from skybluescramble:
hi fellas (:
i'm very sorry for the long update. life happens.
anyway… this is the second chapter for you. thanks a lot to redeyes143, Cata06, Shanaa12, chiharu-tanaka, vedha, James Birdsong, erilmerlin, Seirin, hikarihayashi-chan, cheng, and Kachiki Rei who left reviews for the very first chapter and those who added my fic in their favorite list or story alert.
i really love you all.
enjoy the update.
and… oh, English isn't my first language. this chapter is unbeta-ed.
DISCLAIMER:
Card Captor Sakura/カードキャップたーさくら
CLAMP©1997
:: Damsel in Distress, Daidouji ::
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EYELIDS fluttered open, revealing a pair of mesmerizing shades of purple irises. Stunned, Daidouji Tomoyo blinked several times as she let her eyes delved into the sight of unfamiliar ceiling and breathed in the floral-scented air. Now, she was anywhere but in her own dorm room. Her hands moved silently as she caressed the material she was lying on.
Soft.
Smooth.
Not to mention the warm comforter which was covering her upper body and keeping her warm.
She was certainly on someone's bed.
No doubt about it.
As Tomoyo became more aware if her surroundings by each second, she felt something cold being placed on her forehead. Her fingertips moved upwards to graze the material: cloth. Possibly a small towel or something.
"Ah... you awake?" said someone with chirpy tone. Tomoyo slowly turned her head towards the voice and found Akizuki Nakuru sit beside her bed. The odd thing was, she wasn't surprised at all.
CHAPTER 02:
Tomoyo's Little Secret
THREE hours earlier.
Eriol was beyond shock when he saw Tomoyo's body slid down and fell limply onto the ground. He sped off, finishing the last remained distance between them and kneeling down beside the fainted girl to check her pulse.
She was okay, which was a total relief.
But her body temperature was pretty high.
"Fever?" muttered Eriol in confusion. That was strange, because until twenty minutes ago she seemed healthy as ever. They chatted casually and Tomoyo wasn't pale or something. Without second thoughts, Eriol lifted her body, looked around carefully to make sure no one was watching him and muttered a teleportating chant.
They popped up at Hiiragizawa Manor within two seconds.
"Spinel!" he called, "Spinel! Nakuru!"
"Yes?" Akizuki Nakuru, or Ruby Moon, appeared from the kitchen corridor wearing a frilly apron and holding a duster. When her eyes saw Tomoyo's figure they widened as she hurled her body to Eriol's direction. "Oh my God, Eriol, what happened?"
"Is she alright?" Spinel Sun joined in. It was in its small feline form and floating several inches above Nakuru's head.
"I don't know. She has a fever, though. Can you help me take care of her?"
"Sure. I'll go grab some towels and ice cubes."
"I'll get the bowl." Spinel volunteered.
Eriol nodded approvingly. "Please. Go to my room when you're done."
"MASTER made this for you," Nakuru smiled while helping Tomoyo eat her porridge. The raven-haired girl was half-sitting on Eriol's bed, her back was supported by huge pillows and she was wearing one of Nakuru's pajamas since her own clothes were full of sweat.
Tomoyo smiled back. "Then he's a good cook."
Nakuru's brown eyes gleamed with excitement. "See? I don't see any point why he cooks for us occassionally and makes me do it almost everyday. His cookings are definitely yummier than mine!"
"I can help you out," said Tomoyo modestly. "Anytime when you needed help. Actually cooking is one of my hobbies, too, but in recent years I cannot do it as often as I want."
Her radiant face became slightly glum as she remembered her misfortune. Had it not been for Sakura who invited her to come over and have dinner together twice a week, her days would be so suck... and lonely. "You must come whenever I want you to come. This is the least that I can do for you, Tomoyo-chan!" was Sakura's stern statement after Tomoyo refused her offer to stay at Kinomoto's house instead of living in a dorm.
"Then, it's settled!" Nakuru beamed, giving Tomoyo the last spoonful of her porridge.
And the door was open. Hiiragizawa Eriol came to sight, his six feet and two inches body leaned against the doorframe with arms crossed at his torso. He simply stood on the threshold and looked at Tomoyo with gentle eyes. "How are you?"
"Much better," Tomoyo answered. "Thanks."
"You're welcome."
Reading the situation, Nakuru hurriedly cleaned up the eating utensils. She winked at Tomoyo and made her way out. "Well, I'd better wash these first. Eriol, I guess you wouldn't mind having a talk with Tomoyo-chan for awhile?"
The mage just flashed her his enigmatic smile.
Tomoyo tensed a bit when Eriol slouched down on the stool beside her bed. But to her big relief, he didn't look like doing anything further than that to get closer, so she let out a long sigh. She didn't even realize holding her breath.
"I don't bite." With a gentle smile he told her.
She still didn't budge.
"I won't come any closer," he whispered in addition, "even just an inch."
Surprisingly, her stiff shoulders seemed to get more relaxed. Eriol notice this slight change and decided to use it at his advantage. He cleared his throat two times to catch her attention and said, "But you must promise me one thing."
"W-what is it?" she sounded uneasy.
Eriol turned his face so that their eyes met each other's. "Spill it out. Your secret. Whatever you're hiding from me."
"I-I-I don't have..."
"You were so panicked hours before..."
"Really, Hiiragizawa—"
"...and shouting at me not to touch you..."
"—I don't know what secret—"
"...then barging out of the shop just like that..."
"—you're talking about..."
"Suddenly got a high fever and fainted, what's all of this shi—"
"ALRIGHT!"
They both shut their mouth abruptly. Once again Tomoyo and Eriol looked at each other like an unspoken challange about who will broke the silence first. However, ten full seconds did a good job on cracking the young Daidouji up.
"Alright. Okay? I'll tell you." She heaved a deep sigh. "Just please... don't laugh."
"What?"
"Promise me you won't laugh."
Eriol felt so stupid now. "Why...? I mean, why will I laugh to—"
"Just promise me." Tomoyo cut in, her tone was a bit desperate.
Although he had no clue, Eriol chose to oblige. Nodding in understanding, he smiled to her and said, "I won't laugh." He could tell that relief washed over her features after she received his words. Does it matter that much for her?
"What do you want to know first?"
"Pardon me?"
Her left hand went up to brush her bangs away from her face. "What part do you want to know first? I'm sure you have a lot to interrogate me, Hiiragizawa. I can tell."
Was that in her voice... sarcasm?
But she's right, Eriol smiled to himself. He wanted to know it all. He planned to interrogate her, make her confess everything.
"Why were you so hysteric... back then in Mister Donut cafe?"
Tomoyo pouted. "I knew you would ask that for a start."
"Answer me."
He saw Tomoyo gulp nervously. Her small, pink tongue darted out to wet her dry lips. "I hope you remember your promise, Hiiragizawa."
"Gosh, Daidouji! Just spill them out!"
Sensing his frustration towards her hesitation, Tomoyo raised her hands in defeat. She lowered her voice a bit more until it became loud enough only for Eriol to hear. "Well, " she spoke, her eyes searched his. "I'm allergic to male... of human species."
Eriol blinked. Frozen on his spot.
"You can put it that way, since I believe there's no scientific name for such a stupid allergy." Tomoyo went on, and since a minute had passed without him being able to utter a word, she let out a small laugh. "Really. I didn't expect you to be this shock."
"That wasn't a lie..., was it?"
"Geez, Hiiragizawa. Haven't you seen the proof? After your skin came in contact to mine, my body trembled and I got a sudden high fever, even collapsed in front of your eyes. Don't you see that I'm now lying on your bed, fed, and receiving a good care from Akizuki-san because of my fever? Is that not convincing enough?"
"You learned how to use sarcasm." Eriol commented, finally managed to get back to his normal self.
A pair of amethyst orbs twinkled elegantly. "I dislike reopen old wounds, Hiiragizawa. You can't blame me for being sarcastic."
Did she just say old wounds?
"I don't remember you had it the last time we met."
"Eight years ago," Tomoyo still smiled, "everything was still perfectly fine."
Eriol processed this information slowly, and as if someone had turned on a lamp inside his head, the dots seemed to connect themselves. It made sense to him now. "It has something to do with those people who took your mother's company, right?"
She didn't answer right away. "You really are smart, aren't you?"
"I'll take that as a 'yes'."
Knowing that Eriol wouldn't hear a single thing that lead to topic diversion, Tomoyo stopped playing around. "It was Higashitani."
"What?"
"The one who took the Daidouji Manor."
"...and your mother's company?"
"No," she shook her head. "He had friends. They likely took over all of Daidouji assets and each of them got their share. The manor fell into the hand of that Higashitani person. Ah... remember when I told you my mother died last year?"
"Yeah."
"I lied."
Taken aback, he bend his upper body forward a bit more to take a better look at her face. "You did?"
"Yeah. My mom didn't die last year. She died when I was around thirteen—or fourteen."
Eriol listened attentively; he knew she had a lot more to tell.
"And that Higashitani..., he told me shits that I couldn't remember. But I'm sure something was wrong, my mom will never make a cruel decision... they must had tricked her. They tricked me. I was just a junior high school girl back then, so I couldn't do anything. I kept quiet about it, hiding the fact from everyone. I couldn't let my friends come over anymore—and Sakura was the hardest one to handle. She kept asking me why, but I never told her the truth. I thought I might succeeded in keeping my secret, yet I was wrong."
Her eyes turned glassy. Eriol noticed tears started to pool in the corner of her eyes. And he was sure Tomoyo knew it too, because she immediately tilted her head up, staring at the ceiling for awhile even though there was nothing interesting except the white surface. She didn't want him to see her crying.
"What happened?" He asked carefully.
"To make it simple: he tried to rape me." Tomoyo pulled back her hair and let the long, raven locks collected only on her right shoulder. It moved like a dark curtain as she turned her head to Eriol, whose face became so pale from the shock.
"Higashitani?"
"Yeah," she nodded, "him."
It was too much of a confession. Eriol felt his blood boil with anger. He couldn't imagine it. Frankly speaking, he used to think that Daidouji Tomoyo was the last person to get involved in such a... disadvantaging situation. Wait—not 'disadvantaging', it was a total understatement.
Oh whatever. Bugger it.
"And...?"
"Don't worry, Hiiragizawa." Tomoyo chuckled lightly and it made him blush in embarrassment. She knew what he was thinking, indeed. It wasn't hard enough to tell. "I somehow had the tight chance, and before I knew it, my knee went up by its own accord to hit him on his groin. I dashed out of the house and ran, ran, ran... I just kept running, not caring that I didn't have shoes on."
"You ran barefooted?"
She grinned. "Guess my survival instinct got me completely at that moment."
"Then," Eriol straightened his posture, "what occured next?"
"Against my will, my feet brought me to Sakura's house. Her brother opened the door for me and called out to Sakura right up."
"You told Sakura, didn't you?"
A nod. "Actually, I stayed there for a month or so—until graduation. In case of Uncle Fujitaka and Touya-san, I said that the company went bankrupt and all of Daidouji assets were taken by a rival company, included the manor."
Eriol raised his brows. "And they believed you?"
"It was more like... they had figured out the truth," she replied casually. "Because they didn't ask for any further explanation. I was too screwed up to make a good lie."
"You're a bad liar from the start."
"But I felt quite an expert of it whenever I see Sakura lie."
"Anyway," Eriol cleared his throat to prevent their conversation from getting out of topic, "what about your belongings? Clothes, books, shoes..."
"Sakura helped me pick them secretly. I was so scared to get near the manor, not to mention trying to be my normal self again was harder than I thought it would be. She understood my trauma and used her card so we could take my stuffs under Higashitani's nose unnoticed." Tomoyo smiled wickedly, "The Move. She asked the card to bring my belongings from the manor into an empty wardrobe and the task was done in a flash."
"Brilliant," mumbled Eriol.
"And since then, I started to become allergic to men." She finished her explanation, both of her palms met in the air and created a small clapping noise. "If I'm aware that I make contact with male, skin on skin or not, I'll immediately tremble. My heart beats faster, my breath becomes uneven, and by ten or fifteen minutes my body temperature will rise rapidly. Those are the side effects of my 'allergy'."
"If you're aware of the contact...?"
"Yes."
They fell into another round of silence as Eriol did his best to grasp the main cause of her problem. If he wasn't mistaken, what she suffered was no allergy. It was just a kind of aftermath post her psychologically-frightening experience with man. Daidouji Tomoyo was a tough girl. That made her refused to lock herself up and break down, no matter how traumatic things she had gone through. She was also smart enough not to simply hate men. Instead, she turned 'allergic' to them. And even the contact effects were limited further.
She said... unnoticable touch won't hurt her, didn't she?
"How can you be so sure?"
"Nothing happen whenever I'm trapped in the crowd," Tomoyo explained, "neither in the long queue or similar situations. I guess it's because my mind is too preoccupied with other things. It probably makes my allergy completely forgotten."
"Then it's not literally an illness," he deducted.
She just smiled sweetly. "Perhaps. However, I still have to be extra careful in getting along with boys. Turning down their confessions and stuffs... you will be surprised if you find out how many girls despise me, Hiiragizawa. They hate me for being 'such a princess' despite of my current condition."
"But they don't know anything."
Tomoyo let out a small sarcastic laugh. "It can't be helped, Hiiragizawa. Besides... what can outsiders understand?"
She had a point there.
"Bet you have problems in your love life."
When Tomoyo didn't respond to him, Eriol knew he had spoken the wrong thing. "Sorry. I didn't thinking. It was… spontaneously slipped out of my mouth."
She opened her mouth, ready to retort, but after a moment of deliberation she swallowed it down. Instead she said in admittance, "Of course I do."
Eriol looked hesitated. He still had some things he wanted to say (plenty, actually) or to know. However, none of them were safe enough to not be considered as 'prying into personal life'. It took him a full minute to make his decision. And he chose to push his luck a bit further.
"You… never had a boyfriend. Not even once."
It wasn't a question. Tomoyo knew it. Hiiragizawa Eriol could freely invade her mind and glance through her memories, for he was still a powerful sorcerer. If he wasn't doing that to her right now, the fact that he was a smart, young man with strong logic wasn't rebuttable. She didn't seem happy about him being able to read her well like this, but it was much better than to be investigated.
So, Tomoyo nodded. "True."
"And it doesn't bother you."
"I have my own priorities, Hiiragizawa. 'Dating' isn't even in my top 100."
"But you admit that sometimes it feels lonely."
Oh crap. She had to stop him now.
"Hiiragizawa, enough."
There was some dead silence followed. He used the moment to look at her intensely, observing her, reading her, making her shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "God, Tomoyo. You like someone."
Daidouji Tomoyo had predicted that Hiiragizawa Eriol would come to realize it.
And she wasn't happy about it.
.
to be continued.