Surprise!
At the Hotel
Chapter 2
Hong Kong, Hong Kong Hilton-
Eriol closed the white door of his hotel room, obscuring his view of Nakuru running around the room trying to catch Spinal Sun. Taking off his glasses, he messaged his temples. Anyone spending more than ten minutes with his creations would have the same headache. It was inevitable. Replacing his wire-rimed glasses, Eriol headed toward the elevator at the end of the hallway.
The doors were just closing when a breathless, feminine voice called out, "Oh! Please wait!" A slim, delicate hand slipped between the closing doors, preventing their closure. A tall, slender girl whose most remarkable feature was a waterfall of long, dark hair that shone with purple highlights under the fluorescent lights of the elevator slipped into the lift. She turned to smile at him, "Hello, sorry if I interrupted you or anything."
Eriol smiled. Even though she had grown older, he could still have recognized Tomoyo Daidouji anywhere. "Have you forgotten me already, Daidouji-san?"
Tomoyo was surprised and her dark, violet eyes gave Eriol another, more critical look. Eriol had grown taller and had filled out a bit more. He was lean to Syaoran's muscular, who still worked out with his sword daily. Using sorcery burned up any needless padding Eriol happened to have and besides that, he liked to run on weekends. He still had the long, graceful hands of a pianist and his eyes had lost their innocence, if there had been any in the first place. Being half the reincarnation of one of history's most powerful sorcerer with all his memories and knowledge tended to do that to a person. It was his deep, blue, almost black eyes that had seen more than his eighteen years of age that finally sparked Tomoyo's recognition.
The beautiful singer smiled up at him. "Hiiragizawa-san! Did Sakura-chan invite you as well?"
Eriol smiled back, "Hai, that she did. Seems she wants to scare the pants off my cute descendent."
Tomoyo gaped at him, before laughing delightedly. Between bursts of laughter, she managed to get out, "'Scare . . . the pants . . . off . . . Li-kun, indeed!"
Suddenly, the small, purple handbag that Tomoyo was carrying gave a strange wiggle and a little yellow head popped out, gasping for breath. "Aaaaaaah! Tomoyo, I need air! When were you going to let me out! Next millennium?"
Tomoyo's eyes widened: they had already gotten off the elevator and had entered the hobby, which put them in the sight of many hotel guests and personnel. Eriol watched with amusement as the usually calm and collected Tomoyo nervously scanned the lobby for spying eyes and roughly shoving Kero's head back into the handbag at the same time.
"TOOOOOMMMMMOOOOOYOOOOOOO-CHAAAAAAAN! EEEERRRRIIIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOL-KUUUUUUUN! OVER HERE!" A slight girl with huge, emerald-green eyes, and shoulder-length, honey-brown hair was running helter-skelter toward the two shell-shocked teens.
Eriol slowly got up from his crouch on the floor when the identity of the caller was clear. It was so loud, several people--including him--had thrown themselves to the ground, expecting a bomb to fall any second. Somewhere, falling glass made a small, tinkling sound as it fell to the floor. Tomoyo had already shook off the shock and was replying to the ear-splitting scream with one of her own, making Eriol, who was still close to her, wince.
"SAAAAAAAAAKUUUUUUURAAAAAAAAAA-CHAAAAAAN! YOU'RE HEEEEEERRRRREEE!"
Tomoyo ran into the arms of her best friend, both hugging each other hard for a second or so before pulling apart. "Konnichiwa, Sakura-chan! How is Li-kun?"
Sakura smiled brightly. "Konnichiwa, Tomoyo-chan! He's fine and he is going to be sooooo surprised when he walks in tomorrow."
"Oh! Sakura-chan, Kero insisted on coming downstairs with us as well." The raven-haired beauty giggled as she carefully shielded the purse from sight. When she was sure that no one besides Sakura and Eriol could see, she opened the flap and Kero popped his head out again, tick marks appearing all over his face. His normally golden face had now developed an unhealthy blue tinge. It all disappeared when he saw Sakura.
"Sakura," he whined. "How could you leave me with this tyrant? I almost suffocated in that prison!"
Tomoyo hmphed and gave the little creature a Look. "Kero-chan, it was YOU who insisted on coming down with me."
Sakura apologized as she scratched her Guardian behind the ears. As Kero closed his eyes in bliss, she said, "I'm sorry, Kero-chan. But it was either Tomoyo-chan or Eriol-kun."
Kero immediately snapped open his beady black eyes. They now held a look of pure terror, "O-oh, Tomoyo's not really that bad, Sakura-chan. I could stay with her if Yelan-san still hasn't accepted me! Tomoyo's fine, REALLY."
Eriol smirked at his reincarnation's former Guardian. "Wise decision, KERO-CHAN." Eriol calculatedly put JUST enough emphasis into the last two words to enrage the toy-like beast.
Before Kero could do anything drastic though, Tomoyo shoved him back into her bag and firmly buttoned the flap. Whispering, she hissed into purple purse, "Kero, if you can't behave, you give me no choice but to keep you in there, you understand?"
Faint, muffled sounds of protest could be heard by all three teens until Kero settled down into sullen silence. Tomoyo looked apologetically at her friend, "I'm sorry about that Sakura-chan, but I had to do that."
Eriol was quick to reassure the daughter of his soul, "Don't worry, Sakura, he's only sulking."
Sakura's look of uncertainty changed to one of relief to one of happiness as she glanced past the twos' shoulders. "Oooooh, look! It's Onii-chan and Yukito-san!" The Card Mistress looked again and giggled. "Doesn't Touya look funny with Nakuru-san hanging onto him like that."
Eriol and Tomoyo turned as Sakura's brother and Yukito approached.
Touyo had finally finished growing, ending up somewhere a bit below seven feet. He looked the same--a safe, comforting constant in everyone's life. Yukito's hair had darkened a bit, but otherwise, he was outwardly untouched by the passing of time. Nakuru had released Touyo to run and Sakura when she saw her. "Sakura-chan! Did you miss me, huh? Huh? 'Cause I missed you! A lot! And maybe Suppi-chan would listen to you and do what's good for him and eat the food I give him!" She said the all very fast. Eriol's creation still looked pretty much the same. Her light brown hair had darkened and lengthened. Currently, it was tied up in a high ponytail with a few loose strands to frame her wickedly twinkling eyes. She still dressed like a girl, even though, technically, she was genderless.
"H-hoe?"
"Oh, Sakura-chan, you still look so cute when you're scared!" Eriol thought that if Tomoyo had remembered to bring the video camera down with her, this would be the part where she'd whip it out and start recording.
"Hoe?"
Touya smirked at his kid-sister who wasn't such a KID anymore. "So, kaijuu, how's the gaki? When are you two going to give in and actually marry each other?"
"I AM NOT A KAIJUU!" Touya had to dodge a flowerpot thrown his way. Everyone was sweatdropping like crazy as other people in the hotel turned to stare at the sister and brother squabble.
Sakura noticed and blushed a lovely shade of red. "H-hoe. G-gomen ne! Touya! Stop teasing me!"
For the first time, Yukito spoke. Smiling his gentle smile, he said, "Just ignore him, Sakura-chan. He's always like that."
"And shouldn't you be used to that by now?"
Sakura glared at Eriol and stuck out her tongue.
In reply, the blue-haired boy winked at the Mistress of the Cards and wagged a finger at her, "Ah, ah, ah, Sakura-san! That's very childish of you."
Touya smirked again, "Now, now, Hiiragizawa-san, she's only acting her age after all."
Sakura went all teary-eyed and wailed, "Why are you all teasing me! It's been almost three years since I've seen any of you and you're so MEEEEEAAAAAAN!"
"Don't cry, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo sat down on the lobby couch as well, putting a comforting arm around her best friend. "They're just feeling emotional after missing you for so long, and that hurts their manly pride so much, they bluff and bluster like this to cover it." The devious, only nonmagical person in the gathering winked at Touya and Eriol, both who were looking more and more uncomfortable.
Nakuru, who was still hanging onto her master poked the glowering boy, giggled. "I guess Tomoyo-chan hit it right on target, ne?"
Tomoyo kept on talking as Sakura looked less unhappy and more like her usual genki self. "They, unlike Li-kun, who has gotten used to showing his true feelings to you, are too--ahem--frightened."
Touya tried to protest, "That's going too far, Daidouji-san. I'm waaay better than that . . .that gaki!"
Tomoyo waved that away, "What ever you say, Touya-san. I'm just stating the facts as they are."
Eriol put in his token resistance with a pained smile, "Daidouji-san, we do have our pride and Sakura-san is feeling much better now!"
Sakura was, in fact, practically rolling on the ground with laughter. "Oni-chan, Eriol-kun . . . You two should . . . see . . . the look on your faces!"
Tomoyo smiled, glad that Sakura was happy again.
End of Chapter 2
To come-Preparations
Read and review, please! Thanks if you bothered! AnimeJo