Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AN: THIS CHAPTER IS IN TOMOYO'S POV!


"talking"

'thinking'

written/typed

flashback


Crystal Dropplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 7-Helping


Oh man, today's gonna be a good day. Friday was so much fun. Ditching.is.fun. And Eriol was so sweet to take me to the local flower garden. It was so cute. I'm glad we're back together.

I walk through my room taking my camcorder and tying my hair up in a ponytail. I pick up my purse, and slip it over my head and slide it to my hip.

"Mom! I'm going shopping with my friends. I might be late for dinner." I call to my mother. It's one of those rare occasions when she's actually home long enough for me to say anything to her.

"Alright sweety! Oh, and when are you going to bring Sakura over again? I haven't seen her for such a long time. Invite her over when you have the time, won't you Tomoyo?" My mother asks with a dreamy look on her face. "I haven't seen her since…my, how many years has it been? I don't even know if how she's doing! Do invite her over!"

"Um, sure, mom. I will. In fact, I've been thinking about her coming over this week!" I lie. I smile cheerfully, "Actually, I'm meeting her at the mall right now!"

"Oh, then you two go and have fun!"

"Mmhmm." Ugh, and I thought nothing could ruin my day. I close the door on my way out and get into my car. At least I don't have body guards with me today. Just a day at the mall.

I know my mother. She'd be devastated if she knew I weren't friends with Sakura anymore. She'd probably be even more devastated if she knew we're on two opposite sides, and I'm the one pushing her around. But mom doesn't need to know that.


As I step into the mall, I see my friends waiting for me at the food court. I even invited Meiling and Syaoran. And of course, Chiharu, Rika, Naoko, and Yamazaki. And Eriol. But that's a given.

"Hey guys!"

"Tomoyo!"

Meiling comes up to me. She looks excited, I wonder why?

"Tomoyo-chan! Are you seriously gonna record our little shopping trip and get it published into a movie, like sold in stores?"

"It's not just today, it's a scrapbook since the beginning of freshman year. And it's only a little movie for the day in the life of a highschooler. I'm trying to get it so I can sell it to some school companies. You know in elementary school and middle school, teachers are always showing you those stupid films about what high school's like, and what you should and shouldn't do? Well, this is more like an unedited version of that. It's just…the truth, I guess. I mean, we even filmed druggies and jocks on steroids. Because that's a part of high school life. It doesn't mean you have to go and be like them, because most likely, watching a movie won't suddenly make someone want to become something they see. They probably already knew what they're gonna act like in high school, and well, it's more of an insightful guideline than a movie." I say, explaining to her what I'm doing.

"But that's still so cool!" Meiling said, "You're so awesome, Tomoyo-chan!"

I laugh a little, "Thanks."

Eriol comes over to me and he slides his arm around my waist and pulls me closer to him, and even though he's done it a million times, my breath still catches, and I feel like blushing. "Of course, Tomoyo can do anything she puts her mind to."

I smile. He really does know how to flatter me. "Oh stop!" I say, laughing and blushing at the same time.

"Well, can we go, or what?" Syaoran interjected, seeming to be in a foul mood for some odd reason. His gaze is looking past us. What-? I turn around, and that…Sakura, she's standing behind us, staring at us for a brief moment before turning away, her face is red. She must be so embarrassed, I mean, eavesdropping on us! The little bi-!

But then, I'm surprised because she looks back at me. I can feel those emerald eyes actually staring, only at me. And she smiles a hesitant smile, and walks over to us, holding something out…for me?

"You dropped this, Daidouji-san." She shows me maybe fifty dollars worth of ten dollar bills. I look at my purse, the zipper's unzipped, and I guess the money must've fallen out. I probably would've thanked any other person who returned my money, but because it's her…I just can't. I can't do that. I glare at her and snatch the bills from her palm, I guess I feel kind of bad for her, I mean, I AM acting like an ungrateful bitch…but I don't think I can act any other way with her. "Don't try to act all cutesy with me, Kinomoto. It's not going to work. Now get away from us, before you spread all your poor germs all over us. The mall is for the people who can actually afford to come here! So get away from us. And don't ever touch my stuff again!"

She stares hard at me for a moment, and her eyes seem angry, but other than her eyes, no emotion shows on her face. And then her eyes soften, and it looks like she's going to cry, "I'm sorry…Tomoyo." I hear her whisper. A silent gasp escapes my mouth. No one else seems to have heard it, they're just staring. Staring at where Sakura was. But by the time I snapped out of my shock, I can already see Sakura hurrying away from the group, her lips curved in a smile as she waved her hand in good-bye to my friends…I wonder, is she waving at me too?

I shrug off my thoughts. "Come on guys, let's go." I say to them as I turn on my camcorder and start recording. I film around at everyone, and then when I get to Syaoran's face, he's still looking at the direction Sakura left. His eyes are glazed, and he seems to be deep in thought, does he actually care about her or something?


"Did you have a nice time with Sakura, Tomoyo?"

"Oh yeah, I had a blast," I say with mock cheerfulness.

"That's good. I thought you were just keeping Sakura all to yourself, but it's nice to have you talking about her again."

"…I'm really tired mom, I think I'll just skip dinner."

"Honey, are you sick? You feeling ok?"

"Fine mom. I guess I'm just so happy that I'm spending time with Sakura that I can't eat!" I grit my teeth. Can't my mom just get off my case! It's not like she cares about me…anyways…

I hurry upstairs, as soon as I make it to my room, I go crazy, I toss my camcorder onto the couch along with my purse, and then, I jump onto my bed, and I bury my face in the pillows. I'm crying, for the first time in a long time. It felt so good to take my anger out on Sakura…and then…she! Tears stain the silk fabric of the pillowcase and I clench my fists.

I wish the tears would just go away!

I beat my fists against the soft pillows, taking every bottled up feeling I've ever felt and just punching it into the pillows.

Soon, I feel better, but…I'm still confused about what exactly I'm angry at…I never get angry, how could I have just let my self control slip away so easily today? What am I angry at? It's like there's too many bad memories of days of self-pitying for me to remember what all of them are about.

And even so, I have this gut feeling that…all of those days were centered around the same thing and even today too…but what was it? Why can't I pinpoint exactly what's the problem?

'It's not like she cares about me…anyways…'


AN: Whew, it's SO hard to write in Tomoyo's POV! So hard! I'm sorry if the chapter was short and just a little confusing, but her character as I have pictured her is very hard to write into words and actions. PLEASE REVIEW! Hehe, I always have to say that…it's like some addictive catch phrase or something…