Disclaimer : I don't own CCS. CCS is owned by CLAMP.
Notes : Thank you for the reviews, critics, comments : in name only, 0000, ChEF purple burp, bshiningami, Annonymous Amethyst, asga, Nils, Midnight Ghost, Vhaa, mysticalphoenix-avalon, Property Of Eriol, CHeRRybLoSSom361, arisu rin, Malu Daidoji, Death101 – Fox Version, kingdomfantasyanime453, cheng, big dreamer girl, and im just me ..!! You guys make me feel that writing this fic is worth it!
Summary : Once upon a time, with a Cursed Man and the soon-to-be Cursed Woman. Set 9 years post CCS series.
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The Misfortunate Tale: Beauty and the Beast (Not)
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"But I really don't get it," she calmly tried to analyze. "It's like I'm suddenly cursed or something –"
Beside her, she could hear him laugh.
And his laugh…
It wasn't his usual charming or polite laugh. It was his… mischievous laugh.
And his sapphire eyes… twinkled almost maniacally.
His next words strengthened her belief that… she really hadn't been cautious this time.
"Perhaps you already are, Daidouji-san,"
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:: Chapter 2 : :
Tomoyo, Enchanted
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"What do you mean?" she questioned. She supposed she wasn't the type to straightforwardly demand on something like this. Usually, she would just easily take situations back into her own control, not emitting such obvious alarmed aura. But Tomoyo couldn't help it. There was something about this old friend of her, whom suddenly could bring out the insecurity inside of her. She didn't even know that she possessed such weak emotion until he somehow pointed out that there might be things that even a Daidouji could not control.
Hiiragizawa Eriol was even bold in looking back at her. His sapphire eyes challenged her and there was this tug of smirk on his lips. Tomoyo decided that she didn't like that kind of smirk, but she had no intention to be impolite so early in their meeting. After seconds of observing her, Eriol darted his look around and spoke, "Surely we can discuss it more privately, can't we?"
Suppressing her curiosity, Tomoyo agreed and stood up, leading him upstairs. She managed to keep the smiles towards the guests and equally watched over the casual Hiiragizawa who was trailing her behind. The second floor was practically empty –all people filled the first floor. Opening a big door on the second floor that led to the outside balcony, she then stepped aside to let Eriol joined her to the outdoor balcony. And after making sure he was already on the balcony area, she closed the door.
Unlike her previously friendly gesture, she suddenly decided to be more cautious around this particular magician. Choosing to stand some feets away from Eriol, Tomoyo folded her arms in front of her chest and began, "So? What do you mean? What are you planning, Hiiragizawa-san?"
"Once upon a time –"
"Hiiragizawa-san," she cut him tiredly.
"I was getting into the explanation part," he smiled warningly, clearly displeased by her impatience. "Once upon a time, there lived the world's most powerful sorcerer in the world. His name was Clow Reed," he paused to get something from his pocket, and it appeared to be a pack of cigarette. Picking one, he then lit the cigar and smoked it.
Wincing in displeasure, she said, "I didn't know you smoke,"
He laughed politely. "Daidouji-san, not all part of my personal information is recorded in your computer,"
She decided to let go the topic of how he could know that she had the database of male acquaintance in her computer. When it came to magic and sorcery, she really didn't have much to debate. "Fine. Then, continue your explanations?"
Eriol nodded and gave a fake grateful smile to her. "This Clow Reed… although he is one of the wisest people in the planet, has, of course, been in his much younger and immature self. He was only 13 when she came to him for help,"
"She?"
"Her name remains unknown until this time, but the society around Clow recognized the woman as the Cursed Lady. Some said that she was a witch. The other added that she had been living for more than 300 years. Some said that she drank the blood of a virgin to help her remain young. The Town's Major at that time even let out the regulation to banish the woman off the society. But even with that, one day, this woman came to meet the young Clow,"
"…"
"Clow Reed did have magical power ever since he was born, but his wisdom… didn't come that easily. When he was young, Clow was actually very far from being wise,"
"Hard to believe,"
"People change," he reasoned. "And the reason that he started to change –the reason he started to gain his wisdom, was that woman,"
"What did she do?"
"Knowing that Clow had a magical power, she came to him, asking him to cure the disease she had been carrying. It was quite sad for the woman actually, she could curse, but she could never heal her own curse. Clow should have had his mercy on her. But immature he had been, he refused to help because he feared that touching that lady would curse him back. That woman begged, but he still refused, and left her," he smoked his cigar again before continuing, "Disappointed, she cursed him,"
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You, who think of other people as curse, will be gifted with the Curse itself. From now on, you'll become The Cursed.
You, who have yet no heart to love, will not be able to love an Eve you may love
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"…Not be able to love?" she wondered. "It doesn't really seem so. I mean, Clow Reed loves his guardians, he's able to love,"
"The meaning of the real curse is not literally that one. He may love, he fell in love, but he won't be able to show his affections, he won't be able to show gestures of love for the ones he loves. Note that the curse will only work on Eve – it only work on women,"
"Not be able to show his affections?"
"Meaning, he won't be able to kiss, to hug, to hold hands, to show any form of affections towards women," Eriol smiled. "Well, he can do all of those, but he won't. At least, he won't be able to do that to the one he really loves,"
"He can but he won't?" Tomoyo shrugged. "I don't get it,"
"The reason why he won't, is because whenever he touches women romantically, something bad will happen to the women,"
Tomoyo blinked and her mind worked quick to gather the whole information. "But that means –"
"Clow, of course, never truly felt the pain of having this curse. He never loves a woman in his lifetime. Well, he did, actually. But he wasn't really the type to show affections towards the ones he loved. And he never touches woman in any romance fondness. So the curse didn't make a great trouble to him,"
"Well… isn't that a good thing?"
Eriol chuckled. "Well, I couldn't exactly say that, since the Curse is actually inherited to Clow's reincarnated self,"
Apprehension hit her and she tried to sum the blatant information the Reincarnation had told her. "So… you're saying that now you're the cursed one? Is that the reason why…I got those 'bad lucks'? Because you touched me or… showed slight affectionate actions towards me?"
"Yes,"
"But you don't love me,"
Eriol snorted and added "I don't," in such an obvious stating tone that it embarrassed her to question it at the beginning.
"Then why? It only works on women you love, right?"
"No. The Curse work on any women I touch romantically. I don't have to love that woman. I may love her later, but that's mostly not the case,"
"It doesn't make any sense," She stared at him.
His blue eyes recognized the meaning of such stare. "You don't believe me,"
"I don't," she said as-the-matter-of-factly.
Eriol grinned. "Don't the existences of Clow Cards and Sakura Cards tell you that magical things truly do exist?"
"I do believe in magic. But the whole cards and the magic that involves around them are done in the past. Magic doesn't really have relations with our nowadays life, does it, Hiiragizawa-san?"
Something in her tone of voice concluded a hypothesis he had about her. "Ah. I know. You're just pissed off,"
"Me? Pissed off?" she laughed politely as if questioning his presumption.
He smoked one more time before replying, "You're pissed off that everything doesn't go according to the supposedly perfect plan,"
Even when she tried not to, she was truly at lost of words.
Her reaction pleased him. "I guessed right, didn't I?" he was done with his cigar and flicked his finger to make the remaining disappear magically.
Tomoyo laughed, no matter how hollow it sounded to anyone who heard. "No,"
"Yes,"
"No,"
"Yes,"
"I said No!!" Surprised at her own out-of-character yelp, she cleared her throat and added pleasantly. "Hiiragizawa-san,"
"What if I show you a proof then?" he said, suddenly lurking in front of her.
Their proximity didn't make her feel comfortable. "What proof?"
"The proof that I really am cursed. That when I romantically touch a woman, she would experience bad luck,"
"What do you mean with 'romantically touch', you –"
Her retort died instantly the moment his lips savored hers. His lips were cold, and tasted tobacco too, but the kiss was…knee-buckling. Hiiragizawa Eriol knew how to kiss a woman, and he knew how to do it perfectly. He was gentle, yet devilish too –a combination that somehow pleased her.
A slight tug of smirk that she felt on his lips quickly brought awareness to her current condition. Gaining her self-control back, she struggled and pushed the Hiiragizawa away. The guy only gracefully took a step back, and gazed at her with winning pride visible on those blue eyes.
And such stare (combined together with the still tingling effect of his kiss) made her body shivered. Realizing that she desperately needed something to hold on, her hand reached to lean on the balcony's rail. Her cheeks were both flushed red, and in the retort that had lost its fire, she spoke, "What the hell did you think you're doing?"
"Don't talk as if I've just done something terrible, Daidouji-san,"
Such easy, cheeky reply startled her. "But you did! You kissed me!"
"But you enjoyed it," he winked playfully.
"I-I didn't! I was just simply –"
She re-experienced the sensation she felt just moments ago when she tripped on the dance floor. The feeling of gravitation pulling her down was sending jitters throughout her body as she felt her body falling down and down…
Until he caught her.
"I was about to warn you not to lean on the balcony," he murmured –close enough that she wanted to jerk away from his hold. But she knew that if she had done so, she would have just stumbled backward and hit the ground. Hard.
He pulled her slim body until she stood still on her own legs. And after managing to calm her own adrenaline rush, she freed herself from his hold and dared herself to look behind her. Some part of the balcony's construction was broken –the wrecked stones were already down on the Daidouji's garden ground. Tomoyo peeked and didn't want to know what would happen to her body if she hadn't been pulled by the blue-eyed sorcerer.
Noises were heard from the balcony's door. She turned her attention back to discover that her bodyguards had come and demanded her safety. Count it on the Daidouji Bodyguards Squad to be extremely cautious and quick. "Are you alright, Miss? We heard the noise and fallen bricks on the ground!"
"I-I'm fine, really, I am. Hiiragizawa-san has helped me, I'm alright now,"
It took almost 5 whole minutes to make her bodyguards sure that their Heiress was really alright. And even when she managed to convince her safe well-being, she even needed extra time to persuade the bodyguards that the option of leaving her alone with Hiiragizawa Eriol would not be a threatening alarm. Well, she knew that it was a complete lie, but she needed to question the Sorcerer, and she was positive that he wouldn't spill any more information if her bodyguards remained there.
When those black-suited women finally left, Tomoyo turned to Eriol and murmured, "Thank you. The construction of the house must be old enough –"
"It's the curse," he commented casually.
She looked at him with doubt still lingered on her violet eyes. "It's not. It's just a mere coincidence,"
"Coincidence?" Eriol smirked. "You want another proof then, Daidouji-san?"
Knowing that there was no possible way she would let him 'take advantages' towards her anymore, Tomoyo suppressed her own argumentation. Defeated, she finally sighed and spoke, "Fine. It's the curse. I believe you now,"
"Good,"
"But there's still one thing I don't understand. How could we were alright back then in the 5th grade? I saw you kissed Sakura's hand and…did your other flattering to the rests of the girls, but they never got the bad lucks,"
"Clow received the curse when he was 13. The same age when I first got this curse. I was 11 when I kissed Sakura's hand and did the other rest things. This curse didn't have any effect back then,"
"The curse… " she trailed and something clicked on her mind. "That curse… is unfair. You were the one doing the bad deeds –I mean, Clow did, but you're his reincarnation. You should be the one to experience the bad lucks. You should be the one to feel the Curse, not the women y-you –"
"Daidouji-san," he cut her curtly. "Don't talk as if you understand the real pain of this Curse,"
She still didn't get the logic, but those icy eyes managed to calm her and prevented any other curious inquiries, besides… "Alright," Tomoyo said as crossing both arms in front of her chest. "So… what do you want now?"
"I'm here to help you be the best candidate as your date,"
Her eyes studied him and she deliberated. After several seconds passed, she announced, "I'm…grateful with your help today. My mother likes you a lot. And you're really kind to come back from London to help me, but…" she paused, feeling guilty for saying her next words, "I think it's wiser for both of us to cancel the agreement,"
"I refuse," his reply was instant "After all, I did came back from London solely to help you, and your mother does like me a lot, and you are grateful with my help today," he returned back her words as gazing at her with mischievous glints. "Why don't we just continue the deal then?"
"… Why are you doing this?"
"No reasons. I just want to help an old friend of mine,"
"No. You have other reasons to help me, right?" she questioned. "What, Hiiragizawa?"
His gaze penetrated inside, and she almost had the urge to look away from his stare.
"This curse…" he began. "…might have not meant a thing for Clow –like I said, he is not the type wanting to show his affection towards the woman he truly loves,"
"…"
"But I do,"
"… Mizuki-san,"
He nodded and let out a cynic chuckle. "And loving someone should never be a curse. I love her. I want to show my love for her –I want to touch her, but I… I can't. I know I'll only hurt her if I go along with my own selfish desire,"
"… So you want to hurt me instead?" Tomoyo asked, strangely with all wrath drained out. Perhaps she felt sympathy towards him, but she wasn't sure.
"I can think of a way so that we both gain the advantages,"
"How?"
"I will protect you," he stated.
And something about the way he spoke it brought tingling sensation towards her heart. Sighing (and cursing her own unstable heart), Tomoyo spoke again. "Do you have any idea how to remove the curse?"
His gaze was unreadable, but he finally answered, "Think of this curse as bitter pills inside a jar,"
Tomoyo raised her eyebrow at his choice of metaphor. But she followed nonetheless. "Alright, your curses are like bitter pills inside a jar. "
"Imagine that I have to get rid of those pills out of the jar. But I can not just simply throw them away, because that means the pills will still exist. And I also can not swallow the pills myself. So do you know what I have to do, Daidouji-san? I have to make other people swallow them. I can not always choose the different people. Sooner or later, I'll have to settle with one same person to swallow those pills for me. And that person would continue to swallow the pills until those pills gone from the world,"
Looking at him dryly, she replied, "So in short, if you keep on giving the bad lucks for one certain person, one day, the curse will slowly be gone?"
"It's more effective when I only 'hurt' one people,"
She eyed him in disbelief. She even gazed at him in more incredulous sight once the Sorcerer closed his eyes and chanted spells in language she couldn't comprehend. Then, she felt certain energy gathered on his palm, swirling until they finally faded and disappeared.
But on his palm was now an hourglass, with golden sand in it. The hourglass was a beautiful thing, with the antique craving and symbols, and foremost with those little granules of sand that… seemed to halt at the thinnest tube in the middle. There was only very little portion of sand on the bottom glass, while the rest of the sand –the unmoving one – was kept in the top glass.
Tomoyo tried to cover her mild interest while asking, "Was it stuck or something? The sand on the top glass didn't fall to the bottom one,"
"That's my dear, because this ain't ordinary hourglass," Eriol talked as shaking the hourglass as if to show her that normal mechanical movement wouldn't bulge the sand to fall down. "This is the symbolic form of the Curse itself. The Cursed Lady gave it to Clow and Clow inherited it to me. Only when all the sand in the top glass fall to the bottom glass, will I be freed from this curse,"
"And…" she paused before continuing. "The only way to make all those sand fall was by… giving bad lucks to other girl?"
"Precisely. When I romantically touch a random woman and she has bad lucks, a few granules will fall down. But when I'm tied to one certain woman who's willing to help me…" he paused to give encouraging gaze towards her. "The sand will fall down in bigger amount. Thus, it's more effective to choose one woman, to make the sands fall faster, then to just randomly choose any woman inconsistently and make the sands fall in smaller portion,"
She crossed her arms in front of her chest and began to quickly count. "When you were 13… that was around 7 or 8 years ago. It means you had 7 years approximately to erase the curse, and yet –"
"Well, it isn't like that, Daidouji-san," Eriol interrupted quickly. "7 years. But it took me a year to realize that I have this curse. 2 years to believe it. Another year to do the researches about this curse. And only around 3 years that I've tried to get rid of this curse,"
"'Only'? Imagine how many girls you have put into misery in such long 3 years –"
"And yet, I've dealt with this damned curse for 7 years. I'm the most miserable one," he challenged and she wondered why was it that he was persistent in being a champion of Who Suffered the Most. Just another reason to make her lose the previous image of Hiiragizawa Eriol. No more Guy, No more Mr. Gentleman.
There was moment of deep silence in which the two didn't speak any words. But after several minutes passed, Tomoyo exhaled a sigh. "You're using me," she finally said.
Having his attention back to the realm, he smiled devilishly at the Heiress. "Just as you were using me,"
"It's not same, Hiiragizawa-san," she retorted. "I did explain the fair details of my asking, and you agreed to help me. While you, you were helping me simply just because you have other thing in mind –to harm me,"
"Please don't say it that way. I never wish to harm you, Daidouji-san. Like I said, I will protect you. You are a dear old friend of mine –"
"And yet you want to sacrifice 'this dear old friend of yours',"
His patience was rubbed off. "I said, I will protect you. Accept this deal, Daidouji-san. You never need to have the worry nor care for pleasing your mother, and you'll still be in one piece –that I guarantee."
"Why don't you pick any other girl, Hiiragizawa-san?"
He laughed. "Already tried, Dearie. But the moment they realized I brought 'curse', they always dumped me for good,"
"Couldn't blame them now, could you? In fact, I'm beginning to think to do the same thing to you,"
"You wouldn't. I am a very good deal," he said, and strangely without sounding too cocky, as if he was just stating a mere fact.
Her conscience told her that (sadly, yes) he was stating the very true fact.
Tomoyo folded her arms in front of her chest and began to deliberate.
True, having Hiiragizawa Eriol was a very good deal to please her mother.
But good thing came with good price.
Would she risk her own safety just for him?
…
No.
"I'm sorry to say that I will need to refuse your offer, Hiiragizawa-san,"
Her rejection unknowingly had wounded his ego. But a proud man he was, never would he let it shown. "Perhaps you just need time to –"
"No, Hiiragizawa-san. I refuse,"
"You're probably just tired and –"
"No," she shook her head, and this time, her tone was final.
He glared at her.
She glared back.
Inhaling a deep breath, Tomoyo decided to change the topic. "But I admit that you really help me tonight. If there's anything I can do for you –anything, besides that curse-lifting request –, just say it,"
"…"
"Hiiragizawa-san, I do hope that our friendship is still –"
"Don't worry," he suddenly spoke, cutting her previous words. "You're still my dear, good friend, Daidouji-san. I do hope that you too still think of me that way,"
Her smile was slowly formed. "Of course,"
"Now, shouldn't we be going downstairs again? Your mother must have been worried about you,"
Nodding, she followed his suit, although she refused to see him in the face –both guilt and awkwardness made it harder for her to look at him.
Too bad, for she missed that confident, twisted smirk on his lips.
: : To Be Continued : :
Author's Notes : I'm somehow ready to accept flames for this chapter. *sigh. I'm sorry that I couldn't edit the whole messed up grammars. It's my own fault actually. My real life is very very hectic lately, I really didn't have much time for my fanficcing world. But I will try my best and I won't abandon this fic. Oh, and I'm sorry that I won't be able to update the 3rd chapter next week. But meanwhile, review, perhaps? Hehe.
Thanks for reading, folks!