A Prince for a Price

Like all wealthy families, the Daidouji family has a secret for their success and fortune. But the secret has been suddenly revealed during the heiress'18th birthday when she was taken away by a group of men as part of a certain deal: to give the Hiiragizawa clan the next generation heir.


Chapter 9
Insomnia


The song already started and there were already a number of pairs on the dance floor. Eriol and Tomoyo just entered the hall after following Mr. Harrison from his, ahem, intrusion of a moment. The heiress stared in awe at the gracefulness of the dancers on the floor. No matter how many times she's been to events such as this one, she will always be amazed at how two people can dance oh so beautifully. Sure, she had her fair share of dancing with different male partners before but she never really saw her as one of the best ones though.

Mr. Harrison coughed, gaining the pair's attention again. "Why don't you join the dance? " He offered.

Tomoyo was about to refuse but Eriol cut her off by showing her one of his gentleman smiles once again and offered her a hand, "Shall we? " and she knew she couldn't refuse. With a faint blush on her cheeks, she shyly took his hand and allowed her to lead them to the dance floor.

The pair got a comfortable space on the floor and waited for a right cue in the song to start. The Londoner placed a hand on Tomoyo's waist while the latter placed a hand on her partner's shoulder, both of their other hands were joined together, and slowly they started to dance.

Tomoyo gulped. She knew she couldn't possibly look at him in the eyes because she knew what would happen if she does: she's going to be lost in them once again. Her cheeks continued to flush as she just stared at the floor, mind focusing on the steps as she moved along with Eriol's feet.

Oh no, I could really feel him staring at me! What am I going to do?

Her concentration was lost for a second that she almost tripped on her feet, unable to suddenly synchronize with Eriol. She almost yelped from the accident but Eriol's hold on her waist tightened to prevent her from completely falling down. Tomoyo let out a breath, and looked up to thank him.

But it was a big mistake.

She looked up at him and there were his eyes again. His beautiful, mesmerizing blue eyes that Tomoyo knew they had some sort of amazing effect on her.

"Relax," he leaned in and whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine once more.

"I-I'm sorry," she said.

And then she realized how closer they got due to her little accident. But surprisingly, Tomoyo didn't mind. She actually likes being this close to him, very close to him.

But why? Why am I enjoying his presence this close? Shouldn't I be pushing him away?

The two continued to dance to the slow melody of the song, which was actually a love song. Tomoyo noted. Eriol twirled her around as their feet synchronized again, back to how they started.

"You're a really good dancer, Tomoyo." he commented.

This just made her smile at him and said, "Well, you're a pretty good leader."

Eriol's shoulders shook lightly as he chuckled. "I have to be or else I wouldn't want to humiliate myself in front of my very beautiful fiancée now."

"Oh that's right, dear. You had a way of words with how you invited me to this ball, darling." She giggled, suddenly remembering the ridiculous phone call she got from his this morning filled with nicknames meant for crazy love birds.

Eriol just laughed again at the same time she twirled her. "I told you I treat my lady very well, dear, especially my fiancée." He winked. "But I know something else that could show you how much I appreciate my lady right now," his eyes suddenly showed a glint of passion which didn't go unnoticed for her partner.

"Flirt," she grinned but she knew she can't help but blush at his words, knowing full well what he meant.

"Would you?"

Tomoyo looked at his eyes once again and suddenly she saw them with sincerity and seriousness. She gulped but then started to play dumb and ask about it. "Would I what?"

"Would you let me—" the Londoner stared deep into her amethyst eyes, "—continue off where we ended at the balcony?" He pulled her closer by the waist as they continued to dance. He saw her eyes widen with shock at his question.

The heiress could feel her heart beat faster once again. Her eyes closed and opened and once again she felt herself falling deeper in his azure orbs, and she knew she was already feeling something for him.

But what is this feeling?

She bit her lip for a second and slowly closed her eyes and nodded, silently giving Eriol his answer. Even with her eyes closed, she knew he smiled and she felt him leaning in just like awhile ago. They stopped dancing momentarily and it happened.

His lips softly landed against hers.

This time, no one stopped them; no one interrupted them, even if everyone could see them.

And according to Tomoyo, she just gave away her first kiss to this man right here.

My first kiss!

It was like they were in their own world now. They seemed to have forgotten about everyone else in the dance floor, heck everyone else in the whole hall. It wasn't just a simple peck, but it was truly something filled with tenderness and feelings. Tomoyo could already feel herself falling deeper and deeper with their bodies close and their lips attached to each other. Her mind was filled with him and him only. She noticed how soft his lips were and not the dry and chapped one too.

Overall, she felt herself completely melting in his arms while in their kiss.

But everything needs an end and they were slowly pulled back to reality when they heard claps around them. Eriol was the first one to pull away and Tomoyo finally opened her eyes, but honestly missing the sensation again.

They looked around and noticed that the song already stopped. The crowd was clapping to congratulate all couples who participated in the dance.

The heiress looked up at her partner again and noticed he was already smiling at her. This just made her cheeks feel hotter than before, especially after the kiss. But then, even after all that, she could also feel herself smiling back at him.

She was happy.

She was truly happy.

And she doesn't know why she's happy to be around him—happy that they're close to each other now, happy that they kissed.

What is this feeling?


The car ride from the event was a silent one—an awkward one at that. Neither said anything about the kiss, especially Tomoyo who was too embarrassed to talk about it. It was a good thing their travel time was cut short since it was already past midnight when they left the area and so only a few cars remained in the streets.

The silence was suddenly broken by the Hiiragizawa heir.

"I'm happy your trauma for this car isn't as big as before now."

Tomoyo looked at him. She was shocked too for not bawling her eyes out after getting in this car with him. She just gave him a smile and said, "It's not so bad anymore, I guess."

And they became quiet once again.

Fortunately, the car already stopped hinting the riders that they have already arrived back at the Hiiragizawa manor, the butlers opening the car doors for them to already get out.

"Welcome home, young master and Ms. Daidouji," Mori greeted.

Eriol nodded while Tomoyo thanked him.

"Where's Nakuru?" Eriol asked.

"Ms. Nakuru is already fast asleep. It seems like she was very tired from all her work today." Mori answered and Eriol just nodded.

"Well, I'll be heading to my room now too. You should do the same Eriol; I know you're very tired as well." Tomoyo offered.

And the both of them quietly walked up the stairs and into their separate rooms.

Once Tomoyo was back in her room, she took off her gown and placed it on the hamper, and grabbed a nightgown from the closet. She let her hair down, rinsed off her makeup and stowed away her jewellery piece by piece until her hands landed on Eriol's gift. She took it off around her neck and stared at it. The necklace continued to shine and Tomoyo couldn't help but smile. It was very thoughtful of him to buy him a present.

This wasn't the first time the heiress received a gift like this. During her whole life, she received dozens of jewellery gifts from different kinds of men, old and young alike. However, Eriol was the only being who gave it to her by being the one to put it around her neck. Tomoyo closed her eyes, remembering the feeling she had when Eriol's hands gently wrapped around her neck, slowly guiding the necklace and locking it behind.

And then of course, her mind began to continue remembering the scenes after that, much to her dismay.

I still can't believe we kissed!

Tomoyo's fingers slowly crept up and touched her lips and her eyes widened.

"Why did I let him come close to me like that? Why did I let him kiss me?"

It's because you also want him to kiss you. And you know that he wants to kiss you too.

The heiress shook her head off, deciding to let go of the idea and climbed up to her bed after turning off the lights. She got herself comfortable on her big bed and tried to shoo away those memories that just makes her blush.

Thirty five minutes have already passed and yet Tomoyo still twisted and turned, apparently not being able to sleep. She had her eyes closed for a few minutes but then sleep just wouldn't come to her.

Is it because I'm thinking too much?

She tried again for a couple moments but still failed. Groaning, she sat up from the bed and looked at the digital clock on her bedside table. It already read 1:28AM. Tomoyo sighed, she knew she won't be able to sleep any time soon so she opened her lamp and got out of the bed.

"Maybe a little sketching would help," she grabbed her sketchbook from the desk and took a pencil when she suddenly felt a bit drought, "and probably some hot chocolate while I'm at it."

Taking her materials with her, she grabbed her silky robe and put it over her nightgown, put her slippers on and went out of the room. She silently walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, happy that they left some lights around the halls and rooms to make it easier to walk around at night. She placed her materials on the counter as she took a mug and made herself some hot cocoa.

Tomoyo sighed as she sat on one of the chairs on the counter, her head still leaving a faint ache from the party awhile ago.

"I must've drunken too much champagne," she said.

She placed her cup down and opened her sketchbook, randomly drawing some dresses on her mind. Most of the time when she doesn't have any new ideas, she would recall a dress that stuck to her mind and make a few alterations with a design to make it better for her; she remembered dozens of designer gowns from awhile ago and thought of ways how to make it better in her own terms.

Her small ruffles and strokes could be slightly heard, echoing across the pages of her book. She was in her own world again, slowly losing track of time that was already almost 2AM.

Suddenly, other sounds were heard causing Tomoyo to look around to see if there was anyone who was coming. She narrowed her eyes but then shrugged it off, thinking it was just the wind or something. She continued sketching, but the sounds grew louder and this time the heiress decided not to ignore it. She admitted inside that she was scared since the mansion was just so big.

Could it possibly be a burglar?

Her hands grabbed the nearest object it could hold on to that could serve as a perfect defence weapon, and it turned out to be a sharp knife. She stood up from her stool and followed the sound, apparently coming from the food closet in the kitchen.

A mouse, probably? Hopefully?

She gripped the knife's handle tighter in her hands as she neared the door of the cupboard, already positive it was coming from inside. After breathing out a huge chunk of breath, she closed her eyes and grabbed the doorknob and swiftly opened it with the knife already positioned to kill.

"AHHHHHHH!"

The knife made a clanking sound as it fell on the floor after Tomoyo opened her eyes to see what, or exactly who, screamed with her after opening the door.

She blinked. She wasn't really expecting to see this person at this hour, specifically inside a cupboard.

"E-Eriol? What are you doing there?" Tomoyo shrieked, slowly falling to the floor on her knees.

The Londoner had a piece of small cookie in his mouth, disabling him from speaking his answer coherently. He was also wearing his sleepwear. He chewed on his cookie and swallowed, and finally answered the heiress.

"I should be asking you the same question! What were you doing and why did you have a knife in your hands? Were you really planning to kill me?" Eriol asked, surprised as well.

Tomoyo shook her head. "I came down here to get a mug of hot chocolate until I heard noises there. I didn't think I'd see you there, Eriol. You really scared me!"

The Londoner saw the scared look on her face and apologized quickly. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Then what were you doing there?"

"I also came down here to have something to eat but I can't seem to find my favourite cereals out in the kitchen so I came here to look if we have any stock of it." Eriol explained.

The heiress blinked. Now that was something she never expected. And this made her laugh at him. She never expected that he, the Hiiragizawa heir and gentleman from London, would sneak out at night just to look for his favourite cereals.

"That's very unlike you, Eriol. You're so out of character right now." Tomoyo said finally sitting up, still in a fit of giggles.

Eriol smiled. "I'm glad to be of your entertainment then, but then again I'm sorry if you think I'm not the prim-and-proper Eriol that you met right now." And he too laughed with her.

"It's okay. Maybe I should still expect that from a 20-year-old," Tomoyo said. "So did you find your cereals?"

Eriol nodded. "I did, but I can't seem to reach it. They stocked it in the highest shelf that's why I keep on climbing up but I still can't reach it. Maybe that's what you've been hearing."

"Oh, then I'll help you!" Tomoyo offered.

"Eh? How?"

Tomoyo thought for a second until an idea flashed in her mind as she pointed to a part on the floor and told Eriol to kneel. The latter did as he was told as the heiress took off her slippers and climbed onto Eriol's shoulders and tried to reach for his cereals.

Eriol looked up to point where the exact location of his food was but his face suddenly turned red because instead of seeing his cereal box directly, he managed to clearly see Tomoyo's underwear from below! The heiress' nightgown was even short and it didn't even help much.

"I got it!" Tomoyo exclaimed as her hands grabbed hold of a box and looked down to show her companion his cereals.

Wrong timing though, because the moment that Tomoyo looked down, she could already see Eriol's red face and wondered how come he looks like that right now until she realized that the nightgown she was wearing could clearly expose her underwear from below.

"You pervert!" Shrieking, she tried to cover her underwear but this only made the both of them lose their balance making them suddenly fall. Fortunately for her, she landed on top of the Londoner so she wasn't in as much pain as he was.

"Ow," Eriol moaned.

But the impact didn't stop there. Once they landed on the floor, it caused a small quake that made the items from the shelves suddenly topple over and land on them. Now they were covered by different types of chips, cereal boxes, and other stored food. It was a good thing though that none of them opened from their boxes so they were free from any kind of food mess.


Eriol sighed as he closed the door of the food closet, a bit exhausted after cleaning up and putting the foods back on their respective shelves. Tomoyo was back on her stool, sighing as well as she sipped her already cool chocolate drink. She did wonder how come no one else woke up after the whole mess and noise they made around the kitchen, but then just quickly shrugged it off.

"Thanks for helping me get my cereals," the Hiiragizawa heir said as he walked towards the refrigerator to get his milk and prepared his cereal bowl.

Tomoyo narrowed his eyes at him playfully. "I was helping you get your food and you thank me by peeping at my underwear?" and this made Eriol's face turn red once again, almost spilling the milk he was pouring.

"I didn't mean to! I was supposed to point to you the exact location of it but when I looked up, the view of your underwear was in the way!" he defended.

"So it was my panties' fault now?"

"N-No!"

Tomoyo continued to send him playful glares though but she eventually just laughed and waved it off. "Fine, I forgive you. Just don't let it happen again."

"Yes, of course." Eriol said as he moved to sit beside Tomoyo's stool on the counter. "May I sit beside you?" and Tomoyo nodded.

She saw him sit beside her and ate his food happily. "Cocoa pops, huh. Interesting choice, but why is it your favourite?" She asked curiously, taking a sip of her drink once more.

Eriol shrugged. "I've been eating this cereal ever since I was a little kid. It's chocolate flavoured, need I say more?"

"I never thought of you as a person who would choose chocolate flavours above anything. I thought of you as an…I don't know, a person who chooses those bland, or coffee flavours."

"I'm not that old, Tomoyo." He chuckled. He suddenly had an idea and grabbed another spoon and gave it to his companion. "Here, why don't you try it yourself?"

Tomoyo blinked but gladly accepted the spoon and took a share from Eriol's bowl.

"Well?" Eriol looked at her, waiting for her judgment.

"I wasn't born yesterday, Eriol. I've tasted this before of course!" Tomoyo giggled.

"Then I'll get you your own bowl then if you want some more," the Londoner stood up to get another bowl but Tomoyo suddenly stopped him and just grabbed the cereal box and poured some more on their now sharing bowl.

"It's okay. I don't mind sharing this with you if you don't mind as well," she smiled and continued to eat.

"I don't mind."

And the both of them continued to eat, taking turns from the cereal bowl with little conversations in between. They talked mostly about random things, except…the kiss that just happened awhile ago. No one dared to bring that topic up.

"So you couldn't sleep too, huh?" he asked.

Tomoyo nodded. "It's probably because of thinking too much, I'm not sure."

"I understand how you feel."

"Yeah, you look like a person who has a lot of things on his mind. Has work been that hectic?"

"You can say that. I had a lot of work to do in advance because I won't be able to do them for a few days."

Tomoyo looked at him questioningly. "Why is that? Are you taking a break or something?"

Eriol just smiled and shook his head. "No, because we're scheduled to have a honeymoon the day after the wedding,"

"Eh?" this made the heiress blush. "So that's part of the deal, huh?" and Eriol nodded.

Now she ran out of things to say. She let out a breath and looked at the wall clock near them; it was already almost 4 in the morning. Wow, we've been already here for that long?

"Maybe we should head to bed now," she offered, taking her mug and putting it on the sink. Eriol nodded and did the same with their bowl and spoons as well. She was about to leave the kitchen and head up to her room until Eriol called her attention once again.

"Is this yours, Tomoyo?" He asked with the sketchbook and pencil in his hand; Tomoyo mentally slapped herself as to forgetting her stuff and walked towards him and accepted her things.

"Well, good night." Eriol greeted with a smile.

The raven-haired lass too gave a smile and without warning, she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on his cheeks, much to the Londoner's surprise.

"Thank you, Eriol. I never got to thank you properly for allowing me to buy my sketching materials. I'm really happy I get to design again thanks to you." she said.

Eriol stood there a bit shocked but then nodded. "You're welcome."

"Good night." she waved and quickly went up to her room, a faint blush present on her cheeks.


"Erioooooool! Where are you?" Nakuru called as she looked around the mansion for her cousin.

Morning already arrived and the tall brunette got up early since she got to sleep early last night. She walked down the stairs in the hopes of seeing Eriol but to no avail.

"Now where would he be? He wasn't in his room." She put on her thinking face and it suddenly brightened after an idea, "His office!"

Walking towards Eriol's office room, she opened and entered inside hoping to see him there. She stopped beside his desk and that's where her eyes scanned the whole room. She suddenly sighed, "Looks like he isn't here either. I'll just ask Mori then."

But just as she was about to leave, her eyes turned and suddenly noticed something on the desk. She blinked as if she didn't believe what was in front of her right now. She picked up the item that caught her attention and stared at it.

It was a picture.

Her eyes widened and her mouth turned into a big grin. Oh she had her cousin now! Giving a small evil laugh under her breath, she took the picture and placed it in her coat pocket, knowing what she's going to do once she sees her favourite pair once again.

It was a picture of Eriol and Tomoyo at the ball last night. They were in the middle of the dance floor—not exactly dancing—but were in the world of their own as they kissed, both of their eyes were closed obviously savouring the moment.

And Nakuru just happened to be the one to see it and grab it.


End of chapter

And they finally kissed in this chapter ;) So what do you think? One more chapter and it's wedding time! And chapter 10 might take a bit longer than usual to update because like I said, writer's block ;_; Still looking forward to everyone's reviews! ^^

cupid17: I think so too. :D OMG! I used to love their group! I was a big fan of them until I moved on from their fandom. Hihi. Thanks for the review! :D
EuroCuttie: Yep, they didn't kiss in the wedding first alright! Thanks for your review! ^^
James Birdsong, Maria-Reynne, princess thieves of heart, Eri-sshi, Tomo-chan, Sleepyreader319, ulq4schiffer, Shanaa12: Thank you all for your great reviews! :D

Love,
Claudia