Chasing after Love

Witch-Mistress-Animaru

A/N: I can't keep on putting off fanfics for something else, can I? So here I am, trying to stop the procrastination and make it up to you guys before you totally decide I'm not worth it.

3: Scorned

Syaoran was mutinous. He was inside an empty classroom. Well, not exactly empty, but he decided his lowlife cousin wasn't counted, so he was practically alone.

They were supposed to be a wonderful tandem in math, the two of them. So Mizuki-sensei decided it was high-time for them to do some self-studying without her supervision. Only, she decided it had better be on school so she could check on them anytime.

Great, just great! Stuck in a classroom with only Eriol to talk to, why, I'm just so lucky! So damn lucky!

They were both glaring at each other, pens at hand. His paper was full of scribbles and indiscernible writing. Eriol's was blank, for he obviously was not in the mood. Mood for what, he didn't know, but he knew his cousin was pissed off as well.

It looked like they were both stuck with yesterday's happenings and could not go on because of it. Oh, dear Kami-sama, that really was the biggest mess of all — a lot bigger than what his past girlfriends caused him.

He could remember the chaos that overtook them back in Li mansion, and he felt his anger blow full steam.

"Oi, Eriol," he growled out, fighting the urge to bellow at his cousin. "Don't you act so self-righteous right now, huh? You were nasty back yesterday as well to Tomoyo."

"As if what you did to Sakura was warranted!"

"The bloody nerd deserved it!"

"She didn't deserve it and you well know it, you jerk!" Eriol had risen from his chair, his eyes glinting dangerously as his voice rose a fraction.

"Did Tomoyo deserve the way you treated her?" Syaoran shouted, rising from his chair as well. It fell to the floor with a clatter and he hardly noticed.

"That girl can handle herself, not like my friend!"

"Oho! So she's 'just' your friend, huh? Tomoyo has feelings too, don't you know that? You were just like me, cous, a jerk to match all jerks!"

"Don't you compare me to you, coz we will never be alike!"

"Yeah, thank Kami-sama we aren't alike, or else!"

"Whatever you say, you hurt Sakura's delicate feelings, something I'd never forgive, you baka!"

"Fine! And what do you plan to do about it, huh? Strike me with your oh-so-lame poetics?"

"Don't you underestimate the power of words, Xiao Lang!"

"Oh…I'm so scared…" He mocked, laughing sarcastically. "Hiiragizawa Eriol's mighty pen might wound my ego so much…"

"You'll see, you stupid moron!"

Syaoran merely harrumphed, looking in the opposite direction. Eriol deliberately did the same, but a moment later picked his pen and started to scribble furiously, and Syaoran felt like egging him, taunting him.

"Oh, I can't wait to see your masterpiece, cous. It's about a pot calling a kettle black, ain't it?"

Eriol didn't mind the taunt until Syaoran snatched the paper away from him.

"Yamero, Xiao Lang! If you can't do anything good just shut up, you good-for-nothing —"

"Can you boys tell me," a cold voice rang from the room, and they both turned guiltily to find their math teacher glaring at them. "What this racket is all about?"

"M-Mizuki-sensei," Syaoran gulped. He never saw his homeroom teacher so angry. Her lips were pursed, obviously displeased. Her brows were creased and furrowed. Eriol's face echoed his own anxiousness. Miss Mizuki was usually smiling and accommodating, but she looked really terrifying when angry.

"I left you here awhile ago," she said cuttingly before they could both think of alibis to give her, "to study math, and not to find you squabbling over nonsense. How do you hope to beat the other competitors when you're not even studying?"

"W-we were just getting to it, weren't we, Eriol?" He sent a warning glare towards his cousin, who apparently shared his opinion that Mizuki-sensei must not be roused than she already was.

"H-hai, Mizuki-sensei, we really were…"

Miss Mizuki turned her eyes to Eriol, and they softened a bit.

"I am very disappointed in you, Eriol. I thought you could settle your indifferences with your cousin and do this civilly. Clearly I was wrong. Do you want other partners, you two? Or will you try and work this out?"

Eriol felt shame rise up his throat. Mizuki-sensei said she was disappointed, and he felt it so. He had descended to his cousin's level, which was not saying much.

Somehow, he felt obligated to work this out. After all, he could not question Syaoran's abilities with numbers.

But before he could say so, his cousin stood up and headed for the door.

"I'm quitting, Mizuki-sensei. I don't think I can do this."

The anger wore off their teacher's face, replaced with a worried frown.

"Li, wait a moment," she turned to Eriol, her eyes pleading. "Please do something about this, Eriol. I know you never underestimated your cousin. You know you two have a chance of winning this contest."

"I-I'll try, Mizuki-sensei. I just hope he…he has the sense to change his mind."

"What happened, anyway, to make you two shout at each other?"

Eriol wanted to laugh bitterly at that.

"It's useless to stay now, sensei. I better try to catch up with him before he does anything stupid."

"What happened?" Miss Mizuki asserted, her eyes questioning.

"Girls happened." He whispered before closing the door of the room.

Miss Mizuki was left looking very confused, indeed.

Sakura removed the cucumber slices from her eyes with excessive vigor. It was the first time she ever skipped school without a valid excuse. She was with Tomoyo in the latter's mansion, sitting there idly and letting her heart heal from the wounds Syaoran inflicted from it.

Her eyes were still a bit sore and red, so Tomoyo tried her best to patch her up. Her school uniform was discarded, while Tomoyo, who cried a bit as well, didn't bother putting hers on earlier, so she was in casual clothing. Sakura was clad in robes of emerald green (Tomoyo's own choice, apparently) and her hair was wet from swimming in the Daidoujis' Olympic-sized pool.

She just can't believe it. How dared that — that boy say those things to her? Whatever reason he had to do it, it was clearly unearned. At first she felt hurt and betrayed, but now she felt anger seething in her veins. The nerve of that Syaoran with his oversized ego and inflated pig-head? Whatever did she see in him, anyway?

Tomoyo was right — Li Syaoran was the biggest jerk who walked on earth. Why, given just a few minutes, he was able to throw off each and every insult imaginable her way.

That thought alone brought fresh tears to her eyes.

But that wasn't the only problem. She felt angry towards her other best friend, Hiiragizawa Eriol as well. He had no right to mistreat Tomoyo. He was every bit a jerk as his cousin was, particularly yesterday.

Only, Tomoyo seemed undeterred from her pursuits of Eriol. She was still blindsided, sure that Eriol was probably cracking up under the strain of studying. But she, Kinomoto Sakura, knew better now.

Those cousins were trouble. She was better off without them. She couldn't take this — jumping from one trouble to another. Why, if this went on, there probably wouldn't be anything left of her. Either the girls of her school will tear her limb-per-limb, or Li Syaoran will have his way with her heart and kill her from inside.

And that was what she couldn't take. Despite her knowledge of how abominable the love of her life is, she can't stop going fidgety when she sees him. She can't stop her stupid heart from racing, her blood from rushing to her cheeks. She can't stop being tongue-tied; she can't stop trying to impress him, even though she knew nothing she had ever said or done impressed him anyway.

Life was really cruel to eccentrics like she. Falling in love with the wrong person, befriending a jerk like Eriol…Oh, dear, was she destined to suffer the company of jerks forever? What had she done to deserve that?

"All right now, Sakura?" Tomoyo emerged from the shower, looking as if nothing had happened. But she, Sakura Kinomoto, knew better.

"I suppose I've been too self-absorbed," she mumbled apologetically.

"Nonsense! I told you, you shouldn't really be bothering with Li. He's just trouble."

"I know…but I guess I should be asking you the same thing. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," but her eyes told Sakura otherwise.

"It's okay. Eriol was really a jerk yesterday."

"No, he was just trying to protect you." Something akin to pain crossed Tomoyo's eyes. "Li was doing his best to crush you yesterday. And that was the only way he could have protected you."

"Well, he had a funny way of showing it! Insulting you was insulting me as well, Tomoyo! And it's not as if what he did made any difference at all — I still hate Li Syaoran at the moment."

At that, Tomoyo laughed. "At the moment, I see."

"Yeah…something hit me hard when I first saw him, and I'm afraid I can't speak for the morrow, because what I felt for him is bound to return, no matter what I do."

"I know what you mean." Tomoyo's eyes glistened with tears. "But I can say mine's a lot worse. It's pretty ironic, actually. I mean, I had the best of everything since we were young, but the one thing I want in this world, unfortunately, has eyes for somebody else."

"W-what do you mean? Eriol doesn't have any conquests or girlfriends…"

"You really are clueless sometimes, Sakura," Tomoyo said, not knowing whether it was a good thing or not. If Eriol and Sakura got together, she wouldn't be able to accept it. She might as well die.

"Oh, am I? Well, I don't plan of nosing in on his business. I wouldn't have anything to do with him anymore, if not for your stupid notion of him 'cracking up under pressure.'"

"But it's possible! You know it, Sakura!"

"Highly unlikely." She said with disbelief in her face.

"Whatever. But you can't throw such friendship away with petty things like that!"

"You're right on that one. He needs fair trial, and I'm giving it to him. But if he refuses to apologize, we won't have anything to do with him anymore, get it?"

"As if he won't do as you say, silly."

"I don't know how his mind works anymore." She said. "And I can't take it if you two hurt each other. You're both my friend, you know that."

"Of course. But, Sakura, about that jerk…"

"Don't. I don't want to talk about what happened just yet, precisely because it'd be anger talking. I know I'll regret whatever I'll say now later."

"So you still…"

"Yeah…" Then Sakura frowned. "You know, I feel a bit worried. I don't really skip school for fun, you know. What if we missed something important? A quiz, a project perhaps?" Sakura groaned. "Oh, we shouldn't have done this. We're in trouble." Tomoyo knew she was back to normal, the ever-diligent student, Sakura Kinomoto.

"Oh, quit it. We weren't having fun; you were practically bawling your eyes out earlier."

"But still, we shouldn't have skipped school for some nonsense like that!" Sakura picked her scattered school uniform hastily before rushing to the shower room.

"Sakura, what're you doing?"

She emerged five minutes later, looking harried.

"Let's hurry; we can still make it before school closes!"

"Are you out of your mind?"

"We have to talk to Mizuki-sensei before she leaves, or we're done for tomorrow!"

"No, we aren't, silly. You're overreacting, Sakura."

"Let's go!" Sakura's renewed vigor forced Tomoyo to stand up and rush to the door as well. In a few record-breaking minutes, they made it to school.

Just in time to see Eriol and Syaoran arguing on their way out.

Eriol caught his cousin in the stairs and started talking to him.

"It's really stupid to let this chance off, Xiao Lang," he sniffed out, a bit haughtily.

"It's really a relief to get off the hook." He replied coldly.

"Now, really, that sort of attitude is what I hate about you."

"Right back at you and your nosiness. Back off, Eriol, before I break your nose."

"You can't do this! You realize you're jeopardizing your school standing with Miss Mizuki?"

"I don't particularly care."

"Well, I do, so you just have to…"

"Zip it, okay? And don't tell me you care about my class standing! You just hate the fact that I'm about to ruin your chances of winning the contest."

Eriol's brows creased in anger. "That's uncalled for, Xiao Lang. You know I don't —"

"SHUT UP!" He bellowed the words out, and it felt good. Somehow. "I don't know anything about you or the way you think, so I don't give a damn!"

"Come on," Eriol said, refusing to be deterred. "Let's settle our differences until the contest. I'm willing to negotiate."

"And I'm not. If this is the way the wind is blowing, then I don't think I'd like to ride it much longer. Sorry for letting you down, my smartass cousin."

"I don't know why you're so stubborn."

"Just as I don't understand why a guy like you is so nosy."

"Fine. You don't want to do it, fine! I better ask Daidouji, she's good with figures, by the way; she'll surely stand in for you, gladly."

Syaoran stopped dead on his tracks.

"Resorting to blackmail, Eriol?"

"It's no blackmail. She's really my second choice. Besides, it's not as if you give me any choice."

"Damn you, Eriol."

"Back at you. So, are you going to do this?"

Syaoran gulped. Damned if he did, but much more damned if he didn't. He can't stand the thought of his cousin and Tomoyo alone in a classroom, supposedly studying but actually…

Argh! He can't stand it! To hell with it! He'll do anything to stop Tomoyo's crazy feelings for his cousin!

"Fine!" he almost screamed, feeling frustrated at Eriol's way of thinking. He could really be cunning at times. "I'll do it, you stupid, scheming nerd!"

Eriol grinned in an almost Syaoran-ish way, causing him to sulk all the more. Eriol certainly knew which weapons to use.

He started walking off only to freeze on spot. Apparently, Eriol also saw what he did, for all the dread plastered on his face.

Standing a few meters away from them, with daggers for eyes, were the girls who caused them all this trouble.

He suddenly felt like running back to Mizuki-sensei and beg her to take him back right this instant and lock himself up in that classroom with his cousin, but that was laughable.

They had to face the two girls alone, and now.

Oh, boy, has their luck run out on them? Things can't go any worse than they already were.

They were so, so dead…

TBC

A/N: An update, finally! Now I can read a novel and watch anime… Tomorrow another update!