DM: Well now I'm editing chapter two, I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own CCS, or anything else that I might reference (such as books, movies, clothing brands, etc.). Character names that you do not recognize are either people I know or characters of my own creation.

How Should I Know?

Chapter Two

A Fountain of Fun

"Ok Class, just sit tight while I pass back our first math test of the year!" Mr. Terada exclaimed.

The class groaned collectively, myself included. As usual, it hadn't gone very well, especially for me. Calculus is more difficult than it looks (and it looks pretty difficult).

I lifted my head off my hand with a small sigh and braced myself for another C, which I had gotten all last year. I had been staring down at the quad. The sky was a little gloomier than usual, signaling the coming rain. I cursed myself for forgetting my umbrella at home.

Mr. Terada sounded way too pumped about math tests; I can't understand people like that. I doodled a heart with "YT + SK" in the middle of my notebook as the teacher neared my desk, trying not to betray my fear and anxiety. I'm convinced teachers can smell it.

"Wonderful job, Kinomoto, looks like you've improved!" Terada exclaimed, sounding sincerely happy for me. I forgot to suppress my sigh of relief and he chuckled.

I looked at my test. I got an eighty-eight percent! That was a B plus! I had never scored so well on a math test before. I was so happy and turned to show Tomoyo, who of course got a 91. She's always bested me when it comes to school. I've come to terms with it.

We shared a proud smile, but I felt mine break in half as Mr. Terada said to Li:

"Congratulations! A perfect score!" I cringed a little bit.

"Gee thanks, Professor, I'm so glad!" Li's voice was so sugary I wanted to vomit.

Suddenly, a huge hole opened up under Li's desk, and he and his stupid perfect score plummeted down through the Earth's crust, sizzling as they hit the magma. I smiled at the pleasant fantasy.

"Sakura? Are you ok? That smile looks sort of deranged…" Tomoyo asked, shaking me by the shoulder and eyeing me nervously.

"Yea, what's the matter, Darling? Let me see what you got!" I heard from behind me. The sugar was gone from his voice as Terada moved on to the rows behind us.

Li put his arm around me and leaned forward, so his head was resting on my shoulder with a familiarity I found unnerving. I felt the heat rise in my face at his sudden closeness and tried to keep my head as far away from his as was humanly possible.

I noted that Tomoyo's eyes were narrowing dangerously out of jealousy and tried to make my displeasure with Li's closeness as apparent as possible.

"Hah, a B plus? My mom would kill me if I got that. Especially in math, since it's such an easy subject," he said smugly. His chin was digging into my shoulder, as if he wanted to add injury to insult. The contrary punk.

Remain calm, I told myself, Do not take the bait.

"It may be easy for you, Li, but Sakura's had trouble with math since childhood," Tomoyo said, in a tone of voice I rarely heard her use. My eyebrow twitched in irritation.

Gee thanks, Tomoyo, I thought bitterly.

"Oh I see. I guess I'll have to help you then," he said lazily. He was twirling a lock of my hair around one of his fingers and I casually wanted to scream.

"Thanks for the offer, but Yukito already agreed to study with me—in fact, we're studying this afternoon," I said as calmly as she could, shaking my shoulders and brushing him off.

I felt him stare at the back of my head as he sat down again, and for a long time neither of us spoke. Thank God math was the last class of the day. The past two weeks with Li had been almost unbearable. Every time I'd tried to go off and find Yukito, Li was there, messing things up.

He really ran the gamut as far as pranks went. They ranged from ridiculously immature (a five year old could do better, I often thought) to outlandish and strange. He stayed in a dorm, so his free time was essentially unlimited to come up with these things.

For example, just the other day I had gone to visit Yukito in his dorm, when a hand reached out of a random door and pulled me in. I tried to scream, fearing for my life, but it turned out to be Li, who placed a hand over my mouth and winked.

I resolutely ignored the cuteness of the gesture.

"Watch this," he whispered, pointing to the door, which he'd left just a little bit open. Yukito was walking down the hallway, completely oblivious to the wire Li had stretched across the hall. He tripped and triggered some kind of complicated mechanism that then caused something reddish-brown and spicy to drop from the ceiling. I gasped as poor Yukito found himself covered in curry. Li began laughing hysterically.

I turned to Li with what I hoped was a very hurt expression and slapped him in the face. It felt quite good.

"You're so immature," I said furiously, rushing outside to help Yukito off the floor, only to slip in the curried carpet and fall backwards into Li's waiting arms.

Much to my dismay, I felt my heart skip a beat as his chest rumbled with a soft laugh. Still holding me at extremely close proximity, he whispered,

"We seem to find ourselves in this situation a lot."

I shook my head as my ears turned red to clear my mind of the memory. There were thirty minutes left in class.

Just thinking about his stupid little jokes made me angry. He was already so popular, and people were wondering why I didn't like him—especially Tomoyo, who seemed absolutely smitten, much to my disgust.

It wasn't that I hated him, per se, but more that he set me ill at ease. I didn't know what he was capable of—or what I was capable of—when he was around me. I don't know. Maybe I was already in love with him at that point. It snuck up on me, as you'll see later.

I turned to look at Tomoyo and saw the girl staring at Li with dreamy eyes. It was evident that she was after him to be her boyfriend, much to the dismay of the rest of the single male population.

Ugh, gag me, I thought, the last thing Li needs is more of an ego-boost.

I turned my eyes back out the window and I remembered yet another Li-incident. The day before, I had gone to see Yukito only to find a random guy duct-taped to a chair sitting in the elevator. Attributing it to Li (only he would think that was funny) I stomped over to his room to give him a stern talking to.

However, when I pushed open the door, I found him kneeling in front of a photograph, an incense stick burning in a small but ornate holder. Taking a soft step inside, I saw a man who looked remarkably like him: the same messy brown hair, but with black eyes. Li clapped his hands twice and was about to get up when I dashed out of the room, my heart beating fast for no reason.

I could remember thinking: Was that the same guy who put salt in my pudding today?

Li suddenly poked me in the back of the head and the memory vanished.

Yes, it definitely was, I assured myself.

"Hey Hot Stuff,what time are you meeting Tsukishiro?" he asked, lengthening the "Darling" into a drawl.

I took a deep breath and turned around slowly.

"Why?" I asked, suspicious. My hands had taken their customary place on my hips, though I longed to remove my uniform's blazer. It was suddenly awfully hot in the room and I had no idea why.

"Because I want to go with you," he replied. I was shocked at how straightforward he was.

"Why?" I blurted out again, confused by his attitude.

"Because I want to help you study," he persisted. His left cheek had a little dimple, I noticed suddenly. My heart was beating very fast and inside I was panicking.

"Why?" I asked again, almost scared of the next answer.

"Because it pains me to see someone so stupid," he said, his intense expression never leaving his face.

SMACK. The sound of a hand slapping cheek. I was hearing it a lot lately.

Li held his cheek but smirked at me, the dimple deepening. I couldn't believe he'd got me so worked up over nothing.

Anger boiled up from my stomach as my hands involuntarily formed fists. It wasn't my fault I wasn't good at math! I tried my best to make an angry expression, but a little of my hurt must have seeped out as my lips formed a plump pout.

Glancing down at my lips briefly, Li looked back into my eyes, seeming almost to find me cute, which confused me all the more. I could never tell what he was thinking.

"I was just kidding, but if I told you the real reason you'd blow me off," he said, shrugging.

Don't rise. I told myself. Don't take his bait, he wants you to ask so he can say something mean…

"You're right. I probably would," I replied, and I was pleased to see a disappointed look on his face. And with that, I turned in my seat and didn't look at him again for the rest of the period.

When the bell finally rang, I packed up my stuff quickly and left without even saying goodbye to Tomoyo. I looked back into the classroom from the hall and saw Li chatting her up.

I'll get him good one of these days, I resolved.

I set off at a brisk pace for the library, where I would work with Yukito. I felt myself smile dreamily as I thought of him (Tomoyo always called it "going hanyan") and sighed.

Unfortunately, my pace wasn't brisk enough, because Li caught up to me just as I was rounding the fountain in the courtyard.

"What do you want, Li?" I asked, sighing exasperatedly.

"To tell you that Tomoyo agreed to go out with me this weekend," he replied happily. His smile was too smug for my liking.

I turned on my heels and stuck a finger in his face, my other hand taking a place on my hip in a threatening gesture.

"Listen pal," I began, "She's my friend, and if you do anything to hurt her—"

"—Like kiss her best friend?" he asked, cutting me off.

Suddenly his mouth covered mine in a wet, nonsensical tangle of heat. I was startled at how soft his lips were despite the forcefulness of the kiss and didn't react for a few moments. His hands had found their way into my short hair, holding my face to his.

What is happening? I thought, forgetting myself and letting him kiss me.

Inexplicably, I hesitated a few more seconds before placing both hands on his chest and pushing him away, my mouth feeling cold once we'd broken apart.

I glared at him, trying desperately to hide the weakness in my knees. My heart was beating so fast I felt lightheaded, but I couldn't—wouldn't—let him know he affected me like that.

"How dare you?" I asked, my voice shaking. I was out of breath and it was humiliating.

"You're just so cute when you're getting all self-righteous—" he began.

WHAM. The sound of fist on nose.

CRUNCH. The sound of 'Oh my god did I just break his nose?'

I stood, staring at my fist, shaking. Oh God, his nose! He grabbed it and moaned. It was bleeding freely.

"Li...I'm sorry I didn't mean to break your nose, I—" I tried to explain myself, suddenly looking around for a sign that someone had seen what had happened. There were a couple underclassmen, but that was it, thankfully. I had forgotten about the kiss entirely.

"It's not broken, you twit, it's just bleeding, relax," he said, scoffing at my concern.

"Right, it's just a fountain of fun, isn't it?" I asked, smirking at him for behaving like such a tough-guy. This was the first time he'd been this flustered around me.

"Damn straight it is," he replied, regaining his composure, "Speaking of fountains and fun…"

He grinned evilly at me from behind the blood and swooped down on my knees, knocking me backwards into the rather dirty fountain. I screamed as the cold water seeped up her clothes and damned him under my breath.

"I hate you, Li," I said, yet at the same time I didn't mean it at all. He looked like he didn't believe me.

I glowered at him, so angry I was shaking. I would have hit him again but suddenly three people were running towards us.

"Xiao Lang!" rang out a girl with black pigtails as she ran to him, glaring at me.

"Sakura!" My brother and Yukito were coming too. I love being humiliated on a daily basis, you know, so this was just great for me.

"What did you do to my sister?" Touya growled angrily at Li. He shook a fist at the younger (and much shorter) guy.

"What did your sister do to my cousin?" The girl screamed in return, shielding Li from Touya, her hands on her hips. Touya's eyes latched on to hers and the two radiated auras of pure anger at the other's completely unjust accusation.

I had begun giggling at their glaring match when Yukito came and helped me out of the fountain. He smiled at me and whispered, "I have something very important to ask you Sakura, once this is all over." The hushed tone of his voice gave me shivers.

I looked at him questioningly, cheeks burning, but he only winked at me and turned to watch Touya and the girl argue over whose fault it was. I didn't dare breath. Did he mean what I thought he did? I pondered the question as I wringed the water out of my skirt. I watched as Li scrubbed a little at the front of his blazer, where the fountain water was quickly washing out the blood from his nose.

He looked up and met my gaze for a second, two streaks of blood trailing from his nostrils over his lips. He made a face, rolling his eyes back and licking his lips, holding his arms out like a zombie. In spite of myself, I laughed. He was immature, but pretty funny nonetheless.

"Look, just keep her away from him!" The girl shook a fist at Touya. Li sighed and stepped around her.

"Chill out, Meiling, it's okay!" he exclaimed, holding both his hands up in an attempt to calm her down.

"No it isn't!" Touya yelled at him, "Keep him away from her," he snapped at the girl, pointing at a confused and sighing Li.

"Fine!" she replied.

"Fine!" he shot back.

With that, Touya and Meiling stormed off in opposite directions, which I found mildly amusing. Li shook his head and turned to me and Yukito.

"My cousin, Li Meiling," he said thickly through the blood on his face, "She is very protective of me. She's in class 2-1."

Yukito only smiled at him, as I stuck her tongue out. Li shrugged, stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked off in the same direction as his cousin, looking strangely disappointed.

Maybe he did believe me when I told him I hated him.

I looked up at my brother's friend, unsure of what to expect yet utterly excited. He had never looked so cute to me before and I felt myself blush realizing that this could be the day I'd been waiting for. The day my love was finally answered!

Yukito took my arm and said, "Hey maybe we shouldn't study today. Let me get you a towel."

We went to the sports locker and got a nice warm towel from the equipment manager, and walked off. I didn't dare say anything the entire time, not wanting to jinx the happy atmosphere. I knew that if I opened my mouth I'd talk about Li. How? Don't ask me. I just did.

"D'you wanna get some ice cream?" he asked, "Let's go to Penguin Park." Without waiting for my reply, he took my hand and led me out of the school.

Thoughts of homework and revenge on Li for humiliating me took a back seat as I enjoyed the feeling of his hand around mine.

"So what did you want to ask me that was so important?" I said, breathless as I attempted to keep up with him. He's quite tall.

"Well, I've been trying to convince your brother to let me do this for months, and finally I got him to agree, so…" he trailed off.

He stopped walking and turned to me. I could see he was nervous and felt my heart rate double. We hadn't even made it to Penguin Park yet.

"Would you like to be my girlfriend?" he asked, all in one exhale.

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod I thought, my mind lacking all coherency.

"YES! YES I WOULD LOVE TO!" I replied excitedly. I jumped up into his arms. I was ecstatic! After twenty-one years of life, my first boyfriend!

Insert Line here

Of course I should have known that Li would react to my new relationship with Yukito by going steady with my best friend.

Li arrived in class on Monday wearing a triumphant smirk. He came by and tickled Tomoyo under the chin, winking at me to demonstrate the success of his counter attack. The happiness I had felt before vanished almost immediately as my competitive side rose to his challenge. Fire crackled between us as he took his seat behind me. Tomoyo turned to me, whispering.

"He's so wonderful, Sakura! Can't you at least make an effort to get along with him? For my sake?" she begged.

Tomoyo looked so pathetic, pleading with me, that I sighed and nodded.

"Only if he isn't an obnoxious pig to me," I retorted, my voice laced with resignation. I'd do anything for Tomoyo.

"Thanks so much Sakura, you're the best!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around me. She hugged me tightly, oblivious to the negative attention our newly-formed trio was receiving from the other members of the class, both male and female. A buzz of whispering followed every move we made.

The attention, of course, was mostly focused on Tomoyo. People don't really worry about me all that much.

"Now we both have the boyfriends we've always dreamed of!" she said, sighing happily.

"Yea…" I replied, looking away.

Tomoyo got up to go to the washroom. I looked down at my notebook and saw the little heart I'd doodled on it the week before. Was it really only Friday morning that I hadn't known how he felt about me? I was still getting over the shock and didn't feel quite like myself.

As soon as Tomoyo left, Li got up to follow her. I cringed.

However, he came right back inside, covering his eyes with a hand,

Why did he seem so angry? I wondered. However, I stopped thinking about it quickly as Tomoyo came back and immediately ran up to him and started jabbering away. She backed off when he suddenly slammed his fist down.

I got up and stared at him, hands on my hips.

"Bipolar much?" I asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Disgusting," was all he said. Now that I looked, he seemed more mortified than angry.

"What's the matter?" I asked, trying to hide my concern and failing. Dimly I noticed that his nose appeared fine. The weekend had healed it.

"I just saw my cousin and your brother sucking face," he replied, looking faintly sick.

I stared. I wasn't really expecting that. But it wasn't that gross.

"Look, I have no control over what my brother does, and for your information, your cousin can snog whomever she wishes," I said simply, taking my seat.

Li still looked really angry as he sat down, and lapsed into a silence uncharacteristic of him throughout the rest of the period. By second period; however, he was back to his usual joking self, but ignored me completely.

Bipolar freak, I thought to myself.

I, free of his presence, happily spent the school day dreaming of her first date with Yukito, that coming Saturday.

DM: Well that's it for now, guys! Now no flames please! It's essential to the plot that Sakura and Yukito go out, and I couldn't just leave Touya hanging, could I? Ordinarily I'm a total Touya x Yukito fan, but this fic is a little different. I mean, who has ever heard of a Touya x Meiling pairing? WTF? Review please, and the more I get, the faster I will update! Thanks so much!