"Well, this is certainly what word wizards were thinking of when they created the word boredom," said Yue wryly as he and Ruby Moon sat by the trees, watching Sakura lay down the plates from the picnic basket.
"You have no right to complain anyway," said Spinel Sun, yawning. It was sprawled on the fine sand where Cerberus was cheerfully rolling on in happiness abandon. "It's Mistress Sakura that we're chaperoning."
Ruby Moon dipped her toe daintily on the water, then sighed. "I'm hungry."
"So what else is new?" sighed Spinel Sun, rolling its eyes. "Just a little more and your appetite will catch up with Yukito's and Cerberus'…which must be very painful."
Cerberus growled. "Hey, I'm a growing lion! What can I do?"
"And what can you say for yourself, Yue?" asked the black animal.
"I'm bored."
"Hey, why don't you sing a song for us, Yue?" asked Ruby Moon cheerfully.
The winged man glared lethally at her. "I'll start with your funeral song."
"Dance for us, Yue," piped Cerberus in. "For the benefit of entertainment."
"Blast you."
Ruby Moon got up, dusting the sand off her elaborate costume. "OK. I'll dance then. And I'll sing as well."
"Please don't." Ruby Moon's sun counterpart looked horrified.
"Cerberus, Spinel Sun, and you too, Ruby Moon! Want some cakes?" Sakura waved at them to come over. She shot Yue an apologetic look, and he bowed politely. Yue had asked her before not to bother calling him anymore when it concerns food.
"Last one to Sakura's spot is a rotten egg sandwich!" yelled Cerberus, running towards its mistress in full speed. The ultra-competitive Spinel Sun had no choice but to follow. Yue was surprised though when it saw that Ruby Moon had sat back down with no intention to eat.
"Why are you still here?" he asked finally.
"Because I'm not there," she said, eyes on the waters.
"So I notice." He wasn't comfortable with the idea of sitting down in a secluded spot a little far away from the crowd than usual, and with someone who was being matchmade with him!
"You know what," she said after awhile. "I'll be honest with you, Yue. I…well, Tomoyo told me to seduce you tonight…that's why she set this up."
The moon guardian wasn't surprised anymore with what she said, but he was surprised that she had the guts to tell that straight to his face. "OK, so how exactly do you want to start seducing me?"
"I don't know," she admitted sorrowfully. "What turns you on?"
Tomorrow, he was sure he was going to berate himself for letting himself have this kind of conversation with her, but for the meantime, he was just going to endure this weird but somewhat unboring talk. "Nothing."
"Nothing? Not even Touya wearing a pink bunny outfit with fishnet stockings and elevator heels?"
"What?!"
"OK, let's rephrase it-"
"Shut up. You're wasting all the good oxygen."
"You're not paying for it," she pointed out. "It won't even run out for the next two hundred years you know."
"Well just please stop talking about seduction."
"You're gay?"
"Maybe." Just so she would shut up.
But she was unstoppable. "That's OK, I guess. I think I'm a hermaphrodite."
He didn't know what exactly was in her innocently uttered statement that struck him as amusing, but he ended up chuckling.
"I think my plan is starting to work," whispered Tomoyo, giggling. She was hiding in a cottage not so far from where the two moon guardians were talking, and so far her plan was working out well. Her hand groped for her fresh set of video camera batteries, but instead touched something as warm as human skin.
"I knew the nakoudo is up to something." Eriol Hiiragizawa looked at her wryly. "I told you, Nakuru is genderless."
"Love transcends gender," she said, rolling her eyes. "If they do fall in love with each other, their sexuality won't be a problem. If you must know, it's not all about lust."
He sensed the edge in her voice, and he knew she meant more in what she said.
"So what are you doing here?" she asked after a momentary pause. She picked up the batteries and placed them into her camera. She pretended to ignore the steady gaze that he was giving her.
"My two servants all of a sudden said that they're taking a Friday night off together and I wouldn't be worried?" he said at last.
She smirked. "True, true."
"And as if that is not enough, I sensed that Yue was showing his form much more often than he used to," continued the reincarnation of Clow. "Do you know how nervous it can make an all-powerful mage?"
"Can't argue with that."
"You know, I've been with them all my life which explains their undying loyalty to me…but why the hell they blindly follow what you say when you don't have even a single thread of affinity to them is beyond me." Eriol rolled his eyes.
"I'm charming," she said simply.
"I know," he replied matter-of-factly. "It's all I could do to grab you and kiss you."
She could feel it again, the tension starting to thicken around them. "Later," she said in what she hoped was a carefree voice. Too bad she squeaked.
"Now," he said, smiling mischievously. He swiped the camera off her hands. "I brought the Return card and you can tape Yue and Ruby Moon's date later. I'll help you even." His voice turned husky as his face drew close to her.
Sexual chemistry. The phrase radiated in her mind painfully, serving to be the bucket of icy water to wake her up.
He was so unfair! He knew he was just so good at it, and he was using it mercilessly against her.
Reluctantly, she pulled away, grateful for her last ounce of self-control. "Not now, Eriol. I'm busy."
He sighed. "Very well." He looked at the two moon guardians, a bemused expression on his face. "Yue and Ruby Moon together, what a sight indeed. I don't know what you saw in them that tells you that they're compatible."
"I don't know. It just comes naturally for me…sensing the sparks and all. All learned in the good ole school of nakoudo experience." Tomoyo was secretly relieved that their conversation was treading back to normal grounds again. She vowed never to let it go past beyond their usual banter again… just to save herself from the shame of being defeated everytime when he resorts to an earthshaking kiss.
"And you didn't sense that with me and Kaho?" he asked sharply.
"No," she said truthfully. "Besides, from what I heard, you cannot give her the reassurance she needs."
"A serious relationship? A commitment?" He laughed dryly. "I was just getting to that, when you so rudely interrupted me."
"Oh, forgive me then," she said sarcastically. "You know, you don't sound like someone in love…you sound like someone obsessed, mostly because of your bruised ego. Am I right?"
His fists clenched. "I do love Kaho!"
She ignored the pain within her. "Maybe, but the way you're acting right now…I am right in saying that it was all injured pride."
"What do you know? Have you fallen in love already?"
"Yes, I have!" she yelled. "I love my cousin, I love Li Syaoran, and hell, I fell in love with your kisses too!"
Silence.
His face softened into a smile, and she had to admit, she was smiling a little too.
"Since you put things that way…" Eriol touched the tip of her nose fondly. "Then I confess…I think you're right. Maybe it's just the ego."
She smiled gleefully, in an I-told-you-so fashion. Deep within her though was another kind of happiness when she learned that he really wasn't in love with Mizuki Kaho.
"Another confession too…I've fallen in love with your kisses too, Nakoudo. Hard." His voice turned husky.
"T-That's nice," she said nervously when his face was starting to bridge the distance between them once more in all too familiar bittersweet excitement for her.
His lips touched hers. "And how's this?" he murmured against her lips.
"Nice too…" she whispered before surrendering herself to his majestic passion once more.
Sakura put the binoculars down. It seemed like everyone else was falling in love. Yue and Ruby Moon. And now, in the cottage, Eriol-kun and Tomoyo-chan.
She looked at Spinel Sun and Cerberus, then grinned.
"What are you laughing at?" demanded Cerberus, who didn't like how his mistress' eyes were twinkling.
"N-Nothing." She looked up at the moon. "I miss you, Syaoran-kun. Hurry up and go back to Japan already, ok?"
tsuzuku
Gomen. I haven't updated for ages and yet the chapter wasn't long. Gomen nasai! ^^ I'll make it up next chapter, promise.
Oh yeah, someone sent me a mail, commenting that this wasn't my usual E+T…for one, the kisses were more frequent. And Tomoyo has easily acknowledged her feelings, as opposed to my previous fics that she would deny them until the end of the story.
I'm just trying to experiment with a little more touch of, uh, realism? Ehehehehe ^^;; Anyway, I'll do my best to pull the story off without so much mush for the remaining four chapters.
And to the other one who emailed me saying that it was "outrageous" of me to pair Yue and Ruby Moon together, with all due respect to your preferred couple (Yuki/Touya), please, PLEASE leave the couples of my fics alone, onegai. I do not dismiss your opinions, but well, it's my story. If I want to write it that way, let me be. I have nothing against your couple- I like a little yaoi every now and then. Dakedo, in this story, I want it to be Y/R so if it pleases you not, feel free to skip scenes of them together or to stop reading altogether.
There! Syao is now off to school! (the rest of the peepz in the E+T Shrine ML were like, 0.o)