When Sakura's father passes away, her grandparents, the Amamiyas, sweep her out of Japan and into Hong Kong in order to turn her into their future heiress. But Hong Kong holds more than simply an excessive fortune and a multinational corporation to run for Sakura Amamiya. After all, Sakura Kinomoto still has unfinished business with one Syaoran Li, future heir to the equally power Li clan. When their love could not flourish even away from all the political intrigues of the rich, how will they ever hope to find happiness amidst money, power and fame?

"Miss Amamiya?" called out a sweet voice, frustration and irritation very thinly concealed despite her years of service, "Miss…"

"Present!" exclaimed one Sakura Amamiya, instinctively attempting to rise from her seat and raise her hand simultaneously, only to hit her head on the baggage compartment situated above her head.

"Itai," she cried softly, wincing and placing a hand to her head, smiling sheepishly as she slowly sank back into her seat. The lady before her, immaculately suited up, each strand of silver hair wrapped carefully into a steely grey bun, was terribly unimpressed. Sakura laughed nervously.

"Miss Amamiya" – "Can't you just call me Sakura?" – "Miss Amamiya. I was hired by Mr and Mrs Amamiya to groom you into the future leader of the Amamiya Corporation, one of the most respectable and influential transnational corporations in the world. I do not believe you have quite understood your position as an heiress who will be the face of this company in the future and represent both the shareholders and the employees to the public. Your embarrassment becomes the company's embarrassment. As such, we cannot allow for mistakes. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sensei," she replied, bowing her head dutifully before following strict instructions to sit straight, shoulders back, legs together, one ankle behind the other, hands placed neatly on her lap. Inwardly, she sighed. Where was Touya? What was Tomoyo doing right now?

Looking upwards, she held back the tears that welled in her eyes and threatened to fall.

'Otou-san, Okaa-san, I miss you so much.'

"Okaa-san, let me go."

Sonomi Daidoji eyed her only daughter searchingly. Did she have any idea what she was asking? Didn't she understand there was a reason behind why she had married, why she had moved to Tomoeda from Tokyo at the first possible instance? She had done everything she could to protect Sakura, and still it wasn't enough, yet here her daughter was, asking to do exactly that.

"Do you understand what you are asking of me? If you go there, I might not be able to protect you from them."

Tomoyo returned her mother's look with determination. Even after all the hacking and the researching, she still possessed only limited information about the Amamiya family, but what she did know was that the fight for the right to succeed the Head of the family was always messy. It was also the reason that Sonomi had been forced into an arranged marriage and dived into assisting the husband whom she respected, if not loved, with his business.

And here she was. A powerful single mother running a successful toy company all on her own whilst raising a beautiful and talented teenage daughter.

"I want to protect her."

Sonomi smiled wistfully and held out her hand. Tomoyo took it, running into an embrace with the mother she rarely saw.

"Be careful," she whispered to her daughter, stroking her silky purple tresses (a/n: does that sound as awkward to read as it does to write?).

"I will," she replied softly, enjoying the rare opportunity to spend some time with the mother whom she admired and adored.

"Otou-san, she protected me so now it's my turn to protect her and I promise I'll bring her to see you soon," he vowed, placing the bouquet of snow white cherry blossoms onto the grave stone as he stood up from his crouching position.

"She'll be okay," offered Yukito, smiling comfortingly as he placed a slight but sturdy hand on Touya's shoulder. Touya nodded wordlessly and picked up his suitcase.

"Have you signed the contract?" he asked, changing the topic. Yukito took the hint and did not press further.

After all, it was impossible to imagine how Touya must be feeling; a protective older brother whose younger sister had effectively given up her entire future save him from an arranged marriage he did not desire. And revealing her Sakura cards to close the deal… it had left him with no opportunity to refute her suitability to be a candidate in this hunt to become the President of the Amamiya empire instead of her brother.

Just as their grandparents had suspected, the magic that flowed through the veins of Nadeshiko Amamiya had been passed down to her children. And now Sakura would be dragged through the blood and shadows of that great family, all of the sake of money, power and fame.

"Everything's been organised, but we don't have enough money to cover the initial costs completely, so it will be an enormous risk. If we don't succeed within the first month…"

"I'll find a way to cover the costs," replied Touya reassuringly. Yukito gave him resigned smile. Once Touya had decided to do something, it was almost impossible to prevent him from carrying it out, even if it meant risking his health to do it.

"Shut up!" growled Syaoran as the sound of metal against metal rang out through the dojo.

"But why, my cute little descendant, when I'm only telling the truth?" sang a very complacent Eriol Hiiragizawa, easily deflecting Syaoran's attack as he flicked strands of blue hair out of his eyes.

"I am not weak," Syaoran snarled in return, sweeping his sword to Eriol's left.

"Missed again," he called out, a small smirk beginning to form at the corner of his lips. It was plain to anybody who might be watching that Eriol was clearly enjoying himself, seemingly without exerting an ounce of effort.

Before Syaoran had another chance to attack, Eriol had flicked the sword out of his grasp. Panting as he stood his ground, Syaoran glowered at the smug azure eyes that seemed to pierce through his soul. The sword landed with a crash against the wooden floorboards between the two. Without bothering to wait, Syaoran lunged forward, easily avoiding the sword that Eriol frequently brought too close to his head, or neck, or heart. Just as he found an opening and moved to trip over his opponent, the gong sounded and as though it were the most natural thing in the world, both boys ceased their attacks and stood up fluidly, as though there had never been a fight to begin with. Stepping back and bowing to one another, they both walked out of the dojo wordlessly and turned to walk in opposite directions.

Before he could turn the corner, however, Eriol paused and tilted his head slightly to watch Syaoran's retreating back contemplatively. Readjusting his glasses, he removed his hands from his pocket and observed them amusedly. His right hand, the one that had been wielding the sword, had swollen as though he had broken a bone. And that last string of attacks… Syaoran had forced him into giving that opening without even consciously calculating it. Eriol considered this bemusedly; his cute little descendant was steadily growing stronger and even his magical barrier was beginning to cave under Syaoran's strength.

"Master Hiiragizawa, we have received notice that she has been in Hong Kong for approximately a fortnight."

Eriol raised his eyebrow at the servant before him, who cowered a little under the icy blue stare of his master.

"A fortnight ago? And you have only just informed me?"

"She was travelling under a different name, Master Hiiragizawa," replied the young man, licking his lips, "It was difficult to discover even the little information we have."

This time, Eriol turned to face the man completely, intrigued. What reason could there possibly be for even those who worked under the name of the Li Clan to have difficulty extracting information?

"She travels under the name, Sakura Amamiya."

Eriol dismissed the man and smiled secretively to himself. Things were becoming more and more interesting. The Amamiya family had begun to take action.

When the door opened, a hush fell over the entire classroom and Sakura blushed, feeling their eyes on her. How could they tell that she wasn't one of them; that she wasn't born into this elite world, so elegant and unwelcoming?

"Class, please welcome your new classmate, Amamiya, Sakura, who has recently transferred here from Japan. Miss Amamiya, please take a seat."

And she felt very uncomfortable in their pricey, well-ironed uniform, so different to her carefree, loose-fitting public school blouse and skirt. The deep navy, high-waisted A-line skirt billowed barely below her knees, rather than an inch below; the crisp white shirt was tailored awkwardly, her torso being slightly shorter, her legs being slightly longer, but this was hidden, tucked neatly away within her skirt. Her Sensei had been very annoyed, but there was no helping it, with such short notice, they could not fit it appropriately.

Her honey coloured locks, normally curled gently about her face, had been pulled back into a high ponytail, expect the thin tendrils behind each ear, and a wide white satin headband pulled back her bangs to reveal long, thick lashes. Under the broad-shouldered uniform blazer, her slim shoulders shifted uncomfortably. Around her neck she wore a silk scarf, deep gold in colour, tied into a large blowsy bow, another mandatory uniform accessory. She shuffled her feet, covered in beige stockings and obviously new Mary Janes, eyes downcast, and wished desperately to magically disappear.

"… Miss Amamiya? You may sit down now."

Another moment passed before Sakura looked up, realising, yet again, that Amamiya was now her maiden name. Eyes wide in surprise, she instinctively placed a hand to her hair and smiled sheepishly.

"Dui bu qi, Zhang Lao Shi," she replied in fluent mandarin before bowing and taking her place amongst the students.

She hadn't realised that she had captured the attention of all her classmates when she had looked up with those vivid emerald eyes of hers, so large and bright, shining with innocence. Nor did she realise that she had captured their hearts with her simple childish, but adorable, gestures. Mr Zhang raised an eyebrow at her fluent mandarin, mildly impressed, but said nothing.

"Li Xiao Lang zai!" called a voice from the hallway that made Sakura's heart stop beating.

"Mr Li, I acknowledge that, as a candidate for the future leader of the Li Clan, you have many urgent issues to attend to, but this does not excuse tardiness, particularly in my classroom so early in the school year. Please take your seat. I will not be lenient should this be repeated a second time."

One tall, slender boy with messy brown hair and deep chocolate-coloured eyes bowed and rushed to his seat. Only Eriol, lounging in his chair comfortably, noticed the initial hesitation in his steps when he noticed the new beauty who had entered their classroom. Eriol chuckled inwardly when he noticed that Sakura had frozen up completely and could only stare at the boy who had just entered.

Tapping his pen lightly and rhythmically on his tabletop, Eriol wondered how such magically inclined people could possibly have been shocked by such meetings. He had noticed both Sakura and Syaoran's presence the moment they stepped onto the school grounds, yet Syaoran had failed to notice Sakura just as Sakura had failed to notice Eriol even though they'd been in the same classroom. It seemed his cute little descendent needed further intensive training.

When the sound of a bell announced lunch time, Sakura found herself surrounded before she could so much as glance in Syaoran's direction.

"Hi! My name's Shen Li Ren, a pleasure to…"

"… I'm from the Huang family, we specialise in…"

"… The Jiang family has always been very grateful to the Amiyama Corporation…"

"… Are holding a ball next week, would you like to…"

"… And our grandfathers always play golf together on the weekends…"

Smiling awkwardly, she nodded and returned the various greetings and invitations, all a blurry mix of Chinese, Japanese and English, as best she could. She'd never been an exchange student before, but she'd seen the way curious students attacked them with a multitude of questions at her old school, except never quite like this. What had happened to asking after her favourite music, or her hobbies, or even her life in Japan?

"Sa-ku-ra!~" exclaimed one very familiar voice that caught Sakura's attention immediately before she found herself on the ground, having fallen off her chair.

"Tomoyo!" she exclaimed after the initial shock had worn off and her vision sharpened enough for her to identify the familiar scent of lavender and the ticklish feel of long, wavy purple hair against her cheeks.

"Aren't you happy to see me?" demanded Tomoyo, pouting. Standing up, she proffered her hand and hoisted Sakura up before turning to see all eyes observing her with confusion, surprise and extreme curiosity.

"Good afternoon, my name is Daidoji, Tomoyo, upcoming fashion designer, daughter of Sonomi Daidoji and Sakura-chan's cousin. I apologise for my tardiness as I needed to complete the final designs of my new line, Majestica, prior to flying. I will be transferring into this class starting tomorrow. I hope we will get along."

She made a graceful bow and gave an enchanting smile. The class hesitated, unsure whether they were genuinely seeing the tiara perched atop her purple tresses, or whether it was simply a figment of their imagination. She was truly a reincarnation of an ancient regal princess of some sort.

"Sa-chan, I've missed filming you soooo much!" exclaimed the new girl, hugging Sakura a little too tightly as she turned red under her honey coloured hair.

"Tomo-chan… need… air…"

"Oh! Sorry! But I was just soooo excited and…"

The class sweat-dropped as they re-evaluated their estimation of the Daidoji heir. Maybe she wasn't that regal after all. The pair of new transfer students, however, made quite the impression on their fellow students and were almost immediately at home with them, endeared to their peers by their easy tempers and kindly ways.

"Sakura! Tomoyo!" exclaimed yet another familiar voice, this time one that made their classmates stiffen and instinctively withdraw from the source as it moved closer towards the two girls.

"Meiling!" exclaimed Sakura in surprise as a pair of fierce ruby eyes gazed upon her and pulled her into a tight embrace that Tomoyo cheerfully jumped into.

"Miss Li, may I please remind you that school is not a playground and you cannot decide that you are, in fact, not ill halfway through the day in order to attend lunch break for a reunion!" snapped Mr Zhang, leaning against the doorway and rubbing at his temples.

"Sorry," replied Meiling indifferently, bowing stiffly at the teacher before turning her back on him and launching into a long winded conversation with her two friends from long ago. Mr Zhang slumped and sighed. Why did he even bother?

A week had passed and still Syaoran had made no attempt to contact her. Sakura sighed despondently. She had always hoped that her letters had simply gone astray… but no. This was proof that he simply didn't want her in his life.

"Sakura-chan!" called out the singsong chorus of one Tomoyo Daidoji and one Meiling Li.

"Ohayo, Tomo-chan, Mei-chan," she greeted cheerfully, "Where are we going today?"

"Eriol-kun suggested a new café that opened about a week ago. They're doing a promotion special and the waiters are really cute!" exclaimed Meiling cheerfully.

"But Mei-chan! You promised to take me to the street with all the boutiques…"

"But that's after lunch! You can't shop this early in Hong Kong. Just you wait! We'll have so much fun!"

Sakura involuntarily stepped back as the two girls clasped hands and gazed at one another, starry-eyed and shining brightly. Inwardly she sighed. There was no need to so much as guess who would be trying on the outfits they'd be choosing. Still, anything had to be better and less restrictive than the mock two-piece dress her Sensei had chosen, with its frilly white blouse and tapered black pin skirt. At least she'd gotten away with a pair of plain black kitten heels and a basic Bvulgari watch. She sighed, feeling more like 50 than 15.

For a moment she recalled that Syaoran's birthday would be at the end of the term, just as hers had passed only a little over a week ago. But she'd had nobody to celebrate it with because she'd spent the entire day sitting in an airplane instead of out enjoying herself with her friends. How were Rika, Naoko and Chiharu doing without her? What did they think of their new schools?

"Saku-chan? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Tomoyo, let's go," she replied, smiling brightly. Her cousin smiled resignedly – Sakura would, after all, always be Sakura. She never wanted anybody to worry about her. Still, if her recent ordeals had affected her substantially, it certainly didn't show. She was still able to laugh and smile with the same vigour she'd always possessed.

When Meiling glanced at Tomoyo, the two exchanged a wry smile. Meiling wasn't stupid – she'd been born into and grown up around the world of the rich, but Sakura still hadn't explained why she was now an Amamiya. Nevertheless, this did not stop the three girls, now the talk of the entire senior section of their high school let alone the junior division, from enjoying themselves as they basked under the warmth of spring. It would undoubtedly rain later and spoil the loveliness of the current climate, but for now they were safe.

"This is it!"

Sakura blinked. The shop front before her was mostly a clear window, but with a wooden balcony out front and pot plants to boot. Classy, but warm and welcoming. She was positive she'd never been there before, after all, it was new, and yet it seemed so familiar somehow.

"How long are you planning to stand there looking like a confused codfish, kaijuu?"

"HOE?"

Leaning against the entrance with an empty metal tray in one hand, dressed smartly in a white shirt with black pants and shoes, a black apron tied around his waist, Touya Kinomoto raised an eyebrow at his little sister who had yet to close her mouth. If anything, her jaw had dropped even lower.

"Sakura, ohayo!" greeted Yukito Tsukishiro, magically appearing behind Touya. He waved briefly before setting down an order on a number of tables with a smile that made all the girls gaze dreamily at him.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura blurted when Meiling and Tomoyo had finally managed to usher a stunned Sakura into the café and seated her at the table nearest the kitchen so they could converse more readily with Touya and Yukito.

"We opened the café we always wanted to," replied Yukito with a smile as he looked up at Touya earnestly. Touya responded by grunting and looking away, moving to serve another customer.

It finally clicked. So that was why the café had seemed so familiar. She'd seen those café front designs a hundred times; watched them pour over theme after theme after theme, trying to assess what would work best and how to best cater for any particular type of crowd in any certain suburb.

"But why here?"

Yukito smiled secretively and moved away.

"It makes sense though," commented Meiling absently. Tomoyo nodded thoughtfully in understanding, but upon seeing Sakura's expression of puzzlement, elaborated.

"In Hong Kong, there's been a recent increase in the popularity of Japanese culture, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. In fact, if anything, it's expected to increase substantially. Having two attractive young Japanese men running a Japanese-based café in the middle of Hong Kong is the perfect way to attract young kids willing to spend a lot of money to follow Japanese culture."

"The café culture is also very strong in Hong Kong," added Meiling, nodding in agreement.

Sakura couldn't help but feel that the main reason, however, was that she was there. Touya had always been over-protective. There was no way he'd allow his younger sister to move to Hong Kong and study there alone.

'Arigato, onii-san.'

The girls waited patiently for the boys to finish their work, but the line of customers seemed endless and there was never any real opportunity to speak to them properly.

"Kaijuu, go shopping with your friends. Come back when we're closed."

"Sakura kaijuu ja nai mon!" she yelled back childishly at her brother's retreating back, crossing her arms in a huff.

"Come on, Sakura," cajoled Tomoyo laughingly, "We'll come back when they're free."

Sakura, still venting from being called a monster again when she had hoped for a happy, peaceful reunion with her brother, was being Sakura and not paying any attention whatsoever to where she placed her feet when she walked towards the balcony stairs.

"Sakura be-!"

"HOE!~"

"Are you alright?"

"Itai..." moaned Sakura as she felt her ankle twist a little from her heels and looked up to see what, or who, she had fallen into. She could feel the warmth of his body against hers, so secure and comforting, in his unexpected embrace. For a moment she held her breath and felt her feet give way completely as emerald eyes fixed upon amber ones.

"Syao-kun!"

Stiffening at her voice, Syaoran quickly pulled her into an upright position and moved her away from her place against his chest just seconds ago.

"Amiyama-san," he greeted with a shallow nod of the head, "Daidoji-san, Meiling."

And without another word, he hurried off despite the angry protests of his outraged cousin.

Omg! First chapter complete! Hope you enjoyed it~ If you did, don't forget to let me know by sending me a comment! =)

Love from ~ s2. Winteresque ;;Because dreams are the melodies your heart sings as you sleep