}-- Chameleon --{
A/n : Long update. That stupid exam is the cause. Anyway, the story still takes the same time as the previous chapter. This is after Eriol went to the bar to meet his leader
Chapter 9
It was seven in the evening, and outside the Hiiragizawa Mansion, it began to snow slowly. While inside, the mistress of the house was sitting at the couch near the door. Tomoyo was struggling with her mind –trying to find out the way to fix her favorite the music box Soujiro Hojo had given her. It happened to be broken; but she couldn't remember how and when did it happen.
"Did I accidentally drop this box?" she asked herself as rotating it to check which part was in trouble, but after some time, she decided that she had better just let it that way. I'll bring it to the shop so they'll fix it for me, she thought as putting it on the small round table near her.
She was about to walk upstairs to her room, when the front door suddenly swung opened. She turned around to see who it was –though she may have known it even without looking. With a smile on her face, she walked to the foyer, where Eriol was.
"Welcome home!" she greeted him. "I didn't know that you'd come home fast. I thought you'd stay over at town. But I'm glad you're home anyway,"
Eriol put his briefcase on one of the table near him, and looked up to see Tomoyo's violet eyes giving their tenderness at him. She saw him narrowing his eyes as those blue gems-like eyes scanned her.
"Something wrong?" she asked.
"No," he replied shortly and diverted his eyes from her.
She frowned in worries. "Do you need anything? Have you had dinner? I can…"
"I only want to go to bed. Don't disturb me,"
She was actually getting accustomed with Eriol's cold behavior, so she didn't really mind about it. But being an expert in analyzing people, Tomoyo realized that something was really disturbing his mind. He may look calm, but this certain girl knew better. Her eyes were then gazing at her husband –who seemed to have trouble with taking off his black coat.
Tomoyo walked closer. "Here. Let me help you," she offered as she put her hand on his shoulder –in order to help him. But then he roughly got her hand away.
"Don't touch me!" he shouted.
She was taken aback. It was her first to see him that furious. He had no longer that calm look on his face. "I… I'm sorry…" she said in almost a whisper.
He ignored her and just took off his coat by himself. This time he managed to do it. He was about to put his coat on the table, when he realized what was on that table.
Tomoyo followed his eyes and immediately knew what made him paused. "Ah, that music box doesn't work properly. I am going to bring it to the shop tomorrow. Sorry that I put it recklessly," she explained as walking to the table.
Eriol put his coat on the other place on the table and took the music box. He stared at it –now with his usual cold eyes. Tomoyo was about to say thank you and took the box from him, when he suddenly dropped the box.
It fell so quickly –even faster than her realization. The box hit the floor hard and some of its components spread everywhere.
She widened her eyes and glared at Eriol –who was acting like nothing important had happened. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she yelled and quickly knelt beside the scattered things and checked the condition. "Oh no," she cried. Putting back the music box to the floor, she then tried to gather all of the parts. Tomoyo was about to snap at Eriol, when the guy suddenly stepped on the box –making it more broken.
"What do you mean by this?!!" Tomoyo couldn't control her temper anymore. "It's a very precious thing to me! Why did you… why did you…"
"It's from him, right?" he cut her.
"What?!"
"The music box. It's from your stupid former fiancée, right?"
She took a step back. "Hiiragizawa…" she lowered her voice's tone. "Don't you dare to mock him…"
Eriol exhaled a tired breath. "What are you expecting from him? That guy may have been rotten in his grave by now,"
"Why you…" anger flared in her eyes.
"You're so pathetic, Daidouji. Still expecting… what? Love? It's ridiculous. And are you sure that he really does love you? Daidouji, there's nothing really right or wrong in this world. Nothing is certain. But for sure, thing like love doesn't exist. It's time for you to grow and learn,"
She was chocked. "Soujiro… he loves me…"
Eriol smirked. "Really? I know what men want, Daidouji. I'm sure if he had you, he would just throw you away after he was satisfied with you. Women… you and your silly feelings worth nothing,"
Tomoyo gritted her teeth. Eriol laughed. He laughed a devil's laugh. "In fact, I think right now he was having a party with Satan that he could get away from you. Hhh… It must be fun for him,"
She didn't say anything. Just with one look at his cold stare, and she knew that she couldn't stand being with him again. She had to get out. She had enough.
The snow was falling hard that night. Katherine quickly finished her works –lit some of the fireplaces at that mansion. As soon as she finished lighting them, she walked to the living room near the foyer and found his master was sitting there. A piece of business paper was on his hand.
"Master?" Katherine carefully called. " Mrs. Tomoyo… she hasn't come back,"
"Just let her. That girl just likes to piss people off,"
Katherine stared at the window. "I,it's almost nine o'clock... How about if anything bad happens to her, Master?"
"What is bad for her? She can take care of her own self,"
"But... Master? Don't you feel worried about her?"
Eriol turned his eyes from the paper and just stared at the young maid.
Tomoyo glanced up to the sky. The sky was starless, yet it was still beautiful. The snow had stopped falling, but she had a feeling that it would begin snowing again. Rubbing her palm with the other hand, she blew breath to her hand just to make them feel warmer. "Damn, I should have brought extra coat. It's too cold in here," she said, regretting her action.
Should I come back now? she thought. No. I don't want to see that Hiiragizawa's face again. He's… more than just pissing me off. It's enough torture from him that I get…
The silence from her surrounding spooked her. She decided to sing to fill the silence gap.
It always relaxed her. Singing. Letting all of her feeling and emotion out. It was fun. And most people said that she had a wonderful voice.
Soujiro said that too, she remembered.
A tear rolled again. And she hated it. Sonomi had taught her everything about always being composed and calm, but Tomoyo couldn't practice it in the real world.
She kept singing though her voice started to break and whimper.
"I don't know you can sing well," a calm voice said making Tomoyo to stop singing. "And I don't know you can climb tree well," he continued as he looked up at Tomoyo –who was actually sitting on one of a tree's strong branch.
Tomoyo showed her head and looked down –where she saw the dark haired boy. She wondered why on earth could she have an attraction to him before. That guy was very cold. And rude also. Tomoyo shrugged and decided to ignore him and better watched the sky again.
…
But after a long silence, she decided to ask, "Why are you here?"
"To pick you up," Eriol replied.
She could sense her own heart beat faster. But it didn't prevent her to lose her trying-to-be-calm act. As a reply, she just snapped, "After all that you've done to me? No, Hiiragizawa. No. I tried to be patience, I tried to be nice, to understand you and not to disturb you, but I have my own limit of patience!!" Tomoyo yelled and felt breathless soon after that. Hearing none of his harsh comment after, she curiously looked down to see if she had bored him until he got home.
To her surprise, he was nowhere to be seen. Nowhere to be seen on the ground.
"I come here to pick you up, not to hear your babbles. Will you please at least be grateful?" a voice came from her back, and warm breath was felt on the back of her neck. She gasped as seeing Eriol had also climbed the tree –and then sat comfortably at the other branch near her.
"Wha…,"
"Or do you prefer not to go home and stay here?"
"I… I'd prefer to stay here!" she stubbornly said. After all, it would be quite embarrassing if she just gave up easily to him.
Eriol's sapphire eyes stared at her amethyst ones. "Fine. So from now, enjoy your new home. And don't worry. I think you wouldn't be lonely here. I'm sure snakes will be delightful to make friends with you,"
She paused. "There are snakes here?" she said in low tone.
"Don't know. Try to socialize and maybe you'll find out one or two. After all, this tree stands in the middle of the wood, right?"
"Still on the outskirts of the wood," she insisted. And was pretty sure about that. When she ran away from home a couple of hours ago, she knew that she couldn't have been far.
When she thought of it, she remembered. "Hi, Hiiragizawa? H,how could you… find me here?"
"Instinct. You won't be able to go far especially in this kind of weather,"
Now that he mentioned about the weather, Tomoyo realized how cold it was. It had been breezing, but it was freezing now. Her little arguments with Eriol had made her forgot about that.
She sighed. Maybe, I'd better come home. I don't like staying in this place, and Hiiragizawa… well at least he isn't as temperamental as before. Maybe it was just the result of a bad day.
"I'll go home," she found herself speaking. "But that doesn't mean that I've forgiven you,"
He raised an eyebrow.
She got annoyed again. "Hiiragizawa, don't act as if you don't have any mistakes!"
"So now what? You want me to apologize?"
"Of course! But it still won't mean anything if you don't change your behavior!"
"You're such an annoying woman,"
Tomoyo inhaled a deep breath. It was already a defeat for her. She should have known that there was no use in arguing with Eriol.
"Daidouji,"
"Alright. Alright. I'll go home and not talk too much again. That's what you want, right? I… I'm tired. I only want to…,"
"Daidouji,"
Tomoyo sighed. "What now, Hiiragizawa?"
"I'm sorry,"
She just misheard, didn't she?
Before she could really convincing herself of what she had just heard, Eriol had jumped from the tree to the ground.
She blinked. Has he never felt afraid that he may break his bones?!
"Come on, Daidouji. I still have some documents to sign back at home,"
Tomoyo remained silent and looked down carefully.
Eriol smirked. "It's only a guess, but I assume you can only climb up, right?"
Damn. From where could he know that? Thought Tomoyo.
Eriol exhaled a quick breath. "You're really wasting my time, Daidouji. Just jump and it all will be finished,"
She eyed him with horrified looks. "Jump? Maybe it's a simple matter for you, but I'm still wearing this stupid gown and I may not be as athletic as you are!"
"Glad that you realize that,"
Tomoyo rolled her eyes. But then again, she had no other choice. "If I jump… I mean… If I fall, will you catch me?"
He raised his shoulders. "Depends on my mood at that time. You've annoyed me quite some time, so I don't really know if I want to help you or not,"
Tomoyo needed a really hard try to calm herself down. "Fine, fine. I'll climb down by myself. I don't need your help, though. I can do it myself," she said as raising her gown to her calf's level, so that she could climb down easier. Turning around, she then carefully placed her shoes to the lower branch. Then another. And another.
Phew, she thought. It's not as hard as I thought. Tomoyo was only 2 meter and half from the ground. She did a great job actually. But when she was about to reach the last two branches –her hand was slipped and failed to reach anything to support her.
Too shock to scream, Tomoyo could only felt the each seconds of falling itself. She shut her eyes tightly –hoping that it would lessen the damage of falling
…
She opened her eyes. She was on the ground of snow. But she didn't feel hurt –at least not that much. Remembering something, she grew afraid. Uh,oh. Could it be… that? A bad feeling struck her. And besides… that Hiiragizawa guy… was nowhere to be seen –again.
"How many times do you need to realize that you're in the perfect position to break my rib's bones?"
With cheeks turning red, Tomoyo quickly moved aside and let Hiiragizawa had some fresh air. She felt bad. It was the second time she fell into him at one day. "Uh… thank you. I guess you're in the mood to catch me," she said –trying to melt the uneasiness.
"I didn't catch you, Miss. You just fell right to me," he said as holding his chest. Tomoyo couldn't see his expression (and to think never she saw him showing any expression), but she was sure that it must be hurt. Not saying any more words, Eriol walked to another tree in the range of 10 meters or so –where his horse was tied. After checking the saddle and untied his horse, he turned back to her. "Get on,"
Tomoyo nodded and approached him. "Sorry. I should have brought my own horse. But I was so dazed that I couldn't think well,"
"Since when you can think well? It'll be an amazing thing if you can start to use…" his voice trailed.
Tomoyo stopped massaging her hurt arm and looked at his sudden silent self. "Hiiragizawa? What is it?"
But Eriol ignored her. His eyes locked at one point. At the dark trees that laid 20 meters in front of him. "Daidouji…,"
"Hiiragizawa? Don't scare me. What is it? What are you looking at?" she asked as turning around.
"Lie down to the ground,"
"What?!"
"I said lie down!!" he yelled.
"Hiira…,"
DHAR!!
Her words were cut by the sound of something. In a split of second, she grew afraid. She knew that sound. Remembered that sound…
The bullet…
She was stunned.
Couldn't move.
Would it be the end?
Tbc…
A/n : Aaaaaaargh!!! MY DAMNIT SHIT STUPID FINAL EXAMINATION IS FINALLY OVER!!! !! I'm so happy! I don't have to sacrifice my weekend for studying again! And I don't need to do any examinations again until I become a high school student!! … Oh, that is… if I pass… change mood Ow… shit. Wish me luck. I really really need a good score to get into the highschool that I've been dreaming on…
