A lil' rant... ^_~: Erm... well... *sigh* You'll see... I hope you like it! =) Just some notes before you read this chapter.

/blah blah blah/ = thoughts

^yadda yadda yadda^ = flashbacks

=-=-= = change of scene

And I think that's it... ^_^;;; If there's anything I missed, just e-mail me or something! (I'm pretty sure you guys can figure out the meanings yourselves, thought. ^_-)

[kirei tenshi]

[chapter 1: surrounded by love]

I want happiness

I seek happiness

to cause your happiness

to be your happiness

so take me

someplace far away

to a true Elsewhere

deliver me

an unbreakable spell

a never-ending kiss

an endless dream

eternal happiness

take me

I want happiness [1]

A long time ago, Sakura could have told you she knew what love was. What loved defined, that it was in everyone and everyone loved. But now... she just didn't know anymore. Love was hurting her. It was more painful than anything she had ever had to endure before... it felt like someone had torn her heart and soul apart and didn't even bother to try and piece it back together.

All that she had ever wanted in life was for everyone around her to be happy. All her friends and family. Their happiness was her happiness. She couldn't understand it...

/If Syaoran hadn't really loved me... then why... then why... why did he tell me so?/ Her body shook as she cried from a broken heart, incomprehension, and the feeling of the deepest betrayal.

/If Syaoran had just told me... I would have been happy for him. I would have let him go and let him be happy with the one who makes him happy./ She thought, in her slightly naive and childish way of thinking. For all that she had grown up, from the 10 year old girl to the 16 year old she was now, into the beautiful woman with large, expressive, evergreen eyes and a nice figure that concealed her truth strength, and for all fast growing up of her childhood and sharp mind, parts of Sakura's mind never lost the innocent or "child" quality, or her purity, that she possessed since birth. [2]

"Sakura?" A voice asked, sounding louder than it really was because of how close the owner of the voice was.

"Kero-chan?" Sakura looked up to see one of her best friends – Keroberos Reed. (Kero by his friends and Keroberos only by teachers and his parents.) He was actually older than her by a year, but they had grown up in the same neighborhood, lived next to year other, practically, and had played together since before either of them could remember. He was like her second brother practically, always sporting a goofy grin to go along with his wild tawny blonde hair and forever twinkling, "Of-course-I'm-up-to-something", dark reddish-brown eyes. [3]

"Hey, Kawaii Chibi, how's it going?" He leaned closer to her. It was a private joke that had been running between them. Both he and Touya were always taller than she was; Touya towered while Kero just smirked from his "one-head-tallerness", as he put it.

"Kero..." She sobbed before turning completely toward him and burying her face into his chest. "It hurts... make it stop..."

"Shhh... It'll be all right. Don't worry. Touya will be home soon, and so will your tou-san." He soothed.

"Kero-chan..." And she just cried out everything.

/That KID!/ Kero thought darkly. /How DARES he! Breaking Sakura-chan's heart like that! When I get my hands on him.../ He promised silently the worst possible torture he could come up with. /No... I promise the worst possible torture me and Touya can come up with!... And Eriol.../ He smirked to himself. Nobody ever got away with messing with Sakura without meeting her ever-overprotective brother, who could get mean if someone just looks at his little imouto-chan funny. And now... a certain someone had broken her heart...

Of course, Touya wasn't the only menace hopeful suitors and bullies had to watch out for, although he was certainly the most dangerous. Eriol and Kero were two of her best friends. Kero being one of her best childhood friend, and Eriol being her best, "just-connected" type of friend. They were also the only boy friends Touya had ever tolerated Sakura having. They were also the most devious, underhanded, and tricky people in the whole entire high school. Their revenge plans didn't necessarily have to be painful, they were just humiliating beyond belief, and they always had a different one.

In short, people had either known or learned the hard way, you just never ever mess with the bright, cheery girl named Kinomoto Sakura. Not that anybody had ever truly hated the girl. She was too sweet, nice, and charismatic. Everybody was drawn to her and was her friend.

/But that kid. That gaki./ Kero snarled under his breath. He'd never liked that kid. Ever. The first day Syaoran entered the classroom, the first thing he did was glare at Sakura-chan. /I always knew he would be trouble! But no, Sakura is too nice for her own good!/ He grumbled. It was one of her best traits, but it made it harder for them to protect her from the nastiness of the hard, cruel world. It closed off Sakura, but none of them ever wanted to let her feel sadness. Although Touya happened to like antagonizing his imouto-chan...

"Maa... don't cry anymore now. He doesn't deserve your tears." Kero rocked her slowly. "Come on, Kawaii Chibi, dry your eyes."

She looked up at him. "I'm..." she sniffled, "...trying..."

"Oh, Sakura," He stared at her helplessly, "what can I do?"

"Just... let me cry...?" She asked.

"Anything for my Kawaii Chibi, ne?" He teased her.

"Hoe! You and To-ya are both the same! Always teasing me! I'm not that short!" Sakura pouted, and they both laughed, a brief reprieve from the depression that had settled over the atmosphere during Sakura's crying session.

"Well, to me you are." He smirked at her.

"KERO-CHAN!"

"I only tell the truth."

"You mean like that time when you ate all my brownies?"

"Who told you that?!?"

"Nobody. I guessed. So you admit to it?"

"Yes! No! Er..."

"Ah ha! I knew it!" Sakura grinned, poking her finger at him. "Arigato, Kero-chan." She whispered softly.

"Eh? For what?"

"For cheering me up, that's what!"

"I'm always here for you. You know that." They both stood up and he patted her head. "I always want you to be happy. You're a wonderful person and you're my very best friend."

"And you're my very best friend, too!" She smiled brightly at him. He sighed in relief at the sight of the more cheery and usual Sakura.

"But..."

Kero frowned, not liking the sudden change in expression. "But...?" He prompted.

"But... if... if... if I'm so 'wonderful' then why did Syaoran-kun do this to me...? Did I... did I push him away? Was a being a bad person? What did I do wrong, Kero-chan?" She searched his face desperately for answers. "Syaoran-kun wouldn't tell me... He wouldn't say anything! I don't understand! What did I do?" She started sobbing again.

/Kawaii Chibi, Kawaii Chibi, Kawaii Chibi... it's not you're fault! Why can't you see that? It had nothing to do with you!/ Kero shook his head sadly. /How dare that gaki make you feel so guilty! When I get my hands on him.../

"It's not you fault, Kawaii Chibi. It has nothing to do with you at all. It's Syaoran's fault if he can't see what a great person you are. It's his problem, not yours." He tried to reassure her.

=-=-=

"Have you seen Kaijuu today?"

"Iya, Touya-kun." Eriol shook his head. "Were you looking for her?"

"Iya, but usually she's home by now and running down to greet me." Touya frowned at his ever-disappearing sister.

"I'm sure she's fine. She can take care of herself. Besides, if she's not here, then she's probably at Kero's house."

"Umm." Touya sounded in agreement. "Why aren't you there, anyway? Don't you usually study together after school?" He asked the shorter blue hair, blue eyed, pale boy beside him.

"Well, Sakura did say that we were going to study at her house today. Maybe they're just running late." Eriol reasoned.

" 'Running late'?" Touya was frowning again. "Why would they be running late?"

"Maybe they got stuck after school." Eriol was always the reasonable one. Even more so than Touya who was older but more prone on acting on his emotions. Especially when his sister was concerned.

Touya made a noncommittal sound and they both stood in silence (Well, Eriol was standing. Touya was putting away the groceries) when they heard it: muffled crying. And from the sound of the muffled voice, a girl was crying.

"Sakura!" Touya leapt over the couch and vaulted up the stairs to get to his imouto-chan.

Eriol noted how much faster and agile Touya was when it concerned his sister before quickly following his footsteps... sort of. He took the time to go around the stairs and didn't go up the stairs three at a time, but it wasn't exactly at the safest speeds you should use when traveling in the house around large and hard objects that would really hurt if you accidentally ran into them...

He arrived at Sakura's room in time to see Touya get his "I'm-big-brother-here-me-roar" face. "What happened?" He ground out between clenched teeth. Kero shifted the crying girl in his arms to face Touya and Eriol better. He shook his head.

Later. He mouthed. Touya as well as Eriol frowned by conceded to his point: talking about whatever was making Sakura upset now would only upset her more.

"Kaijuu?"

"Sakura-chan?"

"U... uh...?" She asked, lifting her face from where it had been buried to face them.

"Are you okay?" Touya asked, staring worriedly at her tear stained face. Her eyes were already red and puffy from too much crying. Kero finished shifting her so that she was in her onii-chan's embrace rather than his.

"U, un!" She nodded. "I'm fine!" She wiped her tears away. "See?" She smiled at them.

"Sakura-chan." Eriol frowned at her.

"Kaijuu." Touya said in the same fashion. "Don't cover up! If you're feeling sad, then cry!" He admonished her.

"To-ya..." She began crying anew.

"Sakura-chan, we're all here for you." Eriol murmured, leaning towards her and half-hugging her with one arm as best he could while Touya clutched her possessively.

"That's right!" Kero joined in.

"Minna-chan..."

"Come on, Kaijuu, you should sleep a little." Touya murmured when she began to nod off from exhaustion.

"But I'm... not... tired..." She protested weakly.

"I'm your onii-chan. I said it's time for you to sleep." He said firmly, tucking her in while wiping her face free form her tears. "Sleep." He ordered.

After making sure she was asleep for real, he gestured Kero and Eriol to follow him into the kitchen. "Okay. Who the hell did this to my sister?" He growled out.

"To the point, as usual." Kero teased.

"Kero." Touya narrowed his eyes at him. "This is not a laughing matter."

"I was just trying to lighten up the mood..."

"Kero, what happened?" Eriol asked, still as calm and cool as a cucumber.

"Syaoran."

"Syaoran?!" Both Touya and Eriol asked.

"Hai." Kero nodded.

"I knew that kid would be trouble! That little gaki! Where the hell is he?" Touya began pacing across the kitchen floor, coming up with new torture sessions in his mind, each worse than the last.

/That little gaki. I'm going to kill him. No one, and I mean no one, ever messes with my little sister!/

"Calm down, Touya-kun." Touya stopped pacing to look at Eriol, and Kero just waited expectantly. "An all out assault is what Syaoran will be expecting. We should do something more... subtle."

"What are you planning...?" Kero asked. Eriol needed no other prompting.

"First we should get the full story from Sakura-chan, and then... we can have fun." Eriol smirked. One of those smirks that make you really happy that you're not on his bad side.

"Do you know anything, Kero?"

"Not really... I got the impression that Syaoran broke Sakura's heart and she believes it's her fault he doesn't love her."

"That's just so like Sakura." Touya sighed exasperatedly. "That attitude is going to really hurt her one of these days! She can't expect to be held responsible for everything bad that happens!" He ranted.

"Hai." Eriol and Kero agreed. "Why don't we meet back later after you've talked to Sakura, Touya-kun?" Eriol asked.

"Why me?" He asked suspiciously. He hated making his sister suffer and would probably have blown his top before she finished her story.

"Because you're 'nii-chan." Eriol said simply. "Besides, me 'n' Kero need to get going anyway."

"Huh?"

"We promised Tomoyo that we'd help her by pretending to be dummies to dress up." Kero rolled his eyes. "How we got suckered into doing it is beyond me, but... we did promise..."

Touya just snickered quietly. "Good luck!"

"Meanie!" Kero stuck his tongue out. Eriol laughed and dragged the still-peeved Kero out behind him.

"Now... Kaijuu..."

=-=-=

They sat in tense silence. Sakura was just staring at her cup of coca while Touya tried not to destroy something in his anger. "Touya...?" She asked timidly, never having seen such an angry expression on her onii-chan's face.

It seemed Kero was very close to the truth. Syaoran and Sakura had actually been going out and had professed their "love" for each other a while ago. But... it seems that Syaoran had been keeping a secret. A big one. He had actually been seeing another girl while he had been seeing Sakura and had actually been in love with her, and they had actually been engaged. (It had been an arranged marriage and Syaoran and the mysterious girl had been childhood lovers). And, to top it all off, Syaoran had not told Sakura a thing and led her on until today. He and his other girlfriend were getting married in a week.

/That little bastard./ Touya snarled. /How dare he mess with my imouto-chan? That little prick! I will kill him. Slowly and surely. After I torture him. Slowly and surely./

"To-ya...?" Sakura asked again, timidly.

"Huh?" Touya was finally shaken out of his thoughts. "What?" He asked, finally seeing his sister shrinking away from him in his fury. "Oh Sakura-chan..." He sighed, and opened his arms to her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that." She entered his embrace and tried not to cry again. She wouldn't cry again. She wouldn't.

Yeah. Maybe if she kept telling herself that maybe it would come true.

"Sakura, he's not worth your tears."

"I'm trying not to cry. Really I am. I just... can't... seem... to stop..." She replied, tears slipping down her face silently.

"Aa." Touya just hugged her more tightly. /I wanted to protect you from everything so you'd never have to hurt. I wanted to protect you especially from this. But even so... I still couldn't protect you! I'm such a failure as an older brother!/

"No you're not..." Sakura murmured sleepily from where her face was buried in his shirt.

"I said that out loud?" Touya asked, suddenly feeling the urge to just lock himself away somewhere. Except that would be running away, and if it was one thing Touya would never do, it was running away. Never.

"Hai." Sakura looked up. "And you're the best onii-chan in the whole wide world! And you're not a failure!" She said with stubborn conviction. "You're the only onii-chan I'll ever want! You've always been there for me..." She went on quietly. "And you've never let me down. Ever. And you've always looked out for me. Remember when Hikochuei-san was bullying me...?"

"Un." Touya nodded slowly, remembering his first fight with a bully who didn't know how to leave his Kaijuu alone.

^

"You're such a little wimp! Little girl! Little girl!" A five-year-old boy taunted a four-year-old Sakura.

"Just give Hika-chan back her doll!" She yelled back, standing defensively over her friend.

"Sakura-chan!" Another joined the argument.

"Oh, look, it's the freak." The five-year-old smirked.

"You leave Kero-chan alone!" Sakura said, defending her best friend.

"Oh look! The freak needs a girl to defend him! Wimp!" He snickered.

"You leave them alone!" Sakura yelled again, stomping her feet.

Kero stood silent, the "freak" remark still stinging.

"Kero-chan? Kero-chan?" Sakura asked, staring in concern into his face.

"Little girl." He sniggered. "Better not get in my way!" He shoved her, hard, and she fell onto the ground.

"Aahh!"

"Sakura-chan!" Kero yelled. "You leave her alone!"

"What are you going to do about it?"

Touya, who was nine at the time, was already hurrying over when he heard all the yelling. "What's going on here?" He demanded, interrupting the fight that had broken out between Kero and the other boy.

"He - " Kero gasped and pointed to the older boy, "is bullying Sakura-chan!"

"Why you little pipsqueak..." Touya snarled menacingly, glowering at now cowering would-be bully. And proceeded to beat the hell outta him.

"To-ya-'nii-chan!" Sakura cried, grabbing his arm and literally hugging it to stop him. "Stop! Please!"

"Sakura-chan..." He realized he had frightened her. "Gomen." He patted her head. "I'll stop now. Don't worry." He turned to the groaning bully. "Don't you dare tease or touch my sister again. Or you won't get off you easy next time."

^

"And remember when Inu-chan died...? You're always there for me!"

^

A ten-year-old Sakura was crying under a sakura tree.

"Sakura-chan." Touya stood in front of her. He seemed to always know if something was troubling her and seemed to just appear out of nowhere.

"To-ya...?"

"Don't cry now." He bent down to stare at her.

"But Inu-chan..."

"He was getting very, very old. He lived a long life. He lived a happy life. He's probably in a very happy place now." He hugged her. "Don't cry. Inu-chan wouldn't want you to, now would he?"

"...Iie..." Sakura shook her head slowly.

"Some come on, Kaijuu. It's time for lunch."

"Hey! To-ya! I'm not a kaijuu!" She said indignantly.

"To me you are!"

"TO-YA!!!" She yelled and stomped on his foot.

"Kaijuu!"

"To-ya!"

"It's time for lunch!" Touya called over his shoulder while running as fast as he could toward the house. "Race you back to the house!"

"Hey! No fair!"

It was a beautiful spring day meant for happiness.

^

"You are the best onii-chan in the entire world!"

"Kaijuu..."

"And I'm not a kaijuu."

"You'll always be Kaijuu!"

"Hooee~! To-ya!"

"Time to go back to sleep!"

"But I just slept!"

"You're tired from crying so much."

"How would you know?"

"It's a brother thing. Now get to bed."

"Or what?"

"Or I'll get Tomoyo."

"To-ya!"

He smirked. "Off to bed now?"

"Hai, hai." She stood up. "Suki da, 'nii-chan."

"Aa. Suki da." Touya shook his head. [4]

/No one hurts my little sister and gets away with it. Nobody. And especially not a certain gaki.../

The doorbell broke his train of thought.

/Who would be visiting us...?/ He wondered as he opened the door.

"Hi, To-ya."

"Yuki...?"

Author's rant, again! (Aren't you guys getting tired or these?)

Okay... foot notes first...

This song is actually from another one of Clamp's works: Clover. *g* It's such a sweet and angsty story! (Can you tell I really like the song and the story! ^_~)

(talking about Sakura): Erm... I had just wanted to stress how "innocent" Sakura-chan still was... . Ack... I hope I didn't over do it and make it seem... I dunno... *winces*

(Kero's eyes...): Yay! Kero's here! (Bet'cha didn't expect that, did'ya? Bwahahaha~! I love surprised like this! ;)) Um... does anybody know for sure what Kero's eye color is? I'm guessing here because I can't really remember so... if someone would like to tell me... I'd really appreciate it! Thankies!

("Suki da..." scene): *winces* Too much sap... mush... fluffiness, anybody? O_o

Okay... I know I said I didn't want too much sap or anything but... *points to the chapter while making apologies* I wanted to show the close relationship between Sakura-chan and her friends and family. And I really wanted to emphasize Touya's sister complex. ^.^ I think I over did it... *wince wince* I don't know whether or not you guys like it, though. *sighs*

And this chapter did happen to turn out waay mushier than I wanted. -_- But I plead innocence. My muses took over and then I had no control. The story just started writing itself. ~_~

Poor Sakura-chan, ne?

Schu: You *did* put too much WAFF in it. *shudders*

Dai-chan: NO WAY! It was perfect! *sparkley eyes*

Shi-Angel: At least I know who was in control when I was writing this... -_-

Anyway, here's a glossary. Sorry if I miss any words but I'm to lazy to go back and check through the entire story all over again. ^_^v

Schu: Lazy bum.

Shi-Angel: I know.

Both: ~_~*

Shi-Angel: So... anyway... glossary...:

Tou-san: Father/dad

Imouto-chan: little/younger sister

Gaki: brat (ß the thing Touya and Kero likes calling Syaoran the best. ^^;)

Kawaii Chibi: "Cute Little" more or less. Just Kero making fun of her height... ^_^;;

Arigato: Thank you

Kaijuu: Monster. Touya's nickname for Sakura. ^^ Of course he makes it a point to point out only he is allowed to call her that. ;P

Iya: no

Un: yes/agreement

Onii-chan ('nii-chan): older brother

Minna-chan: everyone

Hai: Yes

Aa: Yes

Iie: No

"Inu": "dog". So Sakura-chan is more or less calling her dog "Dog". ^^ (ß no creative skills. ^.~)

Suki da: I love you. (One form anyway)

-chan, -kun, -san: all suffixes about their relationship(s). Sorta. ^^

I think that does it...

So... what do you think? (Horrible, wasn't it? *siiiigh* I'm working on my writing skills. Really. You just happen to be the poor people who are subjected to it...)