DM: I know, I know, it's been ages. I'm sorry. Anyway, I see a lot of story alerts, which makes me very happy! Thanks guys!

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 Four

The Best Worst Day of My Life

"Remember class, the Dance is in just a couple weeks!" the class president said excitedly. The class cheered, including Li. When they had calmed down, she continued: "And for those of you that are interested, Mr. Terada will be taking a group to the Tokyo Homeless Shelter Friday afternoon! You should get your community service requirement finished before summer break!"

I smiled to myself as I thought of Mr. Terada. He had been my teacher in elementary school. I wondered briefly why he'd decided to teach at university.

"I'll go for sure," I said softly.

"Hmm? What's that, my darling?" that obnoxious voice I loathed asked me.

Desperately, I looked around for Tomoyo. She was chatting with our friend Rika, a beautiful girl with short dark hair. Resigned to conversing with him, I turned around.

"I'm going on the community service outing, Li," I said curtly. The idea of him doing community service was laughable.

"Oh? What do you do at the homeless shelter?" His genuine curiosity startled me, and for a moment I paused before answering.

"You cook for and feed the homeless people dinner," I said trying to sound as-a-matter-of-fact.

Li turned to Tomoyo and called her over. She dropped Rika right away and came rushing. Rika smiled knowingly at me over her shoulder and left the room.

"Will you be going, Sweetie?" he asked. They exchanged a few whispered comments.

I tried not to growl aloud as he placed a hand on the small of her back. That asshole. His hand traveled a touch lower and I felt like slapping him. But I held myself back—he still didn't know of the Ultimate Plan.

"I can't, Syao, I have choir practice Fridays," she said aloud. She looked back for Rika and pouted when she realized she wasn't there.

Li looked slightly put out…and kind of cute. Not that I really found him cute…ever. I left the classroom before he could talk to me and caught up with Hiiragizawa who was already at his locker.

"Hey, Partner," I said, getting into our role as secret agents of break-up doom.

"Oh hey," he said casually. Clearly he wasn't as excited about this as I was.

"How's the plan going?" I asked, choosing to ignore his nonchalance.

Hiiragizawa gave me the thumbs up and whispered excitedly, "She passed me a pencil today!" I had never seen him look so happy.

I sighed. That was a little less progress than I had hoped for after a week. Ah, yes, sorry, I skipped ahead a week. Let me continue. We bid each other goodbye and I put on her rollerblades. I know I'm too old for them, but they're so much faster than walking!

I was barely out of the school gates when Touya caught up to me, folding up his cell phone and putting it in his pocket. His face was strangely flushed, but not in a bad way.

"Dad says he won't be back from the trip until Saturday. Anyway, we have a guest coming…"

He said the last bit so softly I thought I had imagined it. Normally, I'd be really excited (it was probably Yukito) but at the moment I had more important things on my mind.

"Can I borrow your car this Friday?" I asked quickly, hoping to take advantage of his good mood.

"For what?" The flush disappeared and he looked at me suspiciously.

"For the community service trip to Tokyo," I said honestly. He looked a little relieved.

Just then, his cell phone beeped to signal a received text message. He dug in his pocket and almost dropped it, he was so frantic to open it. I almost laughed to see a twenty-two year old man so flustered.

"Yea sure, whatever," he said as his answer.

Why was he so distracted? Whatever, works for me, I thought, already looking forward to the trip.

When we got home, Touya went straight to the kitchen and began making dinner (although I think it was my turn that night). I flopped down on the couch and got started on my chemistry homework. After an hour or so, when I had already finished chemistry and math (thank god!), the doorbell rang.

"Hey Monster, can you get it? I'm a little busy."

I glanced in the kitchen. He was frying croquettes. Why go to all this trouble? When I opened the door I had my answer.

"Hello, Kinomoto," she said politely. She was wearing casual clothes.

"Oh, Li—please call me Sakura," I said, happy that she wasn't here to beat me up over Li.

"Oh all right. Then you may call me Meiling," she replied. I had never imagined she could look so poised in jeans and a tank top.

I led her into the sitting room and we sat down on opposite ends of the couch. I busied myself with my history reading, but glanced up occasionally at Meiling, who was staring at the floor. Touya came in wearing Dad's red apron, and said,

"Hello, Meiling. Dinner will be ready in just a few."

Meiling only blushed and smiled. When did he start calling her by her first name? I may never know. I looked at her carefully, and moved my mouth as I was thinking (a bad habit!).

"You know who you look like?" I asked, a smile forming on my face.

Meiling jumped a little and then shook her head.

"You look like Usagi from Sailor Moon!"

Meiling threw her head back and laughed. I laughed too. Leave it to me to break the ice with a dorky anime reference.

"You remember that anime? You're right though, we both have those…what're they called in Japanese?"

"Odangos. Where are you and your cousin from, anyway?" I asked.

I didn't have to mention Syaoran, but I did anyway.

"Oh we're from Hong Kong. We transferred here because Li's mother thinks he needs the quiet life."

I pictured him in traditional Japanese garb, performing tea ceremony.

We laughed again. Touya came in again, apron discarded, and said, "Dinner's ready!"

As we sat down, I decided to tease my stupid brother a little bit and say, "Hey Touya, Meiling looks like the girl from your favorite anime!"

He looked confused.

Meiling started cracking up. "Sailor M-moon" she choked out.

Touya glared at me. "Don't listen to the Monster, Meiling, she's very evil and none too bright—OW!"

I had stomped on his foot—my special attack. I suppose I should apologize for that too, huh? Anyway, Meiling laughed even harder. The evening went by like that, and I was happy that Meiling and my brother were getting along well.

Friday came and went, and I happily began driving Touya's car towards Tokyo.

What? You're wondering why I told you about that thing with Meiling? Ah, well you see, we're getting closer to the thing that I really have to apologize for, and I'm just a little nervous.

Anyway…

It was only a half-hour drive. I stopped at a red light and lazily glanced out the window. Li was waving at me frantically. He rushed up to the car and got in. I was so shocked I didn't even think to lock the door.

"Can I get a ride with you to the shelter?" he asked, buckling his seatbelt.

I sighed, knowing that now that he was in the car I wouldn't be able to stop him.

"Whatever…" I mumbled. Li busied himself with the radio.

"IF YOU LIKE MY BODY, AND YOU THINK I'M SEXY—" he sang along, turning the song way up. I blushed.

I quickly changed the channel. Damn Li's singing was terrible! It landed on the oldies station, and Li jumped up and down in his seat.

"I love this song!" he exclaimed. He seemed like a kid as he started singing, "Aruba, Jamaica ooh I wanna take ya"

"Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama" I sang along as well.

"Key Largo, Montego, baby why don't we go—Jamaica"

"OFF THE FLORIDA KEYS, there's a place called Kokomo" we sang together now.

"That's where you wanna go to get away from it all!"

"Bodies in the sand, tropical drink melting in your hand…"

We sang the rest of the song together (I'd never met someone who also knew all the words) and then lapsed into a comfortable silence. Suddenly, Li turned off the radio and asked me,

"Why do you dislike me?"

I paused to think. The traffic was stop and go as we neared Tokyo. Li was pushing his seatback down so as to take a nap.

"You just annoy me, that's all," I said softly. I think it was pretty obvious why I disliked him.

"Are you happy with Tsukishiro?"

He appeared nonchalant, but I heard the anticipation in his voice.

"Well, he doesn't really kiss me…" Idiot! Why are you telling him this! I thought at the time. Although now that I think of it, I really don't regret it.

"You know I'd kiss you," he said quietly. I strained my ears for a hint of humor in his voice but found none.

"Li, try to focus on your own girlfriend. Anyway, I think you're too childish for that kind of thing."

"You don't see me as a man? Is it because I play pranks? Sakura, you and I both know…" his voice was so serious.

I began to panic. My heart was racing.

"Don't call me Sakura!" I exclaimed quickly.

"Why not?" he asked, smiling. He was happy for the advantage.

"Because I think I li—"

WHAM!

The next thing I remember was the airbag.

Something huge and white blew up in my face. I felt a searing pain across my wrists and forearms. Smoke filled the car. Li was sitting up straight now, with a huge white balloon in front of his knees.

What are those called again? I wondered. I was in shock.

"Sakura, are you alright?" he asked, his voice taking on a note of panic.

"I…" I showed him my wrists. They were bleeding freely. I looked ahead and saw the car in front of us pull to the side with the car in front of it. Realization dawned on me.

"Oh my God, oh my God." My heart began to do double time again.

Syaoran was stroking my shoulder. He pulled out his cell phone from his pocket.

"Hey, it's ok, Sakura, it's ok, I'm just gonna call the fire department."

"No it's not, Syaoran! This is my brother's car!" I was sobbing and breathing quickly.

Why did he look so happy?

"Shh, it's ok."

An operator picked up on the line and he told her our location and what happened.

"We've rear-ended someone," he said firmly.

We didn't do anything, you dolt, it was me, I remember thinking.

I had never felt more stupid in my life. I reached back for my purse and pulled out my wallet. I found my insurance card and my driver's license. Now Touya would never let me drive again. It's true. I haven't driven since.

"How am I going to get the registration out?" I wailed. Syaoran's airbag was covering the glove compartment.

"Don't worry about that now—look, the fire department is here." Syaoran spoke with the firefighter and helped me out of the car, telling me a thousand times that everything would be alright.

"Here, give me your insurance card, and I'll get the other guys' info."

I watched him walk away, tears streaming down my cheeks, and a paramedic materialized in front of me.

"Are you alright?" he asked, examining my wrists.

"Stunned," was all I could manage. A police officer showed up.

"Ok sweetie, now tell me what happened."

I looked longingly at Syaoran, who was coming back with a couple slips of paper.

"I rear-ended that green car."

"And the green car tapped the white car," Syaoran finished for me.

The cop began to question Syaoran, who was a lot calmer than I was, much to my embarrassment. The paramedic was saying something. He was saying that we should go to the hospital. I nodded dumbly and got into the ambulance with him.

After what felt like a few hours but must have been 15 minutes, Syaoran got in the passenger's seat of the ambulance. He accidentally stepped on the siren, only to be shushed by the paramedic. I heard him as I answered the paramedic's questions calling her brother, Yukito, and the insurance company.

This is the worst day of my life, I decided. Of all people, Syaoran had to see me this way.

When we got to the hospital, I had to explain everything that happened about a hundred (five) more times. I looked at my wrists. They had huge vertical cuts in them that burned, and my forearms had what looked like rug burns on them. I sighed.

"Now you're going to feel disoriented as the shock wears off and you realize it wasn't a dream," the doctor was saying. He started to take a blood pressure reading.

"My fingers are tingling," I muttered feebly. He stopped.

"That's because you're hyperventilating. Now calm down, your boyfriend is taking care of everything. He's filling out your paperwork."

I wanted to say that Syaoran was not my boyfriend, but I suddenly felt nauseous and told the doctor so.

"That's also normal after you've had a big shock."

My cheeks burned in embarrassment. God, I was so stupid! Syaoran walked into the room and I felt my face go even redder.

"My driver is going to pick us up now."

The doctor nodded and began putting iodine on my cuts.

Suddenly, I was in the back of a black car with Syaoran sitting next to her, watching her carefully.

"You're lucky," he said, "It didn't get your face."

I couldn't say anything. I just stared back at him. We pulled up to my house and Syaoran walked me to the door.

"I left Touya and Tsukishiro a message, but they're on the dance committee so…" I nodded silently.

He walked in with me, waved the driver (whose name was Wei) off and twe sat down on my couch.

Did he plan to stay with me?

"You have a driver?" I finally found my voice. I was suddenly angry.

"Yea I…" he began, his face turning pink.

"Then why did you make me drive you?" I asked, sitting up straight so that I looked down on him.

"I…" Syaoran mumbled, looking at the floor, "I wanted to be with you, that's all."

I was dumbfounded. I had prepared a whole arsenal of insults, but they seemed to vanish from my memory. Syaoran pressed his advantage.

"You called me Syaoran! Can I call you Sakura?" He looked excited.

I wondered when I started thinking of him as Syaoran. I smirked at him.

"Sure, but only because the accident rattled my brains," I said. His smiled grew wider, and suddenly I got a very cruel impulse.

"Fuck you," I said softly.

"Please do," he replied, looking me in the eye. I turned away.

Syaoran laughed. His hand knocked against my wrist and I winced.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" he said, the smile disappearing from his face.

He held my wrist so lightly I could hardly believe he was touching it at all. He stared into my eyes for a moment and then kissed the bandage.

I only watched him, feeling no anger at all. Strange…

Syaoran got bolder and kissed my forearm lightly. Then he kissed her upper arm. When he got to my shoulder his tongue shot out and he licked me through his kiss. He nuzzled my collarbone and neck, kissed my jaw and—finally we were face to face. He was so close that I could feel his breath tickling my nose. My body felt like it was on fire

As he closed in, there was the sound of a car pulling up in our driveway. We locked eyes.

"Go!" I moaned, "They can't see you here, I'll show you out the back." I don't know why. We looked completely normal.

We ran for the back door and I practically pushed him out of it. He hung back, his eyes burning into mine,

"Do you really like Yukito?"

Before I could stop myself, I said, "No…"

Oh Lord, what a bad person I am! If only you could help me!

He smiled and winked, and then took off, hopping the fence. Just in time too, as Touya and Yukito burst into the house along with Tomoyo.

"Sakura, are you alright?"

I sighed, and let Yukito embrace me and kiss my face. I suddenly felt horribly guilty. I shook my head to clear my mind as we sat down, and I told the story for the two hundredth (twelfth) time that day.

DM: Please review, it makes me happy!