I - Like Mother and Daughter
Early the day after Annette came to the Daidouji Residence, a certain clock in Tomoyo's bedroom broke all hell loose letting know to a very much asleep young woman that it was time to wake up. It took her three attempts before she could finally stay awake long enough to get off the bed. There was no time to lose if she wanted to be on time for her meeting without sacrificing her bubble-bath.
After a comforting bath that lasted for forty-five minutes, she wrapped her soaking body and hair in plush white cotton towels and opened some drawers looking for the perfect pair of underwear.
Tomoyo decided on a pleated black mini-skirt that reached inches above the knee, a white silk blouse with the first four buttons unfastened to show the black inner tank and a pair of black high-heeled shoes that fastened at the ankles by a delicate-looking silk. Her wavy hair was twisted and held secure by a pair of chopsticks atop the head, which let the curls to fall freely down her neck and shoulders while some strands framed her face. The face was conditioned and moisturized to perfection to then be covered by a thin layer of Gentle Light Makeup, candle light tone and Gentle Light Powder by Clinique. A touch of sugar-berry eye shadow and lip-gloss made the trick for a most natural and sophisticated look.
Tomoyo went downstairs to the kitchen to have a light breakfast before going to work but when she was there, a familiar voice broke the silence.
"Good Morning Tomoyo, are you leaving so early?" greeted a sleepy little voice. "Ohayou gozaimasu Annette-chan, did you have a nice rest?" replied Tomoyo inviting the girl to have seat with her.
"I had such a wonderful night, thanks for carrying me to the bedroom..." said the girl a bit embarrassed. "Oh, it wasn't that much!, by the way, I'm leaving for work and I don't know how long I'm going to be out so I'm afraid you'll be all by yourself here..." said Tomoyo in a slight sad tone.
But then seeing Annette's sad expression, she remembered those times when her own mother used to tell her so and how bad she had felt and then changed her mind.
"But, if you want to come with me you have," pausing to look at her Cartier wristwatch, "twenty minutes to get ready" said Tomoyo smiling. "Are you serious?... really?" asked an excited Annette.
"Of course I'm serious!, now get ready if you're coming!" answered Tomoyo drinking her orange juice. "Yeeeeessss!," said the girl exciting hurriedly the kitchen.
Annette went upstairs to her room and took a quick shower, washed her face and brushed her teeth. Rushed out the bathroom and went to the walk-in closet looking from Tomoyo's clothes to her own ones and vice versa for a minute. She decided to wear one of the lady's clothes again so she took out an ankle-length white summer dress with tiny light-blue butterfly's pattern on it, white panty hose and a pair of light-blue shoes. She tied her dark hair in two braids with sky-blue ribbons, one at one side of her face, adorned a pearl bracelet her father gave her as a gift for her birthday and then exited the room as quick as she came.
The girl entered the kitchen fully dressed grabbing the shoes with her right hand, because one is not supposed to wear shoes inside a Japanese house; and saw a plate with breakfast ready to eat for her and then an smiling Tomoyo, very motherly like.
"Tsubame-san made breakfast for you, you shouldn't let it cool down," said Tomoyo with a cup of hot mokaccino in her right hand. "I really appreciate that, thank you Tsubame-san" said the girl to the maid in front of her.
"It's my pleasure young lady" replied the maid bowing.
The work ride was pleasantly entertained by some pop radio stations in the Japanese lass' silver BMW Z4. The building that housed Daidouji Enterprises headquarters was tall and impressive with a treated glass exterior that gave-off a hi-tech aura.
"Konnichiwa Daidouji-sama, your meeting starts in twenty minutes. I've placed all the documents on your desk as you asked me," said the CEO's assistant; a short, black haired and light-brown eyed young woman who looked at the little girl with interest.
"Arigato Saiko-san. I want you to meet Hiiragizawa Annette," she said placing her left arm around the girl beside her, "This is Akihito Saiko," she then said to the girl.
"Nice to meet you Akihito-san," greeted the girl doing a small bow. "It is my pleasure," replied the assistant doing the same.
"So dear, if you want anything while I'm busy you can ask Saiko-san for it," said Tomoyo smiling to the girl.
"I'll be glad to help you with anything you need Hiiragizawa-san," said Saiko in her most polite demeanor.
"Thank you very much," said the girl with blush-painted cheeks for she wasn't used to that much politeness.
"I'm going to my office now, please tell me when everyone has arrived," commanded the young businesswoman in her sweet nature.
"Don't worry, I'll keep you informed," replied Saiko going back to her assignments.
"Ok, so let's go honey," said Tomoyo walking towards her office for they were already at the top floor.
The meeting began and Annette was there in the conference room seated at Tomoyo's right, looking deeply at her. She admired the way the older girl managed to do as she wanted among those executives from other companies and franchises that where trying to have the biggest part of the cake with economical nonsense. The fact that she and Tomoyo were the only women in the room increased more her admiration. She was aware of the way some of them were looking at the young but self-confident CEO, with an evil glint in their eyes, devouring her with every sight. However, Tomoyo seemed not to care about it, her behavior in business matters was very straight-forward but still polite. The smiles she gives so generously in the outside world seemed now to be measured and administrated as a doctor would a medicine. The same applied to her speech, for she remained reserved most of the time, speaking only when needed using a crystal-clear voice that ran loud and true to make sure she got what she wanted. She was the embodiment of diplomacy.
Annette had also noticed the way those men were staring at herself with piercing eyes, as if they wanted to see through her body, but she didn't care about it that much, maybe because she was somehow used to it. She was sure they all were wondering who she was and the motive of her presence among. That seemed to be funny to her, because she had that smirk of hers playing on childish lips, proof enough of her blood lineage.
When the meeting finished, about two hours later, Tomoyo had gotten the projects and the contracts she wanted without so much effort. But before the ladies could get out the Conference Room, one of the men with brown hair and green eyes asked for their attention.
"Excuse me Daidouji-san, would you please enlighten us about this precious young lady?" inquired the man with a smug attitude. "I don't see why I should, after all, that information is not required for the business between us," replied Tomoyo placing one arm around the girl in a protective way and squeezing lightly to let her know that she was there. Annette came closer to Tomoyo by sheer instinct so the older girl moved her hand to rest on the small of her back and pushed lightly in an unspoken command to exit the room.
"Please excuse me," voiced Annette calmly before heading towards the office of her dad's friend. She was a little bit frightened of this man. Deeply inside of her she new his intentions weren't that good at all. Children are more sensitive than adults and her sixth sense was very reliable given the fact she was Eriol's daughter, Reed Clow's reincarnation. Her father had taught her how to use her skills which made difficult for her predictions to be wrong. Judging from what had transpired in there, she knew that somehow Tomoyo had felt it too. Although she knew that her Japanese friend had no magical powers whatsoever, she attributed it to women's intuition.
"What was that for, Daidouji?" asked the black-suit clad man boldly, all pleasantries long gone. "What's so important about your little friend that you protect her so?." He took some steps forward to intrude into her personal space and intimidate her, but she would have nothing of that. "I don't have to explain myself to you, Logan, and don't you ever treat me so disrespectfully again or the board will hear some things that I know they would like." Her voice and face remained eerie calm but her eyes were now icy.
"Are you threatening me, Tomoyo?" he all but scorned. "Don't make me laugh!"
"Last time I checked, I was no clown," a sweet voice dripping with sarcasm; a deadly combination, "and I'm not threatening you, I'm just warning you." With that she left, leaving one very pissed off man behind.
Tomoyo found Annette seated in the plush beige leather love-seat that was in her office; legs swinging back and forth in expectation.
"Who's that man Tomoyo?" asked Annette politely but a bit anxiously as soon as the lady's slender figure entered her line of sight. "Who do you mean?... the one who asked your name?" replied Tomoyo.
"Yes," said the girl. "He's Logan Guttenberg, a German Enterprise CEO's son whom my mother signed a contract for 10 years with. His father even wanted my hand in marriage as a guarantee," explained Tomoyo. However, she hurried to elaborate at seeing the round and big eyes she got. "Thank God that mother didn't have any of that; and since she had the upper hand, the contract was signed."
"I see... I don't know why but there's something bad about him, I can feel it and daddy told me that I can sense people's intentions, and his doesn't seem good to me. You have to be very cautious about this man... can't you do something about it?" inquired Annette with concern showed up all over her eyes.
"I can cancel the contract but I won't do it because I don't want to back-track on my mother's word. After all, I've survived this far so there are only a couple of years left now," she said and ended with a giggle. "Besides, there's a saying that says: 'keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer.'"
"I think you're right... are you very busy? Because maybe I'm bothering you so I should leave," said the girl shyly.
"Don't you dare think so dear, you're not bothering me in anyway, since everything here is going so smoothly, would you like to go to 'Fruits & Candy'?. It's a passiterie I own and we can bake a lot of cakes and cookies," offered Tomoyo, head-bent on making her new friend happy.
Annette lightened up like a Christmas' Tree and nodded enthusiastically.
"So let's go!," said Tomoyo grabbing her purse and car keys, opening the door for Annette and exiting the huge office.
At Fruit's & Candy, Tomoyo talked to the bakers before fastening their aprons to start making delicious sweet little cookies with chocolate chips or tiny candies. They made lots of various kinds of cookies, and then started to make a cake, a strawberry cake to be more precise.
Tomoyo was mixing the sugar with the butter and when Annette was adding the flour little by little, she sneezed and dropped the flour bag which spilled all its content in the table and over her making her look funny. Tomoyo far from getting upset, started to giggle and then to laugh openly, carrying Annette and the other bakers along with her who started to laugh as well. Tomoyo then grabbed a small towel and began to clean Annette's clothes and face, so tenderly and carefully like a mother, while one of the bakers cleaned the table.
The kitchen of the Passiterie was designed in a way for people on the outside to see them baking. It was a whole new concept, very unusual and homey. And despite everything, it was very much accepted by the customers because it reminded them of their own kitchens.
"'Excuse me..." said someone whose voice sounded kind and old.
"Good afternoon Mrs., how can we help you?," asked Annette politely with a smile playing on her lips.
"I would like to buy a dozen of chocolate chips cookies," said the old lady smiling tenderly at Annette.
Tomoyo, who was listening carefully to them, took a white paper bag and filled it with two dozens of cookies.
"There you go Mrs., I hope you enjoy them!" said Tomoyo handing the bag to the woman.
"But there are more than a dozen in here, I can't paid them all" said the woman worriedly.
"It's ok, you can pay as much as you can," replied Tomoyo smiling kindly. The woman in front of her was not a stranger. She had seen her almost every week buying the same amount of the same cookies. Some times she had bought half a dozen because she was short of money, as she said. As far as Tomoyo knew, those cookies were bought to the old woman's grandson, who had been ill for the past few months and it turned out that he loved those cookies; his only reward if he took his medication and followed the doctor's indication without protests.
"God bless you dear, you have such a generous heart. It's very hard to find a heart like yours in these times," praised the grandma with a proud smile. Kindness and pureness of the heart were not as extinct as she'd thought.
"You'll make me blush!," said Tomoyo through girlish giggles of delight.
The woman paid Tomoyo half the amount for the cookies. She looked like a poor old lady, but had a sweet smile and kind spirit and Annette could sense it almost immediately. Before the woman exited the place, she turned on her heels and said; "I must congratulate you for being such a wonderful mother. She is very alike you and I'm sure that you must be very proud. I saw you two baking..."
"I'm sorry to tell you that she's not my child," said Tomoyo; and the woman's eyes darkened in confusion. "She is the daughter of a friend of mine..." Maybe it would have been better to let the old woman believe what she wanted; but she was a bit wary of the effect that this claim could have on Annette.
"Then you must love him very dearly my child..." trailed off the woman with wise eyes and a cryptic smile before exiting the passiterie and leaving a slightly blushed Tomoyo behind.
Annette was thinking about the recently gone customer's words and decided to ask Tomoyo about it. Truth be told, her father had only told her trivial things about his childhood friend but, whenever he talked about her, his eyes would twinkle and his lips curved into a knowing smile; which led her to believe that perhaps there was more than what scratched the surface.
That evening, when both girls went home, had had a bath, changed their clothes and got together for dinner; Annette decided it was time to ask.
"So Tomoyo," she began; dipping a french-fry in her little pool of ketchup, "why did you blush when that old lady talked to you about me and daddy?," asked the little girl with her most innocent voice.
Tomoyo almost chocked with her iced-tea, the question catching her by surprise; maybe because she wasn't used to such questions.
"I don't know sweetie," she wasn't nervous but she had seen something in that woman's eyes that left her thinking. "I'm just not used to be the subject in romantic relationships." True enough, Logan was the closest thing to a boyfriend she has had during the time of the negotiations between her mother and his father; and that was a downright scary thought.
"Are you trying to tell me that you haven't had a boyfriend?," inquired Annette almost bewildered. She couldn't think, for the life of her, of a reason to remotely explain how it was possible that such a wonderful woman like her friend didn't have a single relationship in all her life.
Tomoyo made cute sounds of hesitations and then agreed with the statement with a nod. "Well, nope, I haven't had a boyfriend."
"Men must be blind or completely out of their mind then," declared the British lass and ate another fry. "What do you feel for my daddy?." Might as well drop the bomb.
"Here is a catch, I can sense it," thought Tomoyo before replying; "I love your dad, as I love all of my dear friends." A sunny smile on soft cherry lips.
Annette only smiled before doing another maneuver. "And what did you feel for him when you two were kids?." If there was something that Annette knew she was, it would be persistent to a fault.
"When I met him in Elementary School, he was a good friend to me, so charming..." made a pause to moist her throat with iced-tea. "I remember when he met Sakura-chan. He bowed a kissed her hand like and old-fashioned English gentleman and she was so embarrassed!." A giggle here and a fond smile there. "Of course I loved your father but as a friend. He helped me with my problems and I lend him a hand with his own. I trusted him and he trusted me but then he left and we lost contact. I still wonder how he got my address," another pause that she used to dip a fry in ketchup, like Annette was so fond of doing. "Maybe he asked Sakura-chan for it or he remembered the few times he came home."
"So that is..." mused the girl aloud, "what a shame because, thinking about it, don't you think you two would make the perfect couple ever?." She said inwardly smirking at Tomoyo's startled face. "I do think so," she added with a sly smile.
"What are you talking about?," said the young woman almost freaked out. "However, I don't think that you should disrespect your father by meddling in his private affairs," she scolded her a little. "Besides, I haven't seen your father for like ten years!" said Tomoyo sipping on her drink.
Annette was a bit taken aback for she was not expecting to be scolded as sweet a person as Tomoyo; but she was right, she thought. However, she was none to lose hope that easily. "I'm sorry if I harassed you by asking all these Tomoyo. But you know what? I still think that you'd look so cute together!," she said and smiled impishly.
During Annette's stay in Tomoeda, Tomoyo took her everywhere she thought was nice and tourist-rated. They went to Tokyo Tower, Tomoeda Elementary School, the King Penguin Park and the Tsukimine Shrine; which belonged to Annette's mother family, to name only a few. They also went to the Setsu-bun, a party to celebrate the start of the spring season.
One day Tomoyo brought her little friend to "Plum Blossoms," given that she had to do some paperwork concerning the new autumn line. Though she could easily have them faxed or e-mailed, she opted against it because Annette had begged to go there. While the young woman handled the business, the Londoner inspected everything with magnifying glasses and childish curiosity. She seemed to have a genuine interest for the fashion world and a never-ending flow of energy to do what she liked. The sales-ladies treated her like the honored guest she was and lavished her with all their attention. When Tomoyo had called it quits, way past noon and lunch time, she exited the store with a multiple bags and boxes laden Annette.
Weeks went by in a rush, making it time for the little girl to return home to her family. Both girls had grown very close to each other and came to share a sort of sibling if not a mother-and-daughter relationship. Tomoyo helped little Annette to pack her stuff and even had to lend her a suitcase because things didn't seem to fit inside as they had done before. All the packing had left them all worn out, thus they ended up falling asleep in Tomoyo's old bed in a puzzle of limbs.
The morning after, both girls were on their way to the airport after a hearty breakfast. Tomoyo didn't feel like dressing up so she wore low-cut denim shorts that reached her mid-tight, a white tube-top and a pair of white and black Adidas sneakers. Thin silver bracelets adorned her right wrist while the other sported a lavender Casio BabyG wristwatch. Rings were kept as simple as platinum with assorted precious stones ring-bands could get; while her earrings where two tiny perfect and glistening diamonds. Makeup was kept simple and natural-looking while her hair was loosely woven in two braids.
Annette, on the other hand, decided upon a black pleated mini skirt, a thick woolen maroon turtle-neck, black panty-hose and a pair of cute maroon chamois slippers that, by no means, were meant to be an out-of-bed accessory. Her hair was let down, but some strands had been held back securely with black and velvety hair-clips.
Back again at British Airways Information stand, Tomoyo informed the crew that a child was to travel alone. Forms were filled and documents were signed to work according to the established policies.
The older of them made some soothing noises and patted the little girl's back when the last one started to suddenly cry "Don't cry sweetie, I promise I will visit you!," assured Tomoyo to the sobbing girl trying to cheer her up. "Will you do that?... are you serious?," inquired the girl calming down a little.
"I'm deadly serious honey. I'll be there sooner than you think," answered Tomoyo and winked. "I believe you. Somehow I know you will," said the girl with a smile and tear-stained cheeks.
Tomoyo wiped off Annette's tears with a handkerchief and gave her a kiss on her forehead, she then took the girl's small and round face in her hands; "listen to me dear, be a good girl and take care, don't lose your true self never, smile always even if the world seems to fall on you, be kind to others specially if they're not as blessed as you are, do love others and don't ask for love in return. Always remember that money can't buy the most precious things in life and don't put your mind over your heart, sooner or later you'll regret it."
Something flickered within those deep azure eyes and Annette launched herself at Tomoyo, embracing her tightly while whispering; "I will... mom."
Tomoyo felt something click inside of her and a warm feeling flowed from within her.
"It's time to leave darling. Please send my greetings and best wishes to your father, Nakuru-san and Spinel-san," said Tomoyo smiling. "I'll do it. Take care and thanks for everything, I had so much fun and will be waiting for you in London!," said Annette grabbing her small backpack that stored all of her traveling necessities.
"Don't worry, I'll go and visit you anytime soon," promised Tomoyo.
"Mata ne!," said the girl in her self-taught Japanese before heading towards Gate 6.
A few minutes later, Tomoyo saw the plain taking off thru huge crystal windows, waving her good-byes to her dear girl.
Inside the plane, conveniently seated by the window, Annette browsed in her backpack looking for her MP3/Discman with a satisfied smile. She knew and had seen it, just a moment ago, Tomoyo's eyes had smiled to her.