Omg! Thank you for the mass amount of reviews! Holy crap! I asked for 11 and there was over 25! Keep that up and you guys are gonna get a completed story sooner than you think! Haha! But no! It seriously makes my day seeing them so please keep it up and tell me what you think even if it's just a couple words or a smiley face haha ;)

Thank you to Tetsuya Miharu, VocaloidandFTFan, Slam'in Burst, Littlepuppylost, strawberry2795, alice rook, themidnightblackcat, LilyWhite13, 3363, Kiyuuri, Rhyme13kh14Xion8, Nyan, Fashion Fairy 26, Sakura, fabian1nina1, 44Anifreak44, rubyblossomA, Ren Miyamoto, Anime Lover, gamma-rae-star, OhMyEmerald, dancingfingers, and the one guest that reviewed! You guys are freaking awesome! ;)

cherrywolf666 : she makes her debut soon, no worries. I think it's explained in the first chap as to why she's not there just yet. I will tell you very soon tho! :) Thanks for reviewing!

Silica: Sorry! I had a midterm and a huge project due midweek last week! Updates should be faster! :) like I said more reviews means I treat it like homework and I type during the day instead of after school haha ;) Thanks for reviewing!

nana : That's awesome! I figured everyone in Europe would be pale white with blue eyes haha! You can truly say you're a uniqueness! Thanks for reviewing!

Beauty and the Beast

Chapter 4

Sakura wheeled around to stare at Syaoran's retreating figure. Did he just seriously leave? She made to run after him, but was stopped by a loud bull horn sounding at the front of the crowd. She could hear someone yelling over the top of the crowd for everyone to disperse immediately and return to classes. It had to be someone of authority.

Sakura immediately freaked. She was wearing only a tank top that showed to the world the horrors she faced at home. She wasn't ready to publicly display that to the school's principal and nurse. They would definitely take her away from Lalan and force her into some type of foster care or group home.

She darted towards the back field where she ate lunch in hopes to hide until the teachers and staff went back to their offices. She didn't quite make it, however, as a large hand grasped her shoulder and twisted her around. She looked up into the eyes of the large burly principal and laughed nervously. He stared at her hard before forcefully leading her back towards his office. And for some reason she knew that this was not going to end well.

Syaoran ran as fast as he could away from her. He couldn't breathe seeing the dark bruises that lined her shoulders and neck and then when he touched her arm. He shuddered at the thought. He couldn't believe that he was surrounded by this again...and so soon!

When he stopped to take a breath, he realized he had ran clean out of the school and was merely blocks away from his house. He sighed, defeated, and trudged the last couple of blocks to his house, awaiting a scolding from Wei for skipping out of school. But Wei would understand. He knew.

His mother was home when he pushed open the door and he made no mention to say anything to her as he ascended the stairs to his bedroom. Collapsing on his bed, he retreated into his troubled mind, reliving past memories that he had tried so hard to forget.

The principal pushed her into a chair in front of his desk. As she glared at him for treating her so roughly, he coughed loudly resting his chin on his arm.

"Is there anything you want to tell me, Miss Kinomoto?" the principal asked, clearly indicating with his eyes, the bruises on her arm and back. When she remained silent, he coughed again and sat back in his chair. "I got word from a number of students that you're being abused. Is this true?" Again she stayed silent. "We're going to call CPS on your family for precautionary measures and if they find anything, it will launch a full scale investigation, which may include finding you a new family to live with. If you tell me anything now, I will forward this to CPS." Sakura stared at him with tears in her eyes. Yes she wanted away from Lalan, but not to be put into the system, where she was treated even worse! She racked her brain for an excuse and then the lightbulb went off in her head.

"I stumbled down the stairs." The principal nearly fell out of his chair.

"You fell down the stairs?" he asked disbelieving.

Sakura hardened her expression. "Yes I did. There. No reason to call CPS and no reason to freak out my stepparents." The principal laughed.

"Better safe then sorry, Miss Kinomoto. I think you're lying to me so I'm still going to call CPS to come out and survey your current living conditions. What they deem as abuse or not is completely in their hands. Until then, you are going to be removed from the house for about two weeks until they conclude their investigation."

"What?! No! You're being unreasonable!" Sakura stood, slamming her hands on his desk.

The principal remained calm and stared at her straight in the eye. "You can be a good little girl and cooperate or not. Not my problem. But. I can see about sending you to a friends house for those two weeks if that's okay with you, but if you don't want to, I can have the police escort you to a female group home. Which would you prefer?"

Sakura scowled at him. He was going to ruin everything that she had planned! But in the end, she sighed, choosing Meiling as the friend to stay with. She was holding back tears when a very red and very angry Meiling burst through the door with the school nurse.

"Sakura, you are so mean! Why did you lock me in there! It took me forever to get out!" The principal cleared his throat and motioned for Meiling to sit. She did and stared fearfully from Sakura to him.

"Miss Kinomoto here would like to know if she can stay at your house for a little while."

Meiling stiffened and stared back at Sakura, who just scowled at the principal.

"Um...sure she can..."

"Can you dial your residence so that I may speak with your parents regarding this matter?" Meiling nodded, getting up from the chair. She dialed Syaoran's house number and gave the phone to him. "While I'm speaking to them, Miss Kinomoto and Miss Li, please follow the nurse."

Sakura almost forgot the skinny woman was there. Sakura and Meiling got up and followed her silently from the room. As they were walking away, they faintly heard the principal explaining the circumstances to Yelan, but they couldn't hear the whole conversation as the nurse quickly shut the door to the nurses station behind them.

"Miss Kinomoto, could you come over here for me?" The nurse was a sweet woman, young and pretty. She grabbed a camera from the desk drawer. Since Mr. Yang and I are contacting CPS with our findings, we need to show them proof of the bruises we spoke of. I'll need you to remove your shirt, but not your bra." Sakura looked back to Meiling, who stared at her horrified. "Look, I know you're scared, but it's either this or we drive you to the hospital where they conduct a full search."

Sakura removed her tank top and turned towards Meiling. The nurse behind her started snapping shots of the large bruises and welts on her back and as every flash went off, she heard the nurse sighing and gasping. It made her feel tiny and disgusting. Meiling walked over to her and grabbed her hands. She smiled and that made Sakura feel a whole lot better. She never had a friend to share in her constant pain and she was so lucky to have found Meiling and Yelan, who were so willing to help her.

The nurse had her turn around and she snapped photos of the large bruise on Sakura's neck, forearm, and the remnants of the ones on her face. Sakura quickly dressed when she was done.

"Mrs. Li is waiting for you in the admin building to take you home right away. Miss Kinomoto, do you need anything from your house? The police can escort you there to retrieve any items you need."

Sakura shook her head no and pushed through the nurse's door, Meiling following closely behind. They rounded the corner and nearly bumped into Yelan, who was all ready anticipating their return. She immediately threw her arms around Sakura, who stood there not sure of what to do or how to react.

"I was so scared." She pulled away. "We're gonna talk when we get home okay?" Yelan said this so quietly that she barely heard it, but it made her a little angry. These people thought it was so easy for an abused child to be pulled from their home and put into an even better home? It just didn't work that way and no one seemed to get that but Sakura. She sighed heavily and walked behind them, her silent tears going unnoticed.

They arrived home quickly. Sakura lingered behind in the car and gathered herself. She knew these people were just trying to help. Yelan opened her door and she slid out.

"We're gonna look through Meiling's clothes and give you some for your stay here, okay? If there's any one's you don't like, just let us know." Sakura followed them inside. "Is shrimp okay for dinner?" Sakura nodded. She didn't know why they were bothering asking her. She wasn't part of their family. "Just make yourself at home, okay?" Yelan hugged her tightly again and Sakura felt a rush of cold when the tall woman withdrew from her. She hadn't been hugged so much in one day since her parents were still alive. In truth she really liked it, she just didn't want to get her hopes up. If CPS found anything, she would be taken from this paradise and placed into another hell with another Lalan and it wouldn't end until her graduation day when she could leave town and never look back.

Meiling pulled her up the stairs to her bedroom and on the way faintly noticed that Syaoran's door was closed. For a second she wondered if he had left school as well, but the thought was quickly replaced by the thought of clothing. Meiling bounced into her room, taking a freaked out Sakura with her. Meiling was way to hyper about clothing for this to end good.

Hours later, when Yelan was announcing dinner, Meiling had sorted through her clothes and Sakura now had a new wardrobe, complete with shoes and matching accessories that Meiling was going to donate.

Sakura pulled at the dress Meiling had her wear. It was a cute frilly number that was light pink and had lots of lace. "How come every time I come over here, I get put into something frilly and cute? I tried to look at the designer but none of these clothes have tags!"

"That's because my really good friend is a fashion designer. She's been making my clothes since forever! I'll have to introduce you since she's always looking for people to make clothes for."

"Okay..." They arrived in the kitchen and sat down to a shrimp scampi pasta meal. It was then that Sakura noticed Syaoran wasn't present since it was unusually quiet. She was about to ask when Wei appeared in the doorway announcing that Syaoran was taking his meal in his bedroom. She sat back in her chair and ate her meal silently.

After dinner, Sakura was showed to her room for her two week stay and started placing the clothes Meiling gave her into the closet. She headed to bed when she was finished. The events from the day had made her so tired that she wished everything would be normal. Lalan wasn't the witch she was. Syaoran wasn't always mean as he was. They could all live happily, go to the same school without confrontation. Sakura sighed, rolling over in bed. That would never happen. She closed her eyes falling into a fitful sleep.

It hadn't even been two hours since she woke up, tossing and turning. It was weird sleeping in a different bed. Even though it was softer and most definitely warmer, the one at her home was hers and made her feel safe even when she shouldn't have. She tossed the covers back and walked to her door barefoot. The tile was cold but soothing. She decided to grab a cup of water to help calm her nerves.

Everyone was fast asleep when she made her way downstairs to the kitchen. She blindly felt around the walls in the unfamiliar home, trying not to crash into anything. The night light from the stove illuminated the hallway and she made it to the kitchen without killing her toes or a piece of furniture.

The water felt good down her sore throat. It definitely helped calm her nerves, but she soon realized she was awake and it would take more than water to calm her enough into sleep. She finished her water and placed the cup in the sink, peeking up to stare out the window. She jumped a little when she noticed a shadow on the patio. She grabbed the first thing she saw, a ladle, and quietly padded to the sliding glass door. She opened it slowly and came up behind the figure, but stopped herself from bringing the ladle down on its head when she noticed that it wasn't really a threat.

He was sitting curled up in one of the patio chairs, his hair lightly blowing in the breeze, just staring off into the night. He hadn't even realized she was there. The night air was cold and brought goosebumps to Sakura's arms. She rubbed them and watched as goosebumps appeared on his arms, but went unnoticed.

Sakura backtracked into the house and grabbed the blanket from the couch. Outside, she wrapped it around his shoulders, breaking him from his reverie. Syaoran stared back at her with the most blank, but troubled expression she had ever seen. It scared her and made her shiver. He chuckled underneath his breath.

"You need this more than I do," he said, almost inaudibly.

"You were shivering and it's freezing out here. You're gonna catch death sitting out here in the middle of the night without some type of warmth." He smiled lightly, shaking his head at her response. She scoffed and started to get mad. She was being nice even though he always treated her like crap. She placed her hands on her hips and said, "Whatever then. Freeze out here. See if I care." She grabbed the blanket, meaning to yank it off his shoulders, but Syaoran grabbed her hand instead. His hands were warm and the gesture made Sakura's cheeks redden.

"Sit down, would ya. I was joking." She hadn't expected that. In fact she hadn't expected much of what was going on. The Syaoran she knew was mean and hard faced, never smiled or cracked even the smallest joke. But here he was, smiling and acting as though they were friends. The thought had her mind reeling. She didn't know what to believe, but sat down in the space next to him. He even motioned for her to get underneath the blanket with him. It was a simple gesture, but she couldn't take it and pushed his arm away.

"I can't do this." She stood up and made to go back inside, but Syaoran caught her hand, almost causing her to stumble back into the chair.

"What's wrong?" He looked genuinely worried.

"That! I'm sorry, but this isn't the Syaoran I know. The one I know makes fun of me and pushes me to the ground and does other mean things to me. He's cold and unfeeling and there isn't an inch of kindness in him!" Her chest heaved as she stared at his expression. Her turned away and stared blankly into the night. His mouth moved, and the words were nearly inaudible, but she heard them.

"I'm sorry."

"What...?"

He turned and looked at her. "I said I'm sorry all right? I know I'm mean and a jackass and probably the worst person to you, but...I'm sorry." She fell back into the chair, pulling her knees into her chest. She rested her head on them and tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

She almost choked on her words. "Why do you hate me so much? What did I do to you?"

He contemplated answering, but sighed, breathing in deeply. "Did you know you were the first person I saw when I moved here?" Sakura said nothing. "You lived very close to here then, right?" She nodded, remembering her father's house, which was just a block or two from here. "I saw you and your father in the front yard, smiling and having fun, and from then on, I hated you because I had never gotten that from my father, not once. I don't even think he held me the day I was born!" He paused taking a breath. "Is it true?" Even though he was very vague, she knew what he was talking about. She didn't answer, staring into the distance. They were quiet for a few moments before he asked again. She turned to look at him, tears threatening to fall. He touched her face and her neck where the bruise made its ugly appearance right above the neckline of her shirt. "Is this..." He grabbed her bruised arm and gingerly fingered the outline. It was still dark purple as if it had occurred yesterday. "and this...true?"

The tears fell as she whispered, "Yes."

His expression darkened, but he continued to be gentle to her arm. "Your father, too?"

"No! Of course not! He would never do this to me, not like he could. He passed away that year you saw us in the front yard," she said quickly. Then it dawned on her. He said "too" as in "also". Did that mean...? "What do you mean 'too'?" Sakura slowly asked. He took a moment before answering.

"Let's just say that my father wasn't a good man and had a funny idea of discipline."

"But your mother...? And Meiling?"

He immediately got angry with her question. "They never helped! They knew and they did nothing while I sat there at the hands of my father! I hate them." She slowly placed her hand on his shaking one.

"I'm sure there's a reason for how everything played out." He whipped his head and stared at her with an angry expression. He truly believed his mom and cousin didn't care about what was going on with him. "I'm not saying they didn't know, but that maybe there's more to it that you know. Your mom loves you very much, Syaoran, that much I can tell. Believe me, if she didn't love you, she would've continued where your father left off." Sakura softly trailed off at the end and Syaoran's expression lightened. "I'd talk to her. I'm sure she would love that."

He contemplated what she said. For his whole life he hated his mother for her uncaring attitude toward him and the fact she did nothing to help him, no matter the tears that coated her shirt or the bandages she changed. But she did get him away from his father.

Both were silent for a while. Then Syaoran spoke.

"You're different from me, though." Sakura turned to look at him, quizzically. "I cried and whined about it everyday. Begged for answers. For an ounce of love. And even though, I never got that, I still cried and whined. You hid it everyday and endured shit from my friends and me and still never said anything. You didn't even plead for us to stop. You protected Meiling despite what your body had all ready been through. You're very strong and I think I hated that aspect of you as well." He paused as if choosing his next set of words. He then scoffed. "I don't even know why I did it. It was only you, too. Ever since that day I saw you, the only thing I thought of was teaching you that life is always evil. I wanted that stupid smile off your face, but I just realized that it only made it more permanent and made me into my father."

"You are not your father!" Sakura immediately said. "Your father was evil just like my stepparents are. You did it to survive and I understand that. You didn't want to be hurt again. I get that. You are not your father and you will never be."

He smiled at her. "Thank you, Sakura." She squeezed his hand, reassuring him. They were completely silent after that, but each knew that they had come to some type of understanding. They were two teens trying to overcome obstacles that threatened them everyday, and together it seemed that much easier.

Yelan burst through Meiling's door, huffing and puffing. Meiling jumped up from a dead sleep, frantically wondering why her aunt was standing in her bedroom.

"Syaoran and Sakura! Have you seen them?!" Yelan searched Meiling's room as if she knew they were there. The thought made Meiling laugh, but she soon got serious. Syaoran hated Sakura so if both were missing that could only mean something bad.

She rushed downstairs with Yelan, in the process waking Wei, who just smiled at them as if he knew something, and started searching the first floor rooms. They came up empty. Wei then noticed how cold the downstairs was as he made his way towards the kitchen. He saw the open sliding glass door and smiled. "I think I know where they went." Yelan and Meiling followed Wei onto the patio and ushered them to stay quiet as he peered over one of the benches. There, with a blanket wrapped securely around them, were Syaoran and Sakura, fast asleep and cuddled into each other for warmth. Yelan and Meiling smiled along with Wei and added a blanket onto the two before making their way back inside.

Yay! Completed! :)