Disclaimer: It all belongs to CLAMP.
Dedication: Circe.
Notes: There are so many things that could have happened; I feel like exploring some of them. Updates will be sporadic, at the very, very, very best. (So don't hold your breath.)
The ribbon comes from one of Tomoyo's Video Diaries, which were not aired with the anime (to my knowledge.) While it could very well belong to Sakura, I, in my infinite madness, choose to believe that it was too long for her short hair and must therefore have belonged to Tomoyo. We also don't know what became of it, which is why I'm happily throwing my wild ideas around the Internet. I'd tell you all to 'deal with my insanity!' but you don't have to; I take my meds.
----------Several years after the fact, Eriol regretted giving in to the urge to wear that red ribbon on his Cheshire tail. It had not been the harmless gesture he'd thought.
Because as Sakura-chan retold the story, apparently remembering to add that detail for the first time, he saw Tomoyo's eyes flick to him for just an instant. She knew. She knew where he'd got that ribbon, when he'd got it, and probably had a fair idea of how.
"That was my favorite," she told him when Sakura-chan left.
Eriol merely held up a hand and went slinking up the stairs. It was still neatly folded in his wallet, hidden behind his id card, where he'd kept it ever since he'd unwound it from Keroberus and called it out through the window.
Sheepishly, he held it out to her as he returned to the drawing room. He considered pointing out that he couldn't very well have returned it without giving away for certain that he'd been behind the whole incident, and he had managed to keep very few secrets from her as it was. He also considered that she might simply give him an arch look and tell him that he hadn't kept any, she just hadn't gone looking for some things. She might mistake his silence for guilt instead of amusement, however, so he kept with it even as the ribbon slid from his fingers to hers.
She looked from the ribbon to him, shaking her head. He could see her smile lurking just below the surface. "Tied to your tail?"
"It seemed appropriate at the time."
"I'm sure it did," she sighed, tying it around his wrist.
"It was a lot cuter with the ears and the tail," he told her, staring at the neat little bow.
"If you say so."
"It was," he insisted, nuzzling her cheek with his own, purring to make her laugh. "You had to be there."