Yet another story idea! Sorry, guys, but updates could be slow, because I am not a person with lots of free time. During summer, I have summer school, to get an extra credit, and I'm on the Air Riflery Team, so I get to spend an hour shooting at a piece of paper. Anyway, here's the full summary:

Syaoran and Eriol are the most popular guys in school. They're also on the football team. Sakura and Tomoyo are the best cheerleaders and singers in the school. The whole school thinks they should go out, but they hate each others guts. Or, rather, Sakura and Tomoyo hate Syaoran, who hates them back, but Eriol's an enigma. AU, everything's a little different, except the age differences set in the books. S + S and E + T all the way! With a few problems, of course.

The Magical Thread of Fate

Chappie 1: A (not so) brief introduction to the new Tomoeda

"Yo, Sakura, wake up! You've got classroom chores today, remember?" Kero was right in Sakura's face.

"HOE!" Sakura sent Kero flying. "Kero-chan, don't scare me like that! Wait a minute, did you say class chores! I'M GONNA BE LATE!" Getting her uniform on as quickly as possible, run downstairs, get some breakfast, and put her rollar blades on. "I'm going now!" She called to her father and brother as she went to school as quickly as possible. When she got there, she quickly changed into her school shoes and put her roller blades in her locker. Running up the stairs, she paused in front of her classroom door.

"Oof! Stupid balloon! Can't you stay put? Next year, I am not getting all of them a balloon! They'll have to settle for one between the four of them . . ." She heard someone muttering inside the classroom. She opened the door and saw the least popular girl in the school that Syaoran sometimes hung out with.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked, walking in.

"Getting ticked off at these stupid inventions . . . oh, I didn't realize who I was talking to. I'm . . ."

"Kakuo, Hikaru. Everyone knows about you."

"They do? Dammit, I knew I shouldn't have joined the team . . ." Hikaru started muttering to herself, and Sakura couldn't help but giggle. "Huh? What's so funny?" The confused look on Hikaru's face made Sakura giggle even more.

"Everyone knows you as . . . the least popular . . . in school." Sakura was laughing now. "But, for being so unpopular, you . . . you're really funny!"

"Why does everyone I actually get around to talk to say that?" She looked frustrated. "First those four, then their stupid younger brother, then the entire family, now you! Ugh, this isn't my year!" That comment made Sakura laugh even harder. Hikaru rolled her eyes, steered Sakura to a seat, sat her down, and started doing some of the class chores. When Sakura sobered up a little, she started doing the chores as well. Then Tomoyo came bursting in, face red with rage.

"The nerve of him! I am not going to walk with him to school! I won't even . . ."

"Spend two little minutes talking to me?" Eriol walked in. "Oi." He walked over to Hikaru, who stopped, but didn't turn around. He put his fist on her head. "You're short."

"I AM NOT SHORT!" She turned around and yelled, face big, body small, you know how it goes. All three people shrank away from her. "And why are popular people talking to me? If this is one of their stupid tricks, I am so not sleeping over this weekend." She muttered, wiping the board.

"You're not bailing this weekend. Sisters' orders. You know they'll hunt you down, and then blame me for not keeping you on a leash." Li walked in.

"You're sleeping over . . ."Sakura started.

"At HIS house!" Tomoyo finished.

"Oh, Why isn't anyone leaving me alone today! I just wanna crawl into my dark corner and live an unimportant life, no big attention or anything! Jeez, is that that hard to ask for! This is all your fault, Xiao Lang!" Hikaru pointed a piece of chalk at him. Eriol ducked.

"Watch out, Syaoran, she's got a weapon." He whispered. Hikaru glared at him. Next thing the boys new they were outside the classroom, the door slammed shut behind them.

"Stay out until lunch! And leave me alone!" Sakura and Tomoyo were looking at her wierdly. "Worst day of my life. Wait a minute, that was ten years ago. Second worst day of my life." She muttered to herself as she cleaned homeroom.

"Oh, sorry! I'll help!" Sakura got up and did her chores.

"Man, I don't get it. First Trimester went by so fast, and I never noticed how cool you were." Hikaru sighed.

"WHY ME!"

"Ms. Kakuo. Ms. Kakuo!" The teacher slapped a yardstick on Hikaru's desk, effectively waking her up. "Now that you've properly joined us, the principal has requested you go to his office. He says to take all of your things with you."

"That time already? Wait, it's only 12. What?" She said sleepily. Sakura and Tomoyo looked worriedly at her; Eriol and Li were shaking their heads.

"The Principal's office. Now."

"Yes, ma'am!" Hikaru gathered her stuff and zoomed out of the classroom, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw who was in the hallway. The last two rows could still see her, including S, S, E, and T. (Sorry, getting lazy) They leaned back to get a better view. Hikaru stood there with her mouth agape.

"You weren't supposed to go to school today. You were supposed to help . . ." He stopped, closed the door, and escorted her outside. The class didn't get to see who it was. "You were supposed to help setup for tomorrow's concert." He finished.

"Oh, that's why I was having a bad day. But, I had cleaning duty today, and I have to be there after school!"

"That we can arrange. You're excused for being late, by the way." He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. She caught him, and looked the other way.

"Why did you pick me up? Aren't you afraid you'll get recognized?" They were almost at the car. Ordinary looking, but cool red convertible.

"Nobody recognized you without the foundation. Why would they recognize me? I'm careful not to dress the way I do onstage." They got in, him driving.

"That doesn't tell me why you picked me up." She looked over at him. Since the roof was down, she had her hands in her lap to keep her skirt from flying up. He didn't look over at her; instead, he kept driving until they arrived at a studio. Hikaru was angry by then. "Hello! Why . . ." He leaned over and kissed her square on the lips. Hikaru's cheeks turned bright pink. After a moment, he pulled away. "Oh . . ." There was an awkward silence.

"We should go in and get ready." He stated.

"Hey." Hikaru said, making him pause as he got out. "Are we gonna . . . are we gonna do that . . .onstage?" She asked, looking at her feet.

"I . . .I'm not sure. If our managers say to, then we'll have to." He cleared his throat.

"I'll . . . I'll see you later, then." She got out of the car and walked quickly past him.

"See ya, Hikaru." Her name rolled off his tongue. Shaking his head, he walked in after her, but went down a different hallway.

-School-

"You're dismissed. Report back in one hour and we'll resume class." Everyone rushed out of the classroom to lunch.

"I wonder why she had to leave early? Man, do I have to clean up after school all by myself?" Sakura huffed.

"I'm sure she didn't mean to abandon you, Sakura. Haven't you noticed that sometimes she leaves school early?" Tomoyo cheered Sakura up.

"Yeah. And this morning, it was so weird, it was like she was really cool. But, she doesn't seem to want to be popular. I wonder why?" Sakura thought aloud.

"That's exactly what we've been trying to find out." Eriol popped up out of nowhere. The reaction to his appearance was two slaps, one from each girl.

"Wasn't asking you!"

"Seriously. I've been trying to figure it out ever since my sisters brought her half alive to the house ten years ago."

"What do you mean, half alive? Don't joke about stuff like that!" Sakura was close to exploding.

"No joke. I remember coming home, and there was all this rain and thunder outside. It was so wet outside, and Mother said my sisters were still out. She was going to have me look for them when they appeared, dragging a girl with them. She was covered in burns, bruises, and lots of blood and soot. She didn't regain consciousness until a week later, and even then it was only for a few minutes. My sisters said her house was on fire, but I don't know anything else. She comes over on the weekends, but I think my stupid sisters know something and are blackmailing her to come."

"And where was this? There hasn't been a storm like that in Japan for a long time." Tomoyo wasn't happy.

"Hong Kong, where I was born. Didn't you know? Hikaru used to live in Hong Kong until ten years ago." Li gave Sakura a look, and she glared at him before turning on her heel and stormed off, Tomoyo on her trail.

"You seriously don't know anything else?" Eriol asked, a mysterious tone in his voice.

"Nope. Everyone else in the family seems to know, but nobody will tell me. Wait, don't tell me you know, too!"

"I know a little bit about an event that happened ten years ago, but I don't know if it concerns her. Let's bug your sisters this weekend. Oh, and did you hear about the concert this weekend?"

"Concert? . . . No way, you don't mean . . .?"

"Big Bang and Goth Goddess, baby! They're doing a combined concert tomorrow. Goth Goddess is so hot, isn't she!" They were so absorbed in their conversation that they didn't notice Sakura and Tomoyo glare at them.

"I sooooo hope they don't plan on going to that concert!" Sakura grumbled.

"You know, I didn't get tickets from mom. And they're probably sold out by now . . ."

"And those two jerks are going to rub it in if we don't go. We need to come up with a plan to go to the concert!"

"Yeah!" So they put their heads together and started brainstorming. Sadly, no light bulb blinked for them, so they returned to their classroom at the end of lunch pretty down.

-Later-

"Kinomoto! Sorry I'm late!" Hikaru came into the classroom a few minutes after school ended. "I got tied up in something, and . . . and time flew by so fast, and . . . um, is something wrong?" She noticed Sakura and Tomoyo were looking kinda down.

"A really cool concert, and Tomoyo's mom couldn't get tickets, that's what! Life is sooooo cruel!"

"For Big Bang and Goth Goddess?" Tomoyo and Sakura gaped as she took out two tickets. "I don't need these, so you can have them!" She smiled. They just gaped at her for a second, then slowly took the tickets.

"No way . . ." Sakura started.

"Prime seats! Way cool! How did you get these?" Tomoyo and Sakura looked at her expectantly.

"Oh, I, uh, I got them from a friend who's gonna be out of town, so she didn't need them, that's all. And, besides, I can always watch it on TV later." Someone opened the door to the classroom.

"You got half an hour before dad gets here." A boy told her, then walked out.

"I thought I was walking today?" She leaned out of the door and called after him.

"Nope. Dad wants you to eat dinner with us tonight. See you later." He waved.

"This was all part of your plan, wasn't it? Fine, I'll be there. Just tell the Li sisters why I'm not coming."

"Taken care of already!" He walked down the stairs.

"What was that about? Was he your brother or something?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, no, he's my landlord's son, that's all. Usually, I come over to their place on Wednesdays, but I wonder what's up?" She started cleaning, humming a tune. Sakura was working too, but she and Tomoyo recognized that tune.

"You listen to Goth Goddess, don't you?" Hikaru froze.

"Uh, yeah, sometimes. That's my favorite song, and it's always stuck in my head." She continued cleaning.

"Are you sure you don't want these tickets?" Tomoyo asked.

"Quite sure! It's all right, don't worry about! I hear there's going to be a big surprise tomorrow, and I think all of the popular people should get to see it."

"What's the big surprise?" Sakura and Tomoyo asked, really interested.

"Dunno. It's gonna be big, from what I've heard." She shrugged.

"By the way, how old is that guy? Your landlord's son?" Sakura asked.

"Who, Dante? He's a third year over at a private school. Why?" Hikaru was blushing, but she wasn't facing the two girls.

"That's quite a catch you have, Miss I-don't-want-to-be-popular." Sakura teased.

"What do you mean! He isn't going out with anyone!"

"The way you two were flirting, and the way you talk around him, you sooooo like him! And he seems to like you!" Tomoyo caught on.

"That's not true! I . . . we weren't . . . we aren't . . ." Hikaru stammered.

"Well then, it's only a matter of time, before he asks you out!" Sakura said cheerfully. Hikaru's face was beet red now.

"I, uh . . . I gotta go. His dad should be here by now, so I . . . yeah, sorry to have to bail, but . . ." She grabbed her things and ran out to the car waiting outside.

"Yep, she likes him." Sakura smiled.

"And you know what that means!" Tomoyo beamed.

"If they don't get together by this weekend . . ."

"Then we step in and push them together!" Tomoyo finished for Sakura.

"Operation Matchmaker has begun! Hikaru Kakuo will have a boyfriend and will be elevated to popular status by next week!" Little did they know that making her popular would also put Hikaru's life in danger, as well as their's.