Disclaimer: I do not own CCS or anything else made by CLAMP.

Hi there! So...in regards to this chapter...

I'm a freshmen in college right now, and I'm currently transferring school AND changing my major from molecular/cellular bio to music education. Therefore, I don't know that much about education in the fashion industry, so to all of you fashion majors out there, please don't hate me for my ignorance! I'm doing my best D: Anyways.

It's also a shorter chapter this time around, sorry!

Let me know what you think!

Room 3413

Sunlight crept its way through the windows onto the pale face of a slumbering girl. She threw an arm over her eyes and pulled the covers over her head, resettling into a deep sleep. "Mmmrphmgh," she murmured happily into the plush pillow she hugged in her arms.

This was so nice. She could get used to this. Someone should have told her that college would be this relaxing. She and Tomoyo had finished settling into their room late last night- which consisted a lot of Sakura pushing and pulling around the furniture, then rearranging it when Tomoyo decided on a different layout, then more grunting and dragging when she changed her mind again.

"Tomoyo...I thought you were a fashion designer, not an interior designer?" Sakura huffed and puffed, struggling to push a dresser across the room. Geesh, maybe she should start hitting the gym again.

"I like to think of myself of a... connoisseur of all design aesthetics," Tomoyo explained smugly, adjusting the violet curtains so they hung just so. Which, Sakura couldn't help but rolling her eyes, was the only heavy lifting Tomoyo did all day. The things she did for her best friend. Thankfully the rest of the unpacking and reorganizing had gone fairly quickly, they both wanted to go to bed early for registration the next morning.

...registration the next morning.

Sakura's green eyes flew open and she sat up in her bed. She looked at the alarm clock sitting on her nightstand. The blinking red lights read 8:55.

Registration started at nine.

"TOMOYO-CHAN!"

"What?" her best friend walked into their cozy space, clad in a fuchsia bathrobe and a towel wrapped around her wet hair. "Sakura, why aren't you up yet? You're going to be late!" Tomoyo looked at her friend, exasperated.

Sakura was already up, a whirlwind as she moved faster than Tomoyo's eyes could follow- pulling drawers open, slamming the closet door, bouncing on one foot trying to pull her socks on, tripping over a spinny chair. "HOEE!" Sakura wailed, clutching at a throbbing stubbed toe.

"Sakura-chan, calm dow-"

"I CAN'T BE LATE FOR REGISTRATION! WHAT IF I DON'T GET THE CLASSES I NEED!" she fumbled around for her toothbrush and toothpaste.

Sakura barely heard Tomoyo's protesting, "Sakura, slow down, you haven't brushed your ha-" as she whipped the door open open and ran blindly towards the girl's bathroom at the end of the hall. But she only got two or three steps before she ran straight into something hard and fell on her butt.

"Oww," Sakura whimpered, rubbing her head. She looked up at what she ran into.

...or rather, WHO she ran into.

"Is this going to be a regular occurrence, Miss Kinomoto?" Syaoran looked down at her, an amused look on his face.

"That hurt!" she staggered to her feet, ignoring the hand he held out for her. And then she realized with horror that he was naked, save the towel wrapped around his waist. Sakura couldn't take her eyes off every glorious inch of his tan, toned chest and felt herself blushing hard.

"Why are you..what...I mean..." she stammered, all traces of coherent thought gone. "P-put on some clothes, Li!" she finally spat out, covering her eyes.

"Awww, but Miss Kinomoto seems to..." he leaned in, his warm breath tickling her cheek, "...like what she sees," he whispered.

Was that as seductive as she thought it was? Sakura felt her face grow hot. "I do not!" she emphasized, keeping her hand over her eyes.

"Then why are you covering your eyes, Saku-chan?" he teased.

"Because..." she struggled for a reason. Ohhh, why did fate give her such a hot infuriating neighbor? She could have settled for nice, average looking one, even an ugly one would have been great! But NO, out of all the RAs she could have gotten, she had to get SYAORAN LI.

"...what do you think you're doing, walking around half-naked scaring poor girls like me?"

"Scaring poor girls?" he raised an eyebrow. "Au contraire, Miss Kinomoto. Am I really scaring you?" he grinned, stepping forward into her personal space. Sakura peeked out behind her fingers and saw that they were nose to nose. Her face flared.

His long, nimble finger stroked her cheek. She was mesmerized. "Am I scaring you now?" he murmured in a low, chuckling voice. He smelled like pine.

She was so overwhelmed by his clean, forestry, man-smell. Note to self: stay away from trees and nature-type of things.

"I...I..." How did he manage to reduce her into a stuttering idiot ALREADY? They just met like, YESTERDAY!

"And Saku-chan?" his deep voice continued in her ear?"

"...yes?" she replied, a dazed look her in her eye as she looked up at his golden, amber eyes.

"...you dropped your toothbrush."

Toothbrush? Her foggy mind tried to process what he was saying.

Toothbrush...toothpaste...room...morning...registration...late.

LATE. OH SHIT.

"HOE!" Sakura yelled, as the realization hit. Fumbling for her toothbrush and pushing past Syaoran, she dashed towards the bathroom. "I'M GONNA BE LATE!"

"Nice bed-head, Kinomoto!" he called over his shoulder, grinning at her subsequent frustrated shriek. What a girl.

oOo

The Noodle Factory, 11 am

Sakura scanned down the list of her newly printed schedule.

Music History, Applied Clarinet Lessons, Wind Symphony, Aural Skills...

Not bad, Sakura nodded. At least she got into all the classes required for her major. She'd have to audition for a chair in Wind Symphony, though. Skipping down to the last line, her shoulder slumped.

...and Introduction to Ballroom Dance.

Tomoyo, of course, had been ecstatic. They had met up for lunch at a small noodle place about a block away from their building.

"Ballroom Dance?!" she squealed, stars popping out of her violet eyes. "I'll get to design all of your dresses, Sakura-chan! Oh, there's so much sketching and work to be down, I'll start right now! You're going to look so kawaii, no one's going to take their eyes off you as you take center stage...oh, Sakura, I might faint!"

Sakura just stabbed at her plate of pasta in resignation. "I wasn't THAT late. And I can't believe that all of the other electives filled up that quickly! I mean, ball-room dancing? I've never danced before, Tomoyo-chan, I'm going to make a fool out of myself!" she said, worried.

"I'm sure you'll do fine, Sakura-chan. I mean, you were the cheerleading captain for two years! That's kind of close to dancing, right?" Tomoyo suggested thoughtfully.

Sakura put her fork down, suddenly not hungry anymore. "I don't know...what if I'm horrible at it? What if someone laughs at me?" Her eyebrows knit together in anxiety.

Now Tomoyo understood what the real problem was. "Sakura-chan... " she prodded gently, "Is this about what happened at homecoming sophomore year?"

Her friend nodded solemnly.

"What happened that night wasn't your fault. I think it's time that you face your fears and give dancing another chance. After all..." Tomoyo helpfully pointed out, "No one knows you here. Except me and Touya. College is all about fresh starts, nee?"

Sakura's face brightened just a little. "You're right! Arigato, Tomoyo-chan! And I can't be the only one with almost no dance experience taking that class, right? I mean, it's INTRODUCTION to ballroom dance."

"Right! And I think you'll be better at it than you expect. And I'll make sure you look fabulous! Oooh, I bet you'd look great in THAT dress with THAT fabric..." Tomoyo's eyes glazed over, imaging the fabric swatches she'd go through later.

Sakura sweat-dropped. "Errr...well, what about your classes?"

"I got in all mine. In fact, I already have an assignment for my Design Studio seminar! I'm supposed to find a local club or organization and redesign their uniforms. It's kind of like volunteering, design, and business experience all rolled up into one project," Tomoyo explained, sipping her glass of water.

"Wow. That's a big project for so early in the semester," Sakura commented.

"It is, but I'm excited! This give me a lot of time to figure out who I want to design for. That reminds me! You'll be my model for my costume design class, right?" Tomoyo held Sakura's hand in both of hers and looked pleadingly into her friend's face.

She bit her lip. "But...won't you have a lot of other people to model for you?" Sakura weakly argued. "I mean...I don't know if I'll have the time..."

Tomoyo's violet eyes started to well up in tears. "But Sakura-chan!" she cried. "You've been my inspiration for years! I can't just have anybody model my clothes! It would be such a travesty without you, please say you'll do it!"

Sakura already knew this was a lost battle- she could never say no to her best friend. "Okay, okay, fine! I'll do it," she threw her hands up and gave in.

Tomoyo face lit up. "Oh good! Because I have this dress with all these sequins for you try on later, and you'll look great in it, I promise!"

One green eye twitched. Not the sequins! She shivered in fear.

If this was the college experience that onii-chan has talked about so much, then she has yet to be impressed.

Ooh, what happened at Sakura's sophomore homecoming dance? Let me know what you think to find out! :)

-SFairyT