Disclaimer from Part one applies.
Notes: I really, really, really want to thank everybody who has reviewed me and threatened me with death. ^.^ Kali, Freeze, Sakura Angel and too many more to mention, thanks. Vocabulary words today: Fatis…a type of elf-faerie; the ugliest of them is said to rival Lancelot in looks. Think Legolas from LotR and Oberon from 'Midsummer Night's Dream'.
Dedications: Chelle-sama, I adore you. There's nobody else on the planet that I'd rather share my DNA with. Finish something for me?
* * *
School seemed as cantankerous as he, however. An office worker was bent over his desk in such a manner that he couldn't reach it without shoving the poor woman off of her feet and it was a mark of how very tired he was feeling that he actually considered it. Yamazaki was arguing with her and Terada was glaring at Yamazaki. Rika was giving her husband the evil-eye as she placed her homework on his desk and Chiharu was glaring daggers at Naoko, who was ignoring her. Xiao-Lang was talking in a low, hushed voice with Tomoyo; he pulled her into the corner when Eriol came in—glaring at him as he did so. Eriol felt himself frown and decided to deal with the office personnel first.
"Is there something wrong?" He asked as politely and pleasantly as he could.
"Oh, no, of course not. I'm just measuring the desk, checking it out." The woman beamed. "Terada-sensei said that perhaps now this class would be able to accept a new student."
"He's not leaving for another week." Yamazaki said stoutly, folding his arms.
Terada, in the front of the room groaned. "Yamazaki-san, we've been through this."
Eriol arched an eyebrow. "He's quite right. I will be here through next week."
"Still, the work needs to be done. Having Hiiragizawa-san back, as nice as it is, is interrupting our schedule." Naoko said softly, not turning in her desk. Chiharu's glare increased. "And arguing about it, when it needs doing, is just going to disrupt things more."
"Hiiragizawa-san isn't interrupting." Chiharu muttered. "He's being a student just like the rest of us."
"Let's not get into that. Besides, the matter is already settled." Terada nodded toward the, now departing, office aide.
Rika frowned and Eriol heard her speak softly to her husband. "It could have waited until after school with no real harm done. The new student isn't even scheduled for another month."
"Seats, everybody."
"Jackals." Yamazaki said loudly, glaring out the door. Terada's gaze sharpened. Yamazaki took his seat, reaching out to hold his fiancé's hand for a moment.
Xiao-Lang and Tomoyo removed themselves from the corner they'd sequestered into, both of them pink-cheeked. That irritable, ill-slept corner of Eriol's mind growled. "Tomoyo-san, ohayou." He said politely. She jumped as though he'd shot her.
"Eriol-san!" One hand rose in an unconscious gesture to her cheek. "Ohayou." Eriol frowned, glanced at a glaring Xiao-Lang, and frowned harder.
"Is something wrong, Tomoyo-san?" He asked, still looking spades at his little relative.
Terada cleared his throat, preventing Tomoyo from answering. "We're about to begin." Eriol felt the insane urge to give his old teacher the cressy salute and tell him exactly where he could take the 'about to begin two minutes before the bell' shtick. It was a most unsettled feeling and he was very, very glad when Sakura bounced through the door.
"Ohayou!" She sang to the class at large. "Guess what! Otousan sent cookies for everybody today! He said that today was such a special day that we should have something to celebrate and then he said that he'd gotten up extra early so that we could have wonderful, fresh cookies!" She waved merrily at him, Tomoyo and Xiao-Lang as she skipped to teacher's desk. "I don't know what's so special about today; but if Otousan said it's special and made a special effort then I'm sure it's something wonderful!"
"Tomoyo-san?" Eriol leaned forward, tapping her shoulder to get her attention. She blinked at him questioningly and he would have believed her innocence, only he knew her better. "What's the matter?" He shot a brief glance at Xiao-Lang, and yes, still glaring, before looking back at his friend. "What was that about?"
She bit her lip and shared a look with the young man next to him. "It was nothing much." Eriol didn't have to look at his former-life's many-times-removed cousin to see the sudden waves of anger roll off him. "It's just a…a situation that I'm involved in that Li-kun became aware of. There isn't much to be done for it, ne, Li-kun?" She smiled brightly. Eriol thought he detected a hint of pleading to it as well.
Xiao-Lang looked torn. "If you say so, Daidouji." He muttered finally, caught Eriol's distrustful look, and glared. "You look like shit." He announced just as Sakura sat down.
"Syaoran-kun!" Sakura blinked. "What a thing to say!" Eriol smirked in satisfaction, anticipating the verbal run-down sweet little Xiao-Lang would get from his kawaii little girlfriend. "Even if it is true, you'll hurt Eriol-kun's feelings and maybe he's sick and not feeling well." She continued. Eriol glared witheringly at nothing in particular before turning back to Tomoyo.
"Do I really look that bad?" He asked.
She nodded, a small smile lurking on her lips. "You look," She reached out and for a moment Eriol caught his breath. Her hand paused and gestured toward his hair and then his school tie. "Very rumpled." She finished. He felt his tie and his hair and winced. "Are you not feeling well?" Her voice was quiet and suddenly Eriol felt every hour he hadn't slept catch up to him in a rush.
"I'm fine." He bit back a yawn. "I just didn't sleep very much last night. I was working on your song."
"My song?" There was something funny in her voice and for some odd reason it made Eriol's heart thump.
"Yeah." He muttered, inexplicably bashful. "I wrote a new one last night. For you. While I was thinking about you. It's not done…you know…you haven't seen it yet. And it needs words. You know." He stuttered. Sleeplessness was making his brain fuzzy.
"Oh." Tomoyo's surprised, pleased smile made the fuzzy feeling in his brain worse as her cheeks went pink again. "Arigatou."
The bells chimed, making further conversation impossible and Eriol settled down to work, sleepily thankful that he wasn't actually a student and didn't, therefore, actually have to pay close attention to the lesson; not that he would have had to do so anyway. Clow's education had covered the bases and then some and Eriol had had to spend nearly eighteen years as an eleven year old passing the time somehow. He was happy enough, and tired enough, to simply sit and watch the sunlight glint off dust motes in the air and lose itself in Tomoyo's hair; it looked so warm and soft and inviting, with the sunlight making iridescent rainbows in it.
Eriol felt gritty, worn and weary by lack of sleep. He felt pressed-in upon by everybody, by all the colors and sounds and expectations. All he wanted, he mused, was someplace warm and quiet to hide himself away. He watched Tomoyo's hair shift over his math paper and against her shoulders, creating tiny pockets and caverns of burnished colors and darkness. Warm, he drifted on the thought; her hair looked warm and soft. He wanted to wrap it around him, tuck himself into the curve where Tomoyo's neck and shoulder met and sleep, safe, where it smelt of spices and flowers and her. And oh, it couldn't possibly be that soft, that warm, that peacefully gentle. He reached out and twined his fingers through that glorious, shifting heaven, determined to find out if it was all that it promised and if it was then he'd bury himself in it and rest.
"SIXTY-THREE!" The voice, Chinese-accented Japanese, made Eriol flinch and glance over. The glare that accompanied the raised voice was directed nearly-straight at him. He blinked and then followed the direction of Xiao-Lang's dark look and found himself with his hand tangled in Tomoyo's hair.
He looked dumbly at his hand, at the fine strands of hair wrapped around his fingers and blinked, soft, so soft, before shifting them to lie over their owner's shoulder. "Gomen, Tomoyo-san." He muttered. "Your hair was on my paper."
"Gomenne, Eriol-san." She returned and he watched her lay one hand over the section of hair he'd placed. His heart thumped hard again and he leaned back in his chair only to nearly fall out of it as the bell chimed for lunch. Tomoyo stood. "I guess we'll see you after school, Eriol-san." She picked up her book bag then hesitated. "But, you look very tired. Maybe you'd rather rest than come to the Aquarium?"
"Maybe." The word felt heavy as it tumbled from his mouth. Tired, and so confused, Eriol still felt the insane desire to block out the world by tunneling into her.
"Maybe I'll see you tomorrow, instead." She smiled without really smiling at all.
"I'm staying for lunch." Eriol followed her out into the hall and tried to recall if the school lunch was any good and decided that he could use a quick spell if it wasn't. Tomoyo beamed.
"Daidouji." Xiao-Lang was a step behind them and his scowl was only a small line between his eyebrows until he turned it onto Eriol. "Sakura and Mihara-san are talking about the dress again." His look, as he turned it back to Tomoyo, was vaguely put out. "Talk to them. The wedding isn't for two years yet."
Tomoyo giggled. "Two years can pass very quickly, Li-kun. Why don't you two go get lunch started?" Smiling she went back to the classroom.
"So," Xiao-Lang scowled and jerked his head. "You decided to stay for lunch today. Just now?" He called the last over his shoulder as he stalked down the hall.
"Yes. I might not join everybody this afternoon." Eriol explained as Xiao-Lang jerked open his locker and collected his lunch and a blanket.
"So." He grunted and crossed the hall to pull open a second locker. "You wrote a song for Daidouji last night?" He pulled out another lunch. It took a moment for Eriol to realize that it must belong to Sakura.
"You were listening?" He blinked as Xiao-Lang opened yet another locker. Did he have the combination for every locker in the school? "Whose…?" He asked, gesturing.
Xiao-Lang rolled his eyes. "Daidouji's. We eat lunch together, pay attention." He banged the locker shut and walked toward the doors to the back of the school. "You wrote Daidouji a song?" He asked again.
He wrote all of his songs for Tomoyo, he thought blearily. "Yeah."
"And you're here with that Teacher." Xiao-Lang said as he stomped outside.
"With Kaho? Yes." Eriol narrowly missed being hit with the slamming door as he walked right into a solid roundhouse to his solar plexus. He hit the ground doubled up, gasping, and staring at Xiao-Lang.
Xiao-Lang, for his part, was furious. He shot one quick glance at the door before glowering down again. "You," He spat in Cantonese, "will keep your big, fat, clumsy, stupid hands to your big, stupid, clumsy self or you'll have a big, fat, split lip."
"Wha--?" Eriol managed to wheeze.
"Daidouji is my friend and I won't let anybody hurt her." Xiao-Lang continued, still in Cantonese. "So you will keep your big, stupid, ugly mouth shut."
"Syaoran-kun!" Sakura tore out of the school at an unholy speed. "What are you doing?"
"Li-kun!" Tomoyo was close on her heels.
Eriol was on his feet at once and he grabbed a fistful of the other boy's shirt. "Who's trying to hurt her?" He snarled in Cantonese. The Chinese boy blinked. "Damn it, Xiao-Lang, she is my best friend and I won't stand by and let somebody hurt her."
"Some bastard is trying to play games with her heart." Xiao-Lang growled and pried his fingers out of his shirt.
That made Eriol shake his head. "Her heart belongs to..." He paused and glanced at Sakura-san who was trying to puzzle out their rapid-fire conversation. "Another. So what you said doesn't make sense."
"Jesus, you're slow." Xiao-Lang snorted. "Pay attention." But his voice was gentler. "Anyway, this jackass is involved and he keeps making overtures." He was studying him closely.
"Bastard." Eriol snarled. "Which one is he? If he loves another he shouldn't be playing games."
"But maybe he's just an idiot." Xiao-Lang looked thoughtfully towards the gates at the edge of the lawn. "Maybe he just hasn't figured things out yet." He looked at Sakura and raised his eyebrows.
"None of that sounds like 'I'm sorry'!" She cried in frustration. "Syaoran-kun, what's going on?"
"Nothing." He said in Japanese, with a smile. He bent to pick up the dropped blanket and lunches. "You're might not be such a bad guy for an idiot, Hiiragizawa, since you've helped Sakura, and Daidouji is smart and she thinks you're okay." He said in Cantonese. "But if it turns out you're a bastard, I'll hit you again."
"I heard Tomoyo-chan's name and mine," Sakura said and folded her arms. "I didn't hear 'I'm sorry'."
"It's alright." Eriol reassured her before turning back to her boyfriend and dropping back into quick, pleasant sounding Chinese. "You're a moron and a jerk and I could take you any day of the week, but if it turns out that you need help with that boy, I'll help you. For her."
"What's going on?" Tomoyo's voice was very soft. Eriol noticed that her eyes were locked on Xiao-Lang and the look in them was beyond his ability to describe. If he were Xiao-Lang he'd be shaking in abject terror while begging for mercy and feeling like a heel.
"Call it male-bonding." Xiao-Lang was made of sterner stuff, apparently. He didn't quail. "He doesn't understand anything but he's your friend for sure, Daidouji." He grumbled and headed for a spot under one of the trees. "I think we're friends now, even if I still don't like him."
"Hitting people is not friends, Syaoran-kun!" Sakura yelped, following him away. "You should say you're sorry and then you can be friends."
Tomoyo's smile was amused as she watched her friends and concerned as she turned to look at him. "Are you alright, Eriol-san? What was that all about? All we could see was Li-kun hitting you."
"I think…" He paused, Tomoyo would not want them
interfering, especially considering what he'd heard this morning. "That it's personal. I offered to help him help his friend." He shook his head. "I'd hate to see 'enemies'. I can't believe I offered to help him." Eriol sighed. "I'm going to get lunch."
You're still a mystery
But there's something so easy
in how you're sweet to me
I feel completed
Like it's something I needed
~~Heart of Mine; Peter Salett, Heart of Mine
Tomoyo listened to the swish and scrape of her skate blades over the ice and tried not to think about anything but the sound. It was difficult because her mother had rented out the entire skating rink and there were no other skaters to listen to and avoid as there was most Sundays after her lessons. Swish and glide, she threw herself into a neat axel and tried not to think about her mother accidentally having tea with Eriol the day before when Kinomoto-papa had been busy with his assistants. She didn't want to wonder what they'd talked about or think of the warm feeling in her stomach that came from the knowledge that her mother and Eriol got along well together, liked each other.
Think of it as a practice family-outing, she told herself. And it would be, Mother had gone to 'liberate' Kinomoto-papa from his office and Sakura-chan would be showing up soon with Li-kun, the sister and the brother-in-law, and Touya-san and Tsukishiro-san, the older brother and the other brother-in-law, would be along later in the day. They'd probably bring Ruby Moon with them; she'd been spending so much time with them lately. She was…she was the Guardian of her best friend Tomoyo reminded herself. Lots of other people would be here today, not just family. Rika-san and Terada-sensei would be coming, so would Chiharu-chan and Yamazaki-san. And Naoko-san and even Mizuki-sensei would be coming today. So what did it matter, really, if Eriol-san would be there as well? It didn't. It didn't matter any more than anybody else coming, Tomoyo thought. He was her friend. She twisted violently, aiming for another high jump. He was coming as a friend and that was all, even if…
"You look beautiful, Tomoyo-san!" She landed with a jarring thud on the ice, legs sprawled and backside aching. Eriol was standing at the edge of the ice, beaming. "That part wasn't so graceful." He grinned. "But before that, you looked really good out there. You've had a lot of lessons?"
"Some." She clambered back to her feet and smiled as he stepped onto the ice, trying to control the stupid flutter of her heart as he glided toward her. It leapt anyway as he crashed to the ice and slid to a stop at her feet. He rolled over and she couldn't help grinning at the look of utter vexation he wore. "Probably more than you have." She added, crouching down. "Are you okay, Eriol-san?"
He groaned. "You couldn't possibly. And I'm fine. I've learned how to take a fall. I'm so glad that your mother and Kinomoto-sensei picked me up on their way here. I'm so very, very glad that Xiao-Lang and Sakura-san could see where twenty-years of lessons can get you."
"Twenty years?" She should, Tomoyo thought distractedly, be offering to help him off of the ice. But he was so beautiful where he was, gray-violet eyes and blue-black hair against the silver-white of the ice; with glittering shards of the ice shavings crowned in his hair he looked like some sort of indolent fatis.
"Yeah, well." He muttered and she finally offered him a hand as he got to his hands and knees. "I'm doing better than Clow ever did."
Tomoyo winced. "He must have been…" She censored herself on the word she really wanted to use. "Not very good." She finished lamely.
"Oh, he was horrible." Fujitaka called cheerfully as he stepped out of the warming area. "He was just terrible at it." As if to prove a point he too toppled to the ice within seconds and glided in a lazy arc into the center of the ice.
"Oh, Daddy," Sakura sighed leaning over the wall. "Let me get my skates on and I'll help you back up."
Sonomi stepped out onto the ice with a wave for Tomoyo. "It's alright, Sakura-chan. I've got him." Tomoyo giggled as her mother hauled the grinning Professor to his feet, overbalanced and fell. Kinomoto remained standing for scarcely a second before falling again. Sonomi sighed. "You've got the weakest ankles I've ever seen."
"Hiiragizawa was worse." Li-kun disagreed with a snort as he moved gracefully over the ice.
"I see that you're as acerbic as ever, Mr. Li." Tomoyo tried to control her wince as Mizuki Kaho's voice rang out above the sound of the door closing behind her. "He's had a number of lessons, you know."
"No, no. Xiao-Lang was fairly accurate." Eriol stated as he tripped neatly over his own, recently regained, feet. "Ow."
"I was very accurate." Syaoran whirled past, holding onto Sakura now. "And it's not like I was being mean."
"Not on purpose, I suppose." Tomoyo bit her lip softly at Kaho's words and glanced, not at Li-kun, but at Eriol, whom she was trying, again, to help off of the ice and onto his feet.
"What wasn't on purp—Kinomoto-sensei! Are you alright?" Chiharu and Yamazaki had arrived with Naoko, Rika and Terada in tow. "My goodness, Daidouji-sama, are you okay?"
"Fine!" Tomoyo had turned toward the magnificent noise her mother and the hapless Kinomoto had made but she barely heard their replies as Eriol managed to drape himself over her in order to remain on his feet.
"Wow. Maybe Xiao-Lang wasn't that accurate." He peered over her shoulder and chuckled for a moment as Kaho attempted to help Sonomi draw his counter-part to his feet. "He can't even stay upright."
"Fujitaka-sensei!" Her mother's voice sounded only distantly in her ears next to Eriol's soft breathing. "I haven't spent this much time sitting on the ice since Daidouji Toys ran the 'Snow Queen' exhibit at the Children's Hospital."
Eriol laughed again. "Xiao-Lang, come back here and apologize! You were definitely wrong." He waved one hand, trying to flag him down. "Get over here!"
He stepped back and Tomoyo sensed disaster before he'd even managed to lift his hands from her shoulders. She had only a single moment in which to tell him one very important bit of advice. "Pride goeth before the fall, Eriol-san." And then his arms were wind-milling and so were hers as, together, they made a valiant effort to keep standing. They failed miserably, she realized, as they landed in a heap. "Maybe we should have tried to keep each other up." She muttered, caught by the picture he made pushing himself up onto his elbows above her.
"I was. Sorry about landing on you when that didn't work, by the way." He rolled over, spread-eagle, onto his back. "Ow."
"About skating…" Yamazaki revolved into view above her and Tomoyo smiled. "In ancient times…"
"Oh, for goodness sakes! Not now, Yamazaki-kun!" Chiharu sighed in exasperation and tugged on his arm. "Let Hiiragizawa-san kill himself in peace."
Eriol laughed and turned his head to look at Tomoyo where she lay beside him, sharing with her one of his sunny, cheerful smiles. "In ancient times there was probably somebody like me who tried to save face." He winked.
"Yoshiyuki, we'd better help one of them." Tomoyo could hear Rika laughing quietly. "Somebody really is going to be killed if we don't." Terada-sensei agreed with his wife in a quiet tone and arrived at Tomoyo's side just as she'd regained her feet.
"Would you like some help getting Hiiragizawa-san up?" He asked her politely.
On the ice, Eriol snickered. "Hiiragizawa-san is right here. He'd love some help up, as he's getting cold and wet lying where he is."
"Perhaps, Terada-sensei, you might help Daidouji-sama with Kinomoto-sensei." Kaho reached down and grasped one of Eriol's hands with easy familiarity and Tomoyo glanced away quickly and watched as her mother and Fujitaka landed on the ice once more as Rika tried to keep them up. "He's rather larger than Daidouji-sama, Terada-san and me." Kaho added.
"You should get off the ice, Hiiragizawa-san." Naoko slid to an unsteady stop next to Tomoyo. "You'll get sick if you don't get warm and dry."
"An excellent idea." He grumbled. Tomoyo found her smile again as he reached a hand up to her. She clasped it warmly in hers, wishing that it meant more than simply helping him as she drew on it and pulled him to his graceless skates.
Tomoyo couldn't help being amused at the look of fright he wore as he slipped a little. "If we make it off the ice without falling again, I'll buy us hot chocolates." She told Eriol and Naoko, wondering if it sounded like a bribe for her safety.
"It's a deal." He nodded. "Uh-oh." He muttered quietly as he slid, wobbly, toward the exit to the warming area propelled solely by the women who held him.
Naoko skated slowly behind them, hands up and ready to catch Eriol if he should begin to fall again. "It's a good thing you weren't with us the last time we had a class trip here." She laughed behind them. "You'd have done worse than I did."
"You'd do worse than even I did." Li-kun appeared in front of them, skating backward with ease. "If you want things to get better, you should hang on to Daidouji." He advised sagely. Tomoyo nailed him with a stare, half angry and half terrified. Didn't he see that Mizuki-sensei was standing just on Eriol's other side? He returned her look with one of mild innocence. "She's a very good skater. She helped to teach the class that Mei-Ling and I took." He continued calmly. "So if you stay with Daidouji, you'll have better luck."
"I didn't know you taught classes, Tomoyo-san." Eriol sounded thrilled with the idea.
"It's not all the time." She muttered, trying to catch Syaoran's eye. He was most definitely not helping maters. "I'm not a very good teacher."
Kaho agreed instantly. "She's not a professional…it might be best if he had lessons from a more experienced teacher."
"Daidouji is really good!" Syaoran grinned maddeningly. "See." He swiveled to skate forward and then back again. Tomoyo wondered if kicking him with her skate would be inappropriate as he fell abruptly while turning and collided with Kaho, tumbling them both to the ice and nearly sending herself and Eriol to the ice as well if not for Naoko's timely assistance. "Ow." He muttered rubbing his head. "Gomennasi, Sensei."
"Li-kun? Are you okay?" The words were entirely appropriate given the situation but Tomoyo wondered if anybody else could here the silently implied 'are you crazy' that she didn't add. Li Syaoran had mastered turning from front to back and to the front again faster than anybody she'd ever seen. He'd had it down perfectly in the first lesson he'd ever taken. Of course, he'd had a crash course thanks to the Freeze card. It remained; there had been no reason for him to fall.
"I'm okay. Are you alright, Sensei?" He sat up and looked at Kaho as she got to her feet. Kaho glared at him but he only smiled and stood up between her and Eriol. "Maybe you could help me with turning." He said, smiling still and Tomoyo decided that kicking him might be her only option. "I'd hate to make Daidouji suffer with trying to teach me again, and you were so very patient with Mei-Ling when you helped her."
"I was going to help Eriol." Mizuki-sensei said evenly as she moved to go around Li-kun.
Eriol waved one hand, nearly sending himself back down, "It's alright. I was going to get off the ice for a little bit." He sneezed. "I think it's rather warranted."
Naoko smiled. "It's alright, Sensei. I'm going off the ice too. If Tomoyo-san and I work together, I'm sure we can make it to the gate okay." Syaoran smiled with cheerful innocence and extended one hand to Kaho with a suave bow. He was good, she had to admit; his business acumen right now, as he prepared to skate with a woman Tomoyo knew he disliked, could probably rival her mother's.
"I could help you, Li-kun." She offered and raised her eyebrows meaningfully. She'd told him what she'd suspected about Kaho's suspicions and the last thing she wanted was for the woman to be able to justify things in her own mind and Li-kun's help just might allow her to do so.
"It's alright, Daidouji, you take this time for yourself." He smiled at her with such fondness and compassion that she bit her lip. "For returns," He said bashfully, looking towards the girl he loved "For all the help you gave me." He looked fleetingly at Kaho and his smile went bland. "You helped me all the time with skating, so you should be able to get hot chocolate without having to worry about teaching me."
"I'll buy you a hot chocolate later, for being so thoughtful." She promised him, tightening her hold on Eriol's arm, "I'll even buy marshmallows for it."
i love you more than i should
i would stay beside you here
ten million years
~~ten million years; Black Lab, Your Body Above Me
He's witty and charming, graceful and sweet, and she dislikes Li Syaoran intensely right now. She pastes on a smile for him as he natters on about Sakura-chan and class work and how his cousin is faring back home in Hong Kong; she's not really listening to him. Her attention is caught by the beautiful boy in the warming area laughing into his hot chocolate and smiling at the pretty girl seated across from him. He is, she knows logically, smiling at Yanagisawa-chan as well but it doesn't matter much because it's very obvious that all his attention is on Daidouji-chan as she sips at her hot milk and laughs with him.
Daidouji is in love with him. Kaho knows that this is not just a snap judgment growing out of her resentment. Oh, she's admitted to herself that she resents Daidouji Tomoyo; the girl has been a constant presence in her life for years and she takes up so much of Eriol's time, not to mention the fact that she encourages him in all sorts of worthless endeavors. No, it's not a baseless assumption; Daidouji is in love. This doesn't worry her over so, plenty of girls have fancied themselves in love with him. Many of them have even confessed to him. What worries her is that he loves Daidouji. She's one of the very few friends he has and he's quite attached to her. It is her biggest fear that Daidouji will find a way to make use of that fact and convince Eriol that he feels something he really doesn't.
So she watches them as she ignores the chattering Li beside her and when Yanagisawa leaves the table, and her companions, Kaho is careful to get behind her as she rejoins Sasaki-chan and Mihara-chan. She's a safe distance back, so they won't know she's listening and Li is too busy prattling to pay attention. She's not, she tells herself, really eavesdropping so much as looking out for Eriol's well-being. The very last thing he needs is to be betrayed or used by a person he thinks of as a friend. So she listens.
"Naoko-chan, I thought you were cold." Mihara says as she waves Takashi over. Takashi has been, and is still, telling ludicrous tales all over the rink.
"I am. But I thought I'd give Hiiragizawa-san and Tomoyo-chan some time to talk." Yanagisawa giggles and she is irritating. Kaho can't help wincing.
"That's sweet of you." Sasaki looks likes she wants to be sighing and saying 'kawaii'. Kaho finds this just as irritating as Yanagisawa's giggles.
"Not really, I just want him to be done with it so that he can either go home or make plans to stay!" All three girls laugh as though this is a fine joke and she feels a sudden urge to slap them all.
"Not that he'd need to if he'd open is eyes a little." They continue to giggle.
"What?" Takashi doesn't look irritated. In fact, he looks very happy with the giggling and meaningful looks. He must follow their eyes, she thinks, because he suddenly lights up. "Oh! Is Hiiragizawa-kun confessing? It's what he came here for and already it's almost time for him to think about packing and he still hasn't done it." He shakes his head with a sigh.
"It's bad luck that Mizuki-sensei chose now to visit as well. He must not have the courage to tell Tomoyo-chan what's in his heart with a teacher always around." Sasaki, whom Kaho thinks would have been most likely to understand, can not surely believe this thing she has said. Choose now to visit? Eriol chose, surely they know that Eriol and she have come together. She realizes, with a sinking feeling, that they don't know. Eriol has apparently not, not once in all the time he's been writing to Takashi and the others, told them that they are together.
"Hiiragizawa-san told you he was coming to confess and you didn't tell us?" Mihara is menacing her fiancée. She doesn't care very much. How could Eriol not have said?
"No. He's very private. We wouldn't even know about his cousin if not for the fact that Akizuki-san put Sakura-chan in her movie." Takashi shakes his head. "But it's in his eyes all the time. And Li-kun even hit him at lunch that day because he didn't want Hiiragizawa-kun to take liberties without confessing first." Takashi raised one finger in the air, a gesture Kaho has always hated and hates even more now. "It's a well known fact that if a girl doesn't have a brother to look after her, her best-friend's brother or boyfriend is bound by law to do it. That's why you're all so lucky that Chiharu-san has six brothers to share. Otherwise you'd have to go to an all-girls school and be escorted by bodyguards since you don't have a—mrrrrph!" He is cut short, mercifully, when Mihara decides to get violent. The other girls laugh again.
"Still, it's good for him to confess. He doesn't need to worry about not being happy with the answer she gives him; it's in her face that she returns his feelings." Sasaki's sentiment is echoed with sighs and Kaho moves forward to set them straight. She cannot let this misapprehension stand. If Daidouji got wind of such support…
"Gomen, Sensei!" Is all the warning she gets before the clumsy boy beside her sends them both reeling into the wall and then to the ice. A new voice, an old, familiar voice, interrupts before she can draw a breath to tell the boy how inelegant and bumbling he is.
"Go pick on somebody your own size, Ghoul." To-ya is leaning over her, offering her a hand up. "Sakura and Sonomi-san are talking about buying drinks for everybody; if you hurry maybe they'll take pity on you and give you one."
Li snorts in derision and Kaho wonders that the next head of the Li Clan has no respect for his elders. "Why are you here if they're buying drinks? Wouldn't they give you one?" He skates off snickering. He's improved and Kaho feels a small, cold glow of satisfaction at a job well done. Maybe now he'll quit bumping into people.
To-ya, oddly enough, is smiling as he turns away from watching the boy go. "What a brat." His smile fades as he takes her arm and begins to make his way around the rink. She's taught him well, he moves as fluidly as ever. "Are you alright, Kaho?" He's concerned.
"I'm a little upset." She can be truthful with him, she knows, despite the fact that his father will marry Daidouji's mother. After all, To-ya still loves and remembers his mother. It's actually somewhat cruel of Kinomoto-sensei to put his son through such a thing. "The girls had a very wrong impression of Eriol-san and Daidouji-san's relationship. I think it's just because they don't know about my relationship with him."
He seems confused. "They don't know about…" He trails off, thinking and Kaho smiles. It was always fun to watch To-ya work through a problem. "Well, I guess it doesn't come up in conversation that often. Sakura knows." He shrugs. "I take it they were talking about romance? They must not be looking very closely at you." He smiles and Kaho loves him for it. He looks around the rink and sucks in a sudden breath as Daidouji helps Eriol onto the ice. "I guess," he sounds strangled and cautious, "I guess I can see why they might think that way." His voice is soft. "Can't you see why they would think that, even when you're with him?"
She looks where he does and frowns. Daidouji is skating in front of Eriol; she has her arms around him as she skates backwards. She's wrapped around him and he's practically draped over her. Kaho knows that she must put a stop to this. She must. She knows she's glaring and doesn't care who sees it. What has Daidouji said to him to get him into such a position?
"You're doing it, Tomoyo-chan!" Akizuki flings herself across Eriol's back, clinging. "You're getting him to skate! How cute!" She waves frantically. "Over here, Yukito-kun, Yuki! Come get a picture!" Tsukishiro is laughing, and he does take a picture of Eriol and Daidouji as Akizuki darts off the ice to deposit her coat and get her skates tied.
Kaho wants to strike out, to order Akizuki off of the ice as she wraps around Eriol from behind to 'help' him skate with 'floating, graceful Tomoyo-chan'. She spends her time watching a much improved Li skate with charming Sakura-chan and watching as the other three girls giggle and sigh and skate with the other boys. Akizuki forces Tsukishiro and To-ya to skate with her in turns as she takes breaks from helping Eriol and Kinomoto-sensei. Kaho doesn't skate again at all. She doesn't skate with Eriol even once. She thinks that maybe agreeing to come today was a mistake for all of them. Maybe it was just a mistake, period.
These five words in my head
Scream
Are we having fun yet?
~~How You Remind Me; Nickelback, Silver Side Up
"Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura's beaming face popped around the corner of the music room. Tomoyo motioned to the student, Aikawa-san, accompanying her on the piano to stop. Sakura continued to beam as she came to stand beside her. "That's a pretty song, Tomoyo-chan; are you singing it for the Christmas concert?"
Aikawa gathered her music and left the room as Tomoyo shook her head. "No, the younger students will be performing this. I've agreed to practice with some of the students who need help and so I thought I'd better practice it myself." She shrugged and began to gather her own music. "Did you need something?" She asked as they left the building.
"Oh! No; I just wanted to tell you that Eriol-kun is looking for you." Sakura smiled cheerfully. "I got distracted by your singing."
"Thank you." Tomoyo couldn't resist smiling back. "Where did you see Eriol-san? And what is he doing back here?" He'd stayed for lunch again. He'd mentioned having to go to the Tsukimine shrine later in the day to help with some of the ins-and-outs of maintenance and that staying would make him late; he'd stayed anyway and Tomoyo still had to squash the urge to hope profoundly.
Sakura's brow furled. "I don't know where he is; just that he's looking for you." Her eyes seemed a trifle distant and Tomoyo marveled anew at how strong her dear Sakura-chan's power had grown. "Syaoran-kun is looking for him and he was on his way home." She seemed to snap back into herself. "I'm sure it's important. Eriol-kun's awfully edgy."
"Edgy?"
"Yes." Sakura nodded, seemingly content. "I'm sure he'll feel better once he finds you." She smiled again. "I've got to go, it's my turn to fix dinner tonight and Yukito-san is coming over." Her eyes crinkled at the corners. "Will you remind Syaoran-kun, for me, that he has a date tonight? I think he might forget."
Tomoyo nodded absently before it struck her as an odd request. Syaoran had never forgotten a date with Sakura before, even if such a date did mean eating dinner with Touya. Sakura, Tomoyo thought as she watch her friend dart off down a side-street, still seemed to believe that her brother and her beloved couldn't stand the thought of each other much less the actual, physical, sight of each other. It was Tomoyo's own privately held conviction that Touya and Syaoran got along very well and that the glaring matches and vaguely formed insults were more of less the outward signs of affection. A lot like Syaoran's attitude towards Eriol. At that thought Tomoyo suddenly paused in the middle of Suiren Street and looked around. She certainly hadn't meant to be on Suiren; she'd been absently following Li-kun's path home and he always took Kisuisen Crescent because of the cherry tree at the corner, a little fact she thought was entirely sweet. And so, she wondered, how had she ended up nearly two blocks over when she knew perfectly well that Li-kun would not be there? She knew she should back-track and yet…yet the moment she decided to go back she felt a nearly overpowering sense of 'why bother'. She turned and walked quickly the way she had come, pushing past the feeling that she really would rather take Suiren to Li-kun's apartment. She tried not to run.
Magic. It was a strong magic that had pushed her off course and was still trying to drive her away. Tomoyo ignored the discomfort of her own screaming senses and kept walking. Meiling had told her about magic, about how people without magic could still feel it if they knew it existed and since most people didn't believe in it, most people never noticed. Tomoyo had never noticed until Meiling had pointed it out; after that she'd been able to feel the 'keep out' wards Sakura and Syaoran used when practicing with the cards and spells. This felt sort of like those, only much stronger. And it was trying to keep her out. She kept walking, using sheer willpower to move forward against the magic. Trouble, trouble, trouble; the words were a shrieking, swelling force in her head. She couldn't stand it anymore. She took one, final step, ready to turn back and call Sakura when it suddenly stopped.
"Sorry, Daidouji. I didn't realize it was you. Are you alright?" Li-kun's voice was apologetic. Tomoyo stared blankly at him for a moment and then looked for a street sign. Nogiku Boulevard, Li-kun's street. It looked perfectly normal. Li-kun himself was standing under a maple tree, looking up into the branches. He had his sword out, but he wasn't holding it at the ready.
"I'm fine." She said as she moved to his side. He continued to look up as she watched him. "I don't mean to intrude, but would you mind if I asked what you were doing?" She said after a while.
He tilted his head, lips pursing in thought. "I'm considering burning down the tree. Or just blowing it over." He added, apparently sensing her shock. "Fire's a bit risky."
"Why in the world would you want to burn down the tree?" Tomoyo wondered. He smiled, not looking at her.
"I'm considering knocking it over, too." He reminded her. "And it's not so much that I want to get rid of the tree, it's just that Hiiragizawa won't come down and I don't have all day to stand here and wait for him. Holding the avoidance sphere together isn't easy."
Tomoyo peered up into the branches, muttering. "Eriol-san is in the tree?" She stepped back suddenly, book bag dropping from her shoulder with a dull, unnoticed thud. "Li-kun; am I seeing things?"
He snorted, finally taking his eyes off of his adversary. "I'd say 'that depends' but if you're looking at a six-foot long leaf bug with glasses then the answer is 'no'. That's Hiiragizawa. He thinks he's hiding."
"As a six foot leaf bug?" Her voice was faint with disbelief as she eyed the impossibility sitting in the crook of the branches. Tomoyo couldn't really believe that he thought he'd get away with such a disguise. Aside from the size and the glasses, the tree was fairly well nude. Her lips twitched into a smile that she aimed at the boy beside her. "A leaf bug with myopia?" Above her, the giant bug scuttled to the edge of its branch and peered down through a familiar pair of spectacles. Tomoyo stared at it. "Is he listening to us?" She asked finally. A feeler twitched. "Do leaf bugs even have ears?" She wondered. Syaoran shrugged.
"I'm not a 'leaf bug'. I'm a Phyllium Giganteum, to be most precise. I'm rare." The leaf bug's voice, an odd, chirping version of Eriol's, sounded amused.
Li-kun shuddered. "I'll say. That is so creepy."
Tomoyo nodded in agreement. "Why is he up there?" She looked up the tree and raised one eyebrow. "Eriol-san? Why are you up there?" The other feeler twitched and the giant insect seemed to glare at Syaoran.
Li-kun grinned. "He's up there because I was going to fry him and he realized that his shield wasn't going to hold. So he did a glamour and ran. Of course, it's not a very good glamour." He gestured with the tip of his sword. "Which was an even worse move, really, because Glamours are tricky to do." He sighed in smug satisfaction. "He'll be lucky if he can turn himself back to normal by sunset."
The leaf bug made a highly affronted sound and proceeded to walk down the tree trunk, head-first, to stand on the ground. A moment later and Eriol stood before them looking rumpled and disheveled. He turned a withering stare on Syaoran. "Ha, ha." He turned to Tomoyo. "I was ambushed."
"Of course you were." She soothed and had the bittersweet pleasure of provoking a laugh.
"You're lucky that Daidouji came along to save you." Syaoran shook his sword into the charm that held it. "Next time you won't be so lucky."
It was Eriol's turn to snort in derision. "I was just plotting my strategy."
"I'm sure you were." Tomoyo listened, felt her eyes slip shut just a bit, as he laughed again. "Sakura-chan sent me out, actually. She has a message for Li-kun." She said the words quickly, trying to break the easy mood of familiarity. It would be all too easy to stay here all evening, listening and bantering. "She said not to forget your date tonight." She shook her head. "She left before I could remind her that you've never forgotten a date with her. Ever." She blinked as Li's eyebrows drew together in puzzlement.
"Date?" he muttered. "We don't have a date tonight."
Tomoyo was startled. "Sakura-chan's powers must have really been growing. She said to remind you that you had a date tonight and she was feeling that you might forget it while you were looking for Eriol-san."
Syaoran continued to frown. "I don't have anything to do tonight. The only thing that happens on Mondays is…" He broke off with a sudden smile. "Oh. She didn't want me to miss Fuutie's call. It's my eldest sister's turn to ask me when I'm bringing Sakura back to visit and if maybe that nice Daidouji will be joining us?" Tomoyo grinned at his impromptu imitation. "Then she'll ask me if I've proposed yet and why haven't I and don't I want to have eight-thousand kids and populate the world with the Li Clan?" Something like longing flickered through his eyes before he made a wry face. "And everybody getting engaged all over the place doesn't help. So don't you two start." He pointed at her and Eriol accusingly. Tomoyo felt her heart stutter and she risked a glance at Eriol.
"I'm not about to start." He smiled pleasantly and Tomoyo's heart skipped a beat. "I can't say as to Tomoyo-san's plans." Oh, but he could, she thought. If only things were different, he could easily say what her plans might be.
She smiled slightly, hoping it was bland enough to not call any notice. "My plans are to go home."
"Should I walk you?" Li's voice was quiet. "I can always call Fuutie later."
"It's not even dark yet, Li-kun. I'm sure I'll be fine." Tomoyo was comforted by his concern. He cared and that was why he was pushing the Eriol issue. "Thank you all the same."
He bit his lip. "Are you sure? Because Yamazaki-kun was telling me about this law that says…" He stopped. Glared as Tomoyo delivered her serenest smile. "Never mind."
Eriol grinned unrepentantly. "You'll want to mind those laws carefully, Xiao-Lang." He stooped and caught Tomoyo's bag up against his shoulder. "But you're in luck tonight; I'll walk Tomoyo-san home." He winked and bowed, offering her his arm. She took it and the ball of warmth that curled in her stomach, with a hard swallow and a quick reassuring nod to Syaoran. "I was looking for you earlier, anyway." He said after a minute or two of walking. "Before Xiao-Lang and I..." He smiled mischievously, "Came to words. I wanted to ask a favor of you."
"Anything." She said softly, smiling quietly at him when he turned his face down to hers. "What did you need?" She asked in an effort to break the sudden stillness around them, afraid that if she didn't the wild beat of her heart would give away just how much she meant her answer.
"I…I wanted…Her answer seemed to fluster him. "It's just, just, oh, here!" He released her arm only to catch her hand and pull her into the shadowy alcove formed by a small stand of trees at the edge of King Penguin Park. He shifted his own school satchel in front of him and pulled out a thin folder. "It's your song." His voice was soft; his eyes were focused on hers. She could, she realized, smell him; a slight scent of musk and dark summer nights. She tried to focus on something other than the familiar scent from hundreds of letters. "The one I wrote a few days ago. I thought…maybe…" He trailed off and Tomoyo dimly noted that neither of them was really focusing on the music in hand. It seemed like a huge effort to blink, and once her eyes closed, an even larger effort to open them.
"Oh." She said, for lack of anything better. How in the world, she wondered, did she never notice how dark his eyes were? She'd always thought of them as light colored, odd gray and blue-purple. They weren't light now; they were the same shade as the darkest orchids that grew in the gardens at home.
"Yeah." He muttered. His hair was falling into his eyes. Tomoyo wanted to push it out of his way, or hers, but Eriol was still talking, still hypnotizing. "It's almost Christmas, and I won't, I won't,"
He wet his lips as he went silent and she had to draw her own lower lip between her teeth or do something stupid. "It's a holiday for lovers." She whispered, doing something stupid in spite of herself.
"Uh-huh." He wet his lips again and Tomoyo hoped she hadn't really whimpered. "It's special." He went on, "And I'm not, and you're here, and I won't be, here, even if you, but I didn't, I did." She stared at him fuzzily, wondering if he were really as incoherent as he was sounding and deciding it didn't matter that much, all that mattered was his eyes and his voice and the fact that he'd written a song for her; that he kept calling it her song. He'd written it for her, thinking of her, and all possibly just because he wouldn't be here for Christmas, a special time for lovers. He wouldn't be here this year because he'd be in England. England; something in Tomoyo's head kicked through the wall of hazy half-sentences and the blur of dark hair and eyes. He'd be in England at Christmas, with Mizuki-sensei. He'd be with Kaho. The name of his lover was ice-water.
"That's sweet!" Her voice sounded unnaturally shrill and falsely cheerful. At that moment she felt that she might very well have hated that idea, that song. "It's nice of you to think of me; will you want to perform this in a concert or just for Mizuki-sensei?" It was petty of her, she knew, to say such a thing in such a tone of voice. He couldn't help it if Tomoyo had fallen in love with him, knowing full well that he was in love with somebody else.
Again Mizuki's name seemed to be the equivalent of a cold shower. Eriol gaped at her. "No. I…" He seemed to fumble for an answer, for any words at all. "I just wanted to…I wanted to work with you. The song's for you." He gestured helplessly and Tomoyo's traitorous heart reached out, laid her fingers on his wrist.
"Thank you, then. It means a lot to me." She murmured, watched him smile at the words as she pulled the folder from his hands. There was something in the awkward way that he almost seemed to blush, nearly looked away from her eyes that grabbed at her. He made to leave, said words about going back to the hotel and she stopped him again. "Eriol," I can't stop myself from hoping, she thought, "Would you like to come to my house and we can work on it together?"
When you're on a holiday
You can't find the words to say
All the things that come to you
And I wanna feel it too
~~Island in the Sun; Weezer, Weezer (2001) aka The Green Album
* * *
Author's note: Kaho's useage of 'san' 'chan' and names is all deliberate. ^.^ The beta on this was quick and dirty. Please let me know about any mistakes you find, I'll gladly fix them. Happy holidays, minna.
Part three will be in shortly. Edits, proofs, tinkering is underway right now. And for anybody who wonders about that link from Part One, the one with the bug (what do you mean you didn't look???) well, that entire bug idea was a brainstorm of Chelle-sama's and I gleefully ran amok with it. Chelle-sama is great. Go read her stuff, dang it! Go! Why are you reading this? Go! Go right now! Run! GO! ^.~ Just come back for parts three and four, okay?
