My birthday blowout to E/T fans! ^___^
--- Syaoran no hime, who just turned 17 this 27th of September 2003.
Eriol was checking his email that night when he received an email from Sakura, recommending the site Tomoyo works for. He was intending to delete it, but he decided to click on the link, just to satisfy the stupid curiosity bugging him. He was brought to a matchmaking website, and to his surprise, Tomoyo has her own section in it!
He browsed through her articles- she made a lot of them, sure enough. Her guestbook has a myriad of thank-you entries and testimonials on her effectiveness as a nakoudo. Sure enough, there were also entries from the local residents of Tomoeda, the direct receivers of Tomoyo's gift in matchmaking.
"So she's this great, huh?" His eyes went to the feedback corner, and his fingers started to type something.
Tomoyo finished uploading her article when her IM alerted her of a just-sent email.
She opened her email- it was not from the usual email addresses she get from the usual people who regularly drop by the site.
I read that you are a really good nakoudo, so I thought you can maybe help me with my love problem. Please contact me when you will be online again so we can chat.
Tomoyo copied the email address into her messenger and buzzed the person.
I'm available. I'm ready to help you with the best that I can.
A reply was quick.
Thanks. This is my problem.
I'm a guy, and I'm in love with this girl…really special girl. I've known her since childhood, and I have been all eyes on her ever since. I can't tell her how I feel, because I'm afraid that she won't reciprocate my feelings.
She sends me mixed signs though. Just when I think she doesn't like me, I will catch her looking at me, tongue stuck out seductively at me, with even saliva to boot! When I try to go her though, she runs away, and one time, she barked angrily at me.
What should I do then? I can't sleep if I can't see her before I go to bed. I can't eat without seeing her first. People are laughing at me already, saying I'm nuts, but to hell with them! I love her with all my heart!
Tomoyo frowned, then began to type.
I think you should have a heart-to-heart talk with her…what's the girl's name?
The answer came at once.
Precious. But I can't talk to her…she has this crazed, animal look in her eyes everytime I go near her, as if she's ready to pounce on me. And when she does talk, most of the time, she's incoherent.
Tomoyo paused, then typed:
What exactly does she say to you?
Her eyes widened when she read the next line.
Arf, arf arf!
The Daidouji temper flared. "How dare he!" Her fingers flew onto the keyboard.
I was being serious because I genuinely wanted you to be helped! Are you aware that you wasted a substantial amount of my time?
Her hackle rose when she read what was written next.
Temper, temper, Daidouji-san.
And that was when she knew who was she up against. Her fingers flew to the keyboard.
Your taste with women is sure queer. First, you fell in love with someone light years away from your age. Then you dare the nakoudo to fall in love with you. Now you go for female dogs. I don't know what to expect next from you.
She smirked- all the people she knew online calls her "nakoudo", so she instantly knew who the mysterious chatmate was.
Her suspicion was further proved when the person was speechless for a minute. Then he typed, How did you know it's me?
To which, she replied: There is only one person who calls me 'Daidouji-san', you know.
Besides, you are the only one I know that has the tendency to fall in love with a dog.
She topped it off with a smirking emoticon.
Eriol read her message, and he had to say that beneath his annoyance, he was plain amused. The girl just couldn't run out of words to say- she was downright witty, and he was attracted to women like that. Daidouji Tomoyo wasn't like his past flings who sought to please him, flatter him. He was entertained by the fact that she could always find something about him to poke fun of, and whether he admits or not, he liked that.
But that doesn't change the fact that she, the know-it-all nakoudo, broke his relationship with Mizuki Kaho that he had cared for and worked hard to keep. And he wasn't the lenient type of person.
You're speechless, said his chatmate. Are you still there, or are you already on your way out of your house to chase Precious?
He chuckled, and typed, I'll have to rethink my feelings over. I don't think I can imagine how I would survive in our conversations when her only vocabulary is arf.
Her reply was instant. Who cares about the conversation? Think about your kiss! It would be one hell of a sloppiness if you two do French kissing.
Thanks for the advice, he typed before shaking his head laughingly. When was the last time that he had laughed this hard? He couldn't remember anymore.
The next afternoon, Tomoyo and Yukito arrived in the Hiiragizawa mansion, where Nakuru was waiting for them impatiently.
"OK, lovebirds, listen up," she said when the two alter ego of the moon guardians had settled. "I want Sakura-chan to see you two together, so I'm going to tape you two in the entire course of your date."
Yukito rubbed his cheek. "E-Entire course? Tomoyo, we're just going to watch a rock concert. There won't be dramatic things to capture in such venue."
Nakuru shrugged. "It's ok with me, just so we can get over with it already."
Tomoyo smiled at the snow bunny. "Why can't you be as cooperative as Nakuru here? It's not like I'll send it to Japan's leading TV network and have it broadcasted on primetime."
The two's eyes widened; they knew that a Daidouji was capable of anything and everything, her abilities almost as powerful as Clow Reed's magic even.
"So smile, you two! Show Sakura-chan that you are a happy, loving couple! Compress, please. Good, smile, wave, and say 'sex'," she instructed.
Yukito looked scandalized as Nakuru gamely did what she instructed.
"Sex? What is that for?" he asked uncomfortably. "Can't we just say 'cheese'?"
"My word will flaunt those hard, dense structures in the mouth of your vertebrate structure much more sparkly than your word," she explained impatiently. She focused her video camera more. "Nakuru, you're looking great!"
This encouraged the moon servant of Eriol more. "Sex! Sex! Sex!" she said cheerfully, waving a peace sign.
"Yukito," said Tomoyo, pointedly looking at the faintly blushing man.
He muttered something under his breath.
"I can't hear you," the nakoudo said in a singsong voice.
"Alright already! Sex! Sex! Sex!" yelled Yukito, shutting his eyes tight, as if Touya was watching him right now make fun of himself.
"What the hell-" Eriol Hiiragizawa thundered out of the door, face dark. "What is it with all these "Sex!" screams I hear in my domicile?" He turned to Yukito, who suddenly wanted to bury his head under the ground like that certain big bird in the zoo, and Nakuru, who was blinking in her usual naïve way. He immediately knew who was the perpetrator.
"Daidouji-san," he said through gritted teeth. "Please explain-"
"Smile at the camera!" she said cheerfully, pointing her cam at him. "Wave and say 'Sex!' to the world!"
He was about to do what she instructed when he remembered why he came down from his room. He suppressed his Sex smile. "Damn it, Daidouji-san. What are you trying to make my guardians do?"
"Make them look good in the screen," she replied casually, tucking a stray wisp of her tresses behind her ear.
Eriol gulped inwardly- was she doing that on purpose? Gestures like that were some of the things he couldn't resist in a woman. He carried on his display of anger. "And I suppose you're doing some stupid matchmaking between them, am I right?"
"Wrong," said Tomoyo. "I am matchmaking them alright, but it's not in any way stupid…at least not as stupid as a guy falling in love with a dog."
His resolve to be calm and cool in front of the nakoudo instantly flew out of the window. "Hey, hey, it was just a joke, that thing I said in our chat."
She raised a brow. "Funny, you sounded lovesick the way you're talking last night." She turned to the stunned Nakuru and Yukito. "Yue, Ruby Moon, do you know that this young master Clow Reed of yours has a secret affection -"
"Shut up!" said Eriol, but he could see that her mouth was unstoppable.
"-for a…" Tomoyo's words were interrupted when Eriol suddenly grabbed her by the waist and kissed her mouth hard, silencing her. Nakuru and Yukito watched, faces a mixture of shock and something else unreadable.
Moments later, Eriol pulled away. He watched Tomoyo look at him with wide, cloudy eyes, catching her breath; he had to admit that she made him breathless too. Her lips were the softest things he had ever touched, even softer than petals of roses. At the same time, they were the sweeter than the sweetest honey he had ever tasted.
She shook her head, laughing nervously. She pulled herself out of his grasp and recollected herself. "You know, you'll make a bad kindergarten teacher if that is your idea of keeping people quiet."
"Yeah," he agreed quietly. He was still trying to calm the fever that suddenly flushed into his blood when he kissed her.
The two didn't see Nakuru and Yukito exchange knowing smiles.
Sakura clapped her hands delightedly as she watched the delayed "telecast" of Nakuru and Yukito's date, via VCR.
The Nakuru on screen was dancing wildly along with the rocking of the beat while Yukito was watching her awkwardly.
"Why aren't you dancing?" demanded Nakuru when she saw that he wasn't swaying along with the crowd.
Yukito smiled. "I'm doing the statue dance."
"What?" She didn't quite hear what he said over the roar of the crowd.
He shook his head. "Nothing."
"Nonsense!" Nakuru grabbed both of his hands and tried to make him dance. She ended up shaking his brains out, but the man looked like he didn't mind. In the end, he was dancing along too, laughing at the same time with the exaggerated dance moves of the woman.
"They're great!" said the cherry blossom when the tape ended. "You really are a great nakoudo, Tomoyo-chan. Even if they don't end up together, they would be good friends, and that is what's important."
But the person she was talking too was looking out at the bedroom of her window somewhat distractedly.
"Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura tried again.
The nakoudo blinked. "Hai?"
"What's so nice-looking outside?"
Tomoyo shook her head. "I was just wondering…" She rummaged through her usually reliable but now malfunctioning retort and ready reply bank. "…how many birds fly outside your window everyday." She kicked herself mentally. Was that the best she could do?
Fortunately, Sakura was…well…easy to believe anything she says. The genki cherry blossom's face frowned delicately. "Gee…there must be a lot, Tomoyo-chan. I mean, it's the season of migration or something."
Kero-chan rolled his eyes. Sakura wouldn't be Sakura without the word gullible attached to her like a price tag. He went to the VCR to rewind the tape. "Next time, feature Yue. I want Yue!" He started to roll on the floor, laughing. "Yue and Ruby Moon!"
Tomoyo laughed, and then turned to the window again, her pinkie finger absent-mindedly running itself on her lips. Her first kiss…and it was given by no other than the person who loves her the way he loves politicians.
Ironic.
"You know, there must be something that the sky has that I don't," kidded Spinel when its master turned abstractedly turned to the window again, immersed in his own dark, swirls of thoughts.
Nakuru smirked at the feline in an I-know-something-you-don't fashion that she knew the cat detested so much. "Tomoyo."
Spinel let that one pass and instead, nodded knowingly, as if the name explained everything.
Eriol, on the other hand, couldn't start working long enough not to pause and reminiscence about how delicious it felt kissing the lovely nakoudo.
Add to the fact that he was the first to taste those luscious virgin lips…
"Eriol-sama no hentai!" teased Nakuru.
He turned to her. "I wasn't thinking of Tomoyo, damn it!"
"I'm sure!" smirked Spinel.
He looked at his servants for a few more moments, then turned back to the window, ignoring the chorus of laughter from them.
Come to think of it, it's also your fault, Hiiragizawa, he told himself wryly. It was just a kiss, a mere liplock that you've done to so many women before…to Kaho even countless of times.
But when he kissed Daidouji Tomoyo awhile ago, Aphrodite and Venus forgive him, but he had not even remembered that he knew someone with the name of Kaho Mizuki. Anything and everything else aside from the nakoudo faded into insignificant nothingness, even time stood still for him, when he kissed her.
If not for his servants entertaining themselves by watching him act like a lovesick schoolboy, he could have gladly banged his head on the table in an effort to break the spell Tomoyo cast on him.
Is there an antidote for a bewitching kiss of a charming nakoudo?
Tsuzuku