Perfectly Calculated
By: The Keeper Of Secrets
Disclaimer: I don't own Sakura Card Captors, it's owned by Clamp.
Author's note: This is the first SCC fic I've ever written. I usually go with Harry Potter, but I've found that this category allows much more flexibility when it comes to characters and plots. Enjoy!
Chapter One
Sakura Kinomoto's disapproving gaze said it all. She did not need or appear to want an explanation, nevertheless she was annoyed to find a mud-drenched, soaking fellow teenager standing outside her door looking like a lost puppy. Perhaps not a puppy, it was more like a stray dog really because Eriol Hiragizawa's seventeen-year-old frame looked more like an adult than a child.
"In!" she commanded. Obligingly, he did as he was told and stepped through the threshold of the door onto the clean rubber 'WELCOME!' mat inside. Behind him, Sakura closed the door tightly.
"Clothes off Eriol!" Eriol hesitated. "Honestly Hiragizawa! How many times in your life have you stood outside this door, begged for shelter, stood on that mat and taken off your shirt and shoes after pulling the same 'Maybe taking my shirt off in front of Sakura is a bad idea' charade?! If Tomoyo were here, she'd say you were being a stupid chivalrous git. Anyways, it's not like you have anything to be ashamed of, you've got nice abs."
She held out her hand in expectancy that he'll deliver his wet clothes to her, so that they could be dried. He rolled his eyes and began to take off his muddy burgundy red shirt and once white (and now more brown-looking) sneakers.
"Firstly, I'm not ashamed of any of this. I'm just polite. Hell Sakura, you've been my best friend for…what? Sixteen years? Still, I'd rather look like a 'stupid chivalrous git' than an 'impolite moron'. Secondly- Ooof!" he pulled his shirt off "-since when do you care if I have nice abs or not?"
He handed her his shirt and proceeded to take off his shoes. "That's the thing Eriol, I don't care."
"Then why'd you-?"
"I was trying to give you an undeserved compliment! Geez Hiragizawa!" She picked up his shoes and socks.
"Oh."
Sakura shrugged. "I'll be right back."
Shortly afterwards she returned with two sets of towels, a fresh set of Eriol's clothes and a bucket.
"What's the bucket for?" asked Eriol inquisitively.
"Your hair." Sakura unfolded one of the towels and gave it to him.
"My Hair?!" he exclaimed, bewildered. Sakura reached for a chunk of his muddy vibrant black hair and began to squeeze the water out of it.
"Yes Eriol, your HAIR." The muddy water that Sakura extracted poured into the bucket below, missed with a few moans of pain.
"OWW!!! You're hurting me Sakura!"
"Then stand still!"
"I can't because you're moving my head everywhere when you pull my hair!"
"That's because you're too bloody tall!"
"Maybe it's YOU who's too bloody short!" He shot back.
Raging with the indignity of his last accusation, Sakura twisted Eriol's hair even harder than before. "I. Am. Not. Too. Short! I'm average height with one hundred and sixty centimeters above the ground!"
"FINE! Just stop pulling my hair will you?! It feels like it's being ripped off my scalp!"
Sakura finally squeezed the remaining water out of the last stand of hair and let go.
"Geez, it hurts." Said Eriol, rubbing his scalp.
"It must have 'cause it even turned black by all the bruises it got." Sakura grinned mischievously. Realizing that he was being mocked, Eriol glared at her.
"Bad joke Sakura, very bad joke."
Sakura laughed. "I'm serious!"
"I really don't understand you Sakura…even after sixteen years of knowing you."
"God, Eriol, don't try to. You'll end up with a massive headache." She pointed towards the guest room. "Go and take a bath. You look terrible."
"Thanks." He took the towels and his clothes.
"What are neighbors for, eh?"
Half an hour later, Eriol emerged looking like his normal self. As usual, he had not bothered with combs or brushes, but his clothes were as neat as a pin. He headed towards the kitchen where he knew he would find Sakura sitting on a chair at the table, waiting with two mugs filled to the brim with hot tea. Sure enough, Sakura was there.
She pushed the extra mug she was not holding towards the seat opposite to her and motioned for Eriol to sit down. Carefully, Eriol picked up the mug and inhaled the sweet vapors expelled by the tea.
"Chamomile?" he asked surprised. Sakura hardly ever drank chamomile tea, she usually had a warm cup of Cinnamon or Earl Gray.
"Yeah. I ran out of cinnamon and the Earl Gray looked dodgy. I really didn't think that tea could rot, but that thing did."
"Didn't you first buy that huge crate of Earl Gray when you were four years old?"
"I think that might have been it. It's been in that dusty cupboard for ages. There wasn't much left anyways. So chamomile it was."
Eriol tasted the warm liquid run down his throat and into his stomach; suddenly, he felt his exhaustion lift somewhat. Cinnamon would have been much better though, he thought. "It's good."
"It'd better be, Eriol. Anyways, what got you looking like you had just climbed out of a muddy lake?"
Eriol arched his eyebrows. "Need you ask?"
"Crowne?" Eriol didn't answer. Not wanting to press the subject, Sakura returned to her tea. "I see."
"No. You don't."
Sakura looked up to meet Eriol's icy gaze. "What?"
"Revenge."
An eerie uncomfortable silence befell them. For the first time in years, they found themselves at a loss for words; until Sakura broke the unnerving tranquility.
"It will not bring you satisfaction Eriol. It will not give you back what you lost."
"Maybe not. But at least I can get my pride and dignity back. I want revenge."
"For what? Getting you muddy today? Punching you last week? Ratting you out on the skipping detention thing? It's not as if you haven't put on a fair fight. If my memory doesn't fail me, you've delivered a few good punches yourself." Said Sakura, her tone hinted with bitter skepticism.
"There are more important things to get revenge for."
"Like what?"
"People, Sakura. People." He paused. "People like Chiharu and Tomoyo."
"WOA! Rewind it there! What's Tomoyo gotta do with anything?" exclaimed Sakura, surprised by the mention of her best friend.
"Today Rat and Crowne were knocking the stuffing out of each other. Tomoyo, who was passing by, had the misfortune of being hit by one of Crowne's punches when it went astray. Instead of apologizing, the moronic idiot proceeded to insult her for getting in the way. So…since I was in the vicinity of this event, I felt compelled to put him back in his place. Eventually he left, complaining about a ruined pair of Oakley shades."
Sakura sat there, stunned at Mark Crowne's lack of civil behavior. "That – thing – hit Tomoyo?"
"I really could care less about Crowne and company beating the hell out of each other, but hitting a girl and not apologizing is beyond civil comprehension. Call me old-fashioned, but I will spring to fair lady's aid if it is called for."
Sakura laughed as she imagined Eriol in fourteenth century attire, rescuing Tomoyo (who was in a long pink dress…one she would have vehemently protested against wearing) from the evil Knight Mark Crowne. When she described the scene to Eriol, he burst into incontrollable peals of laughter. The only thing he managed to blurt between laughs was, "Tomoyo- in a PINK dress?! HAHAHAHAHA!"
Eventually, the laughter died down and the kitchen became silent once more.
"Seriously speaking, I thought Crowne had more sense than that."
"I didn't." said Eriol bluntly.
"I thought that your prejudice against Crowne was nothing more than a personal vendetta against a personal enemy."
Eriol snorted. "I may have personal reasons to discredit the moron, but I can assure you, I'm not the only one."
"Then why haven't you?"
"What?"
"Discredited him?"
Eriol grinned mischievously. "Because my plan requires additional assistance. Are you offering it?"
Sakura stared at Eriol as if he had just sprouted an extra pair of eyes and an antenna. "Eriol…I'd say you've lost it, but after knowing you all these years, I'm beginning to think that mischief making is normal."
"Sakura."
"What?"
"When was the last time you broke a rule?"
Sakura thought about it or a minute. "I honestly don't remember."
"Exactly."
Sakura glared at him. "What are you implying Hiragizawa?"
"Help me. Break a rule. Loosen up for God's sake! You only work, work, work and -"
"- save your sorry ass from a good yelling on behalf of your housekeeper or your mother for being wet and muddy and getting filth on your lovely floor." Inserted Sakura.
"Right. But that's beside the point. Come on Sakura! Live for a while, will you?"
"The thing is, Eriol, that with you, it implies that we will break rules, as in the plural form of rule. You don't work with singular nouns when it comes to your plans."
Eriol shook his head. "Not this time. I wont be breaking any rules. The thing is, there is this one dodgy, kind of unspecified rule they might punish us with."
"Really? Which one? Don't steal? Don't play with matches?" she replied sarcastically.
"No. It's 'Respect school property', and frankly, I certainly do respect it but I'm just going to modify it a bit."
"What are you going to tamper with?"
"Tamper sounds so negative Sakura, I prefer the word modify. But to answer your question I need you to pledge your allegiance to my plan."
Sakura hesitated. Agreeing to help her best friend was an insanely stupid thing to do, and she knew that better than anybody. However, his foreboding words taunted her common sense. When was the last time you broke a rule? Never. Bloody idiot.
"Fine Hiragizawa, I pledge my allegiance to this insane idea of yours; but this better be a damn good plan."