Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AN: Okay, last chapter, I got reviews saying that Tomoyo's kinda bitchy. Well, hmm…yeah, I guess she is, but that's kinda what I was going for. I know in the anime she's one of the sweetest characters. But, people are changing throughout their lives. I mean, I was pretty sweet in elementary school, and now that I'm a teenager, I'm like queen bitch…So, I didn't really mean to OFFEND anyone (if anyone's offended…not saying people got offended), but you know, Sakura's not as fluffy either…so…it's just how the story moves along. Yeah, the whole offended thing, wasn't sarcasm…I really hate it when people think I'm bitterly sarcastic, when I'm really not…

Another thing, I don't really know anything about bank accounts…so I kinda just…made it up…

"talking"

'thinking'

written/typed

flashback

Crystal Dropplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 8-Rainy Days

Sakura walked downstairs. It'd been two days since she'd seen Tomoyo at the mall. It was a Monday morning. Sakura couldn't believe how early she'd woken up: 6:30 AM. Saturday she had gone to the mall to take her mind off things. The hospital had brought back a lot of painful memories. And because the shopping district was so close to her house, she had decided to go walk around a while. It was only mindless wandering.

Sakura took a seat at the kitchen table, where she had left Sunday's mail. She picked up a white envelope addressed to the Kinomoto household. It was the hospital bill. Maybe she could pay it now…?

"Touya's been busy. I'll just help him pay it this month." She said to herself. She scanned over the bill and wrote out a check to the hospital. After their dad had gotten sick, Sakura and Touya had started working for money to pay for bills, and Touya had went to the bank to set up an account for both of them. One of those joint accounts. The two of them barely made it through every month.

The extra money was used to buy those TV dinners that could be heated quickly in the microwave. They were cheap. But if both brother and sister were home, they would work together to cook a healthy dinner. They both tried to conserve water and electricity. Sakura would finish her homework before dark, so she wouldn't have to turn on the lights later. It saved a lot on house bills. They had a policy where each would shower for 15 minutes max every other day. That's why Touya biked everywhere, although their father had a car, it was too expensive to pay for gas. Sakura walked or skated everywhere.

It was only 7:00 by the time she was done. Rain started to fall heavily outside. Sakura felt so stifled in the house by herself as she listened to the rain beating against the windows. Maybe she'd go to school a little earlier today.

She wrapped her backpack in her raincoat and looked in the closet for the old umbrella. It wasn't there. "Did it rain last night? Maybe Touya needed it…" she wondered to herself.

Sakura decided it was probably best to skate to school, that way she would be out of the rain faster. She quickly put on her skates, and went outside, locking the door securely behind her.

She started skating at a fast pace but the rain had already formed puddles on the sidewalk. She didn't even notice that she'd run into someone until she hit the asphalt.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking at where I was going."

"Sakura-chan?"

"Rika-chan, what are you doing out here in the middle of the rain?" Sakura asked, concerned.

"Oh, um…actually, I was wondering if you needed a ride to school…because, because I knew you would try walking in this weather. You'll catch a cold."

"Well, that's really nice of you, but…what if someone sees?"

"It's ok, no one will be at school this early. My mom's car is parked around the corner. Come on." She offered her hand.

"Well, um…thank you."

"Look at you, you're all wet!"

"I couldn't find the umbrella this morning." Sakura said nervously as she took off her dirty skates and stepping into Rika's car in her socks.

"Thank you, Rika-chan."

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan, I thought you'd need the ride. But I need to go now…" Rika said as she turned, "I'll see you in class?"

"Yeah." Sakura said.

Her clothes were all soaked. But they'd dry by the time class started.

The bell rang, and everyone began the usual shoving each other routine. Sakura already sat at her desk. As Syaoran passed her, he elbowed her on purpose as he took the seat behind her.

"Take your seats everyone." The teacher said as she closes the door. "I hope everyone is doing well on their volunteer projects. Remember, there IS a turn in day, so everyone should have already started their projects. Now, onto our math lesson."

After the math lesson, the teacher had given everybody some time to do their math homework. Sakura was so confused about what they were learning. It wasn't exactly her strong point. And everyone else had gotten into some sort of small group. Syaoran, Yamazaki, and Eriol were working together behind her. Their desks were pulled together as they wrote vigorously with their pencils.

She turned around, and said nervously. "Um…I'm sorry to b-bother you Li-kun. But could you help me with these problems? I don't really understand how to do them."

He stared at her for a long time. And then grinned as he came up with an evil plan. "Sure, I'll help you."

He stood up and brought up a chair next to her desk. "Ok here's what you do," he said pointedly. "First you take this value, and you bring it here, and then you take the square root of this number, you put it to the equivalent of this rectangle's side, and then you use this postulate for the proof, and then…" he continued pointing at various numbers in the equation.

"So the answer should be 52?" Sakura asked after taking out a scrap of paper to do her work on.

52 was the right answer, but of course she really didn't need to know that. She would have gotten it wrong by herself anyways. He leaned forward over the problem as Sakura sat up straight to stretch. It felt strange, but he could feel her warm breath on his neck. "Thanks for helping me Li-kun. I really appreciate it." She whispered, and he heard her tone showing her gratitude. It was said so softly that he could barely catch her words.

He sighed and stood up straight, "Yeah, that's right."

He got up and took his seat with Eriol and Yamazaki. They continued with their problems, he looked up at Sakura. "Kinomoto, meet me after school at the front gate. We have to go to the hospital."

It felt strange, but it seemed like he was only speaking so harshly to confirm that he could still speak so harshly to her.

"You're late, Kinomoto. After school means after the 'LEAVE SCHOOL' bell. You are five minutes late." Syaoran said, staring at Sakura with intense amber eyes from under his umbrella.

"I'm sorry." She apologized quietly. "I really didn't mean to."

"Are you gonna walk to hospital without an umbrella?" he asked, noticing for the first time that she was standing in the rain. It was pouring, and she was getting soaked to the skin.

She smiled a small smile, "I couldn't find it this morning. It's ok though, the hospital's only a ten minute walk from here."

Syaoran gaped, only.ten.minutes? She'd be like a sponge in a bucket full of water.

"You…You can come under here, if you want to. It's pointless to get soaked in the rain when the umbrella's big enough for both of us." Syaoran said stiffly, feeling his face heat up a little, as he turned his head to avoid looking at her. Yep, those puddles on the sidewalk sure looked fascinating.

Sakura's face lit up in a smile as she joined him under the umbrella. "Thank you."

And they started walking down the street through the mist.

"Please sign in here," the same nurse as before said. "Li-kun, they told me that you're working as a personal assistant now, so you can head up to the room. Sakura-chan…mmm…let's see, where to put you."

The nurse seemed to think about it for awhile before she said, "Ah! You can go up to the newborn's floor. They need some help today." She smiled at Sakura.

Syaoran was already walking up to Fuji-san's room. Maybe he'd be asleep today.

As Syaoran opened the door, he saw Fuji-san sitting in his bed, the covers spread over his legs.

"Li-san!"

"I'm sorry I got here late, Fuji-san. My partner didn't have an umbrella, so we had to share one."

Fuji-san laughed. "Without an umbrella on a rainy day like this? He must be crazy. So how was your day?"

"She, sir."

"Hmm?"

"My partner's a girl."

"Oh, I see, do you like her?"

Syaoran thought about it for a while, "No."

Fuji-san just smiled, "I think you will grow very fond of her in time."

"What do you mean? She definitely isn't the same type of person as me, I don't think I would ever-"

"Well, you know, opposites attract. Maybe you'll see her as someone different one day…after discovering all the good sides that you're missing when you look at her now. You should do that with everyone, taking the time to get to know them." Fuji-san smiled.

Syaoran didn't know why, but he suddenly remembered Sakura as she had gotten under his umbrella, "She looked different today."

Fuji smiled. "Different…?"

"After I asked her to come under the umbrella. I looked at her, and she looked…different. I mean, she was drenched, but there was something different. But I don't really know what it is." Syaoran looked up to see Fuji smiling at him.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out."

The hours were up, so Syaoran headed downstairs to wait for Sakura. It was still pouring outside. It was dark outside. Lightening could be seen not far from the hospital. And thunder could be heard after it.

Sakura came to downstairs from the newborn floor. She looked really tired.

"Li-kun? You're still here?"

"I have to take you home, don't I? Or are you going to walk in the dark, in the rain…?"

"It's very nice of you to offer, Li-kun. But…my house is far from here, and I'm sure you have a lot of things you'd like to do with your spare time than walk me home. I-I don't want to bother you." She said quietly, staring up at the sky.

Syaoran sighed, "You know, you don't have to question everything I ask you, if I offer, just take the offer."

"Um…Okay. Thank you."

Syaoran rolled his eyes, "This doesn't mean anything, got that?" But he felt like he was saying more to himself then Sakura.

She nodded as he opened his umbrella. And they walked down the street together, through the rain. Each secretly glad that they had the others company on such a stormy night.

AN: I thought this would be a good place to stop. Although, ORIGINALLY, I was gonna stop after the first umbrella incident. But I didn't think the chapter was long enough. Lol. Review please!