Short, sweet, and simple: I haven't updated in ages. I know that. But I am now. So rejoice, and be happy. Er, just to clarify, Mr. Ojakuri teaches Social Studies.

My writing style has changed progressively throughout the entire fic. Once I'm done this fic (which may or may not take a million years) I will be editing the chapters and fixing all those horrible spelling mistakes and grammar errors which I KNOW exist. They're evil. But, that time is far into the future.

Summary: Sakura and Syaoran live with Sakura's crazily abusive step-father, Yukio, all the while trying to find a way to deal with these weird feelings that keep popping up around them. Fck, that's a short summary.

Warning: Very, very short. Involves cross-dressing. Un-beta-ed. Sorry, I'll have the beta-ed version up in a bit.

Rating: My mother told me to pick the very best – I mean M.

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Find Hope

Chapter Ten

Planning

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It was a hellish bus ride and a crazy thirty minutes later that Syaoran found himself sitting on an overstuffed couch drinking pink lemonade as Cassandra and Dave's mother whipped around the room, shoving cookies and lemonade down everyone's throat.

"So, dearies, where were you? And just what were you doing?" asked Mrs… Ms…. Well, Cassandra and Dave's mom asked Syao.

Syao blinked and took a deep sip of pink lemonade. Oh, I don't know, here and there. Talking about child abuse and rape. Oh, and we walked in on two guys comparing their lengths. I'm bigger than both of them.

Mikey answered for them, "Oh, Polly, we were just here and there, talking business."

Polly (Polly? Polly? What kind of a mother allows you to call her Polly?) giggled at Mikey. "You and your business! Really Mikey, when will you learn to be a kid?"

She had an irritatingly high and nasal voice; she reminded Syao of Janice, from the TV show Friends. Her clothing was all bottle-green as were her eyes. However, the green polyester suit and green silk blouse (which was open low enough for everyone to see her bottle-green and very lacy bra underneath) made her skin look vaguely yellow and sallow, almost like she was recovering from an illness. She had dark circles under her eyes which she had attempted to cover up, but had failed to do so. Her eyeshadow was (for some insane reason which Syaoran could not understand) was bright pink. Pink! With all that bottle green. Her lipstick was also a bright and fluorescent pink and did not match the brash redness of her hair which had to have been dyed. Nature had not created that color. And if it had, it must have been a mutation.

However, she was nice and somewhat calm, although she did seem a bit flaky. Her nails were long, pink, and fake, but seemed incredibly useful as a comb when she raked her hands through her hair. Her smile was genuine and although she acted oddly with Mikey, she seemed decent.

"Oh you're just so cute!" she squealed, pinching Syao's cheek with one bright pink nail before picking up her (what else?) bottle green purse.

She blew air kisses to everyone in the room and then made a very noisy exit. But she was back in the room seconds later, headed towards a large and overly decorated golden urn. Syaoran watched as she put her arms delicately around the urn and… gave it a hug.

"Ta ta, kiddies!" she said cheerfully as she waltzed away, her shoes clicking audibly on the hardwood flooring.

Everyone waited in silence until they heard the door open and shut and the door lock.

"Finally," said Cassandra. "Free to do as we please." She cackled evilly and stood up.

"Uh…" Syaoran didn't know what to say. He supposed this was one of her odd drama queen moments.

"Don't mind her," said Dan, walking over and sitting down on the couch next to Syaoran. Connie clung to Syao's arm.

"Who?" asked Syaoran. "Cassandra or your mom?"

"Both," answered Dan. "Mom's been kind of… well… ever since…" He sighed and looked to Tomoyo who was talking animatedly with Mikey. "Uh…" he trailed off.

Erin chose that moment to waltz across the room (with her arms flailing wildly) and sit herself down in Dan's lap. "Crazy," she said, in a hushed voice. "His mother has been acting very off-kilter as of late. Well, actually, ever since her husband was killed and cremated and stuffed into that urn over there. She hugs it all the time. His death may have led to the change in her behaviour. Or even to a hormonal imbalance. I read about it somewhere." She faced away from Syao and continued to mumble. "Or maybe that was about empire penguins. But I was sure…"

Syaoran looked at Dan incredulously.

"What?" asked Dan. "She's my girlfriend. I can't help it if she has weird ideas."

"She's your girlfriend?" asked Syaoran.

"Uh huh," answered Connie. "They've been going out for three years, two months, and seventeen days. We have a betting pool on how long the relationship will last."

Dan and Syaoran just looked at each other, both wishing Connie would leave them alone. Or rather, leave Syaoran alone.

"Er, she can hear you, you know?" said Syaoran.

"No she can't," answered Connie. "Look, she's lost interest here already, she's leaving, so we can be alone." She fluttered her eyelashes at Syaoran.

"Actually, I was going to sit next to Sakura," stated Erin as she strolled over to Sakura. "Besides, your perfume reeks. I don't want to go home and smell like you."

"Er, like, whatever," sputtered Connie, a sneer playing on her lips.

"Drinks!" yelled Cassandra, stepping into the room. She was holding several bottles of yellow-coloured liquid in her hands. "When mom's away, the children will play!"

"Yo, Cassandra, shouldn't we wait until after we finish the project?" asked Mikey. "To celebrate and whatnot?"

Cassandra stood in the doorway looking exasperated. "But I just got them out!"

"Then put them back, okay?"

"Fine, Mommy," she answered, stalking back out of the room. "Go on and ruin my fun, why don't you?"

"Dan, I'd like to thank you for all the support you just lend me," drawled Mikey once Cassandra had disappeared from view.

"I was with you in spirit," answered Dan. "You couldn't see me, but I was there."

"Right."

"Okay then," declared Cassandra as she walked back into the room. "What will we be doing our project on?"

"Sakura said Koshi," said Mikey. "I like that idea."

Dan snorted. "The teacher will go insane if we do a project on him."

"Yeah, well, he said anything, didn't he?" answered Erin. "He should be prepared."

Tomoyo laughed. "But Koshi? Sorry Sakura, but I don't think so."

"What else then?" asked Mikey.

"Ponies, or pasta, or petunias, or the relationship of werewolves with unicorns?" asked Erin.

"Uh… what about euthanasia?" asked Syaoran. "It's pretty controversial and we can make a report with both pros and cons."

"Oh, Syao, you're always thinking about others!" exclaimed Connie. "That's so awesome! I love Asia! It's my favourite country!"

"Connie," said Dan, shaking his head. "Asia isn't a country, it's a continent."

"Oh, well, I was just testing you, Dan!"

"And I think he's talking about euthanasia," said Cassandra. "Not youth in Asia."

"Isn't it the same thing?" asked Connie, flipping her hair and looking bored.

"No, euthanasia is one word and is also known as mercy killing. Youth in Asia are just kids in Asia."

"Oh… well… I want to be in Syaoran's group!"

Mikey grinned. "Actually, I think it's better if Syaoran, Tomoyo, Sakura, and I work on the pros by ourselves."

"But Mikey, I wanted to be with him!"

"Yeah, well, next time."

"Fine," she huffed, getting up. "I am going to the bathroom," she informed them.

"Good for you, Connie!" smiled Cassandra. "You're a big girl now, aren't you?"

"Oh, shove it," sneered Connie as she walked out of the room.

"Right, so you guys can work on the cons," said Mikey as he mapped out the rest of the project while Connie was away. "And we can research and whatever starting er, well, tomorrow I guess seeing how it's kind of late now."

Dan stood up. "If you guys hurry you can get out of here before she comes out."

"Dan, you are amazing," said Tomoyo, getting to her feet and grabbing Sakura. "We're out of here."

"Syao and I are taking the bus too," said Mikey, standing up. "We'll come with you. Er, what about you Erin?" he asked. "Want to come with us?"

"No, thank you! Cassandra has an aloe plant I want to look at!"

"Actually," cut in Cassandra, "we're going to be looking at some new clothes. It'll be fun."

"My girlfriend and my twin sister… the horror," intoned Dan.

"Don't worry Dan, I'm heterosexual!" explained Erin.

"Er, right, well, bye you guys," said Mikey as they trouped to the door. "Have fun with aloe, Erin!"

"I will!"

They said their good-byes and left the house. They got to the bus stop in silence. Tomoyo paid Sakura's fare and Syaoran's fare was paid by Mikey.

There was no one on the bus and Tomoyo and Sakura got off first, leaving Syaoran and Mikey alone.

"So… is this bus always this empty?" asked Syaoran.

"For the next few stops it will be."

"What comes after the next few stops?"

"You'll understand when we get there."

Several stop later, still no one had come onto the bus. Syaoran was feeling slightly uncomfortable with the silence. They were traveling through a very ritzy neighbourhood. It was twilight already and the houses looked old and sterile.

So… this is interesting.

/Say something, you loser./

Uh… like what?

/I don't know. Look, it's getting dark. Talk about the weather./

Because the weather is a deeply profound subject to talk about.

/It changes everyday./

Oh, shut up.

He was about to say something to Mikey when the bus lurched to yet another stop and this time, people got on.

At first, he didn't think there was anything wrong. Then he heard them singing. Which wasn't very odd. Sometimes drunk people used buses to get home and sometimes they sang songs.

But most of the time, they weren't in matching glittery red dresses. Most of the time, their nails were not six inches long and covered in shimmering red nail polish. Most of the time, they did not all have their hair in up-dos dotted with sparkles.

And they most definitely were not males in matching glittery, red dressed with six-inch shimmering red nail polish covered nails with their hair up and dotted with sparkles. And one of the males usually did not wear a tiara.

As the males (he thought they were males… they looked like guys despite the bright red lipstick and neon-pink eye shadow) traipsed onto the bus, all he could do was stare. And then he realized that he was staring and looked to his shoes, his face flushing red.

What the fuck…

/No wonder nobody else was on the bus/

Yeah.

The guys continued to sing joyfully, seemingly unaware or uncaring of the fact that two young men (who were not dressed in drag or wearing lipstick of any kind) were sharing the bus with them. They did sing very well, noted Syaoran.

Several bus stop later (and after the singing of several catchy tunes) Mikey stood up and gestured to Syaoran indicating that he wanted him to follow. As they got off the bus, the choir broke into a simultaneous "Good-bye!" complete with its own harmony.

"Uh, bye," answered Syaoran, waving slightly as the bus pulled away. He was answered by several cat calls.

"You just encouraged them," said Mikey, staring as the bus drove away.

"Oh. Sorry."

"S'okay," answered Mikey.

They boys looked at each other and seconds later they collapsed on the grass, laughing loudly, uncaring of the grass stains they were sure to be covered in.

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Reviews

Thanks to Kura-chan, sakura.cherryblossom.kinomoto, cherrysakura5, Mysterious Writah, Baby-Prue, Nana-chan, Magical Dark Angel, zeddy222, blazinggirl, pupplove14, mamoru21, me, RogueSummersLover, blackdragonfangs, and divinedragon7 for reviewing.

fallen-spirit: Yes, Mikey is in on Sakura's secret and now on Syaoran's as well. And yes, Syao will be staying with the ever loveable Mikey and Sakura will be staying with Tomoyo. And yes, Yukio is Seiruu's new name. I'm so glad you love this.

StrawBerryJunkie: Something big? What constitutes as big? This chapter probably didn't have anything big… but the next chapter, I think will definitely have something big. I'm glad I updated as well.

Chibi-Manny: I forgot the "Y" on the second chapter? Lord, am I blushing or what. Oh well, that's just another think I'll have to go over and fix later on when I have oodles of time. And yes, the bathroom scene, well, that was fun to write about.

Cherry Jade: Yep, they were measuring their cocks. Their dicks, shlongs, penises, tin-tins, wieners, hot dogs, juniors, and anything else you want to call them as well. LoL.

L.a.L.a.: Everyone feels sad for Alex and Alexis. They are incredibly sad characters for whom everyone must feel sad for at some point. LoL, I say lame things. Hard lives are what get reviews. If I had written that they all had lovely dovely lives, there would be no conflict and so there would be no story and so, I would not be here.

Strawberrylover: Yep, he has a fourth person.

Arsinen: I am so wrong for making everyone wait this long, but alas, it is not my fault. My brain, it just doesn't work anymore. It's upsetting. Oh well. And yes, Connie is the ultimate airhead.

Sam-the-Ham: In an attempt to weird the living hell out of you: I LOVE YOU! YAY! You reviewed for me and now I am both honoured and stunned that you would waste you precious time on me. I feel lurved. And you like the story? Awesome. I dedicate this chapter to YOU. Why? Because I said so. Duh. Thanks for walking with me, old buddy, old pal, old friend. Old gopher loving turtle hugger.

Coolcalico-girl2429: Yep, Mikey and Syao bonding galore! Whee, my retainers are off! They have been for like… a year… or six months… I forget. But I do have this weird built-in retainer that I can get rid of if I ask… but I'm not going to. It's kind of cool. And yes, I love your reviews and yes… You're awesome.

NorikuKitsune: How'd I do alphabetical order? Why magic of course! Actually, I saw this story on this site somewhere, and I realized it was in alpha-order so I decided to do it too. It was so hard shoving my ideas around letters…. I realize that I hate Q, X, and Z. With a passion. No more alpha-order for me; it's much too stressing. And apparently, I miss letters. IRT: Chibi-Manny Yep. Thanks for the reviews! I love the glomp action.

KarlaBob: Yep, men with sewn up mouths are sick and icky to look at. Er, I have no clue about my reviewers being in Mexico, I don't take it upon myself to ask them where they come from. However, it's nice to know that I'm getting reviews from ALL OVER THE WORLD! Whoo, I feel cool. I want Mexican things…

Unmoving: Yes, I am aware of Sakura's age and how horrifically gross it must have been. I'm glad you thought it was "ickay and gross." Honestly, if you had written anything else, I'd be slightly afraid and somewhat disturbed.

PeachBerry: A peach is not a berry…. LoL, sorry, I saw your name and… okay, never mind, I'm off topic. Yep, those guys in the bathroom… they're hella funny. AND YES! I am a NARUTARD. I love it! It's awesome and lovely. Go Naruto! I hope my fics didn't disappoint you.

blackwicth: Yes, it is a very sad story, as I've been told. It's upsetting as well. And at times enlightening and heartbreaking and comedic at the same time. It's much too bad about your school life and your grounded-ness. I hope things get better, or got better seeing how I haven't updated in a long time.

wiccaanimangagirlkagome: ACK! Your name is incredibly hard to type out. I'm still scared that I made a typo. Argh. Thanks for the death-threat; those things crack me up all the time. Oh darling, I'm much more psychopathic than you are. (Psh, and my therapist says I have a superiority complex. Psh. LoL, jk.)

yoyoma: Yep, some definitely creepy stuff going on in this here story. It's super creepy sometimes, and at other times, it's just plain weird. And um… You'll have to wait and see what I'll do with Connie, though I'm not sure at the moment what else she's going to be doing. And yes, this stuff is deep. So deep it makes other things shallow. Okay, I lied. It's not that deep.

Lady Tomboy: Alexis and Alex? Why, doesn't everyone want to know about them? Why yes, yes they do. Hmm… I'll have to add them in more somehow. And those letters? They come into play in the future, I do believe. Though I might totally forget and leave them out. Ah, but personal things are awesome. If you want, you can write me long and boring e-mails about global warming and sand dunes trying to eat apples in the middle of winter if you want to.

Yep, all of this is pretty dark and sick at some point. I think everyone's life is dark and sick at one point, some people more than other's. And no, this is not from personal experience, well, I mean, bits and pieces are from me, but no, none of that abuse and whatnot. Just the people and whatever comes to mind. I find that a bit of my real life always seeps into my writing, a fact which is both nice and upsetting at the same time.

Thy Lam: No e-mails from me. At least, I don't I send e-mails. Why not? It's because I'm lazy. I mean, sure I use e-mail all the time. But like I said, I'm lazy, and excruciatingly so at times. And so, it's here that I shall inform you that no, this is not real.

super kai-chan: I hope you read the rest.

And so ends this review response session.

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Love, love will keep us together, think of me babe, whenever….

Yeah, so, just so y'all know, I am going to try to update before the end of the year. Why? Because I'm effing awesome. Well, actually, it's because I'd like to be able to say that I've finished at least ONE story. Argh. Which won't happen in one chapter, but still.

Btw, I'm sorry this is so short!

Check out my other stories after you review! (Gosh, am I desperate for reviews or what?)