DM: Hey there! I have another installment for you! Thanks so much for your reviews, guys, they really make me happy!
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS.
Curses!
Arc Two: Hong Kong
Chapter Twenty-One
Summertime Blues
Tomoyo was lying awake in bed, thinking. This was a rather dangerous thing for her to be doing, since every time she closed her eyes, the face of a certain detestable boy floated to the front of her mind. It had already been a few weeks since the incident that had essentially destroyed all hope of a friendship with Eriol, and exams were just around the corner, but Tomoyo couldn't stop reliving it:
She had left Sakura's house feeling worried. Sakura had seemed upset after a seemingly pleasant visit from her childhood crush, Yukito (the only man she could ever consider giving Sakura to), which was most certainly strange.
However, when Tomoyo saw Eriol waiting for her on the street, she froze, remembering that they had slept next to one another the night before. Unsure of what to say, she nodded absently as he told Touya and Yukito he would walk her home. Their hotel was in the opposite direction anyway, so they left her.
She and Eriol began walking in silence. Tomoyo wondered if he was going to thank her for taking care of him the night before. Having your worst enemy in your debt is pretty useful, after all.
"You know, Daidouji," he began, turning to her. She turned a little too quickly and her hair whipped around her as she looked at him. When their eyes met, his attitude seemed to change completely.
"What is it?" she asked, not succeeding in hiding the impatience from her voice. She felt strangely uncomfortable walking alone with him; it was completely different from the comfortable atmosphere of the night before. His facial expression went from contrite to mildly annoyed.
"Don't tell anyone what I told you yesterday," he said rather sternly. Tomoyo opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off.
"Or else Sakura will find out about your feelings," he added, grinning. Tomoyo's eyes widened. He was blackmailing her again?
"What the hell?" she asked softly, her irritation growing, "After all that…"
Eriol gave a harsh laugh.
"What? Did you think we'd be buddy-buddy now that you saw me at a weak moment?" he spat out, "I don't like you."
Tomoyo reached up and slapped him across the face.
"I don't give a damn," she said. They had arrived at her house and she walked up to the door alone, slamming it behind her as she entered. When she peeked out the window a few moments later, Eriol was still standing outside, talking to himself.
In spite of her own anger, she watched his lips move. She could have sworn he said: "That's not what I meant to say at all."
But maybe that was just what she hoped.
"Bah!" she said, sitting up and throwing a pillow at the wall, "Why would I ever hope that?"
Sick at the mere memory of the experience, she slid off the bed and went to the bathroom, where she gave a dry retch. Her stomach had been bothering her the past few days.
"Maybe I'm coming down with something…" she whispered to herself.
"Syaoran, where'd you put my backpack?" Sakura called, running around frantically as she tied her hair in the usual little pigtails.
Syaoran, who was busy tying his tie for the third time (for some reason he was a little clumsy this morning) replied that it was in the foyer.
The two continued to run around getting ready, as they both had overslept that morning. The Li sisters watched with amusement.
"Too much cuddling last night," they chorused, as Syaoran stuffed a croissant in his mouth on the run. He flipped them off over his shoulder.
They were referring to the fact that he and Sakura had been discovered asleep in front of the TV by the cleaning staff. Not their best moment.
What had really happened was that the Lock Card had locked up their Nintendo Wii, and Sakura had to figure out how to capture it so that they could play. This didn't take too long, but once they did get it unlocked, they were so relieved that they played until four in the morning, when they finally passed out from exhaustion.
"C'mon, Sakura, we have to go now," Syaoran said, grabbing her by the arm before she could argue, "We're going to be late!"
The two ran out of the house, leaving a laughing Wei in the doorway.
"I could have driven them," he said to himself, "Those two will never learn."
"So…tired…" Sakura panted as they ran. She was not a morning person on the best of days, and this could pretty much be deemed the worst.
"You know what this reminds me of?" Syaoran asked as they wove through a crowd in front of the supermarket (there was a special sale on eggs that day). Sakura shook her head.
"Are you serious? Isn't this just like last week when we had to capture the Arrow Card?" he insisted. Sakura snapped to attention.
"Oh, you're right," Sakura said, looking around. The Arrow had ambushed them around the supermarket, and in a fit of fury, Syaoran had punched it in the face. Heaven forbid he be tardy a single time. Sakura laughed remembering it.
Tomoyo and Eriol no longer walked to school with them, Syaoran observed, since around the time of Touya and Yukito's visit. He had a vague idea as to what had happened.
"Oh no!" Sakura said suddenly. Syaoran stopped and she ran into his back. They both fell over.
"What?!" he asked, thinking something serious had happened.
"I forgot to feed Kero!" she said. Syaoran growled in frustration and picked her up, carrying her on his back.
"He'll be fine, but I can't be late!" he said brusquely. He ran off, Sakura holding on for dear life. She noticed (not for the first time) that his hair smelled really, really good.
Back home, Kero was just waking up, dismayed to find not even a crumb available for his consumption. He opened up a drawer and put on the little ninja suit he had asked Create to make for him. It was time to lay waste to the kitchen!
The duo arrived into school with Sakura still on Syaoran's back and only minutes to spare before class. The fangirls had even given up waiting for him. He dashed into the classroom, dropping Sakura into her chair and then flying into his. They made it.
The class applauded just as Miss Mizuki walked through the door. Eriol set about doodling on his paper, feeling more hurt than he'd ever admit at the sight of his former love. Tomoyo smiled brightly at the teacher, who looked mildly uncomfortable with the situation.
They began their review for exams, which were the following week. Sakura glanced nervously at her math workbook. This was not going to be fun. Syaoran noticed her discomfort and put a reassuring hand over hers, oblivious to the attention they were getting from the rest of the class.
"I'll help you study," he said, smiling. The girl sitting a few seats behind them got a nosebleed from the sheer brilliance of it.
Tomoyo and Eriol both gave them nauseated looks. Their eyes met, and each realized they had been thinking the same thing. However, Tomoyo turned away in a huff, breaking the brief contact.
The strange thing was that she actually did feel nauseous (though the lovey-dovey atmosphere between Sakura and Syaoran wasn't helping any).
"Daidouji," Miss Mizuki said, "Are you alright? You seem a little pale and sweaty."
The "sweaty" was rather unnecessary, both Eriol and Tomoyo thought to themselves. They both gave a small chuckle, realizing that Miss Mizuki clearly thought that there was something going on between them. They stopped when they noticed the other's actions.
Tomoyo's stomach pain seemed to be peaking, but she merely nodded and insisted that she was fine. She hadn't eaten anything for almost thirty-six hours now (it's hard to eat when your tummy hurts) and was feeling quite weak and dizzy.
The teacher began breaking them up into pairs now for independent study, mostly so that she could go out and have the cigarette she so desperately needed. She intentionally did not place Eriol with Tomoyo, sensing in her own way a bond between them, but put Sakura and Syaoran together without thinking. She left the room and everyone began to work.
"Ok Sakura, let's tackle that math," Syaoran was saying. Tomoyo noticed that Sakura seemed distinctly uncomfortable due to all the glares of hatred she was receiving from the other girls. Tomoyo gave her the thumbs-up sign and her mood brightened.
See, he makes you uncomfortable, while I make you comfortable, she thought. The boy she was paired with was staring at her.
"Are you in pain, Daidouji?" he asked softly. Tomoyo was actually starting to have double vision at the moment and couldn't really see his face at all.
"I'm ok," she said. Then she grabbed a nearby trashcan and gave a dry retch. You can't throw up without eating anything. She then passed out.
"Daidouji!" he shouted. Everyone in class turned to stare.
"Tomoyo!" Sakura cried. She and Syaoran stood up, but it was Eriol who got there first.
"I'm taking her to the nurse's office," he said softly, picking her up, "Syaoran, call an ambulance."
He left the room holding her princess-style in his arms, hurrying through the hallway to the health office. The nurse was out, so he put her on the bed himself and sat next to her.
She was extremely pale and was shivering. He put a hand to her forehead to discover that she had a high fever. What the hell were her Aunt and Uncle up to, letting her get sick like this?
He quickly made a cold compress and laid it across her forehead. She twitched a little at the contact. He noticed that she actually was sweating a lot, and without thinking began to undo her tie and take off her blazer. Unaware that three people were watching him, he took off her socks as well and put everything neatly to the side.
"Now we'll be even," he said aloud, stroking her hair. Outside, Sakura and Syaoran gave each other puzzled looks.
"You should just go in," he whispered, "She's your friend, isn't she?" Sakura blushed and looked down.
"I feel like I'll be interrupting an intimate moment if I do that," she replied. Syaoran shook his head.
Who was the third person watching Eriol's every move, you ask? Through the window, Miss Mizuki watched with interest as she smoked. The cigarette was slowly losing its appeal as she saw the tender expression on Eriol's face. She growled and crushed it under her feet.
Meanwhile, Eriol had noticed for the first time that Tomoyo was exceptionally beautiful. This idea seemed to have a strange affect on his hands, which now found themselves playing with her hair. He brought a piece up to his mouth and kissed it, then immediately threw it back down, wondering what the hell had come over him. Tomoyo's eyes slowly twitched open.
"Eh? What am I doing here?" she asked, unaware of Eriol's presence. Eriol chuckled and she stared at him, eyes widening with fear. She looked down and saw that she was in her shirt and skirt only, her legs and collarbone completely exposed. She slapped him in the face.
"What the fuck did you do to me, bastard?" she asked, furiously. Eriol rubbed his cheek.
"Wouldn't you like to know," he replied coyly, smirking at her. That was a bad decision. She began to cry. Puzzled, Eriol put a hand on her shoulder. She recoiled in disgust.
"H-hey," he said, putting his hands up in surrender, "I was only joking around, I'm sorry—"
Tomoyo's tears stopped and she stuck her tongue out at him. Eriol was mildly shocked.
"Now tell me, why am I here?" she asked, wiping her face on her sleeve in an undignified yet cute manner.
"You fainted," he said, wondering how she could have cried so convincingly. She sighed.
"You know—" he began.
"What?" she asked impatiently. He was slightly taken aback at the straightforward look in her eyes. The cold compress slid off and fell on the bed with a light smack.
"I only took your clothes off because you were sweating," he said, trying to look her in the eye. She shrugged.
"You probably did something strange that you're too embarrassed to talk about," she said. She fell backwards from a sudden spell of weakness, and would have hit her head had he not caught her in his arms.
"You smell good," was all she said before she fell unconscious again. Eriol laid her back down, feeling a warm blush spread across his face.
He thought about his kissing her hair.
"You're right, I did do something strange," he said. Syaoran and Sakura gasped aloud. Eriol turned around, a very scary expression on his face. The two hid. Just then, the paramedics dashed in and began questioning him, causing him to forget about the two voyeurs he had detected.
Syaoran and Sakura slipped away in the confusion.
"That was the strangest thing I've ever seen," Sakura said quietly. She had really wanted to go in and check on her best friend, but something about the atmosphere of the room made her feel shy. When she saw the way Tomoyo spoke with Eriol she felt like she was looking at a stranger.
The rest of the school day passed in a surreal sort of manner for Syaoran. Eriol seemed to be interested in Sakura's friend (who, interestingly, had acute appendicitis and was in the hospital). Sakura didn't speak very much and wouldn't make eye contact with Eriol at all. Miss Mizuki seemed really irritated and gave them a ton of homework, which caused everyone to shoot a glare at Eriol, who refused to even look at his teacher. This was all much too complicated for our hero.
So, we'll move away from the confused Syaoran and the uncomfortable Sakura and follow Eriol on his way home from school:
He unconsciously was walking by Kaho's house, wondering what the hell she meant by giving them all that homework, when an idea struck him: he should go visit Tomoyo in the hospital. That would be the quickest and easiest way for him to get things sorted out. Why was he feeling so strangely, he wondered? He couldn't quite put his finger on it. Something about seeing her so vulnerable affected him.
He paused for a moment on the sidewalk, resolutely deciding to go to the hospital and thus changed his direction. Unfortunately, this led him smack into an irritated Mizuki
Kaho who was on her sixth cigarette of the day as she stomped home. A look in her eyes said "Come here." Eriol obeyed. This was a bad decision.
While Eriol was finding himself between a familiar pair of sheets, Tomoyo was walking up from the anesthesia. The surgery had been a success, and now she was appendix-free. The nurse told her that Sakura and Syaoran had been by to visit while she was asleep, but for some reason this didn't make her very happy. Her Aunt and Uncle came in,
apologizing profusely for not noticing, blah blah…yet something was definitely missing.
What was it?
Tomoyo knew what it was, but she'd be damned if she admitted it.
Sakura and Syaoran went to bed early that night, both a little disturbed by the events of that day. Kero had managed to sneak down and pass himself off as a cat to get food from the kitchen, and all was well. Tomoyo would supposedly be able to get out of the hospital in a few days.
The next day, they woke up on time and went downstairs. They had croissants for breakfast. Syaoran found this strange, since they had had croissants for breakfast the day before and repetition like this never occurred. However, he shrugged it off and he and Sakura went on their way.
As they passed the supermarket, there seemed to be a crowd again, just like the day before. Sakura stood on tiptoe and saw that it was a sale on eggs. Again. She thought this to be quite odd, but didn't mention it to Syaoran, who seemed lost in thought.
When they arrived at school, the fangirls swarmed Syaoran as usual and Sakura slipped on ahead, where she encountered Eriol in the hallway, who was staring at a calendar. She said hello and he smoothly replied back without looking away. Sakura shrugged and kept on towards the classroom.
Incidentally, Tomoyo was already in her seat. Sakura was surprised yet happy.
"Tomoyo, you're at school already? I thought you'd have to stay in the hospital for a few more days…" Sakura said brightly. Tomoyo turned and gave her a puzzled look, clutching at her stomach. She was shaking.
"What are you talking about, Sakura?" she asked, mildly irritated at her friend. Sakura shook her head and dashed out of the room.
As Eriol heard her run past him back down the hallway, his lips curved up in a smile.
"So she figured it out," he said. The calendar still said the same date.
They were living the same day over again.
DM: Cliffhanger! Everyone knows what that means! This chapter was so long…Anyway, I hope you all liked it! Please review, they make me so happy! Next Chapter: Vacation.