Disclaimer: All characters belong to CLAMP/Kodansha and are used without permission or profit.

Dedication: We're ill, aren't we, Circe?

Frustration

Sonomi stared at him across the heated space between them, silently willing him to move. This torment had been going on for hours and she was beginning to lose her head, though she'd be damned if she was going to let him know that. He'd have to move sometime. She could wait. She tried her best to relax, to take her mind off how slow he was, to be patient. She wasn't going to say a word.

"Impatient, Sonomi-kun?" He met her eyes, a faintly knowing smile on his lips. "You're making that noise again."

"I'm fine and I'm not making any noises," she denied. He was the one who kept humming, and it was starting to get to her. What was there to think about, for crying out loud? All he had to do was move – anything, anywhere, it didn't matter any more.

"Hmm." Fujitaka glanced back down, then at her again. "You're fidgeting, too." At her glare, he smiled sweetly and returned his full attention to the matter at hand.

She continued to stare at him, at his tousled hair dark with sweat, as he bent over, completely focused. He was better at this than she'd imagined he would be, she admitted. Then again, the man spent days out in the middle of god only knew where, meticulously uncovering artifacts with tiny little paint brushes, photographing, logging, and recording everything about the find. She should have guessed he'd be just as thorough when it came to other matters as well. Which was fine in theory and frustrating as hell in practice. Didn't he realize that sometimes faster was better?

"Stop wiggling, Sonomi-kun. You're jostling me."

"What has that got to do with anything?" She asked in amazement, brushing away the hair clinging to her cheek with one bare shoulder.

"I'm trying to concentrate."

"On what? You haven't even twitched in ages. Could you be any slower?"

"Slow and steady wins the race, Sonomi-kun."

"Not in my job, it doesn't," she growled.

"You'd never wear that to work," he told her, that secretive smile playing across his face again.

"I own that place; I can go naked if I feel like it."

"I'm sure you could, and I'm sure the men you work with would appreciate it very much if you did, but don't you think you might catch cold?"

"I'm a grown woman capable of making my own decisions; I'll go naked in a snow storm if and when I feel like it. You're not my father, anyway."

"I should hope not. And I know what you are; you're not exactly leaving it up to the imagination."

"Shut up and do something." She felt her hands fist and consciously forced them open again. Calm. Not agitated. Calm.

"Don't rush me. Slow and steady, Sonomi-kun, slow and steady." His hand hovered indecisively, here, then there, then over there, but he didn't touch. He ignored her pointed look and impatient sighing. "When I'm ready. Why don't you think about what you want to do when it's your turn?"

"I already know what I'm going to do. I'm going to take you over so completely that I'll have you crawling."

"You're very confident, aren't you? We'll just have to see who's crawling when this is over."

"We both know what's going to happen. Just do it, already!"

"We don't know anything for sure; I've still got a few tricks you haven't seen."

"Then shut up and do it! I've been waiting all afternoon and I'm this close! Please, for the love of god, move!"

He smirked and she closed her mouth with a snap. That sneaky bastard had tricked her into saying that! She'd promised herself that she wasn't going to give in to him, but she'd done it and he'd barely had to try. He managed to steal all her patience by just getting close to her. There were a lot of people, men and women, who'd kill to have that same ability.

"Well, you're certainly wound up tight." His smirked changed to a warm smile. "I'm very good at that, aren't I?"

She blew out a long breath and told herself to relax. She ignored his amusement and concentrated on gathering her composure as she breathed in deeply. She focused on her senses, tuning him out as best she could. The scent of the room, the blistering heat, the sweat trailing down her neck, the silence of the house around them. She opened her eyes again and found him watching her, his hand once again hovering enticingly. God, she wanted to just shove his hand down herself.

"Are you ready?"

"I've been ready since I got…" His hand touched down, "Ooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

"I'm not finished yet," he told her smugly.

"That's what you think," she replied, just as smugly. "You have no idea what I'm capable of."

"Oh, yeah? Why don't you show me?"

"My pleasure," she purred. She stretched out and

"Mother!" Tomoyo shrieked.

jerked around to see Tomoyo standing in the doorway, Sakura right behind her.

"That's absolutely indecent!" She wailed, looking mortified. "You can't wear that out!"

"Daddy?" Sakura questioned, her gazing sweeping over Sonomi, past her father, and settling somewhere beyond them. "What are you doing?"

"He's losing, that's what," Sonomi told her, grinning. "And you're getting worse than Grandfather, Tomoyo. He only called this 'nearly indecent.' I think it's cute."

"Oh, certainly. Dressing up as one of the Atlanta Falcon's cheerleaders is scads better than wearing your high school uniform to the party," she replied scathingly. Tomoyo strode forward, intending to wrap her iridescent fairy's cloak around her mother, then paused. "Why is it so hot in here?"

"Because the air conditioner broke this morning and something in the oven is on fire," Sakura pointed out, still staring past her father. "Why didn't you set the timer, Daddy?"

"Oh my god!" Fujitaka bolted up and away from the table, dashing into the kitchen. "I completely forgot about the cookies!"

"Hey!" Sonomi moved her piece and darted after him. "I'll deal with this. You go back and look at the board and face your defeat. I'm about to crush you like the bug you are."

"No, I've got it. Careful! I don't want to burn you! Out! Out of my kitchen so I can take care of this mess."

"You're still going to finish this game." Sonomi stalked back out, sucking lightly on her hand where she'd touched the hot cookie sheet. "And this outfit doesn't have the same connotations as my school uniform does. I pointed that out to Grandfather and asked him what he'd think if he saw me in that, and he agreed that this was a little better."

"Not by much."

"I think it looks good on her," Fujitaka called, sending up a cloud of foul steam as he tried to cool the burnt cookies enough so he could throw them away. He shifted to look out at the girls while making sure the water didn't spatter onto his costume…or rather, on Clow's clothes. "She's got nice legs, why shouldn't she show them off?"

"Pervert," Sonomi muttered, flushing crimson.

"It certainly wouldn't hurt her if that outfit attracted some nice man and she started dating. She probably wouldn't be so irritable then."

The snapping of the leash on her temper was clearly audible in the small room. "That's it! You're a dead man!" Sonomi launched herself at him. He dodged, laughing, and ran for his back door.

"It's true! You need a man!"

"Like hell it is and like hell I do!" She chased him into the sunflowers.

"They are so weird." Sakura shook her head, making the stars dangling from her halo dance, and began setting up the next batch of cookies to go into the oven.

"They should just admit they're interested in each other and get it over with," Tomoyo agreed, studying the game board. "You're father is very good, isn't he?"

"Yeah. Oniichan says Mom used to beat him at it all the time, though."

"She did not!" Fujitaka shouted, racing past the window.

"She did, too!" Sonomi caroled in, two steps behind him.

"I'm glad Syaoran and I were never like that."

"I don't know," Tomoyo mused, turning on her camera and leaning out the window, "I think it's kind of cute. Or it would be if Mother was wearing more clothes."

"That's never what Clow-san said about Madoushi-san," Sakura commented. She merely shrugged at Tomoyo's somewhat incredulous expression. "Well, he didn't."

Author's Notes: Okay, let's be honest: How many of you didn't check the rating before you came in here? C'mon, who'd I fool? Who wondered if I was a sick-o? How many of you went "EW!" and jumped back out to look at the rating or genre? Of course, if you said "EW!" and just ran, I'll never know. *sigh*

My apologies to all the Fujitaka/Nadeshiko 'shippers ( :: cough Sakura cough:: ) out there. I didn't mean for that last part to creep in, but I have a hard time resisting a little Sonomi/Fujitaka moment. Or missing a chance for a Clow/Madoushi moment. Thank Circe that I didn't mention Nadeshiko until after you knew they were only playing a game.