When Love and Hate Collide

Witch-Mistress-Animaru

1: A bad beginning

"What can I do to make you love me?

What can I do to make you care?"

- The Corrs, What Can I Do

"I still believe in destiny

That you and I were meant to be."

- Hayden Pannetierre, I Still Believe

When Tomoyo first met him…she knew she was attracted to him. And yet, she couldn't have him. For how could she?

Especially since it all started when she introduced him to Sakura…

Tomoyo wanted that night to be perfect. She wanted nothing more than for her best friend, Sakura, to find the happiness she has long been searching for.

And she believed that Sakura would find it in Li Syaoran. So there she was, devising a plan to get the two together for the night. It was the annual Fukkusei fashion show and Tomoyo wanted to make sure that the two were left alone.

Yet, it appears her efforts were rendered moot, she thought as she stared at the pair laughing their heads off at today's latest fashion modes.

Beside her she heard someone cough. She ignored it, focusing on the stage where synthetic mink collections were being modeled.

Then she heard a cough again, followed by a clearing of throat. She turned, seeing a man gazing intently at her.

Tomoyo's heart skipped a beat. The man was probably one of the handsomest she has met, if not the handsomest, with his azure eyes and hair.

She was so caught up in inspecting him that she didn't realize he was actually talking to her.

"Excuse me, miss. I heard you are the cousin of Miss Kinomoto, the famous writer. Is that right?"

Tomoyo found herself nodding.

"I'm Eriol Hiiragizawa," he held out an elegant hand. She very nearly did not take it from sheer shock. "I'm a huge fan of hers. I wonder if you can introduce us."

The moment his message sunk in, she felt disappointment welling inside her. She immediately felt guilty. Really, it was the first time a man introduced himself to her so that he can meet Sakura, so why was she feeling resentful towards her cousin who had not the slightest idea what was happening right now?

Before she could think better of it, Tomoyo started babbling.

"Oh. I'm Daidouji Tomoyo, as you already know. But...if you are...interested with my cousin, I fear you might be too late. See that guy?" She pointed at Syaoran. "He's angling for her affection and I must tell you—"

"Whoa, wait a minute, lady," he said quickly, holding up his hands. "First of all, I'm not...that is to say, romantically inclined to Miss Kinomoto. That remains to be seen. I just wish to be introduced. So if you're keeping a torch for that man—isn't that Li Syaoran, her publisher? That's interesting. Well, as I said, you need not worry. If she really likes that man, I have no wish to compete."

But that's just the problem! Sakura's being too dense with him!

"Oh." She said in a small voice. "I'm sorry to have said that. But if you must know, I really like that guy for her."

"I'm likeable enough, I assure you."

But you aren't perfect for her!

And he's perfect for you? A tiny little voice answered inside her brain.

"It's not the point. Anyway, it's okay, I'll introduce you after the show," she said, trying to appear nonchalant before turning away from the enigmatic man.

She didn't realize her heart was beating overly fast, or that she was suddenly resenting talking to him after knowing where Hiiragizawa Eriol's attentions lay.

---

"So," Eriol asked after the show ended amid tumultuous applause. "Where is your elusive cousin?"

Tomoyo had to admit she was beginning to get irritated.

"I'll introduce you, okay? So don't worry your bloated head over it."

"Excuse me?" He said, apparently taken aback by her rudeness.

"I said I'll introduce you. Happy?" She asked with her nose in the air.

"Not particularly." He scoffed a bit. "I did not do anything to deserve your rudeness. I merely asked to be introduced, and if you don't want to do it, I'm capable of introducing myself. If you'd only tell me where she is—"

"I said I'd introduce you and I will. But as I said, prospects of dating her would be quite bleak…"

"You're being presumptuous again. And I can't see how Miss Kinomoto is your cousin—she doesn't deserve a shrew like you for a friend."

"How dare you talk that way to me," she bristled. "And no, I wasn't being presumptuous. I was just warning you off, remove any false hopes."

"See? You're doing it again."

"Oh, whatever. Don't count on me on helping you with her, though."

"I don't need any."

"Fine." Tomoyo turned away from the suddenly irritating man. She can't believe she agreed to introduce him, the insufferable, arrogant jerk! Then she saw Sakura and Syaoran, heading towards them, the former gazing at her with disbelief.

Really, Tomoyo can hardly believe it herself. She was usually rational, cool, on top of things. But there was something about this man which rubbed her quite the wrong way.

Then Sakura's gaze fell on the man beside her and Tomoyo felt her heart drop upon seeing Sakura's face.

It didn't take a genius to see that Sakura was attracted to the man.

Tomoyo cleared her throat though she felt like crying for no reason at all.

"Er, Sakura-chan, I'd like you to meet Hiiragizawa Eriol. He professes he's a huge fan of yours. Hiiragizawa-kun, Kinomoto Sakura."

"How do you do?"

With the exchange that followed, Tomoyo and Syaoran soon became invisible in the eyes of the pair.

Syaoran took Tomoyo and Sakura home. When Sakura had gone, Tomoyo felt like comforting the man who, she knew, was head over heels in love with her best friend.

If truth be told, it looks like he doesn't stand a chance against Hiiragizawa Eriol. But Tomoyo was never one to back out of a challenge.

Besides, she was somewhat banking on the chance that Sakura was never attracted to Syaoran because she never saw him properly as a man. If she only would, she would not spare that blue-eyed devil a second glance.

The silence became almost unbearable and Tomoyo decided to speak out.

"Looks like you've got competition." Tomoyo commented.

"I know," Syaoran replied tersely. She could see his knuckles turning white as he gripped the steering wheel tightly.

"This one's tough," she admitted as much. "But I don't like him for Sakura, so you can expect my support."

"Thank you," he replied, but said no more.

Tomoyo badly wished he'd say something. For she refused to dwell on the disturbing feelings Hiiragizawa evoked on her—especially now that she could see that her best friend is interested in him.

---

Days passed quickly after that first meeting—the prospects looked bleak for Syaoran, but Tomoyo knew better. She felt something was amiss with Sakura's relationship with Hiiragizawa.

Though she must admit, she was getting a bit depressed with the setup as well.

"You can't give her up, you just can't," she knew that Syaoran knew she was saying that to cheer him up, but she did not care.

There has to be some way, she thought.

Then it came to her. Not wasting another moment, she dialed Hiiragizawa's number.

"Hello?" Her heart skipped as she heard the familiar voice. Clearing her throat, she responded with much more calm than she felt.

"Is this Hiiragizawa Eriol? Daidouji Tomoyo here."

Silence. For a moment, Tomoyo thought he'd be rude enough to drop the call, but then he responded.

"To what do I owe this pleasure, mademoiselle?" With the sarcasm lacing his voice, Tomoyo would have gladly throttled him for Syaoran.

Yet she swallowed her temper. She was desperate, what with Hiiragizawa steady dating Sakura and Syaoran hell-bent on martyrdom. Someone had to do something—she knew that her work was already cut out for her.

"It's about Sakura," she blurted out after a few seconds.

"Ah, yes, I figured as much."

She decided that the best way to go about it was to challenge him. Hiiragizawa appeared to her as a man who never backed down from a challenge.

"I can't let you win her, you know," she said softly, but the dare was there. "I bet your dates have been less than satisfactory," she was taking a gamble on that last note, she knew. But she did it anyway.

Once again she was met with silence. Did she hit the bull's eye?

But when he spoke again, she almost lost her hope. "That's for me to know and you to never find out," he said in an almost singsong voice. Yet, somehow…she could sense that he was lying. Perhaps she wasn't so far-off from the truth.

"We'll see," she huffed, dropping the call in irritation.

Now is the time to put some sense into Li Syaoran's brain.

"Li? Listen to me. I have a feeling they are still less than okay. Will you stop being such a martyr and do something about it?"

"They date constantly, Daidouji. She didn't ask me to rescue her. They're doing okay."

"Stupid reasoning and you know it." She said exasperatedly. "Listen to my plan," she said, going on to explain about her plans of a double date.

She didn't know why she was so determined to break the two off. But she was certain that Sakura didn't deserve that jerk.

---

After much coercion, Tomoyo had convinced Sakura that she was half in-love with Syaoran and somehow managed to make the latter agree to a double date.

She worked doubly hard to make her best friend jealous.

"Have some of the scallops, they're nice. Here, let me do it," she said to Syaoran, pouring the soup on the bowl beside him.

"Uh…yeah, thanks?" She kicked him under the table. If he was going to act like a drooling idiot, they might as well drop the act now.

He scowled at her but tried his best to act all sickeningly sweet afterward.

Her gaze strayed to their quarry and she could see a faint gleam of amusement in his eyes.

So he thinks he knows what we're about, huh?

She gazed at Sakura and was glad when she saw the look of pain in her eyes.

Sorry I had to make you put up with this, Sakura-chan, but it's all for the best.

Hiiragizawa started to be a bit more aggressive at that point, but Sakura didn't even seem to notice. Tomoyo wanted to dance in glee.

As the dinner drew to an end, Tomoyo had managed to maneuver the situation so that she went home with Hiiragizawa, leaving her two friends some time to be alone.

"That desperate to get those two together, huh?" She barely settled in the front seat when he started driving like a maniac. She knew he was mad at her interference—the sarcasm in his voice was enough proof of that.

"I didn't really need to work all that hard. It was all cut out for me. You saw it, too—those two has something going on."

"I won't be so sure about that," he argued, but she could see that he was unnerved.

"It will work. I'm sure the two of them would be together soon enough. It has to work," she repeated. "I won't allow you to destroy my plans."

"Really? I think it's a moot point."

"Then you don't really know my cousin well."

"I doubt that she knows herself," he responded, albeit dryly.

"Ah, shut up, you're driving me mad!"

"Aren't you already?" At that point, the car slowed down and she was silently glad for it.

So she just huffed and resorted to dignified silence.

However, when her phone rang twice later that night, Tomoyo began to rethink the wisdom of her actions.

Did she bring the two together or drive them away from each other?

She was so immersed in her thoughts, she forgot who she was with that night, missing the look of amusement in his face as he gazed at her secretly.

Little did she know that soon enough, she would meet the disturbing Hiiragizawa Eriol, again…

…and this time, he would no longer be forbidden territory.

TBC