Cold, chilly air greeted the young, dark-haired woman as she stepped out of the airport's glass sliding doors. Outside, taxis, cars of all shapes and sizes and even more people were waiting. They were to strangers to her, and she, a stranger, even an alien to them. She wasn't born in their country's soil, but she was willing to be a part of it, just for the sake of moving on.

Just for the sake of being able to let go of her past.

She thought she would be free from her past once she left her native home of Japan. It was cowardly, she knew. She knew that running away from your troubles, instead of facing them, is not the right way to go. But she has had enough. The guilt, the pain, everything was killing her. And she knew, that if she had stayed longer, she would have killed herself by now. It was one of those few moments that Tomoyo was very thankful that she had a friend like Sakura Kinomoto.

"Excuse me, young lady."

Tomoyo Daidouji snapped back to reality as she was pushed aside as throngs of people started coming out of the airport terminal. She didn't realize she had been standing there, staring into space, for the last three minutes. Annoyed and embarassed, she made her way into an awaiting taxi.


The dark-haired lass was trying hard not to breathe through her nose. The taxi's air freshener made her want to puke. And the driver's reckless driving was not helping her. Instead of complaining, she just took her hanky from her coat pocket and covered her nose and mouth.

"Where to again, miss?"

Tomoyo, now pissed off beyond belief, decided to answer the man for the umpteenth time. "Heathrow Lodge." Dammit, don't tell me we're lost!

The ever-reckless driver made a sharp turn that made Tomoyo almost roll out of her seat. The driver seemed indifferent and just continued to drive. Tomoyo just wanted to get out.


Tomoyo took in as much air as she could as soon as she got out of her temporary prison. Tomoyo felt guilty for negatively thinking about the taxi driver and for silently cursing him.The man seemed TOO old to be driving a taxi and he seemed rather nice when she paid for her bill.

"You're not from here are you?" The driver asked as Tomoyo handed him a few bills and coins.

Tomoyo just shook her head and gave the man a small smile. She was still uncomfortable about her English-speaking skills.

"Miss Dai..douji?" The receptionist at the front desk asked, unsure of how to pronounce her name.

"Yes?" Tomoyo just snapped out of her reverie, yet again.

"We have an available room. The last one in fact. Check-out will be 12:00 PM tomorrow." The receptionist added professionally as she gave Tomoyo the set of keys to her room.

"Thank you."

The room was decent. It had a bed, a drawer, a television, a telephone. The bathroom was simple, no special decorations, just...a bathroom.

This was going to be Tomoyo's home for awhile. Unless she finds a job, she won't be able to check-out for awhile.

She put her luggage in the corner of the room. Travelling by plane, then getting a taste of hell can be very stressful. Still with all her clothes on, she lay down the bed.


"I can't believe this! Of all people! You!" Daidouji Sonomi shouted angrily as she paced around the room. What she had just heard could have been lie. It must be a lie!

"Okaa-san..." Tomoyo started. "I'm a grown woman now. I can take care of this."

"But our reputation...Tomoyo, how could you!"


Tomoyo opened her eyes. Somehow, sleeping seemed like not a good idea.

It was almost twelve midnight. The air outside was colder, and the streets, with the exception of the cars parked outside the lodge, was empty. The friendly receptionist said that there was a good pub down the road, just a short walk away. So now, here she was, walking down alone the paved sidewalk, the pub's bright sign a stark contrast against the still darkness of the night.

The pub was decent too. The drunk costumers were surely sent home, giving the pub a more safe atmosphere. When Tomoyo entered the pub, she couldn't help but feel conscious about herself. She could feel the eyes of the testosterone-gifted costumers on her, as if they were checking her out and it didn't make her comfortable at all. She sat on a bar stool and kept her eyes focused on the bottles of wine and beer behind the counter. Even when she had turned away, she could still feel the hungry eyes of rather drunk men.

"What can I get you?" The bartender asked.

"What do you have?" Tomoyo said. Her english was rather stiff if compared to the standards of the British, but, coming from Japan, where "engrish" is wide-spread, it was already impeccable.

The bartender shrugged. He was drying newly-washed glasses.

"A beer then."

"Comin' up."

Poor service, Tomoyo thought. She looked around, careful to not look directly at any drunk guy. She realized that the pub has a very cozy atmosphere. With wood panellings on the walls and couches on some of its corners. The drapes were dark-colored and the lamps mounted on the walls provided insufficient light but it was appropriate for the theme the pub seemed to take. Oddly, it reminded her of her own home.

"Here you go." The bartender said as he placed a tall glass in front of her and poured the whole bottle's contents into it.

Tomoyo was suddenly glad the bartender broke her train of thoughts. She was thinking again about...

"I'm John, by the way." The bartender said as he held out his hand.

Tomoyo stared at his hand, dumbstruck. She was thinking way too much.

John, feeling that Tomoyo was not interested, took back his hand.

"Oh! I'm Tomoyo." Tomoyo, this time, was the one who held out her hand. She gave him an apologetic smile and they shook hands. It was simply an innocent gesture, just platonic.

"That's an odd name. Are you from Korea or something?" John asked.

The amethyst-eyed girl shook her head. "I'm from Japan."

"You speak english quite well for someone from there. And I see you're not carrying one of those...what do you call 'em? Travelling guides or something?"

Tomoyo was silent.

"Well--I-I didn't mean to be offensive. I'm just saying that--"

"Hey, John." A deep, masculine voice called.

"--Oh, hey!" John called back, fogetting about his little apology to Tomoyo.

Tomoyo, confused of what was happening, just stared.

"Well, my shift is over." John said as he did a little salute to Tomoyo and went away. Tomoyo just took a sip from the huge glass of beer in front of her.

I think I'm going insane, Tomoyo suddenly thought.

Just then, a new guy came, taking John's place. He was quite tall, with what looked like a lean chest and his shoulders were broad. Unlike John, the new guy wore glasses, had really pale skin and had really dark hair. He reminded Tomoyo of a vampire, but then she realized, both of them were quite the same.

"Do you need anything?" He asked.

Tomoyo didn't realize she had been staring until he spoke to her. "Uh, nothing. Thanks."

"Don't mind John. He's just too friendly." The new bartender said with a smile.

"Y-yeah." Tomoyo replied, smiling too,

"I'm Eriol. Eriol Hiiragizawa. You?"

His name sounds Japanese. "U-uhm...Tomoyo. Tomoyo Daidouji."

"Are you from Japan?"

Tomoyo nodded.

"Wow. Actually, I'm of Japanese ancestry too. My father's Japanese. My mom's British." Eriol said as if they were old friends.

There was silence. Tomoyo didn't know what to say so she took a huge gulp from the beer in front of her.

"So..." Eriol started, trying to fill up the awkward pause "are you on vacation?"

"Not really..." Tomoyo actually felt comfortable talking to this guy. Maybe it was the beer...

"Actually," Tomoyo, feeling rather lighter than usual, started "I just arrived awhile ago. Then I had to take this taxi ride with a driver from hell..." Tomoyo hiccuped. She took another huge gulp of beer. "You know, I actually ran away from Japan. I got some money from my Okaa-san--"

"Okaa-san? You mean 'mother'?"

" --then my friend gave me a plane ticket for London. I took it without much thought, and here I am now." Tomoyo hiccuped again. She took another huge gulp from her glass of beer.

Wow, Tomoyo thought, I'm seeing double.

"Hey Tomoyo--"

And she blacked out.


"Ow--" Tomoyo said as she opened her eyes.

"Hey--" She heard a masculine voice say.

Her vision was unbelievably blurry and her head hurt a lot. Then she felt a hand slap her cheek softly.

"Hey. How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Uhh..."

"Hey," She felt a hand slap her softly again. "how many fingers am I holding up?"

"I-I don't know..." Tomoyo managed to say. And she felt darkness take over her senses once more.