Jagged Amber

Card Captor Sakura

Chapter Five

*starjade*

School

It was Monday. A school day. The first day of school for Sakura. She was going to be put in the same classes as Syaoran and she knew from all the yelling and bashing going on in his room, he wasn't quite happy about it.

She had only been here for a week and a few days and already it seemed quite impossible to make any sort of change with Syaoran. She had no idea if he was learning any Japanese ( his only answer was shut up) and she could clearly tell that he had no social skills in his possession.

She had half a mind to grab the next flight back to Japan and just hand in another F to her teacher. But she never gave up and it made her miserable.

There were going to be other kids from her school coming to the Hong Kong school too, so she wouldn't be too alone. Tomoyo was also coming and that made Sakura happy.

It was just...she had to survive a full day with Syaoran!! God!! That would make anyone go crazy.

She walked down the stairs and ate breakfast silently. Yelan was sure happy about the non-existent progress she was making. Meiling still gave her death glares and when Syaoran stalked into the room, Meiling's face brightened.

" Xiao-Lang!" She squealed, latching herself onto his arm. " Sit beside me!"

Syaoran glared. " I always sit beside you. Not by choice."

Meiling let the insult slide by her as always. It was quite funny. She let Syaoran insult her as much as he wanted, but if anyone said a tiny remark, even if it was constructive criticism, she'd beat them into a bloody pulp.

Sakura took a deep breath and plastered a cheerful smile on her face. " So, Syaoran! Excited about school?"

Syaoran looked towards his mother. " Is there a dog barking, or is that just my hearing?"

Sakura bristled and Yelan scolded, " Xiao-Lang! Show some respect. She's your tutor."

" She's a curse." Syaoran cut in, coldly.

Sakura glared at Syaoran, the cheerful smile washed away. " God, could you not even let me have a semi-good morning?"

Syaoran smirked. " As long as you're here, there's no such thing as good mornings."
Sakura breathed in and out, holding back the biting responses that threatened to erupt from her mouth. " Well, you and me are just going to have to make my month here good! Since we're such good friends, I was thinking that I could come along to your martial arts thingy tomorrow."

Syaoran was the one who bristled. " It's not a freaking 'martial arts thingy'! It's a competition and I need to win and having bad luck there kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it? Go off and do the pathetic things you do and leave me alone."

Sakura turned innocently to Yelan. " What time is the martial arts thingy?"

Yelan smiled and looked a bit warily at Syaoran's smouldering face. " It's at one o'clock and Syaoran's the first fighter-"

" Great!!" Sakura cut in. " It can be a little family time too! We'll all go and cheer Syaoran on!"

Syaoran stood up, knocking his chair to the ground in his outrage. " WHAT? I will not have that thing come to the competition tomorrow, mother!!"

" Who are you calling a thing?" Sakura yelled.

Syaoran put a dumb face on. " Uh, I don't know, YOU?"

Sakura hissed, " Well, I am coming along, and I will be cheering you on, and you'd better APPRECIATE it!"

With that, she grabbed her backpack and stormed out of the kitchen. Meiling was grinning happily and Syaoran looked angrier then ever. He got up and put a hand out to balance himself as he got his backpack. Yelan moved to help him, but he jerked away from her.

" Why did you hire that girl?" He growled. " She's ruining my life even more than it already has been ruined."

Yelan opened her mouth to protest but he had stormed out of the door and Meiling followed after him, looking worriedly at Yelan.

Yelan put a hand on her forehead and sat down, sighing. She had a feeling that Sakura could make some sort of a change in her son. She knew he felt guilty about the car crash, but if he lived his whole life they way he was living it right now, he would never be happy.

*********

Sakura stood in the middle of the crowded hallway, trying to figure out the schedule. The Principal had asked Syaoran to show her around to her classes, since they had all the same classes, but he had left her the minute they were outside the office.

She had been searching vainly for Tomoyo, but she couldn't find her anywhere. She saw a few of the other kids from her school in Tomoeda, all of them talking cheerfully to the people they were assigned to tutor.

Why had she been given such a hard case, Sakura thought mournfully. She didn't know any of the people from her school very well and they were as strange to her as the rest of the people in the school.

The crowds were disappearing and soon, she was left alone in the middle of the hallway , still trying to find Room 208.

" Are you lost?"

Sakura jumped at the voice and whirled around. A pair of twinkling navy blue eyes smiled at her and she smiled back, flushing a bit.

" I'm one of the tutors from Japan and I'm trying to find Room 208." Sakura said gratefully.

The boy grinned. " I'm going there right now. Care to follow?"

Sakura nodded, and followed the boy down the hallways. He talked the whole way they were walking, telling her about the school and the extra-circular activities there were. Sakura was glad they had a cheerleading squad here, but knew there was no point in signing up, for the fact that she was only going to here for a month or so.

" Here we are!" The boy said. " Who are you tutoring, by the way?"

Sakura coughed. " A boy named Li, Syaoran. Do you know him?"

The boy's eyes widened and he let out a laugh. " Do I know him? Oh god, I feel sorry for you!"

Sakura glanced at him confusedly, but before she could ask him anything, he put out a hand and said, " By the way, my name is Hiirigizawa Eriol. If you need any help, just call me okay?"

Sakura grinned. " Okay. My name is Kinomoto Sakura."

Eriol motioned towards the door. " Shall we?"

Sakura bit her lip and nodded as Eriol opened the door. She walked in tentatively.

" Your late!" The teacher said.

Eriol bowed. " I know, this new girl was lost and I showed her the way to the classroom. She's one of the new tutors from Japan."

The teacher's face softened. " Oh, you must be Li Syaoran's tutor, right?"

At those words, the class instantly focused on her. She could feel waves of surprise, amusement and jealousy. She wondered why they were all shocked to see that she was Syaoran's tutor. How important was Syaoran, really?

She noticed, finally, Syaoran sitting in the back, his gaze directed to the windows. His arms were crossed and an expression of utter disgust and annoyance on his face. No different from any other time, but Sakura wondered what it'd be like to see Syaoran smile. Just once. That would be the day Sakura left for Japan.

" Well, introduce yourself to the class!" The teacher prodded as Eriol went to his seat.

Sakura coughed. " Uh....My name is Kinomoto Sakura. I'm from Japan. Uh....Tomoeda Japan. Uh....I'm in your grade. And...uh...yah."

The teacher rose her eyebrows. " O-kay, you can go sit next to Mr. Li. There's a seat empty right there beside him. Alright, class, open up you textbooks to page 449..."

Sakura made her way towards Syaoran who had a more murderous look than she had ever seen before. She settled into her desk and coughed to make her presence known. There really was no point, for Syaoran always knew when she was around. It was like some sixth sense or something.

" Hey Syaoran," She whispered as the teacher turned to write some equations on the board. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

Syaoran growled and retorted, " Shut up."

Sakura sighed. " I really don't know why your being rude to me. Doesn't it get tiring? Your stuck with me all day. And not just all school day. I'll be coming home with you. And then you have lessons with me. And then even at night, your going to be sleeping in the room right next to mine. And then-"

" SHUT UP!" Syaoran yelled. " SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Sakura snickered as the teacher and the class whirled towards him. " Syaoran? Do you have something to discuss with the rest of the class?"

Syaoran glared at Sakura, and growled, " No."

The teacher looked between them and shook her head. " Then get back to work."

Syaoran let out his breath, and inched his desk away from hers. Sakura noticed that he had a white book in front of him instead of textbooks like everyone else. His fingers raced across raised bumps before he wrote something down on the sheet. He was reading Braille.

Sakura looked at him surprised. Syaoran was blind, she knew that. But he never showed that he had that disability more than he had to. It occurred to her that Syaoran must have a hard time at school. having to read Braille instead of textbooks. Having to be stuck in crowded hallways. Not even knowing what the teacher was writing on the board.

Did that affect his marks?

Sakura sneaked a look at his paper and her eyes widened. He was almost done the two pages of math exercises that the teacher had assigned and the period had hardly begun!! Sakura stared at him incredulously. This should be on Ripley's Believe it or Not-

" Ms. Kinomoto. Is there something interesting about Syaoran's face that is causing you to stare at him for the whole period?"

Sakura whirled back to the front, two blotches of red appearing on her cheeks. She could hear Syaoran snickering this time but it wasn't only him, it was the whole class that was laughing at her. She flushed hard and murmured, " No, sensei."

" Then get back to work! Really, you two. Concentrate!"

So she did for the rest of the class, and tried not to look at Syaoran again, even though she was sorely tempted to. She had to chase him out of the class and she followed him quite closely to the next class.

He walked fast, his books tucked under his arm and didn't seem to get into any trouble bumping into anyone, but he did walk close to the wall. Many, many people stopped him in the hallway to clap his back or say something like, " Yo! My man!!" But he just gave them a cold glance and walked on.

It occurred to Sakura that she wasn't the only girl following him closely. Flocks of girls in groups were staring after him, their mouths open in pure adoration. It was quite sickening. Sakura shook her head. They would never last one day living with him!

Other teachers weren't as nice as the first one. If they caught anyone talking, they would have to stand outside or be prepared for a major dressing down. Sakura was relieved when lunch came. She had to sit beside Syaoran the whole three periods before lunch and man, the glares and knowing glances from the class made her more uncomfortable than anything.

She did follow him to lunch however, making sure he didn't trip or anything. It was her duty as a tutor, so she had to.

Finally, at lunch she saw Tomoyo for the first time. She let out a squeal and raced to her friend, who jumped from the table she was sitting at to give her a huge hug.

" Sakura!" Tomoyo said breathlessly. " I was hoping I'd see you today, but we have different classes for all the three periods. What do you have after lunch?"

Sakura thought. " P.E."

" So do I!!" Tomoyo said happily. " Finally! A class together!"

Sakura grimaced. "And with Syaoran too."

Tomoyo giggled. " Oh, you have all your classes with him don't you?"

Sakura nodded, sighing as she sat down across from Tomoyo. " You don't know how hard it is. You can't talk to him at all. It seems all we do is insult each other. How am I going to get through to him in a month? This seems so impossible."

Tomoyo smiled. " Nothing is impossible. Syaoran....he's been through a lot of hard times. You can't force him to see things your way. And besides, he's not a very expressive person. If he's feeling differently, he probably won't show it."

Sakura stared at her and groaned. " Great. So I have no idea if I'm making any progress at all. Look, I'm going to get some lunch. You coming?"

" Alright," Tomoyo said and they both stood in line. After getting their lunches, they walked back to their table. Just as Sakura was walking forward, a girl she didn't even notice stuck her foot out and tripped her. With a cry, she fell forward, the tray flipping and landing on her head. The lunch room burst into laughter.

" Owww!" Sakura cried as the milk carton burst on her head and all the day's spaghetti dripped from her clothes. Tomoyo kneeled down and helped her get up as the girl who had tripped her snickered.

" Watch where your going!" The girl sneered. " Actually, watch who you're talking to. Syaoran's mine."

Sakura gaped at her. " What the hell are you talking about?"

The brunette girl just rolled her eyes before giving her dirty look and walking away. The whole lunch room was laughing at her and Sakura flushed hard. Tomoyo grabbed Sakura's hands and led her out of the lunchroom and towards the washroom.

Sakura gasped as she saw herself in the mirror and whined, " I'll never get these spaghetti stains out.." As she pulled the noodles out of her hair.

Tomoyo shook her head as she helped her get the noodles off. " That girl is a bitch, pure and straight. She's been after Syaoran....or actually, Syaoran's looks and money ever since the beginning of high school. It's rather pathetic."

" So why the hell did she trip me for?" Sakura asked confusedly.

Tomoyo spread her hands out. " Why else? Your part of the female species, your LIVING in the same house as him and your tutoring him, pretty much, spending your whole day with him. Half the girls in this school would kill for your position."

Sakura blinked at her. " What the hell? They could HAVE my position. I never asked for him! God, if I had a choice, I'd have anyone else but him!! He's the worst person to tutor!"

Tomoyo giggled. " Tell that to the female species of this school!"

Sakura groaned and wiped away the last of the spaghetti. " I'll have to go change. God, this is the worst day ever."

Tomoyo's eye brightened. " Here, I happen to have an extra change of the uniform! Come, let's go!"

Sakura blinked at her. " Happen to have??"

Tomoyo smiled. " I'm what you call...a fashion expert." She led her out to the hallway and to a locker.

" Voila!" Tomoyo cried and Sakura gaped. Her whole locker had clothes in it, some even put up for display.

" It's not much now, but whenever someone needs it, my services will be quite useful," Tomoyo said at Sakura's shock.

Sakura squealed and went to hug Tomoyo but then remembered all the spaghetti stains and grinned at her instead. " You, my friend, are a lifesaver!"

Tomoyo smiled. " That's what they all say!"

***********

Sakura went out as Syaoran was practicing his martial arts again. It was night time and he was once again wearing those black baggy pants and the sleeveless black shirt. He whirled around a staff, practicing twice as hard now, probably cause the competition was coming up tomorrow.

Breathing hard, he went to the water bottle he had placed on the steps where Sakura was sitting. His hand fumbled for it and Sakura gave it to him. He glared at her, his amber eyes narrowing in anger.

" What the hell are you doing here?" He growled.

Sakura grinned. " What I do every night. I'm watching you practice."

Syaoran groaned. " Can I get a minute alone without having you tag along everywhere?"

Sakura shook her head. " Nope."

Syaoran went and grabbed his staff again. Sakura said, offhandedly, " You seem to have a lot of admirers at school."

Syaoran was silent, as he once again started to whirl the staff around in a complex move.

" One of them tripped me at lunch and I got spaghetti all over myself. She told me to stay away from you."

Syaoran couldn't seem to hold in his snicker. " This is probably the first time one of them actually made sense. Take her advice."

Sakura giggled. " I'm sorry, Syaoran, I'm here whether you like it or not. I'll be at your martial arts thingy tomorrow as well. Good luck!"

Syaoran groaned as if he had forgotten. he probably had. Ah well, nothing like the satisfaction of reminding Syaoran about Sakura's plans.

" It's not a martial arts thingy!" Syaoran yelled, frustrated. "Can you go and stop watching me? Leave!"

" I'm won't leave until you do," Sakura replied, amusement clear in her voice.

Syaoran ran a hand through his hair and dropped the staff with an outraged yell and stomped inside the house. " You just have to make my life worse don't you?" He yelled at her as he stomped up the stairs to his room.

Sakura, who had followed him in, smiled and yelled back, " You haven't even seen the worst of it yet!"

a/n: Hi! Wat up? I love all the reviewers, you guys are real nice! Any suggestions or anything? What do you think will happen at this 'martial arts thingy' Tell me your opinions aight in a REVIEW! or email!!!

see ya latez,

*starjade*