Author's Notes: ok, I kn0w some people don't like the idea of Tomoyo's mother and Eriol's uncle getting married, cos if E+T get together it's like incest or something, so I've decided to alter the fic a little. Eriol and Nakuru live with their guardian [as in parental guardian, nothing to do with magic], whom their father entrusted them with just before he died. So you see, if Sonomi and Eriol's guardian get together, it'll still be perfectly fine if E+T are a couple! (

Caged Hearts

By like a falling star



The nerve of that guy! Tomoyo fumed, as Eriol swept up onto stage, his trademark cocky-yet-mysterious smile plastered on his face. Eriol held the gold trophy [probably the duplicate of mine, Tomoyo thought] and bowed politely at the audience. Several girl swooned. The female portion of the audience [and a small number of males as well] screamed wildly, frantically snapping photos of their favourite "Hunk of the Year".

"Thank you," Eriol said in a clear voice. "I am immensely pleased to share the first prize with Daidouji-san." Not.

Tomoyo glared at him for a second, before turning a sweet, sunny smile towards the audience-- the one that had won her "Chick of the Year" award. The smile that caused guys' knees to buckle and turn to jelly.

Eriol smirked at her. "So."

"So what?" she asked coldly.

"So. We're tied again."

Tomoyo raised her eyebrows coolly at him. "Yes, I'm afraid we're tied again." She said, nodding curtly. But not for long…

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"That Daidouji-san has quite a talent for swimming." Mr. Hina, the PE coach, remarked to a few of his students.

One boy in particular [yet another member of the Tomoyo Daidouji Fan Club] nodded earnestly. "Yes, she does. In fact, she's talented in just about everything." He went on to list a whole bunch of Tomoyo's many achievements, in alphabetical order.

Mr. Hina cocked an eyebrow. "Oh? I do think her swimming strokes are quite marvellous, in fact."

"Oh yes, smooth and graceful and elegant."

Eriol gritted his teeth. Did they have to discuss this in front of him? Wasn't it bad enough that he lost -- well, he didn't lose, but he didn't win either -- the Talentime? Did they have to rub it in?

Syaoran noticed, and poked Eriol in the ribs. "But you have to admit, Tomoyo's good, isn't she? Well, not as good as Sakura, of course, but…" Syaoran added as an afterthought.

Eriol glanced at the pool. There was no splashing sound. Daidouji never splashed; she glided through water as if it were silk. At the moment she was doing the Butterfly, her movements so graceful and coordinated that she seemed like a ballerina.

"She's good." Eriol admitted. "But," he said after awhile, "I can beat her."

Syaoran nodded. "You can. Tomoyo's movements are based on grace and flexibility, while you concentrate more on speed and agility." He said observantly.

"Oh?"

Syaoran grinned. "I've been studying the way the two of you do things."

"You'd make a really great couple, you know." Sakura piped up, appearing behind Syaoran.

Eriol rolled his eyes. "Oh, really." He probably wouldn't dislike Daidouji so much if it wasn't for his friends' constant nagging that he and Daidouji would make a great couple.

That was one of the reasons that he competed with her. To put distance between them, so that their friends wouldn't get any strange ideas. The thing was, it had the exact opposite effect.

Their friends got this warped idea in their minds that the two of them were so alike and so good in every single thing that it must be fate that made them compete in everything. All of his friends, no matter how much Eriol had protested that he didn't like Daidouji, had this weird thinking that, 'Hey, wouldn't it be cool if Mr.Popular-and-perfect and Miss. Popular-and- perfect got together? They would make an absolutely popular-and-perfect couple!'

Eriol wanted to gag. Like he ever wanted to date Daidouji in the first place.

It wasn't that she was ugly or anything-- in fact, she was very ethereally beautiful with her snowy complexion and expressive violet eyes.

It wasn't that she was a mean or cruel person-- in fact, she was completely nice and natural - she was even civil to him sometimes - and as far as he knew, she was a generous, charitable girl who visited the local orphanage weekly, despite her busy schedule.

It wasn't that she was boring or anything-- she had a great personality, or so her friends said. Eriol hadn't gotten close enough to get to know her well, but he could tell that she was an interesting, fun-to-be-with person.

Plus she was talented-- the well-known songbird of Tomoeda, a figure- skating champion, and he heard from two reliable sources [Sakura and Syaoran] that she sewed some of her clothes. Oh, and apparently she could swim too. Talent-wise, Daidouji was blessed.

So what was the problem? Eriol couldn't pinpoint anything, exactly, but whenever he got too close to Daidouji, his heart would start pounding eratically, his breath would shorten to little gasps and the blood would rush to his face. And sometimes, when she looked at him in that intense, thoughtful way of hers, he wanted to puke. Eriol figured that someone who made him sick couldn't be good. And so he went on with his life, hating Daidouji.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*