Belated Love Chapter 1: Differences, a card captor sakura fanfic

Summary: It's no surprise that spoiled rotten Li picks on poor farmer girl Sakura; the rich had always looked down upon the poor. But when the headstrong ways and annoyance of Sakura attracts Li, the most important rule of social statuses is broken: rich guys aren't suppose to love poor girls. Set in 1920's.

Belated Love

Chapter 1: Differences

"Sakura, get your butt out of bed right now!" a loud voice disrupted the peacefulness the early morning provided.

"Just five more minutes, Touya!" an 18 years old young woman rolled over in bed, forcing the sun's rays out of her forest green eyes.

"No, NOW, Sakura!!" the loud voice boomed again, this time more annoyed than the first.

"OKAY!! I'M UP!!" the young woman named Sakura sat up in her bed in a huff, her honey brown hair ruffled and messy.

"What's the rush? Geez, I can't even get my sleep anymore!" she complained, waltzing out of her room.

"This is the rush!" Touya exclaimed, pointing to a basket near his feet.

Sakura yawned and shuffled over to where her big brother was. Then her eyes widened in shock.

"Ohmigosh!! Our fruits!! Our vegetables!! What…what happened?" Sakura gasped as she laid eyes upon the mashed up fruits and squashed vegetables in the basket.

The Kinomotos are not rich. In fact, for three generations in a row, they had been farmers, always plotting the land, planting fruits and vegetables. They sell whatever they can to the Tomoeda Market, and eat whatever's left. Their fruits and vegetables are their only source of money.

"I don't know! Sakura, what are we going to do? We promised to give these to the market at noon today!" Touya sighed, running his hand through his hair.

"What did mom and dad say?"

"They're away visiting Aunt Maruko's farm to get some legume seeds. They won't be back until dinner, since they're travelling by foot." Touya reminded.

"Gosh, Touya, what are we going to do?! If we mess up this order, the market will never trust us with vegetables again, and…and…" Sakura's voice trailed off. "How about I go talk to them and explain to them what happened? After all, it's not our fault, right?"

"I suppose that's the only option we have. I'll go talk to them after lunch."

"No, I'll go. Your ankle isn't better after you twisted it last week." Sakura said sternly.

"Kaijuu—"

"Don't you kaijuu me, onii-chan! I'll go talk to the market manager after lunch, alright?"

"Fine…but be careful."

"I will."

"I swear if I ever find the baka who ruined our vegetables I'll ruin them." Touya growled."

.o.

"That was awesome, Syaoran! Who knew that such a remote and ugly place even existed in this town?!" a young man with unruly charcoal hair around the age of 18 hollered with laughter, his onyx eyes shining in morning light.

"I told you so, Kenchii. I've been checking out that area for the past week. Those idiots sleep at 10 o'clock every night! Striking at midnight was perfect. I wish I can see their faces when they woke up today!" the young 18 years old young man named Syaoran replied with a playful smirk on his face and a mischievous glint in his hazel golden eyes.

"Maybe we should have left some of the vegetables alone…" another young man around the same age frowned a little, his azure eyes showed worry behind the thin glasses.

"Oh, come on, Eriol, they have a whole plot of land and you know what that means right? Overflowing crops! They won't miss that measly little basket!" Syaoran said, rolling his eyes.

"I suppose you're right." Eriol shrugged.

"But wait, don't the products only arrive once every year?" Kenchii asked as he tried to remember.

"They do?" Syaoran asked.

"I think so."

"What time of year do they come around then?"

"Around harvest time."

"I could have told you that!" Syaoran exclaimed. "But when's harvest time?"

"I don't know, around autumn?"

"So they'll have to wait around autumn to get food?!" Eriol exclaimed.

"Wow, that must suck." Kenchii added.

"Guys…what if they starve to death because they have no food?" Eriol asked.

"Oh come on…who only eats once a year? I'm sure they'll be fine." Syaoran rolled his eyes.

.o.

"Sakura, you're late! Where are the fruits and vegetables?" The store manager asked when he saw Sakura walking into the market empty-handed.

"Good afternoon, Aoyomato-san…about the products…well…you see…it's quite a long a long story…" Sakura stuttered.

"I'm listening," the older man frowned in annoyance.

.o.

"Hey, guys, let's go in here." Syaoran said, pointing to a bookstore. "We have to get new books for school."

"Aw man, school starts tomorrow. Back to that boring old building we go." Kenchii groaned. "I don't see why our parents wouldn't send us to private schools. It's not like we can't afford it."

" 'We don't want to you become spoil like those stuck up brats in private schools'" Syaoran said, making his voice low and deep to imitate his father.

The other two laughed.

"But now we're stuck with all the poor, low-classed suckers." Kenchii shuddered at the thought. "Last year, the boy in our Japanese class didn't even have snow boots! And he has to walk to school when it was snowing too!"

"I wonder how they survive! I mean, I saw their lunches…a slice of cheese and a thin piece of meat between two slices of bread and a bottle of milk. Gosh, I felt so uncomfortable eating my sushi and rice balls in front of them." Syaoran said.

"At least the kid you saw can afford meat. I saw this other one where they only had…a jam sandwich and water." Kenchii said incredulously.

"Guys, let's go for lunch. All this food talking is making me hungry." Eriol piped up.

"But what about our books?" Syaoran frowned.

"We'll get them after lunch. Oh hey, look, it's the market. Let's go get some abalone sandwiches and mango juice." Kenchii said.

"Sure, whatever." Syaoran shrugged.

.o.

"So let me get this straight. You have no products for us?" the manager asked, stunned.

"We're so, so, so sorry! But…if you give us some more time…"

"Kinomoto, I don't have time! I need to sell too! How do you think I make a living? Now shoo, get out!! I'll never order from you Kinomotos again! Should have known you're unreliable…"

"Oh, no, please don't say that!" Sakura said, her eyes widened in horror. "We're very reliable! It's just that…well…someone trashed our fruits and vegetables last night…we really had no control over that, sir. It's not as if we didn't have time prepared in time for today! We did! Honest!" Sakura panicked.

.o.

"Hey, Syaoran, is that the girl whose vegetables we trashed last night?" Kenchii poked Syaoran, while looking at a girl with auburn hair and green eyes wearing a plain white blouse and green knee-length skirt.

"I don't know." Syaoran frowned, his ears perking up to hear what the girl is saying to the manager.

"Please, we didn't know that someone will trash our products last night. We left them outside, and…"

"It is her!" Syaoran said. Then he smirked. "Come on guys, this will be fun." And before Eriol or Kenchii can ask him what he had in mind, Syaoran was already waltzing over towards the poor girl.

.o.

"Fine, I'll give you one more chance…" the manager sighed after Sakura's endless begging.

"Oh, thank you!"

"I suggest you don't do that, sir." Syaoran said.

Sakura whirled around and found herself facing a boy around her age wearing a smirk on his face.

From his soft green sweater vest and crisp white shirt to the golden watch on his left wrist, she can tell that he came from a very rich family background.

She glared at him.

"This is none of your business."

"Of course it's my business. My family shop here all the time. We just love Aoyomata-san's abalone sandwiches." Syaoran smirked. "But of course, not like you'll know."

"Stay out of this, you baka!" Sakura glared harder at the amber-eyed boy.

"Aoyomata-san, I didn't know that you do business with these…" Syaoran paused, "…poor folks. Are their vegetables even clean?"

"Our vegetables are the finest ever grown!" Sakura said, burning with anger at this jerk.

"Maybe I should tell our servants to stop doing the weekly groceries here, now that I've found out about where you get your products from." Syaoran said.

"Oh, Li-san, that's not true at all! This was just a first time try-out! We've never done business with the Kinomoto's before!" Aoyomata tried to recover as best as possible. "And we never will either." He said, giving Sakura a pointed look.

"But…but…you said—"

"Out, Kinomoto! Now! Before you scare away anymore of my best customers!" the manager glared.

Swallowing her anger, Sakura turned on her heels to walk out of the market, but not without throwing Syaoran a look of pure hatred.

"I don't know what you did, Sakura, but boy, are you ever in trouble for getting on Syaoran Li's bad side." A young man working in the market said to Sakura as she was walking out. Sakura turned around to see her older brother's best friend, Yukito Tsukishiro.

"Syaoran Li? Is that the baka's name?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, don't tell me you don't know! The Li's are the richest family in Tomoeda!"

"Well, we live in a rather quiet part of the town…we're not familiar with the names of the rich as if they are some famous Hollywood celebrity." Sakura said angrily, glaring at the back of Syaoran's head.

"Syaoran Li is an annoying one. He's spoiled to the core and pulls pranks in his spare time. He almost got kick out of school last year, but his father saved his butt." Yukito said as he lifted another box of vegetables.

"Why? Did he find him a tutor?"

"No, Syaoran is very intelligent. He doesn't need a tutor."

"Then…why did he almost got kicked out of school?"

"He went too far with one of his pranks and one of the students broke a leg." Yukito said.

Sakura gasped. "And he didn't get kicked out?"

"Nope, his dad paid for the medical fees and also made a big donation to the school to build a new wing to the school."

"What?!? But that's so…so…" Sakura said, at a lost for words.

"I know." Yukito sighed. "It's unfair. That's life, Sakura. I suggest you stay away from Syaoran if you don't want trouble."

"I will, Yukito. I don't want Touya to dirty his hands when he tries to kill Syaoran Li if he ever finds out how he ruined our business partnership with this market." Sakura said.

Yukito laughed. "I heard you're starting school tomorrow, Sakura. Everything's okay?"

Sakura beamed, her anger at Syaoran Li forgotten at the mention of school.

"Oh yes, it's going lovely! I can't believe I got a full scholarship! I got all my books for half price yesterday. It was a great deal."

"That's awesome! Make the best out of it, and have fun! I better get back to work!"

.o.

"Syaoran Li, get to sleep!" a man in his early 40's bellowed. His dark chocolate brown hair and chestnut coloured eyes glared at his only son.

"Aw, dad, it's only midnight…" Syaoran sighed.

"You have school tomorrow at nine! Now go!"

"Fine, fine."

"And don't even think about skipping the first day! I'll make sure the chauffeur see you go in and see to it that the gate is lock before he leaves."

"Okay, dad." Syaoran sighed. Damn, I have to sit through the boring introductory assembly tomorrow.

.o.

"Syaoran, honey! You're here!" a girl with waist length red hair and grey eyes beamed when she saw Syaoran walk through the front gates.

"Hey, Azumi." Syaoran said without a care. Azumi Karimoto is his on and off girlfriend for about three years. They go to school dances together, catch a movie on weekends occasionally, and of course, they've kissed more than once. However, despite all that, Syaoran had never acknowledged her as his girlfriend, but that doesn't seem to stop her from calling him annoying nicknames.

"I've heard rumours about a new girl coming to school." Azumi said carefully.

"Mmhmm." Syaoran said, not caring. Sensing Syaoran's lack on interest, Azumi continued on.

"They said she dresses very…awkward."

"Awkward?"

"Yes, very plain, like she can't afford the finer things. But she's very smart apparently, since she's in this class."

Now that caught Syaoran's attention.

"In this class?!"

Syaoran, Eriol, Kenchii, and Azumi's class were labelled as the Green Class. Below the Green Class, there's the Blue, Red, and finally, the Yellow class at the bottom of the pyramid. The Green class's title is supposedly the class filled with intelligent minds. However, its unofficial title is the class filled with rich kids, since most students in the class bought their Green Badges.

In fact, Syaoran is almost sure that except for him and Eriol, everyone else in this class had bought their Green Class titles.

Even Kenchii did. Syaoran knew this because he peeked at Kenchii's entrance exam, and it had say he belonged in the Blue Class.

However, even one class level below the Green is too much disappointment for Kenchii's parents.

And Azumi…she was lucky if she even made it into Yellow. But if you have money, you have everything.

"She must be super rich, or super brilliant then." Syaoran said.

"But she can't be super rich, Syao-hun! She wears…she wears…plain cotton." Azumi shuddered out the word as if it's a sin to utter them. "If she can't even afford silk," Azumi lazily play with her silk blouse, "then there is no way she can even pay the entrance fees, even if she is smart."

"Class, settle down, settle down." The sensei started, getting the class's attention. "Now, if you'll all get in your seats, we'll begin. Now, welcome back all of you. It's nice to see that none of you got kicked out after last year's exams. You all must have passed with flying colours." The sensei said, even though he knew that Syaoran was the only one who got in the high 90's along with Eriol. Everyone else did rather poorly.

"Now, at the start of this year, I'll like to introduce a new student. She will be joining us. She just transferred from Shushoko Public School, so I'll like you to all make her feel welcome."

Immediately, there were whispers.

"Shushoko Public School? But isn't that school like…poor?"

"I heard they have wood desks instead of nice steel ones like ours."

"I heard they're so poor that the school have to provide them with lunches."

"I heard that they have less than thirty classrooms!"

"This girl must have won the lottery or something if she can afford to come here!"

Syaoran's amber eyes lazily drifted here and there as a tiny spark of interest aroused in him. Just who is this new girl? Was she as ugly as Azumi had said? How the hell is she able to get into the Green Class if she isn't rich enough to buy her way in?

And even if she is truly intelligent…how did she pay her entrance fees? Maybe she got a scholarship…but no, wait, she came from Shushoko…that school has less than thirty classrooms! How did they provide her with a scholarship?

Actually, Syaoran had never been inside Shushoko Public to find out if there really is under thirty classrooms. The school is located in such a low-class area.

"Students, please welcome your newest classmate, Sakura Kinomoto."

"Hi, everyone. I'm Sakura, and I'm very glad to be here."

Hearing the voice, Syaoran's head snapped up immediately.

It's her!

And indeed it was. Dressed a pale blue sweater and white knee-length skirt, Sakura stood shyly with a hint of confidence. Her amazing emerald green eyes show uncertainly and her black shoes, though not worn and torn, look far from brand new.

And yes, Azumi was right. She was wearing plain cotton.

"See, Syaoran, I told you! Plain cotton!" Azumi grinned.

"Are there any questions for Ms. Kinomoto?" the sensei said.

"Yeah," a snobby student said in the back with a sneer. "How did you manage to buy your way into this class?"

Sakura looked shocked. "I didn't!"

"Sure you didn't." Azumi chimed in. "What did you do? Rob a bank to get the money to pay your entrance fees?"

Sakura's anger grew. "I did no such thing! I'm not you!"

Azumi's grey eyes narrowed. "Why you—"

Syaoran allowed a smirk to make its way onto his face. This is going to be fun. Not only did the class already dislike Kinomoto…but he will get the rest of the year to test his various pranks on her; the perfect target.

But I'll have to be more on the careful side…after what happened to that kid's leg last year, dad will kill me if any word of my pranks gets loose.

"Now, now, that's enough." The sensei said, sensing the anger tension between the two girls rising. "Sakura, why don't you take a seat in front of Syaoran Li?"

Sakura's eyes widen. She glanced around the room swiftly. There was only one seat empty, waiting for her. And behind the empty seat was the baka who ruined her family business with the market yesterday.

I didn't even notice him there! Gosh, what bad luck, sitting in front of him.

Sakura walked over, and sat down lightly. The sensei began the lesson, and she could feel Azumi's glare on her the whole lecture.

Sakura knew it's too good to be true; there's no way that Li baka will leave her alone. True to her intuitions, she felt him lean close to her ear as the bell signalled the end of class.

"We're going to have a very fun year together, Kinomoto. Nobody as poor as you deserve to be in such a high-class environment, just remember that. I'm not the only one who thinks so either. Just look around, everyone else in this class is probably unsatisfied with the fact someone in your social status can just waltz in here and become one of us."

Sakura was about to reply that she doesn't want to be one of them, but apparently Syaoran had already got up from his seat.

"See you around, Kinomoto."

.o.

………

Sugar Pink: Hey everyone! I'm sorry about starting a new story, but I can't do a good job of writing my other stories if another plotline is nagging away at me haha.

This story is taking place in the 1920's, since I think back then the social statuses among people mattered much than they do today, and that difference and discrimination between social statuses is a crucial element in this story, so yeah. Set in 1920's lol.

So tell me what you think of it!! Please?? Pretty please??? Your reviews give me the motivation I need ::smiles:: and I just LOVE to hear from you!!! Please give me support!!

R/R!!!!!!!