Tomoyo's POV
Chapter 5: The Through
"Hell, Hiiragizawa, what are you doing in my house again?" I groaned seeing Eriol outside my door.
"I wanted to see you again." He said sweetly.
"How's Sakura doing?"
"Don't worry about her, the little wolf has been taking good care of her."
"Do you mean Prince Syaoran Li? Is he that person who followed you to Sakura's bedroom that night I was there?" I questioned him.
Eriol chuckled nervously. "Little wolf is Princess Meiling's servant, not a prince." He lied smoothly, but I saw right through his fib.
I remember that first day I met Syaoran; he had a crown on, wearing the fancy prince suit. He must want to pretend to be a servant, so that's why Eriol made me make the costume for him. Syaoran was wearing that exact costume I made that night to fool everyone when we were all at Sakura's bedroom. Now the question is, why would a prince dress himself as a slave? What is his motive?
I know I can't ask Eriol anything about any of this. He'll just lie. But I have to get to the bottom of this.
"What are you daydreaming about?" Eriol interrupted my thoughts.
"Oh, nothing. I just want you to free Sakura at once. Everything is just a misunderstanding; she did not kill Takashi, so she shouldn't have to serve the palace at all."
Eriol sighed. "I told you, I don't have the power to free Sakura. I 'could' however, talk to Empress Yelan for you, but the empress has the most terrible temper and attitude. She might not bother with freeing Sakura at all."
"That's what's stopping you? The queen's temper? Couldn't you at least try, ya big fraidycat?" I argued.
Eriol paused, but then put on that ever so famous evil grin. "I'll go talk to the empress on one condition: You must kiss me first."
I glared and he flinched. "Just kidding, just kidding. I go right away."
I pointed to the door.
I yelled "get out."
Then, I did something my mind was too slow to stop me from doing. I leaned over and pecked him lightly on the cheeks. "Do a good job persuading the empress, okay?" I whispered in his ears, smiling sheepishly.
"I'll try my best. See you later." He turned around, running back to the palace.
I have to follow him; I want to see Sakura in peace as soon as possible.
"Move, Erase, release and dispel. Take me to the palace, and make me invisible to everyone!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I entered the room quietly. Sitting on the throne was a beautiful, pale, yet strict looking lady served by ten maids.
Eriol kneeled in front of her. "Thank you Queen Yelan for seeing me today. I have a small matter to discuss with you, but I think it is best to get your permission first before acting."
"Well proceed, what brings you here today?" The empress said in an icy tone.
"I want to free one of Princess Meiling's servants. The servant's name is Sakura Kinomoto; she was brought here after being accused of committing homicide, but now I am sure she is innocent."
"Is that all?" The queen smiled a strict smile that didn't even reach her eyes. "Eriol, as my royal advisor, I am extremely disappointed in you. You should know better. FREE A SLAVE! A highly intelligent advisor, and you still ask absurd requests like this!? You think a criminal can just pop in and pop out the palace whenever they want without being punished!" The steam came out the queen's nostrils with anger.
"Sakura is not a criminal..........."
"SILENCE!" Screeched the empress.
Eriol flinched under the empress's cold glare, but persisted. "Please your majesty, listen to me just this once!"
"Are you ordering me? I am the boss here! I raised and fed you for the past nineteen years like one of my own sons, and you come to me with this nonsense idea of freeing one of my people?"
"But she's just a maid, and she doesn't even work for you." Eriol said stubbornly.
"I order you to leave immediately before you regret ever coming to me today."
"Your majesty, I promised a friend to help Sakura, and I won't leave until you agree to free her." I saw fear in Eriol's eyes, but he still wouldn't give up. At this moment, I really wished I'd never asked him to go talk to the queen for me this morning.
The empress's expression grew colder and colder. She clapped her hand twice signaling her bodyguard to come forward. "Get me my whip!" She ordered them.
"Here you are your majesty." The little servant held up a whip that looked like an old yet sturdy branch about a meter long.
Empress Yelan grabbed the whip cracked it hardly on Eriol several times. "That. Should teach you a lesson. Next time you come to me, at least ask for something worth my precious time."
Two servants each clutched one of Eriol's injured arms and dragged him away.
Oh no, what have I done? Why did I have to ask Eriol to go ask Empress Yelan to free Sakura? Eriol was right, the empress does have extremely bad temper, and the only reason why he was even whipped was because I asked him to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I dashed into Eriol's chamber. "Are you alright?"
He wasn't surprised at all when he saw me. "Hi Tomoyo. I just went to visit the empress, and she said she wouldn't release Sakura. I'm sorry I couldn't help you."
"Why did you go ask her? You knew the empress had a bad temper!" I was so angry with him for hurting himself.
Eriol chuckled slightly. "Look, I'm sorry I can't accomplish what you wanted me to do. Why are you so mad at me?" Eriol touched the bruise on his neck that Queen Yelan gave him and gave me a look that said plainly, "Thanks a lot Tomoyo; you got me this ugly bruise."
My heart softened. "I'm not mad at you because you couldn't persuade the empress to set Sakura free. I'm mad that you kept on persisting until you enraged the queen so much she had to whip you. If you quit asking the first time she said no, then you would've avoided that harsh whip."
Eriol laughed. "Hey, it was 'you' who said, "do a good job". How can I quit so easily? You even kissed me to do it, so I know how much you wanted to see Sakura out of the palace."
"Well it's not my fault you got hurt!" I didn't want him to blame everything on me.
"I wasn't blaming you." He said as if reading my mind. "Okay Tomoyo, please go back home. It's not safe for you to stay in the palace; someone might find out you sneaked inside and get you into some serious trouble."
"Fine. When you get better, take care of Sakura for me okay?" I dashed back home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That night:
Can't sleep. Too worried. Too confused.
"Create Card, help me create the best healing medicine ever." I commanded.
I stuffed the medicine inside a bundle and dashed back to just outside Eriol's room. I prepared to knock the door and bring the medicine to him, when I spotted two silhouetted figures through the window and heard talking voices inside.
"Syaoran, you were able to sneak out of Sakura's sight eh?"
"Of course, she's sleeping now. It's already midnight"
I leaned against the door, pressing my ear on it, hoping to find out what's happening.
"Anyway, I called you here, because I suspected Tomoyo already knows about our scheme and saw through our lies." Said Eriol's voice.
"How? Don't tell me you fell for her innocent beautiful look, and spilled everything to her." Said Syaoran's jokingly voice.
"Tomoyo is not as innocent as I thought. She used the dash to come to the palace many times already. She also is a lot smarter than I wanted her to be."
"I think Tomoyo may be the clow mistress." Syaoran's words caught even more of my attention. Clow Mistress? How did he know there is such a thing?
"Yes. My thought exactly. Indeed, I've seen both girls with clow cards, but Sakura........ well, she just doesn't really fit with the whole Card Mistress personality. Sure, she may be tough on the outside, but usually the fiercer a person is on the outside, the weaker they are inside. Sakura really doesn't seem like the type of person to inherit and unlock all the secrets of the clow, not to mention being able to control them."
Syaoran agreed. "Also, Sakura is pretty dense. She is very easy to persuade and practically just throws her trust at anyone who smiles at her. If we want to know who is the clow mistress, we are better off digging it out from Sakura than Tomoyo."
Eriol chortled. "That's your job then. Sakura seems to trust you more."
I felt like I was on fire. I have a strong urge to just bust in there and kill someone. So that's why Eriol and Syaoran kept Sakura in the palace as a maid. It all makes sense now. They want to know who is the Clow Mistress. But why can't they just ask her? Why do they have to lie to her? I scooted back to the door, wanting to hear more.
"So I heard mother whipped you today when you begged her to free Sakura." There was a hint of amusement in Syaoran's voice.
"Tomoyo wanted me to do it. I can't say no when I have no excuse not to. I acted like a real hero standing up to your horrible mother in front of Tomoyo. Yes, I did notice Tomoyo was there eavesdropping when I argued with the queen."
"But wouldn't it be funny if mother really freed Sakura?"
Eriol gave out a bitter laugh. "As if. I know the empress's personality as well as herself, and I knew for a fact she was not going to free Sakura. That's why I took that risk for Tomoyo. She is now filled with guilt, and thinks it's her fault I got whipped."
I guess Eriol lied to me plenty of times too. Well two can play that game. He fools with my head. I'll fool with his.
I got ready to dash to Meiling's palace to warn Sakura too, but them I realized how much Sakura and Syaoran would make a good couple. If I tell her Syaoran was just toying with her and their so-called special friendship, she might be heartbroken and never talk to Syaoran again. Hmm, all I have to do is make sure Syaoran falls in love with my cherry blossom, he'll reveal is true identity as a prince before Sakura tells him she's the real clow mistress and everything will end up happily ever after.
I mimicked Eriol's evil grin, silently chuckling to myself as I tossed Eriol's medicine up the roof. I dashed straight home, back as a common tailor, waiting for Eriol to come and get me. I'll be ready for him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Rika, Naoko, Takashi, Chiharu, have you ever heard of the Light festival?" I went up to the four people that next day.
They all shook their heads.
"Good, because there is no such thing as the Light Festival. But, we are going to invent it." I said strictly.
"Why would you want us to invent a festival?" Asked Rika dumbfounded.
'To test Hiiragizawa.' I replied her mentally. "In this festival, there will be a parade, many contests, and in the nighttime I want the streets to glow full with lantern's lights." I continued.
"What will we be celebrating?" Takashi asked a great question.
"Umm, lets just celebrate how well this village is getting along together." I can't think of anything better to celebrate at the moment, but my four friends smiled agreeing to the festival idea.
I clapped my hands together. "Okay then, lets start spreading this around. We'll invite everyone in the village to join the celebration; the more the merrier, and I'll pay for everything."
Oh Hiiragizawa, you better watch out. If you're not careful, my innocent little festival might even kill you. For, I plan to test how much magic you have, and figure out your identity far before you figure out who is the real Clow Mistress.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lanturn: Tomoyo was the first to figure everything out, who will discover the truth next? And now that Tomoyo knows Eriol is just lying to her, can she still somehow fall in love with him? Sorry to S+S fans. I just can't think of anything S+S love moments right now. Next chapter will be Syaoran's POV though.
Read.
Reread it. (In case you missed out some information when you skimmed through it the first time.)
Review.
Review.
JUST REVIEW!
Chapter 5: The Through
"Hell, Hiiragizawa, what are you doing in my house again?" I groaned seeing Eriol outside my door.
"I wanted to see you again." He said sweetly.
"How's Sakura doing?"
"Don't worry about her, the little wolf has been taking good care of her."
"Do you mean Prince Syaoran Li? Is he that person who followed you to Sakura's bedroom that night I was there?" I questioned him.
Eriol chuckled nervously. "Little wolf is Princess Meiling's servant, not a prince." He lied smoothly, but I saw right through his fib.
I remember that first day I met Syaoran; he had a crown on, wearing the fancy prince suit. He must want to pretend to be a servant, so that's why Eriol made me make the costume for him. Syaoran was wearing that exact costume I made that night to fool everyone when we were all at Sakura's bedroom. Now the question is, why would a prince dress himself as a slave? What is his motive?
I know I can't ask Eriol anything about any of this. He'll just lie. But I have to get to the bottom of this.
"What are you daydreaming about?" Eriol interrupted my thoughts.
"Oh, nothing. I just want you to free Sakura at once. Everything is just a misunderstanding; she did not kill Takashi, so she shouldn't have to serve the palace at all."
Eriol sighed. "I told you, I don't have the power to free Sakura. I 'could' however, talk to Empress Yelan for you, but the empress has the most terrible temper and attitude. She might not bother with freeing Sakura at all."
"That's what's stopping you? The queen's temper? Couldn't you at least try, ya big fraidycat?" I argued.
Eriol paused, but then put on that ever so famous evil grin. "I'll go talk to the empress on one condition: You must kiss me first."
I glared and he flinched. "Just kidding, just kidding. I go right away."
I pointed to the door.
I yelled "get out."
Then, I did something my mind was too slow to stop me from doing. I leaned over and pecked him lightly on the cheeks. "Do a good job persuading the empress, okay?" I whispered in his ears, smiling sheepishly.
"I'll try my best. See you later." He turned around, running back to the palace.
I have to follow him; I want to see Sakura in peace as soon as possible.
"Move, Erase, release and dispel. Take me to the palace, and make me invisible to everyone!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I entered the room quietly. Sitting on the throne was a beautiful, pale, yet strict looking lady served by ten maids.
Eriol kneeled in front of her. "Thank you Queen Yelan for seeing me today. I have a small matter to discuss with you, but I think it is best to get your permission first before acting."
"Well proceed, what brings you here today?" The empress said in an icy tone.
"I want to free one of Princess Meiling's servants. The servant's name is Sakura Kinomoto; she was brought here after being accused of committing homicide, but now I am sure she is innocent."
"Is that all?" The queen smiled a strict smile that didn't even reach her eyes. "Eriol, as my royal advisor, I am extremely disappointed in you. You should know better. FREE A SLAVE! A highly intelligent advisor, and you still ask absurd requests like this!? You think a criminal can just pop in and pop out the palace whenever they want without being punished!" The steam came out the queen's nostrils with anger.
"Sakura is not a criminal..........."
"SILENCE!" Screeched the empress.
Eriol flinched under the empress's cold glare, but persisted. "Please your majesty, listen to me just this once!"
"Are you ordering me? I am the boss here! I raised and fed you for the past nineteen years like one of my own sons, and you come to me with this nonsense idea of freeing one of my people?"
"But she's just a maid, and she doesn't even work for you." Eriol said stubbornly.
"I order you to leave immediately before you regret ever coming to me today."
"Your majesty, I promised a friend to help Sakura, and I won't leave until you agree to free her." I saw fear in Eriol's eyes, but he still wouldn't give up. At this moment, I really wished I'd never asked him to go talk to the queen for me this morning.
The empress's expression grew colder and colder. She clapped her hand twice signaling her bodyguard to come forward. "Get me my whip!" She ordered them.
"Here you are your majesty." The little servant held up a whip that looked like an old yet sturdy branch about a meter long.
Empress Yelan grabbed the whip cracked it hardly on Eriol several times. "That. Should teach you a lesson. Next time you come to me, at least ask for something worth my precious time."
Two servants each clutched one of Eriol's injured arms and dragged him away.
Oh no, what have I done? Why did I have to ask Eriol to go ask Empress Yelan to free Sakura? Eriol was right, the empress does have extremely bad temper, and the only reason why he was even whipped was because I asked him to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I dashed into Eriol's chamber. "Are you alright?"
He wasn't surprised at all when he saw me. "Hi Tomoyo. I just went to visit the empress, and she said she wouldn't release Sakura. I'm sorry I couldn't help you."
"Why did you go ask her? You knew the empress had a bad temper!" I was so angry with him for hurting himself.
Eriol chuckled slightly. "Look, I'm sorry I can't accomplish what you wanted me to do. Why are you so mad at me?" Eriol touched the bruise on his neck that Queen Yelan gave him and gave me a look that said plainly, "Thanks a lot Tomoyo; you got me this ugly bruise."
My heart softened. "I'm not mad at you because you couldn't persuade the empress to set Sakura free. I'm mad that you kept on persisting until you enraged the queen so much she had to whip you. If you quit asking the first time she said no, then you would've avoided that harsh whip."
Eriol laughed. "Hey, it was 'you' who said, "do a good job". How can I quit so easily? You even kissed me to do it, so I know how much you wanted to see Sakura out of the palace."
"Well it's not my fault you got hurt!" I didn't want him to blame everything on me.
"I wasn't blaming you." He said as if reading my mind. "Okay Tomoyo, please go back home. It's not safe for you to stay in the palace; someone might find out you sneaked inside and get you into some serious trouble."
"Fine. When you get better, take care of Sakura for me okay?" I dashed back home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That night:
Can't sleep. Too worried. Too confused.
"Create Card, help me create the best healing medicine ever." I commanded.
I stuffed the medicine inside a bundle and dashed back to just outside Eriol's room. I prepared to knock the door and bring the medicine to him, when I spotted two silhouetted figures through the window and heard talking voices inside.
"Syaoran, you were able to sneak out of Sakura's sight eh?"
"Of course, she's sleeping now. It's already midnight"
I leaned against the door, pressing my ear on it, hoping to find out what's happening.
"Anyway, I called you here, because I suspected Tomoyo already knows about our scheme and saw through our lies." Said Eriol's voice.
"How? Don't tell me you fell for her innocent beautiful look, and spilled everything to her." Said Syaoran's jokingly voice.
"Tomoyo is not as innocent as I thought. She used the dash to come to the palace many times already. She also is a lot smarter than I wanted her to be."
"I think Tomoyo may be the clow mistress." Syaoran's words caught even more of my attention. Clow Mistress? How did he know there is such a thing?
"Yes. My thought exactly. Indeed, I've seen both girls with clow cards, but Sakura........ well, she just doesn't really fit with the whole Card Mistress personality. Sure, she may be tough on the outside, but usually the fiercer a person is on the outside, the weaker they are inside. Sakura really doesn't seem like the type of person to inherit and unlock all the secrets of the clow, not to mention being able to control them."
Syaoran agreed. "Also, Sakura is pretty dense. She is very easy to persuade and practically just throws her trust at anyone who smiles at her. If we want to know who is the clow mistress, we are better off digging it out from Sakura than Tomoyo."
Eriol chortled. "That's your job then. Sakura seems to trust you more."
I felt like I was on fire. I have a strong urge to just bust in there and kill someone. So that's why Eriol and Syaoran kept Sakura in the palace as a maid. It all makes sense now. They want to know who is the Clow Mistress. But why can't they just ask her? Why do they have to lie to her? I scooted back to the door, wanting to hear more.
"So I heard mother whipped you today when you begged her to free Sakura." There was a hint of amusement in Syaoran's voice.
"Tomoyo wanted me to do it. I can't say no when I have no excuse not to. I acted like a real hero standing up to your horrible mother in front of Tomoyo. Yes, I did notice Tomoyo was there eavesdropping when I argued with the queen."
"But wouldn't it be funny if mother really freed Sakura?"
Eriol gave out a bitter laugh. "As if. I know the empress's personality as well as herself, and I knew for a fact she was not going to free Sakura. That's why I took that risk for Tomoyo. She is now filled with guilt, and thinks it's her fault I got whipped."
I guess Eriol lied to me plenty of times too. Well two can play that game. He fools with my head. I'll fool with his.
I got ready to dash to Meiling's palace to warn Sakura too, but them I realized how much Sakura and Syaoran would make a good couple. If I tell her Syaoran was just toying with her and their so-called special friendship, she might be heartbroken and never talk to Syaoran again. Hmm, all I have to do is make sure Syaoran falls in love with my cherry blossom, he'll reveal is true identity as a prince before Sakura tells him she's the real clow mistress and everything will end up happily ever after.
I mimicked Eriol's evil grin, silently chuckling to myself as I tossed Eriol's medicine up the roof. I dashed straight home, back as a common tailor, waiting for Eriol to come and get me. I'll be ready for him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Rika, Naoko, Takashi, Chiharu, have you ever heard of the Light festival?" I went up to the four people that next day.
They all shook their heads.
"Good, because there is no such thing as the Light Festival. But, we are going to invent it." I said strictly.
"Why would you want us to invent a festival?" Asked Rika dumbfounded.
'To test Hiiragizawa.' I replied her mentally. "In this festival, there will be a parade, many contests, and in the nighttime I want the streets to glow full with lantern's lights." I continued.
"What will we be celebrating?" Takashi asked a great question.
"Umm, lets just celebrate how well this village is getting along together." I can't think of anything better to celebrate at the moment, but my four friends smiled agreeing to the festival idea.
I clapped my hands together. "Okay then, lets start spreading this around. We'll invite everyone in the village to join the celebration; the more the merrier, and I'll pay for everything."
Oh Hiiragizawa, you better watch out. If you're not careful, my innocent little festival might even kill you. For, I plan to test how much magic you have, and figure out your identity far before you figure out who is the real Clow Mistress.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lanturn: Tomoyo was the first to figure everything out, who will discover the truth next? And now that Tomoyo knows Eriol is just lying to her, can she still somehow fall in love with him? Sorry to S+S fans. I just can't think of anything S+S love moments right now. Next chapter will be Syaoran's POV though.
Read.
Reread it. (In case you missed out some information when you skimmed through it the first time.)
Review.
Review.
JUST REVIEW!