A CHANCE ENCOUNTER
Note: Cardcaptor Sakura is © CLAMP
Yeah um… because I think that creating my own names sounds kinda weird, I'm doing a "tsubasa" (yeah tsubasa is now a term ) and all extra characters will come from actual CLAMP creations :D How exciting is that? Not very, but it just seems a bit more genuine and not some random story a person came up w/ because they were bored and they're fans of Sakura and Syaoran. Well, enjoy
CHAPTER 3
"Sakura! You're going to be late for school if you don't leave soon!" Kinomoto Fujitaka called up the stairs to his daughter while cooking a vegetable omelette. Mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, cheese. The savory flavor of the frying egg filled the entire house, and Sakura, checking herself in the mirror for any stray pieces of thread, salivated at the smell as she breathed in and out, staring intently at her posterior.
Tomoeda school uniforms were, according to ninety-eight percent of the school's female population, the cutest, chicest, and most professional-looking uniforms in Japan. Everyone who saw a Tomoeda high school student passing by immediately recognized the dark blue and charcoal uniform. The students always looked neat, sharp. The girl's charcoal skirts were short enough to be cute but still appropriate and not tacky or suggestive. The boy's charcoal slacks always crinkled in the right places and remained perfectly ironed. Every student wore a silver tie, a white starched shirt, and over that, a cardigan, vest, suit jacket, coat, or some combination of the four with the Tomoeda emblem embellished onto the cloth. The students were the pride of the area, with one of the highest cumulative scores in all of Japan. And Sakura, Tomoyo, and friends were part of that wonderful school.
"Papa, why isn't Touya awake yet?" Sakura ran down the stairs with thundering steps, clutching her schoolbag. She rushed to the stove where her father was still cooking the omelette and kissed him good morning.
"Um… because he's out of college and he doesn't need to take you to school like he did when you were ten years old?"
"Oh … I forgot…" Frantically looking through the refrigerator now, Sakura found leftover sushi from the previous night's dinner and dumped it all in a Tupperware box, covered it with a lid, tied a cloth over it, stuffed it into her navy blue school bag, and ran out the side door. "Ittekimasu!"
"Do you think you have time to sit down and eat breakfast, Sakura?" The father looked up from his cooking and realized that his daughter had already left. "I suppose that means no… itterasshai…"
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The grounds of the Tomoeda private schools stood out against the landscape, a grand edifice of learning and youth. It was one of the finest schools in Japan, producing intelligent and insightful students. While Sakura ran as fast as she could, half a mile away elementary school, junior high, and high school students filed in through the massive gates that led to the three separate institutions of education. And as Sakura reached the gates, panting and sweating, the final bell signaling the beginning of school had finished ringing.
Shit. Sakura stopped and gasped for breath, then continued running up the path to Tomoeda High School. As she ran through the doors of her school, a long, black car pulled up into the driveway and into the parking lot of the school.
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Tomoyo, Sasaki Rika and Mihara Chiharu stood in a circle between a row of desks in classroom TWO, chatting about what they had done during their break.
"… and Yamazaki starts telling me this stupid story about how Americans started having proms because of the prom ghost." Chiharu huffed and shot a dirty look at Yamazaki Takashi, who was standing in the opposite corner of the room talking to Hiiragizawa Eriol. Yamazaki noticed Chiharu looking at him and blew her a big kiss, making Chiharu redden at the ears. She quickly turned around to face her friends.
"The prom ghost?" Rika looked doubtful.
"Yeah. He tells me that the prom ghost is a spirit that loves to party and dance, but because no one would dance with it when it was still alive, it haunted every home in America until people decided to come up with a dance where the prom ghost could party the night away."
"Do you really believe him Chiharu….?" Growing increasingly red, Chiharu decided to change the subject.
"Well… did you go out with Terada-san during the break, Rika?" At this, Rika blushed several shades of pink, and looked down at the tile floor of the classroom.
"Um… we … we went…" Rika mumbled and grew quiet. Chiharu and Tomoyo laughed good-naturedly at the modesty of their friend. "Where is Sakura?"
"I think she'll come through the doors sometime within the next… ten seconds. No, now." Tomoyo's prediction proved true as Sakura stormed into the classroom that very moment, panting and huffing.
"I… I… made it…" She slid over to where her friends stood and put her head on Tomoyo's shoulder. "Me… so… tired… want… to… sleep…" Sakura's best friend patted her head and slowly pushed it off her shoulder. The cherry blossom whimpered.
"Sakura, tell us about France." France? Oh… yes… she had gone to France that break, and met a guy who she had bumped into at a department store in Japan. A hot guy who was as equally perverted as he was gorgeous. Not that Rika and Chiharu needed to know those insignificant details. The main trip mattered. The culture, the bakery trips… him… the Eiffel Tower… the Louvre… him… French…places…
"France was… frenchy. I went to the bakery every day and ate pastries all day. Also the-" The door slid open and classroom two's advisor walked in. The loud chitter chatter of the students dropped down to a low murmur as they walked to their seats and sat down.
"Good morning students. I hope you had a nice break." The advisor was tall, middle-aged, and refined in manner.
"Good morning Imonoyama-sensei."
"Well, students. Today we have a transfer student. Normally, here at Tomoeda we don't accept students mid-year, but this particular boy passed all the exams with exceedingly high scores. On top of that, he comes to us from Hong Kong." The murmur of the class became a full thunder of conversation again as the students discussed the news of a new transfer student. We have a transfer student at this time of year. He must be smart…
"D'you think he's hot?"
"How do you know it's a he?"
"Imonoyama-sensei said he was a boy."
"Think he looks like one of those Hong Kong movie stars?"
"I hope he's single."
"You'd never get with him."
"Ahem." Imonoyama-sensei cleared his throat. "Settle down, students. Why don't you come in and introduce yourself, my boy?" The class gasped and many of the girls squealed and giggled as an extremely handsome male with auburn hair stepped through the door and stood in front of the classroom. He brushed his hair out of his eyes by swinging his head, then brushed it again with a swish of his hand, and gave the class a dazzling smile. The school uniforms looked good on all of the students, but on this particular boy, it made him look straight out of a drama, like a model, like a celebrity. It accentuated his body in all the right places, even wearing the full uniform. His long legs and lean body, his wide shoulders. The class burst into full commotion.
"Oh my god. He is SO hot!"
"Do you think he smiled at me?"
"Tomouaki would get sooo pissed off if he found out about this."
"You wouldn't cheat on him…
"If it was with this guy? Hell yeah!"
"He's gonna take away all the babes!"
"I bet you I can get a date with him after school."
"D'you think he's good at swimming?"
"Students, please! I apologize. It's their first day back from break, so they're a bit rowdy. Go ahead and introduce yourself." Imonoyama-sensei stepped away from the front of the classroom and sat in a chair at the side, near the window.
Sakura froze. She could not believe it, but when the hazel eyes of the new student met hers, she knew. It was him. He had transferred into her school. Her grade. Her class. Li Syaoran.
"Good morning. Ah… my name is… Li Syaoran." Syaoran took a piece of chalk and wrote out his name on the board in Chinese, then in katakana. Sakura's heart skipped a beat when she heard him speak. His voice was so deep… not low, but… mellow. Creamy… Sexy. Like smooth, rich coffee. She didn't remember him sounding like that when she first bumped into him. His voice was… so attractive. "That's how you spell it in katakana. Um… I come from Hong Kong, and I came here to Japan to study… because… my family felt it was best for my education to come to a place like Tomoeda High School to finish my secondary education." His eyes met hers. Locked on to her, bore deep into her sockets. But she could not look away. Then Imonoyama-sensei broke their visual connection.
"Well, thank you for the lovely introduction. Children, you have 10 minutes before math. Welcome to Tomoeda, Li-san." Imonoyama-sensei opened the door and exited the room. And nearly the entire class rushed to talk to the new student.
"Li! Come sit behind me!"
"Did you really come all the way from Hong Kong just to go to school here?"
"How many chicks have you … you know?"
"Are you dating anyone right now, Li?"
"Want to sit with us at lunch?"
Tomoyo looked at Sakura with mild amusement, seeing that her best friend had adopted a sulky expression on her face. "S'that the one?" Sakura bit her lip so that it almost bled and looked determinedly at the chair in front of her. "I guess that means yes…" Chiharu and Rika exchanged confused looks.
"What's wrong Sakura?"
"She's met our new transfer student before. Twice, in fact." Chiharu gasped.
"Are you serious? Is that true Sakura?" Unfortunately. The first time he embarrassed me and the second time he made a rude comment. And now he's here to ruin my life again. At least he's hot…
"Yeah… it's… highly coincidential. Must be a small world." Sakura laughed feelby. Syaoran broke away from the crowd of inquisitive adolescents and seated himself behind her. She felt as if a iron had suddenly been applied to her back and jumped in her seat. Look at the table, count the lines of wood…Tried to get her mind off the male sitting behind her, tried to ignore the fire he was boring into her back with his intense stare. She nearly turned around to tell him to stop staring at her when Shimizu-sensei, the math teacher, walked in and sent a wave of silence throughout the classroom with her stern gaze.
"New student Imonoyama's told me about. You back there, you the one from Hong Kong who got the perfect math score?" What? Perfect score in math?Oh, thanks a lot Buddha.
"Yes, ma'am."
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She couldn't concentrate. No matter how much she tried to concentrate on solving the set of problems in front of her, she couldn't get it out her head. Couldn't get him out of her head. Because of the sequence of events. Their meeting was way too coincidental. He couldn't have been in her class just by pure chance. There had to be something behind it.
At my school… At my school… oh my god he's really stalking me. Maybe that department store thing was different but… at my school… my class? Right behind me… He'll come to my house. Stand outside. Call my phone every hour. Leave messages. Kidnap me and rape me. Oh god. Maybe I should report this to the teachers. This isn't normal. A teacher. Any teacher… maybe they'll sent him back to France. Back to Hong Kong. Maybe… maybe he's using an alias, and he's not really from Hong Kong. Maybe he's some sort of gang criminal, and I'm his next target, and all of his groupies will gang up on me and-
"Nice to meet you again, Sa-chan. I'm Syaoran, remember? Did you forget me?" He poked her back with the eraser tip of his pencil. Even at a whisper, his voice was sexy and irresistible to female ears. Sakura grew shivers down her spine.
"Um… no… I didn't forget you." How could I forget you? You're going to rape me and gang up on me with your gang member groupies and take turns violating me. Can't forget that. And you have Gucci shoes. Maybe you're part of the Italian mafia… Oh fuck. Great. The family. The family will come and gang up on me and rape me. Godfather. Hah. Oh jeez I'm taking this way too far. You're just a kid. Just a kid. Like me, even if you do have Gucci shoes and you're stalking me. And keep looking at me and keep ta-
"Kinomoto-san, please differentiate f(x) 2x5coshx." Sakura snapped out of her daze. What? A teacher asking her to solve a math problem? Math was her weakest subject. She wouldn't know anything, Differentiate? Was that the same thing as a derivative? Was that supposed to be her homework? She didn't know what Shimizu-sensei was talking about. At all. Not a clue. And she was expected to solve this problem? What was the problem? She didn't even know the problem. She wasn't paying attention. She would get in trouble. Shimizu-sensei knew she wasn't paying attention, and decided to single her out as the daily victim.
"Ah… um… uh…."
"10x4coshx + 2x5sinhx." Syaoran whispered quietly by her ear. What?
"The answer is 10x4coshx + 2x5sinhx." The mafia member, telling her the answer to a math problem? Were mafia members supposed to be smart? She watched Shimizu-sensei's lip curl as she prepared to give her a lecture about doing her homework and keeping up with the rest of the class. The teacher wanted an answer and she had no clue what the answer was. The answer… the answer…
"Ah… um… ehhrrr… f'(x) 10x4coshx + 2x5sinhx …?" Was that the answer? What if it was wrong? What if-
"… Very good… Kinomoto-san. Now, Arisugawa-san…" She didn't get in trouble! She got the answer right! And… The gang member was smart… very smart. Of course he's smart you dimwitted bean. He totally owned the math portion of the entrance exam… unlike you.
"I could tutor you if you want…" What? Tutor? Now he was making propositions to tutor her in math? Just because she couldn't answer one problem! I was so working on it… I knew the answer you pig-headed…
"No thank you. And if I need any help I'll-"
"Kinomoto-san. Do you believe that just because you answered one question without turning into an utterly slow and mumbling fool that you have now mastered my class and no longer need to pay attention? Or are you thanking Li-san for whispering the answer so indiscreetly into your ear?" How did she know? She didn't look she didn't…
"I'm sorry Shimizu-sensei. I was actually asking Kinomoto-san about how she solved that problem, because when I looked at her paper, I saw she used a method that I haven't learned in Hong Kong." What? Why are you helping me get out of trouble? What are you going to do to me? Sakura looked over at Tomoyo, sitting five desks away. Her pale face smirked back at Sakura. Oh yeah, thanks. Sakura then looked up into Shimizu-sensei's aging and sour face. Looked down. The pages of the notebook sitting in front of her were as blank as the face of the kid sitting next to her, dozing off and daydreaming.
"That… is certainly interesting… Li-san it would be better to ask questions directly to me rather than seek another method of differentiation from Kinomoto-san here. Moving on, let us…" Whew… that was close.
As Shimizu-sensei turned around to put up another problem on the board for the class to solve, the bells signaling the end of the first class and a small break resonated throughout the classrooms. Loud chatter and dirty looks at Sakura broke loose, but she stayed, planted in her seat. Whispering, murmuring, Shimizu-sensei's icy glare before the elderly teacher left the classroom into the faculty area. I guess the storm is over… Sakura slowly got up from her seat to go talk to Tomoyo when a warm and heavy hand touched her shoulder. What…?
"Just a minute there, Sa-chan. You need to pay me back you know."