"For me?" the girl asked, disbelieving, as her father held out a delicate flower of scarlet, a rose. Times hadn't exactly been the very best for their family of four: Tomoyo (our heroine), her older sister, Kendappa, their father, and their aunt Souma.

Aunt Souma and Tomoyo didn't have a close-knit relationship, unfortunately. This was not to say that Tomoyo hadn't tried to bridge the gap, but, frankly, her aunt was too reserved to pique Tomoyo's interest, and she had gradually stopped the effort.

Her sister, however, wasn't half so delicate with the matter. Oh, she was a great orator; but only to people she liked (or had no choice but to like). In this case, Kendappa would turn her full attention on aunt Souma, flooding the bewildered woman with questions on the latest fashions of the day. Kendappa adored all things fashionable, and was well aware that her aunt had no clue of it.

Tomoyo was similar to her sister in that she enjoyed these hobbies to a degree, but unlike her elder sibling, her spectrum was wider; she could talk just to fill a quiet evening, but she also knew when to be silent (though she didn't always follow this instinct).

Their father had always been a tad eccentric, and so when he announced at dinner one night, after Tomoyo's nineteenth birthday, that they were no longer ridiculously wealthy (which had been a mistake - Kendappa nearly choked on her fish) she was bothered, but retained some hope.

Her sister stared.

Aunt Souma stared.

Tomoyo twirled a dark lock of hair around her index finger (a sign that she was deep in thought) and asked if she was still allowed to keep Ruu, her gray kitten.

Her father blinked.

Her sister stared.

Aunt Souma mentioned in a whisper how she didn't mind cats. Tomoyo began to feel a kinship to her at last. It really was a shame the silks and linen Kendappa was used to wearing didn't grow wild on trees.

Tomoyo only needed people to "annoy/playfully-tease-and-laugh-long-and-impudently-at" to make her happy. It was another of her hobbies, and the one she enjoyed most of all.

Now that they weren't ridiculously wealthy, they had to go live in the country, away from Daidouji mansion and the friends they once knew.

Kendappa groaned through much of the carriage ride to their new home, threatening to be sick if they didn't go back. Inside the carriage, it was dark enough that each occupant's face was unreadable. Tomoyo was glad for this. Her feelings were similar to her sister's; the only difference was that Tomoyo shut down in situations like this, rather than openly voicing her concern.

Aunt Souma warned anyone to try and wake her up and promptly dozed. It had been especially hard for her to leave the familiar, so she had stayed up half the night.

The girls' father sighed in his seat next to the driver up front.

Tomoyo wondered with momentary excitement if they would have dragons living next door.

After they had been settled into their new house for a few days, her father took her aside and began telling her where the rose had come from; he had been out in town the other day, gambling as usual; he lost most of their savings, and not wanting to go home right away, (especially to furious Kendappa) found some excuse to stay longer.

By the time he had decided to leave, a heavy rainstorm had come. Through the inclement weather he had tried to go home and took a wrong turn, which led him to a creepy castle with what looked like steel on the outside. This place had an even creepier, grungy man living in it that the father angered - not only had the hugnry father eaten this man's food, he had also stolen a rose from the man. As punishment, this man demanded-

At this point, however, Tomoyo had to interrupt for clarification.

"Was he really all grungy and scary?"

"Yes, Tomoyo, he was. Not very easy on the eyes, either."

"What a thrilling story! Go on!"

Her father's face was wracked with something she didn't understand as he continued. To anyone else, it would have been plain he felt guilty. "...he demanded something before I could leave."

"What was that?"

He only stared at her. She looked behind her to make sure there wasn't some gigantic present for grumpy people there. There wasn't.

She laughed, that lilting little laugh of hers.

"I give up. So, what did you promise?"

"Well..."

But a loud rapping on the front door just then, shaking the whole house, kept him from saying anything else. Tomoyo, suspecting nothing, almost sailed to the door. A "yes?" was all she had time to say before her father quickly shoved the door closed again on the dark visitor.

"Papa," she scolded, "don't be rude!"

He smacked his palm against his forehead. "I told him I had no daughters," she thought she heard him mumble. By this time, Aunt Souma and Kendappa had been attracted by all the commotion.

"Thought you said you didn't have one of these," came the visitor's muffled voice from behind the door...that wasn't completely shut, and had an enormous finger pointing at Tomoyo. She couldn't resist, since his hand was already there and all, to put her small hand in front of his huge one for size comparison. The hand instantly shot back behind the door, and was replaced by its owner's looming figure as he shoved the rest of the door out of the way.

If he hadn't been so loud, you would have heard other things, such as Kendappa and Aunt Souma's jaws dropping.

He strode in just like he owned the place, and Tomoyo, after getting a better look at his features, said (without any sarcasm) "Oh, you must be the grungy, scary man. We've just been talking about you."

His eye twitched slightly.

"It's alright," she continued, gingerly stepping in front of him and patting his arm. "you're not that ugly, so you shouldn't worry about it."

He forced himself to ignore her unintentional diversion - and her hinting that he might actually be ugly. The nerve!

"Is she always like this?" he asked bluntly, turning to the father.

Kendappa rolled her eyes and nodded excessively.

"Yes, yes I'm afraid she is," answered her father rather sheepishly. Then, in an attempt to further distract the man from his goal, he started, "Sir, she isn't worth your time - she can't cook to save her life-"

The man shrugged. "Better than oldie," he said, cocking his head in Kendappa's direction."I'll take the weird one."

And before she even knew what transaction had taken place, Tomoyo was slung over his shoulder like a sack and out the door before her bewildered family could protest.