Okay I guess some people are not understanding some things. Ranma is the name of Sakura's fiancée, only because I couldn't think of any other name.

II. Syaoran

Hong Kong, China

Li Corporation was one of the world's biggest companies, an international conglomerate that included computer divisions, oil wells, banks, airlines and numerous other profitable businesses. Richer and more influential than most countries, Li Corp was an empire that spanned almost four generations, built up from a small steel mill in Guangzhou. Controlled by a top echelon of executives bearing the family name, at the very helm of the board was Li Syaoran, the great-grandson of the company's founder.

Li Syaoran was tall, with messy chestnut-colored hair and piercing amber eyes that missed nothing. Extremely handsome, he was cordial in the most coolly indifferent way yet still had a magnetic presence that drew people to him. He was not excessively young, but in the eyes of his advisors, it was seen as such. Twenty-eight years old, he had been president and CEO of his clan's family company for three years. In those three years, Li Corp had expanded alarmingly, acquiring many new, lucrative enterprises that not only raised the company's net worth dramatically, but erased the doubt from the Elders' minds about Syaoran's ability. However, first impressions never completely disappear, and it was on a particular afternoon when they were discussing a new acquisition that nerves were tight and the tension was high.

"I'm telling you," one Elder snapped, "if they build a branch out here it will create competition and cut into our profits!"

Syaoran struggled to keep his temper in check as he replied evenly, "We will own both businesses so it'd double our profits rather than cut down on them!"

"Profits would most likely be half and half, which does not benefit us in any way because building and running another branch will add to the cost!"

"Competition is essential to establishing consumer loyalty-"

"This is ridiculous, Xiao Lang, did you lose your senses this morning?"

Syaoran gritted his teeth. "My morning went the way it always does, thank you."

"Then what the hell's wrong with you?" Another Elder snapped. "Is this business about your missing wife still distracting you? Dammit Xiao Lang, it's time to move on. Find another woman. There are plenty out there more beautiful than that naive Japanese-"

There was a loud crash as Syaoran jumped to his feet, his chair crashing to the floor. His lips were set in a thin line and his face was white with fury. "I refuse to give up on my wife," he said in a deadly quiet tone, "and if I hear any more of your suggestions, I will have you expelled from the clan." Surveying the looks of shock and anger on his Elders' faces, he said coldly, "The branch will be built, starting next month. I want the architects to have plans by then." There was a note of such finality in his voice that no one in the room dared contradict him, and taking one last look of condescension at his advisors, Syaoran returned to his office.

Setting down his briefcase, Syaoran slumped into his chair and took a deep breath. Calm down, he told himself, it's nothing to get worked up about.

His meditative state was interrupted when the door opened and a woman walked in. Her long black hair was tied in a low ponytail and as she walked over to the desk, the end of it swished around her back.

"Syaoran."

Syaoran opened his amber eyes. "Oh, it's you." The chair squeaked in protest as he slowly sat up. "I was about to tell my visitor to leave me alone but seeing that it's you..." he sighed. "My demand wouldn't be met, would it?" He smiled sardonically.

The woman smirked. "No, it wouldn't." She walked around the table to where Syaoran was sitting and sat on the desk in front of him, crossing her long legs. "I heard you threw a fit back there. What's wrong? Did the Elders get under your skin again about Sakura?"

Syaoran nodded and the woman rolled her eyes.

"Go figure."

"They called her naive this time."

The woman scoffed. "Please, Syaoran. If you're so intent on finding your wife and nothing will deter you from it, why are you getting so angry over what the Elders say? Fuck them. This is your wife. You're clan leader. You're the one who has the power to kick their sorry asses out of this clan."

"Meiling," Syaoran said exasperatedly, "I can't just punish the Elders for speaking their minds!"

"I would."

"That's because you're a vengeful bitch."

"Don't speak to your cousin that way, Li Xiao Lang."

Syaoran glared reproachfully at the woman in front of him, whose red eyes were looking at him with utter boredom. Meiling had been Syaoran's playmate since childhood and she was more than used to her cousin's antics. Nothing about Syaoran seemed to surprise her anymore.

And to think I used to love him! Meiling shook her head. She had thought she was in love with her cousin when they were children, but eventually she grew out of it. "Puppy love," her mother had called it. When Sakura came along, Meiling knew thatshe and Syaoran were meant to be, and it was she who cheered the loudest for them at their secret wedding in the Caribbean.

"Don't you have work to do?" Syaoran asked. "'Cause you realize that for every minute you're not working, the company's losing millions of dollars."

Meiling rolled her brilliant red eyes again. "Shut up, Syaoran. If you want me out, just tell me directly. I know you need your little alone time."

"Get out."

"That's more like it."

Walking to the door, Meiling said over her shoulder, "Don't get too depressed, cousin. Even if you don't find her, she'll come back."

Syaoran watched as the door closed behind his cousin. After a moment, he pulled out the desk drawer. From the organized collection of office materials, he took out a picture frame containing two photographs. In both of them was him and a woman, their faces smiling in happiness, both of them obviously very much in love with each other. Syaoran gently traced the outlines of the woman's face, his amber eyes filled with sadness and grief.

"Sakura..."

He was twenty-four years old when he first met Kinomoto Sakura at a party in Tomoeda, Japan. She was two years younger than him, bright, friendly, and the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. To Syaoran, whose life had been nothing but preparations to meet family obligations, Sakura was like a breath of fresh air. She was fun to be around, intelligent, amusing, and able to read him like no other person ever had, and it didn't take much for Syaoran to know that she was the one.

They were in their second month of dating when Syaoran took Sakura to the very top of his company's building after dinner and against the backdrop of the glittering Hong Kong night sky, got on one knee and opened a red velvet box to show a sparkling white gold ring. He was a nervous wreck, blushing like hell and stumbling over his words before Sakura, highly amused and pitying him, stopped him with a kiss and slid the ring onto the fourth finger of her left hand as a reply.

It took a week for the Li Clan to find out about what their precious heir had done but by then, the couple were gone. Much to the dismay of Syaoran's family, the two eloped to the Cayman Islands, where they were married in a short ceremony witnessed only by their closest friends. From there, they honeymooned in Europe-rode the gondolas in Venice, ascended the Eiffel Tower in Paris, got drenched by the London rain, and relaxed by the Mediterranean sea in Greece. Shortly after they returned to Hong Kong, Sakura got pregnant. It was the happiest period of Syaoran's life.

Syaoran was not a superstitious person, but with the string of events that occurred after his marriage, he knew that it was fate's way of cursing him for being so happy. Five months after Sakura first got pregnant, he received terrible news: his wife was involved in a car crash and was currently in critical condition. He had rushed to the hospital to find Sakura in a coma and his unborn child dead. Fate had been generous to him and now, it decided to be just as cruel. A few months after the accident, Syaoran went to the hospital to visit Sakura, but only to find her missing. Apparently, she had woken up and a nurse new to the hospital had thought Sakura was being discharged, and let her leave. The nurse was fired, but that didn't change the dreaded fact that Sakura was gone.

Now, looking at the photos of his wedding and honeymoon, Syaoran felt a sharp stab of despair. He could still remember the day he had said "I do" on a cliff overlooking the sparkling blue-green ocean, the warm Caribbean breeze blowing Sakura's softly-scented hair into his face as he leaned forward to kiss her on the lips. He could recall every detail of their first night together, how naive and unknowing they were in the act of lovemaking. He still remembered the deep tenor voice of the gondolier who serenaded them as they toured the canals in Venice, and how Sakura gasped in delight at the view of Paris from the Eiffel Tower. He recalled putting his arm around her as he pointed upwards to the Big Ben, and how both of them were so amazed at the blue-and-white scenery of elegant Greece. The two short years he had with Sakura had been magical, a dream-something that Syaoran was determined to reclaim.

Taking one last look at the photos, Syaoran gently placed it back in his drawer, facedown. He had immersed himself in his career after Sakura's disappearance, but he had never given up on his search for his wife. It had been two years, two years since Sakura vanished without a trace. Not once in those two years did Syaoran's investigators gain a lead.

Little did he know, soon they were going to get a breakthrough.

Meiling has made an appearance! I'm finally using the other characters.