and strolled into the house, pecking his pregnant wife on the cheek sweetly.

I made a rude gagging noise at their fluffy moment like the mature 17-year-old I was.

"Right, I'm sorry. I just got so excited to meet you, Sakura. You don't mind if I call you Sakura, right? I mean it would be a little weird to call you Kinomoto, since that is my last name, too. And-"

I interrupted her politely, amused by her babbling. "By all means, call me Sakura. We're going to be living together, after all. But just warning you, I'm not going to take care of my brother. I had enough of that menace when he moved out last year."

Kaho laughed boisterously at my jibe, toppling onto her knees with tears in her eyes. I stood in the wrought iron gates, an entertained look on my face at the hysterical woman. She laughed like a mad woman on drugs.

Touya poked his head out, dark eyes gazing at me questioningly when he saw his spouse on the pavement.

I gave him a thumbs up. "She's a nutcase. I like her."

A couple of wheezes, then, "pfft... menace... nutcase..." And she fell victim to another bout of insane laughter.

I looked up at my brother with a grin. The dark-haired male sighed before beckoning me inside. "Hormones. I swear, before she was the calm one in the relationship, and now look at her." We did, and noticed some of the people who passed by gave the teary hormonal lady frightened looks- and Touya heaved another sigh. "Anyway, make yourself at home, Sakura. Your boxes and stuff already arrived yesterday and are inside your room. Past the kitchen, up the stairs, at the far end of the hall."

With one last look at Kaho, I headed in, readjusting the backpack strap on my shoulder. I didn't feel the least bit tired from my flight from Kyoto which was good, because when I opened my bedroom door, I nearly groaned at the sheer amount of things I needed to unpack. I rolled up the sleeves of my oversized hoodie and knelt by the first box. Luckily it only contained clothes, as did the next box. The third contained my beloved books and CD's, and the last held sentimental mementos.

Deciding to hold off on the last box for later, I flopped down onto my mini rug and finally had a moment to fully scrutinize the room.

The walls were painted rose pink, which matched the full-sized bed in the corner. A mahogany desk sat on the wall opposite to the bed, and next to it was a window that faced the front of the house. I peered outside, and was pleasantly surprised to see that the branches of the cherry blossom tree next door reached my window.

Excellent. I had a way to get into the house in case I forgot my keys... which always happened to me.

I checked the time and saw that it was only one in the afternoon. Walking out, I took the time to explore the house; there was a small bathroom next to my bedroom and a door leading out to the balcony across from my room. I traveled down stairs, which led me to the bright, airy kitchen, where I spotted Kaho and Touya eating lunch. I sniffed the air, delighted to smell the savory aroma of meat and potatoes.

The caveman in me started stomping around, growling loudly for its meal.

As I bounded over to the island that was situated in the middle of the pristine kitchen, Kaho dished out a bowl for me with a kind smile, which made my heart twisted uncomfortably as I thought about how impure I was. About what happened to me before. I didn't deserve her kindness, I thought miserably. Suddenly, my appetite was gone. Nevertheless, I snatched up my pair of chopsticks.

"Thank you so much for the meal. I shall eat this voraciously." I announced, gobbling down the food with practiced happiness. I was happy to discover that Kaho was an excellent cook, despite my lack of hunger; a compliment I did not fail to tell her.

Kaho beamed.

"Slow down, Monster. Jeez, I forgot how much of a pig you were." Touya commented gruffly, mussing up my shoulder-length hair.

I scowled at him, but inside I was glad that he had moved out by the time it had happened. If only he saw how I looked after everything, he wouldn't have said that.

Wistful sadness formed in my throat as I watched the couple smile at each other with bliss. I stood up abruptly. "Well, I'm going to go look around the neighborhood. Might as well map out my route to school since it starts tomorrow."

"Which reminds me..." Touya grabbed something from his pocket and tossed me the object.

Catching it deftly, I saw that it was a key.

"Have a safe trip. Be back by five." Kaho waved cheerfully.

I waved back half-heartedly. "I'm off to bring home the bacon!"

Walking out of the house, I made my way down the street and took a right. Recalling where the school was located, I strolled past the row of budding cherry blossom trees, past the park with the large penguin slide- which I was very tempted to slide down on- past the bustling plaza, and arrived at Tomoeda High School at last. The gates were wide open, much to my surprise, so I walked in.

Holy grail. This place is like a freaking maze.

The school, which comprised of five large buildings, a soccer field, and a forest out back, was huge compared to the one I attended back in Kyoto. I meandered around for a long time, noting that the buildings were labeled A to F. After locating building F, I came across the expansive soccer field and was taken aback to see someone practicing and a couple of girls watching. My stomach curdled with dread as I sensed the flashbacks rising up from the inner recesses of my mind. I pushed them away as I prepared to take off but stopped.

"Cute butt you have there, Sweet cheeks!" One of the girls whistled.

A low baritone voice answer dryly, "thanks. Everyone tells me that."

His answer piqued my interest, upset stomach forgotten. A girl was throwing herself at him and that's how he responds?

"Hows about getting your fine body over here?"

"My body is fine over here."

"Can I have you number?"

"It's on the back of my jersey. Can you not read?"

"God, you're hot."

"Well I have been working out for the last two hours. I believe it's only normal for my body temperature to rise."

I stifled a chuckle at the male's wittiness. Nicely played, young grasshopper. Nicely played. I settled down on the cement, drawing my knees up to my chin and continued to watch their interaction.

"Are you in college?"

"No."

"Would you like to visit one? We can show you around and let you see what college life is like." The female batted her eyelashes flirtatiously.

The soccer player rubbed his face in frustrations, then looked around impatiently for an escape plan. His eyes landed on me, and from a distance they looked to be golden brown. Unleashing the full force of his desperation, I could practically hear him pleading, "please help me."

And of course, being the wonderful, compassionate, empathetic girl my dad raised me to be, I decided to come to his aid.

I dusted off my denim jeans before striding around the fence that block the field from the school, devising an excuse that would drive the pesky women away. I thought fast, opening first with an apologetic, "sorry I'm late... uh..." The women whipped their heads around so fast that I squeaked.

Okay, that was embarrassing. Oh goodness, I need to think of a name now. C'mon, you spend countless hours on the internet looking up baby names and this is what you have to show for it? Yeah, way to go, Kinomoto. Crap, I'm taking too long!

"Eriol." I fibbed, tucking a strand of honey brown hair behind my ear.

His eyebrow quirked upwards at the made up name. Sucks, but it was the first thing that came to mind, buddy. Deal with it.

Approaching the emotionless boy and giggly twenty-something-year-olds, I continued with the lies. "I was busy working on my calculus homework but got sidetracked by some math riddles I found online. They're as hilarious as that vertical asymptote joke you told me the other day-"

The women looked between us with disgust, their puny brains coming to the conclusion that we were both nerds, and therefore a waste of their time. With varying degrees of scandalized faces, they departed.

Man I was good.

A chuckle came from my left before I realized that it was just the two of us. Alone. My breathing sped up along with my heart rate while my palms dampened with sweat. I licked my parched lips.

"Vertical-"

His voice snapped me out of my trance. I took off at mach speed, adrenaline pumping through my veins. I was grateful for the relentless time I spent during rehab, because my ankles didn't give out or feel too strained from my sprinting. Faintly, I heard the boy call out to me but I ignored him.

Arriving home in five minutes, rather than twenty, I panted exhaustedly. Sweat forced my hair and clothes to cling to my body. My limbs felt like jelly. My ankles were beginning to sting a little, but nevertheless I squared my shoulders and walked into the house like nothing was wrong.

"Welcome home, Sakura!" Kaho exclaimed. She was taken aback by my disheveled appearance, then threw her head back and sniggered. "Like brother, like sister. I swear, you two are like running addicts!"

Collecting my breath, I told her wryly, "you know us. We love our runner's high. Speaking of, where's Touya?"

"Upstairs working on his archeological doodad whatsits."

A snort leaked out. Doodad whatsits... Soccer boy's brain was probably confused like a doodad whatsits right now... Before I knew it, I was outright laughing crazily, as the hilarity of my situation from earlier hit me. Kaho laughed along, figuring that I found her invented words funny.

Which I did, by the way. Definitely going to use that phrase often.

"When's dinner going to be ready?" I inquired, clutching the stitch in my side.

"It's already done. We're just waiting for-"

The door swung open and a clear voice called out, "I'm home!"

I turned my head and saw a gorgeous girl with jet black hair and scarlet red eyes staring right at me.

"Perfect timing! I was just talking about you to Sakura. Sakura, this is Meiling, my niece. Meiling, this is Sakura, my sister-in-law. The both of you will be living together, isn't that exciting? Oh but I guess that makes you two... Well, roommates sounds too impersonal, so..." Kaho frowned, struggling to find the word that defined our relationship.

"Cousins?" I supplied helpfully.

She nodded, satisfied. "Yes, we'll go with cousins." Hurriedly she said to the exotic girl, "well don't just stand there or else the bugs will come in. Hurry up, chop, chop!"

I grinned at the women's vocabulary. Yup, the hormones have definitely flipped her personality upside down.

Meiling stepped into the threshold, and a tall, lean figure hesitantly stood behind her in the dark.

"Why I did not see you there, Syaoran. You can come in, too, you know. The more the merrier!"

Upon her command, he entered the house also, and my breath died in my throat as I realized who it was.

It was the boy from the soccer field.

A/N: What do you think?

Edit: Thank you so much to melodygarden for pointing out my mistakes.