"Push harder, JR!" instructed little Nadeshiko as Eriol-chan, scowling, pushed the swing seat some more.
"It's my turn to sit on the swings!" he protested. "You've been hogging the seat for hours already!"
"Not true!" She looked at her pink wristwatch and smirked. " It's been just sixteen minutes, Junior."
"Stop calling me that!" the boy protested. Was it his fault if his mother adored his dad so much that she ended up naming her firstborn after him?
Nadeshiko tossed her straight brown hair behind her shoulders. "I'll call you anything I want."
Eriol Hiiragizawa Jr. frowned. Why couldn't he manipulate his cousin the way he could do so to Nakuru?
"By the way, I heard Aunt Tomoyo will be coming home this weekend," the girl said, turning her amber eyes at him. "I wonder if she got me a nice dress from her shop." It had been her habit to ask for dresses from Daidouji Tomoyo's fashion line.
"Why don't you die and just come back a mannequin instead?" asked the boy sourly.
"What? And leave you lonely?" she asked, grinning.
He blushed hotly. "I won't be happy! In fact, I'll celebrate that day you disappear. You are always bossy, and I don't need a girl to boss me around."
"Hmm…" Her eyes twinkled. "If I don't boss you around, you will run out of things to do because you are a bum." She jumped down the swings. "Race you to your house!!!"
"What-" He watched her dash across the fields, her hair billowing in the wind. He scowled some more. That was one thing he hated more about her: she was smarter than him, more athletic than him, and more assertive than him. Nadeshiko was everything more than him.
Muttering, he tensed his muscles and sprinted as fast as he could to catch up with her.
"Hi Nakuru! Hi Suppi!" Nadeshiko then turned to Yukito and batted her eyelashes at him. "Hi Yukito!"
Eriol-chan entered the house, panting heavily. "I want my snacks, and don't give Nadeshiko any! She hogged the swing seat!" He frowned again when he saw her beside Yukito. "And don't even give her a cookie!"
"I don't mind. Yukito will bake me cookies, right?" asked Nadeshiko, revealing her Mona Lisa smile, as her Uncle Eriol calls it.
"No, he won't," snapped Eriol-chan.
"Why won't he?" snapped Nadeshiko back.
"Because I said so!"
"Why would Yuki obey a brat like you?" asked Nadeshiko, crossing her arms. "You can't even tie your own shoelaces!" She slapped her forehead. "Oh, I forgot. You were doing that on purpose…so Kaho-sensei will tie them for you."
Nakuru was amused. If Eriol-chan was infatuated with Kinomoto Kaho, Nadeshiko-chan was crazy over Tsukishiro Yukito. But they could be perfectly possessive of each other, just like now.
"OK, you guys, break it up!" said Yukito sternly.
"She started it!" said Eriol-chan quickly.
"I refuse to comment on your immature ways, Eriol Hiiragizawa Jr.," retorted Nadeshiko.
Yukito sighed, then shut his eyes. In a flash, he transformed into Yue. The two kids immediately quieted down.
"If I hear more bickering from you two," said the moon guardian gravely. "I will not allow you to play anymore with the Clow cards."
Nadeshiko fell silent, but Eriol-chan pouted. "I'll ask Cerberus then."
"You won't be able to use the Windy card, among other cards" said Yue. "Don't forget, it is under my power."
Nadeshiko covered Eriol-chan's mouth. "We understand, Yue. We'll make up right now, right, JR?" she said, smiling at him tenderly. JR was her affectionate pet name for him.
He looked at her suspiciously, then nodded.
"Now to be sure you will keep your truce…" He snapped his fingers, and the cards surrounded him, then disappeared into his hands.
"Wha-"
"Before you can use any of the cards that are under the lunar influence, you will have to inform me first." He ignored the crestfallen faces of the children. "I'll talk with your fathers tonight about this."
"Bummer," was the only things the kids could say.
"Yue-chan is not in the mood," said Eriol-chan, sighing, as he and his cousin sat by the steps of their tree house.
"Ah, but he can be sooooo cute when he's serious!" gushed Nadeshiko. "I hope he waits up for me until I grow up as pretty as Okaasan."
"Fat chance," snorted JR, rolling his eyes. "You're too tomboyish."
"No, it's not me," she retorted. "It's you! You're too feminine."
They looked at each other, then burst into laughter.
"Oh yeah, Nadeshiko, I wanted to show you this awhile ago, but I keep on forgetting it. Here." He showed her a Clow card.
Her eyes widened. "No way! Yue doesn't know you have this, does he?"
JR smiled proudly. "This card is not under his power anyway."
"What does that do?" asked the girl curiously.
"It's called a Cupid card. It works sort of like a temporary love potion, and Suppi told me that its effects linger for seven days."
Nadeshiko eagerly reached for it, but her cousin held it out of reach. "I know what you're thinking, Nadeshiko!" said Eriol-chan. "You're going to use it on Yukito, aren't you?"
"Yes, and so?" she asked, eyebrow arched.
He shook his head firmly. "No can't do. I will use this on-"
"Kaho-sensei?" asked Nadeshiko, rolling her eyes. "But she already has a husband! Two kids! And she's like…forty something?"
"Age doesn't matter," said JR confidently. "But it's not the point. Sure, she's got a husband, and her husband is your uncle, but they can always get a divorce. When I grow up and she sees how handsome I am, I'm sure she will do that."
"By then, Kaho-sensei is fifty."
"I told you, age doesn't matter!" said the boy hotly. "Anyway, why are we talking about that? I'm not going to use this on Kaho-sensei because I don't need love potions to make her fall for me."
Nadeshiko rolled her eyes.
"I'm going to use this on Yukito-"
"I know you would be reasonable!" his cousin cried, joyful.
"-and Nakuru," finished JR, grinning.
"What?!!!" exclaimed Nadeshiko. "Y-You're kidding!"
"I'm not."
"But…but…" She was near to tears. "I want Yukito too."
JR suddenly looked bothered. "Hey, hey, we'll just see if this card works. If it does, after seven days, I'll use the card on you and Yukito, ok?"
"Can't I go first?" she complained.
He shook his head firmly. "What if something goes wrong when we use the card? I don't want anything to happen to you."
She deliberated over what he said, then shrugged. "Fine, but you have to promise that you will use the card on me on fourteen days after we tried this on Nakuru!"
"Right, right. Now will you help me?"
"Do I have a choice?" The girl shrugged.
"There!" said Nakuru cheerfully as she placed a cover on the pot. "We'll just have to wait for it to boil down to perfection and then its chow time!"
Yue sighed, and she noticed it immediately. "What's wrong, Yue?" she asked.
"Do you mind unbraiding my hair already?" he asked, gesturing to his fine silver hair that she did a while ago while they were waiting for the meat to tenderize in the pressure cooker.
"Aaw, but you look so pretty!" she gushed.
"Ruby Moon!" he said warningly.
She smiled. Yue never liked calling her by her human name. "Right, right." She went behind him and started to fix his hair again. "Your hair is so nice. Wish mine is like this…like silk threads that no matter how much you twist will always remain straight and shiny." She began to comb his long, silver hair.
He had to admit that her brush was starting to tickle a little. He turned to her. "Aren't you done yet?" he snapped. He knew that he might end up chuckling if she doesn't stop brushing his hair.
"Touchy," she remarked. "Hey, maybe you can do my hair too next time." She burst out laughing when she saw him glare at her. "OK, OK, I was just kidding. I was just trying to cheer you up."
"Cheer me up by leaving me alone," he said sourly.
"You're so serious." She looked at her watch. "We still have five minutes before you can finally turn back to Yukito. I'll miss you, Yue!"
"Shut up," he grumbled.
"Hmm, I think I'll go set the table. Want to help?"
"No."
"I thought so. Ah, but Yuki-chan will help me." Nakuru gave him a final grin before heading for the dining room.
Yue crossed his arms and shut his eyes, awaiting the transformation.
"Uncle Yue is sleeping!" said Nadeshiko. She and her cousin were hidden behind the door. "His lashes are so beautiful…even more beautiful than mine."
"Shut up!" hissed Eriol-chan, rolling his eyes. He took out the Cupid card and his father's Clow staff.
Nadeshiko sighed. "I wonder when I will learn to use a card."
JR smiled. This was the only thing that he was better at with than her. "When you grow up," he said mockingly, then tossed the card up. "Cupid card!"
Yue opened his eyes when he sensed the presence of a Clow card, but it was too late. The Cupid spirit disappeared into him.
"Now let's see what will happen," he said as they watched Yue stand up, a bit dazed. "This is going to be good," said the boy delightfully, his mind still on vengeance for the Clow card probation Yue gave him.
Nakuru came into the room. "Yue, turn off the oven, will you?" She frowned when she saw that he was just staring at her speechlessly. "Yue?" she asked again.
He suddenly stepped towards her, grabbed her shoulders, and pulled her to him.
"Y-Yue!!!" yelled Nakuru, freaked out.
This snapped him out of his trance. He blinked, then realized what he just did. "Damn!" He let her go suddenly and banged his head on the wall repeatedly.
"Good grief!" Nakuru was still stunned, while the kids were laughing.
This was just the beginning.
tsuzuku
Someone dropped me an anonymous review that goes like this:
I've been reading a lot of your stories and they are all pretty much the same. Your characters never change and the only appealing part of this story is the sexual tension that you make your characters go through. Aren't you bored with these types of storylines? I know I am. I'm also very bored with how the characters seem to have the midas touch in all they do: they're always written as smart, intelligent, successful, rich. Life is far from these idyllic characterizations. Also, don't these characters have other problems besides love problems? How about their morals? Their beliefs? Their standards? Sometimes, these subjects can become too theoretical but if you are a good writer, you'll be able to subtly add these threads of morality or principles into an interesting plot. I would recommend reading some of Cherie Dee's works to see an example of what I mean.
OK, since the reviewer didn't leave his/her email address so I can discuss his/her concerns. I guess I'll just have to answer this here.
I am guilty as charged. I do play with the same storylines and yes, my characterizations are always annoyingly perfect, as if they have no faults. But the thing is, my storylines differ from each other the way I thrust them into situations, how they react, and how they feel. I am more into specific chapter enrichments than over-all plots because if you must know, I write my story as I type it. I sit down everyday in front of the PC and type whatever comes into my mind. Thus, I do not have the time to think of better and more meaningful plots. I thought that maybe, the dialogues will make up for it. I thought wrong. So OK, I'll try to come up with better plots in the future.
On the characters, I have to stand by the way I sketched them. It's not that they're too perfect for I just followed how CLAMP made them. Tomoyo, ever-cheerful. Eriol, mysterious and smart. I can't help it if Tomoyo-chan is not angsty, or Eriol-kun does not have any weakness. Adding depths to characters is good, but I guess I can't make it in a way that will satisfy you. You see, it will always give the writer a problem on OOC-ness, and I have enough problems with that in my Shaman King fics. I play safe by portraying them like their characters in familiar E+T fictions. However, if you have read my fics, you may be able to see Larawan (Portrait) and Bijin to Obake. I gave them a different character treatment there, although I'm not proud to say that it has a LOT of spelling and spacing errors (I was still MS Word-ignorant then ^^;;)
True, my stories are far from what life is like. I know because I experience a lot of harsh reality bites too (my blog would vouch for that, and I don't mean love problems because my love life is non-existent by anyone's standard). But I have a reason for making my stories cheerful. The same reason why American cartoons are churned out: it's escapism. I want people to read my works to temporarily forget whatever bad things happened to them in real life. Call me absurd, but I want to make the readers feel romance anime style…the kind of romance that won't have to worry about other things but the romance itself. Morals, principles…I have them too, only I use them sparingly, and if ever I do, I use them gently. Simply because mush and fluff is my style. I am more used into lighthearted-toned fics. It's my trademark writing already, just like that it's CLAMP trademark already to have excessive use of feathers and angel wings and flowing fabrics. Ask CLAMP to do Sakura in hardcore Spawn-like art, and you'll know what I mean. ^_~
And if you do notice, I've inserted these principles and beliefs in Bijin to Obake, when Tomoyo-chan fought for her right of ownership of her land that Eriol-kun bought. The willingness to sacrifice for one's happiness, I make sure that it is embedded in my stories too.
Finally, Cherie-san, I'm sure is a wonderful writer, but you see, Cherie-san is not me. Cherie-san excels in a style you like, while I do more decently in a style I am more used to. If you have grown bored of reading my work, you can always stop reading them. If I'm starting to disappoint you, you don't have to read. I know that what you said was just to help me become a better writer, and you did say you read many of my works. You meant well, dakedo, I might just frustrate you more if I promise to change my style when I know I can't. I am more comfortable with this style of writing. Give me two more years, and maybe, if I mature, so will my writing. But right now, all I can promise you is better plots if I ever do start on another E+T fic in the near future.
Thanks for the time to leave comments on my work. I hope you left your email addy though, because I could have discussed this in a private email instead, instead of boring the other readers who have read until this part. Please don't think that I'm mad at you or I'm being sarcastic now. I have no hard feelings whatsoever, because comments like this keep me up my toes. ^_^