Right! Time for Chapter Number Two! I'm so excited, because the farther into the story I can get, the faster I can get to all of the really cool parts I'm thinking about!
Disclaimer: If I owned CCS, I'd be in Clamp, and I'd be rich, and I wouldn't have to be putting these stories up here. So no… I don't own it... so sad… but, hey, I own the plot!
The Side of Life People Never Get to See
Chapter 2: Racing to the Airport
The morning after Eriol's call from Hong Kong, where he had been signing a contract with his employers and, apparently, meeting Meiling, Tomoyo sat down to eat breakfast. It was time to ask her mother, who had just woken up for breakfast after returning around one o'clock in the morning from a business trip in Europe.
Smiling as her mother entered the room, Tomoyo rose to hug her. Her mother was smiling despite her late return the night before and her short sleeping hours. Tomoyo knew that the people she worked with would probably receive the brunt of her mother's exhaustion.
Striking up a polite conversation, Tomoyo began to serve the breakfast she had made for her mother. The tradition of Tomoyo making breakfast after business trips had begun after an exhausted Sonomi Daidouji, who was normally a great cook, had burned every item of breakfast after spending nearly the entire night before on a plane.
"Yum," Tomoyo's mother said, "I love a good English breakfast! We should really go back to Europe for Winter break, Tomoyo. So many good cities like Paris, and its Louvre."
"Say, Mother," Tomoyo began, "Speaking of England, do you remember my pen pal, Hiirigizawa Eriol-kun? The one who was a student here for a while? Back in elementary school? He graduated as a senior a year early in England, remember I told you that earlier in the summer?" Tomoyo said, careful to not speak too quickly, so she didn't seem too urgent. Play it calm, as if you don't care about him.
"Hm? Oh yes the English boy, the one who's so polite?" Sonomi remarked, questioning, "What about him? Do you know where he is going to college?"
"Oh, well he's decided to take a year off beforehand. He was employed as a private tutor in the area in a certain type of expertise by the Li clan for Li Syaoran. The problem is, he hasn't been able to find a suitable apartment, since they're so expensive, and his cousin is coming with him. He's not quite eighteen, you know, and his parents are dead, and she's his legal guardian. Well, they can't find a place to stay, and they're still looking, but he called to tell me about it. Last time they were here they stayed in a home one of his ancestors had built. But when they left, they never expected to return and they sold it. Well, I knew they had sold it so I asked where they were staying. And, when he admitted they didn't have anywhere to go, I offered to lend them a few rooms. Is that ok?"
Sonomi sat back in her chair, thinking about what her daughter had said. "Of course. I mean, he really has no other place to stay, does he. And we have so many spare rooms…" Sonomi trailed off, looking at her daughter with an odd expression on her face. "When does he get here, out of curiosity?"
Tomoyo blushed and looked down. She was caught. "Today…" she trailed off and looked up at her mother, "In about an hour… He's landing in Tokyo. I was going to have Shina take me."
Sonomi began to laugh. "Well, now that I've said yes, I can't really change my answer can I? And I'll drive you." (A/N: In Sonomi's profile in the manga, it says that her special skill is driving motorcycles and cars).
Tomoyo smiled, suddenly a little more energetic. "Yatta!" She said happily.
"Uh, and Tomoyo?" Sonomi added, "It takes nearly an hour just to get to the airport, you know."
"Hehe," said Tomoyo, "Yes well, I tried to time it correctly, but you got up about twenty minutes later than I had planned…"
"Well go grab a book or something for the car, ok?" Sonomi said, "And I'll finish this divine breakfast you've made me! We'll be taking the big American car since they've probably brought a bunch of luggage!"
Nodding at her mother, Tomoyo began to leave when she turned back. "Oh! I know! I'll bring along that piece Sensei wanted me to perform for the Autumn Festival!" Sonomi smiled and waved her on with her hands, and Tomoyo continued her way up the stairs, pausing to twirl on the landing halfway up.
"Now," Sonomi mumbled through a bite of her food, "I simply must meet the young man who's gotten her so happy…"
………………….Tomoyo's PoV, as she rushes up the stairs
I climbed the steps of our staircase more quickly than usual, because I wanted to be there before Eriol got off the plane, and who knew how bad the traffic was going to be?
Pausing to twirl, I admired the way my long white shirt's ends twirled as if they were a skirt. It was one of my favorite autumn shirts, a white and sort of plain, but elegant, with quarter-length sleeves that flared and black lace done in a pattern similar to a web all over it. It had a slit on either side that ran from my hips down where the shirt ended, halfway up my thighs. It was made of a thinner cloth than most autumn shirts were, since I didn't get cold easily, and I had put a hood on it. The hood looked best off of my head of course, so I never really used it.
I had put on black jeans with white lacework going up either side, remembering that black was his favorite color. I wanted Eriol-kun to feel welcome in Japan, didn't I? These jeans were also one of my designs. I hardly ever wore anything that wasn't. After Sakura had stopped capturing cards, I had begun to do normal clothes for myself, needing something to keep my skills sharp. Of course, I still made outlandishly gorgeous clothes for Sakura-chan!
Reaching my room, I stepped up to the mirror, thinking about what to do with my hair. My music was on the stand against the wall to my right, so I wouldn't really have to look for it, just grab it when my mother called me to leave. 'That gives me enough time!' I thought triumphantly.
Walking quickly to my bathroom, I pulled out of a drawer a darker shade of blush than I normally used (I didn't use makeup all that often anyway), some gray eyeshadow, which would bring out the darker shades in my amethyst eyes, and a light-metallic shade of pink lipstick. I was already wearing some foundation.
I brushed the blush over my cheekbones lightly, just barely shadowing them, using the blush as an accent. I was careful not to overdo it with the gray too. After brushing some gray on the lids, I used a larger blush to blend it around the rest of my eye, and up a little farther than normal. Leaning away from the mirror, I turned my face from side to side, to be sure I hadn't put too much on. No, it looked very tasteful.
Throwing on the lipstick and smacking my lips a few times, I hurriedly rushed on to the task of my hair. It had already been carefully brushed, and pulled back in a cloth headband that wrapped around my head, but I wanted to do something different.
Pulling the headband off, I grabbed a black hair-tie from a drawer below the first one I had opened, I gathered my dark hair up high on my head. I tied it up and then reached into the same drawer for a black ribbon, which I put in a loose bow over the thin hair-tie. Standing back to admire my work I nodded satisfactorily.
"Perfect." I said aloud. I was wearing no jewelry, not even the silver watch I normally wore at all times.
"Oops," I said after a minute of admiring my superb dressing job. "No shoes!" Rushing to my closet, since I was probably almost out of time, I pulled out some black boots, which went to a little above my ankle, and would elevate me two inches. They had white buckles, and looked like combat boots.
Grabbing them and going over to my queen-sized canopy bed, I sank my butt into the down comforter and proceeded to pull them on. I had just finished the first one when I heard my mother.
"Tomoyo-chan!" She called, "We have to go now! Or I'll have to speed even more than usual!" Smiling to myself at her comment, I finished buckling up the second one in record time, grabbed my music from the music stand, ran back in for the small black purse I had tossed my wallet and my cell phone in this morning, and rushed down the stairs.
"Here!" I responded to her cry breathlessly as I reached the bottom of the staircase. Stopping for a second to regain my composure, I walked with my mother to the front door.
"Finally." My mother teased, smiling as one of our maids rushed to the door and opened in ahead of us.
"OH!" I gasped, turning to the maid, Angela. "If Sakura-chan calls, don't tell her where we are. Or if she asks, don't tell her who we're picking up!"
"Of course!" Angela answered, smiling at me. "We'll be preparing the rooms for Hiirigizawa-sama and his cousin."
"Thank you!" I called back and my mother tapped my shoulder.
"Tomoyo-chan, we have to go NOW."
……………………………….In the car……
"M-mother!" Tomoyo sounded scared, and you could see her fingers turning white from the death grip they had on the seat. "Is that speed really necessary?"
"Hohohohoho," Sonomi laughed evilly as she spun the wheel of the car into a sharp turn she had almost forgotten to make, "I haven't had this much fun since my drag racing days!"
Tomoyo shuddered.
……………………………They've now reached the airport! –Tomoyo's point of view….
As my once mentally stable mother turned into a parking spot, perfectly although I was sure she had been going at least fifty when she began to park, I breathed a sigh of relief. We were just in time. We had arrived five minutes before the plane was supposed to land. On the way I had managed to call the airport to be sure the flight would be on time. Lucky for us it was delayed about an extra ten minutes, or we would have been five minutes short.
As my mother and I made a mad dash towards the airport building, my cell phone began to ring.
"Why now!" I said, out of breath and exasperated. Beginning to slow, I shook my head, saying to my mother, "It's probably just Sakura. I'll call her back when Eriol-kun is in the car. That'll be more fun."
Nodding, my mother kept pulling me along. I had thought I was in good shape, but after the long run from our parking job to the correct entrance to the terminal Eriol and Nakuru would be arriving at I was thinking twice.
We finally reached Terminal C and rushed in (A.N: I'm pretending this airport is like mine .).
Since airplane security had been increased, you could no longer meet people at the gate, but since Eriol had already been in this airport I had assumed that he'd be able to find the baggage claim.
The baggage claims for Terminal C were just in front of the door, which made things easy. The problem was which one of the five was Eriol's?
"TOMOYO-CHAN!" I almost fell over when Akizuki-san ran right into me, with arms outstretched. Between her tight hold and my already breathless condition I could practically feel my face beginning to color itself purple with lack of oxygen.
"A-ano..Ak-izu-ki-san.. need air…badly…" Gripped by sanity suddenly, the hyper and super-genki Nakuru let go abruptly. I felt my body, which had been twisted in some odd position when Nakuru had run into me, begin to fall backwards toward the floor.
Begin being the key word. Halfway to the floor I felt one arm fall across my upper back and a hand grip each of my shoulders in support. I breathed a sigh of relief, looking sideways with a slightly surprised look into Eriol's concerned blue gaze.
Bracing myself slightly on the one hand of concern that remained after I was upright I turned to him, still in the midst of regaining my composure.
"Thank you Eriol-kun." I said, smiling.
"Of course. It's the least I could do considering my cousin was the one to almost cause you a fatal head wound. Really Nakuru, must we go over the most basic rules of etiquette so soon after our arrival? You'll make Daidouji-sama (A.N- He is referring to Sonomi) change her mind about us staying here." With one hand still resting on my arm as he scolded Nakuru, he turned to my mother after finishing his brief sermon on manners.
Bowing in greeting after removing his hand, Eriol straightened, greeting my mother politely and thanking her for allowing them to stay. The two made polite conversation about my mother's business as the four of us gathered up the bags, Nakuru 'insisting' on carrying hers after Eriol directed a pointed gaze over his frameless glasses towards her. I breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the many bags she had, and picked one of her rolling ones up, since she couldn't carry all three of them on her own no matter how many times Eriol glared.
My mother began to set a quick pace back to the car, with Eriol keeping up. I could tell my mother thought it was amusing that Eriol treated his 'cousin' and 'legal guardian' like that.
Eriol was no doubt trying to make up for the fact that he was imposing on a woman he didn't know, so I took the chance to inquire about Spinel.
"But Akizuki-san, where is Suppi-kun?" I asked, breaking into the constant talking Nakuru had began the moment we set off.
"Oh, Suppi's in Eriol's carry-on bag, the laptop one. Eriol took him out a few times in the bathroom or something… Anyway, like I was saying, the really cool thing about London is… ." I listened half-heartedly, looking ahead at my mom and Eriol.
Staring at the boy who I had written so many letters to over the years, I smiled slightly. It was nice to finally get to see him in person. He was a little more reserved than in his letters, but it was nice to be able to see what he looked like, and not have to imagine it.
Noticing that Nakuru had abruptly stopped speaking, and was staring at my face, I felt a slight blush rise to my cheeks.
"What?" I asked, wondering if she had asked a question, and feeling embarrassed that I had been caught ignoring her chat.
"You were staring at Eriol-sama's ass!" She whispered gleefully, glancing ahead to be sure that the other two hadn't noticed we had slowed.
Stopping completely in surprise, I shook my head. "I was NOT!" I whispered fiercely. Although, now that she mentioned it… I looked ahead for a moment and then turned back quickly towards Nakuru before I could give into the temptation. What was wrong with me?
"You're imagining things." I said, staying calm, knowing that if I reacted with emotion she'd believe I was. God only knows whether she would tell Eriol or not if she thought I had been.
"And why were you whispering? They couldn't hear us from where they were."
"Oh, Eriol's hearing's always been too good. And you're no fun, Tomo-chan, ruining my hopes so quickly!" Pouting she began her talk about England again.
I settled into a faster pace once again, noticing that Eriol and my mother were almost to the car. Listening to Nakuru without really paying attention, I noticed that she didn't really mind whether or not I listened. I had a feeling even Nakuru didn't pay attention to what she was saying. She seemed always aware of her surroundings. It was the same with Yukito, except he talked less to be so aware of his, and he did it without knowing. And during the short times she had seen Yue, it seemed that Yue just was aware anyway, and simply chose not to talk much, preferring to sulk prettily.
As my mother was unlocking the car, Eriol turned back towards us and called in flawless British English, "Hey! Ruby! Hurry the bloody hell up!"
I made a mental note to tell Eriol that my mother had gone to college in England before he said any more comments like that one, and then realized my mother probably wouldn't care that much anyway, seeing how she was grinning. Or maybe she wasn't even paying attention. How had Eriol gotten so far on her good side so quickly? He didn't resemble Nadeshiko in the slightest, and yet she took to him about as quickly as she took to Sakura.
Reaching the car and handing the bag I had been pulling over to Eriol, who loaded it into the trunk, I offered Nakuru the front seat of the car. She happily agreed, and I settled into the back seat of our Suburban after retrieving my music.
As Eriol climbed in, all of the luggage safely loaded into the trunk, I opened my music only to have it lightly tugged out of my grasp.
I looked over at Eriol, who was examining it. It was an art piece by Dvorak, his fifth biblical piece.
"Hmm, not bad. I like Dvorak, don't you? There's something about his music. Do you have an accompanist yet?" I smiled sweetly and took the piece back.
"Well, Eriol, I had been meaning to talk to you about that one. Well ever since yesterday anyway. Since I'm sure you already know this one, relearning it in about two weeks would be simple, correct? I'm singing to audition as a part-time soloist with the Tokyo Symphony, and we're allowed to bring our own accompanists. I have a tape, but since you're so skilled…?"
"Oh, Hiirigizawa-kun, do you play piano?" My mother inquired as I trailed off. Pulling out the gum she had spent this time digging in her purse for she offered some around.
Eriol smiled, taking some, and responded, "Well I suppose one could say I'm fairly accomplished. And Tomoyo-kun I would love to audition with you. I have an audition of my own lined up with them already actually, but I'm sure they don't conflict. I still owe you for allowing us to borrow rooms of your house."
As Eriol smiled at me, my mom started up the engine of the car and smoothly reversed out of the space. She was going at a normal speed, and allowing Nakuru to continuously change radio stations, when she passed through the guard station that lead out of the airport. Hitting the highway, she sped the car up to eighty on the entrance ramp, maintaining a steady ninety after she merged.
Eriol gulped and Nakuru began squealing as my mother rolled down all of the windows.
"Does she always drive like this?" He shouted over the sound of the air rushing past.
"It was worse on the way up." I responded, "Just wait till she gets out of the construction zone…"
The End!
BTW! You usually have to go fifty or fifty five in a construction zone!
Please review! I wanna know how I should change it or if it's flawed or something.