A/N – I apologize for not continuing this story for a while. I just felt so distressed about accidentally deleting the seventh chapter of Tsuki no le, that I just couldn't bring myself to write. Period. But, I'm getting used to it now, so don't worry. I'm settling myself into the writing mood! n_n. Ok, a few things you need to know before continuing to read this story. Li Syaoran is mean here people. If you don't like it, then tough. But, it won't last. This chapter's title means, or at least it's supposed to, Beautiful Eyes. Please enjoy, and I would appreciate any kind of comment in a review or e-mail!

Belle Vie

Chapter one - Beaux Yeux

~*~

'I-... Is that the alarm clock going off? Oy, I'm too tired to take notice.' A small yawn emitted from Sakura's mouth, but she did not open her eyes. She would only sleep five more minutes. Well, that's what she wanted to do, anyways. The knock on the door did not stir the sleeping girl in the slightest manner, nor did the creaking it made once it opened.

"Sakura... Sakura, wake up," was what a whispering voice hummed into the darkness and stillness of the room. The source of the voice lurked over to besides Sakura's bed, its shadow looming over her. A hand shoved her arm, gentle so as to not hurt her, but rough enough to make her scowl and sharply turn over to her side. In the midst of her turning, her hand flailed straight across the cheek of whoever it was that was disrupting her sleep.

"OW!" What followed after that was a string of curses, all ever mentioned and even some never heard of before. Sakura groaned and stirred, finally jolting upwards on her bed. Her head snapped towards the cause of the entire foul ruckus.

"Touya, what in heaven's name do you want?!" She quickly stood up and pushed Touya all the way to the door, where she shoved him out harshly. "I can wake myself up just fine, thank you!" Sakura inhaled deeply and forced a smile, "Yes, this is going to be fantastic day!"

~*~

Grousing, Sakura made her way down the flight of stairs, dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a fitting, long-sleeved white shirt. She crossed the threshold to the kitchen, surprised at the calmness that reached her ears. Her eyes scanned the room. There was no sign of her parents. She felt the panic swell up in her chest.

"No need to look so worried… Dad left to run some errands, and Mom left early for work."

Sakura transfixed her gaze on Touya, who was sitting at the table, a half-eaten slice of toast hanging from his mouth as he read the newspaper. Silence filled the room for several moments, until she scowled, "I wasn't worried. What I am worried about is my art class today. They're selecting the painting that will symbolize Tomoeda, and un-like you, I am scared to death of how my performance will be to the judges that will be watching my every move."

Touya exhaled noisily, staring at her from behind the newspaper, "Listen, brat, I didn't mean it that way." He laid down the newspaper, so he could talk to her face-to-face, "You've been practicing for how long, two weeks? What could go wrong? You're a natural Sakura. Don't fret."

But, Sakura couldn't help but fret. Her hands made their way to her head, gripping her hair. "So many things could go wrong! And I have been practicing for two months, ok? Not weeks, but months! If I ruin this, I'll lose my artistic creativity and I'll become an anti-social freak show that locks herself in her room all day and does nothing but WEEP!"  Sakura breathed in deeply, red in the face from shouting her lungs out.

Touya stared blankly at her, "Oh, well. It'll be an improvement from your 'stomping around the house' attitude." He shrugged and went back to read.

Sakura snarled and tread heavily out to the door leading outside. She grabbed her coat, scarf, and gloves. Hoisting her book bag over her shoulder, she made her way out and slammed the door shut.

~*~

Sakura fiddled with her hands as she walked through the gates of Tomoeda High School. She was nervous, thinking of how she'd do in the painting. She needed to talk to someone…

"Sakura!"

Sakura swiveled around, and upon seeing the person, she smiled warmly, "Tomoyo, hey! I'm sorry I'm so jumpy today. I'm just nervous about the whole..."

Tomoyo smiled as they walked towards the main entrance, and to their lockers, "Don't worry about it. I understand how you feel. I went through it once... with my singing, but I did alright! I mean, they chose me. I'm sure they'll choose your painting to represent this school."

Hugging her gratefully, Sakura began thinking about it. The thoughts of what may go wrong swirled about in her head, making her slightly dizzy. She placed a frail hand to her temple, rubbing thoroughly.

Tomoyo placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a supporting squeeze, "Don't think so much about it that you'll wear yourself out, ok? Come on, let's get to class early."

They both walked to class calmly, but on the way, they saw a group of people walking down the hall... towards them.

The group consisted of Li Meilin; Sakura had heard that her cousin and her came from Hong Kong a few years ago. She was very pretty and constantly had boys lining up for her, and she loved it. She made sure that anyone who got close to her cousin, would pay dearly.

Eriol Hirragizawa; with his handsome dark features, he was always content as long as he was surrounded by women. He was also extremely intelligent, and was Tomoyo's rival for the up most grades. Even though they constantly argued, he always teased her in a way... that made her feel uncomfortable.

Li Syaoran; he always had a frown or a scowl on his face. The only thing that made him smile was to make others suffer. Like Eriol, he was also devilishly attractive. But, unlike his friend, Eriol, every girl that came up to him to offer him something other than friendship, he turned down flat with out a second glance to their direction.

Sakura stood besides Tomoyo, thinking, 'Yeah, he's cute. Too bad he's the world's biggest jerk.' Sakura inhaled deeply and continued with Tomoyo toward their class, trying their best to ignore the group of snobs. Maybe, if they were lucky, they would just ignore them and nothing would happen.

But, luck would not cooperate, for as soon as Sakura and Tomoyo walked past the group, Sakura's side just had to brush gently against that of Syaorans. Sakura ignored the course of electricity that made its way down her arm, and she also ignored the faint scent of spice and sandalwood that came from him.

They both stopped in their tracks. Sakura and Syaoran. She stared at him through narrowed eyes, her voice holding a threat to it as she murmured, "Don't touch me, Li-kun."

He also stared at her, raising an eyebrow as he replied with a snarl, "Wouldn't ever dream of it, Kinomoto."

Meilin and Eriol made their way to Syaoran's side, looking at him with a questioning gaze. "Syaoran, why'd you st-" They both looked a Sakura and Tomoyo.

Meilin smirked and folded her arms against her chest, voice menacing as she looked directly toward Sakura, "So, Kinomoto-san, I heard you're also going to participate in the choosing of the painting for Tomoeda. I wish you the best of luck. Though, we all know who's going to win, don't we now?"

Sakura shook her head in disbelief, "I'm glad that you're so confident about this, Li-san, but, I guess we'll see who wins when it's time, ne?"

With that said, she turned away and continued once again walking with Tomoyo towards their class, hoping to actually get there this time.

Syaoran quickly extended his hand and grabbed Sakura's arm, pulling her close to him. Close enough for him to whisper faintly in her ear, "I do wish you luck, Kinomoto." He smiled, but even then, it still looked a little strained.

Sakura could feel her cheeks heat up, and she quickly parted from him. She grabbed Tomoyo's hand and began to half-walk, half-run her way to class.

Eriol had remained quiet through all of this, his eyes lingering on Tomoyo. He realized this was his chance and just as Tomoyo passed him, he quickly pinched her rear.

Tomoyo squealed loudly, and turned ever so slowly to face Eriol. She carefully stomped over to him and raised her hand up, only to be brought back down in amazing speed right across his cheek. The force of the blow wasn't hard enough to make him fall, but hard enough to make him stumble.

And with that, they finally ran to class.

Syaoran cocked an eyebrow as they bounded off. His usual frown suddenly curled into a mischievous smirk. "I have an idea..."

~*~

"Any minute now... any minute now." Sakura was seated on her desk, a bountiful amount of her shirt twisted in her fist.

Tomoyo bit her lip in concern, "Sakura, please, try to relax your mind. You'll never get anything done correctly if you bury yourself under all these 'problems' that you think will happen. Always think of the present, don't worry about the future."

Sakura nodded slowly, and just then she heard a voice over the speakers talk, "All the participants of the art competition please report to the art class. The art competition is about to commence."

Sakura, feeling a bit jumpy, quickly stood up from her seat and bolted straight out of the classroom. Tomoyo stumbled over many things in order to follow her, "Eek! Sakura, wait!"

~*~

"You have exactly one hour to finish your work, and after that, the judging shall be done."

Sakura swallowed hard as she heard the art teacher, Mrs. Higurashi, give the instructions. She looked at her paints and brushes with unhidden confidence. She could definitely do this. Sakura looked besides her and saw that Meilin was looking her way, a smug grin plastered on her face.

"Ready?"

Sakura gripped the thin brush in her hand.

"Begin!"

She began to paint. Gracefully, she dipped the hairs of the brush in the dark gray paint, and then began to slide it on the empty portrait in front of her. She smeared the paint in different forms of patterns. She was planning to paint a piece of nature from her mind. She was painting her secret place. Just the thought of it warmed her heart.

She was in complete concentration. Everyone was as silent as a stone.

It wasn't a stifling silence. It was more... relaxing. She loved it.

And she smiled in realization that nothing could go wrong.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!"

Sakura swore she jumped fifteen feet into the air. Her brush accidentally dipped into the wrong paint and smeared itself all over the work of art. After she settled down and breathed in deeply, she heard the Mrs. Higurashi scold the person who screeched as loud as a banshee. She didn't look at who made that sound at the moment, for she was too busy staring in dismay at her painting.

It was completely ruined.

'No, no, no. It's not ruined. This isn't happening,' Sakura, desperate to repair the painting that was going so well, grabbed a napkin and attempted to rub off the red paint that coated over the real paint. It only got worse. She felt her stomach had knots everywhere. Her eyes got moist.

She heard laughter, taunting in her ears. She then finally looked at the person, mouth dropping open as she saw who it was.

Syaoran.

He was practically on all fours, laughing and laughing. She saw Eriol and a few of his other friends give him high-fives. He then looked her way, his tawny eyes darkened by cruelness meeting her clouded jade ones. His lips curled into a maddening grin.

She felt the tears engorge her eyes. She couldn't help it. The tears spilled over. They ran down her cheeks and lips, making her taste nothing but salt. Her heart clenched painfully at the realization that all those days she had trained... those two months... wasted.

Even though she was still crying, she attempted to glare at him, but found that she couldn't take it anymore and she wiped away the tears ferociously. She sprung to her feet and ran out of the classroom, roughly brushing her shoulder against his in the way.

The sight of her crying made him feel... guilty, guilty beyond all reason. He watched as she ran out, emotions hidden in his eyes.

Meilin made her way towards him and clung onto him as if it were a life or death situation. Her ruby eyes gleamed with happiness, "Syaoran-kun, I won! My painting is going to represent Tomoeda!"

The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, his cheek aching painfully. Tomoyo had struck him, and hard. She glared at him with so much hate in those lilac eyes; it would've made him tremble if it wasn't for the fact that he was as stubborn as a mule.

"Don't you ever hurt Sakura like that again! You hear me? She's been training and working like a dog for two whole months and you shattered it all completely! She's already in a lot of pain; you just made her go through even more suffering! You would never know what she's going through..."

Tomoyo then dashed behind Sakura, calling out her name.

Syaoran lowered his head, his bangs shadowing his eyes. "Syaoran, you okay, man?" His friends were standing over him, slightly worried.

Syaoran sharply rose from the ground and treaded heavily down the hall.

~*~

Sakura sighed softly as she walked down the trail of the Cherry Blossom Park. She kicked up a bit of snow, her form trembling not from the cold, but from anger. The park was completely isolated, which made her calm down a tad bit.

Tomoyo had offered to accompany her to her home, but she had declined, wanting to have some time for herself. It angered her that everyone thought of her to be suicidal. She really wasn't! She just needed to cool off.

A cold breeze caused her long hair to sway back and forth. Yes, she loved the winter.

She passed by a few trees, her eyes never leaving the ground. She heard a few twigs snap, and she turned around to face whatever it was that was following her.

"Hey..."

Sakura stared at the form standing against the cherry blossom tree. She adjusted her book bag on her shoulder, her eyes filling with rage, "What are you doing here? Are stalking me, you bastard?"

Syaoran rammed his gloved hands into his coat pockets as she neared closer to him. "I just-"

"Do you enjoy watching me suffer? Do you somehow get some sick pleasure by making other people's lives miserable? Tell me what is it, Li-kun! Did you know that I want the best for that school? I try my hardest and practice very hard for the things I struggle to reach. I wanted my painting to represent Tomoeda! I hate you, I hate you!"

By now Sakura was crying again, red in the face from screaming and her eyes sore from her hot tears. Sakura lowered her head, sniffling and gasping at times. She felt a soft pressure on her shoulder. She quickly recoiled from his grasp, "Don't touch me!"

Her words cut deep into his heart and he had no idea why. He did not care for her at all. He despised her... he did. 'Then... why do I hate to see her cry so much?' He pondered this for several moments.

"What was your painting supposed to be of?"

Sakura snapped her head up, and shouted, "It's none of your business!"

There was a deadly silence lurking around them. Syaoran reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. He took her hand and gently placed it into her grasp.

Sakura gazed at him questionably.

Syaoran turned his face away, not understanding why he was feeling a bit flushed, "I-... I'm just soft on crybabies."

Sakura looked down at the handkerchief and then back up to him. She pressed the cloth against her cheeks, her tears now damp. She sniffed and then extended her hand out to him, the cloth in it.

Syaoran just shook his head, "You know what? You keep it. Just don't cry like that again." With that said, he started to walk away.

Sakura's eyes widened slightly, but then she scowled again. She placed her foot in front of his walking feet, smirking as he stumbled over her foot and then fell face-first onto the ground.

"Humph!" Sakura stepped over him triumphantly. "You deserve not only that, but a good 'ol beating as well! Maybe I should ask Tomoyo..."

Syaoran raised his head from the ground, his eye wide open, "No, not Daidouji!" He knew what that girl could do.

"You're not the boss of me!"

"Hey!"

~*~

A/N – Once again, sorry for the delay! nn; It may happen again. Anyways, please review for good 'ol Kira! ;_; She loves reviews.

Jaa!

~Pixie*Kira~