Daidouji Tomoyo was sitting on her desk, working on a history essay she had to turn in during third period. It was very early; there was almost no one in the school yet, but Tomoyo, being the responsible, organized girl that she is, always liked to get there early, to get a better head start on the day's activities.

Most people would complain that getting to school early involved getting up early and therefore losing precious sleep. But Tomoyo was the type of girl that went to bed exactly at her bedtime, when she wasn't on a card-capturing adventure with her friends, that is, and so she never actually missed any sleep. It was a nice routine, hers. She liked routines.

Instead of suffering about it, she liked to see it from a global perspective: she often thought her being an early-riser was one of the little ways through which the world kept its balance. Her best friend, Kinomoto Sakura, for example, would wake up an hour late and often get to class with minutes, or even seconds to spare. It was only logical that the other best friend would have the perfect punctuality record.

Those who wouldn't complain because of the lack of sleep, would do so because they felt their school was creepy when empty. The sound of steps would echo, of those few who were walking down the halls, namely janitors and a few teachers. Other than that, it was completely silent. But Tomoyo didn't mind the silence; she welcomed it, in fact. It was a nice change from the chaos that would come once the students started coming in. She found it comforting. Flexible. She could do anything without anyone noticing. Usually she'd just sit and maybe clean the board or rearrange the things over the teacher's desk, but if she wanted to do homework, she could do homework. If she wanted to sing, she could sing. Even if she wanted to look out the window and shout that she was the queen of the world, she could do it. Not that she ever would, polite little lady that she was.

She looked at her wristwatch. It would still be around half an hour before the other people started getting there. Around forty five minutes before Sakura got there.

She continued working on her paper.

Before the Bell Rang
Prologue: Intrigue
by carla, aka cali-chan.
Five minutes later, the door to the classroom slid open and in came someone. Tomoyo wasn't perturbed by this and simply continued writing. Having company this early wasn't as unusual as others might think. After all, she wasn't the only serious, responsible student in that class.

"Ohayo gozaimasu, Daidouji-san."

She looked up at the boy who was then walking to the teacher's desk. She saw him put a small bouquet of lilies in the vase that adorned the desk. It was his turn for pre-class duty. But he always got there early, too, even if he didn't have any duties before school, and she was used to it. He turned to her and the light coming in from the window reflected in his glasses. He smiled, that polite smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, that smile that always spoke of a wisdom beyond his eleven years. She smiled back at him, in the same way. "Ohayo, Hiiragizawa-kun."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence while Eriol left his bag on his seat, directly behind her, and went on to clean the blackboard. It was somewhat funny; she had always felt that Hiiragizawa-kun could hold a conversation with a person even if neither of them were speaking. She knew that he was learning new things about her even if he had his back to her. He was a very observant person. That she could know, even if she hadn't known him for a long time. She knew because she was the same way... always there, in the background, quiet, but seeing everything.

She heard, not saw, him writing the current date in the board, then suddenly, very quietly, he was standing beside her. "It is a lovely day, is it not?" She marveled at the way he had moved through the couple of feet that separated the board from her desk. With him, nothing was random or chaotic. His every move was deliberate, graceful. It was a rare thing to see. Their friends would often be startled when he started speaking, because they hadn't noticed he was there. Not Tomoyo, though. It did amaze her, but she knew when he was near her.

"Yes, it is," she replied, looking back at him. Then she noticed that his arm was extended to her, and in his hand he was holding one of the lilies, presenting it to her. She smiled back at him, she couldn't help it. He was a very polite, gallant boy. He was British, after all. "Oh, arigato. What is this for?"

"I heard you tell Sakura-chan that your bookmarker was lost," he explained as he sat on his desk, behind her. "Maybe this will serve for the same purpose."

"That's very thoughtful, Hiiragizawa-kun. Thank you." She carefully placed the lily in her desk and continued writing her essay.

"Is that your History essay?" he asked her, after a few minutes of more silence.

"Yes," Tomoyo answered him without looking. "I'm almost finished, but I think I've got some of my facts wrong, and don't really know what to do about it." She lightly bit the tip of her pen while thinking what to write next.

"Would you like me to help you?" he asked her, politely as always. "I like to think I'm rather good at history."

"You're rather good in every subject we study, Hiiragizawa-kun," she replied, giggling lightly. He smiled at her, and she passed her paper to him. "That would be wonderful, thank you."

He also borrowed her pen and read for a few minutes. She half-turned around in her chair so she could see whatever he corrected. And him.

He first commented that she had a very good introduction there. Then he started relentlessly correcting any mistake he found, after asking her permission to write on her paper, of course. He commented each and every change he made to her, and she nodded her head accordingly, but in reality she wasn't paying much attention. She was actually more focused on him.

He was looking down towards her paper, and so his dark bangs covered half his face. There was another thing she had noticed about him, she thought. He always seemed shadowed, somehow. And it shouldn't be, because for all they knew he was simply a nice, bright young man, but she had realized that as much time as they all spent with him, they knew next to nothing about his life. Not necessarily about his life back in England, but simply about him. There had to be more to him than sports, piano and smiles. They should work on that, get to know him better. A lot of things just hadn't come up.

She realized she was staring and caught herself just in time. These were things she could do calmly when in a crowd; it wasn't good to stare at people when you and the person are completely alone in a classroom.

Now distracted from her essay, she looked at her wristwatch again. Soon, people would start arriving.

"She won't be here for another twenty three minutes, Daidouji-san," she heard him say, and looked at him. His gaze was still bent over her paper.

"How did you know..." she started, but he interrupted her again, without looking up.

"I'd say it's pretty obvious. You two are always together; it doesn't take a genius to see it."

Tomoyo stared at him, once again. He had a certain tone to his last phrase, something ingrained in it that told her they weren't exactly speaking about her simply waiting for Sakura-chan to get to school that morning.

It made her heart feel heavy, for some reason. It wasn't like she was purposefully trying to hide what she felt for Sakura-chan... Li-kun could see it, just as it was blatantly obvious to Tomoyo how Li-kun felt about their green-eyed friend, as well. She was sure others could see it as well. But the way he casually mentioned it, made her feel strange... like he was all-knowing, like he could read her mind. Which was just ridiculous, really, because he was a kid, just like her, and as smart, eloquent and observant as he was he wasn't anything more than a special person. Just another person.

Then why was it that she felt this way, like he was in complete control of everything around them, even when he was just looking down and correcting her History paper?

Her heart knew it, then. In a subconscious level she could recognize that he wasn't just any kid. There was something very different about him, something that went beyond being simply "special"-- and it wasn't just that it hadn't come up, she knew. He was hiding that something, purposefully. It was like he was shrouded in clouds of mystery, just letting out as much as was needed to be normal. But he wasn't, she was sure. And that intrigued her to no end.

From that day on, Daidouji Tomoyo resolved to keep an even closer eye on Hiiragizawa Eriol.

He continued checking her essay and she continued glancing at him in a discreet manner. After a while he gave the sheet back to her, with a smile and a light "it was very good, though, Daidouji-san." He then proceded to read a book, quietly, and yet she continued to study him. She didn't even notice when the other students began to enter the classroom. Her musings were only interrupted when the bell rang. Sakura-chan hadn't made it yet.