A/N: Chapter two of three! Hope everyone is enjoying it :)
"Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura cried aloud, running to greet her friend with arms spread. They met in a warm hug and Tomoyo was genuinely happy to see her friend again despite the nerves about the other person dismounting his motorcycle and taking off his helmet right behind her.
"Sakura-chan, how are you? Ready for your day of modelling?" Tomoyo asked with her usual excitement but Sakura noticed the way her eyes were flickering over her shoulder. Suppressing a giggle she smiled her usual cheerful smile and nodded quickly.
"I don't like modeling unless it's your clothes, they're always perfect!"
"Kissing up to your boss is generally considered unattractive Kaijou," A low teasing voice said from behind her and immediately a glare replaced her happy expression as she whipped around to face her brother. Tomoyo stepped in front of her protectively though, remembering her promise yesterday.
"Flattery gets you everywhere in life. What boss doesn't like an employee that kisses up to them?" She asked in a mock cool voice, undermined by the slight smile on her face and the way her violet eyes danced. Only when her back was to Sakura did she give her older brother a conspicuous wink though it made her heart hammer.
"I don't know Daidouji Tomoyo-sama," He answered, sugary sweetness thick in his normally aloof voice, enough to make her giggle at his theatrics.
"I'm not your employer you don't have to suck up to me Touya-Kun."
"Good because I'm not very good at it, Tomoyo-chan," He said that playful hint still evident in his voice as he stepped forward and opened his arms for a quick hug before releasing the petite girl who was much shorter than him. That didn't stop her from being too beautiful for her own good.
Even in such a short hug it made her catch her breathe and appreciate just how firm his muscles were against her cheek and how very broad shouldered he was. It was those dark eyes that could change from fathomless to playful at any moment that really suckered her in though.
"Onii-chan! You just called her Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura gasped in surprise and Tomoyo tried not to be too obvious in her blushing, wondering what he'd say. He glanced her way but saw she wasn't going to speak.
"Is there something wrong with that?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her underneath his dark hair that almost fell into his eyes. She pouted her lips, hands on her hips once again.
"You only call a girl that if she's very special to you!" She argued.
"I've known Tomoyo-chan her whole life. It would be rude to keep calling her Daidouji-san," He explained simply and she felt relief that he hadn't brought up that she had asked him to call her that. Sakura was going to find out today that he was her number one person but she didn't need any early clues.
His explanation seemed to mollify Sakura though as they continued to lunch where they let her decide what to eat since she was working today. She chose ramen and they ordered their food, time passing without incident until they went to sit down.
As he handed Tomoyo her food, she took in a delicate whiff of his sleeve and was surprise at the slightly spicy smell. He was wearing cologne? She took another sniff as she reached up to the food. Mm, it smelled almost edible.
Touya noticed her less conspicuous second smell and shot her a questioning look. Her face broke into a blush, embarrassed to be caught smelling him. The moment probably would have gone without mention as she averted her eyes and set her food down but Sakura noticed the exchange.
Narrowing her aqua eyes suspiciously she leaned into her brother and also smelt him much, much more conspicuously then Tomoyo had. He gave her a strange look as her face grew puzzled. "Onii-chan you smell strange," She accused and Tomoyo giggled slightly into her palm.
"He doesn't smell strange Sakura, he smells good," She corrected, glancing only slightly at Touya who caught her glance anyways and raised an eyebrow. The light flush was obvious against her ivory skin as she looked away quickly. She had already been caught though earlier, so really the damage had already been done.
"It's called cologne, it's like perfume," She finished hurriedly, pushing back her dark hair so that she could eat without it falling in the noodles.
"Syaoron doesn't like perfume though," Sakura said, watching her with a small frown.
"The brat isn't normal obviously. Most girls like the smell of cologne and most guys like the smell of perfume," Touya added, deciding to help her out a little bit as she looked adorably uncomfortable. Not to mention he couldn't pass up the opportunity to pass a jibe at Syaoron.
"Well I like Tomoyo's perfume, it smells so nice! Do you like it Onii-chan?" She asked cheerfully and Tomoyo hoped the heat in her face wasn't so obvious to Touya but from his amused glance her way, she assumed it was. Stupid emotions, why couldn't she turn them off? Now he'd think she was even more of a silly little girl then he already did!
"May I?" He asked politely, taking Tomoyo's hand gently and she stifled a small gasp, violet eyes widening. His heart dropped, hoping it wasn't too forward of him but then she gave him a tiny shy smile.
"Of course," She said proudly, holding her chin high and allowing him to raise her wrist to his face, though he knew exactly what she smelt like. Vanilla and lilacs mixed together...it was an intoxicating, heady smell. He kept his dark eyes locked on her delicate face to hold himself together and not lose himself in all of her beauty.
"I like it very much Sakura-chan...Tomoyo-chan," He added on the end with a nod in her direction as he released her hand hesitantly.
"Thank you," She barely squeaked out, knowing if she thought about it too much even Sakura would notice her blush.
"Well, um, if your finished eating Sakura-chan we should get you to the dressing rooms, you only have an hour for them to make you even more perfect," She said, smiling at her friend who looked slightly frightened.
"Ah...ok, only for you Tomoyo-chan..." She said, biting her lip childishly before standing up and walking with her to the far end of the room where the woman at the door took her from there.
"You'll do great Sakura-chan! I'll be filming the whole thing!" She called after her, waving fanatically at her friend and feeling guilty that she had focused so much on Touya. After all, Sakura was a wonderful model even if she didn't always enjoy it.
"Still haven't given that up, eh?" Said a voice beside her and she startled slightly on to see that it was Touya, then relaxed again.
"No, I still love to film my Sakura-chan whenever I can. We don't get much time together anymore so I cherish the moments I have," She said. Her voice could be strong and gentle at the same time, so much more mature then other girls her age. He had never met a girl, no a woman, like her.
"You should come over more often," He said politely so that she wouldn't hear how much he really wanted for her to come over more often. They were both so busy all the time and he was busy to...but he still wanted to see her.
"Maybe I will," She said in a musing voice, looking into the distance for a moment before snapping back into place as he started to walk again. "Where are you going?" She asked, hoping not to sound too desperate.
"I was going to watch the modelling, if that's okay Daidouji Tomoyo-sama," He teased and she scoffed while fluttering her eyelashes at him all the same. It was these little flirtatious quirks that he noticed that made his heart lurch and wonder if she might possibly have feelings for him despite how much older he was.
"Of course, I want everyone to see my new clothing line! At least now I know why you're wearing cologne," She teased right back and he just chuckled lightly.
"If I was trying to impress a girl it wouldn't be a model," He replied lightly and her head snapped up a little too quickly on this information as he grinned quietly. So she was interested why he was evidently trying to impress someone! It wasn't quite jealousy but it was that much closer.
"Why not? They're all beautiful, and you're single...you are single aren't you?" She asked, a slight quiver in her voice almost gave her away but when she walked it was straight and proud, her long black-blue hair even more striking underneath her crooked white beret. The loose curls swung in time with her hips as she walked and he found it difficult not to just surrender to the urge to stare openly.
"Of course, Sakura would have told you if I wasn't I'm sure. That girl loves to talk," He said and she shot him a mock glare, bumping into him purposefully. The feeling of her curved hip and the bunched material of her skirt pressed to his thigh sent an electric current through him. How wrong was it to think about how short that skirt suddenly seemed on a girl seven years younger than him?
"She's a lovely girl who I love to hear talk."
"Only if you like to hear constant praise for that brat," Touya said with a slight frown. He quickly cleared it away. It wasn't often he got time alone with Tomoyo and ruining it with thoughts of the brat and guilt was not his idea of fun. It wasn't like they were doing anything illegal after all.
"So you still didn't say why not..." She trailed off suggestively and when she turned slightly to catch his eye flirtatiously he wanted to grab her and not let her go until he had taken out years of frustration on her glossy red lips. As always his conscience reminded him that seventeen was a lot younger than twenty three and she probably wouldn't be comfortable with any real advances.
"Because models are airheads, just look at my sister," He said matter-of-factly then laughed while he ducked her playful swipes. "No really, I would want a more mature girl. Someone smart but also intelligent and funny and...beautiful," He ended softly, catching her hand in his once more, this time to stop her from hitting him –though he may have had an ulterior motive as well.
"There aren't many women like that," She said, pulling her hand back lightly as she opened the door to her private prep room where she normally took Sakura but now that she was officially employed she couldn't treat her specially or do her hair and make-up herself. The thought made her sad as she looked at the grand vanity covered in all the materials she could have used to make her the most beautiful girl there.
"I know one," He said offhandedly as he hesitated in the doorway, not sure if he could enter.
"So you do have a number one person...um, I mean, why are you single then?" She quickly corrected, removing her hat before pulling the glossy curtain of hair to one side and strapping on her head set. The belt buckled around her hips and she dropped the cord unceremoniously down her shirt, pulling it out the other end so plug into the radio at her waist.
"I don't know if she has the same feelings for me as I do for her. I wouldn't want to make her uncomfortable if she had to turn me down," He said in what he hoped sounded like a very general explanation while internally berating himself for even thinking about what was under shirt whether it was a wire or not. How could he? It was practically sexual harassment!
"You look like you're in pain Touya-kun," She said in her serious soprano voice and he blinked in surprise that she had noticed though he shouldn't have been. She'd always been very good at reading people. "You should tell this girl...this woman...how you feel if it's hurting you so much. Even if she were to turn you down it would be less painful then not knowing."
It would be painful for me though, she thought, allowing herself the selfish thought though she would never speak it aloud. Being selfish wasn't a crime as long as you didn't hinder other people with it, she knew from experience. Finding the right person was like trying to catch lightning, it was almost impossible and usually you got hurt but sometimes you could create something spectacular with it.
"Why aren't you a model Tomoyo-chan?" He asked innocently as she turned back around to look in the mirror, wanting to make a good impression on the crowds when she appeared to make her speech. She frowned at the glass as he stepped closer so she could see them both in the mirror. Physically they didn't seem that far apart in age at all.
"Well it would look conceited if I modelled my own line," She said with a small laugh. "And I would also look bad next to Sakura-chan," She admitted in a quieter voice, one that was rare to be heard from her. Touya's heart went out to her.
When his sister and Syaoron started dating formally she came over to ready Sakura for her first date in a beautiful homemade dress and lots of words of encouragement before sending her on her way.
It was only after she left that the smile fell from her face and sad weary look appeared. It was the first time Touya had seen past her video camera obsession and clothing creating fanatics.
She was...beautiful.
And sad.
And needed comforting.
And he was there.
A/N: So um, this was the only place where it sort of made sense to end it but it's kind of in the middle of a really long scene so...yah...sorry about the strange ending, but I'll have the third chapter up soon so don't worry, it'll all make sense soon enough! Please review, constructive criticism and compliments are always acceptable :)