Disclaimer: You know the drill (but in case you don't, I don't own CCS in any way at all. All belongs to the all mighty Clamp. And I got about half of the things in the pocketbook from an e-mail, so I DON'T own that part either. Don't sue me!)
A/N: Konnichi wa! This is just going to be a one-shot fluff fic just for enjoyment. I kinda rushed through this, so it might sound funny. It's mostly in Tomoyo's POW. I'm not trying to copy anyone's fic idea, so gomen nasai if it looks like yours! This just kinda popped into my head when I received an e-mail. So read, enjoy, and review. Arigatoo, ja.
Summary: Tomoyo purchases a booklet on love, seeking answers to her relationship with a certain blue-haired boy. But what happens when she's caught in the act?
Lovers of the Heart
By Cerulean Dreams
Sixteen-year-old Daidouji Tomoyo scanned the bookshelf of the bookstore. Hmm, which book should I get? she thought. Ah, this looks interesting.
Fingering a romance booklet that caught her attention, she took a look at the cover. It enticed her, how it seemed to be shouting her name and the name of a certain blue-haired boy from school. The cover was half lavender and half baby blue, blending where the colors met, with white flower petals streaming across it.
She opened it tentatively, a little afraid of what she might find inside. Though when she searched for the author's name, there was none but, 'you are the author of your own love life'. Then there was the table of contents:
Chapter one: How to act
Chapter two: A Strong Foundation
Chapter three: Statement of Love
Chapter four: Three Helpful Hints
Chapter five: Commandments
Chapter six: Sweet Pleasures
Chapter seven: Why Guys Like Girls
Captivated, she seated herself in one of the divans provided at the bookstore. In her mind, she began to read.
Chapter one: How to act.
Number 1: The guy must make the first move. (it's a classic) Be particularly sweet to the guy of your dreams. Treat him as you would with a friend, even if your heart is pounding a hole in your chest. Be sweet but don't be too obvious. (you don't want to look desperate) But if the guy doesn't make the first move after a long time, it's time for you to confront him. Just make sure he feels the same way, or at least is hinting it. Or just let him know how you're feeling.
Hmm, I think I've got that part down. I mean I'm nice to everyone, and I guess I do drop a few hints here and there with extra saccharinity for Hiiragizawa-kun. But how can I tell if he feels the same way? I mean we've known each other since fifth grade, and yet we still use such formalities. Plus, Hiiragizawa-kun seems to flirt with everyone. Well, I'll ponder on later. Next one.
Number 2: Be mildly aggressive; if you see him, greet him. Do NOT just sit in a corner stealing glances at him while praying that the cosmos will have mercy on you and send him to you to make the first move. Don't be too aggressive or too shy. Shyness will get you unnoticed, and being over assertive might get him to think you're too hands-on or that you're just plain crazy.
Number 3: Flirt playfully; don't get dirty. You don't want to scare a guy off. Besides, who will clean up your act? (and you don't want to look sluttish)
I definitely don't do dirty! Tomoyo thought. So I guess I got that covered too. And I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that I'm mildly aggressive; I don't hide in the dark or go around glomping people. (like Nakuru-san ^_^) Okay, next chapter.
Chapter two: A strong foundation.
Befriend him first to build a strong foundation. It's a safe way to go, and it'll ease the discomfort in awkward situations. Plus, you'll have something to talk about; you'll know more about him and his personality. This will help you on the dos and don'ts on the date. But don't push your friendship. Let it grow and progress as it does naturally.
On the other hand, you don't always have to start as friends. There is such a thing as 'love at first sight', so be on the watch for that too. Or, there's the 'hey look, he's hot! I've got to get him to notice me' thing. Here is a test to see if you and your friend are ready to take things to the next level.
Tomoyo skimmed the test and decided to skip it, moving on to chapter three.
Chapter three: Statement of love: meanings to a kiss1. Kiss on the hand…I adore you
2. Kiss on the cheek…I just want to be friends
3. Kiss on the neck…I want you
4. Kiss on the lips…I love you
5. Kiss on the ears…I am just playing
6. Kiss anywhere else…lets not get carried away
7. Look in your eyes…kiss me
8. Playing with your hair…I can't live without you
9. Hand on your waist… I love you too much to let you go
Hiiragizawa-kun once kissed my hand before. Aww, it only means he adores me…well, at least it's a start. I hope I get more than the kiss on the cheek; I want to be more than just friends. We've known each other since the fifth grade for heaven's sake! Certainly by now we should be able to move on to the next level, cross the line of friendship, and over to ardor and passion!
Glancing at her watch, she realized that it was sundown already, and she had to return home before the bodyguards began to freak out. Rushing to the cashier, Tomoyo paid for the booklet and left, walking briskly to the car. She had called a limo to pick her up, and it was there within minutes.
Upon reaching the house, or mansion rather, she flopped down on her bed, allowing her velvety soft hair to spill around the sheets, rivaling its softness. Tomoyo went through the first three chapters again, hoping to find more signs that she and Hiiragizawa Eriol would be the perfect couple.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
The next morning at school, Tomoyo was early, as usual. She sat on the windowsill of the music room, facing the school grounds, and reading the pocketbook she had just purchased the day before.
Chapter four: Three Helpful Hints1. Girls: If any guy gets fresh with you, slap him.
2. Guys: If any girl slaps you, her intentions are still good.
3. Guys and Girls: Close your eyes when kissing, it is rude to stare.
I'll do more than slap him if a guy tries to get fresh with me! she thought. Then suddenly, she remembered a sweet event. He gave me a goodnight kiss after dropping me off at home after the dance the other time…and he kissed my lips. She touched her lips like it had just happened. Did it mean that he loved me like what the other chapter said? Or was he just being polite? Or did we get caught up in the moment? Or…well, at least I closed my eyes, like the other chapter said. And one thing's for sure, it meant something to me. If only I knew what it meant to him.
Tomoyo was so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't even notice Eriol sneak into the room. "Ohayoo gozaimasu, Daidouji-san! What've you got there?" he greeted brightly, looking curiously at the pocketbook in her hand.
"Ahhh! Hiiragizawa-kun! You startled me!!" she cried in surprise.
"Gomen nasai, Daidouji-san. I didn't mean to scare you, but what were you reading that had to so entranced?"
"Huh? Oh nothing!" she said, quickly hiding the book behind her back. But of course Eriol had seen it already.
"C'mon, let me see." He reached over behind her, putting both of them in a compromising position.
"Iie, nandemonai," she lied.
"Aww, you can show me. We've been good friends for quite a while already, so let me see." He continued to reach for the booklet, while she wriggled away. "Don't make me tickle you!"
"No, you wouldn't!"
"Oh yes I would!" Poising his wiggling fingers, he began to tickle her mercilessly.
"Hiir—ahaha! Hiiragizawa haha -kun hahaha! Stop! Stop! Haha!" she struggled, trying to get away.
"Hoe?" A certain cherry blossom walked into the room.
The two froze and jumped up. "Ohayoo, Sakura-chan…" Tomoyo said, trying to act like nothing happened.
Smiling brightly, Sakura replied, "Ohayoo Tomoyo-chan, Eriol-kun." She had a sly smile on her face. "So what were you two doing on the floor?"
"Oh nothing, Sakura-san. We'd better get to class," Eriol returned, sounding like Tomoyo.
"Right, but I came here to tell Tomoyo-chan that the extra choir practice today was cancelled," she said, turning to Tomoyo.
"Hontoo? Doushite?"
"I dunno, but do you want to come over to my house after school today?"
"Sure," she replied happily, grateful for her friend's offer. "We haven't had a gab fest in the longest time!"
"Yea, but we'll make up for lost times today. Don't worry."
"Yep. Oh but I think I'll stay a while after to rehearse anyway, and then drop by your house. Is that okay with you?"
"Sure."
The three of them began walking to class, but inside, Tomoyo's feelings were at odds. She was half-disappointed about Sakura breaking their moment together, and half-relieved for not having to show Eriol her 'booklet of love'.
Class began and ended with nothing out of the ordinary, and with a few playful games between Eriol and Tomoyo. And of course Li Syaoran was glaring at Eriol for that while Sakura was blissfully oblivious.
After school, Sakura and Syaoran walked home together while Tomoyo went to the music room; Eriol had said 'goodbye' and disappeared to somewhere.
Making sure no one was around, Tomoyo sat at the same spot from this morning and pulled out her booklet.
Chapter five: Commandments
1. Thou shall not squeeze too hard.
2. Thou shall not ask for a kiss, just give one or take one.
3. Thou shall kiss at every opportunity.
Kiss at every opportunity? Tomoyo thought. Too bad that isn't possible for me. I mean it'd be pretty weird if I just went up to him and started kissing him…well, lets move on to the next chapter.
Chapter six: Sweet Pleasures
**Remember**
A peach is a peach
A plum is a plum,
A kiss isn't a kiss without some tongue
So open up your mouth,
Close your eyes,
And give your tongue some exercise!!!
Oh my! Give my tongue some exercise? Well…I've never done that before so maybe I should try…? Wait what am I thinking?! This is so unlike me! But I guess it's just one of the many crazy things love does to you…
Then once again, Eriol had snuck into the room, taking her by surprise. "Konnichi wa Daidouji-san!" he said cheerfully.
"Wahh! Hiiragizawa-kun! You startled me…again," she cried.
"Gomen nasai. I didn't mean to."
She giggled. "Talk about déjà vu."
He chuckled. "I know what you mean." That knowing smile returned to his flawless face. "So I won't break this chain of precedent, and I'll ask you again. What were you reading that had you so entranced?"
"Well if you don't want to break this pattern, then I won't either. It's nothing."
"Daidouji-san, don't make me tickle you again!" he remarked playfully.
"Oh no you don't."
"Oh yes I will. And this time, you won't have Sakura-san to get you out of it."
"Well—I—it's nothing."
"Alright, but I warned you." He lunged at her and restarted the tickle fest.
"Ahaha! Eriol-kun! Hahaha!" Just then she froze, having realized that she called him Eriol. "Gomen nasai Hiiragizawa-kun! It just kinda slipped out! Gomen nasai."
He chuckled at her fright. "It's quite alright. We've known each other for quite a while now, haven't we? It's about time we went on a first name basis, don't you think?"
"Definitely!"
"Great Tomoyo-san." Seeing that she was distracted, he grasped the booklet with incredible alacrity. "I'll take that."
"Ah! Hiira—Eriol-kun, don't!" she hollered, lunging back at him with great potency. He fell over with her straddling him, still stretching toward the handbook. But alas, he was too quick for her, dodging every attack with ease.
"What's this? An amorous booklet?"
"Eriol-kun, you're not supposed to see it!"
"Why not?"
"Because, it's just—" she sighed and gave up, knowing that it was too late to stop him from seeing everything in that pocketbook. Lying down beside him, she looked at him weakly.
"So this is what you've been hiding. Who's the lucky guy?"
"Uh, there's no guy. This just caught my attention for a moment at the bookstore," she lied.
"Really? So you paid $5.99 for a booklet that caught your attention for just a moment?" he inquired suspiciously, looking at the back cover.
"Y-yea."
"Tomoyo-san, I know you better than that. Just tell me the truth." She looked skeptical. "Well, at least let me ask five yes or no questions about him."
"Well…alright. But only five, and in return I get to ask you five questions about the lucky girl."
"Deal. I think I'll be able to capture the culprit." He smiled confidently.
I think so too, considering the culprit is you! she thought. "Wait, culprit?"
"Yup—the convict that stole your heart."
She giggled. "How cute."
"Okay lets begin. You go first." They sat up to prepare themselves.
"Okay. Do I know her?"
"Hai. Do I know him?"
"Hai." Of course he knows himself. "Is she in our class?"
"Hai. Is he in our class?"
"Hai. Does she sing?"
"Most beautifully. Does he play the piano?"
"H-Hai," she stuttered, fearing that he was getting too close to the truth. "Um, does she have long wavy hair?" Tomoyo said, thinking that she might have a slim chance of being that lucky girl.
"The most lustrous in the world. Is he intelligent?"
"He most certainly is. Now my last question." She thought for a while. Hmm, this is tough. I want to ask him if it's me, but it'd be so embarrassing if he said no. Well, I think I'll go with, "Is she one of my friends?"
"I think so. Now my last question. Is he sitting right in front of you?"
She was stunned. "I—uh…"
"Hai or iie?" he asked with a soft smile.
Taking a deep breath, she went for the plunge. "H-hai." And there it was, the great splash into the ice-cold water. When you dive into cold water, you would of course feel thoroughly frosty. But after a few more seconds, you either feel comforting warmth or continue to freeze in the depths of the water. For Tomoyo, she was now feeling the icy impact of the water engulfing her. "I guess you turned out to be the unlucky guy, huh?" she said dismally, looking down.
"On the contrary, I'm quite the opposite. I'm now the most fortunate guy in the world to have the girl of my dreams confess to me."
Tomoyo looked up in surprise. But before she could utter another word of confusion, he leaned forward to stop time and express his feelings, caressing his lips with hers, spreading warmth into the cold fearful statue of Tomoyo. To him, it seemed he now had all the time in the world and that nothing else mattered, except of course Tomoyo. And for Tomoyo, she was now experiencing the comforting warmth. Unfortunately for the two, mankind had not evolved to the state in which we did not need air to survive; they broke apart gasping.
"Does this mean that you—I'm that lucky girl?" Tomoyo said tentatively.
He went in for another earth shattering kiss. "You most certainly are."
Then it was official—she was really walking on air. No, she was floating on air—no, she was soaring through the air and straight to heaven.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Outside, through the crack of the door, there were two pairs of eyes watching the scene—a pair of brown and green eyes to be exact.
"That Hiiragizawa! Why I outta—"
"Syaoran-kun don't." Seeing her pleading eyes, he relaxed. "Besides, I have something better."
"What is it, Sakura-san?"
"Tomoyo-chan's camcorder. She left it at my house last time. So now it's payback for all the times she recorded our moments," she said good-naturedly.
Syaoran sniggered. "Well hurry up and turn it on!"
"Oh right." She quickly hit the power button and began recording, getting half of the first liplock. When the second one came, Syaoran freaked.
"Again?! I'm gonna show him some of my martial arts training for that!"
"Syaoran-kun! Keep your voice down! Besides, Tomoyo-chan loves him too."
"Yea well he's bad news. Daidouji-san can do better than that. WAY better."
"We'll talk about this later. Lets see what they do next."
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"It seems that we have spectators," Eriol said against her mouth, not wanting Sakura and Syaoran to know that he was on to them.
"I know. I can feel it too," she returned.
With a flick of his hand, the door was closed and locked with a sign hanging from the door that said 'occupied'.
"Hey!" Sakura said.
"I guess they caught us."
"Yea. Lets go home and figure out what's the best thing to do with this tape."
"Sure. There's got to be some way of using this as blackmail for Hiiragizawa!"
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
The two inside the music room laughed as they heard their friends leave. "They're gone. So now what?"
"Why don't we finish reading your booklet?"
"Sure, I guess."
They sat down against the wall, Tomoyo's head resting on the curve of his neck and his arm around her.
"Chapter seven: Why guys like girls," Eriol read aloud. "This should be interesting."
She giggled. "Lets see if they're true."
He began to read. "Well here are a few reasons why guys like girls…
1. They will always smell good even if it's just shampoo
2. The way their heads always find the right spot on our shoulder
3. How cute they look when they sleep
4. The ease in which they fit into our arms
5. The way they kiss you and all of a sudden everything is right in the world
6. How cute they are when they eat
7. The way they take hours to get dressed but in the end make it all worthwhile
8. Because they are always warm even when it's minus 30 outside
9. The way they look good no matter what they wear
10. The way they fish for compliments even though you both know that you think she's the most beautiful thing on this earth
11. How cute they are when they argue
12. The way her hand always finds yours
13. The way they smile
14. The way you feel when you see their name on the caller ID after you just had a big fight
15. The way she says, "lets not fight anymore" even though you know that an hour later you will be arguing about something
16. The way they kiss you when you do something nice for
them
17. The way they kiss you when you say, "I
love you"
18. Actually ... just the way they kiss you...
19. The way they fall into your arms when they
cry
20. Then the way they apologize for crying over
something that silly
21. The way they hit you and expect it to hurt
22. Then the way they apologize when it does
hurt. (even though we don't admit it)!
23. The way they say "I miss you"
24. The way you miss them
25. The way their tears make you want to change
the world so that it doesn't hurt her anymore...Yet regardless if you love
them, hate them, wish they would die or know that you would die without them
... it matters not, because once in your life, whatever they were to the world
they become everything to you. When you look them in the eyes, traveling to the
depths of their souls and you say a million things without trace a of a sound,
you know that your own life is inevitably consumed within the rhythmic beatings
of her very heart. We love them for a million reasons, No paper would do it
justice. It is a thing not of the mind but of the heart."
"So, are they all true?" She looked up at him.
"Indeed, they are very true. Only in my eyes, instead of 'they', it'll be Tomoyo-san."
She giggled.
"Oh yes. I would also add, 'how Tomoyo-san laughs at all my jokes, no matter how corny they are', and 'the way Tomoyo-san laughs or giggles'. However, those are only two of the countless things that I love about you."
She gave him a peck on the cheek. "Aishiteiru."
"Aishiteiru more." (does that even make sense?)
She smiled in bliss. "Oh! I almost forgot. I have to go to Sakura-san's house!"
"Lets go. And while we're there, we should destroy that tape as well, before they get any crazy ideas."
The two got up and left the building, walking towards Sakura's house. Sunrays beamed down on them as they walked, hand in hand and heart in heart.
A/N: So what do you think? Review plz! =)