Disclaimer: CCS belongs to someone else, but the rest is mine. ^ ^
Summary:
Syaoran Li is the ultimate bad boy, the son of the former Mafia Boss…and he's engaged to Lady Meilin, his sophisticated cousin, in just two months! Problem is, he had no say whatsoever. With a potty mouth and a list of naughty deeds, Yelan Li thought it'd be wise to have some serious help.
Yelan Li is good friends with Fujitaka Kinomoto, whose only daughter is the world famous mannerism instructor. Sakura's published book on international manners, Ugly Ducklings to Swans, is the Bible in upper crust society.
The two accomplices thought it would be a swell idea for Sakura, accompanied by her best friend, Tomoyo, to prepare Syaoran on his manly journey in becoming a suave, well-mannered Gentleman by living with him. For two whole months.
Thing is, they have no idea what happens when fiery amber eyes meets icy cherry blossoms…
Mr. Gentleman
CHAPTER ONE
*Hotel Li*
"Sakura Kinomoto?" Syaoran liked how the name rolled off his tongue.
Eriol stared at him unbelievably and sputtered, "Why aren't you running away? Don't you know who she is?"
Syaoran replied indifferently, "No…should I be? I am the Mafia's great son—what's there to be afraid of?"
Eriol ticked off the problems easily, "One: she has connections with your mom. Two: they say she's a bittersweet, man-eating monster. Three: every guy falls for her, every single time. And four: she's a mannerism instructor, and you're…not mannerly."
"Are you saying I'm not good enough for a high-class lady, dumbass?"
"No…I'm saying you're not going to survive this."
"You wanna BET?!" Syaoran hollered as he tackled his cousin to the ground. Unbeknownst to the two young men, there was a soft, polite rapping on the door, which slowly got louder and louder and louder…
"Did you hear that?" Eriol inquired, as he stared at his bull-headed cousin. Syaoran merely shrugged his shoulders and went to answer the door.
Syaoran Li… looked like the younger version of the former Mafia Boss, who died of unknown reasons. With his eternally shaggy, brown hair in his intense, amber eyes, hard and lean frame, and cocky air of confidence—he gave rebirth to the meaning of 'rebel.'
"Hello?" Syaoran's hand barely touched the door knob, "And who is this—"
WHOOSH!
KAPLUNK!
The heavy door violently swung open and promptly smothered Syaoran to the wall. Eriol unsuccessfully hid his mirth with loud, fake coughs.
"What the fuck?!" Syaoran roared, as he glared angrily at whoever or whatever caused the door to unexpectedly open.
"I was wondering if anyone was living here." A charming female voice called out, as an adorable young woman with forest-green eyes stepped inside the threshold.
"Who the hell do you think you are? Barging into people's apartments like this—"
"I am Sakura Kinomoto, your personal tutor in the fine arts of high society, for the next two months—and just in time for your wedding with Lady Meilin."
Syaoran gave Eriol a confused look, Eriol returned the look.
"I have a wedding in two months?" Syaoran asked. "With…who?!"
However, Sakura didn't heed him anymore attention as she turned around and shouted down the hallway, "HEY TOMOYO, TELL THE MOVERS THE ROAD'S CLEAR!"
Both boys sweat-dropped when they heard another female voice reply, "ALRIGHTY THEN! HEY GUYS, YOU HEARD THE LADY! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"
Eriol shook his head in disbelief as he whispered hoarsely, "Girls are moving into our apartment without notice. Syaoran's engaged to Meilin. And I am related to him… The world must have gone partially mad while I was sleeping…"
Syaoran's short temper just snapped like a thin twig in a tornado. "HOLY SHIT, GET YOUR CRAP OUT OF MY ROOM! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUST MARCH IN HERE!"
Sakura momentarily moved her fixed gaze on the movers in the hallway to Syaoran and said icily, "It's not like I have a choice in this matter either. My father and your mother are…close, to say at the least. Your mother personally requested for me to guide you through genteel training. And by the looks of it, we have a lot to cover in just two months. So…in a nutshell, dear: deal with it."
Eriol lifted his hands in defeat as he muttered, "Boy, I'm licked. I'm just gonna go to my room now…"
"You're not going anywhere!" Syaoran growled as he grabbed him by the shirt collar.
After dragging Eriol over to Sakura, he leaned in so close that his nose hovered dangerously close to hers, and whispered, "I don't care if my Mom, or your Dad, or the big, bad wolf told you to come here. Cause you're not moving into this apartment. So…in a nutshell, dear: deal with it and get out!"
With that, he roughly showed Sakura outside his apartment, cheerfully waved to her, and slammed his door shut, immediately locking all four gold locks in one fluid motion.
"Beat that!" Syaoran whooped as he gleefully jumped onto his leather couch and turned on his massive, giant screen television.
"It's guys like Syaoran that give us men a bad image." Eriol sighed as he went to peek through the door's peek hole. His refined upbringing wondered if the lady was fine and unharmed. He could see the girl named Sakura with crossed arms and an infuriated, but cute pouting face and the girl next to her…
His dark, lavender eyes lit up as his whole focus centered on the slender girl with lush lavender curls and milky white skin. She was dressed in a simple, yellow calico dress and matching yellow sandals. Her face bore such regal calmness and serenity that she looked like the real mannerisms tutor lecturing Sakura on manners.
Sakura's face, which had looked like the resurrection of a cherry, gradually turned relaxed as the muscles in her face loosened, and a small grin graced her features.
"Now that is one talented soul speaker." Eriol muttered, as he continued to strain his neck to get a better view of the enchanting, lavender-haired girl.
"Eriol, remove your face from the door. Aren't you even ashamed of yourself?" Syaoran said lazily, already getting bored with the 400+ channels on his tv, as he carelessly pressed the channel button over and over again.
Eriol cleverly replied, "I do believe they're talking about you."
Syaoran perked up, sitting straight up, and asked, "There's more girls?"
He hurriedly ran over to where Eriol was standing, effectively stomping on the remote control, sending a pack of cigarettes to the floor, tripping over a stack of CDs, and scattering the insides of a paper wastebasket astray.
"You know, you have just succeeded in making our apartment look like a pig sty in just ten seconds flat."
"Yeah, I know, I could have done better." Syaoran replied hastily as he peeped through the peek hole. He immediately gasped and moaned, "What the heck are we going to do?"
Eriol worriedly shoved Syaoran's slumping carcass away and poked his eye in the peep hole. "Oh no, they're ding-donging every single female on our floor. And they're…turning into a mob…are those girls carrying pitchforks?"
"Eriol, stop exaggerating!" Syaoran smacked him in the back of the head, "Dimwit, those girls can't be carrying pitchforks, they're probably carrying—" he peeped through the peep hole.
His face paled considerably as he squeaked, "Rifles!"
Eriol had never seen Syaoran's face become so frozen with terror. There were two things the almighty, invincible Syaoran could not defeat: his mom and a mob of girls. If it weren't the fact that he too was in danger, Eriol would have burst a gut laughing.
"Ok, we need to think of plan." Syaoran said, trying to smooth the uneasiness in his voice. "Any bright ideas?"
"Well…how about a compromise?" Eriol suggested.
"Compromise? What are you, a man or a mouse? I was going along the lines of 'calling the police' or 'run away to Hong Kong.'"
"You have got to be joking, dear cousin. We are not going anywhere! Especially when two attractive young women," Eriol stopped and sternly glanced at Syaoran who was shaking his head like a head-bobbing toy.
"What? Did I say something wrong?"
"Yeah, you said 'two attractive young women'. One of them wasn't pretty at all!"
"I presume you're talking about Miss Kinomoto, right? Well, I think she's absolutely adorable…She looks like a teenager."
"Exactly! I hate young-looking girls, they make me look…old! Yeah, that's right, old!"
"AS I WAS SAYING," Eriol refrained from rolling his eyes as he continued, "when two attractive young women practically throw themselves at our doorstep, as gentlemen, we should welcome them with open arms and be open-minded. Syaoran, are you even listening— DON'T YOU DARE OPEN THAT WINDOW!"
Instead of listening like a good little boy, Syaoran had silently treaded across the living room like a hunted rabbit, to reach the ultimate escape route: the balcony window.
Syaoran smiled like a Cheshire cat and said overdramatically, waving his hand in a fluttering motion, like his awful acting teacher once taught, "To be or not to be, that is the question!"
"I'm serious, Syaoran! We have to go talk to those girls before they tear us from limb to limb!"
"Farewell, amigo, I knew you well!" with that, Syaoran opened the window and with a broad smile turned to face outside. Unfortunately, standing there in front of him, with her feet planted firmly apart and an evil twitching gaze, was Sakura.
"How the hell did you…" Syaoran trailed off, his eyes emanating the obvious shock. He stared at her as if she had grown a furry tail and devilish horns.
"It's called a women's intuition, Mr. Li." She said curtly, lifting her head to meet his amber eyes.
I wouldn't be surprised if she's the embodiment of Satan himself… Syaoran loudly thought as he turned around and shouted, "Hey, Eriol, some backup here."
In just a short period of time, the mob of girls had conquered the door and taped Eriol with duck tape to an arm chair. Some of the girls held pans, others held butter knives, one or two carried a rifle, and one woman looked as if she had just jumped out of a bubble bath…
Eriol shrugged his shoulders a look of "I'm kinda busy at the moment" plastered on his face. There was nowhere to run or hide now.
Syaoran's face grew beet-red as he bellowed, "F$@KYOU DAMN M$#@ER F$#KERS!" His deep voice shook the room's walls and a flock of pigeons took flight from the area's trees.
Tomoyo walked over, politely patted Syaoran's sagging shoulders, and said encouragingly, "At least you now know the inevitable: men crumble to dust against women. It's just a fact of life, Mr. Li. Now how about a cup of tea? That always calms me down."
Syaoran could not believe his ears. I just lost to a bunch of girls?
*Half an Hour later*
They're hosting a tea party in my precious apartment. Girls are digging through my stuff. Eriol is stuffing his face with Tomoyo's homemade pastries…and Sakura won't shut up. God, she's not shutting up!
"Now, Li, you can't slump in your chair like that. See, look at me, my back is straight as a pole and my feet are planted squarely on the floor. Oh, and don't part your legs so wide, it gives women a false sense of welcoming."
Girls were giggling at Mr. Li's expanse suite and nibbling at Tomoyo's goodies while sipping some of Eriol's family's famous tea. The tea party was in full swing, some girls even played some waltz music and started dancing, while more women invited themselves to the "Party of the Year."
"Thirdly, gentlemen don't leave crumbs or play with their food before they eat. It's barbaric. Fourth, keep your chin in and your shoulder's relaxed—NOT too relaxed—no, not that straight—"
"I don't really care." he grumbled softly.
"C'mon, Li, now your head should be at precisely at a 60 degree angle when sipping tea and a 90 degree angle when you—"
"I don't want to do this." he grumbled once more.
"Also, don't leave your mouth hanging—it'll naturally cause drool to form. Next lesson: dancing. Do you like to dance, Li?"
"I DON'T CARE, SO JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Syaoran brusquely slammed his raised teacup down, almost shattering it to bits, and stalked off to his bedroom; promptly slamming the door with a thud.
He left the room ringing in deafening silence, and the women began to slowly disperse and leave through the front door, one by one. Tomoyo glanced at Sakura, who was downing her raspberry iced tea like there was no tomorrow, and nodded her head in understanding. Sakura had the magical ability to liven up the mood of any party and keep it going for hours on end.
But right now, Sakura's usual fiery vigor was snuffed out by a certain amber-eyed boy…
Soon, not a single member of the former mob of girls was in the apartment. Eriol glanced around, sighed, and muttered, "I took all this wonderful space for granted; now I'm loving it."
Tomoyo floated next to Sakura's side and whispered, "You ok there, partner? Mr. Li was very rude to say those things in your face. You'd think a man of his status would act accordingly…"
"He's not a man, Tomoyo. He's something entirely else. A wild breed that I thought died off long, long ago…"
"Sakura? What in the world are you talking about—"
Sakura cut her off, "He's just like Touya—the attitude, the intense gaze, down to the vulgar grammar misusage! I became a mannerism tutor because I wanted to help my brother become a better person. But I couldn't help him because…"
Suddenly, Sakura stood up, pointed a serious finger at Syaoran's closed bedroom door, and shouted at the top of her lungs, "SYAORAN LI, CAN YOU HEAR ME? MY NAME IS SAKURA KINOMOTO AND I AM GOING TO MAKE THESE NEXT TWO MONTHS A LIVING HELL FOR YOU! I AM GOING TO MAKE YOU INTO A GENTLEMAN! DO YOU UNDERSTAND? A GENTLEMAN!"
I knew it…she is Satan under disguise. Syaoran thought indifferently as he cranked up the volume on his CD player to its maximum.
Life at Hotel Li just got a little bit crazier…
TBC
^____~ (I won't update the next chapter if you don't write me a review!)