What is love?
Summary: Still in depression from her breakup with her boyfriend, Sakura meets Syaoran in unusual circumstances. Will love blossom between the 2 individuals who don't believe in love? SS, TE
Legend:
- words - refers to thoughts
Hello. This is a revised version of chapter 4 as we thought the previous one was not that well done. Thank you. The storyline is basically the same but there's a little difference here and there. It's up to you if you want to read it again. Thank you.Revised on 24/12/03. Original version posted on 1/12/03
Disclaimer: CLAMP owns CCS, we don't.
In the last chapter...
"Fine. I'll call her then." Sakura was helpless against her friend.
Even as she picked up the phone, she couldn't help but wonder, why had Tomoyo wanted to see Syaoran.
Chapter 4 – Love at First Sight"Moshi moshi. Daidouji speaking." Tomoyo said as she picked up the phone.
"Ano, are you Tomoyo Daidouji-san?" Sakura asked politely, while feeling quite nervous as she was talking to a famous designer right at that moment!
"Hai, who's on the phone?" Tomoyo asked while flipping through some papers.
"I'm Sakura Kinomoto, you asked me earlier today if I wanted to model for your clothing." Sakura answered, fiddling with her phone line.
"You finally called! So what's your decision?" Tomoyo asked eagerly, dropping the papers onto the table.
"I've decided to model for your clothing, provided the post isn't taken up yet." Sakura said, feeling unconfident about herself.
"Don't worry, unless you replied, I would never get someone else to take that post! You are the most perfect model I'd ever find!" Tomoyo exclaimed loudly.
"Hoe..." Sakura said while sweat dropping,
"Well anyway, I'm glad that we're going to work together." Tomoyo said happily. "Erm... Hold on for a moment while I find a time that we can meet to brief you on what you'll be doing as well as to prepare you for the fashion show in a month's time. Are you free this Saturday?"
"Fashion show?! Are you sure? But, I'm not even a professional model, I don't even know how to model, are you sure you want me?" Sakura asked, feeling surprised and shocked. This was too much for one day. "Anyway I'm not that free on Saturday. I have to work until 1. Is it alright if it is after that?"
"Hai. I'm very sure. You are the most suitable person and it doesn't matter if there has to be compromises. You should be able to learn the basics of being a model rather quickly as it's quite simple. Anyway, I'll see when I'm free." Tomoyo said as she looked through her organizer.
"Okay." Sakura replied.
"Hmm... Okay, how about next Saturday at 1pm? I will meet you at your workplace and bring you to my office." Tomoyo asked.
"Okay..." Sakura replied after some thought.
"Good, if anything crops up give me a call okay?" Tomoyo asked.
"Hai. Don't worry. Anyway, I've got to go now. So, I'll see you on Saturday?" Sakura said.
"Okay. See you on Saturday then" came Tomoyo's reply as she heard the click of Sakura's phone being put down.
Tomoyo put down the receiver before she realized that there was a big mess in front of her. She gave a short sigh as she piled them neatly in a stack in a corner of her desk.
She packed her things and got ready to go home. The digital clock in her room beeped once signaling that yet another hour had passed.
Tomoyo looked up and her amethyst eyes widened in surprise.
- Oh my! It is already 9! I had better rush home now! I was too engrossed in planning the fashion show to notice the time! - Tomoyo thought as she quickly took her bag and walked in long strides to the door.
&---&---&
"Argh! Stupid taxis, where are they when you need them?" Tomoyo cursed, her car had been sent for repairs that day.
It was 9.30pm. Tomoyo had not been able to flag a cab down for half an hour!
- Sigh, since my house isn't that far away from here, maybe I should just walk instead. It might be faster. - Tomoyo decided.
&---&---&
"Oh great, where do I turn to now?" Tomoyo paused as she surveyed her surroundings. She had never walked home before.
Tomoyo decided to follow her instincts into the alley on her left. The wind blew lightly past her and the leaves rustled quietly.
"What do we have here?" A sneering voice suddenly came which was followed by an evil laugh.
Tomoyo froze, her entire body stayed rooted to the ground as she felt some people moving closer to her.
- Who are they? What do they want from me? - Tomoyo thought while shivering.
"Wow, she is beautiful! Look at her nice figure! I'll go first!" A man said as he licked his lips. All of them eyed her hungrily.
- What is going to happen to me?! - Tomoyo gulped as she noticed the greedy glint in their eyes.
Two strong hands pinned her to the wall, her hands were forced behind her back while more hands on her shoulders were just about to tear her clothes off!
&---&---&
Eriol cursed under his voice. "If Maki doesn't do her work properly for once, I swear, I'm going to fire her. Who cares if she has the backing?"
He had just left the office due to some miscommunication between a customer and the company. Yet even as he cursed, he knew it was useless. Being the reincarnation of Clow Reed didn't help in times like this. In the company, backing was all that mattered
He didn't know why, but he had a weird feeling which seemingly hinted that something was going happen, something bad.
He stared at his surroundings, suspicious of every little sound. His intuition had never been wrong before and it wouldn't start now. He was positively sure that something bad was going to happen.
He heard a faint sound and went to investigate, yet there was nothing that he could find and he had lost the direction that the sound had come from.
"Ah! Anybody! Help me!" came a high-pitched scream.
-There it is! - Eriol thought as he ran towards the sound...
&---&---&
Tomoyo Daidouji seldom screamed, but this was an exception. When she was younger, her mother had wanted her to be a singer and so, she had made Tomoyo take vocal lessons. Coupled with her naturally strong voice, her pitch was very high.
The robbers quickly covered their ears, trying to block out the screeching sound. -Their eyes are shut tight! - Tomoyo looked around, this was her chance to escape! She ran as fast as she could. But an arm grabbed her forcefully from behind. As she turned around, she could feel the person's fierce gaze on her.
"Try that again and you're dead." He threatened fiercely.
- Oh no. Somebody save me! - Tomoyo wanted to cry out, but she was too scared to talk.
- I shouldn't have walked home! Now see what's happened to me? - Tomoyo thought to herself, regretting her decision to walk home.
"Let go of her." A voice came from the other end of the alley.
"Why should we? You should be a good little boy and walk away before anything bad happens to you." The leader warned the owner of the voice.
"Why would I leave a girl when she is in trouble? You had better leave her alone before you get it from me!" Eriol said in a strong and protective voice.
- Wow! He is so cool! I wondered who he is -Tomoyo thought dreamingly. - Matte, this is not the time to think about this! We are both in danger! -
"You're asking for it. Attack him! Kill him if you need to!" The leader ordered, his face red from anger.
Tomoyo stood there helplessly, she watched as the man attacked the men, regardless of his skill at fighting, he was grossly outnumbered and it would only be a matter of time before he tired out.
- He might lose! - Tomoyo panicked at the thought.
Tomoyo saw someone sneaking up on him. He whipped out something from his pocket and Tomoyo's blood froze as she recognized the cold steel glint reflected from the streetlight. It was a knife!
"Watch out!" Tomoyo yelled out. "He has a knife!"
Eriol turned around just in time to see a knife cutting through the air where his back was just a second ago. However, before he had the time to dodge, his hand was cut.
"Ah! Stranger-san, daijoubu??" Tomoyo asked as she attempted to go and help him.
"Stay there! It is dangerous here!" Eriol cried back.
- Shit! - He mentally cursed as he held on to his hand -I guess I've no other choice.- Eriol thought to himself as he barely dodged another attempt on his life.
Tomoyo stared transfixed as there right in front of her, something unbelievable happened.
The man was just about to be stabbed again by the knife when he took out something that was in his pocket and mumbled some words under his breath and the thing that he had taken out from his pocket had become bigger. It looked like some kind of staff with something resembling a sun on top.
She was astonished. Her mouth was opened widely as her eyes widened in disbelief. "Could this person be..."
"Ah! That person isn't human! He's a monster!" The leader shouted as he attempted to run as fast as he could, disregarding his 'friends'.
Eriol merely smiled humorlessly at the thugs before he proceeded to deal with them. Upon crying out some words, everything passed in a blur and he ended it by waving his staff above their heads, the only two words she could hear were 'memory' and "sleep".
All the robbers just fell down, unconscious.
Mere minutes after his display, he twitched as he looked at the blood gushing out of his wound.
"Are you alright?" Eriol asked concernedly.
"Hai, arigatou. You are wounded badly! Wait!" Tomoyo said as she tore out some cloth from her long-sleeved shirt to bandage his hand.
"Arigatou." Eriol said thankfully as he received her treatment. "Gomen, after this, I will have to..."
Before he could finish, he had fallen down unconscious.
"Stranger-san! Stranger-san! Daijoubu?? Wake up!!" Tomoyo cried, but it was in vain. - He must have lost too much blood. I had better send him to hospital now before his situation gets worse! -
&---&---&
"You can see the patient now." The doctor said to Tomoyo who was sitting on a chair outside the room fidgeting.
"How is he? Is he alright?" Tomoyo asked anxiously.
"Hai. It is good that you brought him here early to seek treatment, if not he might have died because of excessive blood lost. He has regained consciousness now and should be able to leave soon if nothing is wrong." The doctor replied.
"Thank you very much!" Tomoyo replied bowing as she quickly got up to pay him a visit.
"How is your injury?! I'm so sorry to have caused you so much pain. It was all my fault!" Tomoyo asked as she rushed in, making a big fuss.
"I'm fine thank you. How about you?" Eriol asked, concerned while sweat dropping.
"I'm fine because of you." Tomoyo said, her voice filled with gratitude.
"That's good to hear... Erm... I'm really sorry but I have to erase your memory of today's incident to protect my kind and stuff like that." Eriol said apologetically. "It will be chaotic if other people know about this. It's not that I don't trust you, but this has to be done. I'm really sorry."
"Never mind, it is alright. Oh! So that's what you wanted to say before you passed out!" Tomoyo exclaimed.
"Wait, before you erase my memory, there's something I want to make clear. A Li I know told me that most Lis possess magic. Are you a Li too?" Tomoyo said quickly.
"Li? Well, I'm sort of from that family. Can you tell me who told you that?" Eriol asked, taken aback.
"Ano... I promised not to tell anybody about it." Tomoyo replied.
"Oh... If that is the case, I guess it's alright for you to keep your memory since you know about magic already! " Eriol was relieved, he hadn't wanted to erase her memory anyway.
Somehow, it seemed that deep inside him, he couldn't bear to erase her memory. Because erasing her memory would mean that she would forget about him too.
"Oh, that's great! To say the truth, I was quite scared when you said that you wanted to erase my memory. -Because it means that I will forget about you -So what did you actually do to them?" Tomoyo asked curiously.
"Nothing much, they'll probably just wake up with seriously aching bodies and not remember a thing about what happened." Eriol said as innocently as he could.
&---&---&
"Huh? What the hell happened? What are we doing here?!" The thugs said as they woke up one by one, all disorientated.
"Ouch, my head hurts like hell. What happened? Don't tell me we got so drunk or something that we fought each other?" A man said as he held his head.
"Hmm, maybe… I though we were hunting for girls a while ago?" the leader said.
&---&---&
Tomoyo laughed softly at his little action and said, "So what's your name?"
"Eriol Hiiragizawa, how about you?" Eriol asked.
"Tomoyo Daidouji. You're one of the 2 bachelors in the famous Li's company, aren't you?" Tomoyo replied, slightly surprised, but remained very calm on the outside.
"Unfortunately, yes. How I wish I were not actually. And you're the famous clothes designer I presume." Eriol replied.
"Hai. Looks like both of us are quite famous people. Anyway, the doctor said that you can be discharged very soon if you feel alright. Tomoyo said.
Just then, the doctor came in and said, "Sorry for interrupting, Hiiragizawa-san, if you like, you can be discharged now. Try not to do any strenuous activities with that hand for a while."
"If that's the case, I'd like to be discharged now. Thanks a lot doctor." Eriol replied.
"Okay, then you may pack up and go while your friend of yours could do the procedures outside at the counter there." The doctor instructed them before leaving.
"Well, I'll help you do the procedures." Tomoyo said as she stood up and walked to the door. "Meet me at the counter later."
"Okay, sorry to bother you." Eriol said apologetically.
"I don't mind, it is my fault that you're in this state in the first place. I ought to repay you, this is nothing." Tomoyo replied as she walked out.
&---&---&
"Okay, I guess we should part now." Eriol said as they walked to the taxi stand outside the hospital.
"Sorry for everything. I hope that we will meet again." Tomoyo said.
"Hai. It's been nice knowing you." Eriol said and gave a small smile.
Tomoyo smiled back as she boarded the taxi.
Suddenly, Eriol felt like something was missing in his heart.
- What is this feeling? - Eriol wondered.
&--- In Tomoyo's bedroom ---&
"Eriol". - That's such a nice name. - Tomoyo thought to herself while smiling.
- I really hope I will meet him again.- Tomoyo continued as she drifted off to sleep.
&---&---&
"Did you hear what happened to Eriol?" A woman said to another as Sakura entered the building.
"Hai, I heard that he was hurt because of some accident. But he wouldn't say what it is." Another replied worriedly.
"I hope he'll recover soon. Come on, let's continue our work, boss isn't very happy lately." The same woman said. "I don't want to get fired. Work is getting hard to find these days."
Both left leaving a worried Sakura as she rushed into the elevator and went to Eriol's office.
"Eriol-kun, are you okay?!" Sakura asked concerned as she burst into his office.
"I'm fine. Thanks for your concern." Eriol replied smiling. "Ano... How did you know?"
"I heard it on my way up. What happened?" Sakura asked worriedly.
"I just cut myself accidentally last night at home. I will be fine." Eriol replied not wanting to worry Sakura.
"Oh. You really should be more careful." Sakura replied believing his lie naively.
"Anyway, you should get back to work. Today's going to be a busy day. I'm glad that you are on time again" Eriol quickly changed the topic and was relieved that Sakura had believed his lie.
&---&---&
"Yo, Eriol." Syaoran greeted acknowledging that he was there.
News of Eriol's injury passed through the building like wildfire. No one knew what happened though some came close...
"Yes?" Eriol asked though he could guess what he was going to ask.
"Eriol, what happened? I know it's not a normal cut. You can't fool me. I've been your friend for so many years." Syaoran asked showing rare concern from him to others.
"I'm fine. I just cut myself accidentally." Eriol replied quickly, hoping he would believe his lie like Sakura.
"I know that's not it. Tell me what really happened." Syaoran asked annoyed, or rather demandingly.
"I told you, I just hurt myself accidentally." Eriol insisted.
"Don't bother to lie to me. I could sense your aura yesterday, you did magic. You must have hurt yourself at that time." Syaoran deduced quickly.
"Okay fine… I will tell you everything." Eriol gave in as he knew that there was no point hiding it from Syaoran since he had sensed his aura. And so he told him everything, except the girl's name…
&---&---&
"Maki! What did you manage to catch about Eriol's injury?" Ami asked anxiously. She couldn't believe that their beloved Eriol was injured! She would never forgive the one who injured him!
"Nothing much, they all say different things." Maki replied, sighing. She wanted to know what happened to him! But they couldn't possibly go and ask him directly. So they had no choice but to ask around.
"Look, it's that slut! She is Eriol's secretary, she should know!" Serika exclaimed as Sakura walked pass them.
"Oei slut!" Maki yelled, hoping to catch her attention.
Sakura stopped for a while recognizing the voice. But she continued to walk on, deciding to ignore them.
"Hey, stop right there! What happened to Eriol? We know that you know, and you better tell us, or else..." Serika left the threat hanging in the air as she pulled Sakura back.
"He just cut himself accidentally. That is what he told me" Sakura replied without any hesitation, having believed Eriol's lie.
"Really?" Ami asked disbelievingly.
"Are you sure?" Maki asked, trying to confirm.
"Yes." Sakura replied while trying to pull away from them.
"That had better be the truth or else you're getting it from us." Serika said glaring at Sakura as she let go off Sakura and let her walk away.
&---&---&
"It's almost one already." Sakura said as she tried to calm herself down.
After much anticipation, Saturday had finally come.
"Konnichiwa Kinomoto-san. Are you ready to leave?" Tomoyo said as she approached the table.
"Hai, I'm ready to leave now." Sakura replied, clutching her bag in a hand.
"Okay. My car is waiting outside." Tomoyo said smiling. "And don't look so stiff, it's not like I'm going to eat you up."
"Okay. But I still can't —" Sakura stopped as she realized Tomoyo's attention was elsewhere.
"Hiiragizawa-san?!" Tomoyo said to a surprised Eriol who had just come out of his office.
End of chapter 4Thank you for the reviews again! We are really grateful for them. We hope this chapter didn't let down any of your hopes! Review please!