from skybluescramble:

Sorry to make you wait this long for a simple, simple update :(

But you have to bear with me, friends, and I have to bear with my daily schedule, too. As usual, thanks to my proofreader Irrevocable Truth and her laptop, my reviewers: winterkaguya, James Birdsong, cheng, FantasyFan123, asga, krazypig91, tomoyo-amethyst, coolbound, Seirin, ZebraBow, and especially sie ching (I didn`t know anything about that Taiwanese drama. Maybe so far you find this fic`s storyline is about the same with the drama you have mentioned, but I am sure there will be any differences in the later chapters… because this fic is written by me :D haha . by the way, I WILL NOT see the drama. Don`t want to be influenced with anything, umumu :3 )

Into the story ~~

DISCLAIMER:

Card Captor Sakura? Ask CLAMP. I don`t have it :3


::The Proposal::

::::::::::::::

SUMMARY:

No, the voice inside Eriol`s head abruptly said. Not yours.

.

.

.

CHAPTER #8: There is Something That Knocks Your Heart

TOMOEDA Central Hospital.

Here it goes, Tomoyo said inwardly, rolling her eyes when Eriol was too busy checking his schedule as they made their way inside the big, white building. From now on, guess she would be here pretty often.

"Daidouji-san?"

"Yes, Hiiragizawa-san?" She gave him a sweet fake smile. Having such a manipulative side made it easier for her to do things like that. Who says this young Daidouji couldn't be an actress? "What`s the matter?"

He returned the very same type of smile. "Nothing. I just want to remind you."

"About what?"

"We`ll meet your obstetrician soon."

"I know."

"And we`ll have your first medical ultrasonography diagnostic."

"I know that, too. You are not the one with the planner, Hiiragizawa-san."

"But this is the first time, Daidouji-san," he said. "Aren`t you nervous?"

That kind of question made Tomoyo`s temper rise again. Plastering a sarcastic smile on her lips, she turned her head to face the Londoner. "Excuse me, Hiiragizawa-san. How can I be nervous after all those lies you told Sakura-chan`s family? To be honest, I am now screwed up! No space in my mind to feel tense. Thanks to you, anyway."

"It`s amusing when you are being sarcastic."

"No. I`m dead serious." She replied cynically.

"Things will be easier this way, Daidouji-san," he answered with an abundance of confidence in his voice. "All you have to do is believe in me."

"Don`t flatter yourself, Hiiragizawa-san." Tomoyo murmured. Sharp. The way he sounded sure about everything annoyed her. "Because of you, now I have to tell some lies to Sakura-chan`s family. And to make things worse, you made Sakura-chan tell a lie as well."

"Sakura knows the truth?"

"You don`t look so surprised about that."

Eriol flashed his trademark evil grin. "It`s predictable, Daidouji-san. Predictable."

"Hiiragizawa-san, it`s not funny."

"Sakura did tell lies before, Daidouji-san. In the card-capturing and card-transforming days... in case you`ve forgotten." Eriol stated calmly. "No need to exaggerate the `lying` part. Everyone lies, as a matter of fact."

They arrived in front of the receptionist`s desk. Tomoyo immediately shut her opened mouth up. She might've been pissed, but not stupid enough to continue their fuss right before someone else. She let the Incarnation ask for directions from the receptionist, and by the time he was done, her mood to talk already faded away. Tailing Eriol in silence, she made her way towards the obstetrician`s room with a plain face.

"I will register you," Eriol said, approaching the nurse who sat in the obstetrician`s waiting room. Tomoyo nodded weakly before taking her seat beside another pregnant woman who arrived there before them. She was tired of arguing.


"MRS. HIIRAGIZAWA, please come in."

Eriol and Tomoyo spontaneously turned their head, staring at each other with confusion reflected in their eyes. Who the heck was called by the nurse?

"Mrs. Hiiragizawa, please come in." She repeated.

This time, Tomoyo got it perfectly.

"You registered me as Mrs. Hiiragizawa?" She snapped at him while shooting a glare. "How dare you—"

"I did not!" Eriol hissed in protest, flashing his innocent look—if only Tomoyo wasn`t in an angry state, she would recognize the candidness there. "The nurse just asked my name when I registered you. I didn`t expect her to address you like that!"

Tomoyo continued to glare, but soon she realized it didn`t make things any different now. "Guess I don`t have any another choice but to go with it." She mumbled with annoyance, standing up to meet the call. Taking a deep breath to relax herself (and to fix her screwed-up expression), she entered the office, which door was opened by Eriol. She felt very thankful that the office had such a cozy atmosphere. It helped her get rid of the tension.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Hiiragizawa." The doctor greeted Eriol with a warm smile. "I still remember your last visit."

Bemused, Tomoyo looked at the Sorcerer questioningly. "You came here before?"

He nodded casually. "I needed to arrange your check-ups' schedule and match it with his. Besides, he was a friend of Kaho... years ago."

"Oh."

She caught something different in his way of calling the priestess, but she felt talking about that topic right now wasn`t such a wise thing to do.

Rokuonji turned to Tomoyo, smiling. "Ah.. this must be your wife, Mr. Hiiragizawa," He looked again at Eriol—whose once ascertaining smile suddenly became weird because of awkwardness—and didn`t notice Tomoyo cringing after hearing the `wife` word. "A Daidouji, eh? You have a good taste of female beauty." He complimented before letting them sit on the chairs in front of his desk. "Please take a seat."

Tomoyo took a glance at his name tag as Eriol offered one of the chairs for her. ROKUONJI REI.

"So, Doctor Rokuonji," Eriol started after clearing his throat few times. "Please give her all the best. I am no help if it comes to pregnancy."

Rokuonji chuckled silently (in Tomoyo`s opinion, that chuckling voice almost sounded like Santa Claus`). "Mr. Hiiragizawa... you are really like an expectant father."

Tomoyo gulped. These conversations somehow made her uncomfortable, but she couldn`t help it. Saying that Eriol wasn`t her husband would make things grow complicated. She had to remember: she was a Daidouji after all. People knew that name. She was born with responsibilities to maintain her family`s reputation. It was not such a big deal so far (even when she got some problems in finding a job), but… lately she realized that being a Daidouji sometimes had huge disadvantages.

Fortunately, the obstetrician named Rokuonji soon started their actual conversation.

"I will go with checking your blood pressure first, Mrs. Hiiragizawa."

Okay. Scratch the word `fortunate` before. Hearing someone call her Mrs. Hiiragizawa was still causing an unpleasant feeling and it burdened her chest. Trying her best to ignore the awkwardness between her and Eriol, she nodded obediently and then put her left arm on the desk while Rokuonji prepared the gauge. It seemed that he had noticed the oh-so-tense form of those two so as he chuckled again.

"You both need to relax."

Eriol put on a forced smile. "Uhm—I think we're just… nervous."

"I know. I passed through that experience, too. It was quite frustrating at first, but it`s okay. All you need is adjusting yourself with the new things." The doctor wrote down some numbers on a piece of paper when he spoke. Obviously he was done with the checking. "Well, Mrs. Hiiragizawa, your blood pressure is normal and there is no problem in your heartbeat rate. Now, please lay down on the bed. I am going to check on your pregnancy."


BOTH Spinel and Nakuru were at a loss for words. For minutes they just sat silently on the couch in the living room, staring at the red envelope which was put on the table. Finally, admitting that she couldn`t endure it any longer, Nakuru sighed heavily.

"Suppi-chan… what to do?"

The feline gave her a puzzled look. "Why do you ask me?"

"Oh come on, Suppi-chan!" the Moon Guardian cried out. "From all people, who could I ask for help in a situation like this?"

Spinel shrugged its small shoulders. "Think for yourself?"

"I have no idea!" she said loudly, arms raised high above her head. "I really have no idea how to tell Eriol about this!"

"So let him know." Spinel said simply as it flew away, leaving its partner alone in the living room.

"You don`t care about Eriol`s feelings? How can we just let him know that Kaho-san is going to get married this weekend? With the man named—" she peeked again at the wedding invitation, "—Ishida Yuuki?"

Stopping in its tracks, Spinel turned around to face Nakuru one more time. "But there`s nothing we can do about it, right?"


UNEASYNESS. That was all Syaoran felt in this very moment. He was also assured that he would be like that for the rest of the day. After Tomoyo`s leaving with the damn stupid sorcerer named Eriol Hiiragizawa, out of the blue Syaoran got a migraine. Even though his body sat in front of the television with Kero and Yukito, his mind flew somewhere else. Well… he couldn`t get it. He didn`t understand it. He saw Tomoyo for years as a single-and-very-happy young lady but all of a sudden a guy showed up and declared himself as her boyfriend. Syaoran treated Tomoyo like his own younger sister, so this kind of thing was really a big deal for him. Moreover, if that self-declaring guy was Eriol Hiiragizawa.

Heck.

It was a gigantic deal.

He had to know what was happening under his nose.

But how?

Making a call to Tomoyo?

No, no. Too straight-out.

Asking Sakura?

Yeah, maybe it would work out fine. Sakura was used to being Tomoyo`s closest person and it meant she definitely knew something. Okay… so far, his girlfriend seemed to be the best way out of this problem. Hopefully, after getting some information from her, this fcking disturbing migraine would be gone soon.

Syaoran rose on his feet and proceeded to go upstairs.

He knocked the door once. No answer. He knocked it again three times but still received no response. Tentatively, he turned the doorknob—and froze for a moment as if considering something . Yeah... he could have entered, but his inner-self never allowed him to do so. Manners, Li. Manners.

"Sakura, are you in?" He asked, finally taking the first step to enter her bedroom. Giving his surroundings a look, he made a mental note about how untidy that room was, especially for a girl`s. No, for a young woman`s. Then he remembered that on all probability the one who created the mess wasn`t her, but the sweet-addict Sun Guardian who took form as an orange plushie doll. Unconsciously grinning, Syaoran pushed the door to open wider. However, before he got a chance to take further steps , a confused voice startled him.

"Syaoran...?"

Followed with another voice—and this one contained a warning tone.

"What the hell are you doing?"

The No-More-Little Wolf turned around on his heels swiftly, facing Sakura (who gave him a questioning look) and Touya (who shot him a death glare) by the next second. Beads of sweat started to form on his forehead. Man, this was no good.

"What did you do in my room?" Sakura asked.

"I should have known that you were a pervert," muttered Touya with great annoyance.

Syaoran was speechless. He didn`t know which to answer first. So when he saw those Kinomotos opening their mouth once again to speak, he hastily replied without even thinking. "I didn`t do anything! Really, it`s nothing! I was looking for Sakura and I thought she—I mean you, Sakura—might be here! Kinomoto-san, you misunderstood this situation. S-S-Sakura! You believe me, don`t you?"

Silence.

Syaoran got two pairs of eyes looking at him in a weird way as his reward.

"Great," he mumbled under his breath. "I must have sounded stupid." He was in his twenties now, and the way he talked a while ago was simply... well, idiotic.

"Syaoran?"

"Forget my rambling," he managed to say with a firmer tone. "Sakura, I need to ask you some questions."

"You can just ask now," Touya retorted. His eyes glinted dangerously.

Syaoran gulped. It wasn`t something that could be asked when Touya was around. He knew Touya cared about Tomoyo, too, yet felt it sorely odd to talk about Sakura`s best friend`s sudden relationship with the damn Hiiragizawa in front of her brother. Not a good idea, to be exact. He would look very nosy—and it would adversely affect his future relationship with Sakura. Till nowadays, Touya never ceased to beware about him, meaning he had not gotten his full credibility. Being `nosy` would make things worse.

"I think you said that you have something to talk about with my sister," the older Kinomoto spoke again. His killer tone hadn`t changed.

Syaoran sweatdropped. He had to say something... quickly!

"Uhm, ngg... I forgot?"

Not convincing, to be honest. But it was enough to stop their curiousity. Touya kept his suspicion on Syaoran for awhile before he finally decided to go downstairs. "Just get out of her room!" he shouted before walking away.

"You okay, Syaoran?" Sakura asked casually as she entered the chamber. "You don`t look so well."

"I-I am fine," he stuttered a bit, watching his girlfriend while the Card Mistress fetched a medium-sized suitcase from under her bed and in seconds started to disassemble the wardrobe. Soon her bed was full with piles of clothes. Shirts, skirts, dresses, socks, toiletries, and (Syaoran tried hard not to blush) underwears were scattered everywhere. Sighing in contentment, she then bent down to put those stuff in the suitcase.

"Whoa whoa, hold on, Sakura!" Syaoran grabbed her shoulders. "What do you think you are doing?"

"Me? I'm packing."

"You want to run away?"

"Hoe?"

"Huh?"

Sakura turned around, now facing her confused boyfriend completely. "Syaoran, you don`t know?"

"I don`t know what?"

The Cherry Blossom slapped her forehead. "Oh my, I thought you knew! Well, you should!" Smiling smugly, she reached in her pocket, revealing a deep red envelope in her trademark cheerful chirp. "Taraaaa...!"

"What`s this?" Syaoran picked the rectangular thing from Sakura, flipping it two times before starting his inspection. "Wedding invitation, huh? Let`s see who's found their soulmate this time." He scanned the envelope carefully and his eyes bugged out a moment later.

Sakura flashed him a smug smile. "Quite shocking, ne?"

"No way," He murmured. "Mizuki-sensei?"

Sakura nodded enthusiastically. "During the weekend. Touya-nii-chan found the invitation today. It was sent from England about two weeks ago, but perhaps Mizuki-sensei didn`t use the special class mail service. You`d better pack your things after you get home, Syaoran. My father said we`ll be taking our flight to England the day after tomorrow."

"Me too?" Syaoran pointed at himself in a foolish way.

"Of course! It`s Mizuki-sensei`s wedding! All of us must attend the ceremony!" She spoke passionately, eyes glinting with expectations. "Ah! I have to call Tomoyo-chan! It`s possible she received the same invitation!"

She rushed out of her room to get to the phone desk downstairs, leaving Syaoran alone. The brunette sighed as he leaned against the doorframe, thinking hard.

Something… is just not right.

His instinct told him so.

And he believed that.


ERIOL watched as the doctor smeared a green jelly-like substance on Tomoyo`s stomach. He couldn`t help but feel the blood rush to his face when the raven-haired Daidouji lifted her top to expose the skin beneath. That part of her body was no longer flat. A small bulge could be seen when it wasn`t covered by clothes, as proof that there is a life inside. After smearing that green thing, Rokuonji started to rub her stomach with a device. Getting curious, Eriol moved his focus to the three monitors placed beside the bed—and his eyes widened when the picture appeared.

It had no color, actually.

Just dark, white, and some gray-ish area, that were somewhat blurry.

He saw it.

The fetus was still in its weird-looking form but surely it was alive. The still too-big head, too-small arms and legs flashed in the monitors. Its transparent skin gave them clear view of the tiny heart, pulsating very smoothly, almost invisible. Curled up like a sleeping kitten, it looked so brittle, helpless yet cute.

"Oh my…" Tomoyo gasped. Eriol could tell her eyes sparkled with happiness.

"You see the dark blob over there?" The doctor said as he used his finger to point to the nearest monitor. "It is the heart. I cannot tell the gender yet, so I don`t know whether I should call it a `she` or `he`." The joke was not funny at all, to be honest, but somehow it brought a smile over the Incarnation`s lips.

"Is that my baby?" Tomoyo asked with a croaked voice. She was about to cry. Her eyes reddened and tears threatened to fall down her cheeks. "She's beautiful…"

No, the voice inside Eriol`s head abruptly said. Not yours.

"I can see that you wish for a daughter, Mrs. Hiiragizawa." Doctor Rokuonji let out a light chuckle.

Tomoyo raised her right hand. This time, strangely, she wasn`t bothered when the doctor called her with Eriol`s last name. She reached up the monitor and caressed its surface gently in a loving touch. Her facial expression held such a great happiness and it made her—if possible—more dazzling than ever. "It`s my baby…"

No, Daidouji-san. It`s not.

His chest ached as the tightness inside clenched him more. Every second he saw those three monitors, looking atthe small fetus that still had no significant motion, he felt a peculiar emotion waving through his being. Soon, he found it was hard to breathe normally.

The baby is not yours.

"I can see my baby."

It`s ours...

"Do you hear me?" Tomoyo whispered, her other hand moved to caress her jelly-covered stomach. "It`s Mommy."

...and Daddy is here.

.

.to be continued


skybluescramble again:

Okay, at least it`s done. Finally. Now you need to wait for another update. Really sorry, pals :(