A/N: This is my first AU, so please R&R and tell me how much I stink!

Note: I don't really like Shuurei... so she's only going to be a perspective... like those games like Cupid Bistro... Ah wait... the dude does have a girlfriend... various, actually...

...ignore me, if you will.

The pairings are...

Kouyuu x Shuuei (kya~~)

Seiran x Ryuuki (maybe... depends on if anyone doesn't want it...)

Possibly some other pairings ppl want.

P.S. I really wanted to name this chapter "A chicken standing amidst a flock of cranes." But it was too long.

It's a Chinese proverb that's reversed from "A crane standing amidst a flock of chickens." since I wanted to represent Kouyuu...

A new school…

Saiunkoku Academy is one of the largest, most prestigious schools in the world. The main building held a cathedral-like appearance, with its light aqua walls and large stained glass windows, with tall towers at the four corners. The side buildings flanked the alpha at light angles, so they resembled barriers around the large fields of every sport imaginable: baseball diamonds, tracks... These "betas", as the students like to call them, are just a few shades darker than the main building. Thick patches of woods bordered the nearly endless perimeters of the grounds; oak, maple, sycamore, laurel… Hidden apple orchards and gardens of exotic plant life lay hidden within these trees. Tall, prominent silver gates lined with swirling eddy entitled this school to its greatness; also marking the famous entrance in which only students could pass through. Only celebrated students came, most influential by family power, rarely on scholarships. But it was to this school that Kou Shuurei was sent on a scholarship; the second ever. One might find it strange, that a child of such an important family to the industries world-wide would do this. After all, the Kou Clan was just a smidge behind the Rans in the uprising economy, controlling over a third of the world's products and sales, from everything to food and toys to car parts and machine guns. Of course, not all of this is legal. Drug trafficking, prostitution... To survive in this world, you'd either have to be extremely smart, or extremely stupid. The Kou and Ran clans chose the former road, and battle for the top of the economical world. So, money obviously wasn't an issue with them, especially not something as miniscule as the admission fee for the academy (somewhere near $3,000,000,000). But indeed, Kou Shuurei was admitted here, to Saiunkoku, on a scholarship, sponsered by an international scholastic funding program, who was quite reluctant at first, but then grudgingly agreed when they saw the top marks Shuurei received in her previous (private) school. After all, the graduates from Saiunkoku had the brightest future, so why shouldn't one as smart as Kou Shuurei enter?

Shuurei sighed. She was standing on the front steps of the main building; solid marble with polished granite railings. The light breeze blew so that her alabaster sailor top and gray-shingled skirt hugged her slim figure, her raven tresses, tugged up in a loose ponytail, palpable against it. With a determined set of her cherry lips, Shuurei started up the stairs slowly, gaining speed as milliseconds flew by. At last, she stood outside the great silveresque doors, a pale hand placed delicately on the intricately-designed golden doorknob. But to her surprise, the door opened from the inside.

"Shuurei! You're here!" the boy cried in relief, silver hair gleaming from the bright streaks of sunlight that had forced its way through the thick gray carpeting of clouds. He was Shi Seiran, a junior that had been a foster child taken in by Shuurei's father. "I was wandering if you had gotten lost in the grounds," he continued in a light teasing tone, though still obviously relieved from finding his mentor's daughter.

"But no one could do that better than you can, no, Kouyuu?" a voiced said from behind Seiran, whom politely stepped aside to allow his lady her curiosity's satisfaction. Two boys came into view, one as tall as Seiran and a bit more masculine, while the other slightly shorter and leaned towards the slim side. It was the tall one who had spoken, but the smaller boy proved himself to be nonetheless, if not more, spirited than the other with a hushed shout of "Shut up!" followed by a skilled stomp towards an extracted foot, which just almost got away from the line of fire.

"M'lady, this is Ran Shuuei-" Seiran indicated towards the tall one, jokingly massaging his aching foot. "And this is Li Kouyuu." His hand moved towards the shorter one, who was now muttering at Shuuei in a low tone, with no doubt of highly explicit language.

But even through Shuurei's beauty-accustomed eyes, the duo was enchantingly stunning. Ran Shuuei's dark hair was just barely highlighted with a deep cerulean, the sides pulled back into a bun, and the rest left free to cascade down both shoulders. Chocolate brown eyes set upon high and slightly tanned features matched perfectly, giving a feeling of exodia, yet with a slightly childish vibe. His features were surely a hit with the girls, proving the point only when a group of uniformed students walked by, pointing and whispering excitedly at him. His uniform was the same as Seiran; a beige-lined magnolia silk, tailored no doubt by the best, to covet his body perfectly.

Kouyuu's more feminine features were well masked behind a high sense of pride and dignity, both which Shuurei highly respect. His aqua green hair was tied back in a high ponytail, but bangs bordered his slightly pale features, bringing out his remarkable stormy gray eyes, with a glint of weariness upon them no one under 18 should ever have. It was somewhat unnerving for Shuurei, because there was just an air of... importance amongst the teen, one that makes her feel somewhat belittled. But unlike the other two, Kouyuu's uniform was a gold-trimmed midnight black, slightly stiff looking, suggesting velvet as material, and wasn't as hugging as the common one. Shuurei noted this at once.

Catching the quietly loud moment of Kouyuu and Shuuei's bickering (though mostly teasing on Shuuei's part), Shuurei whispered her question into Seiran's ear. He cringed, much to Shuurei's surprise.

"Um… m'lady… The black uniform… it represents…" He seemed to have trouble getting the words out.

"Lack of social connections. No background. In other words, a commoner," Kouyuu contributed, tone kept carefully neutral. But his "best friend" could sense the hint of icy bitterness behind it. Shuurei caught the other two males' eyes harden in anger, while the green-haired teen just shrugged ruefully.

She was confused. If Kouyuu didn't have social connections, it would mean that he came on a scholarship, like herself. But why wasn't she asked to wear one of the demeaning uniforms?

Shuuei seemed to be able to read her thoughts, answering politely, yet with a slightly sad look in his eyes. "It's because you, milady, came from the famous Kou family."

That didn't seem fair.

"It's not fair," Seiran whispered, expression hard, eyes narrowed.

Kouyuu laughed mutedly, hiding his eyes behind his bangs, pulling one corner of his mouth up in a crooked smile. "Life's not fair. Get used to it," he muttered.

Shuuei's troubled look didn't escape Shuurei's eyes. But it was suddenly gone a convincing façade of nonchalant. "Kouyuu, didn't you say you had, quoting you, 'A huge pile of stupid counsel work' you had to do?"

That snapped Kouyuu out of the moody atmosphere. He cussed, the ending 't' echoing with the whispering wind in the quite-empty hall. With a frenzied wave of goodbye, the junior sprinted off into a distance at a surprisingly fast pace towards a shadowed corridor, directly across from the main entrance, next to what looked like an empty receptionist booth.

Shuuei laughed, relieved. "Well, I better go make sure our little scholar gets to where he's supposed to be." With a wink at Shuurei and a pat on the shoulder for Seiran, he stalked off ito the right, slightly baffling Shuurei. But before she could ask, Seiran answered with a slightly awkward laugh.

"Kouyuu… He's… sort of… ahem, directionally challenged… Shuuei knows it's going to take him a good half hour to get to the dorm, so he took the long route." With another laugh, more carefree this time, Seiran, placed a large hand on Shuurei's shoulder, the beckoned her to start walking in the direction neither boys went. "This is the shortest path to the dorms… I'll take you there to check in." With a lighthearted giggle, Shuurei nodded, then followed her friend to the carved bordered threshold into the shadowed hall.

A/N: So? What did you think?

Plz R&R and tell me what you like and didn't like about it!!

My muse left me near the end... But I pulled through.

But tell me what you think!

Press that gray-hued button there with the green "Review" on it!

:]