Author's Note:
Official 2nd fanfiction… Even though it's still an amateurish story… *sweat drop*
Anyway, thanks for all the reviewers of my previous story, "Two Cups of Coffee". I appreciated the fact that people actually take the time to read my stuff. But just so you know, I have self confidence issues. This might show up in my work, but pay no heed to that.
This story was inspired by a true story - my own moving. I only moved once, but I was completely depressed for a long time. Since moving once practically killed me, I can't seven begin to imagine how much it would hurt to move 10 times…
But enough of that. On with the story!
"We're moving."
Those were the words that efficiently defined Sakura Kinomoto's life; constantly picking up everything and relocating to another place only to tear newly formed roots apart.
She had long gotten used to the regret that formed in her heart, but the pain of leaving people she deemed important to her life was the most unbearable suffering. No matter how many times it happened, the pain always seemed to get worse and worse.
She always wondered what it would feel like to be left behind instead of the one leaving. Surely, it couldn't be more piercing.
It was the tenth time in her 15 years and she felt as if her life had been broken into irreparable fragments. A handful of friends from each of her former schools promised her that they would call or visit but they'd never even attempted either one. They had broken contact with her as soon as she had left. She had waited in vain - it seemed as if they had forgotten their friend. And so, Sakura slowly lost her faith in people around her that weren't her beloved family consisting of her brother, Touya, and her father, Fujitaka.
Sakura felt older than she really was. She had seen big bustling cities and rural farms. She'd seen beauty and she had seen ugliness. But she had never seen or experienced one thing, she thought. Love.
She quickly dismissed the silly notion of love - how could she afford to attach her heart to someone when it would only be ripped into pieces? It was the most ridiculous and yet most beautiful hope. True, it was impossible in her eyes, but at heart, Sakura had always been a romantic soul.
It was ironic how the first thing she saw after stepping off the train at Tomoeda Station was a reunited couple, hugging and kissing, their love soaking the atmosphere. She had involuntarily taken a glance at the lovers only to quickly turn her head away from them and then marching steadfastly towards the exit. Touya yelled for her to slow down, but of course, she simply shrugged her older brother off.
That is… until the taboo word appeared.
"KAIJUU! STOP! WAIT UNTIL WE UNLOAD OUR LUGGAGE!"
A pregnant pause ensued until Sakura swung around on her heels to face Touya, a strangely chilling smile stretched across her face.
But let's just say the first thing the Kinomoto family had done after retrieving their bags was take a trip to the nearest hospital for their oldest son.
"I'm sorry, nii-chan. But next time, don't call me kaijuu. Or the time after that. Any time at all, actually."
Sakura had been forced to apologize to her brother after stomping his foot so hard that a bone had dislocated itself. She had also been sentenced to taking care of Touya until he was able to walk properly without crutches or any other kind of aid.
"Why'd you have to kill my foot? I almost saw the light, Sakura. I saw mom. I'm thinking that seeing okaa-san again isn't a good thing, for once." Touya sighed, ruffling his black hair tiredly.
"I said I was sorry! And… Well, if you hadn't called me that, I wouldn't have done it! See, it was self-inflicted, nii-chan!" Sakura tried to push the blame.
"…How the heck am I supposed to do soccer tryouts, then?" Touya demanded. "Don't tell me I did this to myself, KAIJUU."
"DO. NOT. CALL. ME. THAT. AGAIN." Sakura growled, every word ringing with fifteen years of grudge.
"Only a kaijuu like yourself can render me handicapped like this, Sakura. You deserve the title of Japan's Only Kaijuu." Touya replied nonchalantly.
"GAH! I tried be civilized with you, but for the last time, I'M NOT A KAIJUU!" Sakura's voice reached a pitch unattainable for most ordinary humans. "And you can try out next semester!"
Their bickering, however, was interrupted by a smiling Fujitaka. Since he always had a smile on his face, it was hard to tell what he was really thinking.
"Sakura-chan, you owe Touya-kun for doing that to his foot." he said firmly. "Since he can't try out for anything regarding physical movement, you can't either."
"FINE." Sakura stated. She had been in cheerleading and track in former years - but now she was tired of being connected to others by the clubs. She had decided to give her school recreational activities up right before they had moved to Tomoeda.
Her father's smile wavered slightly; he was slightly worried for his daughter's well being. Recently, she hadn't been acting normally. Though he wouldn't say it, he was actually quite relieved that Sakura had sent Touya to the hospital with her response to her much loved nickname. At least she'd been acting characteristically correct.
"Settle down, Sakura-chan, Touya-kun." Fujitaka attempted to blow out the impending wild fire. "Tomorrow's the first day of school. I want you to get your uniforms and stuff ready for tomorrow morning."
Sakura got up to leave to her room, but was prevented from doing so by Touya.
"Kaijuu, help me up… I left my crutch over there…"
Sighing, Sakura helped her brother to his feet and led both of them to their new rooms.
Her bedroom was still pretty vacant and airy - she hadn't unpacked anything besides the necessities, like pajamas and toiletries. The walls were a pale pink, matching her white and pink bed. It was Sakura's new sanctuary, her haven. She breathed in the air and began to prepare herself for tomorrow as well as going to bed. As she snuggled beneath her covers, she realized that she actually dreaded the next morning with all her heart.
She found herself sitting in a foreign environment – a classroom that was completely empty. She was freaking out. Was she too early? Or was she too late? Never before had she ever walked into a vacant classroom on the first day of school.
Sakura tried to remember what happened earlier in the morning since all she could really recall was a series of blurs and screams.
-Flashback-
Sighing in exasperation and frustration at the terrible insomnia she was enduring, she tossed and turned. After several minutes of thinking about the possible math questions and curriculum that might be thrown at her tomorrow, she felt herself drifting away into a light and fitful sleep.
It seemed like a few seconds later that a terribly loud knocking sound was pounding through Sakura's head. She groaned in annoyance as the disturbance increased in volume.
"STOP IT!" she screamed angrily.
"KAIJUU! Get up already. We're late for school," a drawling voice informed her. "Even if we've moved, you're still the heavy sleeper of our family, isn't that right, Kaijuu?"
She put her head under her pillow, trying to muffle out her brother's voice. Her entire body seemed to be drowning inside the covers of the bed.
"SAKURA, GET UP NOW. YOU HAVE TO HELP ME!" Touya yelled through the wall again.
Grudgingly, she clambered out of the comfy warmth of her bed and shuffled to Touya's room. He was already awake, wide awake, but couldn't stand to get his crutch.
Sakura grumbled something about how Touya was just using her as a slave. Touya ignored her.
"Mmm. Thanks. By the way, you're half an hour late. My classes aren't until noon, so I'm good." Touya told her lazily as he dressed himself.
Sakura froze. Her eyes slowly widened as the information slowly absorbed into her mind.
And then, she dashed from her beloved brother's room to her own, panicking. She practically flew into the bathroom to take a shower and then sped from there back to her room, putting on her school uniform. She combed through her hair hastily and attempted to tie it up. Sprinting determinedly down the staircase, she grabbed a croissant waiting for her at the table, and kissed her father goodbye. Touya, unknown to her, was smirking slightly as he relaxed into his chair, drinking his coffee. She put on her roller blades quickly and then gracefully skated down the street.
Even though she was rushing, she realized that if she didn't know her surroundings well enough, she wouldn't be able to find her way back home. So, she glanced at all the scenes flooding past her as she smoothly bladed towards her school. A beautifully winding lane of cherry blossom trees, a small park with a large penguin-shaped slide, a few large houses, and an avenue of stores… Even though she didn't like to admit it, she really liked the place. Sakura found the small-town feel comforting, even if she knew she'd have to leave it sooner or later.
She dashed through the open glass doors of Seijou High, after she slipped off her roller blades. She took out a small white card – her schedule – and read the contents. Sighing, she looked for class 2-A. When she found it, Sakura ran in and plopped herself into a seat near the window.
-End of Flashback-
Still half-asleep, Sakura placed her head gently onto her folded arms on her desk. She'd worry about her situation after she took a nice long nap -
"Hmm? There's someone here already?"
The crisp, refreshing voice awakened Sakura. She lethargically turned to see the intruder, and blinked a few times to get the sleepiness from her tired green eyes. Her gaze met with another's, a very entrancing amber one.
"Eh?" Sakura couldn't form words in her confused and exhausted mind. She studied the amber-eyed boy standing at the sliding door of the classroom. He had beautifully messy chestnut locks and a face that looked like it could knock out girls with just a smile. She could've groaned at that because she rather disliked pretty-boys. Hopefully, he wouldn't be like those other idiots she'd met at other schools.
"So…Why are you here this early?" his friendly and smooth voice rang through the silence like a church bell.
"Huh? I'm early?" Sakura said, puzzled. "My brother told me that I was half an hour late…?"
Sakura cursed herself internally as she realized that her brother had tricked her. DAMN HIM, she thought with a trembling clenched fist.
"Well, your brother lied. There's still an hour before school starts, you know." he laughed a bit.
"Ugh…" Sakura couldn't suppress that groan. She hid her face behind her hands in slight embarrassment.
"Well, if it makes you feel better, my mother's done the same thing to me." he told her as he put his backpack on the desk next to hers. "I've never seen you before, are you new?"
Sakura didn't move her face from the position it was in. She nodded slowly.
"I see." was his simple answer. "I'm Li Syaoran, by the way. Nice to meet you."
Sakura lifted her head a bit at his words. "Kinomoto Sakura. Same."
They shook hands and exchanged smiles – Sakura's was uncertain and reluctant while Syaoran's looked like a model's.
Soon after, Sakura felt herself relax as she talked to Syaoran about random things.
"….You do track and field? You should join the club, you know. They're always looking for new recruits." Syaoran encouraged. "In fact, I'm one of their backup runners. I only go when I'm not busy with soccer, though."
Sakura smiled, feeling a small tint of sadness overcome her eyes. "Well, I'm not very good… And I can't participate in any clubs. Sorry…"
"Why are you apologizing? It's totally fine if you can't. But why can't you?" the brown haired boy inquired, rather curious about the girl sitting before him.
He felt a pleasant sensation every time she talked to him and he felt it quite strange that he'd feel this kind of serenity when he'd just met her. He had also noticed those captivating green eyes that clouded over when she answered his question.
"Well, I sort of… injured my brother. He can't do any extracurricular activities, and my dad said that I shouldn't either, just to be fair…" Sakura decided not to tell the handsome stranger that she'd given up any of those activities just before she came to Tomoeda.
"And how did you injure him?" Syaoran asked, his eyes showing mirth and amusement as he noticed the slight embarrassment Sakura was revealing.
"Um… I stomped on his foot sort of hard?" she tilted her head to the side, trying to phrase it without making her sound like some kind of barbaric cave woman.
Syaoran started laughing, which mesmerized Sakura a bit. But she snapped herself out of it, reminding herself that she shouldn't get too attached to anything, even if that "thing" was a terribly good-looking classmate of hers.
"Remind me to never get you mad, Kinomoto." Syaoran was still trying to recover from his burst of chuckles. He found Sakura unbelievably amusing and in a way, cute.
"Oh…" was all Sakura could say.
And before either person could say any more, a flood of students walked in chatting and laughing amongst each other.
Regretfully, Sakura turned away from Syaoran to focus on the new school day officially starting. Syaoran, on the other hand, was still facing her while sitting in the seat across from her.
"You should go greet the teacher now, he's going to introduce you to the rest of the class." he advised her, before waving to a few of his friends entering through the class room door.
Sakura nodded and got up from her seat to the teacher's front desk. She was relieved to see that the teacher was a rather young and handsome man with a very kind face.
"Umm… I'm Kinomoto Sakura and I just transferred today."
In response, she found a warm smile waiting for her. "I see, Kinomoto-san. Well, I'm Terada-sensei, your teacher. Although you must've known already, right?"
Again Sakura nodded, but very shyly. She wasn't used to warm treatment from the teachers she met in each of her new schools. They always were impersonal and indifferent to her, the new transfer student. She waited for Terada-sensei to get his papers and books in order. When the bell rang, the bustling class hushed.
"Welcome back, kids." the teacher greeted them. "I hope you had a lovely holiday."
Students in all corners of the room nodded their agreement.
"We have a new transfer student today. Her name is Kinomoto Sakura, from Tokyo." he announced. "Kinomoto-san, please go up to the board to write your name. And then, introduce yourself to the class."
Sakura hesitated, but as she glanced around the room, she saw a thumbs-up from Syaoran, filling her with courage.
"…I'm Kinomoto Sakura. Nice to meet you all." she told them after writing her name on the chalk board with brisk confident strokes. "I hope that I will get along with you guys this year."