Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura or any of its characters.

A Smoke, a Fire, a Sea, a Madness

Raz3r

Part One – The Professor (i)

"Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;

Being purged, a fire sparkling in a lovers' eyes;

Being vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears;

What is it else? A madness most discreet,

A choking gall, and a preserving sweet."

(Romeo in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1597)

"…Miss Kinomoto?"

His deep, sultry voice carried across the auditorium to a striking emerald-eyed young woman seated at the back, practically hidden due to her small frame. Perhaps spellbound or merely lost in translation, her head remained down as she scribbled furiously in her notebook.

A sea of bemused eyes swung to her, to her sun-kissed face and long lashes, to her delicate long fingers clutching a pen, lost in thought, completely oblivious to the attention she'd attracted. Then the sea of eyes swung back to the professor, who stood eerily still, his face had hardened into an irritated scowl.

"Ahem." A modest cough to her right caught the young woman's attention. Her eyes widened in surprise at the broad-shouldered man sitting next to her. He smiled shyly but then quickly flicked his eyes to the front of the room, his attention back to the professor.

She followed his gaze slowly, looking up into a pair of piercing amber eyes. Shocked, her pen slipped from her fingers, and the color drained from her face as she sat quivering in her seat like a frightened kitten.

"Well, Miss Kinomoto?" His eyes zeroed in on her; his amber orbs filled with arctic fury that sent uncontrollable shivers throughout her entire body. "I expect an answer to my question, that is, if you care to join us."

The other students shifted uneasily in their seats and stole furtive glances at one another. The professor was known for his contemptuous demeanor, but in that moment he sounded bitterly severe.

What had crawled up his ass?

Yet they said nothing. It was commonly known that any student of the professor's, who dared to confront him, let alone disrespect him, would undoubtedly and inescapably jeopardize both their academic future and potential career endeavors.

As the young woman's lips parted her throat suddenly constricted, making it almost painful to swallow. She quickly closed her mouth, embarrassed at her inability to speak. She'd never felt more vulnerable than under the unblinking arbitration of the professor's glare. The more she drowned in unwavering amber, the more she could see her own frightened refection staring back at her.

"Is Japanese not your first language, Miss Kinomoto?" he drawled out his words slowly; he was mocking her.

A platinum blonde-haired woman seated in the front at his right hand tried to stifle a laugh, repressing it into an unconvincing cough. The sea of eyes shifted back to the frightened kitten, whose skin now exploded into vibrant crimson. She finally managed to escape the professor's intense scrutiny by lowering her head in humiliation.

"Since Miss Kinomoto seems to be caught up in her own parallel universe where Japanese is not spoken, perhaps someone else would be kind enough to answer my question?"

The beauty to his right was merely too eager at the opportunity. She beamed as she began to answer his question in great detail, making a show of herself, gesturing with her hands as she perfectly quoted from text. When she had finished, she glanced over her shoulder and smiled tartly to the back of the room, her pearly whites on display, before she ensued to ogle back at the professor and sigh.

"Right." The professor frowned faintly at no one in particular before adverting his attention back to the blackboard. As everyone sat in deadly silence for the remainder of the professor's lecture, the young woman seated at the back of the auditorium blinked back tears as she continued to scribble, her head remained bowed, in an attempt to hide any tears that may have escaped.

A few minutes had passed until a small folded paper appeared on top of her closed textbook. At first she hadn't noticed it until the familiar sound of a soft 'ahem' drew her attention once more to the good-looking man sitting beside her. He smiled more confidently this time, almost eagerly, glancing down at the paper placed in front of her, urging her to uncover the secret that lay within.

She looked at it curiously and blinked. As the professor droned on with his disquisition, she timed him carefully; the moment he turned his back to complete the rest of the diagram he'd been referring to the entirety of class, she carefully brought the paper to her lap where she quietly unfolded it.

Li's a dick.

As soon as she read those words, she flushed instantly. Though a small part of her felt comforted that someone had taken notice. A rosy blush appeared on her cheeks, and she let a small smile escape. Raising her large emerald-eyes to the man next to her, she looked at him shyly. At her attention, a wide, friendly grin spread across his face.

"Is there something funny, Miss Kinomoto? "

Her face fell immediately and her eyes dilated in terror. Her new friend's smile disappeared as he turned his attention back to the professor almost robotically.

Feeling like she'd learnt her lesson the first time, she avoided looking up into the professor's cold, piercing eyes. Instead, she lowered her head mortified to have been caught a second time, and bit her lip nervously as she shook her head side-to-side, gesticulating 'no'.

"It was my fault, Li-Sensei," the man next to her spoke suddenly, attempting to mediate on her behalf, "I was just asking which page the diagram was on."

"Hardly an appropriate question to interrupt my class with, Mr. Tachibana. But since you asked, turn to page 23," he paused before adding, "I trust you can find it without Miss Kinomoto's help seeing as her text is closed."

The professor eyed the two students suspiciously; something unnerving flickered in his eyes as he studied them carefully. They remained uncannily still, waiting nervously in anticipation for him to continue. But just before he was going to pick up from where he'd left off, he unexpectedly turned his attention to the trembling kitten in the back.

"And, Miss Kinomoto?"

The young woman jumped in her seat, lifting her gaze ever so slightly.

"See me in my office after class."

An almost inaudible sound escaped her mouth; she found its familiarity oddly surprising.

"Hoe…"

To be continued…

Konnichiwa!

Author Note: My first ever story, and I am so very excited to share with my future readers! I hope you're looking forward to the scandals of a professor/student relationship, because I know I certainly am – though I'll leave it at that; can't go sharing all my secrets.

I plan on keeping everyone in character so there won't be too much OOC. Though there won't be any magic in this fanfic – I'm sorry!

Please be sure to leave some love! Constructive criticism is always welcome.

Until next time!

Additional Note – Each chapter will be told in approximately 1000 words. I'd like to think of it as a challenge to myself. I also wanted to put purpose to every scene, as you'll come to find how inter-connected everything really is –wink–