Okay, I'm not that hopeless anymore to know that although Eriol attacks Sakura a lot
of the time, he really is helping her out by helping her to change the Clow Cards into
Sakura Cards. I've finally learned all about THAT at last ^^*. But suppose he really
WAS evil. I mean, he certainly does have the makings of coming off that way, right? And
suppose a certain favourite girl of his just happened to fall under his spell...Yes people,
this is an ExT. It's for Megori's contest.
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura or the song 'Make Me Bad' or the song
'Chained to You'. They belong to Korn, Savage Garden, and Clamp. And
people, I must tell you now that I'm not a big fan of Korn, but I just
thought the song fit with the fic. Or the song title, anyway.
MAKE ME BAD
And when you looked into my eyes
Felt a sudden sense of urgency
Fascination cast a spell
And you became more than just a mystery
And I think about you all the time
Is it fate, is it my destiny?
~Savage Garden- Chained to You
~Flashback~
"I'm sorry again, really, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo apologized to her best friend for what
had to be the 17th time that day. Sakura simply laughed it off. "Oh come on, Tomoyo-
chan, I can survive a cheerleading practice without you videotaping me, you know,"
she reassured the purple-haired girl, rolling her eyes. "Besides, what would I complain
about? It's just one less shot of me dropping my baton on my head recorded for all
eternity."
"Oh, how the world SHALL suffer," Tomoyo admonished sarcastically, sending both of
them into hysterical giggles. Just another carefree example of how close they were to
the other, almost anything could make them laugh whenever they were together.
Tomoyo would do anything, anything at all for Sakura, and she knew it was the other
way around too...and though sometimes, she admitted that she hoped for more, what
she shared with her green-eyed friend now was enough for her.
Now, Sakura pushed her in the direction of the music room. "Well hurry up, Tomoyo-
chan, you're going to be late for choir practice. And we all know Tomoeda's little
golden girl can never do anything wrong."
Tomoyo slapped her friend on the arm and stuck her tongue out at her. "Oh shut up,
Sakura-chan, and get over to cheerleading practice. You wouldn't want to deprive
our dear Li Syaoran of watching you from soccer practice for a whole hour, would you?"
She quickly slipped into the music room while Sakura was still reddening in embarrasment
and didn't have the time to blow up at her.
For some reason, the choir practice just didn't draw her attention the same way as it
usually did, which was very odd. Music was one of her most favourite things, beside
photography of course. Maybe she could already feel something stirring in the air.
Maybe there was going to be another challenge for Sakura to face that night, and she
was being forewarned about it, so that she could make a brand new costume.
Whatever it was, Tomoyo didn't have time just then to dwell on it, because choir
practice ended earlier than usual. Because of her spacing out during practice, Tomoyo
quickly asked permission to remain in the music room and rehearse before the music
teacher even had the chance to berate her about not paying attention.
Now, the music room was quiet, deserted...the way she enjoyed most things, actually.
Much better concentration that way. Making sure no one was around, she pressed the
play button on the stereo and began singing to the music, singing the songs on her
music sheets, the way they were instructed to do. That afternoon, the music teacher
had been worried about the absent way Tomoyo had sung the songs, considering she
was the best singer in the whole choir. She had to fix that little mistake.
After a while, Tomoyo turned off the tape recorder, drifting over to the window.
Cheerleading practice was still going, as was the boys soccer team practice. The 2
different groups were sharing the same field, since there was a flood problem with the
other soccer field, and Tomoyo had to giggle at the antics that were going on 2 stories
below her. The usual. Sakura waving energetically at Syaoran, whose face would now
take away the dignity of the ripest apple. Chiharu glaring daggers across the field at
Takashi -- the 2 had been in a fight for the past week or so.
Without meaning to in the slightest, her violet gaze suddenly traveled over the other
players to land on Hiiragizawa Eriol. The new kid in class, who already had over half
the female population of the senior division of Tomoeda Elementary after him. It was that
'new guy' thing, that was the conclusion Tomoyo always drew.
Suddenly, Eriol leaned his head back -- and his navy cerulean eyes locked with Tomoyo's.
Tomoyo gasped, her eyes widening. The intensity of his gaze....it was all she could
see, swimming, no, DROWNING in the deep pools of a dark ocean on an endless night.
It repelled her; a warning was screaming in her head to turn away. Yet at the same
time, it drew her, almost physically pulling her toward him. She felt helpless to recoil..
And then just as suddenly, Eriol broke the contact, turning back to the soccer practice
at hand as the ball hit his foot. Syaoran slid right in front of him, knocking the ball
away and tripping Eriol, making them both tumble to the ground, which was supposed
to be a penalty move and Syaoran knew it. But he never had liked Hiiragizawa Eriol
much -- didn't trust him.
Tomoyo stumbled a few steps back from the window, breathing hard, her eyes still
wide. It had taken all her mental strength to pull away from Eriol's gaze; for some
reason, she felt as if she'd had a very narrow and lucky escape.
What was that? Tomoyo thought frantically, leaning back against the piano in exhaustion.
She stared out the window, almost afraid to look back down at the green field, afraid
that she'd find the blue-haired boy staring back at her again. What had been that power
in his gaze? The way it had repelled her almost to the point of being terrified, and at
the same time drew her like nothing else. She had never felt that way before.
Tomoyo shook her head firmly, and grabbed her backpack. It must have been my
imagination, she told herself insistantly, heading toward the door of the music room;
she'd had enough practice. It's because I didn't get much sleep last night, I was up
late watching my tapes of Sakura-chan, and editing the new ones.
Of course that had been the reason, she realized in slight relief. It was the only reason
there was -- after all, Eriol wasn't a super being or anything. He was Sakura's friend,
and he'd even hung out with both her and Sakura, as well as Syaoran. She was just
being melodramatic; according to Sakura, she did that a lot.
Apparently, in the few minutes between Tomoyo's backing away from the window and
her getting down to the soccer field, both team practices had finished. The field was
deserted; of course, Sakura wouldn't have found any reason to stay behind. Tomoyo
had told her that choir practice was supposed to be shorter that day. She had probably
just walked home with Rika or even Syaoran (if he hadn't found some excuse to run
away quickly).
Sighing, Tomoyo hitched her backpack more securely onto her back and started in the
direction of her house. I guess I'll just call her tonight or something, she thought.
Tomoyo had been almost positive that the soccer field HAD been deserted, and even
more positive that nobody had been behind her. He was just...there, all of a sudden,
she hadn't even heard him come up. All she heard was his voice, spoken in that
completely easy, almost eerily smooth voice of his.
"Hello, Daidouji-san," he greeted.
Tomoyo jumped almost ten feet into the air, whirling around as she backed away slightly.
"Hiiragizawa-kun!" she said, or more accurately, squeaked.
"Are you gonna run away?" he asked in a teasing tone, and Tomoyo suddenly couldn't
understand why she was feeling so nervous around him. This was only Eriol.
She laughed, although it came out a little breathlessly and high. "Of course not," she
replied. "I just...I didn't think anyone was behind me. I didn't even know you were
still here, really, I thought I was the last student left."
A slow smirk suddenly spread across his face, and he stepped closer to her, leaning in
slightly. "But Daidouji-san, you did know I was here," he said in a low voice, though
still in his smooth manner, which gave his voice an almost hypnotic quality. "You saw
me here, during practice."
Tomoyo was distinctly aware of the telltale warming of her face...but only distinctly.
Somehow, she was more aware of him.
"W-well, I..I just figure that you'd gone right home, just like everyone else," she
stammered lamely.
He turned his gaze on her full out..again. "Sure, whatever you say," he said quietly,
with a smile, the kind of smile that gave her the feeling that he knew something she
didn't know.
And for the second time that day, she fell victim to the intensity of his gaze, too far
gone to even question why she was feeling this way all so suddenly -- just earlier this
afternoon, she had asked to borrow an eraser from him without even a moment's thought.
Blinking slowly, she somehow brought down the power of the moment, feeling herself
stumble backward dangerously, although she still felt removed from herself.
And he caught her before she fell, so great, now she was even closer to him.
He whispered something in her ear then, that almost reached her through the haze
in her mind. "Actually Tomoyo, I really would run away now."
Her eyes widened in surprise and confusion, but then he stepped back, and things
became almost normal. Almost.
"By the way, Tomoyo-san..you can call me Eriol if you wish," he said with an easy
smile. Then, walking past me, "Well, I've got to get home. I'll see you, okay?"
She simply nodded instinctively, watching him head down the darkening street. Then
he disappeared into the oncoming night.
~Flashback Ends~
~Tomoyo's POV~
And I know that it was from that moment on, a little over a week ago, I became another
statistic among some other 80 girls in school. Hopelessly in love with Hiiragizawa Eriol.
At least, I was pretty sure that this was love. Then again, it didn't exactly make sense.
For one thing, how could he be a friend to me one minute, and then the next be almost
the only thing that filled my mind 24/7? For another, maybe the only reason I had fallen
for him was because I hadn't seen him since that day that he completely caught me
off guard, and swept me to another reality that I didn't think I could ever escape
from. But so hard?
Then again, nothing about this whole thing made sense in the least.
At first, I had thought that all these other girls had been attracted to him because he
was the new guy in school. It had happened to Syaoran too.
But there was something about Eriol, something unnatural. I didn't even need magical
powers to realize that, and I didn't think anyone who had fallen for him did either. It
was just the aura he gave out...no wonder Syaoran didn't really trust him -- he'd been
onto something after all. Even though he hadn't trusted Mizuki-sensei either, and she'd
ended up helping Sakura, he had still been right about her having powers. If there's one
thing I've learned, it's to trust Syaoran's sense of power.
Still, Syaoran's sense of trust wasn't exactly the best to go by...and I wanted to keep
on believing that he just didn't like Eriol because he kept flirting with Sakura.
Yet I couldn't pretend that I hadn't felt what I'd felt that day. Yes, I had been almost
magnetically attracted to him..the power of his gaze! God. And then there was the
fact that a little voice in me had been telling me to get away from him before...but
before what? And why had he singled me out? Yeah, I was sure that my falling for him
was entirely his fault. I sighed; none of this added up.
It was soo confusing. And where had he been for the past week? He hadn't been in
school at all, and apparently he'd been missing soccer practice as well. Of course,
Syaoran didn't exactly appear too displeased with the fact. All I knew was that...that
I needed to see him again. It was becoming a constant crush on my soul every time
his seat remained empty day after day...maybe something had happened to him?
Apparently, Sakura was worried too. "I wonder where Eriol-kun's been lately?" she
mentioned to Syaoran that Wednesday morning, turning around in her seat to speak.
"He's been away for a really, really long time, and he's never missed a single day of
class before this, either."
Syaoran merely crossed his arms and glared out the window with his usual manner of
annoyance and indifference. I quickly put my head down, pretending to be deeply
immersed in an assignment due tomorrow. I knew that Sakura was generally talking to
both of us, which was why I did this; every time Eriol's name was even mentioned
lately, I'd been feeling something funny in my heart, almost as if it was floating, and
apparently it would show on my face, since people would continually ask me if I was
feeling alright or if I had a fever. This was just bad...what was WRONG with me? It
couldn't be possible to fall THIS hard for someone...I didn't think even Syaoran had it
this bad for Sakura, and you know that wasn't good.
I absently began drawing little scribbles around the edges of the paper, remembering
my conversation with him for the umpteenth time. He said he'd let me call him Eriol-
kun...just like Sakura did. Then I must be special to him....
I suddenly frowned, remembering that he'd said one other important thing...but what
was it? Strange, I remembered it as a warning...but against what?
I sighed despondantly again, and naturally, my best friend just had to comment this
time.
"Are you okay, Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked, studying me. Ducking my head lower in
a hasty attempt to hide my now-reddening face, I looked up and smiled at her, rather
shakily. "I'm okay." I don't know why I even bothered. She knew almost instantly that
something was up, I could see it in the way her frown deepened.
But luckily, before Sakura could outwardly condemn me for lying, a distraction came in.
Although, I don't think it was the most welcome distraction for me right then.
The morning announcements had just finished, and Terada-sensei was just standing
up to begin class...when he walked in.
I actually gasped, out loud; it was purely a work of the stars that neither Sakura nor
Syaoran seemed to hear me. And I went rigid in my seat.
Eriol handed a note to Terada-sensei, and began talking to him about something, I
couldn't hear what. Or maybe I just WOULDN'T hear what; I was sure I would've been
able to hear him fine had I been able to block the sudden whirl of nonsensical thoughts
that began instantly swirling around in my head.
Here was another paradox. Just less than 3 minutes ago, I'd been aching to see Eriol
again, and now that he was less than 5 feet away, I wanted nothing more than to
run as far away as I could, even if I had to crash the windows of the classroom to
escape. And this definetly wasn't normal.
This wasn't at all what I'd expected to feel like when he came back. I'd at least thought
that the worst that could happen would be the feeling in me would intensify a little --
as much as I hated the feeling, I could live with that. But forget intensify -- the
emotions magnified by a thousandfold, causing my breath to come out in uneven little
gasps and my hands to tightly clench themselves in my lap. I was sure I was about
to break all the bones in my hand, the way they were fisted so tightly.
And on top of that...I was still feeling the little trill of fear, as if I was toying with
something way more dangerous than fire.
"Well, it's good to have you back, Hiiragizawa," Terada-sensei admonished. "Now if you
would please take your seat before class can begin...and before Yamazaki can
hyperventilate.." He cast a wry look at Yamazaki, who was almost bouncing up and
down in his seat with glee, overjoyed at having Eriol back so he would now have a
partner in crime again. Scary thought, and as if I didn't have enough of those to deal
with right now.
I forced myself to calm down as Eriol came and sat behind me; it wasn't easy. After
over a week of thinking about him, thinking about the way he had cast a spell over me,
and to have him sitting so close just now...
As history class began, I kept my head firmly glued to the book, for once actually
getting interested in the lesson. Anything to keep me from having to look around, to
have any reason to turn around and look at--
Terada-sensei's history speech ended, and the work period began. As I pulled a clean
sheet out of my binder, I suddenly froze -- Eriol's eraser. I had borrowed it from him
the day I had seen him last..THAT day..and now it was sitting in my binder; I'd never
gotten a chance to give it back to him.
I bit down on my lip. And now I had no excuse for not giving it back to him, since he
was right behind me, and the eraser was right here. I took a deep breath, before
suddenly coming to my senses and realizing how stupid I was being. I just had to turn
around and give him the eraser. It wasn't as if we could really do anything right in the
middle of history class.
Squeezing my eyes shut briefly, I seized the eraser and turned sharply around in my
seat before I could give myself another chance to hesitate. "Eriol-kun, here's your
eraser, I forgot to give it back to you..." I trailed off as his eyes rose from his worksheet
to me, with that same knowing smile.
"So you finally got your courage up, hmm?" he said softly, smoothly...and I suddenly
had an overwhelming urge to shiver. I was able to stop myself from doing that, but
with all the effort it took, I forgot to try and put some control over my blushing.
Therefore...
My face flamed, and I quickly looked down at his desk. "I'm sorry...I was just..I was
trying to decide whether to interrupt you or not," I lied horribly. "I thought to give it
back to you after class, but I was afraid I might forget."
He continued to smile, although I think it turned into a light smirk. He took the eraser
from my hand; this time, I couldn't stop a chill from running down my spine when his
skin came into contact with my own. But the chill...was it from exhiliration? ...Or fear?
"Thank you, Tomoyo-san," he said. "And by the way, I'm glad you remembered."
My cheeks flared again as I realized he wasn't talking about the eraser. I had called him
Eriol-kun like he'd told me to..and so easily, I hadn't even thought about it.
I quickly whirled around in my seat before anything else could happen; so much for
nothing happening in the middle of history class. I felt as if I'd gone on the monster of
all killer roller coasters...felt as if I'd just had a close encounter with a devil, with an
angel...and boy, I was messed up. I still couldn't get over this; I was beginning to feel
Eriol had cast a spell over me. I knew for a fact that this was not normal, and he
certainly seemed able to cast an enchantment.
What I felt for him, around him...I wasn't completely oblivous. I knew that one thing I
definetly wasn't around him was comfortable. The last 2 times I'd come into contact
with him, I always felt that I had just had a narrow escape...I instinctively knew that
he was dangerous, that he was wickedly un-innocent, that he definetly was anything
but normal. All these things should have made me run away screaming, which I usually
had a strange desire to do...but it was the irresistable enticing intoxication I always
felt that forced me to stay. No questions asked about which emotion was stronger.
But what WAS it about him? What was he...?
I suddenly remember what had caused me to want to shiver just moments earlier. The
fact that....he seemed to have read my mind. I had been sitting with my back to him
when I'd been undecided about handing him the eraser...yet he'd still known what I
was doing. Of course, I didn't put reading minds past him anymore. And then I
remembered just what it was he'd said to me that day over a week ago.
("Actually Tomoyo, I really would run away now.")
And I shivered yet again.
~*~*~
"Hey, what did you guys get on that Japanese test?" Chiharu asked the group in
general as we sat around the cherry blossom tree in the school yard at lunch. We were
all there..well, all minus one person. One certain person...
Syaoran refused to give his mark, so was naturally furious when Yamazaki told the rest
of us it was a 59 percent.
"I don't see what you're complaining about," Yamazaki told him. "You beat me, I got a
53."
"Well then, I kicked both your butts -- 67 percent here," Chiharu taunted with a smirk,
flashing her test.
"Don't inflate your ego too much, Chiharu-chan, I wouldn't want to make such a big
explosion when I pop it," Naoko told her friend with a grin. "75 percent."
"Hey, same here," exclaimed Rika. "I did much better than I thought I would; man, I
thought I would've failed."
"So did I," Sakura told her. "But I aced it, 85 percent. Okay, A-minus maybe, but still."
She turned to me, apparently noticing that I hadn't said anything yet, I was still picking
at my lunch, which was still basically intact; I hadn't eaten anything. "What about you,
Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked.
I glanced up at her with a mild look of confusion on my face, but Chiharu broke in,
thankfully.
"As if anyone here doesn't know what the answer to THAT will be," she giggled. "Really,
Sakura-chan, we're talking about Tomoyo-chan here."
Sakura dug into my backpack and snatched out my Japanese test. "She got a 99!" she
exclaimed. "Look, the only mistake she made was a little punctuation error."
I just smirked; I knew how to handle this. It was all in everyday stride. "That's right,
people," I said breezily. "You can all kneel before your queen now."
They all laughed; even Syaoran managed a snicker. "That's our angel Tomoyo-chan,"
said Sakura, giving me a one armed hug.
Angel..., I thought suddenly. I had always been considered an angel, always perfect,
to almost everyone. Really, it was only Sakura, Syaoran, and Li Meiling who had
noticed that I wasn't always so innocent. But I didn't mind. Of course, nobody would
think of blaming the good girl.
But if I was an angel, would I have fallen for Eriol...?
Speaking of which..
"Where's Eriol?" I had to ask, trying to seem as casual as possible. With him involved,
it wasn't so easy..
"He had to talk to Terada-sensei," Yamazaki explained. "Probably because he's missed
so many classes. Shame, this would have been a perfect opportunity for him to help me
explain about life in ancient Antarctica..."
Chiharu held up her chopstick like a dagger. "If you even think of starting, Takashi-kun,"
she threatened.
Through this all, Sakura had been watching me with the most scrutinizing look I'd ever
seen on her face, and she finally spoke up with what I knew she was going to say.
"So Tomoyo-chan, when are you planning on telling us what's going on between you
and Eriol-kun?" she asked teasingly.
Okay, I had to play this completely in control... "I don't know what you're talking about,
Sakura-chan."
Syaoran and the others, by this time, were now putting their full attention on us;
Syaoran was staring rather hard -- I guess he just didn't like the idea of me and Eriol
together. Well, it was nice to know he cared anyway.
"Yeah, Daidouji-san," he stated, still watching me searchingly. "Sakura and I heard
your conversation with him this morning--"
"Oh! Oh!" Chiharu suddenly squealed in excitement, also staring at me. "I was wondering
why you were blushing this morning."
"And he called you by your first name, too, and vice versa," Sakura said with a smile,
watching me. I knew she was really enjoying this; for some reason, I felt a flash of
annoyance.
"Uh oh, does our dear Tomoyo-chan have a crush on Hiiragizawa-kun?" Rika asked,
very straightforward she was being.
I scowled, turning to Sakura. "Hey, you call him by his first name too," I countered with
a smirk, watching as the tables turned. "Come to think of it, doesn't he do that too?"
Sakura shrugged, but I didn't hear her excuse; maybe I shouldn't have said that, I
thought, watching Syaoran glare at the ground as if he didn't plan to leave that spot
until he'd mentally bored a hole straight through to the core of the earth.
Mercifully, the subject had now switched to a new vampire book that Naoko was now
reading. Something about a regular person falling deep in love with the vampire, and--
My eyes shot wide, as I realized what Naoko was talking about. It was too much like
my situation with Eriol...I suddenly felt that wild, inexplicable fear that I usually felt
whenever I thought of Eriol, whenever he was near me...that sense of warning that
would tell me that I should turn back now...
Then I blinked, realizing once again how dumb I was being. Eriol wasn't a vampire. Great,
next I would be expecting him to drink blood or something. Although, he sure did have
the captivating characteristics of a vampire...
I couldn't stay there anymore. Quickly jumping to my feet, I explained, "I'm sorry you
guys, I have to go now. The music teacher said I should meet her for something extra
to practice."
Sakura looked upset. "But today is only a half day, Tomoyo-chan, it ends after lunch,"
she complained. "We'll have to see you tomorrow."
"Sorry," I apologized again. "I'll call you tonight, okay? See you guys."
Thankfully, I escaped without further questions asked. Or maybe I had just run off to
fast to give anybody a chance to ask questions. For sure, they couldn't have bought
my music teacher story.
I decided to leave school then, it was only a few minutes earlier. I don't know why I
suddenly decided on it, I had never cut school in my life. But this didn't exactly count
as cutting school, did it? I paused undecidedly under the tree that was closest to the
school's boundary.
But then, all thoughts of school, and whatever I was going to do, fled from my mind
like deer fleeing a forest fire. They didn't even flee; more like got deleted, they
disintegrated so fast. All because of one person. I felt him before he spoke.
"Well, seems she isn't so innocent after all," Eriol said, from a branch in the tree. A
branch pretty high up, I noticed as my head snapped up to look at him. I blinked,
staring straight at him. Doing everything I could to avoid actually looking directly into
his eyes; what a dangerous place to look.
"How did you get all the way up there?" I asked, or croaked, more likely.
Eriol jumped down from the tree -- straight down from the high branch he'd been on,
and landed perfectly. I swear, I would have been convinced right then and there that
he was definetly something else, if I hadn't seen Syaoran perform the same feat so
many times.
"I'm a good climber," he said evenly.
The school bell rang, signalling the end of the day. Eriol glanced up toward the school,
and then at me, the I-know-something-you-don't-know smile on his face again.
"Well, you didn't skip school, at least," he said.
I felt the sense of intoxication again, mingled with the fear, feeling the indecision as well.
He suddenly smirked at me. "Are you going to scream this time, Tomoyo-san?" he
asked, softly taunting me. It sounded incredibly sarcastic..and at the same time..that
was ALWAYS the way it was with him, always sparking 2 different emotions from me.
I really wondered then if he ever did this with any of the other girls that chased him.
Realizing I hadn't replied to his question, I coloured up and looked at the grass. "No.."
I murmured. He chuckled softly and stepped closer to me. "Maybe you should," he said
quietly.
This time, I definetly heard the warning clearly, and looked up at him quickly. He was
right; any other sane person would have been screaming at the top of their lungs by
now too...there was certainly something unnatural about him. Maybe I should be
screaming too.
But I didn't scream. No, instead, I just replied to him, glancing away from him as I leaned
back against the tree. "Why?" I asked simply. "Do you want me to scream?"
He blinked. I had surprised him; finally, score one for me.
He smiled again, stepping very close to me and placing a flower in my hair. A plum
blossom. "You're an angel, Tomoyo-san," he said lightly, smoothly.
I felt the shudder go through me, at almost the same instant the irresistable flow
passed through...and I knew that it was dangerous to be here alone with him. What
passed through me as his fingers caressed my hair...it was BAD..but it was good too.
Besides that, he had just pulled the flower out of nowhere. I hadn't seen a plum blossom
around here in ages.
I chanced a very daring glance into his eyes; big mistake. Whatever power I knew he
had, I was trapped in it. Once again, that warning in me was screaming at me to get
away now, to never see this boy again...the moment he had come to Tomoeda, some-
thing dark had entered the town.
But all this was registering from seemingly very far away. And maybe, I just wanted it
to.
"But you're not, are you?" I whispered, posed as more of a statement than a question.
I pressed my back against the tree as if hoping to sink into it. A fruitless attempt. I was
already trapped in place by what I saw in his eyes...the same way I had been trapped
over a week ago. Except this time, there was nothing to distract him and motivate him
to pull away. And I was too weak to do it myself. "You're bad, aren't you? You've got
special powers, too."
The slow smirk crossed his face. "I'm pleased you noticed. But what made you think so?"
"A lot of things," I murmured, my gaze still locked with his evening sapphire one.
A faint laugh came from him. "And are you a very innocent angel, Tomoyo-san?"
It was a rhetorical question, and I shook my head; thankfully, he had somehow toned
down the power of his eyes, and I was able to look down, my breath once again coming
out in ragged little gasps.
He smiled again, in an almost normal way, as he reset the flower in my head. "No, but
you are still an angel," he said softly. Then, whispering as he leaned even closer, "It's
not a bad thing."
This time, I met him squarely in the eye, not caring what it would do to me; I really
wanted to know. "You intrigue me, Eriol-kun. Should I be afraid?"
Eriol paused, then nodded slowly. "Yes, Tomoyo. You should be very, very afraid."
~*~*~
"I can't handle this. I just can't," I muttered, pacing around my spacious bedroom that
night, strangely keeping myself away from the dark corners. Strange because I had
never been afraid of the dark, not even when I was a child. But after Eriol, I think I
could learn to be afraid of almost anything.
Yet I was still attached to him like a magnet to steel...
Eriol was DANGEROUS, in the serious tense of the word. Way more so than any of the
other girls at school knew; they thought that Eriol was simply a rebel, though how they
figured that was beyond me. He almost always got straight A's, and got along well with
the teachers... but it was his karma that gave off what he was. Although I still couldn't
read it!
This was serious, and painful. At the same time, I was pleased that I was the only girl
who knew just how dangerous he was. And nothing did anything to decrease my
attraction to him...
"I can't control this," I mumbled out loud to the bedroom.
There was a quick knock on the door, and then Takao-san, one of my bodyguards,
poked her head in, giving me a strange look. "Are you alright, Tomoyo-sama?" she asked
in concern.
I quickly turned to face her, putting a happily neutral expression on my face. "Just fine,
Takao-san," I told her cheerfully.
She looked as if she didn't believe me, but apparently put the matter aside. "Well, there's
a phone call for you downstairs, it's your friend."
Sakura, I knew instantly, jumping slightly. I had almost forgotten that I'd promised to
call her tonight. Or more likely, completely forgotten.
Quickly taking the stairs 2 at a time, I dashed into the living room, which was luckily
empty, and picked up the extension in there. "I've got it!" I shouted, waiting for the
click to ensure that Sakura and I had complete privacy.
"How're you doing, Tomoyo-chan?" my best friend asked brightly from the other side
of the line.
"I'm okay, Sakura-chan. I'm so sorry, I promised to call you tonight--"
"It's alright," Sakura laughed it off. "And really, I didn't exactly call you for simple affairs.
There's you-know-what going down at King Penguin Park."
I gasped, finally getting my mind off of Hiiragizawa Eriol for the first time in a while. You-
know-what meant a dark force. Another chance for Sakura to convert a Clow Card. I
mentally raked through the new costumes I had made for Sakura. "I'll meet you there
in 10," I said quickly, adding with a laugh, "You're gonna be the Princess of the Night
tonight, Sakura-chan."
~
"And you're looking fab, Sakura-chan," I said enthusiastically, circling the auburn-gold-
haired girl as I recorded her from all angles.
Sakura looked down at her outfit with a scowl: a long-sleeved midnight dark billowy top
decorated with tiny silk black ribbons and stopped just above her midriff, and tight dark
shorts, which even had a holster where she could place her little wand. In her hair I
had placed a dark tiara between her pigtails.
"Tomoyo-chan, I look like that vampire from Naoko-chan's book," she complained. I just
giggled. "Hence the theme 'Princess of the Night', Sakura-chan," I pointed out, watching
her through the lens of my camera. She really was cute...and I cared about her a lot..
but..
I found myself wondering just where my real feelings for Sakura had gone. Then I ended
up at the only conclusion: they had disintegrated into nothing the instant that Eriol had
looked at me in THAT way. Scary enough...
I shook the thought away firmly, as a voice came from behind me. "You know, you 2 are
really getting ridiculous."
Syaoran came down from a tree and stepped out of the shadow, eyeing Sakura's
costume in quiet amusement. Sakura glared at him. "Hey, it's not like I put her up to this,
you know," she retorted.
I crossed my arms and turned my head away haughtily. "Hmph! Just like a guy, no
fashion sense at all," I said airily, brushing aside their rude comments.
Sakura rolled her eyes to the moon above. "You know, maybe we should argue about
this later, and get on with it. If I'm out too late, Touya-kun'll know for sure that some-
thing is up, and Kero-chan'll get worried."
"I suppose he wasn't worried enough to actually come along like he's supposed to?"
Syaoran muttered. "Stupid lazy--"
"Don't start that again, Syaoran-kun."
I stopped listening to their banter as I tagged along behind them, lost in my thoughts.
I frowned as I felt a breeze pass by -- there was something in the wind. By now, I'd
had enough experience to know that it was the dark force. But what, I began to wonder,
WAS the dark force? Who was causing it? They were bad, I knew that, and they were
hurting my best friend Sakura to boot. If I ever found out who it was...
"Tomoyo-chan?"
I looked up, realizing I had stopped, and as a result, Sakura and Syaoran had stopped
too, watching me in curious inquisitation.
"Daidouji-san, are you alright?" Syaoran demanded.
Sakura glared at him. "Of course she's not alright, she's fallen too hard for Hiiragizawa-
kun," she told him.
I gasped, staring at both of them. "What are you talking about?!"
Sakura turned her emerald eyes on me. "We saw you talking to him after school today,
Tomoyo-chan," she said in a softer voice. "I think it was pretty obvious--"
"Sakura, I don't know what you think you're getting at," Syaoran cut her off, glaring at
her, and then at me. "You were scared of him, that's all I saw. I don't know what she
thinks she saw."
My face burned up as I quickly looked down; they had exposed both of my major feelings
in all this. And it annoyed me greatly, for some reason. I had never been annoyed at
them in my whole life -- at least, never at Sakura. I had only been irritated with Syaoran
last year, when he'd been making fun of my best friend.
"You guys...I.."
"Tomoyo-chan, you know you can tell us anything that's going on," Sakura persisted
softly. "Even though I think Syaoran-kun is going slightly off the deep end about this,
he's right, you DID look a little afraid...did something bad happen? Is something wrong?"
"Did he do anything to you?" Syaoran demanded bluntly. Sakura gasped next to him.
"Syaoran-kun! Eriol-kun would never--"
The question echoed in my mind. Yes, he had done
something to me, I said in my mind. But I could never tell them what.
Syaoran never did trust him much...
Taking a deep breath, I met both their gazes squarely, forcing a neutral expression. "No.
He didn't do anything at all to me. It was not a big deal, he was just asking for some
of the work he missed when he was absent."
The answer seemed to satisfy Sakura; she always believed that I would never look her
in the eye and lie to her. I had always believed so, too...but I wasn't EXACTLY lying,
was I?
Syaoran, on the other hand, wasn't at all convinced, judging from the way he continued
to stare hard at me.
"Uh, you guys...you DO realize that this dark force is still running free, right?" I pointed
out to them, attempting to draw Syaoran's attention from me.
Sakura gasped. "That's right! Come on, it's around the main section of the playground,
by Emperor Penguin." She took off, and Syaoran quickly went after her. I hesitated for
a moment, then followed them; weird, for some reason, I just suddenly felt as if I didn't
belong there anymore.
As if I was the enemy...
Now THAT's crazy, I scolded myself. Sakura and I had been friends since the second
grade, I would never betray her. Never...
Staying in the bushes, I videotaped as Sakura and Syaoran took on the dark matter;
something was killing the flowers in the gardens near the Emperor Penguin slide. It
was something lethal; Sakura had to convert the Jump card to get out of the way,
the Shot card to drive away the force, and the Flower card to repair the damage done.
Another typical evening. I continued to videotape as she passed out in Syaoran's arms;
wow, this evening is just one constant surprise after another, I thought sarcastically,
finally flipping off the camcorder and wandering away to leave the 2 to themselves for
a while.
How right I was...and I was about to realize just how much so. I guess I should have
known all along..
I don't know what I was looking for, walking around the woods. Maybe I was just
moving aimlessly, just to stay away from Sakura and Syaoran for a little while. Maybe
I was subconsciously searching for the person who was causing all this trouble for
my 2 best friends...if that was the case, at least I wasn't disappointed in my mission.
Though I would have given anything to be.
I was just about to head off back to the others; it had been half an hour already, surely
that must have been enough time for them. I don't know why I stayed away so long;
Sakura would probably be worried.
Then I saw a glow through the trees...far away from where Sakura and Syaoran had
been, so I knew it couldn't be them..but too close to their location to not have heard
anything that had gone on. Of course, anyone who would be out here in the middle of
the night was definetly...
I stifled a gasp; it was THEM. I knew this instinctively, without even clearly seeing them.
It was the ones who were causing all this to happen. I felt a flash of fury; I actually
considered confronting them right there and then.
But of course, that wasn't necessary.
I think I literally froze, both inside and out, my body actually running cold, as I heard
the voice. "Ruby Moon, Spinel Sun, go on home, alright? I'll catch up with you later."
I didn't know who it was he was talking to, but I knew that voice anywhere. I had heard
it so many times, in my dreams at night, in my thoughts through the day..in reality too.
"Eriol.." I whispered, my eyes going huge in disbelief as shock coursed a lightning path
through me.
Of course, I should have realized. The danger I had always constantly felt around him,
the power I had noticed in him...power enough to challenge my best friend, to cause
all this to happen, to her..and yet I still couldn't believe it. Didn't WANT to believe it.
("Should I be afraid?"
"Yes. You should be very, very afraid.")
He wasn't just wicked..he was--
And then he spoke next, both the words and the voice sending a shiver through me,
slightly violent. At least I had a legitimate reason to be this way.
"Tomoyo."
I gasped, taking a step back as he came into view, a smirk on his face. He didn't even
seem the least bit surprised to see me there.
"Fancy meeting you here," he said easily, as if only meeting me on the street. I said
nothing, backing up against a tree.
"So you saw. You know."
I hesitated, then realizing he would see right through me if I lied, nodded. "Yes."
He came close, and it was all I could do to keep a tremble from running through me.
I wanted to scream at him, to slap him, hit him, hurt him for actually having the nerve
to do this to my friend...
"How could you?" Although planned to come out as an accusing shout, it actually came
as a low demand. "You're her friend, she trusts you..you're probably the LAST person
she would ever suspect...you're not just bad. You're evil. What are you, anyway? A
magician, like them?"
He didn't seem all that affected by my angry outburst. He tilted his head to the side
a little, still watching me very closely. "Yes," he finally replied after a while. "I am a
magician...much more powerful than they are, however. And yes..I am evil. I am very
bad." This was said with a smirk, a wicked one. He paused, keeping his eyes on me.
"Do you want to run away now, Tomoyo? Do you want to scream? I warned you before..
and I believe you warned yourself too."
Pressing myself further against the tree, shrinking away from him, I drew in a quick
breath--
--And then he reached out and caressed my cheek so softly and gently..and the scream
which had been tearing at my throat just died away then. His finger moved to my mouth,
silencing me.
"It's too late now," he said softly.
Yes, it was too late. If he was going to do something to me, it didn't matter...because
I was already his. Even knowing what he was now, knowing what he'd been doing, what
he was TRYING to do...the intrigue, the dizzying effects..resistance was futile. This
feeling was still the dominant one over my fear.
I drew my arms to my chest, still backing away from him as much as possible with my
back still pressed against the tree, and he looked amused. "I'm not going to hurt you,
Tomoyo," he told me.
And for some reason, I believed him. Yet it did nothing to reassure me. I looked into his
eyes, once again the dark cerulean being all that I could see. "What did you do to me?"
I heard myself ask from very far away.
He smiled casually. "I've done nothing to you."
"Yes you have," I argued. "You're making me feel this way...you singled me out from all
the other girls..what made me so special?" I think a small sob had just escaped from me.
Eriol shook his head. "Yes Tomoyo. You drew me more than any other girl at school had
ever done..more than any girl in my life has done. But the only one who has done
anything is you...I fell in love with you. Despite how opposite you and I were...and I'm
starting to think that the difference isn't so obvious. I don't know what it was, but you
are very special.."
He trailed off, and I slowly blinked as he paused, still in a daze. The knowing smirk came
back to his face, and I was sure I was about to pass out right then. But this couldn't
be natural; love wasn't supposed to be like this. I had always heard that love was
supposed to be warm and sweet...not constantly on the edge, and wildly dangerous,
while enjoying it like nothing else. He HAD to have done this...
He read my mind. "I meant what I said, Tomoyo, I've done nothing to you. I warned you,
and you warned yourself...but something still drew you to me. And my power had nothing
to do with it." He smiled. "What was that something?"
Why did he ask me that? I didn't know...did I?
But I hadn't cared about his hurting Sakura, hadn't cared about him being who he was...
he had intrigued me, but if he said that it wasn't his magic that had drawn me to him..
then...
I knew. I think I had known all along. Maybe this wasn't exactly the classic case of love,
but it was love all the same...because I just wanted to be with him, and I didn't even
care about anything else...
But Sakura is my best friend, argued that voice in me. It was now screaming shrilly at
me to get away from him, to run away from this place as fast as I could and not look
back once, before something terrible happened, before I completely lost my sanity...
I suddenly felt his hand on my arm, and suddenly, his voice was softly in my ear. "I
love you, Tomoyo." My eyes fluttered closed as I heard those words. Of everyone after
him, he had chosen me...I was special to him..
He continued after a while. "Do you care about me too?"
And terror just melted away like a warm, soothing liquid, and everything was just a
soothing daze as he kissed me.
"Yes Eriol," I whispered, stepping into the embrace of the devil's advocate, if there ever
was one. And I didn't care. "I want to be with you. Make me bad, Eriol."
What does it mean to you
For me it's something I just do
I want something
I need to feel the sickness in you
~Korn- Make Me Bad
~Fin
I don't know HOW I came up with this story really, maybe it was because I had just
done something bad myself, and just happened to be listening to Savage Garden.
Whatever it was, here it is, ppl, my very first Eriol + Tomoyo fic. So now you know that
any others I make won't be good, right? ^^* Don't worry, I might decide to spare you all
the trauma. Email me at starviewcom@hotmail.com (I LUV emails ^_^), to tell me what
you thought of this, okay? Cyaz!
P.S. Yes, I think this is gonna be the end of this story, no sequels. Sorry if I left everyone
hanging, but...=p I've got no other ideas
of the time, he really is helping her out by helping her to change the Clow Cards into
Sakura Cards. I've finally learned all about THAT at last ^^*. But suppose he really
WAS evil. I mean, he certainly does have the makings of coming off that way, right? And
suppose a certain favourite girl of his just happened to fall under his spell...Yes people,
this is an ExT. It's for Megori's contest.
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura or the song 'Make Me Bad' or the song
'Chained to You'. They belong to Korn, Savage Garden, and Clamp. And
people, I must tell you now that I'm not a big fan of Korn, but I just
thought the song fit with the fic. Or the song title, anyway.
MAKE ME BAD
And when you looked into my eyes
Felt a sudden sense of urgency
Fascination cast a spell
And you became more than just a mystery
And I think about you all the time
Is it fate, is it my destiny?
~Savage Garden- Chained to You
~Flashback~
"I'm sorry again, really, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo apologized to her best friend for what
had to be the 17th time that day. Sakura simply laughed it off. "Oh come on, Tomoyo-
chan, I can survive a cheerleading practice without you videotaping me, you know,"
she reassured the purple-haired girl, rolling her eyes. "Besides, what would I complain
about? It's just one less shot of me dropping my baton on my head recorded for all
eternity."
"Oh, how the world SHALL suffer," Tomoyo admonished sarcastically, sending both of
them into hysterical giggles. Just another carefree example of how close they were to
the other, almost anything could make them laugh whenever they were together.
Tomoyo would do anything, anything at all for Sakura, and she knew it was the other
way around too...and though sometimes, she admitted that she hoped for more, what
she shared with her green-eyed friend now was enough for her.
Now, Sakura pushed her in the direction of the music room. "Well hurry up, Tomoyo-
chan, you're going to be late for choir practice. And we all know Tomoeda's little
golden girl can never do anything wrong."
Tomoyo slapped her friend on the arm and stuck her tongue out at her. "Oh shut up,
Sakura-chan, and get over to cheerleading practice. You wouldn't want to deprive
our dear Li Syaoran of watching you from soccer practice for a whole hour, would you?"
She quickly slipped into the music room while Sakura was still reddening in embarrasment
and didn't have the time to blow up at her.
For some reason, the choir practice just didn't draw her attention the same way as it
usually did, which was very odd. Music was one of her most favourite things, beside
photography of course. Maybe she could already feel something stirring in the air.
Maybe there was going to be another challenge for Sakura to face that night, and she
was being forewarned about it, so that she could make a brand new costume.
Whatever it was, Tomoyo didn't have time just then to dwell on it, because choir
practice ended earlier than usual. Because of her spacing out during practice, Tomoyo
quickly asked permission to remain in the music room and rehearse before the music
teacher even had the chance to berate her about not paying attention.
Now, the music room was quiet, deserted...the way she enjoyed most things, actually.
Much better concentration that way. Making sure no one was around, she pressed the
play button on the stereo and began singing to the music, singing the songs on her
music sheets, the way they were instructed to do. That afternoon, the music teacher
had been worried about the absent way Tomoyo had sung the songs, considering she
was the best singer in the whole choir. She had to fix that little mistake.
After a while, Tomoyo turned off the tape recorder, drifting over to the window.
Cheerleading practice was still going, as was the boys soccer team practice. The 2
different groups were sharing the same field, since there was a flood problem with the
other soccer field, and Tomoyo had to giggle at the antics that were going on 2 stories
below her. The usual. Sakura waving energetically at Syaoran, whose face would now
take away the dignity of the ripest apple. Chiharu glaring daggers across the field at
Takashi -- the 2 had been in a fight for the past week or so.
Without meaning to in the slightest, her violet gaze suddenly traveled over the other
players to land on Hiiragizawa Eriol. The new kid in class, who already had over half
the female population of the senior division of Tomoeda Elementary after him. It was that
'new guy' thing, that was the conclusion Tomoyo always drew.
Suddenly, Eriol leaned his head back -- and his navy cerulean eyes locked with Tomoyo's.
Tomoyo gasped, her eyes widening. The intensity of his gaze....it was all she could
see, swimming, no, DROWNING in the deep pools of a dark ocean on an endless night.
It repelled her; a warning was screaming in her head to turn away. Yet at the same
time, it drew her, almost physically pulling her toward him. She felt helpless to recoil..
And then just as suddenly, Eriol broke the contact, turning back to the soccer practice
at hand as the ball hit his foot. Syaoran slid right in front of him, knocking the ball
away and tripping Eriol, making them both tumble to the ground, which was supposed
to be a penalty move and Syaoran knew it. But he never had liked Hiiragizawa Eriol
much -- didn't trust him.
Tomoyo stumbled a few steps back from the window, breathing hard, her eyes still
wide. It had taken all her mental strength to pull away from Eriol's gaze; for some
reason, she felt as if she'd had a very narrow and lucky escape.
What was that? Tomoyo thought frantically, leaning back against the piano in exhaustion.
She stared out the window, almost afraid to look back down at the green field, afraid
that she'd find the blue-haired boy staring back at her again. What had been that power
in his gaze? The way it had repelled her almost to the point of being terrified, and at
the same time drew her like nothing else. She had never felt that way before.
Tomoyo shook her head firmly, and grabbed her backpack. It must have been my
imagination, she told herself insistantly, heading toward the door of the music room;
she'd had enough practice. It's because I didn't get much sleep last night, I was up
late watching my tapes of Sakura-chan, and editing the new ones.
Of course that had been the reason, she realized in slight relief. It was the only reason
there was -- after all, Eriol wasn't a super being or anything. He was Sakura's friend,
and he'd even hung out with both her and Sakura, as well as Syaoran. She was just
being melodramatic; according to Sakura, she did that a lot.
Apparently, in the few minutes between Tomoyo's backing away from the window and
her getting down to the soccer field, both team practices had finished. The field was
deserted; of course, Sakura wouldn't have found any reason to stay behind. Tomoyo
had told her that choir practice was supposed to be shorter that day. She had probably
just walked home with Rika or even Syaoran (if he hadn't found some excuse to run
away quickly).
Sighing, Tomoyo hitched her backpack more securely onto her back and started in the
direction of her house. I guess I'll just call her tonight or something, she thought.
Tomoyo had been almost positive that the soccer field HAD been deserted, and even
more positive that nobody had been behind her. He was just...there, all of a sudden,
she hadn't even heard him come up. All she heard was his voice, spoken in that
completely easy, almost eerily smooth voice of his.
"Hello, Daidouji-san," he greeted.
Tomoyo jumped almost ten feet into the air, whirling around as she backed away slightly.
"Hiiragizawa-kun!" she said, or more accurately, squeaked.
"Are you gonna run away?" he asked in a teasing tone, and Tomoyo suddenly couldn't
understand why she was feeling so nervous around him. This was only Eriol.
She laughed, although it came out a little breathlessly and high. "Of course not," she
replied. "I just...I didn't think anyone was behind me. I didn't even know you were
still here, really, I thought I was the last student left."
A slow smirk suddenly spread across his face, and he stepped closer to her, leaning in
slightly. "But Daidouji-san, you did know I was here," he said in a low voice, though
still in his smooth manner, which gave his voice an almost hypnotic quality. "You saw
me here, during practice."
Tomoyo was distinctly aware of the telltale warming of her face...but only distinctly.
Somehow, she was more aware of him.
"W-well, I..I just figure that you'd gone right home, just like everyone else," she
stammered lamely.
He turned his gaze on her full out..again. "Sure, whatever you say," he said quietly,
with a smile, the kind of smile that gave her the feeling that he knew something she
didn't know.
And for the second time that day, she fell victim to the intensity of his gaze, too far
gone to even question why she was feeling this way all so suddenly -- just earlier this
afternoon, she had asked to borrow an eraser from him without even a moment's thought.
Blinking slowly, she somehow brought down the power of the moment, feeling herself
stumble backward dangerously, although she still felt removed from herself.
And he caught her before she fell, so great, now she was even closer to him.
He whispered something in her ear then, that almost reached her through the haze
in her mind. "Actually Tomoyo, I really would run away now."
Her eyes widened in surprise and confusion, but then he stepped back, and things
became almost normal. Almost.
"By the way, Tomoyo-san..you can call me Eriol if you wish," he said with an easy
smile. Then, walking past me, "Well, I've got to get home. I'll see you, okay?"
She simply nodded instinctively, watching him head down the darkening street. Then
he disappeared into the oncoming night.
~Flashback Ends~
~Tomoyo's POV~
And I know that it was from that moment on, a little over a week ago, I became another
statistic among some other 80 girls in school. Hopelessly in love with Hiiragizawa Eriol.
At least, I was pretty sure that this was love. Then again, it didn't exactly make sense.
For one thing, how could he be a friend to me one minute, and then the next be almost
the only thing that filled my mind 24/7? For another, maybe the only reason I had fallen
for him was because I hadn't seen him since that day that he completely caught me
off guard, and swept me to another reality that I didn't think I could ever escape
from. But so hard?
Then again, nothing about this whole thing made sense in the least.
At first, I had thought that all these other girls had been attracted to him because he
was the new guy in school. It had happened to Syaoran too.
But there was something about Eriol, something unnatural. I didn't even need magical
powers to realize that, and I didn't think anyone who had fallen for him did either. It
was just the aura he gave out...no wonder Syaoran didn't really trust him -- he'd been
onto something after all. Even though he hadn't trusted Mizuki-sensei either, and she'd
ended up helping Sakura, he had still been right about her having powers. If there's one
thing I've learned, it's to trust Syaoran's sense of power.
Still, Syaoran's sense of trust wasn't exactly the best to go by...and I wanted to keep
on believing that he just didn't like Eriol because he kept flirting with Sakura.
Yet I couldn't pretend that I hadn't felt what I'd felt that day. Yes, I had been almost
magnetically attracted to him..the power of his gaze! God. And then there was the
fact that a little voice in me had been telling me to get away from him before...but
before what? And why had he singled me out? Yeah, I was sure that my falling for him
was entirely his fault. I sighed; none of this added up.
It was soo confusing. And where had he been for the past week? He hadn't been in
school at all, and apparently he'd been missing soccer practice as well. Of course,
Syaoran didn't exactly appear too displeased with the fact. All I knew was that...that
I needed to see him again. It was becoming a constant crush on my soul every time
his seat remained empty day after day...maybe something had happened to him?
Apparently, Sakura was worried too. "I wonder where Eriol-kun's been lately?" she
mentioned to Syaoran that Wednesday morning, turning around in her seat to speak.
"He's been away for a really, really long time, and he's never missed a single day of
class before this, either."
Syaoran merely crossed his arms and glared out the window with his usual manner of
annoyance and indifference. I quickly put my head down, pretending to be deeply
immersed in an assignment due tomorrow. I knew that Sakura was generally talking to
both of us, which was why I did this; every time Eriol's name was even mentioned
lately, I'd been feeling something funny in my heart, almost as if it was floating, and
apparently it would show on my face, since people would continually ask me if I was
feeling alright or if I had a fever. This was just bad...what was WRONG with me? It
couldn't be possible to fall THIS hard for someone...I didn't think even Syaoran had it
this bad for Sakura, and you know that wasn't good.
I absently began drawing little scribbles around the edges of the paper, remembering
my conversation with him for the umpteenth time. He said he'd let me call him Eriol-
kun...just like Sakura did. Then I must be special to him....
I suddenly frowned, remembering that he'd said one other important thing...but what
was it? Strange, I remembered it as a warning...but against what?
I sighed despondantly again, and naturally, my best friend just had to comment this
time.
"Are you okay, Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked, studying me. Ducking my head lower in
a hasty attempt to hide my now-reddening face, I looked up and smiled at her, rather
shakily. "I'm okay." I don't know why I even bothered. She knew almost instantly that
something was up, I could see it in the way her frown deepened.
But luckily, before Sakura could outwardly condemn me for lying, a distraction came in.
Although, I don't think it was the most welcome distraction for me right then.
The morning announcements had just finished, and Terada-sensei was just standing
up to begin class...when he walked in.
I actually gasped, out loud; it was purely a work of the stars that neither Sakura nor
Syaoran seemed to hear me. And I went rigid in my seat.
Eriol handed a note to Terada-sensei, and began talking to him about something, I
couldn't hear what. Or maybe I just WOULDN'T hear what; I was sure I would've been
able to hear him fine had I been able to block the sudden whirl of nonsensical thoughts
that began instantly swirling around in my head.
Here was another paradox. Just less than 3 minutes ago, I'd been aching to see Eriol
again, and now that he was less than 5 feet away, I wanted nothing more than to
run as far away as I could, even if I had to crash the windows of the classroom to
escape. And this definetly wasn't normal.
This wasn't at all what I'd expected to feel like when he came back. I'd at least thought
that the worst that could happen would be the feeling in me would intensify a little --
as much as I hated the feeling, I could live with that. But forget intensify -- the
emotions magnified by a thousandfold, causing my breath to come out in uneven little
gasps and my hands to tightly clench themselves in my lap. I was sure I was about
to break all the bones in my hand, the way they were fisted so tightly.
And on top of that...I was still feeling the little trill of fear, as if I was toying with
something way more dangerous than fire.
"Well, it's good to have you back, Hiiragizawa," Terada-sensei admonished. "Now if you
would please take your seat before class can begin...and before Yamazaki can
hyperventilate.." He cast a wry look at Yamazaki, who was almost bouncing up and
down in his seat with glee, overjoyed at having Eriol back so he would now have a
partner in crime again. Scary thought, and as if I didn't have enough of those to deal
with right now.
I forced myself to calm down as Eriol came and sat behind me; it wasn't easy. After
over a week of thinking about him, thinking about the way he had cast a spell over me,
and to have him sitting so close just now...
As history class began, I kept my head firmly glued to the book, for once actually
getting interested in the lesson. Anything to keep me from having to look around, to
have any reason to turn around and look at--
Terada-sensei's history speech ended, and the work period began. As I pulled a clean
sheet out of my binder, I suddenly froze -- Eriol's eraser. I had borrowed it from him
the day I had seen him last..THAT day..and now it was sitting in my binder; I'd never
gotten a chance to give it back to him.
I bit down on my lip. And now I had no excuse for not giving it back to him, since he
was right behind me, and the eraser was right here. I took a deep breath, before
suddenly coming to my senses and realizing how stupid I was being. I just had to turn
around and give him the eraser. It wasn't as if we could really do anything right in the
middle of history class.
Squeezing my eyes shut briefly, I seized the eraser and turned sharply around in my
seat before I could give myself another chance to hesitate. "Eriol-kun, here's your
eraser, I forgot to give it back to you..." I trailed off as his eyes rose from his worksheet
to me, with that same knowing smile.
"So you finally got your courage up, hmm?" he said softly, smoothly...and I suddenly
had an overwhelming urge to shiver. I was able to stop myself from doing that, but
with all the effort it took, I forgot to try and put some control over my blushing.
Therefore...
My face flamed, and I quickly looked down at his desk. "I'm sorry...I was just..I was
trying to decide whether to interrupt you or not," I lied horribly. "I thought to give it
back to you after class, but I was afraid I might forget."
He continued to smile, although I think it turned into a light smirk. He took the eraser
from my hand; this time, I couldn't stop a chill from running down my spine when his
skin came into contact with my own. But the chill...was it from exhiliration? ...Or fear?
"Thank you, Tomoyo-san," he said. "And by the way, I'm glad you remembered."
My cheeks flared again as I realized he wasn't talking about the eraser. I had called him
Eriol-kun like he'd told me to..and so easily, I hadn't even thought about it.
I quickly whirled around in my seat before anything else could happen; so much for
nothing happening in the middle of history class. I felt as if I'd gone on the monster of
all killer roller coasters...felt as if I'd just had a close encounter with a devil, with an
angel...and boy, I was messed up. I still couldn't get over this; I was beginning to feel
Eriol had cast a spell over me. I knew for a fact that this was not normal, and he
certainly seemed able to cast an enchantment.
What I felt for him, around him...I wasn't completely oblivous. I knew that one thing I
definetly wasn't around him was comfortable. The last 2 times I'd come into contact
with him, I always felt that I had just had a narrow escape...I instinctively knew that
he was dangerous, that he was wickedly un-innocent, that he definetly was anything
but normal. All these things should have made me run away screaming, which I usually
had a strange desire to do...but it was the irresistable enticing intoxication I always
felt that forced me to stay. No questions asked about which emotion was stronger.
But what WAS it about him? What was he...?
I suddenly remember what had caused me to want to shiver just moments earlier. The
fact that....he seemed to have read my mind. I had been sitting with my back to him
when I'd been undecided about handing him the eraser...yet he'd still known what I
was doing. Of course, I didn't put reading minds past him anymore. And then I
remembered just what it was he'd said to me that day over a week ago.
("Actually Tomoyo, I really would run away now.")
And I shivered yet again.
~*~*~
"Hey, what did you guys get on that Japanese test?" Chiharu asked the group in
general as we sat around the cherry blossom tree in the school yard at lunch. We were
all there..well, all minus one person. One certain person...
Syaoran refused to give his mark, so was naturally furious when Yamazaki told the rest
of us it was a 59 percent.
"I don't see what you're complaining about," Yamazaki told him. "You beat me, I got a
53."
"Well then, I kicked both your butts -- 67 percent here," Chiharu taunted with a smirk,
flashing her test.
"Don't inflate your ego too much, Chiharu-chan, I wouldn't want to make such a big
explosion when I pop it," Naoko told her friend with a grin. "75 percent."
"Hey, same here," exclaimed Rika. "I did much better than I thought I would; man, I
thought I would've failed."
"So did I," Sakura told her. "But I aced it, 85 percent. Okay, A-minus maybe, but still."
She turned to me, apparently noticing that I hadn't said anything yet, I was still picking
at my lunch, which was still basically intact; I hadn't eaten anything. "What about you,
Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked.
I glanced up at her with a mild look of confusion on my face, but Chiharu broke in,
thankfully.
"As if anyone here doesn't know what the answer to THAT will be," she giggled. "Really,
Sakura-chan, we're talking about Tomoyo-chan here."
Sakura dug into my backpack and snatched out my Japanese test. "She got a 99!" she
exclaimed. "Look, the only mistake she made was a little punctuation error."
I just smirked; I knew how to handle this. It was all in everyday stride. "That's right,
people," I said breezily. "You can all kneel before your queen now."
They all laughed; even Syaoran managed a snicker. "That's our angel Tomoyo-chan,"
said Sakura, giving me a one armed hug.
Angel..., I thought suddenly. I had always been considered an angel, always perfect,
to almost everyone. Really, it was only Sakura, Syaoran, and Li Meiling who had
noticed that I wasn't always so innocent. But I didn't mind. Of course, nobody would
think of blaming the good girl.
But if I was an angel, would I have fallen for Eriol...?
Speaking of which..
"Where's Eriol?" I had to ask, trying to seem as casual as possible. With him involved,
it wasn't so easy..
"He had to talk to Terada-sensei," Yamazaki explained. "Probably because he's missed
so many classes. Shame, this would have been a perfect opportunity for him to help me
explain about life in ancient Antarctica..."
Chiharu held up her chopstick like a dagger. "If you even think of starting, Takashi-kun,"
she threatened.
Through this all, Sakura had been watching me with the most scrutinizing look I'd ever
seen on her face, and she finally spoke up with what I knew she was going to say.
"So Tomoyo-chan, when are you planning on telling us what's going on between you
and Eriol-kun?" she asked teasingly.
Okay, I had to play this completely in control... "I don't know what you're talking about,
Sakura-chan."
Syaoran and the others, by this time, were now putting their full attention on us;
Syaoran was staring rather hard -- I guess he just didn't like the idea of me and Eriol
together. Well, it was nice to know he cared anyway.
"Yeah, Daidouji-san," he stated, still watching me searchingly. "Sakura and I heard
your conversation with him this morning--"
"Oh! Oh!" Chiharu suddenly squealed in excitement, also staring at me. "I was wondering
why you were blushing this morning."
"And he called you by your first name, too, and vice versa," Sakura said with a smile,
watching me. I knew she was really enjoying this; for some reason, I felt a flash of
annoyance.
"Uh oh, does our dear Tomoyo-chan have a crush on Hiiragizawa-kun?" Rika asked,
very straightforward she was being.
I scowled, turning to Sakura. "Hey, you call him by his first name too," I countered with
a smirk, watching as the tables turned. "Come to think of it, doesn't he do that too?"
Sakura shrugged, but I didn't hear her excuse; maybe I shouldn't have said that, I
thought, watching Syaoran glare at the ground as if he didn't plan to leave that spot
until he'd mentally bored a hole straight through to the core of the earth.
Mercifully, the subject had now switched to a new vampire book that Naoko was now
reading. Something about a regular person falling deep in love with the vampire, and--
My eyes shot wide, as I realized what Naoko was talking about. It was too much like
my situation with Eriol...I suddenly felt that wild, inexplicable fear that I usually felt
whenever I thought of Eriol, whenever he was near me...that sense of warning that
would tell me that I should turn back now...
Then I blinked, realizing once again how dumb I was being. Eriol wasn't a vampire. Great,
next I would be expecting him to drink blood or something. Although, he sure did have
the captivating characteristics of a vampire...
I couldn't stay there anymore. Quickly jumping to my feet, I explained, "I'm sorry you
guys, I have to go now. The music teacher said I should meet her for something extra
to practice."
Sakura looked upset. "But today is only a half day, Tomoyo-chan, it ends after lunch,"
she complained. "We'll have to see you tomorrow."
"Sorry," I apologized again. "I'll call you tonight, okay? See you guys."
Thankfully, I escaped without further questions asked. Or maybe I had just run off to
fast to give anybody a chance to ask questions. For sure, they couldn't have bought
my music teacher story.
I decided to leave school then, it was only a few minutes earlier. I don't know why I
suddenly decided on it, I had never cut school in my life. But this didn't exactly count
as cutting school, did it? I paused undecidedly under the tree that was closest to the
school's boundary.
But then, all thoughts of school, and whatever I was going to do, fled from my mind
like deer fleeing a forest fire. They didn't even flee; more like got deleted, they
disintegrated so fast. All because of one person. I felt him before he spoke.
"Well, seems she isn't so innocent after all," Eriol said, from a branch in the tree. A
branch pretty high up, I noticed as my head snapped up to look at him. I blinked,
staring straight at him. Doing everything I could to avoid actually looking directly into
his eyes; what a dangerous place to look.
"How did you get all the way up there?" I asked, or croaked, more likely.
Eriol jumped down from the tree -- straight down from the high branch he'd been on,
and landed perfectly. I swear, I would have been convinced right then and there that
he was definetly something else, if I hadn't seen Syaoran perform the same feat so
many times.
"I'm a good climber," he said evenly.
The school bell rang, signalling the end of the day. Eriol glanced up toward the school,
and then at me, the I-know-something-you-don't-know smile on his face again.
"Well, you didn't skip school, at least," he said.
I felt the sense of intoxication again, mingled with the fear, feeling the indecision as well.
He suddenly smirked at me. "Are you going to scream this time, Tomoyo-san?" he
asked, softly taunting me. It sounded incredibly sarcastic..and at the same time..that
was ALWAYS the way it was with him, always sparking 2 different emotions from me.
I really wondered then if he ever did this with any of the other girls that chased him.
Realizing I hadn't replied to his question, I coloured up and looked at the grass. "No.."
I murmured. He chuckled softly and stepped closer to me. "Maybe you should," he said
quietly.
This time, I definetly heard the warning clearly, and looked up at him quickly. He was
right; any other sane person would have been screaming at the top of their lungs by
now too...there was certainly something unnatural about him. Maybe I should be
screaming too.
But I didn't scream. No, instead, I just replied to him, glancing away from him as I leaned
back against the tree. "Why?" I asked simply. "Do you want me to scream?"
He blinked. I had surprised him; finally, score one for me.
He smiled again, stepping very close to me and placing a flower in my hair. A plum
blossom. "You're an angel, Tomoyo-san," he said lightly, smoothly.
I felt the shudder go through me, at almost the same instant the irresistable flow
passed through...and I knew that it was dangerous to be here alone with him. What
passed through me as his fingers caressed my hair...it was BAD..but it was good too.
Besides that, he had just pulled the flower out of nowhere. I hadn't seen a plum blossom
around here in ages.
I chanced a very daring glance into his eyes; big mistake. Whatever power I knew he
had, I was trapped in it. Once again, that warning in me was screaming at me to get
away now, to never see this boy again...the moment he had come to Tomoeda, some-
thing dark had entered the town.
But all this was registering from seemingly very far away. And maybe, I just wanted it
to.
"But you're not, are you?" I whispered, posed as more of a statement than a question.
I pressed my back against the tree as if hoping to sink into it. A fruitless attempt. I was
already trapped in place by what I saw in his eyes...the same way I had been trapped
over a week ago. Except this time, there was nothing to distract him and motivate him
to pull away. And I was too weak to do it myself. "You're bad, aren't you? You've got
special powers, too."
The slow smirk crossed his face. "I'm pleased you noticed. But what made you think so?"
"A lot of things," I murmured, my gaze still locked with his evening sapphire one.
A faint laugh came from him. "And are you a very innocent angel, Tomoyo-san?"
It was a rhetorical question, and I shook my head; thankfully, he had somehow toned
down the power of his eyes, and I was able to look down, my breath once again coming
out in ragged little gasps.
He smiled again, in an almost normal way, as he reset the flower in my head. "No, but
you are still an angel," he said softly. Then, whispering as he leaned even closer, "It's
not a bad thing."
This time, I met him squarely in the eye, not caring what it would do to me; I really
wanted to know. "You intrigue me, Eriol-kun. Should I be afraid?"
Eriol paused, then nodded slowly. "Yes, Tomoyo. You should be very, very afraid."
~*~*~
"I can't handle this. I just can't," I muttered, pacing around my spacious bedroom that
night, strangely keeping myself away from the dark corners. Strange because I had
never been afraid of the dark, not even when I was a child. But after Eriol, I think I
could learn to be afraid of almost anything.
Yet I was still attached to him like a magnet to steel...
Eriol was DANGEROUS, in the serious tense of the word. Way more so than any of the
other girls at school knew; they thought that Eriol was simply a rebel, though how they
figured that was beyond me. He almost always got straight A's, and got along well with
the teachers... but it was his karma that gave off what he was. Although I still couldn't
read it!
This was serious, and painful. At the same time, I was pleased that I was the only girl
who knew just how dangerous he was. And nothing did anything to decrease my
attraction to him...
"I can't control this," I mumbled out loud to the bedroom.
There was a quick knock on the door, and then Takao-san, one of my bodyguards,
poked her head in, giving me a strange look. "Are you alright, Tomoyo-sama?" she asked
in concern.
I quickly turned to face her, putting a happily neutral expression on my face. "Just fine,
Takao-san," I told her cheerfully.
She looked as if she didn't believe me, but apparently put the matter aside. "Well, there's
a phone call for you downstairs, it's your friend."
Sakura, I knew instantly, jumping slightly. I had almost forgotten that I'd promised to
call her tonight. Or more likely, completely forgotten.
Quickly taking the stairs 2 at a time, I dashed into the living room, which was luckily
empty, and picked up the extension in there. "I've got it!" I shouted, waiting for the
click to ensure that Sakura and I had complete privacy.
"How're you doing, Tomoyo-chan?" my best friend asked brightly from the other side
of the line.
"I'm okay, Sakura-chan. I'm so sorry, I promised to call you tonight--"
"It's alright," Sakura laughed it off. "And really, I didn't exactly call you for simple affairs.
There's you-know-what going down at King Penguin Park."
I gasped, finally getting my mind off of Hiiragizawa Eriol for the first time in a while. You-
know-what meant a dark force. Another chance for Sakura to convert a Clow Card. I
mentally raked through the new costumes I had made for Sakura. "I'll meet you there
in 10," I said quickly, adding with a laugh, "You're gonna be the Princess of the Night
tonight, Sakura-chan."
~
"And you're looking fab, Sakura-chan," I said enthusiastically, circling the auburn-gold-
haired girl as I recorded her from all angles.
Sakura looked down at her outfit with a scowl: a long-sleeved midnight dark billowy top
decorated with tiny silk black ribbons and stopped just above her midriff, and tight dark
shorts, which even had a holster where she could place her little wand. In her hair I
had placed a dark tiara between her pigtails.
"Tomoyo-chan, I look like that vampire from Naoko-chan's book," she complained. I just
giggled. "Hence the theme 'Princess of the Night', Sakura-chan," I pointed out, watching
her through the lens of my camera. She really was cute...and I cared about her a lot..
but..
I found myself wondering just where my real feelings for Sakura had gone. Then I ended
up at the only conclusion: they had disintegrated into nothing the instant that Eriol had
looked at me in THAT way. Scary enough...
I shook the thought away firmly, as a voice came from behind me. "You know, you 2 are
really getting ridiculous."
Syaoran came down from a tree and stepped out of the shadow, eyeing Sakura's
costume in quiet amusement. Sakura glared at him. "Hey, it's not like I put her up to this,
you know," she retorted.
I crossed my arms and turned my head away haughtily. "Hmph! Just like a guy, no
fashion sense at all," I said airily, brushing aside their rude comments.
Sakura rolled her eyes to the moon above. "You know, maybe we should argue about
this later, and get on with it. If I'm out too late, Touya-kun'll know for sure that some-
thing is up, and Kero-chan'll get worried."
"I suppose he wasn't worried enough to actually come along like he's supposed to?"
Syaoran muttered. "Stupid lazy--"
"Don't start that again, Syaoran-kun."
I stopped listening to their banter as I tagged along behind them, lost in my thoughts.
I frowned as I felt a breeze pass by -- there was something in the wind. By now, I'd
had enough experience to know that it was the dark force. But what, I began to wonder,
WAS the dark force? Who was causing it? They were bad, I knew that, and they were
hurting my best friend Sakura to boot. If I ever found out who it was...
"Tomoyo-chan?"
I looked up, realizing I had stopped, and as a result, Sakura and Syaoran had stopped
too, watching me in curious inquisitation.
"Daidouji-san, are you alright?" Syaoran demanded.
Sakura glared at him. "Of course she's not alright, she's fallen too hard for Hiiragizawa-
kun," she told him.
I gasped, staring at both of them. "What are you talking about?!"
Sakura turned her emerald eyes on me. "We saw you talking to him after school today,
Tomoyo-chan," she said in a softer voice. "I think it was pretty obvious--"
"Sakura, I don't know what you think you're getting at," Syaoran cut her off, glaring at
her, and then at me. "You were scared of him, that's all I saw. I don't know what she
thinks she saw."
My face burned up as I quickly looked down; they had exposed both of my major feelings
in all this. And it annoyed me greatly, for some reason. I had never been annoyed at
them in my whole life -- at least, never at Sakura. I had only been irritated with Syaoran
last year, when he'd been making fun of my best friend.
"You guys...I.."
"Tomoyo-chan, you know you can tell us anything that's going on," Sakura persisted
softly. "Even though I think Syaoran-kun is going slightly off the deep end about this,
he's right, you DID look a little afraid...did something bad happen? Is something wrong?"
"Did he do anything to you?" Syaoran demanded bluntly. Sakura gasped next to him.
"Syaoran-kun! Eriol-kun would never--"
The question echoed in my mind. Yes, he had done
something to me, I said in my mind. But I could never tell them what.
Syaoran never did trust him much...
Taking a deep breath, I met both their gazes squarely, forcing a neutral expression. "No.
He didn't do anything at all to me. It was not a big deal, he was just asking for some
of the work he missed when he was absent."
The answer seemed to satisfy Sakura; she always believed that I would never look her
in the eye and lie to her. I had always believed so, too...but I wasn't EXACTLY lying,
was I?
Syaoran, on the other hand, wasn't at all convinced, judging from the way he continued
to stare hard at me.
"Uh, you guys...you DO realize that this dark force is still running free, right?" I pointed
out to them, attempting to draw Syaoran's attention from me.
Sakura gasped. "That's right! Come on, it's around the main section of the playground,
by Emperor Penguin." She took off, and Syaoran quickly went after her. I hesitated for
a moment, then followed them; weird, for some reason, I just suddenly felt as if I didn't
belong there anymore.
As if I was the enemy...
Now THAT's crazy, I scolded myself. Sakura and I had been friends since the second
grade, I would never betray her. Never...
Staying in the bushes, I videotaped as Sakura and Syaoran took on the dark matter;
something was killing the flowers in the gardens near the Emperor Penguin slide. It
was something lethal; Sakura had to convert the Jump card to get out of the way,
the Shot card to drive away the force, and the Flower card to repair the damage done.
Another typical evening. I continued to videotape as she passed out in Syaoran's arms;
wow, this evening is just one constant surprise after another, I thought sarcastically,
finally flipping off the camcorder and wandering away to leave the 2 to themselves for
a while.
How right I was...and I was about to realize just how much so. I guess I should have
known all along..
I don't know what I was looking for, walking around the woods. Maybe I was just
moving aimlessly, just to stay away from Sakura and Syaoran for a little while. Maybe
I was subconsciously searching for the person who was causing all this trouble for
my 2 best friends...if that was the case, at least I wasn't disappointed in my mission.
Though I would have given anything to be.
I was just about to head off back to the others; it had been half an hour already, surely
that must have been enough time for them. I don't know why I stayed away so long;
Sakura would probably be worried.
Then I saw a glow through the trees...far away from where Sakura and Syaoran had
been, so I knew it couldn't be them..but too close to their location to not have heard
anything that had gone on. Of course, anyone who would be out here in the middle of
the night was definetly...
I stifled a gasp; it was THEM. I knew this instinctively, without even clearly seeing them.
It was the ones who were causing all this to happen. I felt a flash of fury; I actually
considered confronting them right there and then.
But of course, that wasn't necessary.
I think I literally froze, both inside and out, my body actually running cold, as I heard
the voice. "Ruby Moon, Spinel Sun, go on home, alright? I'll catch up with you later."
I didn't know who it was he was talking to, but I knew that voice anywhere. I had heard
it so many times, in my dreams at night, in my thoughts through the day..in reality too.
"Eriol.." I whispered, my eyes going huge in disbelief as shock coursed a lightning path
through me.
Of course, I should have realized. The danger I had always constantly felt around him,
the power I had noticed in him...power enough to challenge my best friend, to cause
all this to happen, to her..and yet I still couldn't believe it. Didn't WANT to believe it.
("Should I be afraid?"
"Yes. You should be very, very afraid.")
He wasn't just wicked..he was--
And then he spoke next, both the words and the voice sending a shiver through me,
slightly violent. At least I had a legitimate reason to be this way.
"Tomoyo."
I gasped, taking a step back as he came into view, a smirk on his face. He didn't even
seem the least bit surprised to see me there.
"Fancy meeting you here," he said easily, as if only meeting me on the street. I said
nothing, backing up against a tree.
"So you saw. You know."
I hesitated, then realizing he would see right through me if I lied, nodded. "Yes."
He came close, and it was all I could do to keep a tremble from running through me.
I wanted to scream at him, to slap him, hit him, hurt him for actually having the nerve
to do this to my friend...
"How could you?" Although planned to come out as an accusing shout, it actually came
as a low demand. "You're her friend, she trusts you..you're probably the LAST person
she would ever suspect...you're not just bad. You're evil. What are you, anyway? A
magician, like them?"
He didn't seem all that affected by my angry outburst. He tilted his head to the side
a little, still watching me very closely. "Yes," he finally replied after a while. "I am a
magician...much more powerful than they are, however. And yes..I am evil. I am very
bad." This was said with a smirk, a wicked one. He paused, keeping his eyes on me.
"Do you want to run away now, Tomoyo? Do you want to scream? I warned you before..
and I believe you warned yourself too."
Pressing myself further against the tree, shrinking away from him, I drew in a quick
breath--
--And then he reached out and caressed my cheek so softly and gently..and the scream
which had been tearing at my throat just died away then. His finger moved to my mouth,
silencing me.
"It's too late now," he said softly.
Yes, it was too late. If he was going to do something to me, it didn't matter...because
I was already his. Even knowing what he was now, knowing what he'd been doing, what
he was TRYING to do...the intrigue, the dizzying effects..resistance was futile. This
feeling was still the dominant one over my fear.
I drew my arms to my chest, still backing away from him as much as possible with my
back still pressed against the tree, and he looked amused. "I'm not going to hurt you,
Tomoyo," he told me.
And for some reason, I believed him. Yet it did nothing to reassure me. I looked into his
eyes, once again the dark cerulean being all that I could see. "What did you do to me?"
I heard myself ask from very far away.
He smiled casually. "I've done nothing to you."
"Yes you have," I argued. "You're making me feel this way...you singled me out from all
the other girls..what made me so special?" I think a small sob had just escaped from me.
Eriol shook his head. "Yes Tomoyo. You drew me more than any other girl at school had
ever done..more than any girl in my life has done. But the only one who has done
anything is you...I fell in love with you. Despite how opposite you and I were...and I'm
starting to think that the difference isn't so obvious. I don't know what it was, but you
are very special.."
He trailed off, and I slowly blinked as he paused, still in a daze. The knowing smirk came
back to his face, and I was sure I was about to pass out right then. But this couldn't
be natural; love wasn't supposed to be like this. I had always heard that love was
supposed to be warm and sweet...not constantly on the edge, and wildly dangerous,
while enjoying it like nothing else. He HAD to have done this...
He read my mind. "I meant what I said, Tomoyo, I've done nothing to you. I warned you,
and you warned yourself...but something still drew you to me. And my power had nothing
to do with it." He smiled. "What was that something?"
Why did he ask me that? I didn't know...did I?
But I hadn't cared about his hurting Sakura, hadn't cared about him being who he was...
he had intrigued me, but if he said that it wasn't his magic that had drawn me to him..
then...
I knew. I think I had known all along. Maybe this wasn't exactly the classic case of love,
but it was love all the same...because I just wanted to be with him, and I didn't even
care about anything else...
But Sakura is my best friend, argued that voice in me. It was now screaming shrilly at
me to get away from him, to run away from this place as fast as I could and not look
back once, before something terrible happened, before I completely lost my sanity...
I suddenly felt his hand on my arm, and suddenly, his voice was softly in my ear. "I
love you, Tomoyo." My eyes fluttered closed as I heard those words. Of everyone after
him, he had chosen me...I was special to him..
He continued after a while. "Do you care about me too?"
And terror just melted away like a warm, soothing liquid, and everything was just a
soothing daze as he kissed me.
"Yes Eriol," I whispered, stepping into the embrace of the devil's advocate, if there ever
was one. And I didn't care. "I want to be with you. Make me bad, Eriol."
What does it mean to you
For me it's something I just do
I want something
I need to feel the sickness in you
~Korn- Make Me Bad
~Fin
I don't know HOW I came up with this story really, maybe it was because I had just
done something bad myself, and just happened to be listening to Savage Garden.
Whatever it was, here it is, ppl, my very first Eriol + Tomoyo fic. So now you know that
any others I make won't be good, right? ^^* Don't worry, I might decide to spare you all
the trauma. Email me at starviewcom@hotmail.com (I LUV emails ^_^), to tell me what
you thought of this, okay? Cyaz!
P.S. Yes, I think this is gonna be the end of this story, no sequels. Sorry if I left everyone
hanging, but...=p I've got no other ideas