The moment I saw Touya standing there wide-eyed at the door, I knew that someone was going to lose their life. Preferably, the guy who had a hold of his sister, trying to do who knows what with her.
Nonetheless, I still pushed Li off me, catching him off guard because he stumbled back, and almost lost balance.
"What the hell is this?!" Touya yelled, looking at me and then glaring at the guy who had a hold of me just seconds ago.
"Onii-chan," I said, embarrassed by his outburst in front of Li, even though he knew all about Touya's overly-protective behavior.
I gave Li a pointed look, silently telling him to leave, while trying to usher my brother in the house slyly.
He pushed me to the side and walked up to Li, grabbing his shirt collar and pulling him off his feet.
Li just stared at him with a blank expression on his face.
"What did you do to my little sister, gaki?!" Touya yelled angrily.
Before I could stop him, he landed a blow onto Li's stomach and I flinched slightly, knowing that had to hurt.
"Touya! Stop it," I hissed and grabbed onto his shoulder.
"Sakura, what's the meaning of this?!" Touya yelled once again, turning to me with fury in his eyes.
I almost wanted to flee from the look.
"I'll explain to you if you don't wake the neighbors. Now put him down, and let him get home," I all but begged, hoping that he would at least be mindful of the neighbors.
Touya let go of Li, pushing him back slightly and then glared at him, which Li returned with his hand on his stomach, clutching it.
"Don't ever come near my sister again, gaki," Touya said, pulling me in the house, shutting the door behind him.
I glared at him. "Mou, Onii-chan...You always cause a scene with everything."
He ignored my statement by grabbing my face, arms, hair, while searching my body.
I swatted his hands away, recoiling from his search. "What are you doing?"
"What did he do to you? Did that bastard touch you? Did you let him? What did he do?"
"Nothing...I swear. I pushed him before he could do anything," I lied, feeling a trail of guilt follow after it came out.
Before he could respond and further interrogate me after seeing through my lies, I quickly added, "Now I'm going to go to bed, or I won't wake up in the morning."
I scurried up the stairs, to my bedroom before he could respond to that as well.
His over-protectiveness could get annoying at times, but he wouldn't be Touya without it.
A small smile crept to my mind as an image of him beating a kid near to death who bullied me in middle school.
Shaking my head from the memory, I changed into my pajamas and hopped into bed after saying my little prayer silently. Then I drifted off into a sleep for the night.
"Kaijuu, get up," I heard an annoying yell downstairs by the only person who lived to call me that.
I stirred in my sleep. "Mmm..."
I lied in bed for another 10 minutes half awake and being in dreamland, until I heard someone coming upstairs.
I heard the door open before someone spoke, "Kaijuu, get up, it's 8:34..."
Touya.
"Mmm...A little longer—"
Something cold and wet interrupted me from finishing my sentence.
Immediately, I jumped up and tackled my brother to my bed, hitting him wherever I could. "Onii-chan! You...you! Ugh! Idiot! I hate you—"
"It's almost 9."
My eyes widened at the time and I jumped off him and ran to my closet and grabbed my uniform. I pushed him out of my room to get ready. As soon as the door shut, I ran to take a quick shower and slipped on my uniform.
After showering in six minutes, I pulled my short, auburn hair back in a low, tight ponytail, being sure to leave my bangs out to frame my face.
Then, I ran down the stairs to see that dad and Touya had already left. I grabbed my skates, slipping them on before rushing out the house.
When I arrived at the gates of Seijou High, I nearly tripped out of my skates, slipping my loafers on. I rushed in the building, throwing the skates in my locker and running straight to class.
In my frenzied state, I slid the door opened loudly, drawing all the attention I didn't want on me.
"Gomenasai!" I bowed to the teacher, and then rushed to the back of the classroom where my desk was.
Mizori-senpai shook his head, releasing a sigh. "Detention after school today, Kinomoto-san," he said, and then resumed the literature lecture.
Sighing, my mind zoned out everything else he said.
I don't know how long I was zoned out because the next moment, the bell rung, signifying the end of class.
I was almost the first to jump up and rush out, but he stopped me.
"Your slip," he said, pushing the darn paper in front of me.
I accepted it. "Thank you so much," I said sweetly, even though I wanted to rip it in front of his face.
Good girls didn't do that though, so I smiled at him and walked out of the classroom.
The first person I spotted was my all-time best friend.
"Detention again?" Tomoyo came to my side, smiling at me.
I scratched the back of my head. "Yeah, kind of overslept today."
Tomoyo shook her head, smiling. "As usual."
It was always the same with me, so she knew me like the back of her hand. I didn't know if that amused or disturbed me, honestly.
"What class is next on the schedule?"
I never kept up with my schedule, so I ended up getting a second copy in the beginning of the year to give to Tomoyo. What would I do without Tomoyo after we graduate if we went separate ways?
Tomoyo giggled, shaking her head. "Chemistry."
"Oh, it's that time!?" I said, getting excited that this class was finally here.
I only had it two days out of the week, and it was the only class that I had with Tomoyo.
Tomoyo smiled, but it suddenly disappeared. "I'm still sad that we didn't really have a lot of classes together this semester."
I sighed, nodding my head. "Yeah...I know."
We walked to the class, talking about the big project that Mizuki-sensei had mentioned throughout the entire semester. We still didn't know what it would be, yet she constantly reminded us about there being one that would count for 75% of our grade.
We sat in the back of the class where we saw Eriol and Li talking.
My mood dampened the moment I saw Li, laughing at something Eriol had said.
"Good morning, Sakura-chan," Eriol greeted me with a warming smile after he planted a chaste kiss on Tomoyo's lips.
I smiled back. "Good morning, Eriol-kun."
"Aw...and I don't get a good morning?" Li playfully whined as a smirk crept to his lips.
I rolled my eyes and decided to ignore him. It was best to not entertain his foolishness today. Besides, what good would come out of it?
Nothing.
Sighing, I looked to the front of the class after noticing that Mizuki-sensei had begun the lecture.
But my mind went elsewhere, back to the past...
"Class, I would like to introduce you to a new student that has transferred from Hong Kong. Li Syaoran," the teacher introduced the boy who stood in front of the classroom.
"I hope you all treat me kindly," the six-year-old said, bowing to the class politely.
The class went in whispers, as the girls blushed at the arrival of the new kid.
"Mr. Li, you may sit behind...Ms. Kinomoto, in the back on the left side of the class," Tereda pointed to the little auburn-haired girl in the back of the class, who was smiling at her best friend Daidouji Tomoyo.
Syaoran walked to the back of the classroom to take the seat behind her.
Sakura turned around and smiled at the boy. "Hi! I'm Kinomoto Sakura, but you can call me Sakura if you would like. I hope we can be good friends."
Syaoran smiled at her and winked, causing her to become flustered.
She turned back towards her desk and started coloring on the picture again. She was happy that she would be able to have a new friend, and he seemed nice.
Smiling, she colored the remainder of her picture until it was time for recess.
All the kids formed a straight line, and remained calm until the teacher allowed them to walk out in a single filed line.
When they got outside, they all ran their separate ways, joining their designated groups that they normally played with.
"Hey Li-kun, come over here and play with us on the monkey bars," a guy yelled for Syaoran to come over after he had been playing with Sakura, Tomoyo, and Eriol in the sand.
"I'll be back, guys," he said, pointing in the direction of the guy who called him.
They all nodded and he ran over to where the guy was, who was with several girls around him talking and playing.
Though a child, Syaoran was all too familiar with the opposite gender, so he smiled at them charmingly, receiving the response he knew he would. Giggling and blushing girls.
The little boy beside Syaoran chucked, raising a brow. "You don't need any help?"
Syaoran smirked at him, somehow knowing what the other little boy was referring to. "Nah, I don't think so. It's all self-explamatory," Syaoran said, smiling at the girls who were surrounding the other guy.
Most blushed at the chestnut-haired boy, while some recoiled in response, which was normal.
"Call me Kazuya," the boy said smirking, as he saw the girls react to the simple gesture.
Meanwhile, Sakura sat on a swing beside her best friend, watching all the girls who were surrounding Kazuya and the new kid.
"Saiyama-kun is so popular..." Sakura murmured with a small smile on her face, as she watched Syaoran.
Tomoyo nodded her head as she watched them too. "Hai, but he's mean, so we don't want to be his friend," she said, almost sternly.
"Okay. I mean...we have other friends like Hiiragizawa-kun, who is very nice."
Sakura smiled at Eriol, who played in the sand on the ground.
"Yeah, you're right, Sakura-chan. Li-kun seems to be getting along with him just fine..." Tomoyo said looking over at the group.
"Well, Li-kun is very nice...so he's surely not like Saiyama-kun," Sakura said, looking at Syaoran with a small smile on her face as a blush crept to her cheeks.
"Kinomoto-san."
I can't believe I thought he was nice at some point in time. He was anything, but nice! The nerve of me…or him...the fact that I actually lo—
"Kinomoto-san!"
I snapped out of my thoughts, and looked at my teacher and couldn't stop the blush from spreading across my cheeks at the unwanted attention.
"G-gomen…sensei."
"Your partner is Mr. Li for the project."
"E-eh?"
"Yes. Class dismissed," she said.
Everyone left the class, just as fast as it started. As usual, Tomoyo and I stayed back, along with Eriol and Li.
Great.
"You're just a manipulative slut, aren't you? You set this whole thing up, getting the teacher to partner you with Li-sama," a voice said in disgust.
I looked up from my desk to see Amy towering over me.
My lips pursed slightly, confused by her accusations. "What are you talking about?"
Amy threw me a death glare. "You manipulated the teacher into putting Li-sama on your team, didn't you? I saw you talking with her after class last week," she said angrily.
Shaking my head in confusion, I let out a short laugh. "You can have him on your team, if you want, Amy."
"You tell me how that's possible now, slut!"
I blinked once, twice, and then three times, taken back by her rude insults. Was this really that serious? I didn't even know what the project was about.
"Calm down. It's not that serious," I said, after noticing her turn red in the face with anger.
"You!" Amy put her hand up, getting ready to slap me.
I flinched back, but still waiting for the impact at once. But it never came.
I looked up to see that Li had grabbed Amy's hand before it could reach my face, and Tomoyo had jumped to her seat to defend me.
"L-Li-sama," she stuttered, blushing.
It was shocking to see that Li had done something to prevent me from getting hurt. Not for the past few years, at least.
I mentally slapped myself, stopping the thoughts from going any further than that.
Li gave her a quick peck on the lips, and lightly patted her butt towards the door of the classroom. "Don't waste your time here."
My stomach churned, disgusted with him all over again. How could he just place his lips on any and everything? He was...
I needed to throw up.
"Thank me later, Kinomoto. Right now, we need to talk about the project Sensei assigned us to do together."
Forgetting about his disgusting act for the moment, I looked at him, confused. "Which is...?"
After he didn't respond, Tomoyo and Eriol stood from the desk, snatching my attention.
"I'll call you, okay?" she said to me.
I nodded and bid them both goodbye.
Once they left, I turned to Li. "What is it?" I asked again as he looked deep in thought.
"Well, we have this baby here," he pointed to a baby doll that was lying on the table with a diaper bag beside it. "We have to take care of it together."
It took a minute for that to register in my head, before realizing what he meant. "What?!"
"We have to figure out a way to take care of a baby with a partner, successfully. So, in other words we have to get to know each other and cope with one another. While we have," he picked up the baby doll, motioning to it, "this baby right here."
I couldn't believe what my ears were hearing. None of it made sense.
"I don't think Sensei wants us to know anything about each other," I said with an edginess to my tone.
I don't know why, but it felt like he was trying to play some silly trick on me.
"We do, it's a part of the assignment, Kinomoto."
"How can I believe you?"
"The baby has a camera on it."
I gave him a look that said, 'do you think I'm the dumbest girl on earth?'
I didn't believe that one bit, because it didn't even make sense. I decided to move on though.
"Why are we taking care of a baby?"
"To learn to be parents in the future...I don't know?" He gave me a questionable look.
How did I get paired with an idiot who knew nothing about the project?
Okay, I technically didn't know the point of it either, but it was different for me. I was spaced out.
Like that makes you any smarter...
I sighed, ignoring my conscious. "A paper is involved?"
"Yup."
Why wasn't I surprised? Oh, because teachers loved to torture students with long papers.
"This really sucks. I don't want to take care of a baby with you!" I let out angrily, and looked at him in disgust.
Me and Li?
A couple?
With a baby?
None of that sounded appealing at all. Nothing good would come of it.
"Listen, I need this grade, so I need you to cooperate," he said, and then shrugged his shoulders.
I let out a shaky breath, still feeling my blood boil at the thought of pretending to be a couple with him. "Right. Well..."
"We'll start today. Come to my place and we can—"
I shook my head, looking at him like he had lost his mind. "Excuse me? Do you really think I'm going to go down your house alone, pervert?" I interrupted.
How dumb did he think I was? I knew what he had been after for all these years...
"I don't feel like fighting with your brother. And stop treating me like I'm a rapist. Besides, a baby will be there." He wiggled his eyebrows, playfully.
I glared at him. "Are you being serious right now, asshole?"
He sighed, shaking his head. "Kinomoto, you're getting way over your head. Have you seen yourself?"
"W-what?" I stammered, confused by his question.
"You have close to zero sex appeal, but do you hear me complaining?"
My fists clenched, itching to punch him as my confidence leveled down two times. "I hate—"
"My place at six."
He walked out of the classroom before I even had the chance to say anything.
I hated him!
Well...what do you guys think about this chapter? I hope you liked it! Don't worry, I won't run away again ahaha. I've already started writing chapter 3 so all you have to do is hit that review button and the chapter should be coming faster!
Ja ne!
