*!Sakura was a small town girl, raised to appreciate everything she' ever had. Syaoran was a rich boy from Hong Kong, setting business roots in Tokyo. Let the two worlds collide, and trouble in bound to stir.!*

Chapter 1- Sakura Kinomoto

The sun shined brightly through the thin curtains and poured into the small one bedroom apartment. Sakura turned over in the warm bed, not wanting to get out and start another day. Her phone buzzed on her side table near her head, and she groaned as she reached for it. The screen was a bright light on her face, and she squinted as she tried to read the name on the screen. The blurred letters came into focus, and the culprit for making her get up was none other than her guardian while in Tokyo, Kero. "Good morning…" she said softly flopping back down on the mattress.

"Well aren't you a ray of sunshine this morning." He laughed from the other end. Sakura rolled her eyes at her guardian and decided it was time to flop her butt out of bed and start her day. "I was calling to remind you that you have an important meeting to go to today in my place."

"I know, I know. I was just starting to wake up when you called." Her bare feet padded across the wooden floor to the kitchen to get some coffee. The coffee maker beeped just as it finished its preset brew. Sakura sighed as she took a long sip of coffee, just the way she liked.

"You do realize the meeting is in less than an hour. As my representative of Clow Corporations, you need to be there." Kero scolded. But as per usual, Sakura paid no mind to Kero's scolding and continued to enjoy her coffee.

"I know, Kero. I promise I'll be on time; I always am." Sakura laughed.

She couldn't see Kero, but she already knew that was shaking his head at her and her laid back attitude towards the company. Sakura's father and Kero had been old friends, and Kero trusted Sakura enough to hand over the long lasting company that was his own father's legacy, Clow Corporation. Sakura really appreciated what Kero had done for her, and decided to help anyway she could. Eventually Kero had decided he was going to give Sakura the Clow Corporations when he retired. Sakura acted relaxed towards the company, but in reality she always got her work done, and was never late. She hung up the phone with Kero and made her way back into her room to pick out her outfit for the day. She decided to go with a grey pencil skirt, a white and grey long sleeve sweater with low heeled silver shoes.

A knock at her door made her jump in surprise and she went to answer it. Waiting behind the door was the chauffeur sent by Kero to make she would make it on time. Grabbing a muffin, her purse, the files she needed and her travel sized brush she left her apartment. "Thanks for picking me up every day, Yukito." She said to the silver haired man.

He smiled at her, "It's really no problem Sakura." He put the car into gear and pulled away from the apartment building. Sakura didn't take much notice to the world around her as she brushed her hair and put the bush into her purse when she was satisfied. She kept her hair short so that it was easy to maintain on mornings like today. She began eating her muffin while looking over the client files for the meeting. Clow Corporations was beginning a take-over of a smaller business that had been looking for better business. It was up to Sakura to strike the deal that would benefit them as well as Clow.

When they pulled up to the head office, she said her thanks to Yukito again before getting out with her purse and files finishing her muffin. She made her way into the building and up to the conference room where she would be just on time as the clock struck nine. It was one of her many talents to be perfectly on time. When she entered the room all eyes were on her. She walked to the head of the table and dropped her things. "Good morning gentlemen, thank you for coming here today."

It was just a typical Sakura Kinomoto morning.

"Well aren't they lively this morning," said a voice from her chair. Sakura sighed to see her close friend Chiharu sitting in her chair with her feet on the desk. They had been friends since Sakura came as an intern when she first started out.

"They all just want either promotions, raises or to get in my good graces for when I take over… it's not like I'm going to fire every single person here. I wish they wouldn't treat me like I'm some sort of princess here." Sakura sighed and she dropped her purse and files onto her desk. Chiharu got up from the chair, giving Sakura a place to sit. Chiharu knew the real Sakura, not the business Sakura that everyone else was used to. She was an honest girl who thanked the world every day for what she had. Chiharu has never met anyone quite like her.

Chiharu leaned on the glass desk and looked at the exhausted girl sitting in her leather chair with her eyes closed. "Let me guess, you stayed up all night last night working on that proposal that you has already finalized last week, just to be sure that it was all right. Then this morning you woke up to have Mr. Reed calling you to remind you about the meeting." A smile graced Sakura's lips as she slowly nodded.

"I just wanted to make sure that everything in place. Kero would have killed me if I didn't get this deal…" Sakura trailed off as she yawned.

"You know that's not true. He wouldn't blame you at all, it would be you who would be beating yourself up over it… and isn't it a bit unprofessional for you to be so casual with him while working? I mean I know he's kind of your guardian, but you could at least call him Keroberos…"

"I know… and he tells me that all the time, but it just feels strange to call him anything other than Kero." Sakura sighed as she got up from her relaxed position to turn on her computer and sign in. "Speaking of unprofessional, I could say the same thing about you sitting in my office with your feet on my desk." She said laughing. Sakura really didn't mind that Chiharu came to visit her, but she still had to nag her about it.

Chiharu laughed as she pushed herself off the desk and began walking towards the door. "Well then I'll head back to my desk to work on boring reports about things that I couldn't really give two shits about."

"Come on Chiharu, you're the head of HR, you could at least pretend to like what you do, and watch your language at work." Sakura laughed as her door closed.

She loved where she worked and the people that she worked with. Clow Corporations meant everything to her. She quickly logged into her computer and began working away at the emails that were waiting for her. Several of them had been from Kero that she had already gotten on her phone last night about the meeting this morning. She quickly deleted them and found one from him from this morning.

Good Morning Sakura,

I got confirmation from Ruby about the success at the meeting today. Once again, I'm very proud of you for working so hard for this company. I won't be coming in today, but I know that everything is in good hands.

Now to drop all formalities, I wanted to tell you that I want you to come over for dinner tonight, and you can make some of that delicious food that you know I love. Your dad called me last night as well and asked how you were doing. He's going to call again tonight while you're over since he knows he won't be distracting you from your work while you're with me.

Anyway, have a nice day and don't work yourself too hard

Kero

Sakura smiled at the informality of the email and closed it moving onto the daily chores. She sighed at the amount of emails from Chiharu that had nothing to do with actual work, and deleted them, knowing that they were all just her complaining about how Takashi wouldn't leave her office. The man was so in love with her but she refused to open her eyes and see it.

The email that had caught her eye was from a foreign email address. She opened it and began to read the contents. It talked about its company representatives coming to Japan to talk about possible company expansion in the area and waiting to work with Clow Corporations. Sakura wasn't sure how to react to the email, since it wasn't really under her department to discuss foreign company possibilities. She forwarded the email to Kero, wanting him to deal with that. It wasn't that Sakura didn't want to; it was that she wasn't sure what Kero would want to do. He was very skeptical about foreign companies, because it would only affect a branch of their company rather than their entire company like Japan based companies would.

The rest of the day began to blur together as she answered emails, phone calls and working on spreadsheets. Finally the clock struck five and she began to pack up her things when her phone began to buzz. She picked up the phone and saw the name on the screen. "Nice timing, Tomoyo." Sakura smiled.

"You know me; it's just a sixth sense to call at the best times." Tomoyo laughed on the phone side of the phone. "Are you busy tonight?"

"Yeah, Kero emailed me and asked me to go over tonight for dinner. My dad will be calling too. The man is always so worried to call me and distract me from anything that has to do with Clow Corporations business." Sakura sighed as she picked up her purse and turned off the lights to her office. Everyone was beginning to shut down their computers as well and leave. A few people waved to her as she left, and only a couple actually came up to her and said goodbye.

"Well then since tomorrow is Friday night, why don't we go out for a drink or something? You, me, Chiharu, Rika and Naoko haven't gone out in a long time, so I think it's about time that we did, don't you think?" Tomoyo asked.

Sakura got into the car and Yukito closed the door behind her. "That sounds like a lot of fun. I'll stop by your apartment tomorrow to get ready. I'll see you later." Sakura said as she hung up the phone. She turned to Yukito who was focused on the road.

"Is there something on my face?" He asked half joking. Sakura smiled and sat back down in her seat and looked out at the road and traffic in front of them.

"No, I was just thinking about the day when Kero told me that I could come with him to Tokyo, and how you offered to come with me. You know Touya was sad that you left." She sighed as she leaned her face into the palm of her hand. She had known since she was young that Touya and Yukito were a little more than friends, and only when she had confessed to Yukito when she was thirteen about loving him, that she realized her crush on him was no match for his already serious relationship with her brother.

"I knew that you would want someone you knew with in a city full of strange faces. I know Tomoyo was already here, but I think of you as a little sister too. I still visit Touya when I can, but he thanks me every time I'm there for coming with you." The car turned onto a more high class street with expensive high rise condos, and over priced apartments.

Sakura nodded, understanding what he meant. Touya had always called her a monster or a little demon when she was young, but as they both grew up they slowly actually became civil. He started treating her more like a woman than just a brat. In the end it had been him that told her to go with Kero, since he knew that she wasn't going to have another chance like it. Sakura always thanked her brother for pushing her to do it. When she turned her head she noticed that they were pulling up to Kero's apartment building. Yukito got out and opened the door for her. Got out and hugged him, something that she wasn't able to do at the office, and made her way inside. She turned to wave goodbye just in time for him to pull away and head back to his own apartment. She had offered to live with him, saving them both money, but he insisted that she needed her space as a young woman.

The man at the front desk smiled at her, remembering her from every other time she had visited Kero, and opened the door for her to enter. The inside lobby was beautiful, with large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and casted a glow onto the floor. Plush couches were off to the side for people to wait for someone to come down, or for a car to pick them up. Her heels clicked on the marble floor as she walked across the room to the elevators. It dinged when it reached the ground floor, and she stepped inside. Sakura pressed the penthouse button, and the elevator came to life and brought her towards Kero's apartment.

Kero was waiting for her on the top floor, and she was welcomed into a warm embrace when she entered his apartment. He had been like a second father to her when she was young, and even more now that he was her guardian while she was in Tokyo. "Glad you could make it, Sakura." He said as he pulled away from the hug. His golden hair was messy since he hadn't gone to the office, and his blue eyes were slanted because of his warm smile that she knew so well.

She made her way into the large apartment, or rather penthouse. The hallway they had been standing in led to the large, spacious apartment. On the left side was the kitchen that had a modern feel to it, with black marble counters and stainless steel appliances. The kitchen flowed in the living room which took up the main part of the room, with leather and cotton couches. To the left were the stairs to the upper level; Kero's room. The most breath taking part of the entire apartment that got her every time was the view. The back wall was reinforced glass that let you see all the way to the glowing Tokyo tower. Sakura flopped onto the black leather couch and kicked off her constricting heels. Kero laughed as he went to the kitchen and got two glasses and a bottle of wine.

Sakura rolled onto her side and swung her legs down so that she could sit up and make room for Kero to sit beside her. He took his place and poured her a glass of wine. "Cheers to your successful proposal today." Kero said as their glasses clinked together.

The two sat for hours talking, and slowly drinking wine. Eventually her dad called and she was able to talk to him for the first time in months. Kero smiled as he saw the girl talk to her father. He sometimes forgot that he wasn't Sakura's real father, and it made him sad whenever he realized this. He has never had any kids and always thought of Sakura as his own. Touya had never really warmed up to him the same as Sakura, it's not that he hated him; it was just that he wanted to feel like he was a tough man. Sakura finished talking to her dad and handed the phone back to Kero. It was late and Sakura hadn't even had the chance to cook their dinner yet.

"I can start cooking now if you want. I know that if I don't you probably won't eat for the rest of the night." Sakura said as she headed to the kitchen. She rolled up her sleeves and began pulling out ingredients.

Kero walked towards the kitchen and put his hand on her shoulder, "You should head home, it's getting late and we both have to go into the office tomorrow. I'll drive you home."

Sakura was about to protest when Kero began walking to get his coat and keys. She followed his example and grabbed the shoes she had kicked off when she came in. They headed for the elevator and made their way back to her apartment.

Kero watched as she got out of the car when they arrived back at her building. Her small frame turned to wave to him as he drove off. While he was driving back to his own apartment, his phone began to buzz. He quickly turned on his Bluetooth and answered the call. "Good evening, Keroberos Clow," he answered.

"Good evening, I'm calling in response to the email you replied to earlier this afternoon. The meeting will be on Monday, giving our representatives time to settle in this weekend. I wanted to thank you personally for allowing us to meet with you, Mr. Clow." The voice answered from Bluetooth. He wasn't too sure it was a good idea to meet with this company but he knew that he should at least give them a chance.

Kero kept his business tone together as he smiled, thinking of his "daughter" being able to do this one day when she took over, "I look forward to discussing possible business with Li Corporations."

HI GUYS! Thanks for reading the first chapter of Vices Versus Virtues. I hope it wasn't too boring. I know first chapters of this kind of stuff aren't always too busy, but I hope things start to pick up a bit and you guys enjoy it! Please review and let me know what you think! I'll be releasing the next chapter soon hopefully. If anyone has any sort of recommendations, towards either improving or where you think this story should go, then please let me know!

P.S: Yes the name of this fanfiction is based off of the Panic! At the Disco album, and this is because A) It fits what I want to do with this story, and B)I was listening to the album while writing this chapter and got the idea

*~Ciara