Chapter One:
He stood outside. Rain flowed onto his sleek velvet hat, and his cloak was on the verge of turning sopping wet. Nevertheless he stood and looked through a surprisingly clean window of an orphanage. He smiled when he saw a little girl attempt braiding another's hair. The hair, in the end, almost resembled a braid. From his standing point, Eriol could tell that there was one ropelike strand going down the older girl's back. His thoughts went back to earlier that night, when his mother had yelled at him, while his father stood meekly behind.
"Get out! I never want to se or hear from you again! You measly little brat, I know we're rich, but you still have a few responsibilities, don't you know? Good-for-nothing piece of crap, what good do you bring to this household? There are bills and taxes to pay! Do you know how much it costs to keep you alive? It would be better if you left! You don't deserve the love and attention your father and I give you!"
He winced at the memory, and further cringed when he remembered his shows of weakness and hurt. He was a very kind, hard-working boy, with perfect grades and many friends. What had he done to anger his parents, especially his mother, so? After his mother's yelling had ceased and she had retreated into her quarters with a loud slam of a door, he strode quickly strode over to the cabinet where his assets and banknotes were stored. These he took, and seizing a pen and a sheet of his personal stationary, he wrote a short, eight-word note.
'I truly loved you. Both of you. Farewell.'
Without a single backward glance at what had been his home for his whole life, seventeen year old Hiiragizawa Eriol gracefully stepped out of his grounds, carrying nothing but the clothes on his back, his life savings (which were nothing to sneeze at, mind you), and memories, both pleasant and not.
As he stepped up to the window of the orphanage, he could see everything. There were children everywhere, crawling, walking, running, and even one was sleeping on the lap of a dark-haired girl. At first, he overlooked this girl, focusing mainly on the children. The children looked bright, clean, and healthy. He sighed with relief. He adored children and would always enjoy playing with them. His attention flickered back to the girl. He could see nothing especially attractive about his girl, whose back was facing him. Taking a deep breath, he stood at the door and knocked.
"Tomoyo onee-chan, someone's knocking at the door!!! "
"Quick 'Moyo-chan! There's somebody who wants to come in!"
"Come on, nee-san, come on!!"
The children were eager to see who the surprise visitor was, and were squabbling over who would be the first to see.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Tomoyo sang out, "But y'all better behave yourselves! You don't want to scare our visitors away, now would you?"
Eriol heard the ruckus coming from inside and chuckled. He heard the voice of an older girl, and immediately frowned. It was too sweet, too superficial, too much like saccharine. No, he would not trust one with this type of a voice.
The door opened. A round, pale but flushed face peered out.
"Hello! This is the orphanage of Chiisanai County. If it would not trouble you too much, might you tell us why you would be here? Is there something we can-Oh- What am I doing, giving you the customary interrogation? And in the rain, too! Quick, Leila, would you please put a pot of tea on? Thank you! Tess, would you please clear off one of the couches? Thanks sweetheart! Oh, and Josh, could you run and get one of Ms. Grunchin's wool blankets? Arigato minna-san!"
At her beckoning, the three designated children hurried off and completed their tasks in a matter of seconds. Eriol's wet cloak and hat were taken off by some little child, and he was led into a warm room, the very room that he had been spying on, and a warm blanket was wrapped around his shoulders, while a black-haired girl was carefully pouring him a cup of tea. As he sat down on a comfortable couch, he could see her pucker her eyebrows in concentration, and she looked so comical that he chuckled. The girl looked up, shocked, and dropped the cup which was filled to the brim with boiling hot tea. She gasped, but the cup never reached the floor. The older girl, Tomoyo, her name seemed to be, gracefully ran over to her, and before the cup of steaming hot tea fell to the ground, she caught it, with remarkable speed and poise. Eriol was amazed; and he was further amazed when Tomoyo didn't cry out by the temperature of the cup, which had to be extremely hot.
"There, there, Leila, don't cry. It's fine! See, I caught the cup! There's no mess, nothing! You were pouring the tea very well, and I'm glad that you tried your best! Why, I believe that you pour tea even better than me! If I had been pouring the tea, I'm sure that I would have missed the cup entirely and poured the tea on the nice gentleman! That would be bad, and I'm sure that he would not have appreciated that!" Tomoyo finished with a giggle, and she hugged the once crying girl.
Leila looked up. "Do you really think that I'm good at pouring tea? My mother used to yell at me for my pouring skills." The troubled girl broke off with another sob, and Eriol could see the anguish her confession brought Tomoyo.
"Leila sweetheart, daijoubu. No one was harmed! Don't be sad! Tell you what, tonight, we'll all bake cookies! How's that?!"
The children cheered and cleared away, heading to the kitchen to assemble the ingredients needed for sugar cookies, their favorites.
Leila stayed with Tomoyo, until Tomoyo exclaimed, "Oh no! I was so busy with the medicine that I forgot the frosting and decorations for the cookies!" She groaned, "And I bet we're out of sugar."
Just as she had predicted, a boy who seemed to be in his teenage years burst through a door.
"Tomoyo nee-san, we're out of sugar."
"Yes, Ralph. Thanks for telling me. Would you mind taking Leila with you to the corner store to buy some sugar and decorations? I know it's raining outside, but if you wear ponchos and jackets, I'm sure you'll be alright!"
Ralph looked happy, as though he was pleased that Tomoyo had chosen him to run such an important errand.
He stood up and said to Leila, "Come on! We ought to get going before this rain gets any worse!" Taking her hand, he led her out the door to the coat room.
Eriol looked over at Tomoyo, who seemingly had stars in her eyes.
"Kawaii," she sighed. This was, after all, the first time Ralph had been so kind to a littler child.
Not wanting to ruin her little moment, Eriol kept quiet. Rather, he tried to keep quiet, but failed miserably. He sneezed. A big one. A really big one…okay. Tomoyo gasped.
"Oh, gomen-nasai! I forgot that you still haven't gotten your tea! Oh, are you warm enough? Are you hungry? Are you hurt?!"
She proceeded in pouring him a fresh cup of tea, but before she gave it to him, she blew on it.
"It's always a bit hot; I don't want you to burn your tongue!
Eriol sipped the tea and was glad that it was still quite hot; it was nice since he had been a bit chilled. He slowly sipped at it, and when he put it back down, he spoke for the first time.
"Thank you very much, Tomoyo-san. I expect that you are wondering who I am, what I am doing, and why I am here, correct?
"Yes, would you care to explain? If you would rather keep your information secret, I understand perfectly. It's no problem to me!"
Eriol smiled once again.
"I'm glad that you won't inquire and interrogate me. I don't really want to … reveal myself to the world, just yet. I'm glad you understand. I will, however, tell you that my name is Hiiragizawa Eriol."
She glanced over at the handsome, navy-haired teenager, and timidly asked,
"Hiiragizawa-san?"
"Please, Eriol is fine."
"Alright then, Eriol-san, how old are you? You look like you are around…oh, seventeen, right?"
"That's right. My birthday was a couple weeks ago. And you, Tomoyo-san are… seventeen years old as well, right?"
Tomoyo looked surprised.
"Actually, I'm fifteen, turning sixteen this year, but many people think that I look older than my age!" She gave what seemed to be a careless laugh, but to Eriol, it was much more. He himself had laughed that very laugh countless times. It was a laugh laced with pain.
"Tomoyo, it must be because you work yourself too hard! I cannot believe one so young as yourself would take care of all these children! By yourself, too!"
At this, Tomoyo looked slightly dimmer, but so slightly that Eriol would have missed it had he not been an expert at masking his own emotions.
There was what seemed to be an interminable silence. When she spoke again, her grayish bangs covered her eyes.
"Actually, a really sweet old dear runs this orphanage. However, she recently has caught a disease, incurable, and her death is inevitable. All the children and I love her to bits, but her time really seems to have come. Her name is Ms. Grunchin, and she knitted the blanket you are using right now. Currently, she is staying with her sister, a professionally trained nurse. She's asked us to just let her go, and I think that that'll be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do." Under her breath, almost subconsciously, Tomoyo muttered, "And trust me, I've done many, many arduous things in my life."
Eriol heard this and wondered what sort of difficulties a girl like her had gone through. How had she created an almost perfect mask to hide beneath? How could she hide beneath that mask with such ease? He himself found it hard to keep his barriers up; he found it hard to keep others from seeing his weaknesses.
Why, she hasn't said much about herself, has she? She probably doesn't want to share…
As he was thinking these thoughts, Tomoyo was apologizing.
"Gomen-nasai, Eriol-san; I haven't told anyone my story yet. Does it bother you that I won't tell you? I'm sorry if it does bother you, but…" She broke off with a mournful, glazed look.
"Of course it doesn't bother me!" He exclaimed. Then, seeing her surprised and then slightly miffed face, he quickly added, "Not that I don't care about your past, but I believe that everyone is free to tell what they want when they want. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand."
In his head, Eriol beat himself up. You sound like a stuttering fool. Ah, yes. You are exhausted. Not sleeping for two consecutive nights really drains one's energy.
Feeling more than a bit self-conscious, Eriol was about to ask if he could stay, but Tomoyo beat him to it.
"Eriol, you are nearly falling asleep. Judging by the circles under your eyes, you haven't slept for two days. If you want, you can stay here tonight." She glanced at the clock. It was about eight o'clock, and the children needed to be in bed by nine. "There are extra beds upstairs; we can discuss anything else you might need in the morning."
She led him upstairs, and once they stood outside of the room, Tomoyo fumbled with the doorknob.
Itai! sigh I really need some burn medicine for my hand. I hope Eriol doesn't notice it- he seems so observant…He could really help this orphanage!
Tomoyo finally opened the door, and of course, Eriol noticed how she favored her right hand. Deciding not to say anything about it, Eriol thanked her again and went straight to bed. His last thought before falling asleep was Tomoyo…seems so….psychic…I wonder if she is….
Tomoyo sniffed the air. There was a light, sugary smell. The cookies! She raced down to the kitchen to find about fifteen platters of cookies, each with at least three kids hanging onto them. There was flour everywhere, on the countertops, in the oven, and in their hair, but they all were smiling and happily decorating. Ming, one of the newer little girls, shyly stepped up to Tomoyo.
"Tomoyo nee-san, do you want a cookie? I made this one all by myself- it's the first cookie I ever made!" She beamed and held a rather lumpy looking cookie out.
Tomoyo looked at the cookie and said, "What a delicious looking cookie! Of course I'll eat it! And you used purple frosting for me! How did you know that purple is my favorite color!" With that, Tomoyo took a big bite out of the cookie. It was truly delicious.
"Thanks Ming sweetie! We can eat up all of these cookies tomorrow, 'kay? But be sure to save some for Mr. Eriol!"
"Okay!" the children chorused.
"Now, minna-san, can we all finish cleaning up all this flour stuff tonight before bedtime?"
"Hai!"
All of the children were eager to show off how good they were at cleaning up. They each wanted Tomoyo to praise their hard work, since she had been the first person in their lives to encourage them. You see, many of the children had been orphans as little children, or even as infants. Others had run away from home, for various reasons/ Tomoyo had only been there for half a year, but the children already loved her and wanted her to be in charge of the orphanage after Ms. Grunchin left.
Twenty minutes later, Tomoyo glanced around the kitchen. All of it, even their hair, had been carefully wiped and cleaned, and everything looked sparkling and new.
As she always did, Tomoyo gave a huge gasp, a bit exaggerated to show her genuine surprise.
"Oh my gosh! You all did such a wonderful job! Thank you!" She turned to all the children with a shining face. Her eyes flew to the clock. "Time for bed everybody! Wake up nice and early, and you can have a bath……… in the downstairs swimming pool!"
The children cheered and ran up the stairs. Tomoyo chuckled and stepped into the living room. She pulled her study books from the shelf that was stuffed with books and decided that she was going to tuck the children in after fifteen minutes of studying. Then, she would resume studying until midnight. She sighed, rubbing her tired eyes. She quickly stopped rubbing, remembering the concealer and foundation she always put on to hid the shadows under her eyes. Briskly walking to the couch, Tomoyo sat down and read from her history book; one she had purchased from a second-hand bookstore. Finding it hard to concentrate, Tomoyo decided to sketch a few dresses, as she loved to design clothes, especially children's clothes. Then, her thoughts drifted to the color coordination of the unused bedrooms.
The 45 children used ten bedrooms out of the twenty bedrooms the orphanage had. Originally, there had only been five bedrooms, but Tomoyo decided to fund the adding on of the new rooms. One bedroom's color theme was soft pastel colors. This was the room for the littlest children, children around two or three years old. The other rooms varied in decoration and themes, but Tomoyo had them all perfectly planned out. She thought about the plain white room that Eriol was staying in and decided to let him design it himself.
Fifteen minutes later, Tomoyo hopped up from the couch and went upstairs. Her first rounds were of the youngest children. More often than not, they would need someone to sing them to sleep or hold their hands. She walked through the other rooms and sang five more songs, read at least ten more stories, held twenty hands, and kissed forty-five foreheads or cheeks. After she sang her last note in the last room, Tomoyo closed the door and headed downstairs. She curled up on her favorite couch, made sure that there was enough light, and started to read her history book.
One hour later, at about ten thirty, Tomoyo took out her Algebra II textbook and worked her way through complex equations, getting stuck on many of the problems. She sighed, and after an hour and fifteen minutes of math, she heard someone coming down the stairs. She frowned. The children rarely ever came down. She always made sure that they all were completely content before they went to bed.
Closing her book, Tomoyo stood at the base of the steps, waiting for whoever it was to come down. To her surprise, she saw not a child, but Eriol!
"Oh, Eriol-san, gomen! Did I wake you up?"
"Iie, I am quite the insomniac, and I can't sleep for more than a two-three hour block." Eriol paused, seeing Tomoyo's worried face, "Don't worry! I'm fine! I feel a whole lot better already."
He took a good look around her person. He smirked.
"Doing your lessons at night, are you, Tomoyo-san?"
"Yes. I…left school when I came to be with the children." Tomoyo looked a bit uncomfortable for a fleeting second, but covered it up by saying, "Ne, Eriol-san, are you any good with Algebra II? You're seventeen, so I expect that you are ahead of me in math, and everything else."
Eriol looked amused. Before he left, he had an A+ in his math class- AP calculus. He chuckled.
"Tomoyo-san, I assure you. Math has always been one of my favorite subjects. I am a bit…advanced in the math levels."
Tomoyo's eyes seemed hopeful, yet hesitant. Eriol smiled gently at her.
"Would you like me to tutor you a bit, Tomoyo-san? It must be very difficult to learn by yourself, without anyone to teach you." His mild amusement was replaced with a puzzled look.
"How did you teach yourself how to do all of this math in the first place? Have you been in this orphanage for a long time?"
Eriol and Tomoyo both knew that by his asking this question, he was prodding into her past. Tomoyo thought about her answer for a second and slowly answered,
"No. Actually, I've been in this orphanage for about six months, not that long a time. Before my arrival at the orphanage, I, too, went to school and was in the honors geometry class as a freshman in high school. I passed that class, and ever since I came here, I've been teaching myself from this textbook."
She held up a textbook that looked quite worn.
"I bought it from a second-hand bookstore. They buy books from the local students who don't want to keep their old textbooks. Their prices are extremely low; this book cost a quarter of the original price, $60. I was able to buy this book with money I had…ano...saved up, you might say."
Tomoyo chewed her lip. It was true. She had saved up this money, but the money came from her designs for her mother's toy company. She gritted her teeth as memories of her former life flooded through her. Mother… Tomoyo mentally shook her head. It was time to move on.
Meanwhile, Eriol had listened, but was taking a better look around him. He saw advanced textbooks lying around. He had gone through most of them, all but the Advanced AP Literary textbook. Though he had an A+ in Language Arts before he left, he wasn't in the most advanced literary group. He saw a number of books with post-its sticking out of them, the books themselves in a battered condition, but the handwriting in them and on the post-its was very neat. He turned his attention back to Tomoyo.
"So, how about it? Could I stay here if I tutor you?" His eyes twinkled, knowing that even if he wouldn't tutor her, Tomoyo would still let him stay.
"Would you really tutor me? I am…quite a slow learner. You may have to put up with my slow abilities!" Tomoyo knew that this was not quite true. She caught on easily if she truly understood, and she had no doubt that Eriol-san could teach her anything.
Eriol only raised his eyebrow in a quizzical expression and waited for her consent.
"It's a deal, then, Hiiragizawa-sensei! You teach me, I feed, clothe, and shelter you! Ohohohoho, but you have to be nice to the children, you cannot swear in front of them, and if you are going to drink, do not come home drunk!" Tomoyo said all this with a glint in her eye.
"Oh yes, and Eriol-san?"
"Hai?"
"No…weird girlfriends, either!" She gave a chuckle.
"Don't worry about weird girlfriends. I haven't even had a "normal" girlfriend yet!"
Tomoyo smiled.
"Can we start the tutoring lessons tomorrow? It's nearing midnight…" She trailed off, not wanting it to seem like Eriol was keeping her up.
"Sure," he agreed, "we'll start tomorrow at, oh, probably 10:45 PM. Is that alright with you? We would have approximately an hour to go over a lesson and also have fifteen or so minutes if you have any questions. Sound fair?"
"Yes! Eriol-sensei, I will do my best!" Tomoyo nearly yawned, and quickly said, "If you want any cookies, help yourself! Unless they say 'DO NOT EAT!!' That would be bad, ne?" She gave another giggle, and this time, she was unable to stop a yawn.
Eriol grinned and asked impishly, "How many cookies can I have?"
Tomoyo pretended to think about it for a while.
"Hmm….Maybe…..five. Is that enough for you?"
Eriol gasped in mock horror. "Only five! I need twenty- at least!"
Tomoyo laughed and said, "Oh, alright, you big, selfish baby, have twenty. But don't be surprised if you're greeted with 45 angry children tomorrow!"
Eriol chuckled and said, "Oyasumi-nasai Tomoyo-san."
Tomoyo replied, "Oyasumi. Are you going back to sleep?"
"I don't know. Maybe, maybe not."
"Well, if you could help me with the school, I'd appreciate it! It starts at 10:00 AM. Sharp.
"Alright, I'll help!"
"Domo-arigato, Eriol-san." Tomoyo smiled at him and went up the stairs, glad to finally get some sleep.
Once he saw that Tomoyo was heading up the stairs, he went into the kitchen. He did not really want any cookies, but he wanted to think.
She runs her own school? Hn, that's quite impressive. I said that I'll help…demo, I've never taught anything before…Ah, well, we'll see what the future brings.
Howdy, minna-san!! Ohohohoho- y'all made it to the bottom How was it? Loved it? Hated it? Think it should die and rot in hell? Tell me what you think!!!!!!! Bows Arigato!
This is not really a comedy ficcy, but it should get more amusing in the next few chapters!
Hmmm….so what's up with Tomoyo? Why won't she reveal her past like Eriol has??? What secret is she hiding??? Hmmmm…….very, very interesting!!!
Onee-san older sister
Onee-chan older sister- more endearing than onee-san
'nee-san abbreviation of onee-san
Arigato thank you
Minna-san everyone
Daijoubu 'it's ok" or something along those lines...
Kawaii if you don't know by now, i'll bash your head in!
Gomen-nasai sorry (politely)
Kami-sama Gosh or God
San equivalent to a Ms. or Mr.
Itai ouch
Hai look at the definition for 'kawaii'
Oyasumi-nasai good night
Domo-arigato thank you very much, or something like that
Demo but
Ano um…literally