Disclaimer: I do not own CCS.

Fated

Chapter 2

This is weird, Sakura thought to herself. That was the third time she had seen Li Syaoran in school. In one day. And for this week, perhaps it was the seventh. She seemed to pass by him often. Stalker? Sakura laughed at the thought. If there was someone whom the school would accuse of stalking, between the two of them it was Sakura. But then it was highly unlikely. Once more she laughed to herself.

"Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo materialized beside her. "Laughing to yourself?"

"Told you I'm crazy, Tomoyo-chan." Sakura said, still shaking with laughter.

Tomoyo raised a brow, eyeing her, "Okay, what is it, spill!" She commanded.

"It's just that I always seem to bump into Li Syaoran this past week! Seven times! And three times this day!" Sakura continued to laugh, "And at the third time, he also seemed to notice that we pass by each other often. I mean, I didn't look, but I swear that the third time we passed by each other that he was looking at me with that weirded out look in his face!"

"It was so funny! The school would think that I would be the one stalking him not the other way around. And to think that that is HIGHLY unlikely—on both accounts!" She continued, hysterics overcoming her. "Oh my gosh, Tomoyo-chan I'm actually crying because of laughter!" She said, brushing tears from her eyes.

Tomoyo rolled her eyes as she attempted to calm down Sakura, and then giving her a piece of reality. "Sakura-chan, don't you think that because you've counted the times when you've seen him would be enough proof that you're obsessed with him?"
Sakura snorted, obviously calming down. "Yeah right," she announced sarcastically.

Tomoyo sighed, leaving the subject alone for a while.

------

That's weird. Syaoran thought to himself. That was the seventh time he had seen the girl who had laughed at him in science class. And the third time that day. Stalker much? He thought to himself dryly, used to these things. But then that seemed to be totally out of her character—she laughed at him, then she stalked him? Seems contradictory. Coincidence, perhaps. He shrugged it off and walked forward. He was about to turn a corner when he heard quiet laughter behind him. Turning around, he saw the girl leaning on the wall, a hand covering her mouth, shaking with…laughter. Occasionally she would stop, then would laugh again, her eyes overly bright. That was then that Syaoran concluded that she was just crazy—prone to hysterics. Again he was about to turn around when he heard her say to her friend (who had just shown up) "Told you I'm crazy, Tomoyo-chan."

True, true. He thought to himself. Using the corner, he hid himself, but still overhearing their conversation, intrigued by the girl…when he heard his name. Yeah, right, Syaoran, next time try to listen to your second intuitions, he thought, listening in, and becoming quite surprised when he heard the actual bulk of the conversation.

He was flabbergasted at the level of sarcasm of the tone she had used to say "Yeah, right," when her friend had asked her if she was obsessed with him.

He laughed, shaking his head that he had actually resorted to eavesdropping; he was resolute on finding out more about her, the intriguing girl who was the most unique he had seen so far. They weren't even introduced; heck he didn't even know her name! But even at that distance she was already capable of evoking various reactions from him.

He walked on, seeing that she had already left with her friend, humming an unknown tune quietly.

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Starting that day he began to look forward to his science classes, just to find out who the mystery girl was. All that he knew was that she had long auburn hair cascading down her back that she always tied up in a quite messy ponytail. Whenever class started, she would lean forward on her seat, listening intently to the teacher and only returning to lean back again whenever she would copy notes. And boy, how she copied many notes! He found himself a bit annoyed by her constant leaning forward and backward, but what amused him to no end was that when she did write something in her notebook, it was as if she was frantically trying to write all of the words in her head before she lost them. She always turned her notebook this way and that, and one day, Syaoran couldn't resist the urge of not knowing what things she wrote, so he leaned over. He shouldn't have been surprised, really, to discover many arrows and parentheses, even brackets and braces. It appeared that the girl employed math during science? He had to chuckle at that thought.

She was also very talkative, he observed, but only before and after the start of classes. She would talk to her seatmate, her friend, he deduced, by their closeness and by the way she would nod or her shoulders would sometimes shake in quiet laughter at what her friend said. Often, though, she would be the one making her friend laugh. He had seen her friend's face many times, now, but never hers. Does she deliberately refuse to look at the back?

Then one day he got his chance to see her face. It was by pure luck that her row had stood up before his did, before his friends had motioned for him to follow them out through the door. Usually, they were the first ones out, since the other guys didn't like the subject. But now they stood up late, apparently because they were cramming for a test this afternoon. It's all for my advantage, he thought, as the girl stood up after her friend. Eager but then trying not to show it, he nonchalantly looked at the teacher at the front, all the while trying to get a glimpse of her face. All he got was a side profile that lasted for about two seconds, though, before the girl also looked at the front. Frustrated, Syaoran settled back on his seat, frowning.

Then he heard a peal of laughter from his side, and his head unconsciously whipped to the direction of the sound, quite sure that it was his mystery girl who was laughing. And indeed she was, but then, he still hadn't gotten even a good glance at her face, that was turned away as she was facing her friend.

Syaoran frowned. So much for my fortunate chances.

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It was on the next week that he finally, finally got a good look at her face.

It was the end of class, and as he went out of the door to leave, he noticed that someone was also going out of the door. Remembering his manners, he went back and tossed the door open once more. He glanced at the person and saw that it was her. Maybe she hadn't noticed that he had opened it again, because her own hand was also on the door, and she was arranging the books she held. Or maybe not, for her head slowly rose up, looking for the person who had opened the door, a faint smile on her face, ready to thank whoever it was. When her eyes landed on him though, the thankful glint in her eyes and the creases on the sides were lost. Instead, all he got was a tiny, forced smile, a nod, and an impersonal "Thank you," before she turned away to walk towards her friend.

Confused, Syaoran had been left ogling at the space she had occupied. Now that was the third of the unlikeliest and most different reactions she had given me, he thought, before he was called back to reality by his friends. It was after a while that he realized that he had now seen her face. Quite plain, really, at the first glance, but when he had taken his second look he saw that her eyes were of a striking emerald color. And when she smiled…it was as if her whole face lit up. Her eyes would twinkle and crinkle, her cheekbones would rise, and the small, shy smile she would give…except that for that one moment, it seemed that she wasn't the least bit eager to give him that smile. She had genuinely smiled when she didn't see that the one who held the door open was him, but when she saw him—it was as if the life had gone from her eyes, and the smile she gave was very forced, no other changes in her face except the slightest widening of her lips. Syaoran sighed.

"You've been sighing many times, now, I've noticed." Eriol said, falling in step beside Syaoran.

Syaoran's head jerked at the sound of his voice, he hadn't noticed Eriol beside him for his mind was occupied somewhere else. "None of your business." He snapped.

Eriol smirked.

"And stop reading my mind." Syaoran said, walking faster, to get away from Eriol.

Eriol's smirk turned into a grin as he followed his 'descendant.'

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Sakura was disturbed. Why was it that every time she stood up after science class she would see him? Wasn't it enough that she could always hear his annoying comments every day? Does she also have to see him every after class?! That has happened for three days now. Every time, she would just deliberately turn her head away so that she wouldn't see his face and thus annoy her more. There was a time when I would have given a lot just to see glimpses of his face, but now, sorry NO! Where is Tomoyo when I want to complain to her?!?!

And what had happened earlier? Did he actually have manners? Nah, Sakura thought, those were just instinctive and routine-like acts. Have to live up to his reputation you know. Sakura thought, rolling her eyes upward.

She had been so disappointed to find that the gentleman who held the door open for her just did it because it was deep-rooted in him to do so. But then why had he stayed? In fact, he still stayed in the same spot even after I had left. She saw that his eyes had widened quite a bit when he saw her. Perhaps gawking at my plainness. She sighed. Even though he had left after class, he still returned to toss the door open once more. Ah! Why do I complicate things when I know that he's just acting mechanically?! But still…

"Sakura-chan? What happened in science again?" She heard Tomoyo say from her back.

"Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura exclaimed.

"It must be something very serious, seeing as you were too busy contemplating about it that you totally ignored me!" Tomoyo teased her friend.

"No! No, Tomoyo-chan. It's just…" Sakura began.

"Just?"

"Hemighthavemanners." Sakura said in one breath.

Tomoyo understood what she meant. But then she grinned and said, "What was that, Sakura-chan? I didn't quite catch that."

"He might have manners." Sakura said slowly. Then she proceeded to tell Tomoyo what had happened.

"Oh?" Tomoyo said when Sakura finished, biting back another wayward grin from her face.

"Oh?" Sakura repeated, quite confused at her best friend's reaction. "Oh?" She said again, but Tomoyo had already walked on. Sakura, feeling blank and confused, just followed her, muttering, "Shouldn't she have a more intelligent answer than 'oh?'?"

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Well, he had accomplished the first step—he had finally seen her face yesterday. Now, to know her name. That didn't seem like a daunting feat, and Syaoran set himself to move this day. But apparently, his luck was against him again, as he did everything he could—leaning casually over her notes, trying hard to overhear her conversation with her best friend—but he couldn't even get her first name. She and her best friend never called each other by their names; he noticed that all they would do would be to nudge each other and whisper, or gesture with their eyebrows. They never called each other verbally, Syaoran realized with much frustration. Why won't the teacher do graded recitation and call us one by one?!?!

As the days went by and he still didn't have any idea as to what her name is, he began to like the enigma of her. Often, in his mind, he would refer to her as just 'the girl' or 'his mystery girl.' He would always be excited for science class, though he was still subtle about it. After science he would linger, so that he could catch a few glimpses of her face and her arresting green eyes. When he wasn't in class, he would always crane his neck and look about every so often to see if she was around. Slightly aware that he was beginning to become a obsessed with her, he began to do his actions subtly, but he couldn't ignore the knowing glint in Eriol's eyes whenever he would sweep his gaze around them.

Of course Eriol didn't know. Syaoran wouldn't admit to anybody that he was fascinated with the girl, not even to Eriol. He didn't know what Eriol might do with that information if he possessed it, and he didn't want to think about it.

So Syaoran continued to look out for her, and to gather the few tidbits of information that he could while he was near her. He was happy with his position in the class, and he wouldn't trade his seat even for his life.

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Syaoran grinned. He had seen her twice today, aside from their science class, which was now. The first time was when he was with his pair in a project, Kana, who was quite the slutty girl. She had walked past them, and he couldn't stop turning his head to stare at her. Perhaps she had noticed that he was looking at her, since she kept her head low, and sped up when she had passed them. He turned back to see that Kana had also stared at her as she went past. Mentally reprimanding himself for being very obvious, and for what those looks may have meant to her, he finished discussing the project with Kana and after ten minutes, got up to leave. He went the same way she went before, and he tried to retrace her steps, but it was all to no avail—he didn't see her again.

The second time was a few hours later, in the afternoon. He was just sitting around with Eriol and his so-called friends, when he saw her. Apparently, she was having trouble with her load of library books, since she looked harassed—her hair was all over her face, her glasses were lopsided and she was biting her lips from the strain. It took every ounce of Syaoran's self-control to stop himself from walking over to her and offer to carry her books. But then he didn't have to control himself for long—because her black-haired friend had arrived and had helped her with the books. Syaoran saw her give her friend a big thankful and relieved smile, and that set him to wondering why she couldn't give that smile to him, too, a few days back. And I also can't figure out why I just feel her presence whenever she is near. Just like now, for those two times, it's just as if I have the intuition or something, because I just know when she's near. He set to contemplating that thought silently while he watched her talk animatedly to her friend, gesturing with her arms which were still full of books, laughing every now and then…until he felt a prickling feeling at the back of his neck, as if he was watched…

He turned to see Eriol snickering. Fighting the blush that was threatening to creep on his face, he snapped at Eriol, "What are you laughing about?"

Eriol continued snickering and said vaguely, "Oh, just something highly unusual yet amusing."

Syaoran decided to leave it at that, since he was afraid that further discussion might lead him to spilling the beans he was keeping for two weeks now.

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Oh how she hated him.

Nothing else would be a perfect description of what she felt. Hate was the best word.

Oh how she hated him.

And the worst was, Tomoyo wasn't helping!

Sakura had told her about the opening the door thing and that she had passed by Li Syaoran earlier, and that she saw him and another girl staring at her as she had passed by. She had sped up and kept her head low; loath to see the sight of him, let alone with a girl. And worse, they were staring at her! I'm supposed to be plain, transparent, unseen! Why do you keep on looking at me? Those were the random thoughts that had occupied her mind as she swept by them.

When she told that to Tomoyo, her best friend had laughed! Tomoyo was actually choking her words with her laughter…and Sakura had the faintest idea of what she was going to say. Tomoyo could not stop laughing, and Sakura was now very sure of what she was going to comment. "Whatever you're going to say Tomoyo-chan don't say it!" Sakura began to plead. "No, don't, please!"

But Tomoyo did say it. "Oh my gosh Sakura-chan the two of you are so meant to be!" She screamed out while laughing so hard that Sakura thought her cousin was going to burst.

"Oh my gosh!" Tomoyo kept on laughing.

Sakura could only smile weakly. "Tomoyo-chan, no." She pleaded. Sakura sighed as Tomoyo just laughed and laughed and laughed. No rational thought or understanding could be put through her hysterical friend now.

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Science class, Syaoran thought eagerly. Apparently his friends did not feel the same way.

"Dude, I don't want to attend his class." One of them exclaimed lazily, draping himself all over a bench.

"Why not?" Syaoran asked nonchalantly, while his right foot was unobtrusively tapping on the floor, a sign that he was growing impatient.

"I just don't wanna."

"Some responsible students you are. Come on!" Syaoran said, glancing at his watch. "We're going to be late!"

"We don't care…" drawled another one.

All the while Eriol had noted this exchange with amusement, and had nevertheless picked up Syaoran's carefully hidden signs of impatience. Deciding to cut in, he said, "If you don't want to go, we're going. Let's go, Syaoran. Bye you guys." He didn't miss the relieved sigh Syaoran had unconsciously released, thus he had to fight from chuckling aloud. Everything's going fine. Slow, but perfect, he thought.

At science class, once again he observed that Syaoran dragged his chair a bit forward, and throughout class he kept on craning his neck to see what was going on with the girl in front of him. He would lean forward nonchalantly by squaring his legs, and try to pick up her conversation with her friend. It was a miracle that the auburn-haired girl didn't notice at all—perhaps because she did not turn her head back for even a second all throughout class. Eriol could see that Syaoran was highly disappointed at that.

Near the end of the class, the teacher announced, "Class, next week would be your orals. You have to sign up for a time slot—it will only be for ten minutes. You will be given five statements to defend. Ten minutes before your time you have to come there and pick which of the five statements you will defend. Now remember that this is by pair, but you will not know your pair until the time when the both of you will pick the statement you need to defend. That is, during that 'thinking time' you need to collaborate with your partner about how to present the answer so that both of you will have enough to discuss about and compare notes and answers. The sign up sheets are being passed around now, good luck!"

The bell rang, and the students stood up, murmuring about the 'twist' their insane teacher had given about the orals. Syaoran blinked as he saw that everyone was standing up. He turned to Eriol, who seemed unable to contain his laughter any longer. Syaoran looked at him with questioning eyes and Eriol mouthed, "Later, outside."

They stood up, and with a last glance at the girl, Syaoran looked back, just to see if he could take another look at her face. But no, once more, she was facing her friend, her back to him. Sighing, he followed Eriol.

Outside, in safe distance from the other students getting out of the room, Eriol began to chuckle heartily.

"What?" Syaoran asked, thoroughly annoyed for two reasons—that he did not see the girl's face again, and that Eriol was prone to chuckling for no reason these days.

"You could ask her out you know." Eriol said, calming down.

Syaoran instantly reddened, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Eriol snorted, "Yeah, and your red face says otherwise."

"What are you saying?" Syaoran asked, playing dumb.

Eriol sighed at his friend's stubbornness. "I am talking about the auburn-haired girl who sits in front of you in science."

Syaoran said, sighing and scratching his head. "So now my secret's out. Don't tell the others. Or else that damned 'reputation' will be ruined."

"Yeah, yeah I know. You know, in contrast to your 'reputation' you are so obvious and so pathetic. I mean you don't even know the name of the girl!" Eriol smirked, evading the light punch Syaoran had given him when he had called him pathetic. "You have just been calling her 'the girl' in your mind! Not even 'MY girl'." Eriol ducked once more.

"Oy, stop it." Syaoran scowled. "You're reading my mind without permission again."

"It's just that it's amusing." Eriol grinned.

"Stop grinning!"

"It's fun to tease. Anyway, back to the subject of you being pathetic, why don't you find out her name?"

Syaoran forgot to send another light punch towards Eriol when he was reminded that he still had yet to get her name. "I'm waiting for the right time."

"Yeah right, you're just afraid, because she seems to have an aversion to you."

"It also has something to do with the reputation thing. Hey, you have been spying on me a lot, don't you?" Syaoran eyed him.

"Call it observing." Eriol grinned.

"Yeah, I also don't get why she seems to have an aversion to me. She really seems different from all of the other girls." Syaoran mused.

"She looks rather plain, you know."

"I know, but I still don't get why I'm attracted to her even if she is plain. I think it has something to do with the attitude, and especially her eyes…" Syaoran said, a far-away look in his eyes.

Eriol had to hide a smile, congratulating himself. He coughed, "Well, I don't know, it's up to you to find out." He looked at his watch then added, "Hey, I have to go to my next class. See you." He left with a wave, and then he stopped and looked back at Syaoran.

Oh and by the way, her name is Kinomoto Sakura. See you next time pathetic lover boy. Syaoran heard Eriol's voice speaking in his mind and his eyes widened. Eriol smirked again and disappeared into the crowd. Kinomoto Sakura, Sakura…Syaoran thought, then, as if remembering what Eriol had just called him he thought once more, Why that arrogant!

------

Kinomoto Sakura. Kinomoto Sakura. Sakura. Cherry blossoms.

Syaoran thought over and over again as he was driving his car back home. Beautiful name. Common, yet beautiful. He shook his head, But she is not common! Who would have ever thought that beneath those glasses and plain exterior there are green eyes so arresting and full of emotions…And again he shook his head.

"I am thinking like a lovesick moron!" He said aloud, and concentrated on driving.

------

It was the day of the oral exams that Sakura had signed up for. Wringing her hands and arranging her cue cards in order for the nth time around, she waited for 2:00 to come, and for her partner to show up. Hoping feverishly that it was Tomoyo and not some random person she did not know, she glanced at the clock once more.

2:00.

2:01. Where the hell was her partner? The teacher was already waiting with the fishbowl holding the statements they had to defend.

2:02. Their orals would start at 2:10. Where the hell was she-he? Sakura thought. She had already picked their statement, Sustainable development and technology can go hand in hand.

2:03. Hello!?!?! Sakura felt like waving her hands in front of some random person's face. Instead, she just read her notes for that particular statement again.

2:04. Finally, finally the door opened. Taking a deep breath, calming herself so that she wouldn't shout at her partner the minute she saw him, and would calmly accept any apologies. But no apologies came. Her head shot up to see her partner…Li Syaoran.

Sakura blinked.

Syaoran blinked.

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AN: I'm back! Teehee. I have also edited chapter 1. Go and check it out! And please review, so that I can have the inspiration to continue! Tell me what you think, reactions are very welcome! Thank you very much! Rhia.