Author's Note- I have a feeling that this'll be an extremely long fanfic. But not to worry- hopefully I'll write well enough for it to be interesting. I have a plot ready, though. This is my first fanfic, and I hope that it's good. Thanks for reading!

The Beginning :Arranged Marriages

'You are not going to do this to me.'

'How can you be so sure?'

Cloudy, light-blue eyes which gave off an angelic impression met intensely dark, sapphire ones.

Hiragizawa Eriol was the unwanted son of business tycoon Hiragizawa Takaya.

Takaya smiled triumphantly, his light blue eyes gleaming – much like a shark's. 'You'll meet your fiancé in a week. Don't even bother trying to scare her off. Your wedding will be held in 6 months, regardless of what happens.'

He narrowed his eyes in an unspoken challenge. 'Try me'.

There was an awkward silence after this.

'Then', said Eriol calmly, 'I believe that there's nothing else I have to say to you,…' He turned to go, and headed for the massive double doors- he had always hated those doors- why would anyone want doors like that, just leading from one room to another?

Just before the doors, he stopped and turned around, and added a last, parting sting. '…Takaya.'

'But…dad…Why?' Kinomoto Sakura stared pleadingly up at her father- her kind father, even though he was the CEO of one of the wealthiest businesses in Japan.

'Dad, why?' Sakura repeated. She had always been so sure that her father would allow her to choose her own future, unlike some of the stories she had heard about; wealthy parents forcing their children into arranged marriages…

Her father stared down at her stonily, so unlike the father she knew. 'Because, Sakura, you're nearly an adult- 17 years old. You need to have your future ready for you. And besides' here, his eyes grew colder, if that were possible 'you've already scared away every boy I told you who was suitable. You chose to reject the choices I gave you. So now, you have no choice.'

Sakura glared up at the man she had once recognised as her father, and her eyes hardened. So this was it. The life she had once thought she would have was truly gone. Sometimes, she wondered what it why people envied wealthy people so much. 'It's because of the money,' she thought bitterly, 'people like money- because the world is just about money. Money, money, money.'

'Well, I think I'll be going now. I have homework I have to finish.'

Fujitaka nodded, his cold eyes never leaving Sakura as she walked stiffly to the door and out. He looked away from the door, minutes after she had left.

If only he had known that he wouldn't be seeing her as soon as he thought.

'I expect you to meet your fiancé in 3 days. No excuses.' The austere woman ordered. 'You are dismissed.'

Tomoyo nodded once ,and only once as she had been taught after several beatings. 'Energy should not be wasted. Superfluous actions make the present company consider you to be a fool'.

It had been like this since she could remember. Her mother yelling, screaming, beating her, and she, cowering, merely wishing that this nightmare would end as soon as possible, and with minimal bruises received.

Now, her mother had arranged for her to be in an arranged marriage. With somebody that she had never heard of.

'An arranged marriage', Tomoyo muttered. 'You've got to be kidding me.' She headed into her room and sat down to begin the homework set by her teacher. But she couldn't concentrate on the papers, the words tonight. Her mind kept on circling back to her mother's words. 'Arranged marriage…no excuses…marriage…'

'ARRGHH!' She threw down her pen in frustration. If only…she could…escape?

Escape.

A wicked smile played across her lips, and she quietly got up and began to pack her school bag. But not with books.

Far from it.

The eyes that yet again stared defiantly at the dark brown ones were curious ones. They would be a light, warm amber when he was happy, a dull, heavy mix of brown and amber in usual life, and finally, a dark, nearly black shade when he was mad.

His eyes were nearly black.

Li Syaoran stared at his mother, not believing what he had just heard. An arranged marriage? No no… He had always know that his mother was not in the norm, but an arranged marriage? And he wasn't even twenty yet!

'Mother, you must be joking,' he said lightly, attempting to get an agreement out of her. None came.

'Syaoran, you are 18 years old- and you haven't even dated one girl yet! When you were 16, I told you that the Elders were willing to allow you to choose your own wife, as long as she was both acceptable and decent. They have withdrawn that offer now. You have an arranged marriage.'

Syaoran narrowed his eyes. He would not play their games and get married just because they wanted him to.

They'd have to do better than simply asking. Or ordering, as was their custom.

Syaoran stomped up to his room, glaring at the portraits of his relatives, 'all looking dead' as he called it. They all seemed to glare at him, their eyes going 'obey, obey, obey…'

He shivered. The Li clan did that to you. Made you want to scream and rip your hair out your own head. And once all your hair was gone, you'd move onto someone else's.

He sighed before entering his room and plopping onto his bed with a sigh. Stupid mother. Stupid Elders. Stupid Clan.

'Idiots.' Syaoran muttered under his breath. He'd accept an arranged marriage when his mother wore jeans. 'Heh, I wonder what they'd be like if I ran away… Probably get another heir… If I ran away…I'd probably go to somewhere where they wouldn't expect…probably rent an apartment…that sounds so easy…'

He shot up from his bed. A grin finally graced his face after so long a drought.

'It is easy.'

Author's Note- So how has it been so far? Please don't shoot me for making all their parents so mean=D But I had to, to make it plausible. I'm gonna include lotsa twists in this story…Just so that it'll go for a lot of chapters. Don't you like stories which go on for a long time? But that's just me =D Review if you want to, and thank you if you do. All comments cherished! (as Wish-chan would say- read her New Trials, by the way. O_O I think that rhymed…)