Jagged Amber

Chapter Four

Card Captor Sakura

*starjade*

Problems

" Li? Li!!"

Damn. He had almost forgotten that she was here.

Almost.

Syaoran opened his door with a bang. " What??" He yelled rudely.

Sakura stood before him, her fist raised. She lowered her fist slowly and grinned at him impishly. " You're not even ready yet! Get showered and get some nice clothes on quick!!"

Syaoran wanted to smack something, and if Sakura was a boy, she would have been dead pulp on the ground already. Nah, dead pulp was too nice. Maybe skinned and hacked and-

" Why the hell are you bossing me around?" Syaoran spit out.

Sakura lowered her voice, dramatically. " That's because I'm your.." She looked around carefully and said in a deathly voice.. " your tutor..."

She let out a barrage of giggles at Syaoran's confused face and Syaoran winced. "Fine! Just get the hell away from me!"

Sakura winked. " I'll meet you downstairs! Your mother's waiting downstairs as well..." She looked him up and down and Syaoran groaned, slamming the door in her face.

Sakura had been here for only three days and already, she had turned his life upside down. She wasn't one to give up, no matter how rudely Syaoran treated her. Meiling was even shocked that she was still here, and was still a cheerful ball of...I don't know, cheerfulness!

Syaoran clenched his teeth as he finished showering and threw on black jeans and a blue shirt. His mother was on her side, of course and was absolutely thrilled with the fact that Syaoran hadn't succeeded in scaring her away yet. Actually, it pretty much did the opposite. The meaner he was, the more...happy she was.

He stomped down the stairs making sure he didn't hold onto the banister for support. He always tried to challenge himself, see if he could cross an intersection just using his senses. The doctors all recommended dogs or walking sticks or surgery, but Syaoran had refused all of them. If this was his punishment he would carry it through, overcome it and proceed with his life, no matter what.

Yet as he was walking towards the kitchen, there was a fold in the rug and he was falling even before he knew it.

Suddenly, a warm hand caught him and straightened him out. Syaoran knew instantly who it was.

" Syaoran? You okay?" She asked, her voice concerned.

Syaoran flushed and hissed, " Get the hell away from me! I don't need your fucking help!"

With those words hanging between them like a taut cord, he ripped his arm away from her and continued down the hall, this time holding onto the wall. He'd rather look helpless then get any help from her.

In the kitchen, Syaoran was instantly surrounded by baking smells and an atmosphere of warmth. He almost relaxed as he made the familiar route towards the kitchen table and settled down into his chair. He knew that Meiling was beside him even before she grabbed his arm and pushed her body against his.

" Xiao-Lang!!" Meiling cried, joyously. " I hope you slept well!"

Syaoran gave her a menacing glare, but she hung onto him. " That Kinomoto loser came in and told everyone that you two were going someplace. I've never seen Auntie Yelan look so happy!"

" Great. Just great," Syaoran muttered under his breath as he felt Sakura bound into the room.

" Good morning everyone! Syaoran, eat quickly! We're going to leave in fifteen minutes!!" She said, cheerfully. No matter how much he tortured her, she still was so...ugh, cheerful. It annoyed him to no end.

Eating as slowly as he could, he was sad to see that he had finished, even though he had taken forty-five minutes . Getting up carefully from his seat, he grumbled, " I'm done. Do whatever torture you have planned for me quickly."

A tinkling laugh answered his grumble. " Took you long enough! I didn't know you were such a slow eater! Come on, then, get your coat and let's go! See you later, Yelan!"

His mother, a.k.a. traitor, laughed. " See you later, Sakura! Have fun, Xiao-Lang!"

Syaoran shot his mother a ice glare and went his way carefully to the front, grabbing his coat and going out the door without waiting for that insufferable brat.

She, however, was close behind and started to talk as if he was actually going to be interested in whatever she had to say. " It's a nice day, isn't it? Today, I'm going to try to combine all my tutoring. We're going for a walk in the park, and I'll show you all the interesting things there and you'll have to try and tell me what they mean in Japanese. Alright?"

Syaoran stopped and turned in her direction. " Look, girl, don't drag me along on some stupid nature walk pretending I'm one of those cold harsh people who are desperately in need of a psychologist and you come along like some angel ready to heal me. I've had all that shit and more. I don't need you. Got that?"

Expecting only shock, Syaoran crossed his arms and turned away from her. Maybe she'd cry and run off. She'd better not say nothing to his mother, or-

Suddenly, her voice came back, equally mirthless and angry. " Look, boy, don't try all that crap on me. Self pity doesn't get you nowhere and understand one thing. The whole world doesn't revolve around you. I'm not 'dragging you along on a nature walk' so I can be the one to prove everyone what a big fat softie you are, I'm doing this cause its my job. I don't really care if you're a softie or not. Got that??"

Syaoran turned around, shocked. " Excuse me?"

Sakura snapped, " Excuse yourself!! Now we are going on this nature walk and we are going to have FUN!"

Too shocked to protest, Syaoran just followed her down the street to the park. Never had he met such a girl. The preliminaries didn't chase her off. He'd have to move on to the big guns.

**********

" Now this is a flower bed. Say it after me. Kadan."

" Shut up."

" That was close. Try again."

" Get the hell away from me."

" Closer. Here. I'll repeat it. K-a-d-a-n."

" Shut up."

Sakura sighed. " Will you work with me?"

Syaoran glared. " No."

Inwardly, he was quite pleased at his progress. She was getting really frustrated and he knew after just a few more, 'shut ups' she'd be broken and be flying back to Japan or wherever she came from on the first flight out of here.

Sakura, however, had different ideas. " Alright. I want to meet this girl-"

Syaoran jerked. " Wha-Is there something you're not telling me?" Syaoran asked, slyly, the first bit of amusement showing on his face.

Sakura was silent. The slight upturn of his lips did a lot for his looks. Sakura could almost see someone who was really cute and handsome. Almost.

" No, loser. I'm supposed to meet up with my friend today and you can come along. As long as you don't act like...like....like you."

Syaoran almost laughed. " Uh huh. How about you go and I can leave?? That will make us both very happy and I won't need to hear your annoying voice anymore!!" He said this all in a very fake happy voice and Sakura glared at him.

" You're coming and that's it!" She demanded, and grabbed his arm, dragging him along. For the first time Sakura had known in all her four days working here, he had let her touch him. It was a funny feeling and Sakura buried it quickly underneath all her anger and fury at the spoiled boy.

She had a month and a half left before she was graded. She was determined to make some sort of a breakthrough with this rich little brat. Teach him to overcome his disability...in more ways than one.

**********

Sakura went up into the line at the counter to grab some coffee while they waited for Tomoyo. Syaoran had insisted on sitting down, because he didn't want to be seen with her. Gods, he was such a loser!

She gritted her teeth. He had whined and complained the whole time and some sort of shine in those cold eyes told her that he was doing it all on purpose. Damn him.

She took a deep breath, however and exhaled. She wouldn't let him get to her. She looked through the windows at Syaoran, who was sitting at a table on the outdoor patio. He just stood their, his eyes defocused, his arms crossed over his chest. His bangs gave him a sort of boyish look, but those amber eyes and cold mouth threw you off completely. He looked like the ice man. A very good looking ice man, but an ice man nonetheless.

Sakura felt a bit pressurized as she remembered the conversation she had had with Yelan yesterday. Yelan had talked to her a bit more about Syaoran's case, telling her about all the martial arts matches he had won, how competitive he was and how he never fought with words, but with his fists. If someone jeered at his disability, that man was a dead pulp in two seconds.

And she wanted Sakura to make him...normal, as Yelan had said, but Sakura saw nothing normal about him. He was bitter and cold, mean and insulting.

God, it was going to be a long six weeks.

As she got her order and stepped out of the store, she heard a voice leer, " Hey pretty thing."

Sakura felt cold and turned around and glared at the direction of the voice. It was a group of wannabe thugs. Great.

She turned around to head to Syaoran, but they had started hooting and yelling, " Where you going? Come on over! Let's get down, aight?"

Trying to ignore them, Sakura walked on, aware of the scene they were making. She could tell they were proud of the scene they were making, only making her flush even more.

One of them grabbed her arm and she was tempted to throw the coffee at his face. " Why you actin like such a bitch for, slut? You-"

" Excuse me."

Sakura jumped, startled at the icy voice. She turned around surprised and Syaoran was there.

The boy stopped, startled as well, but then laughed. He jeered, " Look, its that blind boy! He's trying to start with me!!"

The other boys burst into hoots and laughter and the boy never saw it coming. Syaoran launched out with a fist, slamming the boy in the face. Silence enveloped the cafe and the boy had blood running all over his face.

" Leave." Was all Syaoran said. The boy spit blood at him, and then turned and ran away, all his friends staring at Syaoran in shock. Which was what Sakura was doing as well.

As soon as they were all gone and the murmuring of the cafe customers began again, Sakura hissed, " What was that for??"

Syaoran walked back to his table and didn't answer.

" Syaoran! Why did you hit him?? I could handle those guys by myself, I do not need you being some sort of protector-" Sakura really did not mean to babble on, but her mind was still trying to contemplate what had just happened. Did Syaoran actually stand up for her??

Syaoran then growled, " I didn't do it for you. They were messing with Meiling before too, but I couldn't do anything about it. Now I did. This had nothing to do with you."

With that glare still on his face, Syaoran walked out of the cafe, Sakura staring after him. She yelled, " We're still not done our lesson!!" But he had already walked away.

Sakura felt her bones turn to mush and she collapsed onto her seat, setting the coffee down with a sigh. Great. She was the world's worst tutor. Instead of encouraging him and being nice to him, she yelled at him and insulted him. She couldn't even be nice and cheerful like she used to be!

But Syaoran just grated against her nerves like no other. He had a huge mansion, a career that didn't even need a great participation in school, he could probably drop out and still have all the money in the world. He had a family that loved him and he was pretty damn famous.

He had it all.

Sakura tried not to compare his life to hers. Her brother were struggling to provide for her, but Touya had his own family to take care of and her father was so sick. He was in the hospital and he seemed so old and worn out whenever she visited him. She had no career or interests. She had no idea what she wanted to be. She had to do good in school, yet her marks were...not satisfactory. She was destined to be an old crone living off her brother's money.

Sakura felt sadness film over her eyes, and she wished she had not thought of all her problems just yet. She was in Hong Kong! Living in a mansion!! Goodness, she was a lucky girl and here she was, pining after things that seemed so frivolous compared to other people's problems.

" Hey, Sakura!!"

The voice broke in through her thoughts and Sakura looked up into a someone's amethyst eyes. Sakura felt her heart lighten and she jumped from the table and hugged the girl hard.

" Hey, Tomoyo!! Thank god for a familiar face!!" Sakura squealed. " I've been in Hong Kong for four days and so much has happened!"

Tomoyo smiled and she sat down across from Sakura. " Tell me, then!"

Sakura felt warmth flood through her and she began to tell Tomoyo everything. Syaoran, his problems, the mansion, the Li family, her problems, the tutoring job that seemed destined to fail.

" And now, I just don't know how to get through to him!" Sakura said, frustrated.

Tomoyo smiled, gently. " Sakura, give him time. You've only been here for four days. You've got him at least talking to you, even if it is insults. That's a start. It's going to be a slow progress, but if your insistent, if you never give up, then you'll see changes."

Sakura was silent for a bit as Tomoyo giggled. " You didn't think that once you got off the plane, he'll see you and all of a sudden, he'll change into a nice boy, ready to learn Japanese with a soft heart and kindness dripping like waves off of him?"

Sakura sweat-dropped. " Not...exactly."

Tomoyo laughed. " Well, it's not going to do any good dwelling over this. Have you seen all the thrills of Hong Kong yet? "

Sakura shook her head. " Nobody has been able to show me around, I know the neighbourhood where Syaoran lives, but that's it."

Tomoyo gasped. " Well, here's your guide!! Let's go!"

Sakura giggled as Tomoyo grabbed her hand and pulled her outside, shouting, " First stop, the mall!!"

**********

Syaoran practiced his martial arts, this time wielding a staff. It was night time and only the few lamplights that were positioned outside lighted the way. Syaoran needed no light, but his mother seemed to have a sort of fear that if she couldn't see him, he had been kidnapped and dragged off to the other side of the hemisphere.

Thoughts from this morning kept on flooding through his head, making his moves jerky and unpractised. He growled deep in his throat again, as the most frequent thought floated through his head once more.

"-Self pity doesn't get you nowhere and understand one thing. The whole world doesn't revolve around you. I'm not 'dragging you along on a nature walk' so I can be the one to prove everyone what a big fat softie you are, I'm doing this cause its my job. I don't really care if you're a softie or not. Got that??"

He let out a yell as he did an air kick, trying to take out all his anger and frustration at the air around him. Then he felt that presence he knew was going to be there.

Every night since she had come, she sat there on the steps watching him as he practiced. It was quite unnerving and he said the same question he had asked every night, " Can you go and stop watching me? Leave!"


And she answered, just the same way as she answered every night. " I won't leave until you do."

a/n: HEY! How ya like this chapter? Pretty much wrote in a day, so be proud!! BE VERY PROUD! Ima slow updater, mostly cause I write when my mood feels like writing, and then I write the story that I feel like writing. I have lotz of stories and they all have different sort of plots, different sort of feelings.

But today, I felt like writing this story! Tell me what ya think, aight?

member, I love all ya reviews and I'm soo sorry that I can't respond to each one of ya reviews. I promise I'll make a huge thank you list at the end of this story, but if ya trust me ( which you probly don't..lol) knoe that I read every one and there are many responses I hold dear to ma heart. SO REVIEW!
I NEED YA TO!

See ya latez,

*starjade*