Caught In Between

By: Ame Mitsukai

Chapter 1

The school bell rang that Monday morning, signaling the start of class. Sakura Kinomoto, a 17 year old teenage girl, ran out of breath as she rushed towards the school gates of Tomueda High School. Again, I'm late for school, she thought with frustration. At this rate, I'll never hear the end of it from Otsuki-san.

The gatekeeper waited patiently as the huffing and puffing girl slipped through and leaned against the inner pillar of the gate to catch her breath. He stood there at the lock, waiting for her to run. Her layered auburn hair was wind blown from running and her eyes were a gleaming emerald in the sunlight. Her height was about half a head shorter than him and she seemed pretty fit. Probably from running to school every day being late, he thought. Once Sakura caught her breath, she once again ran towards the school across the main pathway. Poor girl, he thought. She's been late for the past few weeks. He pulled the gates across the paved path and locked them shut for the next few hours of school.

"…so please open your text books to page 120." Otsuki's voice was audible from behind the door as Sakura fidgeted nervously about her tardiness. Was he going to make her stay afterschool like last Thursday? Or would he make her read every question out loud to the class like last Wednesday? She mentally smacked herself. Either way, she thought, grimacing. I deserve it for being late all the time.

So with that, she took a deep breath and led her hand slowly to the door knob and was just about to turn it open when another boy ran towards her, panting and clutching his textbooks as if he stole them from a monstrous being. He didn't seem very familiar to Sakura and she continued to stare at him, wondering. He glanced up at her, still panting.

"Sorry for my rude behavior. I'm new here and I ended up getting lost looking for this classroom." He took a deep breath and the redness in his cheeks started to fade. "I'm Matsu Nishido." He smiled childishly.

Sakura relaxed instantly and smiled as well, remembering her own manners. "I'm Sakura Kinomoto. I'm pleased to meet you." His smile suddenly made her feel warm inside. She didn't know why exactly, but it did and she wasn't planning on letting that feeling go.

"Well I guess we're both late, huh? Otsuki-san's going to punish us isn't he?" He shuffled his textbooks around in his arms, trying to get comfortable. She didn't move, but continued to study his face. He had neatly-gelled black hair that was shorter around the sides and longer at the top and front, light brown eyes; lighter than the usual Japanese person, his smile was charming, although childish, and he was about a head taller than she was. He caught her staring eyes. "So are we going in or…?" Matsu cocked his head a little to the side and grinned.

Sakura blushed deeply and stuttered lightly, "O-of course we're going in." She rushed her hand to the door handle, turned the knob and pulled the mahogany brown door open. And there, standing before her, was Otsuki who was in the middle of a lecture about the history of Japan.

"Well, well, Kinomoto-san. So you did decide to join us today. I'll have to think of a punishment later. And who is this young man with you?" One eyebrow rose as he eyed Matsu with an accusing look. Sakura whipped her head around to look at her new-found friend and opened her mouth as if to say something.

"Oh uh," Matsu shuffled his textbooks nervously. "I'm new here and I got lost trying to find the classroom." He cleared his throat and looked at Sakura. "And Kinomoto-san here helped me find it. So please don't punish her." He bowed his head slightly in apology, for being late or for asking to relieve Sakura, neither of them knew.

Otsuki thought about it for a moment, and then let it pass. "Yes, of course. She was helping a new student after all." He cleared his throat. "Well then, young man, would you care to come up and introduce yourself?"

"Uh, of course Otsuki-sensei." Matsu replied, embarrassed. He made his way to the front of the classroom and bowed his head quickly and raised it again. "My name is Matsu Nishido. I just transferred here a few days ago. It's nice to meet you all." And with the last word, he bowed his head again.

Otsuki-sensei looked slightly irritated standing there with a great grimace set on his lips. Time was a wasting for his history lecture. "Yes, yes. Thank you Nishido-san. You may have the desk next to Kinomoto-san's." He waved his hand to the back of the class and picked up his textbook to continue on with this lesson.

Sakura and Matsu shuffled to the back of the class and took the seats that were empty and settled down for their lesson.

"Thanks, Nishido-san. I thought I was going to stay after school again." She whispered, opening her textbook. She smiled at him once again and he smiled back. Wow, she thought. He's much nicer than some guys I knew in the past. I think I'm going to like this.

"Oh, please call me Matsu if you'd like." He whispered back. "And no need to thank me. I'd do anything for a friend." A few moments passed and he was doodling on his notebook.

"Otsuki-san's really scary looking." Matsu muttered. "He keeps glaring at me like I did something wrong."

Sakura giggled. "He's scary all right. I've been late for his class every morning and he doesn't give any mercy. He makes people who are late do chores after school or after class and it's not fun at all." The light brown-eyed boy sitting next to her grinned childishly again and they both turned their attention back at their mean teacher's lecture.

oOo

The lunch bell finally rang and the hallways were suddenly filled with Tomueda students who were eager to get some food into their empty stomachs. Sakura and Matsu were chatting happily together as they walked down to the first floor towards the near-full cafeteria

"So Sakura, why were you late anyways?" Matsu casually looked at her with his lazy grin.

"I was…working late. I'm always working late. I work after school and I have to cram my homework at the same time." She replied as they lined up with food trays. She didn't mind telling him about the stuff she had to do after school, but every time she thought about the reason why she had to do them always stung at her being.

"So you work somewhere for so long that you even have to cram homework? You seem a little young to be working so long. Don't your parents work?" They sat at an empty table and muttered "itadakimasu" before they picked up their chopsticks.

"Well…" Sakura grimaced again. Should I tell him? She thought. He seems nice enough though, it's not like he'd make fun of me or anything. "I left my home. My parents were complete idiots, in my point of view. They never appreciated my work, my care, or anything. It was always 'Do this, then do that. No you can't do that or this.' And so forth. So because of that, I left when I was 16 and went along with life by myself." She poked at her food, still grimacing. Matsu noticed immediately that he asked something personal.

"Oh, sorry Sakura, I didn't know it was that personal. Excuse me for asking." He frowned and looked into her eyes. She blushed and shook her head vigorously.

"No, don't apologize. I'm okay with it, I mean I'm living just fine now. I can support my needs and go to school, except be late in the morning. I'm fine with you asking. Don't worry about it." She smiled at him and tried to pull a smile at his lips as well.

"I don't want you to feel as if I'm a nosy person. I'm just very eager to make friends, since I'm new. I don't want to sound like a stalker or anything." He shrugged and started his childish grin. He took a bite out of his dumpling.

"You're a great friend. Trust me, I've seen worse." Sakura rolled her eyes and glanced at the table from across the room where there was a bunch of teens chatting noisily. It was the "rich" group. Their families owned fortunes of money and yet they liked to come to such a public school. When she first came here, she thought it was probably so they could rub their stupid money into people's faces and bully them.

Matsu looked where his new friend was staring and noticed the difference in the people from the other table. They both frowned at the sight.

"At least I don't look like that weird guy over there." He chuckled, pointing at the "rich" person with the odd haircut. "He looks like he came from a Dragon Ball Z episode." Sakura slapped his arm playfully and laughed with him. It seemed that a very beautiful friendship had awakened that day.

oOo

"Syaoran, why don't you come over to my place today? I'm sure it'll be much more interesting than being here all night long." A beautiful blonde leaned against the counter next to a very lean and tall young man. Her eyes were an enticing ruby as her gaze trailed over his body, which was stiff and hunched over his glass. He seemed very tense.

The bar smelt faintly of fruit cocktails and alcohol. A small jazz band was on stage playing a very mellow slow song as other people buzzed and chatted quietly at their tables. Now and then, the clink of cups would sound as the bartender placed clean empty glasses on the table

Syaoran turned his head just slightly to glare at the woman with matching colored eyes. He took a deep breath and sighed harshly through his nose, looking back at the counter suddenly interested in his hands as they clutched the beer glass.

"Come on, honey, we have all of eternity…" The blonde raised her hand to place on his arm, but within a flash, Syaoran was out of his seat and walking towards the exit. Before he fully opened the door to leave, he turned and glared at the blonde, hearing her hiss in discontent.

"You can't always run, Syaoran. You're one of us now." She flipped her hair back and took a sip from her drink, her eyes still holding his glare.

He took another deep breath. I have to keep under control, he thought. A breeze entered the bar as the door opened fully, and his figure disappeared in the darkness.

"Why the hell did this have to happen to me?" he muttered.

To be continued…

Should I keep going or not? I might not have time to finish this, though I've actually taken the time daydreaming and stuff to figure some things for this story. No matter, I'll try to make it good.

Ame.