Chapter 3: This is Insanity


When I was finally able to drag Sakura away from Syaoran, who was practically frothing at the mouth (actually, so was Sakura), we decided to meet at her place after school. Hiiragizawa (that stupid pompous jerk) left with Syaoran while I was busy glaring at him, and his parting words still pissed the hell out of me.

"Remember, if you chicken out, I'm going to announce the whole school how cowardly you are." His eyes flashed. "And you'll learn to respect people of higher status than you in the future."

I was not happy when he said that. I proved so by throwing a twig at his turned head. Of course, I missed entirely and hit Sakura's forehead. And she was directly behind me. I'm supposed to play basketball against him? Against the star basketball playerof the varsity team?? I am so hopeless.

By the time school was over my angerhad cooled off and I started to feel worried. Yup, now I feel worried. Perhaps betting with Hiiragizawa was a bad idea after all. He had the whole entire school behind him, cheering and loving...while I had a geek squad dying to get my phone number so that I could "study-oh-so-intelligently" with them. Bleh.

Sakura and I arrived at her house and went up to her room. Not too long after we sat down, Touya, Sakura's one and older protective brother, opened the door.

"Oh, hey Tomoyo, are you and my sister going to gossip?" He asked casually. Sakura glared at him and threw a well-aimed pillow at his face, which he caught calmly. She then commenced in throwing a very heavy shoe, which he deflected with the stolen pillow easily. I rather think they were used to this brother-sister 'I-love-you' routine.

"Get out! Big brothers are such a pain!" The emerald-eyed girl huffed as she got up to shut the door. Touya, being the tall guy he was, balanced the pillow and shoe on her head and closed the door after him, just as the said pillow and shoe banged off the wooden surface. Sakura lay back down on her pink bed and hugged the Hello Kitty pillow, resuming her serious face.

"So, where were we?" she asked. Suddenly, a yellow flying thing flashed by and stopped by her face. It was Kero, the Guardian of the Clow Cards...or something like that. I never got the title right. The small bear doll-look-a-like fluttered energetically and landed on Sakura's shoulder.

"Hey, Sakura! So did you beat up Li's ass like you said you would?" he asked loudly. The brunette made a face at the name. I raised an eyebrow. She actually announced it to Kero...?

"That stupid little monkey tried to start a freaking fist fight with me!! He claimed he was stronger than I was any day and that the time I beat him in fourth grade didn't even count! What the hell was it supposed to be, then?? Some practice battle I had with a bunch of magical cards?!" She continued to pound the bed, a ferocious look on her face. Kero quietly grabbed some dried avocadoes and munched quietly on them as I made an expression. "The dirty windbag! As if I would sink so low as to have a physical fight with HIM!! Why, I'd never get expelled from school just because I got caught fighting with him! Never!" She then grabbed Kero's green snacks and shook them in the air as the yellow guardian flew after it, flustered.

"Hey!" The avocado flew about rapidly.

"I SHALT NOT LET A MEASLY BOY LIKE HIM GET AWAY WITH HIS INSULTS!!!!! HE SHALL FEEL THE PAIN AS MY FOOT GOES UP HIS ASS AND—AND I KICK HIS WEINER!!!" I choked. Weiner? I think she lost it.

The door suddenly opened and Tory stuck his head in. "Little monster, will you please keep your tantrum to a minimum? Some people are trying to live life peacefully." He quickly disappeared as a well-aimed pair of scissors knocked sharply on the war-beaten door.

"I was on a roll here, dang it!" She cried in dismay.

"Well, it's a good thing your brother interrupted you!" Kero was rummaging on the ground next to me for the fallen avocadoes (which I eyed disgustedly) and was eating them contentedly. "You were about to kill some people—mainly avocadoes." Sakura blinked in confusion.

"But avocadoes aren't people—they're food." Kero nodded emphatically as he stuffed some leftover pop tarts that were sitting on Sakura's messy desk. The girl shrugged and turned back to me. I was sitting quietly on the ground, playing with a plushie thoughtfully.

"Anyways, where were we? Ah!" She leaned forward gravely and asked me, "So what are you going to do about Eriol's bet?" Hmm, well, I'd been pondering that same exact question for the past few hours. What a surprise. Of course, I kept my sarcastic comment to myself and shrugged.

"I guess I'll just have to do it," I said carelessly. "My honor and pride is kind of on the line, and I don't really want to be the school's laughing stock." I acted really cool about it, but inside I was jumping with anxiety. Sakura munched on a forgotten avocado slowly and sighed for me, smiling. I raised my eyebrow at the smile.

"Tomoyo, I think this is going quite well." I blinked at her words. What did she mean? It was perfectly fine for me to be enemies with the school's hottest jock and jerk? Was she out of her mind??! "No, I'm not out of my mind." She looked at me with a queer expression on her face. I think the avocado was giving her indigestion. It was also messing up her brain. "Tomoyo, think about it. You are enemies with the school's hottest guy after a fateful encounter at a café. He made a bet that if you don't compete with him face-to-face, you'll be a looser. You get angry with him and passionately hate him even more, and accept the bet. And then you guys make up and fall in love!" I blinked. Uh, she lost me at the "love" part. Her face was uplifted and her emerald eyes were like...emerald. She sighed occasionally in her daydream and clasped her hands together like a maiden. And to think she accused me of being overdramatic.

"Sakura, first of all, I don't see how 'love' and 'Hiiragizawa' goes together in one sentence—"

"I didn't say them in one sentence, Tomoyo." I ignored her.

"—And I certainly don't hate him. I'm just annoyed with him and disagree with his personality." I looked at her pointedly and kept a stern face. She rolled her eyes and sat back on the bed headboard.

"Tomoyo, Tomoyo; you reallydon't see,do you?" She sighed for the umpteenth time. "You're already so deep into fate's plot that you can't see how much you and Eriol are meant to be." I almost threw a doll at her head, but restrained myself. "In fact, I bet you two are already starting to feel the tiny ray of love and fondness growing in your hearts. You two are so stubborn that you deny it and continue to live in a false illusion that you hate each other. But really, deep inside, you two love each other and want to be together. And one fine day, after all the fighting and heart-breaking is over, you two will come together, hands and lips—" I had had enough of this. The mental image of Hiiragizawa and me...I blushed slightly.

"Sakura. I think your lovely idea fits you and Syaoran perfectly." She broke out of her starry gaze and pulled a horrified face. "But I'm afraid it doesn't match my situation at all. I do not hate Hiiragizawa, and I don't care about how romantic our situation seems. This is not a romance novel and it's not going to be a love-hate relationship." She sighed in disappointment. I rolled my eyes.

Ho, ho, ho.

I am such a liar.

Okay, so maybe what I said about not hating Hiiragizawa was true. But I did have a small romantic thought about him and I. Deep inside I was really hoping for a drama-like encounter with him, and perhaps find the love of my dreams. I think I read too many romance novels. But still, I was secretly hoping for the kind of love-hate story line that all books contained. The kind that Sakura was talking about.

I kept thinking about Sakura's words when I walked back home, wondering if anything romantic would occur out of all this. It would be nice—but there were downfalls. For example, Hiiragizawa.

The blue-haired boy was the cause of all my troubles. He was the one I was betting with, and he was the one that was messing up Sakura's matchmaking mind. His threat unnerved me, and the bet itself made me nervous. But at least I had one consolation; I always felt the familiar raw, fiery energy that gnawed me whenever I thought about competing against someone and winning. Call it a competitive streak: a pride and honor thing.

Well, I had to do something about the bet. I'd already accepted it, so it was too late to back out—even if I did want to. And I wasn't at too bad of an advantage. In fact, I did have an advantage. Hiiragizawa didn't know I played basketball...quite well, actually. And I knew most of his strengths and weaknesses in sports; there were websites about him everywhere. Most of them written by girls...and a few boys. Ew.

I decided to practice some hard-core basketball right when I got home.

But of course, just as I was going to my room, my mother had to stop me.

She said it was something very important. I realized this when she took me to a private, soundproof room on the highest floor of the mansion. "Tomoyo, dear, I want to give you something that belonged to the women in this family." She pulled out a small, age-worn box that squeaked when it was opened. I looked at it curiously. She then took out...a small, rubber ducky. I blinked. "Oh, oops! Now, how did this thing get in here?" The duck was thrown away unceremoniously and she peered into the dusty box. "Ah, here it is." She smiled serenely as she took out a slender, silver-chained necklace. A tiny ruby-encrusted butterfly hung on it like it was about to fly off. Closer examination revealed its gold antennas and sapphire, minuscule eyes. It was...expensive looking. Cha-ching.

My mother smiled wider as she carefully clasped the delicate chain around my neck, letting the butterfly rest between my collarbones. She sighed blissfully.

All girls loved pretty stuff; even practical ones like me. Especially me. Oh yes. I cooed over the beautiful necklace and was delightedat the way the light chain didn't irritate my skin. Mother explained the history of the necklace, saying that Sayuri Daidouji, the first woman married into the Daidouji family, created it. Sayuri was supposed to have sorceress powers, so she bestowed some "magical properties" on the butterfly. The wearer of the charm would be blessed with luck and fortune.

And of course, I believed it. I mean, I've seen Sakura and Syaoran fighting against magical Clow Cards! That's good enough reason to believe.

Um, Yeah...

And I was hoping the charm would work for me when I played against Hiiragizawa.

After the necklace incident, I went "out" to the basketball court and began to practice. The mansion was pretty big, if I may say so myself, so there was room for a gym and weight room. They were almost never used, and the maids usually had a hard time cleaning the dust and polishing metal stuff.

But never fear! I, Tomoyo, was here! I would use the gym...well, half of it.

I practiced playing one-on-one, dribbling, dodging, faking, passing and shooting. Of course, shooting was my most important strategy because the particularly good thing I could do was aim and shoot at any distance. Even half-court shots.

Five minutes later I was sweating, panting and gasping for air like a wheezing old man on...on something. Ugh. I was so not cut out for endurance.

"Miss Tomoyo, a call for you," one of the maids said at the gym entrance. I took it, trying to breath normally.

"Hello?" I said.

"Tomoyo!" It was Sakura. "Hey, I just realized that you should start practicing basketball." Oh, well, yes, it occurred to me also. "I have this great idea. Why don't Chiharu, Rika and I come over and we can all practice for the tournament?" I blinked and smiled. Rika was another good friend who was sweet and smart. She also practiced basketball and other sports with us. It was a good idea! Sakura was a genius sometimes. Sometimes.

"That would be great, Sakura!" She laughed happily.

"This is going to so fun! Okay, Tomoyo, we're coming in!" I blinked.

"Wh-what? C-coming in? Right now?! How, where, when..." I stopped and stared at the door. Sakura, Chiharu and Rika were standing there with big grins on their faces. I breathed out and broke into a smile also. "Sakura! You guys scared the crap out of me!" But I forgave them.

Chiharu and me were on one team and Sakura and Rika were on the other. We all played a game, shouting advice and warnings to each other. It was hard work, but very fun, and by the time we called for quits we were sweaty, tired, but satisfied. I had begun to learn my own weaknesses and strengths, and my muscles were back into shape. At least, I liked to think they were. They were really sore.

That evening Sakura slept over for the night and we stayed awake until the late hours, talking, gossiping and just having a fun time. She pointed out my necklace, which I wore under my shirt, and she said she felt a little magic. I was so excited when she asked to see it that I begun to hope the charm was really lucky. But then she said it was only the vast amounts of stones that effected her senses. How disappointing. But the rest of the night went very that I tried not to think about a certain blue-eyed boy. But he just kept popping into my mind for some reason.

The next day Sakura and I practiced basketball, but Chiharu and Rika had to stay after school to work on the school newspaper. I would liked to have joined the newspaper class, but the head of the staff, a tall, goggle-eyed boy, looked at me a little too intently whenever he saw me and freaked me out, so I decided not to.

Hmm...why do I always attract the geeks? Is it because I'm one too?? Perhaps...

One evening I was practicing with Sakura, and the idea of me playing against Hiiragizawa kept distracting me. "Tomoyo, concentrate! If Eriol expects you to play against him, you have to beat all the other teams first! Obviously he means to meet you at the top!" I sighed reluctantly and guarded Sakura as she speeded towards the basket. An image of Hiiragizawa dribbling the ball down the court with his hair swaying, his eyes narrowed in absorption and sweat causing his t-shirt to cling onto his body suddenly loomed into my mind. It's quite safe to say that I was distracted. "Tomoyo, watch out!" The ball hit me hard on the head. Oh dear.

And suddenly...it was Friday.

I lay awake in bed, staring up at the white ceiling. Am I really so unfortunate as to always be picked on? It was causing me so much stress that I think I was growing wrinkles. And was that a white hair I saw...? Why couldn't Friday have been skipped? WHY?? And why isn't this necklace working? Work, butterfly, work! Come on, work your charm...aw, darn.

When I arrived at school everyone stopped to stare at me, whispering. Great, now people were spreading rumors about me. When will my curse end?

"Tomoyo!" As I was sitting in homeroom quietly, Sakura hurried over to me, an excited look on her face. "Guess what?"

"The school is going to be painted pink with flowers and duckies as wallpaper," I said wearily. She was too excited to notice my lack of enthusiasm.

"Nope! For the tournament today—" I suddenly sat up straight.

"It's going to be cancelled! Yes!" I shouted in my victory. The whole class turned to stare at me. I was too excited to care now.

"No," Sakura said frowningly. "You should be glad it's not cancelled. But I'll tell you something else. The whole school's going to watch it and it's going to be in the school newspaper! And another thing, your bet with Eriol was announced to the school, and everyone's betting on you guys!" Sakura squealed joyously and clapped her hands. I...froze.

"Noooooooooooooo...nooooooooooooooooooo..." I groaned aloud, sinking on the table. Then I started to hiccup. People were really starting to stare at me. I was too aghast to care. The whole freaking school was going to watch me play basketball against Eriol...er, Hiiragizawa. How the hell was I going to pull this off?? And now everyone was betting on us?! My life as an average high school student was destroyed.

Well, there was a tiny glimmer of hope. I could always run away and live in Madagascar along with all those animals...eh, that wouldn't do.

I would hide in a box and call myself Bob.

"Tomoyo, are okay?" Sakura's big green eyes stared at me worriedly. "Hello, Earth to Tomoyo! Hey, it's going to be all right. There's nothing wrong with everyone knowing you're enemies with Eriol. Everyone knows Li and I hate each other." I eyed her glumly.

"But I don't want to attract any attention!" I wailed.

"You already do," Sakura said gently. I stared at her. "You're the smartest person in this whole school, and you're very attractive, Tomoyo. There's no way you don't attract attention." Aw...whizzes. Life was too much for me.

I sighed and buried my head in my arms.

The morning went by both slow and fast for me. When the tournament was announced over the speaker, everyone started talking excitedly. They started to glance at me and whisper. Eh...maybe they were glad that the rest of the school day was going to be off?

When it was time for the tournament, I went to dress into my shorts and t-shirt with Sakura.

"I HATE HIIRAGIZAWA!!!" I yelled passionately. Sakura blinked.

"Why?" I angrily kicked my shoes into my locker and took out my running shoes.

"Because at least fifty people has stopped me and asked me what the hell was going on between that jerk and me, and all the preps except for him told me they pitied me and I should just give up. All these fan girls mobbed me and told me not to even dare think about trying to hurt their 'dear, sweet Eriol'. Hah! I plan to do more than that! I WILL ANHIALATE HIM!!!!!" By this time my anger had cooled and everyone in the locker room looked scared. Sakura patted my arm and nodded sympathetically. I breathed deeply.

"Well, I guess it's time, Tomoyo," Chiharu said as she and Rika met us at the locker doors. I nodded slowly. It was time...to kill Hiiragizawa. But first I had to go pee.

The center gymnasium was packed with students and teachers, all talking excitedly about the tournament. As I stood with my class on the sidelines, I watched the doors on the other side of the gym warily. From there would come out the devil.

"Now, this tournament was originally supposed to be a bit of fun for you kids," our teacher told us, "but now that the whole school's watching, I guess this is a bit of entertainment for everyone." He smiled happily and divided us into teams. How...?

How could he be happy at a time like THIS???

I guess it's because...like he said...It wasfun.

Funny. Haha. Ha. Ha.

To my utmost relief, Sakura and Chiharu were in my team. Rika was sadly in the other team, but life can't be perfect. I felt a little bit of gratitude towards the happy teacher.

"Ready to kick some butt?" Sakura exclaimed. Chiharu whooped and slapped my back. I stared at the ground numbly. Where were the other classes? Where was he?Where did he run to?!?!

"Tomoyo?" I didn't pay attention. I was too busy glaring at the doors. "Tomoyo? Eh..."

"Um, Tomoyo? I-I think you wore your...uniform...wrong..." My eyes snapped back to Sakura, who was staring at my clothes in shock. Chiharu looked a bit more amused.

"Tomoyo, it seems you wore your uniform inside out."

Hell no.

My eyes widened as I stared down at my clothes. She was right. Both shirt and pants were inside out. Not only that...my socks were mismatched.

I looked at Sakura and Chiharu in dismay. No wonder everyone in the crowd was staring at me! I must have been too distracted or something while dressing...

"Mr. Al?" I went up to our P.E. teacher. He was frowning, staring at the other doors that led to the other classes we were competing against. "May I go back to the locker room? I have to ch—" Suddenly, a loud cheering sound came from the stands as the doors opened, revealing the other classes. Mr. Al was calling our class elatedly as the cheering grew louder.

"Daidouji, go back to your team! No one can go anywhere now, the game is starting!" Oh crap. This teacher was way too infuriating. Couldn't he see how I was dressed? I anxiously patted my long hair, wondering if maybe there was something wrong with the braid. Well, at least my true inner-basketball self was ready.

My heart stopped and jumped and did somersaults as I caught sight of Eriol Hiiragizawa and his flashy blue hair.

Maybe I wasn't quite ready.

Everyone was probably wondering how I, the geeky, quiet, shy, innocent Daidouji, got into this spot. This stupid bet.

Well, I wasn't wondering. I knew how it happened, and I wasn't about to back down. Messed up uniform and all.

"And now, introducing our junior class physical education teams..." I swallowed and stared at the crowd as the announcer shouted. "...Al's class!" Oh great. The spotlights landed on us as we stood in a straight line, blinking at the bright light. Since when did they turn the lights off? Another minute and they'll be playing music—

The Hey song came booming out from the pep bandstands. Hey! I love this song! The announcer, er, announced the next teams. "Seri's class..." More cheers. "Kaede's class..." More cheers. "Aaaand Ganja's class, who is currently having a substitute... Terada!" I blinked. No way. The students all screamed and pounded and did funky dances when the last team took turn under the evil spotlight.

What the hell was Rika's sweetheart doing on Hiiragizawa's team??!! That traitor!!! My indignation suddenly fired up my fuel and I smirked confidently. I would show that sensei when and when not to mess with Tomoyo Daidouji!!!

...I do not know why I'm so angry with him being teacher of the enemy's team. In fact, I have no problem with it at all. I'm just suddenly determined to defeat Hiiragizawa...really badly.

The first teams to go up were Kaede #1 and Seri #1. I watched them anxiously as their split teams and jog to the court. I swallowed and grew more nervous as we watched them play. They were pretty good. Hopefully the other teams weren't better than them.

Sakura nudged me and whispered random things. "Tomoyo, I'm really excited, what about you? Li's on the other team, same on as Eriol. I'm sure everything will be fine. You trained for this day, Tomoyo. I always get comforted by the fact that I like pink...like Cherry Blossoms. There's a Cherry Blossom tree outside right now. In fact, I have some flowers in my bedroom. I look at them every night. I got a bear and I named it Sakura, just like me, and I cuddle with it every night just as I look at the flowers every night. It calms my soul...you should do it too." Chiharu sighed and rolled her eyes at me. Sakura was really nervous, I could tell. That reminded me, I didn't get to ask her about why she was so quiet that day...hmmm.

"And Tomoyo? I was eating some sausages last night, just to satisfy my appetite, but when I woke up I was like—whoa, I think Eriol's staring at you." That caught my attention. Sakura was frowning across the gym at something, and I was determined not to look. Her emerald eyes sparkled at me as I stared at the ground. "Tomoyo..." she said slyly.

"What?" She took my head and turned it so I was facing the 'somebody' she was recently staring at. I found myself staring into blue eyes. They were staring right at me. I gulped, trying to break away from the intense stare, but for some reason I couldn't break away. It was like he was trying to stare me down...

Ah hah! I get it! He was trying to have a staring contest with me! My brain slowly caught up with the wacky conclusion, but I didn't let it argue. I started staring widely at the staring boy. He was quite good. At staring. But so was I.

I had long contests with my mom's goldfishes at home. I know, I have no life.

Our unofficial staring contest went on for a while, until finally, he smirked and winked. I blinked. DAMN! He smirked wider, signifying that I lost. That stupid cheater!

Suddenly, the crowd erupted into screams and cheers as the buzz bell rang out. The first round was over. The Seri team (#1) jogged around the court, celebrating their minor victory. I continued to glare at Hiiragizawa, but he turned and started talking to Li. I blinked again. Where did Li come from? I turned to ask Sakura, but she was too busy glaring at him to notice.

And then... "The next teams are Kaede team #2 and Terada team #1!" I watched as Hiiragizawa and his team stood up, mostly boys, stretching and waving at the crowd. Huh. Figures.

And then... Hiiragizawa did the last thing I ever expected him to do.

He gave me the peace sign and winked again.

What. The. Hell.

A/N: Hmmm, personally, I thought this chapter was a little boring...too much inner conflict and no action. But the inner conflict has to be let out and cleared before action comes. So yeah. Yup. Mm Hmm.