All in the Game of Love
Hellox and kicking back with the 19th chappie of AitGoL!!! Enjoy, enjoy and like I said, this is a chapter to make up for the previous one for going too slowly. I hope all of you will like this and continue to keep the support coming! Domo arigatou!! I will also be clearing up some stuff about Rad here so pls spare me if you think it is boring or anything! I am including scenes that have been missing for the past few chapters when AEAT were mostly focused on. So taadaa and enjoy!
Btw, I have received several reviews on guessing what those papers were. Well, I'll keep that as a secret for now until the later chapters so let's just keep it in suspense first!! (Though I promise there is a huge hint in this fic already!)
As always
Mysterio000
p.s. the almighty one!
*
It was another typical day in a certain class of Shades. The math teacher, as usual, was busy teaching formulas to nobody in particular, never aware that the class was busy with their own stuff. Her droning voice was of nothing to win the attention of the classmen either.
For the next two periods of the lesson, giggles flew across the room as several girls busied themselves with gossiping messages that were scribbled onto with teases and comical remarks. Boys that sat at all corners of the room folded their math homework into paper planes and flung them at each other for a little game of 'Shoot-Me-If-You-Can'. The others were either reading comics or copying homework from the smarter students in the class.
And amidst the silent chaos that erupted across the classroom, one particular person was still able to find peace and quiet in whatever she was doing. A lady, to say the least.
Tomoyo Daidouji, with her amethyst eyes trained wholly on the papers before her, was only semi-conscious of what was going around the classroom. She didn't know what those messages the girls were passing, neither did she give a care to see which boy won the paper plane game. Much less, those math formulas scrawled on the board of the classroom were of no interest to the raven-haired lady either.
All she knew was that she had to complete what was before her.
Tap tap tap…
The pencil in her hand hit against the table softly in rhythm before she leant forward with inspiration lighting in her eyes instantly. Scribbling something on the paper, she then held it up to head level to eye it under the frail rays of the classroom's light. Obvious satisfaction showed on her face before she continued to work hard on the single sheet of paper.
On certain times, her face would crinkle in displease before erasing the mistake away and starting over again. Other times, a smile would spill across her features that proved to be wistful.
By the end of math class, it was complete.
Tomoyo let out a sigh and rested her head on the table, covering the sheets of papers that were now filled with blots of black fountain ink. Inwardly, she could feel the gratitude and happiness flowing from her heart, and smiled.
*
"What!? You're not going to go after Eriol anymore?" Veronica cried out, horrified, "But why? Have you gone insane, my dear cousin? Or just mentally zonked out by the fight?" She placed a palm on the forehead of Rad before feeling him shove her away.
"First of all, I am not mentally zonked out for I have nary a scratch at all." He held up his hands to prove his point before sighing, turning his armchair to the window of their Hidesys mansion.
"Then why?" Veronica stomped to his side, not believing any of this, "Why do you insist on not attacking him anymore?"
Rad said nothing, but his cousin knew him long enough to notice something in his eyes that she had not seen before, and she couldn't believe it. Those blue eyes no longer blazed out a path of fiery determination that marked the trademark of the blond-haired man. Instead, there was a swirl of emotions conjuring in them.
Envy, Veronica recognized.
"Are you telling me you're going soft on them now?" She exclaimed with disbelief, referring to the couple that was now the favorite hotspot topic in Shades.
Rad remained silent when he lifted a finger to push open the window, allowing a small breeze to drift in. "No, I am not going easy on them. It is just…" He paused to find the right words before continuing, his face a flawless impression of an emotionless person, "There are things which we have to understand."
"Like what? Like what!? I don't understand you now, Rad!" Veronica flung her hands up, totally annoyed by the fact that she would lose a strong support in her hatred for the couple.
"…Veronica," He gave a sigh, "Tomoyo Daidouji is a real jewel, a gem polished by the hands of God, a ray of sunshine that has happened to roll down the hills to land before our sight."
"I can let you have her! We just have to split them up, that's all!" Veronica said, desperate to win back Rad into her team of AEAT.
"That's what you don't understand." The impersonal mask fragmented as something else crawled into Rad's eyes that could not be define easily. "She is perfect. Far too perfect. I thought I loved her. I really did."
"And then?" Veronica asked, annoyed and disinterested, not getting a hang of what her cousin was trying to say.
"I wanted to own her. I wanted her to be mine. I was so desperate to be the owner of this gem that I would resort to anything to achieve that." His eyes dipped, although his head maintained its level up high still. "But this is not love. This is…infatuation. An obsession. Addiction."
He spoke again, finishing his confusing speech, "I cannot have her."
"What are you talking about!?" By this time, Veronica was terribly pissed off that she couldn't understand her cousin for the first time in his life. Supposed Eriol and Tomoyo had put a curse on her cousin to cause him to behave like this?
Confused and utterly disappointed with Rad, she fumed angrily before slamming the door shut behind her and stalked off.
Unfazed by his cousin's strong reaction at his words, Rad continued to keep his gaze locked on the glassy windows before a string of words escaped his lips, though not meant for anyone to hear.
"There is somebody out there who is willing to sacrifice his own well-being for the sake of this jewel." He spoke almost inaudibly, and the words slowly weaved with the wind and were gone.
"How much courage does it take for a human to poise himself before a dozen of armed men and face his hellish fate just because of a girl?" He asked, seemingly as though he was speaking to the windows. The glass reflected his image and he saw the envy in his own blue orbs.
He then stared down at his raised palms that were now opened up to meet his face.
"Understand that, Veronica… Understand that, for I am beginning to."
*
"Ok, explain." Eriol snapped as he glared at the couple before him. "Explain how the two of you ended up visiting me when you could have gone on a date."
"Well, firstly, we just wanted to see how you were getting along since Tomoyo told us that you were injured and all." Sakura Kinomoto said with an unmistakable tease in her emerald eyes.
"Yeah, so stop being so mean, would ya?" Li Syaoran spoke next, his brown eyes glinting with playfulness as he folded his arms with a feigned pout, "I wonder how Tomoyo managed to stand being with you for so long."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Eriol growled, his eyes piercing a dozen of daggers into Syaoran's.
"Alright, Syaoran, let's stop teasing Eriol now. Look, he's getting all red." Sakura said, but not before adding a pinch of her own mischief as well.
"Oh! Just look at him blush! You should do this more often, man, Eriol. You look so adorable." Syaoran broke into his own fits of laughter, well aware that his friend would burst into a tantrum sooner or later.
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean!?" Eriol held up a pillow threateningly, his patience teetering.
"Eriol!" Sakura quickly stood up to release the pillow from the blue-eyed boy's grasp, "Syaoran didn't mean it!"
"Oh right, he didn't." The annoyed man shot back sarcastically, hating the way Syaoran was looking so triumphant now. Eriol vowed to get him later when Sakura wasn't around. But as for now, he needed to know why the two of them were here. The real reason.
"Quit the lies. Really, why are the two of you here?" He asked.
"Why can't you ever believe that we came just to visit you?" Syaoran retorted lightly, humor shining in his amber eyes. Another favorite hobby of his was to watch his blue-eyed friend get red with anger. He knew how short his temper was when it came to teases and all.
"Syaoran!" Sakura chided her boyfriend, seeing that the fuse of Eriol's patience was burning with sparks already. If Syaoran didn't know better, he would be threading on dangerous territory the next instance.
"Actually, Tomoyo couldn't make it to send you lunch so here we are." Sakura finally explained as she handed him a Styrofoam packet that consisted of his lunch.
"Couldn't make it?" Eriol snapped his head up, worry creasing his forehead. Had Rad or Veronica done something to her again? "Why? Something happened?"
"Why, yes." Syaoran said, fighting hard to keep a straight face. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Sakura stifling a giggle. He prayed Eriol wouldn't notice his lips beginning to curl up into a smile.
He didn't, and they benefited to see the impression on his face.
Eriol grabbed Syaoran's arms, his grip tight and firm, "Why? How? What happened?"
And the amber-eyed boy broke his façade, laughing so hard that Sakura had to calm him down by patting his back repeatedly.
"Argh!!! Damn you!" Unable to control his annoyance anymore and finally deciding to carry out his vow despite the presence of Sakura, Eriol grabbed a pillow and headed straight for Syaoran.
"AH NO! I didn't get to finish my sentence! She had detention, that's all!" Syaoran exclaimed in mock fear as he ran out of the room.
"YOU CHEATER!" And Eriol followed behind, hot on his heels with a pillow acting as a weapon in his hand, "GET BACK HERE, YOU FOOL!"
For the next half an hour, Eriol spent the time trying to find Syaoran in his house and finally chased him out to the living hall when he had found him hiding in the bathtub of the guest room.
"Very nice of you to take a shower in my house." Eriol had said when he had lifted up the curtains to spot the amber-eyed boy squatting down at the corner, looking up at him with an impish grin. Then he had slammed the pillow right into his face before dragging him down to the living hall.
"Owww…" Syaoran cried out as the three of them settled at the sofa of the living hall. He rubbed his cheeks in pain before grinning, "That was fun."
Eriol rolled his eyes. Being in the same class with Syaoran ever since the early days of elementary school didn't help in assisting him to understand this man completely. But somehow despite all the teases he had always received from Syaoran, their years of friendship still stood solid. The other man would always torture him with mischievous questions and he would always retort back with threatening words. Yet this was ordinary for a unique friendship like theirs.
"I'm surprised, you know." Sakura, sitting closely beside Syaoran, spoke. "Remember the dare that brought you two together?"
They were referring to Tomoyo, Eriol realized. Of course he remembered the dare. Who could forget the moment when Syaoran had picked Tomoyo to be his girlfriend for 5 weeks? After that, his life had been nothing but ordinary.
"Why?" Eriol shrugged, unsure of what was coming next.
"Well," Syaoran, who had an arm securely around Sakura's shoulder, smiled, "I'm surprised you follow all the rules without fail."
Eriol cocked an eyebrow, his head spinning to find an excuse quickly, "I just don't want to date Naoko."
"Excuse." Syaoran mocked, deciding to elaborate on his point. "You don't even need us to remind you to walk Tomoyo home anymore. Besides, you walk her home directly now, not even just 500m from school."
"In fact, you guys don't seem like a truth-or-dare couple anymore. You two look quite lovely to me. Just like a true couple dating, you know." Sakura stated matter-of-factly, observing the man before her looking away hastily.
"I just don't want her to come to the two of you to tell on me." Eriol thought up quickly again, although something inside nagged at him that it was an obvious lie.
"Excuses, excuses. They won't get you anywhere, Eriol." Syaoran sighed. After growing alongside Eriol for almost 10 years now, all he wanted was to see him get a good girl like he had found Sakura. Why was Eriol so persistent in denying everything?
"Eriol," Sakura said, continuing from where her boyfriend had left off, "Have you ever thought of what is going to happen after the dare is off?"
That caused him to blink a couple of times and he suddenly felt himself unable to move.
After the dare is off?
That meant…
"You don't have to walk her home anymore. You don't have to accompany her on her shopping sprees anymore. You don't have to take her to dances anymore. You don't have to take care of her anymore." Sakura answered his thoughts, sensing an instant change in the man.
Don't…have to walk her home? Don't have to take care of her? Nothing of that sort…anymore?
"Will you be happy if that happens?" Syaoran asked, his voice turning serious.
Will I be happy?
To his surprise, Eriol found himself unable to answer that question. Weeks ago, he would be able to take his stand and insist that he would be pleased if the dare was off.
But now…
Now things were different. Too different. So much had happened to the two of them when they were thought as a couple in Shades. Ever since, they had gone through so much together and had seen the high and low of different experiences alongside each other.
Now…was he to let go of everything once those 5 weeks were over?
"Eriol?"
He snapped out of his trance when he caught Syaoran waving a hand in front of him.
"What's wrong, dude? You don't look good. Your wounds hurting again?" The brown-haired boy asked, though inwardly he understood what his friend was feeling.
"No. I'm fine." Eriol stood up, his face unreadable, "I'll be upstairs finishing my lunch. I'll be down once I'm done."
Sakura sighed as she watched the man go. Turning to Syaoran, she asked, "You do know what he's feeling, right?"
He nodded in response, staring at the stairway where the blue-eyed boy had headed up, "He's quite stupid and dense, if you ask me."
"True, true." Sakura agreed with a knowing smile.
*
A single thought continued to reel in the mind of the blue-eyed one as he moved his fingers over the keyboard unconsciously, only dimly aware that he was playing his worst game ever in Counter-Strike as his virtual self was attacked with a knife for the umpteenth times that day.
Wearily, he watched as a troop of men approach his character in the computer and bombarded him with bombs and bullets. On usual occasions, he would pace the room and curse those buggers for doing that to him. But today, he merely sat at his place before the computer, his eyes trained on one spot on the screen as he paid no attention to what his character was doing.
Now, the thought was repeating too much to bear. It was right there in his head, nagging at him.
Will you be happy? Will you be happy? Will you…? Will you?
"DAMMIT!" He stood up so violently that the chair he sat on rolled across the room with a sudden impact when it hit the wall. Grabbing his head that was beginning to throb, he walked shakily to the bed before lying down heavily.
"I don't know…I don't know! Just please shut up and go away…" He pleaded as he turned on his back, conscious of his wounds hurting again when he did so. In hope of shutting his mind out, he leant forward to the other side of the bed to switch on his hi-five system. Turning it to the maximum volume, he set the stereo blasting off with loud heavy metal music that shook the entire room. Thoroughly regardless of it all, he slammed the pillow over his head and forced himself to relax.
After all, why should he get so uptight over just a thought?
Calm down, he repeated over and over again in his head before he finally felt his muscles relaxed. Ah, that felt good for once.
And then the hi-five just had to shut off.
"Frick dammit!" He sent the pillow flying across the room, "Even this tiny machine is going against me!? What's wrong with the world!?"
He sat up, anger blazing in his eyes.
And then gaped dumbly.
"T-Tomoyo?" He let out breathlessly, wondering if the girl he was seeing before his eyes was real.
"What's going on, Eriol?" She asked, quickly making her way to his side on the bed, "You look horrible. What's wrong?"
"N-No…" He uttered, realizing that he couldn't even form a coherent sentence now. He was stammering again!
"Don't lie to me." He heard her say softly before feeling her lean in to brush his ruffled hair back into place. His heart leapt, a thousand questions forming in his mind. How did she get here again? When? How long? How come everything seemed so much like a repetition of last night's event? Why was it that she would always appear right before his eyes when he wasn't prepared to?
He could still feel her combing his strands of dark azure hair carefully with her dainty fingers and he struggled to speak, hoping to find out more about her presence here.
That was when he realized he couldn't even raise his voice, and it came out as a small whisper. "T-Tomoyo…" And he just had to stammer again. Lord, damn him.
She sat back down on the bed before him, shaking her head to silence him. "Don't speak yet, Eriol. Tell me what's going on. What happened? Are your wounds hurting again?"
He shook his head, no words finding his way to his mouth yet.
"You're always like this. You don't know how to take care of yourself." She looked at him with a bright smile before walking to his wardrobe and opening it.
"What are you trying to do?" He asked, finding his voice after struggling for a long time. "And how did you get here? And why?"
"Easy with the questions." She teased, pulling out a shirt from the cupboard before returning to his side. "I was finished with my detention so I decided to come over. I chanced upon Sakura and Syaoran along the way and they said they visited you already. I guessed they didn't lock the door or something."
"Were they trying to create an experiment to see if the burglars love my house?" Eriol snorted, deciding that the duo had intentionally left the door open.
"No," Tomoyo giggled as she undid the buttons on his shirt, "I think they wanted me to come in to see what you were doing when nobody was watching. And I have to say, the sight was splendidly amusing."
"Yeah, right." He muttered back, unaware that his face was streaked with red. Lowering his eyes to where her fingers were continuing its journey down his shirt, he finally asked what she was doing.
She pointed to his shirt, focusing on the brownish spots that stained on the material, "Surely you need to change that shirt of yours. What have you been eating, anyway?"
"…Your rice puddings." He muttered, allowing her to help undo his shirt this time.
"Oh," She looked up with a giggle, "And will that stain your shirt?"
He thought back on what he had for lunch and remembered the cup of coffee he had gulped down an hour ago. "Coffee, I guess."
"Your wounds ok?" She asked, examining those red bruises once his top was free from the shirt.
"Doesn't hurt as much." He replied.
Her eyes travelled up, "And your shoulders?"
"Fine." He said before taking the shirt from her grasp and putting it on. He heard her sigh once more and he cocked an eyebrow. "What is it?"
She pretended to pout and placed her hands on her hips, "Why don't you ever learn how to take care of yourself? Or do you always need me to be by your side to make sure you're taken care of?"
Always be by your side…
"I know how to take care of myself." He retorted, receiving a playful swat in his arm in return.
"Do you really expect me to believe that?" She returned with the same frown he had on his face.
"Well, of course," A hint of humor tinted the look in his eyes, "Look, I've been almost alone everyday since junior high. How can I not be ok?"
"For starters, your wardrobe is chaotic and is in need of serious ironing and washing. Do you even realize that?" She teased, the corner of her lips curling into a radiant smile.
"Yes, I know. I'm just plain lazy."
"Nonsense," Tomoyo began to fold his shirt in her lap neatly, "You're beginning to talk too much, Eriol. Why don't you just listen to me and shut up for once?"
His eyes rounded in amusement, "You're asking me to shut up?"
Giggles escaped from her throat. "Yes, I'm asking you to shut up. Is that so hard to do? You're talking more than ever, eh, Eriol? I thought you were always the silent type?" Tomoyo gave him an impish look, knowing teases and mocks were things the blue-eyed boy couldn't stand to hear for long.
"You know…" His eyes began skimming across the bed sheets before settling on the object he was ready to grab anytime soon, "If you don't shut up--"
"You will?" She cut in, grinning up at him expectantly.
That did it. He turned around to grab three pillows from the bed before holding them up before her.
But nope, she was gone.
"ARGH! Why do I feel like I'm playing catch all day long?" Eriol muttered with mock anguish, picking up another two pillows along the way as he headed out of the bedroom to find the raven-haired lady. "And if I catch another one hiding in the bath tub, you will be roasted, I swear."
He stopped at the hallway, glancing around quickly in hope to catch a glimpse of the raven-haired lady. Making sure the five pillows were snug under his arms, he trotted down the stairway to the living hall.
Was that somebody who was running into the room below?
"You won't get far, Tomoyo!" He warned before dashing into the direction of the room.
*
"Tomoyo!" He held open the door to the guest room but all that responded to him was his voice echoing back to him. Not wanting to be a fool for the second time, he pulled back the curtains of the bathroom to check the tub.
Nope, Tomoyo definitely didn't think a lot like Syaoran.
He sighed, closing the door to the guest room before heading back down the hall to rummage the other rooms. She was getting better at this hide-and-seek game, but surely she could never hide long enough when it was the infamous Eriol seeker at work.
Now where would I go if I were her? He pondered for a moment before making a dash for his bedroom. How could he be that slow? So unintelligent? Determined not to have Tomoyo out beat him, he entered his bedroom at top speed, only to have a petite figure trying to squeeze out of the small opening of the door beside him.
"Oh no, you don't!" He stood at the entrance and opened his hands wide so as to make sure there was no way she could get around it. Realized she was defeated, Tomoyo quickly rushed to the other side of the room to avoid his wrath of the five pillows.
"I will teach you how to shut up." Eriol said, taking a few steps closer to her.
"I don't need you to teach me." Tomoyo backed to the wall, wary of the distance between the two of them closing in slowly. Sneaking a glance towards the bed, she quickly made a dove under the blankets and pulled them over her.
"That's not how you shut up!" She heard him say as he landed on the bed, beginning to lift up the blankets. She muffled down an exclamation as she dove deeper in, deciding to come out at the other end and make a run for the exit.
But he predicted that move, too, for he caught her at the edge of the bed and the only option left was to back to the wall of the bed, finally succumbing herself to his wrath as she stumbled back onto his bed.
He hovered above her, dropping all five pillows around him before holding one before her face.
"That's all? Only one?" She couldn't help but let out peals of giggles, realizing that her 'punishment' wasn't that bad after all.
"You wouldn't like it if I slam 5 pillows into your face, would you?" He rolled his eyes in sarcasm.
"No, you wouldn't dare to do that." She teased, the smile never leaving her face.
"Oh, really." His voice suddenly took a dive as he noticed the situation they were in.
A girl lying on a bed with a boy atop her? Definitely not good.
A quaver of emotions shook him like a powerful bolt as sapphire met amethyst. Memories he had never thought would weigh much in his mind before now rushed back in to conjure an unexplainable pit in the hollow of his stomach. Time slowed to nothing and right then, all he knew was that he was staring into the eyes of the lady whom he had been seeing day in and day out for weeks.
And it had all started with a game of truth-or-dare.
Everything started revolving when their rumoured romance had sparked off dislikes from different genders alike and how those people began to cause chaos in the lives of the couple in hope of them splitting up.
But their efforts only triggered something more between the two of them and it scared Eriol Hiiragizawa like hell.
"Eriol…?" Tomoyo whispered uncertainly, gazing into those marine eyes that were beginning to daze, although they continued to penetrate into those amethyst barriers with unspoken words.
And everything all returned back to his memory at once.
This was the girl who was almost taken advantage of because of him. This was the girl who had gone through so much because of him. This was the girl who had once slept over at his house, on his bed. This was the girl who had aided his wounds when he was injured.
This was the girl who was now laying before his very two eyes, staring up at him with a pair of curious eyes, enticing never the less.
It jolted something within him, something so strong and so powerful that it frightened the wits out of him. He couldn't fathom what it was, neither could he comprehend what his heart was trying to tell him, not when it was in a mind of its own now brimming with confusion.
But this urge was so strong. This temptation. It was licking so hard at his every senses that it was beginning to send red alarms everywhere throughout his body. His blood coursed through him - fiery, hot, burning. His thoughts landed to a halt and everything around soon dimmed.
The pillows didn't matter, the sweat on his brow didn't matter, the bed sheets didn't matter. In fact, nothing mattered.
All he was conscious of now was that she was lying before him, concern creasing over her forehead as she lifted a slender finger to wipe a drop of perspiration away. It only sent even more chills trembling up his spine, layering with his already vibrating emotions.
"Eriol?" He heard her call again, her angelic voice probing into his mind.
His mind fought to pull away, his arms struggled to push himself up from the bed. But his body still refused to budge, much less, oblige. A groan wrenched from his throat as he realized he didn't have enough willpower to fight back anymore.
To hell with it.
On instinct, he lowered his head to hers, his intentions finally clear.
Eyes growing at his movement, Tomoyo quickly placed a hand over her mouth, not believing this was happening to her.
"This is not your devilish way to shut me up, is it?" She muffled under her clamped mouth, surprised to find herself stumbling over the words as his face continued to come closer to hers.
And then she felt his fingers removing her hand, placing it back down on her side.
"Shut up." He growled huskily.
Her eyes widened.
And then his lips swooped down to claim hers.
**
END!!!
(of chapter duh…As if mysterio000 will ever dare end her story like this)
Well, anyway, taadaa! That's the moment EVERYBODY had been waiting for months and weeks! YAY! And I finally got the kiss up and going with! Like I promised, this is the special treat to make up for the previous chapters so drop a review and I hope you enjoyed it like I did! I just hope you didn't get too bored with Rad's scene and S+S's visit scene to Eriol's manor!
Special announcement! -- This is by far the longest chapter I've ever written! I'VE SET A RECORD!!!! YAY!!!! Don't bother counting how many words I've written though, for I am ashamed of the short amount already. -_-"
As always
Mysterio000
p.s. the almighty one!