Disclaimer: Here's my entire sob story. –sniff- I don't own… CCS! WAHHHHHHHH!

BTW. Don't worry Sai-chan. I'm not mad at you.

I've revised this chapter after reading it over… apparently my writing is very bad when I rush it.

My apologies, everyone, for forcing to go through all of my grammatical errors.

Ice Queen

Chapter Nine

Syaoran gathered up all his courage and opened the door. His wounds were completely healed, he hadn't felt this good in a long time, he had the Ice Queen on his side… more or less, but even so, the painful memories built up from the past ten years had their toll… he was a little scared.

Not bothering to knock, Sakura boldly opened the door and stepped into the dark house. "You know what, Syaoran, did it ever occur to you that painting the walls of your house black would make your world seem even more not worth living? Plus… it's bad for your eyes when you do homework."

"Well, I normally take care of that stuff at school or in the library," Syaoran knew what she was doing. She was trying to ease him up… to make him feel less nervous. And it helped, and even if only a little, he appreciated it. "Besides it wasn't my idea to paint the-"

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud crash coming from down the hall. A man vaguely resembling Syaoran stormed over, cursing, "Where the hell do you think you have been, you worthless boy! Haven't I told you to come home on time! What do you think you're doing coming home the next day!"

Sakura watched as the man she assumed was Syaoran's father raise his fist and punch him hard in the groin, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Sorry, Otou-san. I was injured… I was…" sweat rolled off of Syaoran's forehead, making his neck glisten. He could barely breathe, let alone speak.

Sakura continued to play the role of a bystander in silence as his old man landed a few more kicks at his bruised body. "What's wrong, Syaoran? This isn't the you I saw at the institute. Are you afraid to teach your father a lesson?" at last she spoke, but her voice held no sympathy in it. It was cold and executing. Any warmth or perhaps a glimpse of kindness he had seen in her just a moment before had all but disappeared.

A slender hand was lifted in the air. It slapped the man in the face. "You should be ashamed to call yourself a father… no… a human. You might as well have left him on the street. What is the point of keeping someone who is worthless to you anyway? Dump him at an orphanage… be smart. Police don't take kindly to child abuse. Idiot," Without another word, she vanished from both of the Li's sight, reappearing silently behind the father and delivering a sharp blow to the back of his neck, causing him to fall unconscious.

"Maybe afraid isn't really the word for it," Syaoran pulled himself up slowly, painfully. "But in the end, he is still my father… to actually bring myself to hurt him… is difficult, to say the least."

"Even if that may be the case, you could at least put him out like this. To let him beat you to the point of death isn't the 'right' thing to do either, if you care about petty things like that," she crossed her arms. "Go get your junk… your house is far too tasteless for my liking."

"That was easier than I thought," Syaoran mused.

"How hard did you think it would be, baka?" Sakura was still cold, but the menacingly sharp edge to her voice had softened. It was things like that, which puzzled him. Why would someone so cruel take the pains to help him in the first place? Was it because she pitied him?

He stopped walking all of a sudden, and she stopped as well. "Did you mean that, when you said it would be better for him just to dump me on the streets?"

She looked back at him, casting him an indifferent glance, "In his case… yes. Syaoran, you could easily survive on your own in this world. You work, paying for both you and your father's bills, I'm sure. No one at school would grudge you to stay a few weeks until you found a place."

"What about you?" he watched as her emerald eyes dimmed just a little bit. "Where are your parents?"

Sakura silence told him many things and her next few words confirmed his suspicions, "Don't have any. Never did. Got a guardian who doesn't give a crap about me… he pays my bills, though."

Syaoran's POV

Hm… and I thought I had it bad. At least, before she died, my mother cared about me… from the looks of it, Sakura never had anybody.

They came to a sky blue house, with white lining. It was simple and quaint. Inside, there was again, light blue wallpaper, but this time, it had silver markings over it.

The entire place was what you called pleasant, but the look and feel of the place contrasted greatly.

The air inside was heavy, and it reeked of loneliness, sadness, and hurt. It was Sakura's home. The place she lived in, the place he would be living in… as of this very moment. He didn't know why, but simply being in such a lonely house… usually it would have made him want to leave, but maybe because it was Sakura… he wanted to ease that loneliness.

"This is your room," Sakura said. She seemed tired. The walls were all grass green, and at every corner, the Chinese characters for "Little Wolf" were written in white.

She must have done this herself… she went to a lot of trouble. Why? Why does she even care? Am I so pitiful that even the Ice Queen feels a need to sympathize with me? Poor little Syaoran.

"I don't really care if you like it or not. It's your room from now on. You know where everything else is. Here's the rule. You're going to have chores here. We're going to rotate, cooking, cleaning, and washing. Got it? You're to never go in my room without my permission."

She turned on her heel and left.

His room was very nice. The bed was probably a queen size and all the furnishings were either white or green. The closet was large, there was a large window, and right under it was a large desk. There was even a computer on the table.

Wow. She's either rich… or really nice to me. It's amazing that someone like her would be able to organize this place so nicely. This house doesn't seem like one that belongs to someone like Sakura.

You'd think everything was black. But, this place is quaint… if only the air in here wasn't so cold and unwelcoming.

"Sakura?" Syaoran knocked on her door. "Um… sorry… but I took the liberty of making dinner. Do you like Chinese?"

The door opened just a crack, "Chinese is fine…"

She seemed to want him to leave, but he just grinned and pushed open the door.

"Don't you dare!" Sakura threatened. It was too late. Syaoran's jaw hit the ground at what he saw.

Sakura was wearing… pink! They looked like her pajamas. Obviously, she had been planning on not eating. Her clothes were cute and simple. Her pants were a silky material, with the words Sakura in white on her bottom. Her shirt was long sleeved, the neckline was around the collarbone, and it looked very comfy.

What more, there were white, fuzzy bunny slippers on her feet! She tried to shut the door, but Syaoran's eyes were quick and scanned the room right before the white door slammed in his face.

Her walls were a lighter green than his, it was like apple green or spring green. The furniture was white, green, black, and pink. Since her room was on the second floor, one of the walls was half glass.

The crystal clear glass door was the only thing separating her and the balcony. Her bed was white, and the same size as his, with a desk, similar to his, right next to it. On it was a laptop, not a computer and… the room was well… bright!

The air was still cold and cruel, like the rest of the house, but she filled it with bright things, most likely hoping it would take the harsh feeling in the air away.

I didn't know she liked pink.

The door opened again and out stepped a semi-angry Sakura. "Never EVER do that again!" she hissed. Her clothing was black now. She wore black sweats and a black tank top.

So much for pink.

To be continued…

baka – idiot

Otou-san – father/dad