Violets Do Blossom In Winter
The Courtship of Daidouji Tomoyo
Chapter Nine
From The Ashes
"I'm so glad to be back here in Japan and with you, Touya-chan! Now I'm here, I will never ever let you go ever again, even if Master Eriol tries to make me do so!"
"Get! Off! Me!"
Fortunately, they were the only ones in the street. If anyone saw them, the resulting 'scandal' would haunt Touya for the rest of his life.
Certainly it was a ridiculous scene: Touya on his butt with Nakuru happily wrapped around his neck like a tawny wreath. Yukito was not so much trying to help as enjoying the situation, which showed how weird some people's sense of humor was.
"Do? You? Mind?" Touya angrily addressed both Nakuru and Yukito, the former he tried to pry off, the latter he snapped at for being useless. "Get her off me!" he added for Yukito's ears.
"Tsukishiro can do whatever he wants," bubbled Nakuru, "But he'll never part us, ever!" She stuck her tongue out at Yukito for extra measure.
Yukito chuckled.
"Some friend you are, Yuki! Help me get this pest off before something bad happens!"
Then Touya caught sight of Kirishima Yoko.
To say she was shocked was an understatement. "Kinomoto-senpai? What's… this?"
Nakuru noticed her, too. Rapture at being so close to her beloved Touya was intensified by her childish selfishness. It was a combination patented to bring woe to everyone within range.
"What this means, lady," she told Yoko in a none-too-polite tone, "Is that I'm finally back with my Touya-chan and there's nothing you can do about it. So: tough luck! Go find yourself another boyfriend, because Touya's already taken!"
Yoko's ears prickled at the offered insult. "Tough luck?" Her usual shy tone gave way to a more combative one. "Are you harassing Kinomoto-sempai?"
"I'm not harassing him– I'm loving him!"
Touya grimaced in exasperation. "Akizuki–"
"I might just be a mere friend to Kinomoto-senpai," Yoko retorted, "But at least I respect his feelings. Long before you ever appeared, he told me that he had a special someone he was dedicated to. I believe that that someone is very dear to him! When I learned about her, I had to be content with being friends and classmates. But I never begrudged him his happiness, ever." Her green eyes flashed. "And I won't let someone like you trample his feelings aside!"
Touya sensed a war brewing but couldn't escape or mediate it.
Not being very sensible or sensitive to other people's feelings, Nakuru hit back as nastily as she could. "Well, too bad for you, Missy," she shot back. "I guess looking the way you are and acting so high and mighty makes you so superior, but I'd think you'd be better off in an all-girls' Catholic school cloistering with the gossipy ditzes and preening away at your ruffled feathers!"
"Well, I've never been so rudely insulted all my life!" Yoko turned on the hapless Touya. "Touya, if you can't do anything to curb such immature nonsense out of this– this twerp!" –the word being the most hurtful thing she could bring herself to say, even of someone she disliked– "Then I'd be better off elsewhere!"
With that, she turned away and ran off.
Tears ran down her cheeks even so.
It was almost more than Touya could bear. "Yoko, wait!" He struggled to get up from where that pest rooted him in place. "I can explain!"
"Forget about her, Touya-chan!" Nakuru's arms just got tighter, effectively holding him back. "I'm always here for you. You have nothing to worry about when I'm around!"
Touya was having none of it anymore. He broke Nakuru's grip, roughly shoved her off and snarled. "Akizuki! Why did you do that?"
It was a first for him and for her. His angry outburst stunned Nakuru. "But, Touya-chan– Aren't you happy I'm here? I thought–"
"No, I am not happy to see you! And damn whatever it is you're thinking!" His eyes blazed in uncharacteristic, righteous fury. "I needed Yoko, but you had to drive her away! I don't need complications like this, and I certainly don't need you!"
And then Touya was up and chasing after Yoko. Not an easy thing to do since the latter was once in their school's track and field team. He would try, though. Damn if he didn't try– and damn his Kinomoto genes if he couldn't catch up.
Left behind, Nakuru simply sat there and stared at the departing Touya's back. "You– you need her?"
She couldn't believe Touya could push her away so harshly. But what hit her more was his outright rejection of her. However insensitive she might be to other people, Nakuru herself was a very sensitive soul.
You don't need me? You don't want me?
You hate me…
Nakuru suddenly lacked the strength to do anything more than sit and stare and breathe. She did not even consider going after Touya; he had just told her off, and she couldn't go against him. So she simply stayed in place, her thoughts a total wreck and her emotions even worse off.
For Moon Guardians have feelings, too.
"Are you all right?" It was Yukito. "Nakuru?"
Her head bowed in mourning. "Yes," she softly lied, even as an imperceptibly small but very genuine tear stumbled down her right cheek. "Yes, I'm all right."
Eyes filled with tears, intent on escaping the place that caused her such intense unhappiness, Yoko was basically blind to the fact that there might be objects or people ahead of her. That she evaded all of them so far was a small miracle in itself…
Touya…
…Until–
"Look out!"
"Huh?" Yoko looked up. It was too little, too late. She plowed into the pair of teenagers an instant later. Everyone went down in a heap of limbs.
"Ittai…" Sakura winced, holding her injured backside as she gingerly sat up. "Li, are you okay?"
"No." Syaoran sprawled face down across the sidewalk. The dazed Yoko sat right on his back. "Lady, do you mind?"
Yoko quickly helped him to his feet. "I'm so sorry; I wasn't looking where I was running." Then she recognized Sakura. "Hey, I know you! You're Kinomoto-senpai's kid sister!"
"You're the girl who played Prince Charming in Oniichan's school presentation!" exclaimed the equally surprised Sakura.
Yoko had to smile at the mention of her role in the play. "You still remembered that after six years, huh?"
"Sure we do," Li grouchily mumbled. "Everyone was so impressed by your play, our class decided to follow your shining example."
"Oh, so you were with the Sleeping Beauty group! Now I remember. You," she meant Sakura, "You played the Prince, and he," she pointed at Li, "Was the–"
"Princess." Syaoran had hated script-writer/director Naoko for weeks because, aside from being made to wear a most unmanly gown and wig, the play also included a kissing scene between him and Sakura. A full frontal, lips-to-lips kiss. And that was at the time they were still rivals for the Clow Cards, though by then Li was already entertaining feelings for Sakura. Luckily, the Dark Card's appearance cut that scene short. Else, Li would have gone after Naoko with a blood feud in mind. A similarly murderous Touya-oniichan would be hot on their heels for Syaoran having kissed his little monster sister and Naoko for arranging that mortal sin to happen.
"Oniichan mentioned he was going to meet you today. Did you see him?"
Yoko looked away. "No."
"Is something wrong, Kirishima-sempai? You looked sad."
"Kirishima!"
Realizing she had dawdled too long, Yoko leapt back to her feet. But Touya –proving he did possess his father Fujitaka's athleticism– lunged and caught her by the wrist.
"Let me go, Kinomoto!" She tried to slap him, but Touya caught her hand and held her still. Yoko struggled to shake him off. "Leave me alone, just go away! Go back to that love-smitten doll of yours, just leave me alone!"
Touya would not have any of it. Grasping the emotionally-fraught Yoko's wrists and ignoring her whimpers and what few of her angry but weak blows that did connect, he prevented her from escaping.
Aside, Sakura and Li stared at their two seniors. "At least I don't go bonking you with my staff when we disagree," a self-conscious Sakura mumbled, a huge drop of perspiration decorating her cute forehead.
The similarly marked Li solemnly agreed.
Yoko was reduced to tears. "Why don't you just leave me alone, Touya? You don't need to bother. I don't mean that much to you–"
"Will you stop that?" Touya was not happy at using an angry tone on a girl who didn't deserve it. But he knew he had to. The ounce of prevention had failed. The pound of cure was harsh but necessary. "You scolded Nakuru about being immature and selfish, but you yourself are acting very much like her right now!"
"That girl was plastering herself all over you, and you weren't making a move to stop her!"
I was, Touya wanted to scream aloud. "Nakuru meant nothing to me! She deludes herself that I like her! But what she had really wanted was a part of me that never was mine to begin with. I never felt anything for her except exasperation and irritation and anger!"
"Then what about that other person," Yoko shot back, "The one you told me about eight years ago? The one whom you said was your beloved? What about that girl?"
Touya did not answer, and so Yoko began to weep again.
--
Inside Sakura's room, Keroberos peacefully asleep in a cushion-filled desk drawer, the former Clow Book began to glow. Out through its cover passed Hope, revealing the side bearing the image of a young girl with long hair and feathery wings upon her head. Held in her hands was a winged heart, bright red against the girl's quiet gray, the epitome of love borne in the arms of one who so needed love.
Surrounded by an aura that was its holder's strongest emotion and power, Hope shone bright.
--
Without knowing who or what prompted her, Sakura suddenly stepped forward to defend her brother's silence. "If you really want to know who Oniichan's girlfriend was," she blurted out, "It was Kaho-sensei!"
Yoko stared. "K-Kaho-sensei?"
"Sakura!"
Undaunted by her brother's anger or Yoko's shock, Sakura bravely continued. "Kaho-sensei came here where Oniichan was in junior high school. Oniichan was lonely because the other kids though he was strange and kept away. Kaho-sensei befriended him by showing him that they were alike. They became very close, but Kaho-sensei left him in the end. Oniichan was so hurt that he never wanted to get hurt like that again. That was why he kept his distance with you, even if he might have felt something for you!"
"Sakura!" Touya took a menacing step towards her. A grim Syaoran immediately protectively put himself between them. Potential brother-in-law or not, Touya would not hurt one hair on Sakura's head while Li lived.
"Kirishima-sempai!" Sakura persisted. "Please understand Oniichan's feelings! Stop pushing him away like this! He never meant to hurt you! He doesn't want to hurt anyone the way he was hurt! That was why he was worrying about you! He cares for you!
"Please," Sakura softly finished, pleading with tears of her own. "Please, don't push him away…"
Touya was livid with rage. "I don't know how you managed to learn all that, little you monster," he growled, furious at having his private life the subject of public discourse, "But I don't care, because I am going to make you so sorry you were ever born, you little–"
Li raised his fists.
"Touya, no!" Yoko fastened herself upon Touya. "Please, don't!"
"Damn it, Yoko! This doesn't concern you!" But he did not shove her away.
"But it does!" The redhead knew she was in the wrong– and she was trying to make things right. "It does. I'm sorry, Touya. I acted selfishly and immaturely. I had no right to attack other people's faults even if they were in the wrong. I had no right to get angry the way I did. I was wrong. Sakura-chan was only trying to help you and me.
"Please, please forgive Sakura-chan, Touya." Yoko turned away. "If you don't want to forgive me, at least forgive your sister. She doesn't deserve your anger.
Slowly Touya cooled. "I never meant to get angry at anyone," he murmured. "I was just so badly hurt when Myzuki told me she was leaving me. I thought that she had betrayed me. That I had no one left to trust– or to love the way I did her.
"It was a fool's idea: abandoning love forever more, and though I was blinded it was no excuse. I kept to myself, because I did not want to show how much I cared for other people, especially women. Especially to you."
His arms encircled her waist. Yoko startled. "I never told you how much you had meant to me," Touya told her. "Until now."
"I… I mean something to you?"
"You were the first girl since Myzuki who went to me and told me to my face that you liked me." Admitting the truth now, however late, did not embarrass him. "I guess that made a difference."
His name played itself over Yoko's lips so softly. "Touya." Then she buried her face in his chest.
Sakura and Li Syaoran applauded, the former happy, the latter secretly amused at seeing his great archenemy succumbing at last to Cupid's arrows.
"Don't think you can get scot-free out of this, monster," Touya growled at his sister, even as he held Yoko. "I'll get back at you. Count on that."
Sakura immediately hid behind Li. "Oniichan!"
"I've been making a fool out of myself all these years…"
Nakuru absent-mindedly poked her spoon at her ice cream sundae. "I was such a fool, such a fool to continue thinking that I really had a chance with him."
"Aren't you going to eat your ice cream?" Yukito kindly inquired.
She set her spoon aside and pushed the ice cream away. "I don't feel like eating. In fact, I don't feel anything at all."
"That's wrong, you know. You do feel something. Even we Moon Guardians have feelings."
They were in the same ice cream parlor Eriol had treated Sakura, Tomoyo and the others a week ago. The younger Moon Guardian was in dire need of some good cheer. Nakuru's usually merry features were gloomy and lacked vigor. She absently toyed with the tawny fronds of her long hair, her thoughts lost in melancholy.
"You knew Touya didn't like your way of approaching him," Yukito advised. "The way you handled the entire situation you were playing with fire and got badly burned."
"Playing with fire, eh?" Nakuru began fiddling with her spoon again. "Guess that's apt for me. A moth attracted to a flickering flame. In love with something that could hurt me. Getting hurt in the process– but wanting more of the same pain all the more."
"You shouldn't play with your spoon."
"Why should you care if I do?"
"Well," Yukito enumerated, "First, it offends you. Second, it offends the people around you. Third, it offends the resident kami of the parlor. All offended parties are not to be offended."
Nakuru shook her head. "Tsukishiro, you make one good put-down comedian. I really want to laugh at you."
"Why don't you, then?"
In a sudden fit of anger, Nakuru hurled the spoon away from her and at his smiling face.
Yukito deftly caught the missile. He gently put it back on the table with accompanying smile. His cavalier attitude only made Nakuru angrier.
"Are you looking for trouble, Tsukishiro?" she growled. "Because it looks to me like you're picking a fight with me."
"I have no intention of making trouble," he cheerfully replied. "But I must say that the other me agrees with me that we should not trouble the good folk around us right now."
"Fine." Her glower was deadly. "Just when and where do you want your body to be buried, jerk?"
"The other me wants to avoid a commotion. I agree with him. If you really wish to argue the way you want, tomorrow night at the park will do." He was smiling, as if they were just discussing a small stroll down the street, no big deal.
"I'll see you there dead and buried, Tsukishiro." Nakuru was confident once more, looking forward to beating her older sibling to a measly pulp as she should have done six years ago when she had the chance.
"I'm looking forward to it, too, Nakuru-chan." The endearing suffix he added to her name did the trick. After one last death glare, she left in a huff.
"I wish it could be different, Nakuru," Yukito whispered to the empty spot where his 'sister' had once sat. "I truly wish it could."
Author's Note: Happy Valentines to all my readers! (It sounds so hypocritical for a guy who has spent all the Februarys in his life without a girlfriend. Gack… --)
Also, my sincere apologies to the Touya-Yukito shippers, but I vastly prefer hetero pairings, thank you.
For those of you who may be wondering, Yoko would be that girl who confessed her love to Touya in the anime episode where they did a modified version of Cinderella. I have no idea what her name really is, so I went for something that sounded similar to it. If anyone can tell me, I would be eternally grateful.
On the side: Oh, my God, I've just subscribed to Nakuru-Yukito! That's technically incest! No! I'm going to burn in Hell! Burn!
I hope you enjoyed it!
Despite their differences in opinion– and in everything else–, they agree on something: she is who matters. Next inViolets: Welcome Midnight.
