The Dream Chaser
By Ekai Ungson
DISCLAIMER: Card Captor Sakura copyright CLAMP and other related enterprises. Characters used without permission.
Love me, Sophia, in my foolishness, love my words and not my mortal remains.
-- "Art & Lies"; Jeanette Winterson
Blanket of Stars
-
"So Daidouji-san is in England, then?" Spinel Sun said over dinner.
"At the Hilton penthouse, whose number I hold," Eriol answered with only a tinge of smugness. "Is there something wrong?" he asked later, noting the look on his guardians' faces.
"Not with us," replied Ruby Moon, rising from the table. "But very possibly with you."
Eriol raised an eyebrow, but his guardians would say no more.
*
"Windsor Castle," said Tomoyo, in the tone of one who would not be deterred.
Eriol looked at her in utter horror. "Surely you jest, Tomoyo-san. You will not believe how long the lines are. Or how thick the crowds would be. Why not, say, Stonehenge?"
"Stonehenge?" Tomoyo wrinkled her nose. "Stonehenge is a bunch of rocks."
"Very historical, mysterious rocks," he pointed out.
"Very boring rubble," she retorted.
"What's so exciting about a bloody old castle?" he argued.
"It's romantic," she pointed out, as if romance mattered everything in the world. He groaned.
"Windsor Castle," she repeated.
And so Windsor Castle it was.
Eriol had nothing against Windsor castle. He didn't have anything at all against any old bloody castle. What he did have something against was the extremely long lines and the extremely thick crowds of tourists that were present, as he predicted without fail. He had a bone to pick about THAT. He looked over at Tomoyo, poised to tell her "I told you so", but he stopped, and he stared.
Tomoyo seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. She looked like she didn't mind standing for hours or getting pushed around by people. He had a bone to pick about that, too. He didn't like having to share Tomoyo's happiness and attention with hordes.
"You don't look like you're having fun," she said then, noting the inscrutable look on his face. She smiled brilliantly at him.
"No, no, I'm having fun—crazy whirligig of it," he replied.
"I take it you don't like big, pushy crowds," she observed thoughtfully.
"No, not really," he answered honestly. "Do you?"
She paused. "Well, at first it was sort of annoying. But over the years I got used to it."
He stared at her. She waved her hands about, as if to dismiss the words in the air.
"Oh, never mind," she said, laughing. "D'you know what? I think we should ditch the tourist paths."
He turned sharply to stare at her. She tugged at his sleeve and like two fugitives from the law, they snuck away.
"And we are doing this because…?" Eriol asked as he stealthily rounded a corner with Tomoyo.
"You looked like you were bored. So I'm creating adventure," she replied.
"And what makes you think we won't get into any trouble for venturing into restricted areas like this?"
"We won't," she answered.
"Because you're a cousin of the Queen and above all law," he deadpanned as he followed her.
"Actually, I think Mother is, yeah," she said.
He paused and stared at her. She grinned.
"I'm only winding you up," she said cutely. Or at least he thought she was gunning for cute, and it was working. "No, I'm not related to the Queen. And no, we won't get in trouble."
"Because?"
"Well, are you a sorcerer or not?" she demanded.
He raised an eyebrow at her. She giggled. Then he noted his surroundings and found himself in—
"The Round Tower," she proclaimed, sounding very pleased with herself.
"You're crazy," he told her.
"I know," she replied, and she kissed him.
*
It could be compared to riding a tornado. Very foolish, utterly dangerous, and as of recent study, utterly impossible. At least he thought it was utterly impossible, that this was utterly impossible. Hiiragizawa Eriol was not a stranger to the impossible happening before his very eyes, being a sorcerer of his caliber. But there were certain immutable truths he had to live by, and this was an antithesis so shattering, it consumed him.
Or maybe it was something else consuming him entirely. Tomoyo's lips were searing against his and he felt himself powerless in the face of such fire. In fact, he felt very weak, his arms limp and uncooperative to his wishes.
But he was kissing her back.
She pulled away and he found himself feeling very empty. "Eriol-san, you look shell-shocked."
"That would be appropriate," he croaked out. "Tomoyo-san—"
She held up a hand. "I don't want to hear it, whatever it is. I don't want you going into professor mode on me and I don't want you analyzing and overanalyzing every little thing I—we—do." She turned around and walked to the tower wall. "I've learned how to let things take course, learn to seize whatever feelings I have for the moment. I'm not—" she looked at him, "the same girl you knew back in Tomoeda."
"I'll say," he replied, still a little out-of-sorts. "So much for a slow start, I think, then."
She walked back to him and put one hand over his chest where his heart was. "We don't have time for slow, Eriol-san," she said.
He didn't have time to ask her to explain, because she was already kissing him again.
*
Where did the day go? Eriol asked himself later as he walked out the stone path hand-in-hand with Tomoyo. The sun was setting, the sky was an indeterminate orange hue, and the tour had finished.
"That was fun," she said nonchalantly, swinging their joined hands back and forth, back and forth, like a child. "I loved the tour."
"You didn't even follow the tour," he pointed out.
"If I remember correctly, you didn't either," she said. "But it was fun, wasn't it?"
He raised her hand to his lips and brushed it with them briefly. "Yes, it was fun."
She smiled at him, and they stayed that way, in the middle of the path in the Moat Garden, just staring at each other. Silly, to every rational person in the vicinity, but romantic, which was the whole point of an old castle with lavish gardens and beautiful surroundings. Anyone could be a prince and a princess, anyone could be king and queen.
"I better go back to the hotel," she said.
"Uh-huh," he agreed, but he didn't budge from his spot.
She began to laugh nervously. "Eriol-san, we can't stand here forever."
"No, can't do that," he agreed. Still he wouldn't move, and Tomoyo didn't have it in her heart to move away from his gaze either.
"Eriol-san," she tried again.
He cut her off. "Dinner with me, Tomoyo-san," he said. His voice was almost begging. "Dinner tonight with me. I don't want this day to end here, not now. I want to be with you."
The orange had disappeared entirely, replacing the sky with a dark blue hue. The stars were out, and they cast a halo behind his head. Tomoyo could not look away. Did not want to look away.
How many nights had she dreamt of a moment like this, back in Tomoeda, long after he'd left and was gone? How many days did she wish that he would look at her that way, whenever his letters arrived in the mail? And here it was.
The sky was blanketing them both, wrapping them inside a dream.
"Tomoyo-san?" he prompted.
She rose on tiptoe, whispered in his ear. He caught her in his arms, his fingers in her hair, at her waist. He felt her smile against his cheek.
"I don't want this day to end yet, either."