DM: Hey again! I'm on break, so I'm posting extra fast for you guys! Just a note: I didn't want to have to spoil the story for you, but you guys have sent me so many concerned reviews that I have to: This fic will be ExT. Yes, EriolxTomoyo, so you can all relax. I'm actually really happy that you guys care enough about my story to do that. Thanks so much!
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS.
Curses!
Arc Two: Hong Kong
Chapter Eighteen
School Time Drama, Part Two
Sakura was trying her best to keep up with the teacher (her Chinese was mediocre at best), when a loud stomach rumble emitted from her school bag.
Everyone turned around and snickered. The teacher pretended not to notice, but the corner of his mouth twitched tellingly. Sakura turned bright red. She turned to Syaoran, who raised his eyebrow in a way that said: 'Oh, you're so ladylike!' Sakura pointed furiously at her school bag, mouthing: 'It wasn't me! It came from my bag!' Syaoran snorted.
She had gained Zhilan's attention at this point. No one had ever been able to make Syaoran so much as smile except Hiiragizawa. The blue haired girl gripped her pencil tightly as she doodled a picture of Sakura getting eaten by a shark.
Tomoyo, on the other hand, wasn't paying attention. This was unusual, seeing as she was ordinarily a good student, but she was glaring daggers at one Hiiragizawa Eriol. He glared back. The students around them felt strangely cold without knowing the reason.
Such is the dynamics of a high school classroom.
At last, the lesson (it was history) came to an end, and it was time for lunch. Sakura stretched happily.
"Yay! Lunch time!"
Syaoran smirked at her.
"I could tell you were looking forward to it," he said. She frowned and gestured for him to come outside. The other kids, busy getting their lunches and money, watched suspiciously as the two left alone.
As soon as they were alone in the hall, Sakura opened up her bag. A very hungry Kero was lying passed out inside.
"You idiot!" Syaoran whispered, "What did you bring him here for?"
"I didn't intend to! He snuck along! And I thought you weren't gonna call me an idiot anymore!" Sakura shot back. Syaoran ignored the question and picked Kero up.
"He's passed out from hunger," he observed, "what should we do?"
As Sakura and Syaoran whispered about how to handle the situation, Tomoyo pulled Eriol aside.
"Listen, Hiiragizawa," she said politely, "I would appreciate it if in the future you did not call me a lesbian. Sakura is my most precious friend and I care about her a lot, but I'm not perverted the way that you are, and so your threat has no grounds."
Eriol was slightly taken aback by her politeness (though he noticed the not so subtle insult) and only stared for a minute before collecting himself.
"I'm sorry, Daidouji. It is just that I care for Kaho a lot, and do not want her to lose her job because of me," he replied, equally politely.
The two smiled and then walked away from each other.
A chill ran down the spines of everyone in the classroom.
Meanwhile, Sakura was searching through her bag for her lunch, and had pulled out the day planner. Syaoran was poking the unconscious Kero's face and smirking. At last, revenge!
"Excuse me," someone said from behind, tapping Sakura lightly on the shoulder, "Could we speak with Kinomoto for a moment?"
Sakura turned around and saw that Zhilan and about six other girls were standing and smiling at her.
"Ah, ok!" Sakura said happily. She then turned around and whispered something in Syaoran's ear: "Give Kero my lunch. This is my chance to make new friends!"
Syaoran blushed from the closeness and watched her walk over to the group. She was so excited that she was still holding the gift from Eriol. He was left with her bag and Kero.
Sakura walked happily beside her newfound friends. The girls exchanged dark glances, unnoticed by our oblivious hero. They led her to a secluded corner of the yard and circled her. She smiled at them, trying to make eye contact with each one. In the center stood Zhilan, who was surprisingly tall, with her hands on her hips. To her immediate right and left stood two girls with identical pink ponytails and brown eyes, one wearing a white ribbon and the other a black one. Behind them the rest of the girls from Sakura's class massed and leered.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" she asked, hugging the day planner to her chest.
"Oh, nothing much. We just want to be your friends," Zhilan said. The day planner began to glow like crazy. Sakura hugged it tighter, hoping none of them noticed.
Meanwhile, Syaoran and a newly revived Kero watched her from behind a nearby tree.
"This doesn't look good," Syaoran said. Kero wasn't listening to him.
"That book is glowing," the Guardian said to himself.
"Anyway, Kinomoto," a girl was saying, "We just wanted to know your relationship to Li Xiao Lang."
Sakura looked a little confused. She had never been bullied before, and so had no idea what was going on.
"Well, uhm," she decided against telling them about the curse (no one would believe her) "Our dads were friends, and so I'm staying with him right now as a foreign exchange student…"
"Oh, really?" the girl asked, raising an eyebrow. The other girls looked angry.
"Is something wrong?" Sakura asked innocently.
"No, nothing," Zhilan said, smiling cruelly. The book glowed again.
"That's it!" Kero whispered.
"What's it?" Syaoran asked, also in a whisper.
"That book is possessed by the Libra, so it glows whenever someone tells a lie!" he replied. Syaoran turned back to the scene, worried.
"So, do you have any feelings for Syaoran?" Zhilan asked.
Syaoran's ears turned red at the thought. He knew he shouldn't be listening, but he couldn't tear his eyes away.
"I don't know," Sakura said, smiling nervously, "But I have someone else I like, so…"
Syaoran felt an odd mixture of relief and nausea. Maybe the nausea was disappointment? But he had known from the start that she liked that rabbit guy.
"Oh, that's good," Zhilan said, "But just to make sure you know your place…" she snapped her fingers.
The girls were on Sakura in an instant, pulling at her hair and her clothes.
"H-hey, stop!" Sakura cried, struggling against them.
Syaoran stepped out from behind the tree and was about to yell, when someone wedged themselves in front of Sakura, yelling, "You girls leave her alone!"
The girls backed off instantly, meaning it could only be one person…
"Meiling! Thank you!" Sakura said happily.
Syaoran breathed a sigh of relief. Kero nudged him.
"Aren't you supposed to protect her?" he asked.
"Yea, yea," he said, "But what am I supposed to do when being close to me hurts her?"
"Daidouji, I've decided something," Eriol said. Tomoyo shrugged. They were looking for Sakura and Syaoran.
"Don't you want to hear it?" he asked. Tomoyo shrugged again.
"Let's be friends, you know, call it a truce for now," he said. Tomoyo stopped.
"Why?" she asked simply.
"Because I think you're a good person," he said. She continued walking until she was a little bit ahead of him.
"I'll think about it," she replied over her shoulder.
At that point they had reached the yard and saw a very strange scene.
Meiling was scolding a group of contrite-looking girls, on principal (she hated underhanded tactics, especially in matters of the heart) while Sakura and Syaoran stood huddled behind a tree.
"My my," Eriol said, looking around, "What happened here?"
What was happening was that Sakura was surreptitiously capturing the Libra. Eriol smiled.
"Sakura! I made you some lunch!" Tomoyo called, running over. Sakura and Syaoran jumped apart, and Kero was stuffed into her bag once more. Eriol followed Tomoyo, smiling.
The four of them sat under the tree and ate together. That was the start of a beautiful friendship.
Or something like it, anyway.
DM: Well thanks so much for reading! Next chapter is seriously crazy, so brace yourselves! I've almost written it completely already, from sheer excitement. Next chapter: Heartbreak for Two.