FAIRYTALE

Genre: Romance/Drama/Humor

Rating: T

Summary: A girl. A guy. The twenty first century. An arranged marriage. Based on Goong.

Disclaimer: I don't own CCS or Goong or Kodocha.

ii. Chaos

Sakura could only stare in shock, her mouth hanging open, making a cozy little home for some mosquito who just happens to be looking for one.

Home, that is.

As the 'Li kid' trudged up the stairs and through the front doors, Sakura continued to gawk after him until Tomoyo poked her ribs, and she yelped with a start.

"I know he's good looking, Kura," Tomoyo smirked, "but you better close that jaw of yours before Jimmy the mosquito moves any of its furniture in."

"That's – that's – that's Syaoran Li!"

"Yes, I think we covered as much," Tomoyo rolled her eyes, and rubbed her hands up and down her arms. "I don't know about you, but it's freezing – I'm going inside. Say hi to Jimmy for me."

And she left, leaving Sakura behind, still in shock. It took another second or two for Sakura to snap out of it and run after her friend.

"That's the guy I was arguing with at the shop yesterday!"

"What?"

"Don't you ever listen to me?"

Tomoyo turned a soft shade of pink and tried to avoid Sakura's eyes. "I … well, I've had a lot of things on my mind lately."

She might've just screamed out she was daydreaming about her lover again, Sakura snorted. Denial isn't just a river in Egypt.

"I ranted on for like an hour, NOW you tell me you weren't even paying the slightest attention?"

The girl in question tapped her chin thoughtfully, thinking hard. "I think I heard something about bags behind a pile of wrapping paper – but that's about it," she said, shrugging. "What's so important about bags behind wrapping paper anyway?"

Sakura could only glare at her. "Gee, I don't know, but maybe if you paid attention next time, you'd actually understand!"

"Understand what?"

"THIS! TODAY! HIM! LI!"

"… what about him?"

I need a solid brick wall to slam my head in, Sakura thought miserably. Some 'best friend' I've got.

"Forget it," she waved her hand, "you go on and continue daydreaming, sorry for bothering you."

Tomoyo coughed embarrassingly as they entered their classroom for the first period. "No, no, no! I know what you're talking about, really!"

"What is it then?"

They sat down on their seats and while they were taking out their books, Tomoyo thought hard. "Yesterday – you – uh, were at the shop working, as usual, from five thirty to eight, and you were probably late because you misread the clock AGAIN –"

"Cut the crap and get to the point."

"Ehehehe … and then this totally hot guy came in and you guys made out?"

"… so THAT'S what you want, eh?" Sakura smirked at her, who turned beet red again.

"You two, settle down please!" the Teacher barked at them, pointing her finger accusingly at the girls. "We have a new student here today, and I expect you all to be good to him and treat him with respect!"

The door opened, and Syaoran Li stepped inside. As he did so, the girls nearly all fell out of their chairs and scooted their seats a little closer to him, trying to touch his hand, his arm, his pants, maybe his nose if it was possible –

Everyone except for Sakura, of course.

The Teacher's expression immediately went from pissed off to sickly sweet, using her usual fake syrup-y voice when tries to kiss ass to the principal or the board of governers in hope of raising her wage.

Which she didn't. Get a higher pay, that is.

"Syaoran Li!" she nearly cooed, beaming up at him with an equally fake smile plastered on her face. "Welcome, welcome! I'm sure you have a lot to look forward to, remember to ask if you would like anything! Why don't you introduce yourself first before we show you a seat, hmm?"

The unemotional expression on his face didn't change; he merely raised an eyebrow and gave her a cold look. Clearly this person had no desire to introduce himself. To anybody. At all.

The Teacher, who stood right in front of him, had the front-row seat of his cold glare, even if she was about two or three heads shorter than him. Either she was just too short, or the guy was too tall.

Her face faltered under his stare, and she giggled nervously, turning away from him, looking around the class. "Well, then, let's just find you a seat – ah, how about behind Miss Sakura Kinomoto then?"

The girl two seats behind Sakura squealed in excitement, tugging at her nearby friend's sleeve. "He's sitting right in front of me! In front of me! Me! ME ME ME ME MEEEEEEEE!"

Syaoran shuffled down the aisle, irritated. First some ass-kissing teacher, then I get to sit in front of this girl who looks like she hasn't trimmed her hair or washed in ages, he groaned to himself. Wonderful. Just, great.

As he dropped the bag beside his assigned seat, he finally got a good look at girl sitting in front of him. Hmm, she looks familiar.

She slowly looked up, and for a moment, he was shocked as her emerald orbs bored into him. The girl from the café? he laughed silently to himself. This could get interesting.

… if the girl-who-hasn't-trimmed-or-washed-her-hair-in-ages would just stop tapping his back every two seconds, this could get really interesting.

"Er, well, now that's all settled," the Teacher coughed, and her voice suddenly changed to her usual rough bark, "I have a surprise for you!"

The whole class sat a little straighter. Except Syaoran, who was busy with … well, busy.

"POP QUIZ!" the Teacher clapped her hands in glee, and handed out the work sheets in a flash. "Since you all just sucked so bad on the last math exam, I'm going to be a little more strict this time – until I see full marks on all of your papers. And that includes you, Kinomoto!"

Syaoran saw the girl in front of him slump a little into her seat, her ears crimson. He'd love to see her face turn red at the same time as well, but too bad, she wasn't sitting behind or next to him.

Pen flying across his paper like it had its own brain, Syaoran worked fast and swiftly without a pause. Math was easily his best subject. He couldn't help but notice the girl – Sakura, the Teacher called her? – having problems. Even though he couldn't her face, he knew she was biting her fingernails and she kept on tucking and re-tucking her hair behind her ears, occasionally letting out a frustrated sigh. This went on for what felt like hours, since Syaoran had already finished his paper, only it had been no more than twenty minutes.

The Teacher yelled at them to give their test paper to the person behind them to mark as she wrote the answers on the blackboard.

Sakura's hair nearly whipped his face as she turned quickly, threw the test onto his desk, and turned back just as fast. Syaoran only needed to scan through her answers for a moment to tell that she failed – with a big fat zero, no less.

"Here you go, kid," he tapped her back with her paper, where he had drawn a zero – quite happily, I might add. He artistically fashioned it with two dots and a curve – a smile.

"Hilarious," Sakura said dryly, looking at the paper and glaring at him before snatching it back. "Very funny, Li."

Leaning forwards a little, he crooked his eyebrows – a habit, she noticed. "What happened to 'Your Majesty'? I liked that."

"Of course you would," Sakura snapped. "That's probably what everyone calls you, isn't it?"

"Not really, kiddo."

"I'm not a kid!" she hissed at him.

However, Syaoran was momentarily distracted as he turned back, facing the-girl-who-hasn't-trimmed-or-washed-her-hair-in-ages. The girl squealed once again but Syaoran Li merely leaned back, grabbed his test paper, and turned back just as swiftly before she could say anything.

"What?" he demanded.

"I'm not a kid!" she repeated, glaring at him. "Stop calling me that!"

"Don't think so, kid."

"You –"

Syaoran cut her sentence off by saying, "The blackboard's over there," nodding to the front of the classroom. "If you don't mind?" he sent her a cold look.

Seething inside once again by the same man, she whipped back to face the front – this time, her hair whipping across his cheek.

Shit, he cursed, rubbing the skin. Hair hurts like hell.

What was her problem, anyway?

The bell rung, indicating the end of the class. Syaoran stood up and went out of the classroom for some fresh air – or at least, he tried to.

The moment he stepped out the door, all he saw were faces – millions of faces, all of them staring at him. He stood their for two seconds before all of them shouted at once.

"SYAORAN! IT'S SYAORAN LI!"

"Mom, you won't believe this, Syaoran Li's standing right- in – front – of – me!"

"SYAORAN, YOU GUYS! LI!"

"Hey, can I have your autograph?"

"SYAORAN, LOOK, IT'S SYAORAN!"

"Can you sign my bra?"

Although he was somewhat used to all the paparazzi and people chasing after him and over reacting when they meet him thing, Syaoran couldn't help but be bewildered. What if he had to go to the bathroom? Will theysurround him while he pees?

That he didn't want to think about.

But no problem, he didn't want to pee right now, so he'll worry about that later.

Still staring at the crowd before him, a hand suddenly shot out from inside the classroom and pulled him back inside roughly. Syaoran cursed as he nearly stumbled inside, and the person who yanked him in closed the door with a slam, failing to drown out the shouts and yells outside.

Syaoran didn't know what to say, he simply stared at the guy.

"I just saved your ass there," the 'guy who rescued his life' said, chuckling. "And all I get is a blank stare?"

"…"

"Name's Eriol," he introduced himself, reaching out a hand. "Eriol Hiiragazawa. Your dad used to be my dad's best friend."

"… thanks."

"Huh?"

"For dragging me in."

"Oh," Eriol smiled. "You're a bit slow on the uptake."

"…"

"Not much of a talker, are you?"

Syaoran gave him another one of his blank stares. "So, best friends, huh? Yeah, Mother talks about you and your family occasionally."

"Wow," Eriol laughed again, running a hand through his midnight-blue hair. "That's the most words you've used to talk to me in one breath!"

"You want a shiny medal to go with that?"

Still chuckling, Eriol shook his head. "Yep, my mom was right."

"Right about what?" Syaoran frowned at the comment. Why is everyone in this world talking about me?

"Oh, just this and that, nothing important."

Syaoran didn't bother to push it. He slumped down on a random seat and looked around the classroom, his eyes finally settling on angry emeralds, blinking right back at him.

"You know her?" Eriol asked, seeing who he was looking at.

"More or less," Syaoran drawled out, tipping his head sideways to get a good look at her.

"You like her or something?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," Eriol grinned. "It's just that little argument you had with her a while ago – I couldn't help but hear."

"'Course not."

"I sit behind you, on the right. How could I not help but overhear a lovers' quarrel?"

"Lovers' quarrel?" Syaoran snorted, rolling his eyes skyward.

"Mmm. That's what it sounded like to me." Eriol himself looked at Sakura's direction, but he was focusing more on something – or rather, someone – beside her.

"Talk about lovers," Syaoran mumbled under his breath.

"Yeah, so I like her," Eriol said, rolling his eyes behind his glasses. "At least I can admit it."

"Hn."

"Damn, it's hard talking to you."

"Never asked you to," he drawled out, now playing with a pen. The girl who sat behind him – I am NOT going to say who it is, I'm sure all of you dear readers know who already – saw it and clapped her hands excitedly.

"That's so amazing, Syaoran!" she exclaimed, and laughed like a lunatic. "Wow, wow, wow! Do it again!"

Syaoran couldn't help but send her one of his cold glares. This girl was getting on his nerves.

"Please don't tell me everyone is like her here," he said to Eriol, indicating the still swooning girl.

"Nope, not all of us. I mean, this moron last year tried to wrap the whole school in toilet paper, but that's just about as crazy as you can get," Eriol said, laughing at the memory.

"Brilliant."

"You play any soccer?"

Syaoran looked at him, taken aback at the sudden change of topic. "Yeah, all my life. Why?"

"Great, we need a new player. Two of our teammates are injured, they can't play for a few weeks, and we need someone new – tryouts are tomorrow afternoon, how about it?"

"…"

"I'll take that as a yes," Eriol commented, smiling.

The guy smiles too much, it's frightening, Syaoran thought.

"Great," Eriol said, pulling out his phone. "I'll inform the guys – you'll like to meet them, right?"

"…"

"Awesome."

"… you've known me in under fifteen minutes, and now you can read my mind?"

"I'm just amazing that way."

Syaoran snorted again. "I'm sure you are."

He caught sight of the green-eyed girl glancing in his direction again, and he stared right back.

And so they stayed in that position for a long, long time.

Well alright, it was only a minute and a half, but it'd feel more like fifteen hours if you've been staring at the same thing, trying hard not to blink, like Syaoran and Sakura were doing.

Syaoran could feel his eyes start to water. I'm not going to lose to a freaking girl!

Thankfully for the both of them, the bell rung again, and they both broke the connection at the same time. Muttering under his breath, Syaoran got up from the seat and strutted to his bag where he pulled out what he needed for his next class – Home Economics.

Sewing was not a way he'd choose to spend fifty minutes on.

Tomoyo's jaw dropped. "You mean Syaoran Li?"

"Yes, for the forty-seventh time, yes!"

"You," she continued, still in shock, "argued with a Li? A Li, in the middle of a shop, of a public place?"

"So what?" Sakura shot at her. "Li or no Li, he's a complete asshole – all he cares about is himself. He's cold, arrogant, conceited and haughty and – and – just – impossible!"

They turned a corner and headed down the hall for their next class. "What an ass," Tomoyo commented. "Who does he think he is?"

"I know!"

"And, seriously," Tomoyo continued, smiling, "what an ass."

"He really is – oh please," Sakura finally caught on, disgusted. "Nice looking ass or not, he IS an ass."

"Yes, but a very attractive ass."

"You're impossible."

"I try."

Home Economics was usually Sakura's favorite class, but she was still angry about her little encounter with Syaoran Li, the ass, the good looking ass. He did look funny in his apron though, slightly out of place.

Okay, a lot out of place.

The scowl on his face showed how he knew how stupid he looked. For some reason, this gave Sakura a little satisfaction. Yes, she enjoys seeing other people suffer.

"Sakura! Where's the whipped cream?"

"Wha – oh," she snapped back to reality as she heard her name being called. "Here, let me do that."

She squirted the frosting on the cake, making little flowers and swirls here and there. Stupid Syaoran Li, she thought, angry once more. Stupid Li with his stupid 'I'm-A-Li-Bow-Down-To-Me' look, stupid Li with his stupid ass – argh, stupid Tomoyo for making me think about stupid Li with his stupid ass. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

She squeezed the container too hard, and the whipped cream burst from it, going everywhere – Sakura's apron, the cake, the utensils, this Hello-Kitty-shaped plant pot next to her, and to her amusement, the greasy-haired-guy-who-hasn't-trimmed-his-hair-in-years' oily hair.

Shit, Sakura cursed. Another reason for me to hate him.

She cleaned up the best she could and went over to the sink, washing her hands and trying to get the stuff off of her apron and bits of her clothing.

While her head was bent down, scrubbing, she could feel a shadow looming over her, like when thick black clouds cover the blue skies right before a thunderstorm came.

Only, thunderstorms don't speak, do they?

"Kid," Syaoran Li muttered quietly as he swept pass her and towards the sink.

This only fueled up Sakura's anger, who threw down the towel she was using and put her hands on her hips, glaring furiously at him. "I am NOT a kid, get it, old man?"

Syaoran stayed silent, looking down at her.

My neck hurts, Sakura whimpered mentally. God, why is he so TALL? I'm gonna injure my neck!

"Pick it up."

"Excuse me?"

Syaoran Li broke the gaze and looked down, signaling his shoe where she had thrown the dirty towel down. "Pick it up," he repeated.

Pick it up? Pick it UP?

This made Sakura angrier than ever, and she let out a small shriek of frustration before jabbing a finger at his chest – hard – repeatedly, "You think you can just order me around? I'm not your servant!"

"…"

"You might have money," she said loudly, "you might have thirty servants and maids bowing down at your every order, but in case you haven't noticed, I'M NOT YOUR SERVANT!"

"…" Syaoran didn't bother to say anything, just gave her another cold look before shaking the wet towel off his shoe and walking off.

Okay, Sakura breathed heavily, I need to calm down. I just need to count to ten, like Touya says. Maybe I should listen to him for once … just this once.

One…

Two…

… two and a half …

SPLAT!

The towel hit Syaoran's back dead center, sliding off his back and onto the ground. The whole class froze, looking from Sakura to Syaoran to the towel, not believing what they had just witnessed.

Did she just throw something AT Syaoran Li?

"THIS IS SCHOOL, YOU MORON!" Sakura started to scream, stomping her feet and clenching her fists. "NOT YOUR BIG, FANCY MANSION WHERE YOU CAN ORDER PEOPLE AROUND WHENEVER YOU WANT, YOU COLD, ARROGANT, CONCEITED –"

"– haughty, and impossible asshole?"

"…"

"You have a loud voice," Syaoran explained at her shocked expression.

"… I – I never said asshole!"

"But you were thinking about it."

Sakura fumed, once again. I want to punch that arrogant face of his.

If she were a stove, the whole building would've burned down by now.

Instead, she brushed pass him – perhaps harder than necessary, her arm hurt now – and back to her table, head held high. Syaoran nearly chuckled at the scene.

She looks no bigger than Tinkerbell, he thought, looking her over. And yet here she was, with an anger that can actually compete with his.

Thank God she wasn't his wife. He wouldn't want to put up with something like that.

But of course, what you want and what you were going to get were two different things …

A/N:

A quick little chapter. A little boring, in my opinion, but I just wanted to put something up before beginning my two-weeks-of-no-computer-or-internet-because-of-exams thing.

So, yeah.

Thanks to all of the reviews, that's what motivates me. 8DDDD

Keep them coming!

And feel free to give some suggestions or whatever. Kthx.