Home Alone
by estelio veleth


"Are you sure you'll be okay, Tomoyo-chan?"

"Daijoubu! Of course I'll be fine Sakura! You are only going to China for a week! And imagine how upset Li-kun would be if you suddenly decided to not go on this trip to meet his family? Not good," replied the violet-eyed girl.

"Yes, I know, but this will be your first time alone in our house for as long a time as a week," Sakura said in a worried tone.

"Don't be ridiculous Sakura!" Tomoyo said with a laugh, "I can take care of myself."

Not too long ago, the girls had graduated from high school and as a graduation present Sonomi had taken it upon herself to buy them a little house. It was their little home. A house with gorgeous curtains and splashes of colour here and there adding a hint of Tomoyo or Sakura. They treasured their little abode and it was their first step towards adulthood, a step towards independence. However, secretly, Tomoyo had a feeling that they would not be together for long as Sakura and Syaoran were as good as married. Syaoran just needed a little push to propose. She suspected that it would not be long before she would be living by herself, so, why not get used to it now?

"But there's been a bunch of thefts throughout our neighbourhood during the past week. What if someone breaks in to the house while you are here by yourself?"

Tomoyo shook her head, "I'm a big girl Sakura. Besides, you're leaving Kero to look after me. I'll be fine."

"Exactly, I can look after her!" piped up the little guardian.

"Okay, if you say so," Sakura gave him a hesitant look before turning back to Tomoyo, "But please be careful. I don't want you being abducted by some creepy stalkers or anything."

There was a sudden honking outside of the house.

"Oh, that would be my cab," cried Sakura jumping up, "If you have any problems or need anything call my cell phone. Or call Syaoran's cell phone! Or the hotel's phone!! Or–"

Tomoyo cut in, "Yes, I'll be sure to contact you. Now go or you'll be late!"

With a quick peck on the cheek she was off, zooming towards the airport. Tomoyo waved until her best friend was a little speck in the distance. Turning back to the now emptier house, she picked up Kero.

"Let's make takoyaki for dinner, shall we?"

"YATTA!"

The guardian's cheer echoed throughout the house as they made their way to the kitchen.


"Oishikatta!" sighed Kero with a smile as he rubbed his full belly, "I'm so full. Arigatou Tomoyo."

"Anytime, Kero-chan," Tomoyo said, although secretly she was relieved that the little creature was finally full. She had no idea how he'd been able to fit thirty five takoyaki balls into his stomach.

"So what shall we do now?" she asked, "Watch a movie?"

Kero suddenly perked up when he heard the sugegestion.

"Can we watch Sweet Delusions," he asked, "I heard that it was a really good movie."

"Sure. Let's go rent it."


Tomoyo sighed when the credits finally began to roll. She wouldn't have let Kero rent the movie if she'd known that it was about a girl trapped alone in a house with a serial killer.

She let out another sigh. Kero could fall asleep anywhere. He'd dozed off around twenty minutes into the movie. Leave it to Kero to fall asleep watching a movie of his own choice.

The raven-haired girl flicked off the T.V. before picking up the toy-like guardian and taking him upstairs. Gently, she placed him on Sakura's bed before moving to her own room.

Nervously she peered through the door into the darkness of her room before quickly turning the light on. She flopped on her bed and let out a groan. The movie had put creepy thoughts in her head. She probably wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. Usually, horror movies didn't scare her quite so easily. It just so happened that this time Tomoyo could relate to the girl in the movie. She was also alone at home by herself, vulnerable and weak. Who knows what sort of things could happen? Of course, there was still Kero. The only problem was that once Kero was asleep he was as good as dead.

In last ditch attempt to calm her nerves, Tomoyo turned on the T.V. and began flipping through channels hoping to find something that would keep her mind off the horrific experiences she'd witnessed on the screen earlier. Something on the news caught her attention and she turned up the volume in order to hear the story.

"There have been reports of burglaries throughout the Tomoeda area. So far, there have been three break-ins and police are still searching for the criminals. Of these break-ins there has been a single incident where a man was attacked. It has requested that his name remain anonymous and he is currently…"

There were criminals in Tomoeda? Wasn't this supposed to be a friendly neighbourhood? What if they came here, to her house? What it they broke in? What would they do to her? The questions kept on running through her head. Okay, so watching T.V. didn't really make her feel any better. In the end Tomoyo decided to go around the house to close all the curtains and make sure that the doors and windows were all locked.

She'd just finished locking up the kitchen window when she heard a sound coming from the foyer. Shocked and frightened, Tomoyo grabbed the nearest object to her. Arming herself with a frying pan she slowly walked to the foyer. Sneaking through the dining room with her heart pounding loudly in her chest she crept into the murky darkness of the foyer. She could barely make out the tall figure of a man kneeling down by the front door. He didn't seem to notice as she moved stealthily towards him.

Suddenly with a loud cry she used her frying pan and whacked the stranger heavily across the head. The man fell to the floor with a yell and in one fluid motion, Tomoyo had turned the light on and pinned him to the floor.

"Ha, I'm not as weak and vulnerable as you take me for mister…"

Tomoyo fell silent as realization hit her. She knew this man.

"E-Eriol-san?"

He groaned and touched the side of his head.

"How did you get in here? I thought you were one of those criminals ransacking houses all over Tomoeda!"

A lock of hair fell rakishly across his forehead as he looked up at her with his azure eyes.

"Sakura gave me the keys before she left. She told me to come and check on you. I'm guessing she didn't tell you," he said giving the frying pan in her hand a pointed look and with a nervous laugh she placed it on the floor beside them.

"I would have come earlier but work took longer than I expected it would."

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit you," she began sincerely but he interrupted her.

"That's okay, don't worry. At least we know now that you can protect yourself," he said with a small smile, "Why were you going around hitting men in the head with frying pans anyways?"

A pink tinge crossed her features at his statement. "Kero made me watch this horror movie where there's girl all alone in a house with some creepy murderer. And then I watched the news and it said that there were a bunch of criminals breaking into peoples houses, and it said that they hurt someone…"she slowed down, realizing that she was getting carried away then worriedly looked at the hand holding his head, "Is there anything I can do to help you? I'm so sorry. How can I make it up to you?"

"Well, to start, Daidouji-san–"

"Tomoyo."

"Tomoyo-san, you could get off of me."

She blinked then looked down at their compromising position and blushed. She had her legs on either side of him, straddling his waist. Her hands were on his chest whereas his own were on her waist. Quickly, she stood up to get off of him.

"Thanks," he grinned and stood up. He stumbled a little and Tomoyo rushed forward to help him.

"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly, embarrassment forgotten, "Let me get some ice for your head," and she let him slowly to the kitchen.

Tomoyo sat in front of Eriol holding a bag of ice to the place where she'd hit him.

"Gomen, Eriol-san."

"Don't worry about it Dai-Tomoyo-san," he said with a smile.

Tomoyo's breath stuck in her throat and before she knew what she was doing she leaned forward and kissed him gently on the cheek.

She gasped.

"I'm so sorry Eriol. I didn't mean to do that. I don't know what came over me."

He couldn't help a smile when he noticed that the "–san" was missing and bent closer towards her. "You missed."

"I wha-"

Swiftly, Eriol leaned forward capturing her lips with his own. She tasted sweet, like peaches but there was something different there, something very Tomoyo and her lips were soft against his own lips.

Tomoyo was shocked at first. Never had she dreamed that Eriol would ever kiss her. She'd had feelings for him for a long time. She hadn't imagined that he would feel the same way. She'd thought that he believed they were better off as just friends. But the way he was urgently pressing his lips against her own, she suddenly realized that maybe Eriol didn't want to be just friends.

After what seemed like forever, they separated, gasping for air.

"Feeling better now Eriol?" Tomoyo said with a grin.

He pretended to look thoughtful.

"No, not quite," and he kissed her again.

Tomoyo smiled in to the kiss as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

This was a much better way getting her mind off her fears.


A/N: Well, thanks for reading! I hope you liked it! Please read and review!

Japanese to English
Daijoubu - It's okay.
Oishikatta - It was delicious.
Gomen - Sorry
Arigatou - Thank you