Okay, I need to get a few things out of the way first. About what this fic is, and what it isn't. If you don't want to read this foreword, feel free to scroll down about five paragraphs to the _Title_ and skip past it.

This is set in Sakura's senior year of high school, almost eight years after the beginning of the manga. Because of changes in the world that will become obvious in this first chapter, I'm calling this story AU (alternate universe), though really it's more like an extrapolation, a what-if for time not covered by canon.

CCS is, for the most part, pretty light and fluffy. It's a /mahou shoujo/ (magical girl) romance, and it's a pretty good one. Like CCS canon, this fic is a romance, but it also treats the CCS characters and universe as if they were real-world and three-dimensional.

That said, there are some things this fic is. This fic is a romance. This fic is (mostly) serious. This fic assumes a certain level of reader maturity, which is why I changed it to a PG-13 rating. This fic dips into the angst bucket at times, though it's usually better to call it introspection.

Then there are certain things this fic is not. This fic is not light and fluffy. This fic is not Tomoyo/Sakura or Syaoran/Sakura, nor does it really focus on any of the usual "accepted" pairings.

Now, with that out of the way, please enjoy, and do review this fic and let me know what you think! ^_^

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_Pine Trees and Cherry Blossoms_
Author: Catsy ()

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Chapter 1

For the first time in a month, the weather was not unbearably hot and muggy, and that was cause for celebration. Or at least, that was what Sakura decided as she turned her room upside down looking for a particular shirt. Sakura was damned if she was going to waste the first nice Sunday in forever and a day, and besides...

"Dad, have you seen my blue blouse?" she called loudly downstairs. "The summer one with the short sleeves that Tomoyo made?"

"Mif min ma maundwy," Kero answered around a mouthful of almond crisps, pinpoint eyes focused on the video game where he was desperately trying to pull off a super move, and failing.

Sakura hugged her arms around her and chewed at her lip. "Great. I /promised/ her I'd wear that out the first time we got decent weather. When did it get dirty?"

"When you left that can of soda up here in the heat and it exploded," Kero reminded Sakura after disposing of the crisps. "She'll live. The sun no longer rises and sets by your alarm clock in her world, Sakura."

Which was true enough, but still. "I suppose. What about this one?"

Kero examined the proposed attire for about as long as it took him to shift his gaze there and back. "Gorgeous. She'll love it, just don't worry about-oh, you bitch! I was blocking! Blocking!" Or so Kero asserted to the deaf ear of Sakura's Dreamcast.

Sakura snickered and pulled the shirt on, deciding that despite Kero's complete lack of fashion sense, it wasn't a bad choice. At least she'd neither die from the heat nor catch a chill from the nice breeze that was blowing outside.

Running a comb through her hair, she stopped to examine the results in the mirror. She'd toyed with growing it out for a while after Syaoran had gone back to Hong Kong, but in her freshman year of high school it'd just become too much work to maintain, and she'd cut it short again. Now, two years later, she still felt pretty much the same way-Sakura Kinomoto was simply not meant to have long hair, and no, she had /no/ idea how Tomoyo managed to deal with hers being down to her ass. (She'd asked once, while she was in the phase of growing it out, and Tomoyo had assured her most enthusiastically that Sakura's was /chou subarashii desu yo/ and of course she'd help her take care of it. But that was another matter entirely.)

Slipping a few pins into said hair to keep her bangs out of her face, she nodded at her reflection and raced downstairs, leaving Kero behind shouting, "Who's your daddy! Who's your daddy!" at Soul Calibur.

"Morning Dad," Sakura called out as she bounded into the kitchen.

Fujitaka looked up from his frying pan, and broke into a wide smile. "Morning, Sakura. Oh, that blue shirt? It's in the wash, remember?"

"Thanks, Kero told me. Did Tomoyo call?"

"Twice," Fujitaka replied, the smile giving way to a grin. "She said to tell you that if you weren't at the Toshiki Grill in a half hour, she'd-"

Sakura almost snorted her glass of orange juice. "I have an imagination, thanks Dad. Did she say if Eriol'd make it?" Fujitaka shook his head.

"No, but she-oh! That reminds me. There's something I forgot to give to you yesterday. This came in the mail for you." He handed Sakura a white envelope with the red and blue stripes of international airmail. Sakura glanced at the Hong Kong postmark and seized it instantly, transferring her toast to her mouth and tearing at the flap.

She didn't know anyone else who lived in Hong Kong, so it was no surprise to see Syaoran Li's elegant Japanese handwriting gracing the pages of the letter. Truth be told, she'd been expecting one-Li usually wrote her about once every few months or so, letting her know what was going on in his life. It always brought a smile to her face, albeit sometimes a bitter one-Li was married now, a family arrangement, and making the best of a difficult situation.

"How's Li doing?" her father inquired.

"Pretty good," Sakura said, scanning the first few paragraphs of the letter. "His son's a month old now, so they tested him for magical potential, and the kid's reading nearly caused one of their mages to faint dead away."

Fujitaka blinked. "That's good?"

Sakura looked up and grinned at her father. "Well, I guess so. It means he could be really powerful, at least."

Fujitaka shook his head, secure in the knowledge that he would never comprehend the workings of the Li Clan. "He was always such a nice boy. I can't believe he's got a wife and child, at his age."

"He's eighteen," Sakura reproved. "The age of consent in Hong Kong is sixteen."

Her father eyed her sharply. "He's the same age as you. Don't go getting any ideas." He chuckled to take the bite out of the words.

Sakura cast her eyes to the ceiling. "As if there's anyone in Seijou High who'd go out with /me/! I'm practically the only girl in my class who doesn't have a boyfriend."

Fujitaka leaned over and kissed Sakura on the forehead, then tousled her hair. "That's because you're picky, Princess. Which is not a bad thing. Now go on and finish your breakfast, or you'll be late to meet your friends."

As it turned out, she was late anyway. Sakura rollerbladed into the Toshiki Grill at precisely 10:04 AM by the sign on the bank across the street (her watch said 10:01, thank you very much). Sure enough, Tomoyo had brought Eriol-as well as her girlfriend. Kumie Ishinohana was a pretty art major at Touya's college, which Sakura supposed was how the two of them had met-she'd never really asked, and Tomoyo had never volunteered the information.

Sakura gave Tomoyo a sheepish look as she braked to a stop in front of their table. "Dad threw it in the wash," she said in answer to the unasked question.

"Did I say anything?" Tomoyo asked sweetly. "I was just going to say the color suits you. Though the shade is a tad off for that skirt."

"And thus the world ends," Eriol proclaimed, earning him a playful smack on the back of the head from Tomoyo.

"Truly," Sakura agreed drily. "Hi Kumie. Didn't expect to see you, I figured you'd have a wicked load of homework."

"Oh, I do," the girl replied, her face the very picture of angst. "It's dreadful, really, but could /you/ sit inside on a day like this?"

Sakura grinned. "Not a chance."

"Besides," Kumie added, nodding at the back of her chair meaningfully, "I brought it with me." Sakura palmed her face, while Tomoyo took advantage of the distraction to sneak a bite of Kumie's sundae.

"Have you heard from Li recently?" Eriol inquired.

Sakura's ears grew hot, and she laughed. "Since when do you read minds, Hiiragizawa?"

"I don't need a Clow Card-yeowp!" Eriol cut off in midsentence as Tomoyo ground her heel into his toe. Eriol glanced briefly at Kumie, and covered with, "I don't need a Tarot Card reading to see the airmail envelope sticking out of your purse."

Sakura looked down, started to stuff the envelope back down, and then thought better of it. "Oh yeah. Well, he's doing good. His son's a month old now, and has, uh... a real powerful presence in the family."

Eriol's eyebrows shot up thoughtfully as he read between the lines. He smiled beatifically and replied, "Don't they always?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow of her own.

Eriol looked nonplussed. "I've heard so, at least."

Kumie looked at Tomoyo, then at Sakura, and finally at Eriol. After repeating this lap with her gaze a few times, she sat back in her chair. "I feel like the only one at the party who's not getting the inside joke. This is that Chinese boy Sakura had a crush on in grade school, right?"

/It was not just a crush,/ Sakura thought in a sudden flash of anger that was gone as soon as it arrived. "Yeah. Syaoran Li. He lives in Hong Kong with his wife and family now. We still keep in touch."

Kumie rocked back, grinning impishly. "Wife and family? And he's how old?"

"Same as me, just about," Sakura said with a tone that spoke of a belabored subject.

"Busy little breeder."

"Quite." Sakura didn't much like Kumie sometimes, but she made Tomoyo happy, so Sakura did her best to be nice. "Tomoyo, what's the plan? We still gonna hit the skate park?"

"Why not?" Tomoyo answered with a smile. "It's positively /gorgeous/ out here, and Hiiragizawa was nice enough to offer to drive us around later."

"Please," Eriol said pleasantly, "It's really no bother. I love going driving, and I thought we might head to the coast this afternoon."

"The ocean?" Sakura asked in mock disbelief. "Too cool! I am /so/ there."

Eriol readjusted his wire-rimmed glasses. "I thought as much. Shall we take the car to the park?"

Tomoyo and Kumie were already undoing their shoes and buckling on their rollerblades, and Eriol answered his own question a moment later. "I'm guessing not. I suppose it's nice enough out, and it's not far."

"Damn straight," Sakura agreed happily, bracing her arms against chairs on either side of her and rolling herself back and forth. "Get yours on, we'll race there."

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Notes:
As mentioned, this fic is set in Sakura's senior year of high school, as she's just turned 18. That would place it, by my reckoning, in 2004. (The CCS manga, in which she's 10-11, takes place in 1996-1997)

You will notice that Sakura is no longer a bottomless fount of cheer in this fic. This is intentional, and there are reasons for it.