Renegades and Retorts

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Summary: In a world where money means everything, five sisters are constantly under pressure from their mother to marry into a rich family. The arrival of a rich gentleman and his friend in their neighborhood cause quite a stir… Based loosely on Pride and Prejudice.

Author's Note: Here we are, it's time for round two of RR. I've edited and completely revamped this story. Several characters' personalities have been changed, and I've also inserted a much-missed canon character. There is the addition of several non-canon characters as well, and if you've read PP, then you should know whom they represent. All in all, it's a different plotline, a different sort of heroine, and a different sort of writing style. It also adheres more to Austen's PP.

Part One

Chapter I

Kinomoto Fujitaka sat in the library, reading placidly. It was only an hour after dawn, but the earliness of the day did not bother Fujitaka, for he had always been an early riser.

He dipped his toast in the coffee and brought it to his mouth, crunching the bread soundly.

All was peaceful all was quiet, except for the incessant, wheedling voice importuning his concentration…

"…And, of course, he's very wealthy! Just imagine, a wealthy young man in our neighborhood, oh! I am absolutely aflutter with delight…"

"I can certainly see that," Fujitaka remarked, casting an ironic eye at his wife Nadeshiko, who was currently hovering over his shoulder. "Now, my dear, what would you like me to do? I can imagine that only a situation of utmost importance would merit your being awake at such an early hour as this."

Nadeshiko glowed happily. Fujitaka was really quite a wonderful husband; she would never stop marveling at his cleverness! How did he guess that, in coming to his library early in the morning, she had motive other than wishing him good health and good morning! How possibly could he know such a thing! Although they had been married for over thirty years, she still could not help gasping at his utter astuteness…

"Yes, my dear?" Fujitaka prompted before his wife became too silly over his acute mental facilities.

"Well, Mr. Kinomoto," said Nadeshiko dramatically, "I would like you to pay a visit to this young gentleman to further our daughters' prospects."

Fujitaka uttered a laugh. It was nothing less than what he'd expected.

Nadeshiko squealed. Did her husband's laugh signal an affirmative?

Fujitaka smiled, almost pityingly. He was getting his poor wife's hopes up.

"Well, my dear Mrs. Kinomoto, we shall have to see about that particular mission." He rustled the newspapers and buried his face in them, hiding his amused expression.

Nadeshiko's happy expression dropped like a dead fly in heat.

"Oh, but Mr. Kinomoto! You must hurry and seize this opportunity! Make yourself and your daughters known to the young man before any other women do! Oh, I am sure that Lady Terada, that most cruel and conniving woman, must have already convinced Sir Terada to see Mr. Hiragizawa. Come, Mr. Kinomoto, you must visit him and invite him to dinner before anyone else does!"

Fujitaka smiled at the papers. His wife was as amusing as she was annoying.

He lifted his face from his reading and looked at her, shaking his head while still smiling. "Well, if I do go, then I will most definitely express my approval for our Kura, and hope that this wealthy gentleman will choose her over all the others." Hiding his head among his papers again, he shook silently with mirth as he imagined Nadeshiko's outraged face.

"Absolutely not! Kura is nowhere near to immortal beauty as our Tomoyo is. Ohhhh, Mr. Kinomoto, you try my patience so! Have you no empathy for my poor, racked mental state!" Nadeshiko shook her head and would have continued to bemoan her state had not Fujitaka shaken his head emphatically.

"I assure you, my dear, I have as much empathy for your tortured mental state as I can muster, but as long as you continue to torture my mental state, I shall never take it upon myself to relieve yours of its pain. Leave me, please." As Fujitaka rustled his newspapers with a sense of finality, doom seemed to descend upon his wife.

"Hmph!" She sniffed and retired from his presence, seeking consolation in the company her daughters.

Fujitaka merely chuckled, more out of exasperation than relief. "Oh most foolish woman," he murmured quietly.

---

The next day, Fujitaka joined his family in the parlor after breakfast with a most buoyant and mysterious air.

Nadeshiko acknowledged his presence with an offended sniff. She turned away from him and began to examine the progress of her favorite daughter, Tomoyo, as the girl snipped a piece of fabric from the hem of an old dress.

"Careful does it, my dear…now, watch it," said Nadeshiko, bending over her daughter's handiwork and pretending to take no notice of Fujitaka at all.

Fujitaka merely smiled and turned to his favorite, Sakura, as she was mending a rip in her favorite green hat.

"Leave that be for now, my love. I scarcely think you shall need it for the ball tomorrow," he remarked placidly as he sat down on a comfortable velvety armchair.

"Ooh, Papa! A ball? How have you managed to find that out, and why have you been so dilatory in relaying that news to us?" Chiharu, his youngest daughter, sat up sharply from the game of chess she had been playing with her older sister Meiling.

Naoko, the only plain one in the family, looked up from a lengthy tome on music and stared at her father. "Yes, do tell, sir, what is this news of a ball?"

With all (or most) of the eyes of his ravishing family members upon him, Fujitaka smiled indulgently and began.

"Well my dears," he said as he took out his pipe from a box and began cleaning it, "there apparently is to be some sort of dance over at the Teradas' tomorrow, in honor of the newly arrived young men over at the Kokoro estate."

Nadeshiko raised her miserable eyes to her husband. "Well, Mr. Kinomoto, it has been done. Lady Terada has hooked her devious claws onto Mr. Hiragizawa, and we shall have no more chances of entertaining him."

Fujitaka smiled. "Well, Mrs. Kinomoto, how very interesting that you should speak of entertainment. For, when I asked him, most graciously over tea yesterday, whether he had any engagements for the day after the morrow, and, when he signaled to the negative, whether he would be so kind as to join us for dinner that day, he accepted with grateful alacrity. I think we shall have plenty of opportunity for entertainment."

Sakura's gasp of astonishment was lost in Mrs. Kinomoto's and her sisters' cries of delight.

"Oh, Mr. Kinomoto, how sudden! It was wonderful of you to go over yesterday afternoon, I wondered where you had gotten to, but dared not hope. Yet you have been quiet on this matter; to spring such news on us now when we were least expecting it is devilish and naughty. Have you no thought at all for my mental state?" Nadeshiko's voice was reproving, but her eyes betrayed her joy.

"I assure you, my dear, I have given much thought to your mental state," Fujitaka said, rolling his eyes as Sakura giggled.

---

The day passed quickly, what with Mrs. Kinomoto's exclamations on the sorry state of her daughters' wardrobes presiding over everyone else's nervousness and hopes.

Sakura watched her mother scurry about the room with amusement and quirk of her lips.

"Kura, you had better wear your dark olive gown," her mother said distractedly before throwing up her hands, and not too early, for Sakura had wrinkled her nose at the prospect of wearing such a drab color. "No, no, what have I just said! You must wear your pink gown," Nadeshiko said, pulling a horrid bright pink taffeta gown from the closet, "and your lacy green petticoat. Such apparel likens your resemblance to a cherry blossom, does it not?"

Sakura stared distastefully at the voluminous gown in her mother's arms. Then she burst into a fit of giggles, imagining herself tripping on her gown mid-curtsey to Mr. Hiragizawa.

Nadeshiko threw up her hands in exasperation. "I wash my hands of your affairs, Kura," she said, rushing off to attend to Meiling's hair.

Sakura continued to giggle while her more somber sister smiled gently.

"Tafetta, and pink too! Imagine me in such an awful dress, Tomoyo. I'd be the laughingstock of the ball," Sakura intoned. She picked up the dress and examined the neckline. "And look, so high and stuffy! I'd look like a dry old maid in this."

Tomoyo smiled. "Why don't you wear my lilac colored dress, Sakura? You'd look lovely in it."

Sakura giggled again. "No, no, love, lilac is for you. I think I'll go with the copper colored gown, it's much safer." She pranced out of the room, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl and singing a Scottish air.

---

Soon, and not too soon, the night of the ball arrived, and the girls were hustled into the coach with much ado.

Giggling and chattering with her sisters, Sakura felt giddy, ensconced between Tomoyo and Meiling. This would be the first time she rubbed shoulders with rich gentlemen. She knew they would be far superior to the village louts, and so looked forward to the ball. But, because of their high status, would they be stuffy and unbearable?

The coach pulled up in the driveway, and the sisters alighted from the carriage. Sakura strolled up the walkway of her friend Rika's home, her anticipation heightening.

When she arrived on the ballroom floor, she first looked desperately for her friend, Rika Terada, then spotted her standing near the refreshments table. Sakura grinned and headed over to her, pressing through the surging and dancing crowd.

"Kura! There you are," Rika said as she spotted her friend.

Sakura smiled brilliantly. "I'm here, you're here, but where is that pair of unfortunate individuals who are about to be assaulted by the fortune-hunting multitude?"

Rika shrugged. "Oh, they haven't arrived yet. You know the spanking-rich, they like to go for the grand effect."

Sakura laughed at this assessment and continued chatting with her friend, exchanging mild gossip and amusing tales.

---

About halfway through the night, when everyone in the countryside neighborhood had arrived, the great door to the ballroom suddenly opened.

Sakura, who had been dancing a lively gavotte, suddenly stopped. All activity ceased as a pathway was cleared through the throng of people. Sakura spotted her sister and Rika standing together, and, excusing herself from her partner, walked quickly towards them.

Reaching their side, she whispered in Rika's ear, "What is going on?" For everyone had become silent.

Rika was about to reply, but she was cut off as five people stood on the threshold of the room, their figures seemingly regal and imposing.

Sakura raised her eyebrows as the five walked into the ballroom. She heard murmurs as a smiling, cerulean-haired gentleman led the party down the hall and towards Sir Terada, who introduced the five of them one by one. Sakura soon learned that the one with blue hair was Mr. Eriol Hiragizawa, that he was most delighted to be in the country, and, through Rika's whispering in her ear, that he had an annual income of about five thousand pounds, a most awesome fortune. Sakura smiled. He certainly was quite eligible what with his money and agreeable, handsome countenance, but Sakura felt the aforementioned brownie points pale in comparison to his engaging, open demeanor.

Sir Terada introduced two ladies as Mr. Hiragizawa's sisters, Ms. Hiragizawa and Mrs. Nonako, whose husband Mr. Nonako was also introduced to the gathered people. Sakura did not think much of those three, as much of the two ladies' beauty was obscured by their hauteur. Mr. Nonako was looking about the crowd in a disinterested way until his eyes lit up at a certain something. Sakura followed his gaze to the banquet table. Suppressing a giggle, she shook her head amusedly.

"And this, friends, is Mr. Syaoran Li of Osaka," Sir Terada announced importantly.

What praise and interest Sakura had heard the crowd express over Hiragizawa's open and handsome features quickly evaporated as everyone expressed his and her approval of Hiragizawa's friend more heartily.

"My! He is quite handsome, and much more handsome than his friend, if I may be so bold to say," whispered Rika. "He is wealthier as well, Kura, with an annual income twice that of Mr. Hiragizawa's."

"Ahh…" Sakura said, thoughtfully examining Li's expression, noting the haughty, erect manner he conducted himself. His amber-eyed gaze swept the room, until they came to rest on her for a moment.

It was hardly love at first sight.

Sakura raised her eyebrows slightly, and he looked away, examining others in the crowd with the same unabashed manner.

"I like him not," Sakura said to Tomoyo. "He looks rather haughty to me."

Her comment was lost, though, for Tomoyo was busy staring at Li's friend.

---

The evening's entertainment resumed, this time with more zest and electricity lacing the conversation and the air. Devious fortune-hunting schemes were being laid out as well-meaning mothers began to discuss strategies with annoyed fathers. Every time Sakura passed an excited little knot of people discussing the new arrivals, she wanted to chuckle in amusement. Thus far all the planned seductions she had heard were far more laughable than feasible.

Then there came, during the course of the evening, a most noteworthy incident.

Sakura was without a partner during a dance, for the females outnumbered the males, and some girl or another would have to be content with sitting down during one dance or another. It was her turn to be lacking a partner this time, and she watched her sister dancing with Mr. Hiragizawa with more than a little interest.

The dance ended, and Sakura found herself again without a partner. Not disquieted in the least, Sakura merely shrugged and fetched a plate of rhubarb pie from the table.

Sakura was on her fifth piece of rhubarb pie when she froze, fork halfway to her mouth.

"…do hate to see you distancing yourself from everyone, Syaoran. You have danced only one dance this evening, and that was with my sister. Why not mingle with some of the locals?"

It was, apparently, Mr. Hiragizawa and his sullen friend Li. Sakura turned her head slightly and noticed they were standing diagonally to her right, not some distance away.

"I do not wish to dance, Eriol, and I do not find any of the wenches here to my taste," intoned a deep voice. That was Li, Sakura thought, her dislike of him increasing.

Hiragizawa tried again. "How can you say so? The women here are lovely. You can hardly say that Ms. Tomoyo Kinomoto is unpleasing to the eye."

"No, I cannot say that," Li admitted, and Sakura felt a rush of pride for her sister. "But she smiles far too much, Eriol, and I never trust women who smile too much at men."

Sakura almost spluttered with rage and gave away her secret eavesdropping. Tomoyo, not to be trusted? Her dislike of him was cementing.

Hiragizawa made an indignant noise. "Fine, if you find Ms. Kinomoto to be untrustworthy, why not dance with one of her sisters, who equals her in loveliness? She is sitting there."

Sakura felt Li's eyes gloss over her profile, then heard him say, "She is merely average. I see no great beauty in her."

Sakura fumed silently. "Merely average," was she? She ignored the two men as they continued to bicker. Finally, when she heard the telltale footsteps of both of them walking away, she leaned her head against the back of the armchair, contemplating what she had just heard. Although Li had apparently not thought her handsome enough, Hiragizawa at least was expressing an interest in her sister. She smiled as she mulled this over, then shrugged and continued to eat her rhubarb pie.

---

Next Chapter: In which Tomoyo comes down with a most grievous cold while visiting Hiragizawa's abode, and the most grievous (or fortunate, in Mrs. Kinomoto's perspective) event that ensues from this…misfortune.