"You're shopping for a White Day present?" Meiling asked suspiciously over the phone, her voice coming out in a tinny, static-filled blare that was even more shrewish than her normal high-pitched tones. "I thought that you didn't go for those traditions. And that you'd already given Sakura a Valentine's Day present."
"It's not for Sakura."
The silence stretched on for so long that he thought that they'd been cut off. "Hello? Hello? Meiling, are you still there? Damned international phone calls. Completely pointless—"
"You're cheating on Sakura? And with her best friend no less!"
"No," he said flatly. "Whatever put that into your head all of the sudden?"
"Well… you're suddenly buying presents for other girls…" Meiling stated uncomfortably. Then she let out a short laugh, lightening up. "Or is it for a guy? Or is it for me, your favorite cousin in all the whole wide world?"
"In your dreams," he snorted. "No, it's for Tomoyo. She got me a present for Valentine's Day." It was almost a shame to eat the chocolates; they had been works of art. So he had taken a photograph of them—pretending that he didn't know exactly how stupid he looked, never mind whether he was alone in the apartment when he'd done it—before sinking his teeth into the first bittersweet bite of dark chocolate. "And I didn't have anything for her then, so I think that I should return the favor."
"Oh yeah, those chocolates. Tomoyo mentioned that to me," Meiling mused. "Well, if you want my advice, make her something yourself. She'll appreciate it more. There's nothing that you can buy that she can't buy herself; it's not like with Sakura, where you can just throw around wads of cash and fulfill her every little whim."
"I hate making arts and crafts. I suck at that."
"Then don't bother," she said coolly. "If you're not going to make more of an effort than you normally do, you'll just end up making a mess. You ought to know that Tomoyo made those sweets all by herself."
"All right, all right. Yeesh."
"Be sure to make it better than anything that you ever have before," she instructed him. "Or else you'll be hearing from me. I'll fly all the way to Japan to kill you."
"Meiling, you know that I'm better than you at martial arts."
She snickered. "Yeah, but it isn't like you'd hit a girl."
"True. I'm too much of a gentleman to do something like that."
"You mean that you're a gullible and pompous prick," she said in a mockingly docile tone. "So how's Sakura, by the way?"
"She's okay. We went to the movies last night."
"That's all you guys ever do," she sighed. "I bet that gets kind of boring."
"It's a different movie every time," he pointed out.
"But the same girl, no matter how much time passes."
Hearts from Aries
White Day was almost as bad as Valentine's Day. The girls were still giggling like airheads, the boys were still mumbling amongst themselves—the only difference was that it was more subdued, because although nearly everyone celebrated Valentine's Day, only a very few did on White Day.
"Did Eriol give you anything?" Chiharu was asking Tomoyo. She was more cheerful today because for once, Yamazaki had done something right and gotten her a cute bouquet of white daisies and told her that they reminded him of her—spunky, fresh, original and energetic.
"Uh-huh. But that guy seizes just about every opportunity to show off how romantic he can supposedly be," Tomoyo said with a half-hearted giggle, pointing a finger at her desk.
"Wow!" Chiharu said, staring at the mountain of chocolate boxes and bouquets piled on Tomoyo's table. Compared to all that, her daisies suddenly seemed pathetic. "Eriol sure knows how to treat his lady."
"You rang?" Eriol offered, slipping up behind Tomoyo and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Hello, gorgeous."
"They're not all from Eriol, actually," Tomoyo said. "This cheapskate over here just go me one measly box and a single bunch of flowers. The rest are from other guys."
Eriol pretended to scowl. "I got you imported chocolates in a gold box and those flowers are your favorites," he said, pointing out the biggest bouquet of all, a gorgeous mix of forget-me-nots and lavender. "You wound me deeply, Tomoyo darling."
Chiharu frowned. "You mean that guys still get you lots of stuff even though you two are the 'it' couple of the school?"
"Sure. I mean, they still get Eriol stuff for Valentine's Day, and I don't care in the least. I think I would be pretty disturbed if I didn't get anything, actually—that would mean that my popularity ratings have gone down," Tomoyo joked, grinning.
Syaoran scowled at himself, shaking his head at his stupidity and trying to ignore the mini-Everest on the table beside Sakura's. He looked at the thin package underneath his seat and pretended that it didn't exist. If only he could dispose of it somehow without being caught…
"Yukito-san!"
Sakura's happy voice grated against his ears. He groaned inwardly as the silver-haired young man came in, followed by Sakura's brother Touya. "Hello, Sakura. How are you? Did you get my White Day present?"
"Yes!" she said blissfully. Even if she did have Syaoran, Yukito still made her feel floaty sometimes. Just because he was Yukito. "Thank you very much."
"We need a desk or two for the auditorium… and since your class was so close by, we were hoping to borrow a couple," Touya said shortly.
"There are nearer classrooms…" Sakura mumbled.
"Nah. He just wanted to make sure that no one gave you a White Day gift," Yukito said with a chuckle.
"The brat better not have given you any," Touya grumbled.
"Well, he doesn't have to worry about that. He didn't."
"What! I thought he was your boyfriend. Doesn't he appreciate you at all?"
The rest of the class watched this with amusement. Syaoran just glowered at him from his chair, and Touya frowned; obviously the brat was in a bad mood. He made no comment, just negotiated with their class president for a couple of desks that they were apparently in need of as temporary props at the auditorium. Yukito wandered over to Syaoran with a tentative smile.
"Hello. Something the matter?"
Syaoran's stomach flip-flopped as well. Like Sakura, he also sometimes still got floaty around Yukito. "It's nothing," he grumbled, trying to cover up the pink tint of his cheeks. "I'm fine."
Yukito caught sight of the package hidden underneath. "Is that a White Day present?"
"Yeah, but now I really don't feel like giving it," he said with a sigh. "Sakura and I both agreed not to celebrate White Day but see, Tomoyo gave me a present on Valentine's so I thought I'd repay her with a White Day gift. But now…" He jerked his head at the gifts that Tomoyo had already amassed. "Who am I kidding?" And why was he telling all this to Yukito?
"That's Tomoyo's seat," Yukito said quietly.
"Yeah." He looked up at him with a frown. "Don't get the wrong idea. I'm just thanking her because she gave me a really wonderful present on Valentine's and that makes me feel bad."
"Did the other girls get you presents on Valentine's Day?"
"Well… yeah. But that's different!"
Finally Yukito grabbed the package. "Ack! Stop!" Syaoran hissed, turning bright red, but no one else had seen anything—they were all focused on Touya and Sakura bickering.
Yukito drifted away from him. "Tomoyo-chan, you dropped this package," he said charmingly, holding it out to her.
Tomoyo didn't even stop to question him. Perhaps all those years with 'Cardcaptor Sakura' had taught her that around this crowd, anything could happen, so she might as well accept immediately. "Thank you very much, Yukito-san."
"Yuki! We have to go. Now." Touya was already dragging along two desks.
"Ah, sorry Touya," Yukito said, hurrying out after him and grabbing the other two desks that their class had offered. He smiled at Syaoran and Sakura before he left.
Later that evening Syaoran passed by the Daidouji residence (quite by accident, really) and saw her maids loading up the chocolate and flowers into a car and as she was barking orders into her cellphone. "Yes, all those are to go the orphanage."
"But young mistress, are you sure we should really dispose of all your White Day presents? Some of these were quite expensive. This one is in a gold box—"
She looked away. "Keep the box then, he might look for it if he comes over and then there'll be trouble if I don't have it. But give the chocolates to the kids."
One of them held out his package, and he cringed. If he had known it would go to the orphanage… well, at least it was a good cause.
"No, leave that one," Tomoyo said softly.
"Young mistress…?"
"I said leave it," she said, her voice suddenly sharp. "It's the only one I want to keep.'"
Syaoran was glad that it was dark, so no one could see his face burning as he sprinted off into the night. A girl with lavender-black hair smiled to herself as she listened to the clatter of his footsteps on the pavement.
Hearts from Aries
Tomoyo padded into the dojo, enjoying the feel of the rubber mats against her bare feet. She knew that they were disgusting and probably hadn't been cleaned in God knew how long (heaven only knew what her mother would have said), but she didn't really care. "Hi," she called out to him.
"Hey," he said. "Uh... guess we'd better start…"
"Thank you so much for the lovely present," she said, knowing that he was feeling awkward and unsure of how to bring it up. "I didn't know that you could paint like that, Xiao Lang. Usually you hate art class."
"I just… made a little more of an effort," he said slowly.
Was it imagination or reality that her eyes seemed to soften, or that the faintest hint of fuchsia bloomed on her cheeks? She didn't smile, but there was something about the way she looked that told him that she was happy. "Thank you."
Suddenly, her cellphone rang. "Oh, bother, bother, bother," she muttered angrily as she answered it. "Moshimoshi?" Her face changed. "Oh, mother. I… you need it faxed right away? I'm in the middle of a class—speak to my teacher? Well, he's kind of out… of course I really am at a class. The teacher just seems to be sick, that's all, but the students are still practicing. I… no. Couldn't one of the maids or the bodyguards do it? Oh. I see."
Syaoran looked at her with concern as she spoke. "I do know the importance of the meeting. Yes, yes, you told me all about it—a huge order that will garner a lot of money for Daidouji Corporation," she said tonelessly. "I am not being rebellious for no reason. 'I'll go home and do it, all right?" She clicked off without waiting for a response. "I'm sorry, Xiao Lang. It looks like I'll have to skip our training session tonight."
"I'll go with you," he said firmly; offering, but at the same time insisting. "It isn't good for you to wander the streets by yourself, and if I know you, you aren't going to call your bodyguards to pick you up."
"The streets of Tomoeda are perfectly safe," she protested. "But thank you, I wouldn't mind some company on the way back—but you still have training to do."
"Don't be stupid, I could beat anyone here with two hands tied behind my back."
A smile tugged at her lips. "True." She peeled off her white gi to reveal a peony-colored t-shirt underneath. "We aren't supposed to go out in public in our gi's because they're an invitation for trouble. That's what you told me, remember?"
"Right," he laughed as he showed her his own black shirt.
"Won't you come in? The house is pretty much empty except for me and the maids," she said when they'd gotten to the gates of her enormous house. "Maybe have some tea? I feel awful about disrupting our training schedule. It's the least I can do."
"You didn't do anything wrong," he protested, but she still dragged him in, ignoring his assurances that she didn't need to.
"Young mistress, you're home early," one of the maids said, evidently surprised. "We didn't expect you to come home for another hour at the very least."
"Ah, that's right. My mother called me back to run a short errand for her," Tomoyo said, nibbling on her lower lip. "Could you please bring tea for two up to my room? Chocolate-chip and raspberry. Thank you."
"Uh… your room?" Syaoran said.
"Uh-huh. Is that a big deal?" Her eyes twinkled. "I'm not going to seduce you, Xiao Lang." She let out a sigh. "It's just that the rest of the rooms in the house are too big. I feel like a pea rattling around those huge rooms. You'll see what I mean." As she guided him to her room, he saw the size of the other rooms and privately agreed with her. "I chose my bedroom to be the smallest in the whole house—even smaller than the bathrooms, actually. But even with that, mine is still pretty big."
The maid came in with a tray laden with scones and tea. "Scones?" Syaoran inquired.
"Yeah," she said. "Partly due to Eriol's influence. But they really are delicious. Please have some. I'm just going to fax those papers for my mother—I have to grab them from her library. Is it okay if I leave you for a while?"
"Sure, go right ahead," he said, accepting the cup of tea she offered him (he didn't touch the scones, though). His eyes wandered around the rest of the room when she left and he frowned at the load of professional-looking gadgets in her room. Aside from the video cameras that she loved carrying around when she was younger, there was a state-of-the-art laptop and a fax machine. For her mother, he supposed.
The room was decorated in shades of cream and lilac, tasteful, elegant and mature. It was distinctly Tomoyo. And it was cozy too. He smiled at the neat row of books in the shelves—almost obsessive in their arrangement, each spine perfectly aligned, in alphabetical order. She had a lot of closets (oh dear; he cringed as he recalled her mania for costumes and clothing) and a seamstresses doll over in the side, full of pins. It was the only slightly messy part of the room—it had some pieces of black and crimson cloth on the floor beside the mannequin. It looked like she was making a jacket or something. Finally he caved and grabbed one of the chocolate-chip scones. She was right; they were delicious.
The painting hanging right above her bed caught his eye. It was of a girl with lavender-black hair twined with forget-me-nots, wearing a white dress as she sat with her legs tucked underneath her. She wasn't smiling, but her violet eyes reached out to you in a way that wasn't sad, wasn't happy, wasn't angry—it was an emotion that couldn't be described. He liked the way it had turned out; without a doubt, it was the best thing that he had ever made. What he couldn't explain was the last element of the picture.
The amber-eyed wolf, lying placidly beside her, her hand stroking its fur.
Tomoyo returned, carrying a pile of papers. "Ugh, these horrible business things," she said, shaking her head. She followed his gaze. "That's very beautiful," she told him. "I'll treasure it forever."
"It's… not that good," he said finally.
"I think it is." She fed the papers into the fax machine. "I like the basic composition itself, but more because of the feeling I get from it."
His brow furrowed. "What feeling?"
"Like it's watching over me. It makes me feel safe. And… well, loved," she said, blushing at her own boldness. She hoped that he wouldn't interpret her remark in such a way that she was hitting on him or something.
"Hey, you want to catch a movie tomorrow?" he asked randomly. She blinked at him, and he turned red and rushed to explain. "I mean… well, after our training session. I think Sakura's brother doesn't like me taking her out every night and besides, I thought that you might like seeing this great film. It's this martial arts movie from Hong Kong. And, well, since you're a martial arts student like me, I thought you might appreciate it—"
With a smile, she cut through his babbling. "I'd love to."
Hearts from Aries
"I'm sorry we were such poor company, Li-kun," Xiao Lang said in a low voice as they exited, Meiling walking a good twenty paces in front of them barking out orders to her harried assistant over the cellphone. "I hope it doesn't bother you, but Eriol told me a little bit about what… about what happened before."
"I'm going to beat up Hiragizawa," he said flatly.
"But from what I understand, Li-kun, she made choices. You all did. You weren't in the wrong, not once. If there was anyone who should have been blamed, it was her."
He froze. "You don't know anything about her," he hissed.
Tomoyo nodded as she spoke into the phone, her voice hollow even as she added a cheerful trill to her words. "Yes, mother. I received your present just this morning. It's lovely. How's the weather over there? Lovely. Yes, yes, I understand. And we saw each other just a couple of days ago. I know that this business deal is really important and—yeah, okay." She gave away nothing as she kept talking, shrinking away from the scrutiny of her friends—Sakura, Eriol, Syaoran, Touya, Yukito and Nakuru. It was a small gathering of all the people involved in the cards, which simplified things; now Kero could come out and eat with them. "Of course we'll do something when you get back." Like you always say and we never do. "Bye."
"Hey, you okay?" Eriol asked gently.
"Yes," she said, smiling back at him. "Mother's just very busy these days—there are a lot of foreign investors interested in Daidouji Corp."
"I think it's impossible for someone to be so busy that she can't see her only child on said only child's birthday," he muttered.
"If anyone can do it, it's mother. Don't judge her like that. She has to be there if she's going to shoot all the investors who won't budge, right? She cares—and her gift is amazing." She held up one hand from which hung an amethyst bracelet with stones that exactly matched the color of her eyes. "Can we please change the subject?" she asked, putting on a perfect puppy-dog pout. Irresistible.
"Happy birthday," he said, kissing her on the cheek and deciding to drop the subject for her sake. She raised her face up to him and kissed him back. They were still tentatively in love, walking on eggshells around each other, even though they'd been together for a solid two months now—the so-called 'it' couple. Sakura was hyper-happy for them. The rest of her friends thought that they were adorable—most of them, anyway.
Syaoran, however, felt that she'd gone in way over her head.
She loves Sakura, idiot. What right did I have to take away her best friend? They knew each other long before I came here. It isn't fair to her. She's so lonely. I can't do anything but be selfish. That's the only reason why she's gone with Eriol, isn't it? They'll both end up burned, at this rate.
"No thinking," Tomoyo ordered, catching his eye. "I can practically hear your thoughts all the way from across the room, Xiao Lang."
His cheeks flamed at that comment and she giggled, choosing to interpret it in another manner—one that was a lot less mature than his thoughts, that was for sure.
"Don't worry, I won't tell Sakura about that overwhelmingly mature image that you had in your mind—"
"What?" Sakura sputtered, nearly dropping the slice of cake that Eriol had just passed her. Tomoyo's boyfriend was unable to suppress the grin unfurling on his face like the breaking of sunrise, while Touya was already moving towards Syaoran, and he probably would have reached him if Yukito hadn't grabbed him by the arm. Even if Touya was the stronger and taller of the two, Yukito could put him in his place easily.
"Kidding." Tomoyo held up one hand to indicate peace. "Don't be so jumpy about the little things, Sakura. And thank you for your present. I love it." She smiled at the childish teddy bear that Sakura had chosen to give her. "It's… adorable." She had outgrown those silly things, for heaven's sake. Sakura just didn't get her anymore. Neither did Chiharu or Naoko or even Rika, who had seemed the most frighteningly grown-up of all of them. Her own maturity was different. And now that she was sixteen, she felt it all the more keenly.
"Going to name it Eriol?" Sakura teased.
Tomoyo just smiled mysteriously at her boyfriend, her eyes unreadable. "Nope," she answered, pretending to think it over carefully. "I think I'll name it Kissy Bear Flower Sparkle. I think that that's a much better name, don't you?"
He laughed good-naturedly. "Mmph. Just count your blessings that it's your birthday, so you're entitled to one free insult. And what about my present? Or are you so busy swooning over Kissy Bear Flower Sparkle that you forgot mine?"
He handed her a small red velvet box. "I hope you like it."
There was a short pause before everyone started speaking out at once.
"God, Eriol, she's only sixteen!" Yukito said in horror. "Yue's already delivering a lecture in my head about how irresponsible it is to expect her to elope with you and forget all her responsibilities just because you're free to do as you please and could you please make him stop? I don't see why I have to suffer because of your hormone-driven choices—"
"I think it's absurdly romantic," Nakuru interjected.
"So do I, but Tomoyo's only sixteen!" Sakura blurted out anxiously. "I mean, Yukito's right. Eriol, she's too young. And even if you are the reincarnation of a wait, I don't know how old he is well, God knows how old magician, biologically you're also sixteen. You're rushing into things. You should give it more time and—"
"Just remember that when the brat proposes to you, kaijuu," Touya told her matter-of-factly, shaking his head in obvious disapproval.
"I'M NOT A MONSTER!" she yelled at him, stomping on his foot. He let out a howl of pain. Ever since she'd taken to wearing heels, wedges, platforms and the like, Touya had been avoiding calling her a monster—but there were times when he forgot her footwear and just went ahead with his brotherly instincts. Unfortunately for him, she was wearing the two-inch heeled boots that Tomoyo had given her as a present last Christmas. "And Syaoran isn't a brat either," she added as an afterthought while Touya cursed, hopping up and down on one foot.
"I'm not proposing!" Eriol said loudly over their speculation and opinions, effectively shutting them up. "She's only sixteen, you said it for yourselves. Honestly. You people all jump to conclusions." Tomoyo opened the box slowly, revealing a ring with a silver musical note on it. ("It's still a ring and if those are diamonds, I think he's going too far," muttered Yue in Yukito's head—and they really were diamonds, not that Eriol couldn't spare the money anyway). "It's beautiful," she said as he slipped it on her finger—on the left ring finger, not the right, naturally; it wouldn't do for anyone to get the wrong impression. He kissed her hand while Sakura and Nakuru giggled. "Thanks, Eriol."
"Can't you thank a guy better than that?"
She kissed him quickly on the cheek. "Watch it," she warned him when he opened his mouth to speak again, knowing that he was about to say something improper. He shut up but still grinned at her. Syaoran shook his head and downed his drink, turning away from them. She was a good actress, he had to admit, and played the part of the dedicated, beautiful girlfriend very well.
"What was your most romantic moment ever together?" Nakuru was asking them, still oohing and ahhing over the ring on Tomoyo's finger.
"Hmm," Eriol said, tapping his chin with a thoughtful expression on his face as Nakuru grew starry-eyed just at the thought of it. "It was a gorgeous sunset, and the two of us stood facing each other on the cliff as the waves crashed below us. The salty spray barely reached us, and the smell of forget-me-nots hung heavily in the air while her hair blew gently towards me. It was the first time we realized that we were madly in love with each other, and I whispered ever so softly into her ear—"
"Yeah right," Tomoyo snorted dryly, cutting in. "That never happened. I think you've been reading too many trashy romance novels, Eriol."
"They are not trashy," he protested.
Syaoran slipped something into her pocket when the others weren't looking. She looked up at him questioningly. "Happy birthday," he whispered, smiling, and then produced another present "Open the other one later, all right? They don't know that I got you that extra one." She nodded and accepted the bigger package with slight puzzlement.
"Syaoran wouldn't show me what he bought you," complained Sakura. "It really isn't fair."
"We'll find out soon enough anyway," Tomoyo said, carefully untying the ribbon. "Oh!" she squeaked, touching the silky folds of lilac fabric. It was a traditional Chinese costume, layers upon layers of robes. She admired the delicate designs on them before turning back to him with gratitude in her eyes. "Thanks so much, Xiao Lang. I love it. I only wish that Meiling was here."
"She told me that the two of you have been talking over the phone a lot," he answered, wondering what the two girls chatted about. From what he gathered, she and Meiling spoke almost every night together. "And she said to say happy birthday and hopes that you received her gift."
"Yes, I did," she said, heat creeping up her cheeks. "But that's private."
Eriol raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"It's, uh, a diary. And I really don't want to show that to any of you, since she sent it to me last night and I've already been writing endlessly in it. So don't tease, Eriol, it's classified information," she said, frowning at him while still turning pink. "And stay out of my head. No mind-reading."
"Never," he promised.
"Good," she said, softening. "So I'm finally sixteen. I feel…"
"Old?" Kero suggested helpfully.
She just laughed and handed him another slice of her birthday cake (along with a napkin to wipe away the last of the crumbs on his face. "Yeah, actually," she said. "Listen, I'm going upstairs to call Meiling. You guys all just stay here a while, okay? I'll make it quick." She ventured a smile at Syaoran as she brushed past him and patted her pocket significantly. "Thank you," she whispered, her voice so soft that he could barely hear it.