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: Don't worry everyone, I didn't forget about this story. Just terribly busy…I barely have time to think. I would've updated just my thousand word chapter, but it seemed so plotless (and pointless) so I wanted more in it. Furthermore, I'm not familiar with Japanese pricing or currency, so I'm just using dollars. By the way, I stepped on a thumbtack the other day, so feel sorry for me! Just kidding
Thx for the supportive reviews everyone! I know it was weird how Syaoran and Saihara hooked up…just how the story goes, you know? Ok…anyways, um…to Katycat67, I don't really think it's called conformity if you DANCE, I think dance is a way to express yourself, not to be a slut or wanting to fit in. I mean, I love to dance (ok…--….kinda suck at it, though), and I go to school dances, but I'm not trying to make myself more popular or more liked…? Just trying to hang out with my friends. (Did that make ANY sense whatsoever?) So shrug, different strokes for different folks.
"talking"
'thinking'
written/typed
flashback
Crystal Dropplets
By Dream4luv
Chapter 13-New Acquaintances
Tomoyo sighed as she hung up the phone for the 5th time that day. What the heck was wrong with her friends? Just how busy were they? She wanted them to go and meet Sakura already…to become friends, so Sakura could hang out with them without ridicule. But somehow…everyone seemed busy…Eriol had basketball practice, Chiharu was going on a date with Yamazaki, Naoko had to go to the library for a project she had forgotten about, Rika had piano lessons……and the only one's who could actually make it were Syaoran and Meiling.
Tomoyo sighed again. Oh well, two people were better than none. They had agreed to be picked up by Tomoyo in her limo to meet "someone".
"Mom, I'm going out!"
"With Sakura?" her mother asked from the living room.
Tomoyo hesitated a moment, "Yeah, with Sakura and some other friends!"
"Ok, then, go enjoy yourself!"
Tomoyo closed her eyes a brief moment, trying to block out her envy. After all, Sakura had next to nothing, when Tomoyo had everything, it was only fair to share with her best friend, right? She took a breath, reassuring herself and left.
"Hey guys!"
Tomoyo saw Meiling and Syaoran approaching the limo. She waved lightly as Meiling pulled open the door and climbed in, Syaoran following briefly after.
"So who's this person you want us to meet?" she giggled.
"Oh, someone you already know. I just want you to get to know her. She's really such a sweet person, so she's hanging with us from now on! You'll recognize her when you see her."
Syaoran looked strangely at Tomoyo for a second as Meiling chatted away. Was she taking them to meet Sakura? Meiling's excited voice interrupted his thoughts as they pulled up to a house that he recognized as indeed Sakura's.
"Wow! This neighborhood is beautiful!" she commented, staring at the quaint little houses lined up on the street.
Tomoyo led them, smiling, up to the front door and pushed the doorbell.
"Coming!" they could hear someone say faintly from the opposite side of the door as the door swung open leaving a flustered Sakura at the door. "S-sorry…I was in the laundry room and no one else was home…"
Tomoyo smiled at her best friend as she just shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Can we come in?"
"Oh sure!" she said, opening the door wider and letting the three of them inside.
"Wow…your house hasn't changed much since the last time I was here." Tomoyo walked around the spacious room as she lightly touched the furniture, smiling when she remembered something special that had happened around them.
"We really haven't had too much time to fix it up, I guess," Sakura smiled sadly as she leaned against the wall.
Tomoyo's eyes lingered on Sakura's sad face as she changed the subject, "Hey, Meiling, Syaoran…this is Sakura. Sakura, this is Meiling and Syaoran. I'm sure you guys have met."
"Oh yes, we have," Meiling said, albeit a little snobbishly.
"Uh…yeah." Syaoran said, not really knowing how to reply to that. They had all OBVIOUSLY met before, but he knew what Tomoyo was trying to avoid…the fact that their first meeting and…all the meeting following hadn't been too great.
"Oh yes, hi." Sakura said cheerfully with a smile as she gave a little wave to them.
"Uh, Tomoyo! I need to talk to you!" Meiling said, motioning toward the hallway.
"Oh, ok…I'll be right back, ok, Sakura?" Tomoyo laughed as she followed Meiling. "What is it?"
"Why are we hanging out with her! I thought you hated her!" Meiling demanded rudely as she looked out to where Sakura was. "You shoved her, and you were mean to her, you told us she was trouble, so what's with the fact that you love her now and that she's basically your best friend!"
Tomoyo sighed a little as she shook her head a little disappointed by how Meiling was acting, "Meiling…I was wrong about her, and I regret doing the things I did, and I want us to be friends. Why can't you just BE FRIENDS with her? She's nice, sweet, and caring. She's fun to be around."
"Because she's NOT any of those things! She's not fun to be around. She's quiet and drawn in, she'll just be a big bother to us!" Meiling whispered harshly.
"I don't care if that's what you think, Meiling. But you're wrong, she IS all of those things and MORE! I've known her since forever, and I know her better than you! Don't judge her before you talk to her." Tomoyo said as she stomped away angrily.
Meiling followed behind her, fuming. What did Tomoyo see in Sakura anyways? She was just a hassle to them.
"What are we doing today?" Sakura asked.
"Well, I was thinking we could hang out, go to the mall…the ice cream place at the food court." Tomoyo said ticking points on her fingers.
"…I can't…I um, I don't really have much money to spare." Sakura said nervously, looking at the ground embarrassed as she fiddled with her skirt.
"That's ok, because Syaoran's meeting Saihara at a restaurant near the mall later, so we could just kinda walk around until his date." Tomoyo laughed.
"Well…" Sakura thought a moment. It wouldn't hurt to go with her friends to the mall right? "…Ok."
"Great! Let's go, the limo's waiting outside." Tomoyo said as she ran towards the door.
But Meiling just stood there.
"Meiling-chan? Are you ok?" Sakura asked as she looked back at Meiling.
"No!" the girl screamed furiously, "I'm not going! You guys can just go by yourselves! It's not fair! First Syaoran goes running off with some random girl! And next…next Tomoyo decides to just let Sakura into our circle of trust! That was ours, I was in it, but I don't feel like I'm there anymore! I'm leaving!"
The girl ran past Tomoyo, Sakura, and Syaoran.
"Wait! Meiling, you don't know the way home!" Syaoran yelled after her, then catching up to her. He glared, "What do you think you're doing!"
"I'm not hanging out with her!" she hissed as she glanced hotly at Sakura, who seemed oblivious to Meiling's glare.
"What? You think you're better than her?" Syaoran demanded.
"I KNOW I'm better than her! Just leave me alone!" the girl yelled.
"Why don't we take you home in the limo? You're not familiar with this neighborhood; just let us take you back." Tomoyo said patiently through suppressed anger.
"Whatever," the girl huffed angrily as she climbed into the limo, the others following.
"Chocolate please," Sakura asked politely of the man, or more so teenage boy working there. He looked like one of those major rebels, one who nobody hung out with because he chose it to be so. It was strange seeing such a person working at the mall and in a cheery ice cream shop, no less.
"Thank you for coming, it has been a pleasure serving you." The boy droned the required phrase as he handed her the cone.
"Thank you."
As soon as she had sat down, Tomoyo turned to face her, "So, what do you want to do?"
"Oh, I don't know, whatever you guys want to do, I guess."
"Come on, Sakura-chan, pick anywhere."
"We've already been to every store. Would you guys mind if we just looked at the kiosks?"
"Ok, we can do that, and then Syaoran-kun will probably have to go on his date." Tomoyo giggled.
"Girls…" Syaoran groaned. Why had he agreed to come? Good question.
Sakura slipped her purse over her shoulder. It had all her extra money. The money that she didn't need for paying bills.
Suddenly, Syaoran noticed a young boy standing behind her. The child was probably only eleven at most. He had a small pocket knife in his hand, and it looked like an attempt to steal the contents of Sakura's purse. By cutting the bottom, he could access it without having to run away because most likely; it would take a while for the person to notice.
"Hey, what are you doing?" he demanded, approaching the young boy.
The child spun back and held out the knife defensively. "You know, it's not ok for you to steal her stuff!" Syaoran yelled. The little thief!
Sakura and Tomoyo turned around curiously to see the boy. Sakura clutched her purse a little tighter. As she examined the boy more closely, she could hear Syaoran yelling in the background.
"What did you think you were doing! She needs that money more than you do, you little pickpocket. I should call security on you! It's what you deserve. Brat!"
"No, no, it's ok. He…I'm sure he needed it." She said lightly as she bent forward to the little boy and placed a twenty dollar bill in the palm of his hand. "It's all I have. You go take care of whatever you need to ok?"
The little boy nodded gratefully and ran along, stashing the knife in his pocket.
"Why'd you do that?" Syaoran asked, "I thought you had to pay your bills…"
"It's only extra money that I've been saving for a while. It's no big deal, I still have enough for the rest of the month and the bills." She reasoned, "besides…the boy probably had something he needed it for…he's too young to work, though…"
Tomoyo hugged Sakura tightly. "You're so sweet. If you need any help, I'd be glad to."
"Thank you, Tomoyo-chan."
Syaoran stared at her. Why was she like that? That's when he noticed the clock. "I gotta go, it's 5:30…"
Tomoyo looked at him strangely for a second then giggled, "Oh right! You're DATE!"
Sakura smiled a small smile of amusement. "Have fun."
"Uh…yeah, ok. Later." Syaoran said as he disappeared into the mob of people.
"Well, Tomoyo-chan, I have to go too. I have to go to the bakery at the other side of town."
"Well, I could give you a ride there, then you wouldn't have to take the bus at this hour…you know how crowded it is during this time…people getting off work and stuff. Besides, that's part of the bad side of town, anything could happen!"
"Oh no! I couldn't ask you to do that. It would be strange seeing a limousine at that broken end of town!"
"Yeah! But it's not safe to go down there on your own! You'll get hurt!" Tomoyo argued.
"I'll be careful, ok Tomoyo-chan? I go down there every two weeks. The bakery owner is very kind, and I haven't run into trouble. Don't worry too much!"
"Well…what about bus fare, I thought you gave all your extra money to that boy!"
"Don't worry, I made sure to keep five dollars for bread and I have a bus pass."
"I guess…I guess you'll be ok…" Tomoyo said doubtfully. "Let me at least take you to the bus stop."
"Well, ok."
The ride to the stop was quick; it was only a 10 minute walk away from the mall, after all. Tomoyo gave her best friend a last hug before the limo pulled away.
Syaoran sighed. Where was she? She was ten minutes late. It was only ten minutes, but Syaoran looked ridiculous standing outside the restaurant. He could hear couples walking by that whispered things to each other like "That poor boy…he's probably being stood up and he doesn't even know it!"
Half an hour had passed, where the heck was Saihara? He checked his watch. It wasn't daylight savings time, his watch was working, so what could've been wrong!
"Syaoran!" he heard Saihara screech.
"Uh…hey."
"Sorry, I took so long. You must've waited a long time for me, but I just couldn't decide what to wear!"
"No, that's ok…"
"Well, let's go!" Saihara said as she dragged the boy into the restaurant.
Sakura stepped off the bus as she thanked the bus driver politely. She turned left and walked a little ways to reach the quaint little bakery on the corner of the street. She dug deep into her purse to fish out her money as she walked up three steps and pulled the glass door to open it. Maybe it was the fact that she hadn't been looking, but she felt someone pushing against the door before she had pulled it open too much. Her foot caught on the door as she stumbled and started falling down. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly.
But when she expected impact, she felt someone latch onto her arm as they pulled her up back onto the third step.
"U-um, thank you, I guess I wasn't looking. I'm very sorry." Sakura apologized, embarrassed.
"It happens." Her savior shrugged. He grinned. "Besides, it was my fault, you were already opening the door; I shouldn't have pushed it open so suddenly."
"Oh no! My money!" In the time that had passed, Sakura had somehow managed to drop her five dollars at the bottom of the three steps. As she was about to pick it up, a boy with a snuggly orange hat ran by and yanked it from the ground. "What'll I do? I have to buy bread, maybe I should call Tomoyo."
"You don't have to do that; I can lend you five dollars. I have some change left. Here." The boy paused as he took out a five dollar bill from his pocket and held it out for her.
"Oh, no, I couldn't accept this!" Sakura exclaimed, pushing his hand back, "I don't even know you're name. I'd be taking something from a stranger!"
The boy looked shocked for a moment, than smiled, extending his hand towards her, "I'm Tokuzen, Hiroshi. Nice to meet you."
"U-um…Kinomoto, Sakura. It's nice to meet you too."
"So now that we're acquainted, here." He held out the five dollar bill to her again.
"I still, can't take it. It's yours, Tokuzen-kun."
"Call me Hiroshi, Sakura." He said lightly..
"Hiroshi, than…Still, I could never accept this."
"Hmm…? How will we work this out, than? How about if you take this money, you meet me for dinner sometime."
"Oh, I could never spare enough money for that!" she said.
"No worries, it'll be on me, since it'll be a date."
"Wouldn't that be even more bothersome…making you pay for dinner?"
"It's what I would want. Please?"
"Are you being serious?" Sakura asked, a little flustered and blushing.
"Yes." Hiroshi said as he stuck the five dollars in her palm and closed her fingers around it.
"Well…ok." Sakura said shyly, blushing even more. "Excuse me." She moved from him to the bakery owner as she quietly asked for a package of white bread.
She walked back to Hiroshi. "Thank you."
"No need to thank me. I guess this is where we part, ne? Is there any way I can contact you?"
"Um…here," Sakura pulled out a pencil and a sheet of paper that was from a newspaper clipping. Quickly scribbling her home phone number down, she handed the paper to him.
"Thanks. See you, Sakura. I hope you don't blow me off or try to avoid my calls." Hiroshi joked as he waved goodbye to the girl.
Sakura smiled at him and waved back. He was a nice boy. Should tell anyone about this encounter. Tomoyo? Syaoran? Her brother? Her dad? She wondered. Maybe she would wait a little while.
Syaoran yawned. It was 8:00! They had been in the restaurant for 3 hours and all Saihara had talked about was herself, her hair, her makeup, her dog, her room, her bed, her shopping sprees, her ex-boyfriends (which was seriously unappealing), and well…herself.
When Syaoran had agreed to the date, or being her boyfriend, whichever it was, he had liked her because his first impression of her was a strong willed girl who knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid to go for it. He had thought of her as uncaring of what other people thought. Apparently, he was very wrong. He HAD liked her because she was a strong female character, which was something that he looked for in anyone he dated. But this…THIS! It was NOT what he had in mind. He was completely wrong in assuming what she was like.
In fact, she was the complete opposite. She was self centered and arrogant and constantly boasted of her wealth. What had driven him to go out with her in the first place!
AN: Sorry, it took so long, everyone! Sorry sorry sorry! Eeks. I've never not updated for so long…not even when I went on vacation! But it's spring break, so I found some extra time to write! Yay! I know everything was strange, once again, but I like to experiment with these characters, besides, don't you think it makes everything seem more interesting?