Fountain of Age
Summary: AU. Syaoran and Eriol are on the trail of the Fountain of Youth... a trail that would lead them inevitably to Tomoeda... and Sakura...
Disclaimer: I don't own Card Captor Sakura. None of it: manga, anime, little plushie Keros; I own nothing.
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Chapter 6: In The Restaurant...
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Nakuru was driving. In honor of the occasion, she had dressed herself in a chauffeur's outfit right out of the movies, although it was red instead of black. Heading in the direction of Sakura's house, Nakuru blasted catchy music from the speakers. Syaoran couldn't stop flinching; the music sounded too sugary for his health.
"Could you lower the volume?" Syaoran requested over the radio, shouting.
"No!" Nakuru answered.
"I was asking Eriol."
Eriol just grinned. "You heard Nakuru," he replied. He was quite unfazed to the music, despite the fact that he seemed to be sitting where the music was loudest. In his arms were a teddy bear and the stuffed cat, Supi.
"Are those for the girls?" his cousin asked.
"No," Eriol laughed. "They're for me."
"For you?"
"You'll see. Keep your eyes open."
Just when they were turning into Sakura's street, Eriol bolted upright, and the radio went haywire.
"Hey!" Nakuru twisted in her seat to dodge sparks. They dribbled down the front of the radio while the song shorted out. It was replaced by an angry buzzing.
The noise was deafening, and Syaoran found himself cowering in the backseat, hands over his ears. Eriol reached for the volume knob and turned it off. Sparks continued to rain down from the radio, and a small puff of smoke hovered over the dashboard.
It was a miracle then, that Nakuru managed to bring the car to a halt right before the Kinomoto house. The three passengers breathed heavy for a moment, the sparks still shooting.
"Syaoran," Eriol gasped, "go get the girls while Nakuru and I fix the radio."
Syaoran nodded. Shaking slightly, he left the car and vanished into the Kinomoto's garden.
Nakuru, on the one hand, slapped Eriol upside the head.
"Hey!" Eriol protested. "What was that for?"
"You could've killed me!" cried Nakuru, trying to slap him again. Eriol blocked, and she burst into bigger tears, beating on the steering wheel. Supi was looking embarrassed for her. "No consideration! No consideration at all!
Yeah, we know, you've got your motives, you had to fry up the radio for your petty reasons, but you didn't have to endanger us all!"
"Sorry," said Eriol and meaning it too.
"It's okay, Nakuru," Supi tried to comfort her. "Look, the radio's all fixed now." And so it was; almost as if it hadn't been smoking and sparking just a second ago.
"Still!" shrieked Nakuru, taking Supi from Eriol's bewildered arms and squeezing the animal's cheeks. "He could've burned my hair!"
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When Syaoran rung the doorbell, excited shrieks reached his ears. Having not fully recovered from the radio incident, he nearly toppled over in shock. The door opened, and Syaoran came face to face with a smiling young man with grayish hair. He must've been no older than twenty.
"Hello," said the young man. "You must be Hiiragizawa. Just a moment."
"Oh, no, I'm-"
"Syaoran!" Sakura appeared in the crook of the young man's arm, dressed in white and pink. "You're right on time. Come on, Tomoyo, you're holding us all up."
"I'm almost done," Tomoyo's voice called.
"Tsk," said Sakura. She turned back to Syaoran, "We have to leave soon; before my brother comes home. He's going to kill you, and Hiiragizawa too."
"Well, I-I-"
"I shall make your excuses for you, Sakura." The gray haired man bowed.
"Thanks, Yukito," said Sakura. She seemed to have just realized that something was missing. "Where's Eriol?"
"In the car. He's-"
"All right, let's get moving." Tomoyo appeared in a white blouse and a long gray skirt. She looked quite mature, her black hair curling around her face and over her shoulders.
Syaoran and the two girls plodded down the steps to Eriol's car, excited. Or at least the girls were. Syaoran wondered if the radio had stopped sparking yet.
"Have fun!" called Yukito from the door frame.
"Bye Yukito!" Sakura and Tomoyo yelled, one after the other. Syaoran opened the door to the back seat and they piled in. He followed shortly, and was surprised at what he found.
Nakuru and Eriol were still in the front row of the car, and they did not look at all as if the radio had been going berserk earlier. In fact, a violin and a piano duet were playing quietly in the background.
"Ready to go?" Nakuru asked, and she set off down the road without waiting for an answer. Sakura directed her to a shopping center all the way across town.
"It's a phenomenal restaurant!" Sakura quipped about their destination. "It serves noodles!"
"But not just any old noodles," Tomoyo added. "They serve world noodles!"
"World noodles?"
"Noodles done in the Japanese way," Sakura listed. " Noodles in the Chinese way, Korea, Italy, France. All sorts; even England!"
"The owners traveled the world years ago," Tomoyo explained. " They collected recipes for soups and other noodle dishes. Now they serve those exact same dishes at their restaurant."
As Syaoran moved his eyes over the menu a few minutes later, he could see that they had spoken true. In a bout homesickness, he called for a Chinese dish that he hadn't had in the week he'd been globe trotting.
"Interesting choice," Tomoyo commented, looking over his shoulder at the picture of what he'd picked.
"I haven't had this in a long time," Syaoran confessed.
Tomoyo examined his face with a smile. "You're Chinese, aren't you? Only that, Mr. Terrada introduced both you and Eriol as Londoners."
"Via London," Syaoran explained. "I'm actually from Hong Kong. I was just visiting Eriol in London. He's my cousin."
"Your cousin, huh?" Tomoyo smiled at Eriol, who was eating across from Syaoran. "That's interesting. You don't look like cousins."
"We're not first cousins if that's what you're thinking," said Eriol. "The relation's actually pretty weak. We're only seventh cousins." He smiled at his own dinner date, Sakura, who was sitting next to him. He seemed so taken with her, it made Syaoran a little sick at how gooey his cousin was being.
But little, innocent Sakura, had no idea. "Wow," she said, astonished. "You counted out that far?"
"Syaoran's family, the Li family, keeps very detailed family trees," explained Eriol.
"Your family must be very powerful to keep records like that," Sakura said to Li.
"Well, uh, I guess so." Syaoran blushed, fighting to stay modest.
"So, Sakura, what about your family?" asked Eriol.
"Well, in my family, there's my dad, my brother Touya, and Yukito," said Sakura. "My brother is seven years older than me and he attends college in Tokyo."
"He also likes to call her monster," laughed Tomoyo.
"Hmph!" Sakura shot Tomoyo a wounded look. "My brother is cruel, and he never stops teasing me! Even if I'm going into high school soon."
"Is Yukito your brother too?" Syaoran asked.
"Nah, Yukito's our housekeeper," said Sakura. "But he's practically like family..."
"And your dad?" asked Eriol.
"My dad's an archaeologist," explained Sakura. "He specializes in architecture. Ancient, modern, whatever. He's always on trips to see buildings. He's seen pyramids, ruins, walls-"
"Fountains?" Syaoran said faintly. He just remembered Sakura's last name.
"Yeah, fountains," Sakura nodded. "How'd you know?"
"Did he write a book called Fountains of the World?"
"Yeah," said Sakura. "People really like that one. It's been translated in a few languages, I think."
"Where is he now?" Eriol asked.
"He's studying in England, actually."
"And he's coming back, when?"
The girl brightened considerably. "Three weeks, and three days!" she declared with a smile. She obviously couldn't wait until her father came home.
"What's he studying again, Sakura?" asked Tomoyo. "Stonehenge?"
The brown haired girl thought about it. "Maybe," she said, uncertainly. "I can't remember. He's goes on too many trips for me to keep track. I'll ask my brother later."
"What about your mother?" Syaoran asked, a noodle halfway to his mouth.
There was a moment of silence except for a long slurp from Tomoyo.
"Oh," said Sakura. "My mother's dead."
Syaoran couldn't believe his insensitivity. He'd done the same thing to Eriol. "Oh, shoot," he said. "I'm sorry." He had the strong urge to hide under the table.
"Yeah, she died when I was three," said Sakura. "Don't really remember her, but my dad talks about her a lot."
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Sakura and Tomoyo, it turned out, were great fans of catchy music, and, when dinner was over, Nakuru drove them home with her favorite radio station playing. It was louder than the violin music, but not as loud as their first trip to Sakura's house. Clearly, the earlier incident was still on her mind. Syaoran couldn't help but notice that she kept checking on Eriol next to her. He, on the one hand, was still clutching that bear and the cat.
"Oh, Tomoyo's house is near here," Sakura piped in, pointing at the silhouette of a mansion behind some trees. "Why don't we just drop you off, Tomoyo? So your mom doesn't have to come pick you up anymore."
"Sure, why not?" said Tomoyo, glancing at Eriol and Nakuru for their approval. Eriol nodded and Nakuru headed for Tomoyo's house. "That way, she won't have to look at all those pictures of your mom." And the two girls burst out laughing.
Syaoran was confused. "What?"
"My mom and Sakura's mom are- well, were- friends," explained Tomoyo. "Mom still blames Sakura's dad for the death, even though he didn't do anything to cause it."
"She's always getting teary eyed at the pictures all over the house," Sakura said, wrinkling her nose.
"Unless, you dad's around," said Tomoyo. "Then she gets angry." And the two girls laughed some more.
"Daidouji residence," Nakuru announced, as they came to a halt in front of the mansion's double doors. "Watch your step."
Eriol undid his seatbelt. "I'll walk you to the door," Eriol said, exiting the car.
The three passengers in the back were mystified into stillness.
"Oh, you don't have to do that," Tomoyo said as she reached for her handbag next to Sakura.
"But I insist," Eriol said, and he offered Tomoyo a hand.
She looked at it as if it was an alien object. Then, she smiled, and shook her head.
"An arm then," offered Eriol. This Tomoyo accepted.
"I needed to thank you," Eriol whispered as they climbed the steps to the door. "Sakura wouldn't have come if you hadn't volunteered her."
"She would've accepted your offer eventually," said Tomoyo. "Just her brother." They walked up the steps, enjoying the cool spring air.
"It's clear that you love her."
Eriol didn't articulate his feelings. He simply smiled. "I only wish I could walk her up to her house too," he said, with a trace of bitterness.
They'd reached the doors. Tomoyo stopped him just before he rang the doorbell. "Why can't you?"
Eriol pressed the doorbell. The sound reverberated inside the house. Out here, where the sound was dulled by the thick gray walls, Eriol felt that Tomoyo would humor him. He stood straighter. "Because," Eriol said in a serious voice, his eyes glittering, "there is an evil spirit in the Kinomoto house." Then he broke out a grin to show that he was joking.
Surprisingly, Tomoyo clasped both his hands in hers, and held them to her chest. "I understand," she said.
That was something Eriol wasn't expecting. Tomoyo dropped his hands, and smiled. "Don't expect any kisses," she said, winking.
"I wasn't," he assured her, as a maid opened the door. He was still somewhat stunned.
Tomoyo said nothing to this, and instead, turned away, her hair swishing. She vanished into the house.
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Author's Notes: Thank you very much to fae and ChibiYuffie1. I'm very grateful that anyone at all would write a review despite laziness, hesitation, and/or anything else. I have trouble writing reviews myself.