The Truth Hurts, Doesn't It?
The soft click of heels around the corner was enough to send Eriol bolting to the nearest empty classroom, where he collapsed against the door, panting. Just in time too. A moment later, a melodious and horribly familiar voice called out, but faded away when there was no answer. An audible sigh of relief trailed after those footsteps down the corridor.
Hiiragizawa Eriol, reincarnation of Clow Reed, magician extraordinaire, was being pursued.
***
It all began as a harmless prank to get his oh-so-cute descendent to get in the mood of the winter holidays. Really, it was harmless, and practically foolproof. Or so he thought. At the winter recital, Li had had a small part, mostly revolving around a class poem explaining the meaning of winter. Not that Eriol minded, oh no, but poetry just needed a little… pizzazz. To lighten things up.
Sakura had, after her dance routine acting out the life of a snowflake, waited eagerly backstage to hear her Syaoran-kun's recitation. Her excitement had been contagious, and soon Tomoyo, Chiharu, Naoko, and Rika were all gathered together, radiating waves of anticipation. The boys were nowhere to be found, but the girls assumed that Li needed moral support.
Finally, the moment arrived. Li Syaoran strode on stage, flashed a dazzling smile at the audience, and professed his undying love for Sakura with such melting sincerity and passionate alacrity that the crowd was bowled over. So was Sakura, literally. As Tomoyo caught her fainting cousin, she glared around with a suspicious glint in her normally docile eyes. Something was afoot.
***
Hidden behind thick stage curtains, Eriol couldn't help but chuckle with satisfaction and pent up glee. Once again, he marveled over what a little glitter, ink, and magic could do when blended to the proper concentration. The grin vanished as he felt a penetrating gaze bore into the back of his head. Without bothering to find out who discovered his secret, Eriol fled.
Once Sakura awakened and was convinced that she had not been dreaming, Syaoran and Tomoyo pooled together their bits and pieces of the story. In the end, it was determined that Eriol had, once again, been the culprit of the strange occurrence, and that this time, he was very, very dead.
***
Eriol had taken in consideration to what Sakura's powers might achieve, which, he grudgingly admitted, may be more than he could defend against. Still, his almost always accurate mental arithmetic confirmed his belief that he would at least have time to run back to the mansion for reinforcements, if needed. He had not, however, counted on Tomoyo's wiliness, for this time she had joined forces with Sakura in her magical excursion. Li was in a dark corner, sulking.
***
The return of the heels jolted Eriol out of his reverie. As he came to the nasty realization that the heels were, indeed, coming toward his room, the boy searched frantically for a hiding place. In turned out the classroom was a storage room for biology equipment, so he ended up squashed between heavy tomes on dermatology, and jars of pickled, disembodied frogs. All was coated with a thick blanket of dust. Then the door opened.
***
Eriol had fervently hoped that it would just be Sakura on the other side of the door, as that would give him a slightly higher chance of survival through powers of persuasion. After all, she did receive the perfect love confession from her boyfriend, right?
Alas, eloquence would not prevail this time. A murderous looking Sakura entered, followed by… Daidouji. One look into her merciless eyes sent icy shivers racing up and down Eriol's spine. Honestly, the girl was a menace! But unless Sakura used her powers he would remain safe…
"Release! Light and Shadow!"
Oh no. Oh NO! A hidden portion of Eriol's mind wondered where Sakura had learned her cunning, and then reasoned that it was he himself who had insisted upon her full mastery of the cards' power. However, there was no time for self-berating as the room suddenly glowed with light, and the Shadow magnified the individual shadows of all objects. Any minute now…
"Hiiragizawa!"
He tried to convince himself this was all a dream. He even squinted as hard as he could to prevent seeing Daidouji Tomoyo charge at him with steam rising from her ears, one hand uselessly flinging the remains on Li's fairy headdress. But it was all to no avail. With a terrifying feline grace Tomoyo stalked across the room, grabbed Eriol by the collar, and, with more strength than Eriol had estimated in her slender arms, yanked him up to eye level.
"So, Hiiragizawa-kun, did you enjoy the performance?" Tomoyo inquired, her voice dripping with sarcasm drenched in fury. "More specifically, weren't you delighted at Li-kun's speech? I thought it was superb, and came here to personally seek out its writer and congratulate him. A job neatly done, Hiiragizawa." To punctuate her words, Eriol was shoved towards Sakura's feet, where he laid, quivering.
There was still hope, as long as Sakura relented. With much trepidation, Eriol raised his head, and saw…hurt. The bouncy, cheerful Mistress of the Cards looked absolutely crushed, as if something very dear had been lost. And, simmering underneath all of that sorrow was rage, building up to a massive explosion. Eriol, for everyone's safety, had to console her, or else… he shuddered at the thought.
"Sakura-chan, it's a plea-" he had barely begun, before Sakura tapped the Silent Card. So great had her powers grown that now the Cards were able to override his own magic with ease. Inwardly, Eriol seethed.
However, this was not to last. The river dammed in Sakura's eyes finally broke through, wrenching Eriol's heart a notch more. Her voice, broken with sobs, cried out, "Eriol-kun…*sob* how could you? Do you know, that was *hiccup* the very first time Syaoran-kun told me he loved me, and *whimper* you forced him to do it! It wasn't sweet or romantic, or even sincere! That was *sob* the FIRST time!"
Eriol cringed with every racking sob. He honestly hadn't meant for it to turn out this way, but even Clow couldn't control the future. If only-
He tried to watch dispassionately while Tomoyo comforted her friend, meeting her occasional glowers with as bland a face as he could manage without magic. Wait…without magic? Indeed, Eriol realized as he fervently scanned himself, there was only enough magic in his system for his survival. But that could only mean…
"Ahh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Eriol flung the leeching Switch off of his back, and glared at the two snickering girls. Momentarily forgetting his own positions, he demanded, "What have you done with my magic?"
He instantly regretted it. A malicious sneer disfigured Tomoyo's face, and Sakura's eyes were unfathomable as she replied, "Switch latched on when Tomoyo pushed you, and carried out my orders to only transfer magic. As Tomoyo had none of her own, and Switch doesn't hold the ability to kill, you should have just enough magic left to stay alive. Of course, it might not be sufficient for what is to come…"
Now Eriol was definitely scared. His mind prayed to the gods, goddesses, and any deity he could remember to preserve his immortal soul in its mortal form for time being. Outwardly, he put on a chivalrous face and pleaded, "But I only had tried to cheer Li-kun up, like you do, Sakura-chan! I'm really sorry that you're mad… can I have my magic back, please? Pretty please? With a double scoop of pudding on top for Cerberus?"
For a fraction of a second, he thought he saw Sakura softened, but then Tomoyo stepped forward and the world was once again against him. "Hiiragizawa," she spat with distaste, "Sakura-chan has no intention of accepting your pitiful apologies, in this life or the next. Now, you will be able to get a taste of your own magic!" The last phrase was spoken so triumphantly that it immediately quashed any hopes Eriol held of getting away without injury. Obviously, he would be lucky to escape with just his life.
***
Through the combined efforts of Sakura, Tomoyo, and the Cards, Eriol was securely fastened by Wood and bodily dragged (or floated) to the auditorium, where Chiharu and Yamazaki were finishing their stand-up comedian act. Since that concluded the ceremony, Sakura was obliged to rush on stage and hastily declare to the audience that they were in for a treat, because she had set up a special, never before seen performance, featuring the student-of-the-year Hiiragizawa Eriol. Most of the crowd was undecided, for although it was late, the name Hiiragizawa was well known for its accomplishments.
Then Eriol, with the same ease that Li had previously displayed, sauntered onstage and grinned, completely oblivious his outfit of a neon flashing bathing suit with lime blobs spelling, "I only fuck the finest, but you'll do," and, on his crotch piece, "Come and get a piece of THIS!" Apparently, he hadn't noticed the nifty little horns that had magically sprouted, smoking and ruining his previously perfect perm, and a matching forked tail. You'd think that despite all of that, he would have to realize that every few seconds flames would erupt near his feet, threatening to singe the tail. Somehow, Eriol managed to transform into the image a bathing suit wearing devil emerging from Hell. Completely bizarre. The crowd was boggled, as was Li, who finally crawled out to investigate the eerie silence. And throughout it all stood Eriol, beaming at the audience.
Tomoyo snickered at the ridiculous setting before her, then motioned for Sakura to retract Silence. Hiiragizawa was going to regret everything he's ever done to her!
If the initial appearance was peculiar, it was nothing compared to what was to come. Eriol, bowing, set of into a magnificently toned rendition of "Santa Clause is Coming to Town," complete with a complementary jig. You wouldn't have thought this to be attractive; nevertheless, apparently it was so. Girls swooned, Women screeched, and catcalls rang out from every corner of the room. Tomoyo looked upon all of this with disgust, and felt a hitch in her chest. Frowning, she changed tactics.
The rapt viewers gasped collectively as Eriol performed gymnastics worthy of the Olympic Gold. Back flips, cartwheels, everything seemed to have a way of flaunting Eriol's slim yet muscular body. Tomoyo gritted her teeth, and went on to Plan B.
Eriol's clear voice rang out, magnified, declaring he thought no one was equal to himself. He went on to describe exactly how horrible he thought Nakaru's culinary skills were, how much he loathed the class unit on medieval tapestry and thought nothing could be more boring than Sensei's ramblings, how he had secretly sprinkled sugar onto Spinel's breakfast which is why he was so hyperactive, and not because of the waning moon as he had told Nakaru…
Tomoyo grinned. The Truth Incantation. It was absolutely perfect. She had even put in the extra precaution of shielding Eriol's magical abilities so he wouldn't blabber about them as well. Feeling extremely content, she listened on.
…how it was he who so surreptitiously fastened a tripwire so that Li fell into Sakura's arms last Monday, how he spent hours each night plotting schemes to further Sakura and Li's relationship, how he only helped Yamazaki with his lies because he knew it was to impress Chiharu…
The audience, the class, and the teachers all listened with fascinated horror. Sure, it was marvelous gossip, but you'd always have an inkling of fear that the next statement would reveal some atrocious secret of yours…
…how he thought it was pathetic the way Meilin was so clingy, how disappointed he was that his 20 page report on the anthropomorphism of orangutans only received a 99.89%, how pretty Daidouji Tomoyo looks when she smiles, how Daidouji-san is so clever and beautiful and utterly shaggable…
Tomoyo blinked. And then blinked again. And then pinched herself hard on the arm, to prove that this was all a dream, than Hiiragizawa was NOT professing his love for her in front of two thousand people, three TV stations, and…Sakura. Unfortunately, the only thing that achieved was a small purple bruise on the underside of her arm, and proof that yes, she was indeed the subject of his affections. Damn. Why did it have to be the Truth Incantation? With her mind in turmoil, the bottled up magic inside of her found escape and happily fled to its rightful master.
…how he loved to get lost in those sparkling amethyst orbs, how-
Eriol broke off, staring. The audience stared back, as if unanimously daring him to continue. Suddenly, his nerves were electrified by the sensation of a colossal magnitude of lost magic pouring in. Giving everyone a dazed smile, he exited to thundering applause.
***
Tomoyo was waiting for him backstage. Wordlessly, they watched each other. Finally, Eriol broke the gaze by striding forward, and kissing her full on the mouth.
The End……Or not.
Walking home from the performance…Eriol smiled, thinking about the astonishment of everyone as he and Tomoyo snogged, and the silky softness of her lips when they stopped protesting (which, actually, was right away). All had truly turned out better than expected.
That is, until-
"Master! HOW DARE YOU PUT SUGAR INTO MY OATMEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Eriol-sama! HOW DARE YOU NOT LIKE MY COOKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Smirking, the victim of this onslaught replied, "I am truly sorry for telling the truth, but it was the only was for her to believe me. Otherwise, it would have been obvious that I had used Sakura's magical residue to counter the Truth Incantation. Of course, everything I said was still technically true, just with the necessary tone. Would a three-day trip to the beach satisfy your misgivings?"
With that said, the magician bequeathed the world a dreamy smile and retired to bed.
His servants just gawped, incredulity evident upon both faces. Finally, it was Spinel who spoke up.
"What she doesn't know won't hurt her."
~Fin~
Disclaimer: Characters are property of Clamp. Plot is mine. Steal, and seal your fate. Muahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!