Prologue:
Daidouji Tomoyo was a bright girl. She was everything you wanted in a friend. Sweet, kind, sensitive and down to earth. She had the face of an angel with dark eyes set in a creamy pale face and long purple-black hair. She always smiled, her eyes turning into crescent moons when they closed. And she had the softest voice imaginable, always ready to soothe away trouble.
Li Syaoran, however, saw through this. He saw through to her core. She was evil. Evil, damn it. The worst kind of evil, the kind that took the face of heavenly beauty. And only one other time had he seen the trick pulled, in the form of Hiiragizawa Eriol.
Tomoyo smiled at him once more, as if unaware of his discomfort. "Li-kun, no one else is aware, I assure you." She said soothingly, motioning to him. "You can come down from the desk now..."
Syaoran did not lower his hands, his fingers still positioned in the sign of the cross out before him. "Stay away, Daidouji-san. I'm warning you..." he slithered backward along the desktop a bit more, panic almost setting in when his back hit the chalkboard.
She continued to smile, holding her hands up before her. One hand was empty. The other held her video camera, the red light on. "I won't touch you-"
"And for heaven's sake, stop taping!" Syaoran ordered. "You are not going to catch this on tape!" He gestured with his head for her to put the equipment down on a discarded desk beside her.
"Stop...taping?" she echoed, as if the thought had never crossed her mind and the mere mention of it was more than she could bear. But at his determined gaze she lowered her eyes and then the camera, setting it aside.
"Turn...it...off." He said curtly, brown eyes narrowed in his usual glare.
One would have figured that after years and years of knowing Tomoyo and Kinomoto Sakura that Syaoran would have softened up the slightest bit. But after becoming acquainted with them, Sakura especially, it was safe to say that he had become even more serious. All the more determined to protect her to his dying breath.
Which was why he wasn't having it. Even when Tomoyo gave an almost inaudible strangled whimper and gingerly turned the video camera off. But it remained facing him, which continued to unnerve him.
"Ok?" Tomoyo asked cautiously. "You'll come down now?"
Syaoran maintained a composed expression. "That aspect was never discussed and I am quite comfortable right where I am, thank you." He answered her, knowing his handmade cross wouldn't continue to protect him at this rate.
Above Tomoyo's head, the clock read 4:38 pm across the room on the far wall. What was taking Sakura so long? Didn't she know he was defenseless against Daidouji-san?
The door to the classroom opened and a dark figure entered the room, the door closing behind his form as he paused in front of it.
Eriol.
"Lock the door." Tomoyo said quickly as Syaoran slithered back even further from the sight of Eriol.
A moment later her words registered, however, and he looked toward Eriol frantically. "Oi! Matte!" he shouted, just as the black-haired boy reached behind himself and triggered the lock. He stared at him, lips parting over clenched teeth, and then shifted his gaze back towards Tomoyo.
"Can we talk now?" Tomoyo asked, back to her original sweetness.
Syaoran stared at her desperately, afraid he would break. "What do you want?" he asked in a whisper, cringing as Eriol floated away from the door and circled Tomoyo, looking at the hand held camera on the desk with a strange, serene interest.
Tomoyo sighed and lifted herself onto another desk behind her, seating herself comfortably. In a moment of panic at being caught by Tomoyo, Syaoran had tossed just about everything her way, including desks, to stop her from catching him. He had failed, though, and now he was cornered like an animal against the chalkboard.
Beside Tomoyo, Eriol smiled at the video camera and then at Syaoran, looking for all he was worth like the Cheshire cat. He snapped his fingers, wordlessly, and as Syaoran stared at him in dread the boy's eyes slid shut and he tilted his head to smile sweetly.
"Li-kun," Tomoyo said, bringing his attention back to her. "We've decided it's time you told Sakura how you feel. Towards her." She said simply.
Syaoran looked back towards Eriol again, eyes widening. "We?" he stuttered, seeing identical smiles cross their faces. It was quite eerie.
Tomoyo was nodding, long legs swinging idly. "Hai." She stated. "It's long overdue and Eriol-kun and I are just sick of it. It's quite obvious how you feel. Demo, Sakura-chan..." she trailed off, looking towards the side as if searching for the proper words to explain her friend's oblivious personality. "can be dense, at times..."
Syaoran swallowed, grimacing. "We?" he asked again weakly, and he let his hands fall limply at his sides on the desk.
Eriol turned to look out the windows of the classroom at the setting sun, closing his eyes and allowing the copper light to bathe him. "Perhaps if you talked to us and told us your feelings, got them off your chest, you'd feel better?" he suggested absentmindedly.
Syaoran sent a look his way. "Like I'd tell you anything..." he muttered.
Eriol pulled something out of his pockets, small spools of thread, and merely looked at them for a moment.
Syaoran blanched. "All right, all right!" he cried frantically, waving his hands. "Yes, I like her! Yes, I accept her as Card Mistress!"
"Well, you don't really have a choice there..." Tomoyo slipped in innocently.
Syaoran made a small noise through his clenched teeth, eyebrows drawing in angrily. Then he lifted his hands to his face, throwing his head back. "Yes, I'm in love with her!" he shouted, and with that release he sagged against the chalkboard, groaning.
Tomoyo tilted her head at him with a gentle smile and turned towards Eriol just as he faced them again. Then she saw the spools of thread in his hands and her eyes brightened. "Oh, Eriol-kun! My thread!" she said happily, accepting them as he let them fall into her grasp. "Arigato gozaimasu!"
Syaoran blinked stupidly, from Tomoyo to Eriol and back again. And he groaned once more, louder this time. "Oh, whatever!" he said in defeat, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "Just leave me alone now."
Tomoyo looked at him, still cradling the spools of thread. "But we haven't worked out the plan." She said, wide-eyed.
Syaoran's eyes snapped back open. "Plan? What plan?" he demanded. And a moment later he waved off his own question. "No plan! Whatever happens between Sakura and myself will happen if it's meant to."
Tomoyo sagged, sweat dropping, but smiling sympathetically nonetheless. "It's taking Fate a long time to answer your plea, ne?" she asked.
"It'll happen." He said forcefully.
"Perhaps if I whip up a few monsters, throw them at her. I'll give you the place and time, borrow her cards with the excuse that I need a few errands done-" Eriol murmured thoughtfully.
"You used to use the Clow Cards to run errands?" Tomoyo asked in disbelief. "That's...animal cruelty!"
"No." Syaoran stated. "I don't want her to be hurt. I don't want to be the hero, not at the risk of her safety." And out of the corner of his eye he could see Tomoyo melting at his words. The starlight shimmer shone in her dark eyes. Syaoran threw a quick glance at her and then quickly shifted back towards Eriol.
"One monster?" Eriol asked and Syaoran was almost positive he detected a hint of pleading in the depths of the question. "One small one. A tiny one. Spinel Sun!"
"No." Syaoran said emphatically. "I'll win her my own way, by myself."
Tomoyo was sighing as they spoke, lights dancing in her eyes. But at his last sentence she snapped her head towards Eriol, as if she knew what was coming.
"A game then." Eriol suddenly said, turning on him. "A bet. A bet that I can win her before you do." And this time his smile was mischievous.
There was that evil again.
Now Tomoyo was looking the slightest bit worried. Her hands were clasped before her, the spools of thread peeking out between her fingers in splashes of color and she shifted her gaze from Eriol to Syaoran and back again.
"Nani?" Syaoran demanded, and he jumped of the desktop, brimming with anger.
"You heard me." Eriol said, not backing down but not changing the innocence in his expression. "What is there to lose, really? Except..." and he answered himself, faint as a breath of air, "her?"
Syaoran's deep brown eyes narrowed once more into slits. "I'm not doing this." He growled and his cheeks reddened with his anger. "I'm not playing your game."
"Then you automatically forfeit her. To me." Eriol shrugged. "This isn't a battle, my descendant. This is a game. With everything at sake."
Syaoran looked towards Tomoyo and she gazed back, the expression on her face that of someone who had somehow completely lost control of a harmless situation. "I'm not going to forfeit her." He said quietly, coldly, through clenched teeth. "I agree to your game." And he lifted his hand to his forehead, calling forth his sword. From his palm, light flickered wildly and formed the shape of a strong blade, shimmering powerfully. And then the glow faded and his weapon was in his hand.
He pointed it to the ground between himself and Eriol, lifting a hard glare towards his opponent.
Eriol looked at the sword patiently for a moment. Beside him his hand lifted, suddenly cradling something in his fist, and black light came to life in his palm. "Release."
A staff burst into being, shooting out of both sides of his clenched fist. He twirled it down, crossing it against Syaoran's sword. "So be it. I'll give you a head start." He said graciously. And he lifted his free hand, waving it toward the entrance.
The door was flung open and a slender, brown-haired girl stumbled in, staggering unsteadily. "Hoe!" she cried as she hit the floor.
"S...Sakura-" Syaoran uttered, looking at her fallen form wide-eyed. "Daijobu?"
"Hai..." she mumbled against the floor. Then she slowly rose to her knees. "Didn't you hear me knocking? The door was locked and I could hear you all in here but I couldn't get in." She rubbed her sore nose gingerly and finally seemed to focus on the scene before her. "Nan desu ka?" she asked.
Syaoran looked down, realizing he still held his sword but Eriol's staff had magically vanished. He frowned and then shook his head in confusion. "Wait. You heard us talking?" he asked, looking at her once more. "You heard what we were talking about?"
Sakura looked at him, green eyes the slightest bit wide. "No. All mumbling. As if something had been separating us."
Syaoran threw Eriol a quick glare.
"Couldn't afford to have her come in at the wrong time." Eriol answered his unasked question softly. "Nonetheless, I'll keep my distance for the time being. You have one day."
Sakura stared at Syaoran's sword as it began to shimmer. And with a blinding light it was gone once more, his empty hand now dangling at his side. She looked up at his face and worry entered her expression as he bowed his head, eyes closing momentarily.
Eriol gazed at him wordlessly, face blank, and beside him Tomoyo was looking every bit as apprehensive as Sakura.
And without saying anything more to him, Syaoran turned toward Sakura. "Ready to go? I'll walk you home."
Sakura stared at him as he came to stand before her. And even when he smiled at her faintly the worry didn't leave her face. But she nodded gingerly at him and cast a quick glance at Tomoyo and Eriol before saying, "Hai..."
Tomoyo watched them leave, hands still clasped before her. But as the door shut behind their departing forms she whirled to Eriol. "You didn't stick to the script."
Eriol looked at her patiently. "How could I, Daidouji-san? You had him cowering on a table. I had to get him to agree somehow. Challenging him was the only way." And he looked down at the table separating them, picking up the camera.
"I couldn't tape it. He didn't want me to." Tomoyo said sadly.
Eriol waved his hand over the dim light bulb indicating the power switch and a tiny mist of black color seemed to fall away, revealing a shining red light.
Tomoyo's eyes widened. "It was taping the whole time?" she asked excitedly.
Eriol stopped the camera and then pulled out the tape. "Blackmail." He said quietly. "Quite dangerous should it fall into the wrong hands."
And he smiled.
Daidouji Tomoyo was a bright girl. She was everything you wanted in a friend. Sweet, kind, sensitive and down to earth. She had the face of an angel with dark eyes set in a creamy pale face and long purple-black hair. She always smiled, her eyes turning into crescent moons when they closed. And she had the softest voice imaginable, always ready to soothe away trouble.
Li Syaoran, however, saw through this. He saw through to her core. She was evil. Evil, damn it. The worst kind of evil, the kind that took the face of heavenly beauty. And only one other time had he seen the trick pulled, in the form of Hiiragizawa Eriol.
Tomoyo smiled at him once more, as if unaware of his discomfort. "Li-kun, no one else is aware, I assure you." She said soothingly, motioning to him. "You can come down from the desk now..."
Syaoran did not lower his hands, his fingers still positioned in the sign of the cross out before him. "Stay away, Daidouji-san. I'm warning you..." he slithered backward along the desktop a bit more, panic almost setting in when his back hit the chalkboard.
She continued to smile, holding her hands up before her. One hand was empty. The other held her video camera, the red light on. "I won't touch you-"
"And for heaven's sake, stop taping!" Syaoran ordered. "You are not going to catch this on tape!" He gestured with his head for her to put the equipment down on a discarded desk beside her.
"Stop...taping?" she echoed, as if the thought had never crossed her mind and the mere mention of it was more than she could bear. But at his determined gaze she lowered her eyes and then the camera, setting it aside.
"Turn...it...off." He said curtly, brown eyes narrowed in his usual glare.
One would have figured that after years and years of knowing Tomoyo and Kinomoto Sakura that Syaoran would have softened up the slightest bit. But after becoming acquainted with them, Sakura especially, it was safe to say that he had become even more serious. All the more determined to protect her to his dying breath.
Which was why he wasn't having it. Even when Tomoyo gave an almost inaudible strangled whimper and gingerly turned the video camera off. But it remained facing him, which continued to unnerve him.
"Ok?" Tomoyo asked cautiously. "You'll come down now?"
Syaoran maintained a composed expression. "That aspect was never discussed and I am quite comfortable right where I am, thank you." He answered her, knowing his handmade cross wouldn't continue to protect him at this rate.
Above Tomoyo's head, the clock read 4:38 pm across the room on the far wall. What was taking Sakura so long? Didn't she know he was defenseless against Daidouji-san?
The door to the classroom opened and a dark figure entered the room, the door closing behind his form as he paused in front of it.
Eriol.
"Lock the door." Tomoyo said quickly as Syaoran slithered back even further from the sight of Eriol.
A moment later her words registered, however, and he looked toward Eriol frantically. "Oi! Matte!" he shouted, just as the black-haired boy reached behind himself and triggered the lock. He stared at him, lips parting over clenched teeth, and then shifted his gaze back towards Tomoyo.
"Can we talk now?" Tomoyo asked, back to her original sweetness.
Syaoran stared at her desperately, afraid he would break. "What do you want?" he asked in a whisper, cringing as Eriol floated away from the door and circled Tomoyo, looking at the hand held camera on the desk with a strange, serene interest.
Tomoyo sighed and lifted herself onto another desk behind her, seating herself comfortably. In a moment of panic at being caught by Tomoyo, Syaoran had tossed just about everything her way, including desks, to stop her from catching him. He had failed, though, and now he was cornered like an animal against the chalkboard.
Beside Tomoyo, Eriol smiled at the video camera and then at Syaoran, looking for all he was worth like the Cheshire cat. He snapped his fingers, wordlessly, and as Syaoran stared at him in dread the boy's eyes slid shut and he tilted his head to smile sweetly.
"Li-kun," Tomoyo said, bringing his attention back to her. "We've decided it's time you told Sakura how you feel. Towards her." She said simply.
Syaoran looked back towards Eriol again, eyes widening. "We?" he stuttered, seeing identical smiles cross their faces. It was quite eerie.
Tomoyo was nodding, long legs swinging idly. "Hai." She stated. "It's long overdue and Eriol-kun and I are just sick of it. It's quite obvious how you feel. Demo, Sakura-chan..." she trailed off, looking towards the side as if searching for the proper words to explain her friend's oblivious personality. "can be dense, at times..."
Syaoran swallowed, grimacing. "We?" he asked again weakly, and he let his hands fall limply at his sides on the desk.
Eriol turned to look out the windows of the classroom at the setting sun, closing his eyes and allowing the copper light to bathe him. "Perhaps if you talked to us and told us your feelings, got them off your chest, you'd feel better?" he suggested absentmindedly.
Syaoran sent a look his way. "Like I'd tell you anything..." he muttered.
Eriol pulled something out of his pockets, small spools of thread, and merely looked at them for a moment.
Syaoran blanched. "All right, all right!" he cried frantically, waving his hands. "Yes, I like her! Yes, I accept her as Card Mistress!"
"Well, you don't really have a choice there..." Tomoyo slipped in innocently.
Syaoran made a small noise through his clenched teeth, eyebrows drawing in angrily. Then he lifted his hands to his face, throwing his head back. "Yes, I'm in love with her!" he shouted, and with that release he sagged against the chalkboard, groaning.
Tomoyo tilted her head at him with a gentle smile and turned towards Eriol just as he faced them again. Then she saw the spools of thread in his hands and her eyes brightened. "Oh, Eriol-kun! My thread!" she said happily, accepting them as he let them fall into her grasp. "Arigato gozaimasu!"
Syaoran blinked stupidly, from Tomoyo to Eriol and back again. And he groaned once more, louder this time. "Oh, whatever!" he said in defeat, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "Just leave me alone now."
Tomoyo looked at him, still cradling the spools of thread. "But we haven't worked out the plan." She said, wide-eyed.
Syaoran's eyes snapped back open. "Plan? What plan?" he demanded. And a moment later he waved off his own question. "No plan! Whatever happens between Sakura and myself will happen if it's meant to."
Tomoyo sagged, sweat dropping, but smiling sympathetically nonetheless. "It's taking Fate a long time to answer your plea, ne?" she asked.
"It'll happen." He said forcefully.
"Perhaps if I whip up a few monsters, throw them at her. I'll give you the place and time, borrow her cards with the excuse that I need a few errands done-" Eriol murmured thoughtfully.
"You used to use the Clow Cards to run errands?" Tomoyo asked in disbelief. "That's...animal cruelty!"
"No." Syaoran stated. "I don't want her to be hurt. I don't want to be the hero, not at the risk of her safety." And out of the corner of his eye he could see Tomoyo melting at his words. The starlight shimmer shone in her dark eyes. Syaoran threw a quick glance at her and then quickly shifted back towards Eriol.
"One monster?" Eriol asked and Syaoran was almost positive he detected a hint of pleading in the depths of the question. "One small one. A tiny one. Spinel Sun!"
"No." Syaoran said emphatically. "I'll win her my own way, by myself."
Tomoyo was sighing as they spoke, lights dancing in her eyes. But at his last sentence she snapped her head towards Eriol, as if she knew what was coming.
"A game then." Eriol suddenly said, turning on him. "A bet. A bet that I can win her before you do." And this time his smile was mischievous.
There was that evil again.
Now Tomoyo was looking the slightest bit worried. Her hands were clasped before her, the spools of thread peeking out between her fingers in splashes of color and she shifted her gaze from Eriol to Syaoran and back again.
"Nani?" Syaoran demanded, and he jumped of the desktop, brimming with anger.
"You heard me." Eriol said, not backing down but not changing the innocence in his expression. "What is there to lose, really? Except..." and he answered himself, faint as a breath of air, "her?"
Syaoran's deep brown eyes narrowed once more into slits. "I'm not doing this." He growled and his cheeks reddened with his anger. "I'm not playing your game."
"Then you automatically forfeit her. To me." Eriol shrugged. "This isn't a battle, my descendant. This is a game. With everything at sake."
Syaoran looked towards Tomoyo and she gazed back, the expression on her face that of someone who had somehow completely lost control of a harmless situation. "I'm not going to forfeit her." He said quietly, coldly, through clenched teeth. "I agree to your game." And he lifted his hand to his forehead, calling forth his sword. From his palm, light flickered wildly and formed the shape of a strong blade, shimmering powerfully. And then the glow faded and his weapon was in his hand.
He pointed it to the ground between himself and Eriol, lifting a hard glare towards his opponent.
Eriol looked at the sword patiently for a moment. Beside him his hand lifted, suddenly cradling something in his fist, and black light came to life in his palm. "Release."
A staff burst into being, shooting out of both sides of his clenched fist. He twirled it down, crossing it against Syaoran's sword. "So be it. I'll give you a head start." He said graciously. And he lifted his free hand, waving it toward the entrance.
The door was flung open and a slender, brown-haired girl stumbled in, staggering unsteadily. "Hoe!" she cried as she hit the floor.
"S...Sakura-" Syaoran uttered, looking at her fallen form wide-eyed. "Daijobu?"
"Hai..." she mumbled against the floor. Then she slowly rose to her knees. "Didn't you hear me knocking? The door was locked and I could hear you all in here but I couldn't get in." She rubbed her sore nose gingerly and finally seemed to focus on the scene before her. "Nan desu ka?" she asked.
Syaoran looked down, realizing he still held his sword but Eriol's staff had magically vanished. He frowned and then shook his head in confusion. "Wait. You heard us talking?" he asked, looking at her once more. "You heard what we were talking about?"
Sakura looked at him, green eyes the slightest bit wide. "No. All mumbling. As if something had been separating us."
Syaoran threw Eriol a quick glare.
"Couldn't afford to have her come in at the wrong time." Eriol answered his unasked question softly. "Nonetheless, I'll keep my distance for the time being. You have one day."
Sakura stared at Syaoran's sword as it began to shimmer. And with a blinding light it was gone once more, his empty hand now dangling at his side. She looked up at his face and worry entered her expression as he bowed his head, eyes closing momentarily.
Eriol gazed at him wordlessly, face blank, and beside him Tomoyo was looking every bit as apprehensive as Sakura.
And without saying anything more to him, Syaoran turned toward Sakura. "Ready to go? I'll walk you home."
Sakura stared at him as he came to stand before her. And even when he smiled at her faintly the worry didn't leave her face. But she nodded gingerly at him and cast a quick glance at Tomoyo and Eriol before saying, "Hai..."
Tomoyo watched them leave, hands still clasped before her. But as the door shut behind their departing forms she whirled to Eriol. "You didn't stick to the script."
Eriol looked at her patiently. "How could I, Daidouji-san? You had him cowering on a table. I had to get him to agree somehow. Challenging him was the only way." And he looked down at the table separating them, picking up the camera.
"I couldn't tape it. He didn't want me to." Tomoyo said sadly.
Eriol waved his hand over the dim light bulb indicating the power switch and a tiny mist of black color seemed to fall away, revealing a shining red light.
Tomoyo's eyes widened. "It was taping the whole time?" she asked excitedly.
Eriol stopped the camera and then pulled out the tape. "Blackmail." He said quietly. "Quite dangerous should it fall into the wrong hands."
And he smiled.