Get fresh batteries for my videocamera… check. They're the lithium batteries with cute stuffed bunnies as image mascots… check. Tomoyo crossed off the two sentences at the bottom of the list, leaving only one more thing for her to do before she could tear off the sheet of paper from her spiral spring notebook and stamp "Mission Accomplished. The Document Shall Self-destruct in Ten Seconds So As to Avoid This Reaching the Wrong Hands, Sakura-specific" all over it.

Her mauve eyes centered on the last to-do task in hand.

Convince EH to help; shall not take 'no' from him.

She smiled bleakly. Everything was set, and all she needed was the key element of her Plan—Eriol Hiiragizawa. The most important component of her masterpiece was also the trickiest wildcard.

Weighing matters in her mind, she had already imagined the scenario.

Her begging him to help. Him humming as he contemplated on whether he should waste his precious time of idleness to help create three hours of pure agony for his favorite descendant. And then him deciding that it wasn't a very nice thing to do for a lady like her so he would have to be obliged to call Li Syaoran up and inform the Chinese of her wicked intentions.

Alas, diplomacy wouldn't work in this given situation. The only way she could convince him to play his role was to take him by surprise. Which was why she was suddenly divinely inspired to pack her things up that very afternoon and just enlighten the Londoner of what they would do when she was already settled inside his mansion and it would be too late for him to give his classic Hiiragizawa wisecracks.

Yue watched her silently as she moved about the room busily. Sighing, he said, "This just better not hurt young master Clow Reed." He and Kero-chan had visited her in her bedroom that afternoon for their routine check-up on her. They found a busy woman in the room though, as she was busy doing a final check on the things she would bring with her on her unexpected visit to the Londoner's house.

Tomoyo managed to give the moon guardian a brief smile before she looked down again and placed her reserve stacks of blank videotapes in her bag. "Hiiragizawa-kun is not a defenseless little squirrel, Yue. And unlike his descendant, he's the type of person you can catch on camera doing his nails and still make you feel the one embarrassed."

Yue crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Speaking from experience?"

She zipped her bag close. "Yup," she said simply, the finality of her voice stating that she had no intention to impart what kind of experience was that.

Kero-chan emerged from the silky black curtain of her hair, frowning thoughtfully. "Are you sure you don't want us to come with you, Tomoyo?"

She feigned a look of annoyance on her face. "I'm nineteen years old, a capable adult, and I can find my way to Hiiragizawa-kun's house."

"But still…" Keroberos buried itself on her neck. "What will I do while you're not around, Tomoyo-chaaaan?"

"Try keeping quiet," suggested Yue. "You will find yourself busy doing what you hate most."

"I'm not even asking you, Yue," said Kero, rolling its eyes. "Besides, you have no idea how much I miss Sakura. After she had grown up, I felt like I lost not only my best friend, but also a part of me. You, on the other hand, have an alter-ego that still has a best friend. So don't--"

"Hey, hey!" Tomoyo raised both her hands to make the two break off their argument. "Kero-chan, you can go over those videos I recorded that contain footages of me, you, and Sakura-chan. I'm sure that can occupy your time until I get back here."

"I don't think so," said Keroberos sadly.

"Hmm, how about watching videos while eating those choco chip cookies I just made?" proposed the purple-eyed Tomoyo.

"Choco…chip…COOKIES?" The animal's eyes lit up. "Well, I guess I could handle some hours of lonesomeness."

The lunar guardian still looked skeptical. "From what I recall about Master Clow Reed, he wouldn't like that blackmail type of eleventh hour rush."

"He's not Clow Reed, Yue," she pointed out gently. "Dead people can't come back as their exact selves, and believe me, Hiiragizawa-kun is a world of difference apart from him."

"How do you know?" asked the winged man. "The way you refer to… the Clow reincarnation, you seem to know something more about him than you let on."

She merely smiled mysteriously before waving goodbye to her two friends.

…………………………………………………..

"Ohayou, Hiiragizawa-kun."

The Londoner who was standing outside the mansion he used to rent years ago pivoted to face her. And as always, an affable smile was affixed on his handsome face.

"Daidouji-san," he nodded with a smile that didn't reach his sapphire eyes. "It's been… what, three years?"

"Three and a half," she said quietly. "I heard from my mother's secretary that someone is renting the house again. I had a feeling that it would be you."

"So… this is another property that your family has acquired." Eriol scanned the manicured green lawns and well-maintained yards. "I didn't know this estate belonged to you."

"I asked my mother to buy it after you left." She looked at the mansion, and then back at him. "Sakura-chan thinks this house is too precious and filled with memories, and she hates the thought of handing this place over to other people who might desecrate your grounds."

He chuckled softly. "I detect sarcasm."

She chose to ignore him. "Akizuki-san and Spinel-chan are not with you?"

"I asked them to buy instant ramen. No one's heroic enough to delay bed rest and cook something that actually has a taste," he replied as he bent down to reach for the gate's lock. "Won't you come in for a while?"

"No, thank you," she said primly. "I only came to see for myself if it's really you."
He straightened. "Oh? And when had I suddenly become part of Miss Tomoyo's list of concerns?"

"Sakura-chan is quite fond of you, Hiiragizawa-kun." A nonchalant shrug from her. "She'll be happy to know that you came back." A pause, and then she asked, "Would your stay be for good?"

He smiled enigmatically. "Let's talk about it inside the house."

…………………………………………………………………

"I have just arrived from the airport and haven't bought anything edible yet, but I think that place must have water." He grinned at her as they entered the living room. "Would you like your water cold, ice-cold, tap, or heated?"

"No, thank you," she refused politely. "I'm on my way to my classes, and I only dropped by—"

"You have classes on a Sunday?"

She nodded. "I teach some kids about music during weekend mornings."

"Ah." His blue eyes softened. "That's a productive use of God-given talents."

For the first time in the whole conversation, she felt herself relax. "Thank you," she said, a sincere smile blossoming on her face.

He noticed it, but decided against commenting about it. Instead, he pleasantly opened another topic. "I heard you opened an online boutique."

"It's my thesis for my course," she explained. "I'm graduating next year, so I'm not sure if I'll still keep the store running after I finish my studies. It's not like it's making that much business."

"Great things have to start small somewhere," he encouraged her. "Sakura-chan shouldn't be the only person to have the privilege of wearing your fashion concepts."

"I guess," she replied, "but not a lot of people are brave enough to wear unusual clothing."

"People just dislike being set apart from the crowd," he remarked lightly. "They think that being different means being wrong."

And when she looked at him to give her own reply, she suddenly noticed that he meant more than what he said.

………………………………………………….

Tomoyo stopped in front of the black gates, near the spot where she first saw Eriol Hiiragizawa after he came back from England four years ago.

As she pushed one of the gates open, she couldn't help but feel nervousness course through her system. It had been quite some time since she last visited this place and yet, everything looked exactly as it had back then. Sure, some of the shrubs had grown larger already, others even standing as sturdier trees now, but mostly, everything was unchanged.

"Daidouji-san." The familiar male voice greeted her from behind. She turned to see Eriol hunched over the ground, hands protected by gloves. Gardening tools surrounded him, with a tray of seedlings not too far away from him.

"Whose body are you burying?" she asked, walking towards him.

"My latest victim," he said simply.

"Roses?" she read one of the labels of the seedlings.

"England's renowned emblem," he added as he carefully covered the seeds with a calculated layer of organic fertilizer. "I want to grow more, seeing as how enterprising lazy young lads had started to give daily bouquets to their sweethearts courtesy of my flowers."

"Go get a restraining order from the court," she suggested. "Or hire snipers that will guard your garden 24/7."

"I prefer the flowers to be stolen and given to a person the thief loves than have them wilt away inside a lonely prison," he replied smilingly. "I guess that's the idea why I planted more of these."

"You're one very bored man, aren't you, Hiiragizawa-kun?" she asked, shaking her head.

"On the contrary," he countered. He got up and dusted off his clothes. "It's you who got quite jaded with your fast-paced life and had decided to go see an old hermit instead."

"It's not just about boredom, Hiiragizawa-kun." As they both entered the house, she started to fill him in with the details of her birthday gift for his descendant.

"It's still about boredom, Daidouji-san," he chuckled when she finished explaining. "Or else you wouldn't even think of picking up an old video camera from your childhood days and coming here, demanding to be accommodated."

"Call it whatever you want, but I want my footage," she stated firmly.

"I don't suppose I have other choices?"

"Not on this instance, Hiiragizawa-kun."

This got the Londoner shaking his head, tsk-ing. "My cute little descendant must have done something horrendous to you for you to be this determined."

Uncertainty flickered in her lilac eyes before she clawed her composure back. "Do you still want to change your clothes, or should I shoot the video already?"

He gazed at her for a few moments, and then broke into another quiet laughter. "Shoot away, Daidouji-san."

……………………………..

to be continued