Hi. Nothing much to say except please!!! Pretty please with a tinned artificial cherry on top no SILENT READERS!!

"character talking"

character thinking

(me talking)

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Sakura rested her head in her hands and sighed. This was a stupid assignment.

Why do we have to design a stupid magazine about space travel anyway?

She rubbed her eyes with her hands and looked at Syaoran, who was lying on the carpet, twirling his pencil around, his arm under his head as a pillow.

"Why did I agree to come to your house? Well, Blake's?"

"Because I have a better laptop with Microsoft Word 2007."

Sakura grumbled.

"Hey, where is Blake anyway?"

"Basketball training. Then he's going to his partners house. Well, he probably is there now."

"Oh ok."

Sakura resumed rubbing her eyes and Syaoran continued his pencil twirling.

"Look we aren't getting anywhere. Why don't we just take a break?"

"You mean I'm not getting anywhere. You haven't done anything for the past hour except pull fluff out of the carpet." She protested.

"But a break sounds good."

She saved the work and closed the laptop computer.

"Hey, turd?"

"Yeah, retard?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah."

"Who was chasing you the other day."

"…"

"…"

"I don't really know. Apparently they leader guy's name was…Stan? I think."

"Oh my God, Stan? You're lucky to be alive."

"What?"

"You don't make Stan's gang mad. I mean…you just don't. They're not afraid to kill. Let's just say, he's been in jail probably longer than outside. And you know that place a few blocks from Sweets? With all the graffiti and crap? That's Stan's territory. No trespassing."She explained.

"Oh, ok. Well, thanks. I kinda didn't know cause I'm new here."

"Wait, why were they chasing you?"

Syaoran gave a nervous chuckle.

"I kind of, stopped them from stealing something…and he got mad."

"Oh my God you really are retarded! You don't stop Stan when he wants to do something. You pretend you never saw him. That's the only way to survive."

"Well, I'm alive, aren't I?"

"Yeah but, you're gonna die someday. He's going to track you. You made him mad.

Sakura smirked. "So, what are you gonna do when he comes? Cry for mummy? Whack him with a violin?" She teased.

Syaoran scoffed.

"And I was just about to say this was the most civil conversation we've had."

Sakura giggled and whipped out her phone.

"Crap. How come my phone says it's 6:10 pm?"

"Uhh, because it is?"

"It's my turn to cook breakfast! I mean lunch! What the hell! Dinner!"

Syaoran chuckled.

"Well, go. Have fun cooking all three meals, retard. See you tomorrow!"

Sakura ran to the front door and put on her shoes.

"Bye turd."

She closed the door behind her.

Wow, it's dark already. And it's cold.

The fact that Sakura's school uniform was a cute little white blouse, with a short black miniskirt didn't help at all either.

"I wish I brought my jacket."

She tried to check the time again, but found her phone was out of battery.

Damn. Now I can't even call home…

Should I or shouldn't I?
It's really late, I need to get home fast, or dad will get worried. But…………………
Ok, I'll take the shortcut.

Sakura finally decided, and took the shortcut home. The path that would go through Stan's territory.

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Syaoran went into his room to change out of his school uniform. He put a white, form fitting t-shirt, black jeans and grabbed a green hooded sweater with an abstract wolf design on the back.

He walked back to the living room to retrieve his laptop and noticed something pink in the corner. Which was weird, since Syaoran didn't own anything pink.

Walking over, he realised it was covered in cherry blossom designs. Sakura's bag.

What a retard. Leaving her bag here.

(All of Sakura's stuff is now new, all her clothes, shoes, bags, accessories, etc. thanks to Tomoyo, her friends and that massive shopping trip)

He went through her stuff with slight interest.

And there's like, homework due tomorrow in here. I better give it back to her. She probably hasn't gone far.

Grabbing the bag, he rushed out the door.

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God, this place is so creepy. I hope Stan and his gang aren't around.

Sakura walked through the dark, gloomy, empty place, hoping to get home faster.

All the abstract graffiti designs on the walls seemed to be faces of monsters, lunging at Sakura. Since Sakura was deathly afraid of ghosts, thanks to her brother's creepy stories from when she was small, she had a vivid imagination that increased her fear. She gulped and walked faster.

"Hey, look who we've got here." A taunting voice said.

Sakura looked up. There was Stan and a few of his gang members, blocking her way.

CRAP!

Sakura tried to back away but Stan's people stopped her. She estimated there were about five in total, including Stan.

There's no way I can fight them or anything…I'm so dead…God….help me..

Stan walked up to her. He was about a head taller than her, making him seem more intimidating. Sakura almost choked and he got near her. The smell of smoke, cigarettes and beer filled her nostrils, suffocating her.

Silver fang earring glistening in the moonlight, Stan tilted his head and lifted Sakura's chin with two fingers, looking interestedly at her face.

"What's a pretty little girl like you doing in my territory?" He emphasised the word 'my'.

"I-I just want to go home. Please let me go." She answered, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Well, a pretty little thing like you, we're not going to let you go that easily, are we?" His gang members laughed heartily, mocking her.

"What are you trying to do? If you do anything, I'll…I'll…"

"You'll what?" He moved his face closer to her, suffocating Sakura with his odour, showing her clearly the multiple piercings in different areas of his face.

"I'll scream!"

This time, Stan laughed so hard he almost hyperventilated. His screeching laugh only made Sakura tremble even more.

"Scream? Oh, go on. Let's see who'll hear you. Don't forget, no one comes near Stan's territory. Even if someone hears you, they won't dare to enter. You're helpless." He snarled.

"D-don't even think about doing anything!"

"Oh, but we were just planning on having some fun, weren't we guys?" He said in a sickly sweet voice.

Without warning, Stan slammed her into the nearby brick wall.

Sakura gasped, from the shock and pain. Stan's gang members held down her arms as Stan moved to her and began harshly kissing her neck.

Sakura screamed as she felt his hand crawling up her shirt. She struggled and twisted in vain. Tears poured down her face, she shook with fear.

No! This is not happening to me! Why me? I don't want to die this way! Please, someone hear me! This probably wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gotten that damned makeover! Nooo! I don't want to die because of something I never agreed to!

Suddenly, Sakura remembered something her brother had taught her about self defence. She stopped screaming and her knee shot up, hitting Stan right where it hurt most.

"Sh*t! You b**ch!" He screamed clutching his groin.

He raised a hand to slap her. Sakura squeezed her eyes shut, but the stinging pain never came. She heard a yelp and her eyes shot open.

Someone was on top of Stan, punching him in the face mercilessly.

Stan's gang let go of her and moved to help Stan.

Sakura wiped her tears. Shuddering at the feeling of Stan lips lingering on her skin. It would probably leave a mark. She slid down the wall, trying to control her shaking, taking in the scene unfolding in front of her.

Someone heard me!

Her 'saviour' was wearing a hoodie, and in the darkness with the hood on, it was impossible to see his face. But Sakura could tell it was a guy from his muscular build and his strength. He already had Stan one of the gang members knocked out cold.

Spinning around, his roundhouse kick sent another one flying. Delivering a series of complicated swift punches, one more fell the ground.

This isn't like normal street fighting. This is different. It's like, martial arts or something…

He turned to face the last one standing. The guy shook with fear and with a yelp he ran away.

Her 'Mysterious Hooded Saviour', as Sakura decided to name him, acknowledged Sakura with a slight nod, and ran off, disappearing in the darkness.

"Wait!" Sakura called. But the guy was gone.

After waiting a few moments for herself to recover, Sakura carefully stepped over the unconscious bodies of Stan and his gang, and made her way out of Stan's territory.

This has been a weird day. I've never been so scared in my life.
She closed her eyes and quivered, imagining what would have happened if her saviour hadn't appeared.
I'm so lucky nothing happened to me. Well, apart from some bruises. I swear I'll never take the shortcut again.

And who was that guy? Why did he save me and then leave?

Realising she was almost home, Sakura hurriedly put a smile on her face in case her family got worried. She decided to keep today's events to herself.

Just as she was about to open the gate, someone called her name.

"Kinomoto! Hey retard!" She spun around.

"Hoe? Turd?"

Syaoran was jogging up the path towards her, wearing a white t-shirt. In one hand was something green, and in the other was Sakura's bag.

"You left all your homework you retard."

"Huh? Oh. OH! Well, yeah." She grabbed her bag from him.

"Yeah."

"What's that?" She pointed to the green thing in Syaoran's other hand.

"Huh? Oh my um jacket."

"Oh, ok."

"Well, good night."

"Good night, turd."

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Sakura sat on her bed, clutching a pillow. She had just spent the last hour eating dinner and explaining why the hell she was late and where she was and blah blah blah.

"I wonder who that guy was…" She thought out loud.

Kero barked and whined simultaneously.

She patted his head affectionately.

"He was so mysterious…but the turd was mysterious the first time I met him and he turned out to be, well, turd."

She sighed.

"Nah. My saviour wouldn't be like the piece of turd. My saviour's probably really cute, strong, brave, heroic…" Sakura daydreamed, well, nightdreamed, about her 'Mysterious Hooded Saviour".

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(the next morning)

"HOEE I FELL ASLEEP LIKE THIS!? HOEEE IM LATE!!"

Sakura screamed.

She went though her usually morning routine which included shower singing, phone searching, tripping over, monster calling, monster denying, foot stomping, food gobbling and incomprehensible screaming and finally arrived at school…to be greeted by her worst nightmare.

"Morning retard." He smirked, as always.

"Look, I really don't need to see your turd face so early in the morning. It's going to ruin the rest of my day. So just go hug a tree or something."

"Awww, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"No, I don't have a wrong or right side to wake up on. But there is a difference between seeing and not seeing your face."

"Well, it's not like yours is any better. I mean, it's indescribable using words. I think I'll just puke to express my feelings." He replied still smiling.

Sakura wanted to rip his cocky grin off his face.

"What'd you do? Search lame insults on the internet?" She retorted.

"No. I just spoke the truth."

OK, he's dead.

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At lunch, Syaoran grabbed the last turkey sandwich Sakura was just reaching for, bought the last apple strawberry juice that Sakura always drank, and sat where she always sat.

Sakura couldn't take it anymore.

"What the hell is this supposed the mean?!"

"What?" Syaoran blinked innocently.

"You're sitting where I always sit with my friends, you took my favourite drink and stole my lunch."

True, Syaoran was in a seat lodged between Tomoyo and Chiharu, eating a turkey sandwich and drinking apple strawberry juice.

"Hey, don't accuse me for stuff I'm not guilty for! I'm allowed to sit anywhere, as long as the seat is empty. And plus, Takashi and Eriol are my friends, Blake's my cousin, and I have the interest to meet these lovely girls I'm sitting next to. Also, I happened to take the last bottle of my favourite juice, no idea what that has to do with you. And lastly, stole? I grabbed it one second before you, therefore the sandwich is mine. Nothing to do with you yet again."

"Ugh! You're such a jerk!"

"Mm. Nice to know." He mumbled with his mouth full. He had taken an especially large bite in front of Sakura.

It's so obvious he's doing this on purpose! God, I hate him!

"Shouldn't you get an award for being a top class asshole?"

"And the insulting competition officially begins." Blake joked.

"No but you're probably stupid enough to wait at a stop sign for it to say go." Syaoran said back.

Sakura rolled her eyes.
"Anyone who ever told you to be yourself couldn't have given worse advice."

"Well I'm curious as to how old you are since you're always so immature. But I'm not sure you can count that high."

"And I heard you were a ladykiller. Girls take one look at your face and die of shock."

"Why don't you just go slip into something more beneficial for the world. Like a coma."

Sakura was fuming.

"You need a licence for being so ugly."

"You're probably so fat, when you step on scales, it reads 'to be continued'."

Sakura gasped. Her friends gasped.

Tears unwillingly pricked her eyes.

"You did not just say I'm fat." She whispered, her voice cracking.

"Oh no." Tomoyo murmured. "She's reacting like when she was six again."

Syaoran's expression immediately changed. His smile was replaced by a look of confusion and surprise.

Is she actually about to cry? It was an insult competition. We were both joking around, right?

A tear trickled down her face. Embarrassed and hurt, Sakura ran away from the cafeteria.

"Wait! Kinomoto!"

"Li-kun, you'd better apologise to Sakura-chan." Tomoyo told him.

"What happened to her?"

"She might seem strong on the outside, but Sakura is actually very sensitive."

Tomoyo explained to Syaoran Sakura's experience when she was six and the makeover.

"So that's why she suddenly changed…"

He looked in the direction she ran off in.

"Be right back." He said to no one in particular.

Syaoran search around the school.

"Kinomoto?!"

He finally found her outside, sitting on a bench under the cherry blossom tree.

He jogged over to her.

"Kinomoto I-"

"Go away turd." She wiped the tears from her face.

"I just wanted to-"

"I said, go away."

"Listen, I'm-"

"GO AWAY!"

"I just wanted to apologise! I didn't know what I said would-"

"Are you deaf!? Just leave! I can't stand you!! I hate you! I don't need your fake apology or sympathy! YOU'RE JUST A PIECE OF CRAP THAT NO ONE WANTS! YOU'RE MOM PROBABLY ABANDONED YOU CAUSE SHE COULDN'T STAND YOUR FACE! OR MAYBE SHE WAS AS RETARDED AS YOU! MAYBE THAT'S WHY YOU'RE LIVING WITH BLAKE RIGHT NOW!"

God, did I just say that?

Syaoran's face was red. He gritted his teeth.

"You can hate me for no reason. You can not accept my apology. But you have NO RIGHT TO BRING MY MOTHER INTO THIS. YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME!" He shouted at her and then stormed off.

She stared after him.

"…I don't…"

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Sakura changed into her work uniform in the toilets of Sweets, now the same as the rest of her friends. A white halter top, white miniskirt and the cute heart shaped name tag. She didn't bother putting on an apron, since she wasn't helping out in the kitchen.

She walked out and opened the shop like she always did.

Since it was only a Tuesday, there weren't as many students as on Friday.

Blake, Yamazaki, Eriol entered, laughing about something. Sakura was about to greet her friends when she saw who came in after, laughing with them.

I was going to apologise for talking about his mom, but now that I see his cocky grin on his turd face, I suddenly have to urge to smash it into a wall.

"Blake! Eriol! Takashi! Welcome! I'm sorry, we don't welcome turd."

"And I'm wondering why the shop owner hired a retard."

Naoko, Rika and Kris called from inside the kitchen for them to collect the orders.

"The usual for all?" Sakura confirmed.

They all nodded, including Syaoran, just to annoy her.

"The usual!" She called back to the kitchen.

Not long after, Tomoyo and Chiharu emerged from the back of the shop, carrying trays.

"Iced white chocolate mocha and a slice of tiramisu for you." Tomoyo placed the plates in front of Eriol.

"Thank you." He smiled up at her.

"Coke with exactly five ice cubes and a packet of honey soy chicken flavoured chips."

Chiharu set down the glass of Coke and chucked the packet to Takashi, who hungrily ripped it open and devoured half the packet in two seconds.

"Here's your mixed fruits smoothie and a glazed fruit cookie."

Sakura smiled sweetly as she bent over to put the glass and plate in front of Blake with a clink.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan." He smiled back, showing his cute dimples.

"Whoa, retard. Seriously, why'd you change your uniform? I hope you don't affect the business of this store, like, the customers might sue you for giving them a heart attack or something."

"And a glass of water for the turd." She growled, pretending to ignore his comment.

She walked over to Syaoran.

"Oops."

She accidently-on-purpose tilted the glass a little, dripping a small amount of the contents on Syaoran's pants, making it look like he...uh…didn't manage to hold on.

The other guys hooted with laughter, the girls giggled.

A nerve twitched at Syaoran's head. He faked a smile and stood up.

"I'm sorry. Instead of water, I'd like a honey dew melon and lime bubble tea."

He shoved the glass back at her forcefully, the ice cold water splashing and soaking the front of her shirt.

Sakura gasped.

Syaoran's eyes widened, a blush crept up his cheeks.

Whoops. I didn't mean to tip so much…now it's like…transparent.

The guys looked away, blushing, half drooling, half nose bleeding.

The girls quickly gathered around Sakura, shielding her and leading her towards the toilets.

Sakura let out a string of loud curses before turning her head and screaming,

"I HATE YOU!"

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The rest of the week passed with just as many, if not more, arguments.

It seemed like Sakura and Syaoran were born to fight with each other.

Sakura and Syaoran found a small truce about the water incident, since it had been equally embarrassing for Syaoran to walk back home looking like he hadn't controlled his pee, but that didn't mean a truce about everything.

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(Next Monday afternoon)

Sakura sat in one of the swings in Penguin park.

Creak creak.

Slowly swinging back and forth, deep in thought.

Syaoran had been careful not to say anything about her weight again, but he hadn't stopped insulting her about her IQ.

"Am I really that dumb?" She asked herself.

"God I hate him so much."

Sakura was wearing another one of Tomoyo's designs. A cute, grey miniskirt with a silky black shirt that was a bit too revealing. She had changed after school and come straight to Penguin park, to recollect her thoughts.

(Meanwhile)

Syaoran came back home from soccer practise. After taking a quick shower, he put on a black t-shirt, jeans and grabbed his favourite, green, wolf design, hoodie.

"Just going for a walk!"

"Kay! Come back soon for dinner!" Mrs. Yan called back.

He pulled on his pair of black Converse and headed out.

(back at the park)

Not realising it was getting dark again, Sakura continued thinking until her phone beeped. She had a text message.

From: Dad

Honey, come back for dinner.

Love, dad.

Sent: 5:30 pm

Wow. It's 5:30 already? I better get going.

She looked up and was about to get up when she saw her worst nightmare. Even worse than Syaoran's face.

Stan, a cast on his nose, and about ten to fifteen people, stood a few metres from her. They had been so quiet Sakura hadn't noticed them approaching. This time, they weren't mocking or taunting her. They looked angry, ready to rip her into pieces.

"Hello Miss. Nice to see you again. I like what you're wearing this time."We smirked menacingly.

Oh God oh God oh God. He's got more people this time.

"Your little friend from last time who helped you get away, you remember him?"

Sakura nodded weakly.

"Well, he broke my nose here, and injured my buddies."

Sakura gulped.

"So you're going to have to pay for his immensely stupid actions. Guys!"

Stan and the whole gang charged towards Sakura. A blood curdling scream erupted. Sakura realised it came from her.

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Haha does this count as a cliffie? Prob not hey.

But anyway, gtg study for exams! See you all later! (next chapter)

Oh and please no SILENT READERS and REVEW!!!!