Disclaimer: The peeps of Cardcaptor Sakura are merely on loan to me as I pull their strings in a manic puppet show. Of sorts. Mwahahaha!
Author's note: Some fluff to be had today! And as you can see, I've decided to continue, for now anyway! To be honest, I'm pretty certain I'll follow this one through now. I've become more involved with it over the past couple of chapters, and the support you have given me has really encouraged me to feel like this story is worthwhile. Thank you so much! *glomps everyone happily* Enjoy!
Whispers in Dark Corners Chapter FiveTomoyo wandered her way around the great main sitting room, dusting off the furniture and arranging the sofas and armchairs to how they had been before the story-telling session. She was feeling pretty tired, but refused to neglect the duties of her role.
Touya had spoken to her about it before they'd arrived, asking her if she would be alright with a working role, one that would keep her up later than the others, and have her getting up earlier. He'd been really kind and polite about it, and she'd only smiled and said, "If it will make the game work better, I will be very happy to do anything you think is necessary."
Touya had gazed at her a moment, before hesitantly adding, "Then would you mind if a particular kind of attitude towards other guests is suggested for your character? Towards Hiragizawa-kun, for instance?"
Tomoyo blinked up at him in surprise, before her smile returned, and a slight blush touched her cheeks. "That would be fine," she said in her cute singsong voice.
Touya paused again, surveying her reply, before smiling back abruptly, his usual cool unruffled smile, and nodded, wandering off with his notebook in hand.
Therefore, it hadn't surprised Tomoyo when she'd walked into the entrance hall for the first time with all the others, come across a pile of envelopes with various names on them, and found her little letter to have the following information:
Daidouji Tomoyo
Character role: serving girl
Clothes: uniform unless instructed otherwise
Relationships: a good, though professional, relationship with your primary employer, Miss Ruby Moon, and on fair terms with the owner of the mansion, Lord Touya. You may decide the terms of your other relationships at your own discretion, but a particular regard for one of the guests, a young sir named Eriol Hiragizawa, is strongly advised as it pertains to the plot of the game.
Status: a girl of low birth, living in-house as a servant, hoping one day to marry, despite your lack of fortune creating a major obstruction to this dream (in view of the game's historical context).
Have fun!
Tomoyo couldn't help but wonder what everyone else's letters had said. She guessed that most details had been entirely unknown before each individual had read their letter.
Tomoyo's quiet thoughts were interrupted as she sensed someone watching her. She glanced up from her position, leaning over the sofa to smooth out the cushions. Her fringe lifted from over her eyes to reveal the room in its entirety.
A young man stood in the doorway that led from the darkened hall. At her curious glance, he stepped into the candlelight, and looked at her with soft eyes.
"Is there anything you wish for at this late hour, sir? Or do you wish for a moment to yourself?" Tomoyo asked, quickly regaining her aplomb after the initial sight of Eriol appearing before her. She glanced at the open doorway as if planning to leave.
He stepped further into the room, completely at ease. "I only wish for a little time in the company of a lady who is too easily overlooked," he said in a low voice. Tomoyo stood up straight, her eyes widening slightly.
Before she knew it, he was stood right in front of her. Close.
"I wished to see a lady whose prettiness cannot be hidden by the garb of a servant," he continued softly. His eyes regarded her with a gentle intensity as he spoke.
As Tomoyo stood still, Eriol's words barely sinking in, his hand reached up to touch her shoulder, and he applied a gentle pressure, urging her to turn around. She found herself moving obediently, and his voice spoke softly by her ear, as he stood close at her back. "May I?"
She felt careful hands slide the clips from her hair, which had been confined into a neat bun, and suddenly her long, silky grey hair tumbled freely down her back. Gentle fingers ran slowly through her hair, just once, smoothing it out. She closed her eyes at the touch.
Eriol stepped around her to survey her from the front, with her hair falling freely about her face and shoulders.
"Beautiful," he said.
Tomoyo began to think clearly again. "Sir, you shouldn't: I am but a servant, you are above me."
He just looked at her with a tender smile. "Why should that matter?" He took one of her hands in both of his own. His fingers wrapped warmly around hers.
"Sir, please, if someone should see this-" She tried not to think about his touch on her hand. Why did he have to do this in the context of the game? Didn't he realise what it meant to her in real life?
Eriol leaned close to her, and whispered in her ear, "Tomoyo, please believe me when I say this one thing is not a game to me." Tomoyo wondered if he had heard her thoughts, his words were so attuned to them. A blush crept over her cheeks. She tried to avoid his soft gaze when he stepped back to look at her.
Eriol still gazed at her, smiling kindly, and Tomoyo felt her blush deepen as he seemed to lean a little closer. She was just wondering what he would say or do next when-
"Hiragizawa, are you determined to keep my poor young servant awake until Christmas, or only until you can be assured that she will be too tired to work well tomorrow?"
Touya's voice rang out with quiet power through the room. The young pair sprang apart, Tomoyo blushing prettily, Eriol looking apologetic and a little embarrassed.
"I am sorry, Lord Touya, neither were my intention," he said politely.
Touya raised an eyebrow at them, before leaving the room. "Then please endeavour to act as the gentleman you are, and see that Tomoyo is not kept up any later than she already is," drifted his low voice from the darkness of the hall. With that, he was gone.
Eriol bowed to Tomoyo, who had lowered her eyes. "I am sorry, my dear young lady," he apologised.
She shook her bowed head with a small, hidden smile.
So, Touya would encourage appearances that suited the game, but did not wish to be held accountable for late night trysts, thought Eriol wryly. He didn't blame Touya: the older man was only trying to act responsibly, for the sake of the youngsters in his charge, as well as himself.
Eriol smiled back at Tomoyo. At least they had said enough to reach… an understanding. She looked so pretty with her hair down, glimmering in the candlelight like that.
This holiday was becoming even more enjoyable than Eriol had hoped.
A giggle.
Outside, in the hallway.
It was definitely a giggle.
Sakura crouched, half-hidden under her bed covers, her ears straining. It was silent, but she was sure she'd heard a giggle.
Hehehehehehehe…
"Hoe!"
Sakura covered her mouth with her hands, huge green eyes glimmering with frightened tears. It had been unmistakable that time: someone, or worse, something, was out there in the hallway.
Why does this have to happen on the night Eriol-kun tells such a scary story? Sakura thought to herself.
"Why does this have to happen to me?" she whimpered.
Silence had fallen again. That suddenly became scarier than the giggling.
Sakura leant over to light the lamp by her bed, and, taking it in one trembling hand, she decided to be the bravest she had ever been, and go and look outside.
Sakura wasn't brave when it came to things like ghosts and strange giggling sounds in the middle of the night.
But… That giggle… She had a strange feeling that she'd heard it before…
She crept over to the door, clutching the lamp tightly. Her face was so divided between looking scared and looking determined that she ended up just looking confused.
Her free hand reached out to the door handle before she was even aware of what she was doing.
The door swung open with the faintest of creaks.
Sakura stepped up to the gap, and leaned in to peer out into the hallway with one wide green eye.
Nothing.
The hallway was empty.
Sakura breathed a sigh of intense relief.
Hehehehehe… HEHEHEHEHE!
"HOE!"
Sakura yelped in panic, leaping back from the door, and followed it up with a couple of frightened squeaks that sounded pitiful in the still night air. She was really scared: that last giggle had been so loud, and so close!
She was still cowering, her eyes tightly shut, when she heard an unmistakable creeaaak from her door.
Terrified, she looked up, opening her eyes the tiniest crack, and saw two small, dark things sweeping around the door and into her room. They flitted a couple of circuits of her ceiling, and ended up perched on two of the posts of her giant four-poster bed. They had stopped.
Sakura turned, very slowly, so that she was facing them. She forced her eyes to focus on them in the shadows.
Her eyes went wide, and a surprised, and then highly infuriated look crossed her face.
"What the..? KERO! SUPPI! What in the world are you DOING?!?"
After a moment, the mischievous pair rocked back, and then forward again, on their perches, and said together, "Hello hello! You know our names! That's very clever of you!"
Sakura stared at them in consternation. What was going on?
They blinked twice in unison, with stupid grins on their faces, and spoke again. "We are phantoms of this mansion: we came to introduce ourselves, but all you do is scream and yell." They sounded affronted.
Sakura found her voice as the fact that they had characters of their own, and were very much in-role at that moment, sunk in. "What do you do exactly? I mean… do you just float around giggling in hallways and talking in weird rhymes?"
Kero's face was touched with a glint of typical Kero-like annoyance for a split second, and then he was grinning again. He and Suppi cried out their reply together.
"We can be friends, and help you out, but on the other hand… we could make everything far worse and drive you barking mad."
"You already are! Why is it you can be both helpful and troublesome? What's the problem?"
They both sat up straight in a flash, each lifting a paw ceremoniously.
"TWO TROUBLES!" they shouted, like soldiers yelling replies to their general.
"The troubles are: we're rarely here- we vanish at sunrise; and one of us always tells the truth, and one of us always lies."
Sakura's shoulders slumped, and she rolled her eyes. Great. Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb had officially entered the building. And she was the one who got to experience their delightful chorus of conversation.
"One of you lies, and one of you tells the truth. Riiight," she said. The pair of rhymers nodded happily.
Two could play at that game. After a moment, Sakura spoke up in a sweet voice, accompanied by a cute Sakura smile.
"That's okay: I'll make it plain, since neither of you will: get out of here and let me sleep or by sunrise you'll be killed."
Suppi and Kero exchanged looks, and flew out of the door.
Sakura shut it very firmly behind them.
Thank goodness. They were gone. At least they hadn't been real ghosts…
Sakura shivered just at the thought.
She clambered back into bed, blew out the candle in the lamp, and snuggled down into her nice comfortable bed. She sighed peacefully.
At last, she'd get some sleep.
Author's note: Hope you liked it! A bit of Tomoyo/Eriol fluff for you. ^_^ The whole Kero and Suppi thing was something I'd been planning from the start of this fic: it's fun to have started that part off now! ^_^
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. ^_^
Notes to reviewers:
Thank you to Silva Sun (thanks! The CCS cast are kawaii all by themselves: I just sprinkle sugar on them and wait for the results. ^_^ Thanks again for the link), Blayde (Okay, it's continuing! ^_^ Thanks for your support), Pnaixr0se8 (Thanks! As to why Sakura should beware… all part of the mystery. You'll find out in due course. *grin*), meinien (I have updated! I don't know if this counts as soon tho. ^_^ I'm glad you left a review *very appreciative*), Maiden of ice (ah, all will be revealed… *wink* I'm glad you're enjoying it, it makes me very happy! Hence why I'm still adding chapters ^_^), Miss Qui Chen (*beams at Syaoran in his cute clothes* awwww ^_^ Thank you for your support! And I love writing fluff… *grin* Does it show? ^_^), and sourmuggie (yay! I'm continuing it after all. ^_^ The S+S bits will get bigger at some point, I promise you that.)
I'll update again as soon as I can! xx