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SONG OF THE NIGHT
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"Sensei, I don't think this is working."
Her high-pitched voice echoed inside the music room. Unable to look at their teacher due to frustration, she fixed her gaze towards her reflection on the black sheen of piano. Her pale skin made the redness of her cheeks more prominent. Her hands were both in fists. Her breathing, shallow and ragged.
"Now, Tomoyo, calm down," said the seated teacher who noticed her rising rage and remained watching the raven-haired lady with utmost patience. "We need this production to be a hundred percent perfecto."
Tomoyo rolled her eyes and remained standing near the piano. She then took a glimpse of her phone and just as she was about to send a text message to her bodyguard, a flashing sign of low battery appeared then the screen became blank.
On the other hand, the music teacher sighed as she stretched her string of patience. With a bit of exhaustion in her voice, she said, "Eriol, can you make the notes a little bit higher so that they're levelled with Tomoyo's pitch?"
The cerulean-haired man who was stationed at the piano nodded with a gentle smile and seemingly oblivious of his partner's turmoil. Without batting his eyelashes, he started playing the keys of the piano. However, Tomoyo did not start singing; instead, she faced the piano player with dissatisfaction written all over her face. With her facial cue, Eriol abruptly stopped playing the piano and said to her, "that's your cue."
With a frown, she said to their music teacher, "sensei, I think Hiiragizawa is doing this on purpose. The key is too high."
The music teacher looked at Eriol and frowned as well. Warning the man, the teacher called his name. "Eriol."
"She asked for a higher key," was all that he was able to utter as he looked at Tomoyo, taunting her with his bright cerulean eyes. He pushed the bridge of his glasses with a serious note on his face.
"I chose the two of you because of your talents. You, Tomoyo, being the best singer and you, Eriol, as the best pianist," the teacher surrendered. "Tomorrow is a big day and our foreign visitors will be here for the Nadesico Festival. You two have to do something about your teamwork."
The frustrated teacher, who had given up, stood from her seat and packed her things. She walked out of the room, leaving the two stunned. When their coach had left the room, the two remained silent and in an attempt to cool off.
"I have no idea why you are angry towards me, Daidouji-san," Eriol started. His facial expression had already calmed down.
"And I have no idea why you keep on doing that," Tomoyo spited. "Making my voice off-key."
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Eriol shrugged off as he looked at his piano sheets, as if checking for errors. "I have been playing the original key of this piece. Maybe, you should stop doing your own rendition and stick with the original key."
"Then, might as well not perform and just play the original straight from the CD," Tomoyo retorted.
"This is pointless." Eriol stood from his seat and picked up his sheets and stuffed them in his bag on the floor. He slung his bag over his shoulder and finally said, "I'm going home."
The raven-haired woman simply rolled her eyes and ignored him. Her eyes remained on the song sheets they had been rehearsing for hours. She expected her classmate to have left the room premises but when she moved her eyes towards him, the man was simply standing in front of the door and yanking out the door knob.
"Please, I'm not asking you to leave," Tomoyo sarcastically said to him.
The cerulean-haired man faced him and shouted, "this door is stuck."
Tomoyo's amethyst eyes widened. She pulled herself out of her seat and quickly approached her classmate. Together, they tried yanking the door open but failed miserably as it remained shut.
"See?" Eriol said seriously and worriedly. "I'm not kidding."
Tomoyo let out a big sigh and proceeded to return to her seat. With her hand on her forehead, she murmured, "I can't be stuck here all night."
Eriol sat on the floor, his back on the door. "You have your bodyguards."
"I told them that I'll go home alone," she answered snappily as she stood up and opened the windows of the music room. Night breeze started to circulate around the room, giving a fresh air and a hint of coldness.
"You're not planning on jumping out of the window, aren't you?" Eriol smirked. "I must be really that repulsive."
Tomoyo rolled her eyes once again and then said, "I'm not dumb, Hiiragizawa. The room is four-level high. I'm not yet in the mood to kill myself. Probably, later, I might."
She sat on one of the chairs in the room and pulled out her dead phone. With her nimble hands, she tried switching on her mobile but the gadget is spot-on dead.
"Mine's dead as well," Eriol pulled out his blue mobile phone and showed it to the raven-haired woman. Their seats were meters away from each other.
"Oh come on," Tomoyo frustratingly murmured as she tried her phone once more.
He simply shrugged and then stood up. He sat on the piano chair and started pressing random keys, attempting to create some sort of a melody. Halfway, he stopped and then asked, "why are you even pissed off at me, Daidouji-san?"
"Your cocky attitude," the raven-haired woman bluntly answered as she watched him continue playing piano.
"What cocky?" He frowned as he pressed random piano keys, creating a bunch of chaotic sounds. Tomoyo frowned and said, "I don't have to explain myself to you."
"You're a ball of confusion to me, miss." His British accent wavered as he bantered, "there are times that you have this air of kindness around other people then suddenly you'll become unkind towards me."
"Kindness is a two-way thing," Tomoyo blatantly answered. He stopped playing unrecognizable music. "I don't think we have the same concept of kindness, Hiiragizawa."
"I'm kind," was the only thing he was able to answer, his eyes fixated on the piano keys.
"If your definition of kindness involves competing against me in every single way," Tomoyo blurted out as she recalled how often they pit against each other over grades, rankings, and extracurricular activities.
"I'm not competing against you," Eriol muttered calmly then looked at her with his honest cerulean eyes. "I don't have time for that."
"Wow, just wow." Tomoyo rolled her eyes as she pocketed her dead phone, then crossed her arms. "Too busy to compete with lowly people, Hiiragizawa?"
Eriol's eyes twitched a little.
"I don't find you a lowly person," Eriol remarked. He then, proceeded playing a familiar tune: Chopin's Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2. His playing was soothing and calming. "And I'm not competing against you."
"If you said so," she shrugged off.
"We're kinda stuck here, Daidouji-san," Eriol murmured again, his voice a little bit forceful. "Might as well practice for tomorrow."
"I'm feeling uneasy about our presentation," Tomoyo sighed as she looked outside the window.
"Maybe you should set aside your harboured competitive spirit and work with me," Eriol smirked.
"Competition involves two people, Hiiragizawa-kun," Tomoyo spited. "I'm not the only one to set aside this... I don't even know what this is."
She could not find the right word to define their relationship as the man clearly stated that he is not competing against her. She also noticed that the blue-haired man would often have a dismissive look. She had a slight realization: perhaps what Hiiragizawa said is true; he is not competing at all.
"Tension?"
"Right, tension!" Tomoyo exclaimed.
Eriol stopped playing the piano then simply sighed, a sign of surrendering to her words. He then held out his hand to the brunette then smiled warmly as he spoke, "truce?"
Tomoyo took his hand and shook it firmly. "Truce."
His soft hands against hers, Tomoyo could not help but feel the heat climb to her cheeks. She looked away, trying to divert her attention to nothing in particular.
Eriol cleared his throat as he pulled out his piano sheets from his bag. He then placed them on the sheet rack. Watching his partner stand, he smiled weakly and said, "let's start."
Tomoyo simply nodded and smiled back, her hair flown magnificently by the wind.
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The hooting of students and the monstrous sound of claps echoed loudly inside the auditorium. Several even made a standing ovation. However, neither of the two performers saw this as they were blinded by the lights. Grinning, they looked at each other.
They gave a bow and then walked off the stage. On their way out of the auditorium, they were flocked by some of their classmates.
"It was a lovely performance!" One of their classmates squealed in delight. "I know both of you are very good in music, but together, the two of you are unstoppable."
Tomoyo simply smiled and murmured her thanks before looking at her partner's direction. She caught him looking at her with a plain smile and earnest eyes. He was ignoring the congratulatory remarks of their classmates. He slightly opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by one of the classmates.
Another one remarked to Eriol, "two of the brightest students in our school! And talented! I wonder who will become the valedictorian of our school!"
He smiled at the speaker then shifted his gaze towards the raven-haired beauty. In his mannered voice, he simply said, "I am not competing against her."
"Daidouji-san," another female voice interfered, getting Tomoyo's attention. "Maybe you can teach us later. We'll be having a study group."
"Or we can hang out later," another male student asked, "we need another woman for our group blind date."
"Really, Daidouji-san," another student asked, "I really admire you! Your voice is angelic!"
"You really have to do good, Daidouji-san," another squealed, "and you two, Hiiragizawa-kun. Both of you are now pitting against each other for popularity!"
Bombarded by remarks, invitations, and questions, Tomoyo had difficulty answering each one of them. Suddenly, her hand was grabbed by another and she was quickly pulled away from the crowd.
Everything had happened so fast that the next thing she knew, she was running away from their classmates and was being dragged by Eriol Hiiragizawa. She looked back and saw her shocked classmates.
When they arrived at the backstage of the auditorium, both of them were heavily catching their breaths. Heavily breathing, he repeated his remark. "I am not competing against you."
In the middle of chasing her breath, Tomoyo said, "I don't get it, Hiiragizawa-kun."
"Us being pitted against each other by other people," he said as he looked straight into her amethyst eyes. "We just want some peace, don't you think?"
She simply frowned, unable to decipher the implicit message of the bespectacled man.
"I'm not competing against you," he repeated. "I'm competing against them for you."
She finally understood him as she realized that their rivalry started from being pitted against each other by other people. Her face softened and she finally declared, "working with you is much better than fighting you."
"Glad we agree on something," he smirked. With one deep breath, he held his hand. "Truce?"
She smiled weakly and held her hand as well. Firmly, she held his as their eyes meet: cerulean to amethyst, and vice versa. It was a moment where they saw each other eye to eye, not as rivals but as partners. They are better off as partners, that they agreed upon.
"But we still have to resolve this..." his voice drifted then whispered, "tension?"
"What tension?" Tomoyo frowned, their hands still together.
"This sexual tension," he coolly said. She jerked her hand, moved away from him, and yelled, "the truce is over, Eriol."
He simply smiled as he placed both hands in his pocket. "Eriol, huh. I like that, Tomoyo."
FIN
Author's Note: I posted this fanfic on the 2nd of March, 2004. Oh, dear Kami-sama, where do I begin? I have to do major corrections in terms of grammar and elaboration of the story. You know, the usual descriptive and editing stuff. Of course, I'm still retaining my disclaimers years ago. I do not own any of the CCS characters, especially our Eriol and Tomoyo. I am also removing the song included in this fan fiction. Hopefully, despite that, the fiction stands on its own. I also want to apologize if the two seemed to be OC. Truthfully speaking, as of now, I am having a hard time selling the pairing to myself. However, I still want to acknowledge the fact that I have the best regards for this pairing and its shippers because they encouraged me to write fan fictions before and how the ship improved my writing skills over years astonishes me.