**at last, the continuation of Picture Perfect! I hope this is long enough for you guys. Just in case you want to see my other fanfic projects, check the Blue Sapphire section of my site under Preview.**
Chapter 11
"Hiiragizawa, for pete's sake, I told you to groove your body, not do a statue dance!" Tomoyo's shrill voice echoed in the whole auditorium.
"Give me a break, Daidouji-san. This is just the rehearsal anyway," he said calmly.
"Exactly! If you can't even perfect your act in the practice, what more in the real thing?" she screamed.
"Hey relax!" Sakura patted her soothingly. "Eriol-kun would do fine!" She motioned Chiharu to fetch a glass of water.
"That's right! Listen to your cousin!" advised Eriol.
"Oh why you..bull-" She suddenly broke into a sob.
The noises in the whole place pitched down to murmurs and buzzes. Everyone's eyes were cast on them.
He looked instantly apologetic. "Hey, don't take it too seriously!" He jumped down from the stage and rushed towards her, but Tomoyo stepped back. "Don't you dare come near me or I'll take suicide right here right now, I swear!" she hissed fiercely.
"I said I'm sorry!" he said meekly.
Sakura quietly dragged Tomoyo away. "I think we all need a break. Chiharu, take over for Tomoyo, ok?"
"Right!"
Tomoyo wiped an angry tear aside. "Damn him! I should have known better than to drag him into this. Now he's surely going to mess the whole event up!"
"Aren't you exagerrating a little bit?" her second cousin asked timidly. "He was just clowning around..not serious enough to cause you hypertension." She frowned thoughtfully. "Why do I have this feeling that your anger at him awhile ago was personal?"
"Hah! No amount of my irritation at him is enough to drive me over the edge-" Tomoyo balked when she saw comprehension dawn on her best friend's face.
"So you don't really like Eriol-kun..in fact, you can't even stand him at all..why didn't you tell me that?"
She bit her lip guiltily. "B-Because I'm afraid that I might just make you said if you know that I and Clow-Reed-the-second-coming aren't in friendly terms. I know you care for him a lot, though for the life of me, I will never know why."
Sakura giggled. "I think you do, though you aren't just aware of it."
"What?" she cried in shock. "Are you trying to suggest that I..that him..that we..You're positively out of your mind, Sakura!"
"Well, he did tell me something about the Dream Card's prophecy.."
"And you believed him?"
"Why won't I? He's Clow Reed's reincarnation." She shrugged. "Anyway, just as the saying goes, 'the more you hate, the more you love'. Or 'you always hurt the one you love'."
"Quit it!"
"Or.." Sakura winked. "Love your enemy!"
"Why don't you tell that to your Little Wolf?" she replied, smiling as imagining Syaoran's reaction to Sakura's words.
"Well, in any case, you must tell me about you and Eriol-kun sometime, ok?"
"Hah! As if I would spend even a millisecond of my precious time to talk about that lowlife!"
But Tomoyo felt definitely better now. At least one of her crises in life were solved. No more masquerade for Sakura.
Now if only she could forget about that stupid stolen kiss.
"Maybe packing Hiiragizawa into a one-way rocket trip to the moon will help. He's not the best Earth emmissary, but those aliens would live..and I would," she thought dryly.
That afternoon, Tomoyo was just closing the auditorium when she heard the piano in the music room playing.
"Hiiragizawa is attacking the keys again, " she guessed. Despite her mind's protest, she went into the Music Hall.
"I just want to hear him play..I'm going to admire the music, not the pianist," she rationalized.
She peeked into the room, and there was Wonder Boy himself, writing something in his music notebook. He then played again. "So I'll live my life in a dream world.." He paused to write something in his notebook and resumed playing again. "..in a wistful memory.."
He played an instrumental, pausing once or twice to add notes in his music sheet.
"Oh it's sad to belong to someone else when the right one comes along. Yes it's sad to belong to someone else when the right one comes along," he sang softly, blending with the piano's own gentle soothing notes. He paused, as if sensing something, then smiled wickedly. "Oh it's fun to be watched by someone else whom you won't expect at all. Yes, my dear get in here and sit by my side. I'll play my whole life just for you." He suddenly turned to her. "My best performance is showcased only to my kind of audience..those uninvited."
Her face burned. "I was just passing by.."
"Right. You're going to use the fire exit at the end of this hallway to get out of school. Oh come on, Tomoyo, you can do better than that."
"Sock it, Hiiragizawa. I came here to tell you something actually."
"OK then, bring it on," he teased. "Rock my world!"
"I'msorryaboutawhileagoIdidn'tmeantoembarrassyouinfrontofeveryoneI'msorryagain," her words came in one breath, then bowed, face all flushed.
His jaw dropped. The word 'sorry' was a real punch! "D-Did I just hear you apologize..to me? No offense, Daidouji-san, but that is totally unlike you. So where's the catch here?"
"None."
"Then what in the world made you do this?" he asked insistently.
"It's who. Sakura-chan made me."
"Sakura?" He made a mental note to send her a fabulous thank-you gift this weekend.
"She told me to..love my enemy, just as the bible says," she explained.
"Love your enemy..sounds good to me," he said half-jokingly.
"I take it I'm forgiven?" she asked.
"Of course, Flower."
She ignored that one. For the sake of Sakura and the bible. She decided to change the topic. "So how did the practice go?"
"Do we really have to wear those G-string thingies?" he asked.
"It's for your tribal dance number, remember?" she reminded him.
"But it's revealing!" he whined.
"Say that the next time you watch a swimsuit competition in a beauty pageant." She flipped her hair over her shoulders. "So do you already have something for the talent portion?"
"I'm going to play the piano..and this same piece. I'm doing a rearrangement of an old song."
"Hmm..'Sad to Belong'? Why that particular song?"
His eyes averted her inquisitive gaze. "N-No special reason." He stood up and gathered his things quickly. "Want to walk home with me, or will your driver fetch you?"
"Neither. I'm walking home all by myself."
"So that means you don't love me enough." He mocked sadness in his face.
"Nah..I just don't trust you enough. You might try to pull.." She turned her back at him so as not to show him her burning face. "..that stunt you did this morning." With that, she hurried away.
"OK, she's honest," he remarked aloud. Sighing, he stood up to close the Music room. "She was my first kiss too, but I'm not complaining!" he whined.
The empty hallway gave him no reply.
**to be continued**
Chapter 11
"Hiiragizawa, for pete's sake, I told you to groove your body, not do a statue dance!" Tomoyo's shrill voice echoed in the whole auditorium.
"Give me a break, Daidouji-san. This is just the rehearsal anyway," he said calmly.
"Exactly! If you can't even perfect your act in the practice, what more in the real thing?" she screamed.
"Hey relax!" Sakura patted her soothingly. "Eriol-kun would do fine!" She motioned Chiharu to fetch a glass of water.
"That's right! Listen to your cousin!" advised Eriol.
"Oh why you..bull-" She suddenly broke into a sob.
The noises in the whole place pitched down to murmurs and buzzes. Everyone's eyes were cast on them.
He looked instantly apologetic. "Hey, don't take it too seriously!" He jumped down from the stage and rushed towards her, but Tomoyo stepped back. "Don't you dare come near me or I'll take suicide right here right now, I swear!" she hissed fiercely.
"I said I'm sorry!" he said meekly.
Sakura quietly dragged Tomoyo away. "I think we all need a break. Chiharu, take over for Tomoyo, ok?"
"Right!"
Tomoyo wiped an angry tear aside. "Damn him! I should have known better than to drag him into this. Now he's surely going to mess the whole event up!"
"Aren't you exagerrating a little bit?" her second cousin asked timidly. "He was just clowning around..not serious enough to cause you hypertension." She frowned thoughtfully. "Why do I have this feeling that your anger at him awhile ago was personal?"
"Hah! No amount of my irritation at him is enough to drive me over the edge-" Tomoyo balked when she saw comprehension dawn on her best friend's face.
"So you don't really like Eriol-kun..in fact, you can't even stand him at all..why didn't you tell me that?"
She bit her lip guiltily. "B-Because I'm afraid that I might just make you said if you know that I and Clow-Reed-the-second-coming aren't in friendly terms. I know you care for him a lot, though for the life of me, I will never know why."
Sakura giggled. "I think you do, though you aren't just aware of it."
"What?" she cried in shock. "Are you trying to suggest that I..that him..that we..You're positively out of your mind, Sakura!"
"Well, he did tell me something about the Dream Card's prophecy.."
"And you believed him?"
"Why won't I? He's Clow Reed's reincarnation." She shrugged. "Anyway, just as the saying goes, 'the more you hate, the more you love'. Or 'you always hurt the one you love'."
"Quit it!"
"Or.." Sakura winked. "Love your enemy!"
"Why don't you tell that to your Little Wolf?" she replied, smiling as imagining Syaoran's reaction to Sakura's words.
"Well, in any case, you must tell me about you and Eriol-kun sometime, ok?"
"Hah! As if I would spend even a millisecond of my precious time to talk about that lowlife!"
But Tomoyo felt definitely better now. At least one of her crises in life were solved. No more masquerade for Sakura.
Now if only she could forget about that stupid stolen kiss.
"Maybe packing Hiiragizawa into a one-way rocket trip to the moon will help. He's not the best Earth emmissary, but those aliens would live..and I would," she thought dryly.
That afternoon, Tomoyo was just closing the auditorium when she heard the piano in the music room playing.
"Hiiragizawa is attacking the keys again, " she guessed. Despite her mind's protest, she went into the Music Hall.
"I just want to hear him play..I'm going to admire the music, not the pianist," she rationalized.
She peeked into the room, and there was Wonder Boy himself, writing something in his music notebook. He then played again. "So I'll live my life in a dream world.." He paused to write something in his notebook and resumed playing again. "..in a wistful memory.."
He played an instrumental, pausing once or twice to add notes in his music sheet.
"Oh it's sad to belong to someone else when the right one comes along. Yes it's sad to belong to someone else when the right one comes along," he sang softly, blending with the piano's own gentle soothing notes. He paused, as if sensing something, then smiled wickedly. "Oh it's fun to be watched by someone else whom you won't expect at all. Yes, my dear get in here and sit by my side. I'll play my whole life just for you." He suddenly turned to her. "My best performance is showcased only to my kind of audience..those uninvited."
Her face burned. "I was just passing by.."
"Right. You're going to use the fire exit at the end of this hallway to get out of school. Oh come on, Tomoyo, you can do better than that."
"Sock it, Hiiragizawa. I came here to tell you something actually."
"OK then, bring it on," he teased. "Rock my world!"
"I'msorryaboutawhileagoIdidn'tmeantoembarrassyouinfrontofeveryoneI'msorryagain," her words came in one breath, then bowed, face all flushed.
His jaw dropped. The word 'sorry' was a real punch! "D-Did I just hear you apologize..to me? No offense, Daidouji-san, but that is totally unlike you. So where's the catch here?"
"None."
"Then what in the world made you do this?" he asked insistently.
"It's who. Sakura-chan made me."
"Sakura?" He made a mental note to send her a fabulous thank-you gift this weekend.
"She told me to..love my enemy, just as the bible says," she explained.
"Love your enemy..sounds good to me," he said half-jokingly.
"I take it I'm forgiven?" she asked.
"Of course, Flower."
She ignored that one. For the sake of Sakura and the bible. She decided to change the topic. "So how did the practice go?"
"Do we really have to wear those G-string thingies?" he asked.
"It's for your tribal dance number, remember?" she reminded him.
"But it's revealing!" he whined.
"Say that the next time you watch a swimsuit competition in a beauty pageant." She flipped her hair over her shoulders. "So do you already have something for the talent portion?"
"I'm going to play the piano..and this same piece. I'm doing a rearrangement of an old song."
"Hmm..'Sad to Belong'? Why that particular song?"
His eyes averted her inquisitive gaze. "N-No special reason." He stood up and gathered his things quickly. "Want to walk home with me, or will your driver fetch you?"
"Neither. I'm walking home all by myself."
"So that means you don't love me enough." He mocked sadness in his face.
"Nah..I just don't trust you enough. You might try to pull.." She turned her back at him so as not to show him her burning face. "..that stunt you did this morning." With that, she hurried away.
"OK, she's honest," he remarked aloud. Sighing, he stood up to close the Music room. "She was my first kiss too, but I'm not complaining!" he whined.
The empty hallway gave him no reply.
**to be continued**