Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Heaven's Gates ❯ Discoveries Made ( Chapter 3 )

"Eriol-sama-a-a-a-a, make Suppi-chan come down from the ceiling! He's in the chandelier again…"

"Please don't call me Eriol-sama."

"And don't call me Suppi-chan."

Brief pause.

"But Eriol-sama-a-a-a…"

At first, Tomoyo thought the Voice wailing piteously was part of the dream she'd been having, though in retrospect she couldn't recall what she was dreaming in the first place. Soon, however, she realized the Voice was filtering through the floor, muffled by the thick carpeting. After another moment, during which she groggily registered that she was in a creamy-yellow canopy bed in a room painted a soothing pastel green, she heard the other voices again.

"Master, please make that monster stop that abominable screeching."

"Very well. Ruby Moon, lower your voice."

"What?" There was indignation in the reply. "I ask for your help, and you ignore me. Suppi asks..."

"Don't call me Suppi."

"...and you practically leap to his defense. It's favoritism, you discrimination, prejudiced tyrant! Simple bias, I tell you!"

"Ruby Moon…" There was amused exasperation in the man's tone. "May I remind you that not only have you been irritating Spinel all morning, and have called me `Eriol-sama' four times despite my repeated injunctions, we have a guest in the house, whom you have probably awoken with your yelling."

There was another distinct pause as the Voice, which Tomoyo deduced to be Ruby Moon's, considered these points. Then, a bright squeal.

"Tomoyo's awake? I'll go get her!"

And before Eriol or Spinel could say another word, Tomoyo heard Ruby Moon noisily exit the room, clatter up the stairs, tear down the hallway, and throw open the door to Tomoyo's bedroom.

"GOOD MORNING, TOMOYO-CHAN!"

Tomoyo blinked twice at the entrance. "Ah…hello, Ruby M..." She stopped, her head rearing back. The magical creature had crossed the room in those two blinks of an eye, and had bent over the woman in the bed, so her nose was practically touching Tomoyo's.

"Sleep good?"

"Um…" Trying to process how Ruby Moon had apparently teleported across the spacious bedroom, Tomoyo smiled weakly. "Yes, I..."

"Feel better?"

"I...yes, that's..."

"Headache gone?"

"Oh…it's..."

"Hungry at all?"

"I'm..."

"Come on downstairs, we've got all sorts of good stuff to eat, and some stuff that's not so good to eat, but you don't have to eat those things if you don't want to, which I never do." Somehow Ruby Moon had dragged Tomoyo out of bed, handed her a blue flannel robe that was too big for her, and herded her out of the room, talking a million miles an hour as she practically steamrolled over anything Tomoyo said. She was now leading her down the hallway and toward a flight of stairs. "Lessee…we've got waffles, pancakes, crepes, bagels, cereal, oatmeal...which is one of those not-so-good things to eat I wouldn't recommend to you unless you really like oatmeal...and I think muffins, yeah, we bought some last week so we should still have a couple, doughnuts...especially chocolate-covered, my favorite...toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, um, tea...Earl Grey, though, not green like they have in Japan...orange juice, apple juice, milk, and best of all, strawberry Pop Tarts!"

She suddenly paused, her hand gripping Tomoyo's wrist, halfway down the stairs, and just studied Tomoyo silently.

This scrutiny went on for nearly thirty seconds before Tomoyo began to feel vaguely embarrassed. "Um...Ruby Moon-san?"

"Well, gosh. You're pretty, aren't you?" Ruby Moon clucked her tongue, staring at the woman in front of her. "No…no, you were pretty as a kid. Now you're gorgeous."

Tomoyo's brain seemed frozen. She couldn't keep up with Ruby Moon, and was still caught somewhere back at the comment on chocolate-covered doughnuts. When she registered the magical creature's words, she pinked slightly.

"Oh. Um. Thank you, Ruby Moon-san. I appreciate your graciousness…"

Ruby Moon wrinkled her nose. "Ick. You make me sound so…old. No formalities between us, okay, Tomoyo-chan? Please?"

"I..." Seeing the plea in Ruby Moon's eyes, Tomoyo felt her heart sigh. "It's fine with me. What do I call you, then? Nakuru-san?"

Nakuru rolled her eyes. "Still formal, but better. Eriol just calls me Nakuru, or Ruby Moon. I don't see why you shouldn't."

"But..."

"Come on, Tomoyo-chan. We're friends, aren't we?"

And it was that simple. Tomoyo felt the smile bloom across her lips. "Yes, Nakuru. We're friends." And she reached out to take Nakuru's hand in hers. Nakuru grinned at her.

Eriol watched them from the bottom of the stairs. He felt his heart sigh querulously when Tomoyo smiled at Nakuru like that, like a child discovering she was getting an early birthday present. And when she joined hands with his creation, standing on his staircase, wearing his robe, looking so right, looking like she belonged here with him and his family…his heart stumbled.

He frowned slightly at himself, as Nakuru said something else to Tomoyo. What am I doing? he wondered. He couldn't be falling in love with the best friend of his other self's daughter. That made Tomoyo practically his daughter…or, no, not actually. More like a cousin.

He heard her laughter drifting down the staircase. Okay…a distant cousin.

Then she turned and saw him. Locked those dazzling amethyst eyes on his.

Really, really distant cousin.

"Oh! Eriol-san! Good morning." She seemed to remember her slightly bed-rumpled appearance, and blushed prettily.

Four or five times removed. Hardly counts, really.

And she smiled at him.

And his heart tripped, and fell with a splat. He knew he'd never regain his balance.

He smiled back at her, slowly, considering…calculating.

"Good morning…Tomoyo-san."

* * *

Uh-oh, though Nakuru, immediately tuning into the tone of her master's voice, the sly smile on his lips as he looked at the woman standing beside her. She went on full alert when she saw the soft, adoring sparkle in his eyes. Double uh-oh.

"Did you sleep well?" Eriol was asking Tomoyo, who nodded.

"Yes. Thank you for…for being so hospitable. I very much appreciate it, Eriol-san." She was fighting the blush, Nakuru sensed, and trying not to fidget with the tie on the robe. Belatedly, Nakuru realized the robe was Eriol's, which probably accounted for part of the amusement in his eyes.

"My pleasure, Tomoyo-san. Believe me, it was my pleasure."

Nakuru narrowed her eyes at him. She recognized that listen-to-me-I'm-so-charming-and-gallant-and-incidentally-completely-innoce nt tone of voice.

Apparently, so did Tomoyo, for she frowned briefly, then smiled again. "Ah, please excuse my behavior of yesterday. I was tired, and very irascible, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you that way. And..." She remembered she'd cried in his car, and blushed again. "And thank you for putting up with my mood swings," she finished.

He positively beamed at her. "Absolutely. Anytime you need someone to take out your mood swings on, let me know."

She laughed, relieved. Somehow, everything was all right again.

"Oh, and just to let you know, it wasn't yesterday."

Tomoyo blinked. "What?"

"It was the day before yesterday. You slept all of yesterday, Tomoyo-san." He watched her process this, saw her eyes widen in shock.

"But...I can't...I wouldn't have..."

"You were, I believe, quite exhausted. I let you sleep and tried not to let Nakuru disturb you."

"Why is everything my fault?" Nakuru wondered aloud, and Eriol laughed at her. Tomoyo was still trying to deal with the fact that she'd slept an entire day.

"That must mean...that would mean I've..."

"Got to be starving," Nakuru finished for her, and proceeded to drag her the rest of the way down the stairs. "What do you want? We've got..."

"I believe you've already given her the list of breakfast foods we have to offer," Eriol interrupted, his eyes dancing.

Nakuru paused. "Oh yeah. So, Tomoyo, what'll it be?" She hauled Tomoyo into the dining room.

Eriol waited until they'd disappeared before heading for his study. He had a phone call to make.

* * *

"So she's awake, then?" Xaio-Lang exhaled loudly. "That's good. That's great. And she's okay?"

Eriol smiled in amusement at his cute little relative's concern for his friend. "You make it sound as if she's recovering from a heart attack, Xiao-Lang." They were speaking Cantonese, so as not to arouse Sakura-chan's suspicions. She was, Xaio-Lang had reported, in the kitchen nearby, and he was having to refer to Tomoyo as `she' or `her' so that Sakura wouldn't clue in and come running at the mention of Tomoyo's name. She'd been worried that Tomoyo hadn't yet made it to Eriol's house, and Xaio-Lang wanted to wait until Tomoyo had been there maybe a few days more before letting her talk to Sakura, so as to ease Tomoyo's wrath that her own vacation had been planned for her.

"Shut up," grumbled the Li clan head. "Anyway, you're looking out for her, right? You're watching over her?"

Eriol paused, contemplating his discovery of his feelings for the woman they were discussing. "Yes," he replied casually. "I'm watching her."

There was a pause on Xiao-Lang's end, and then the Li hissed, "Damn it. Damn it all to hell. You bastard."

Eriol blinked. "What? What is it?"

"Don't play innocent. You stupid moron. Idiot. What the hell is wrong with you?"

Eriol was trying to figure out what he'd said to rouse Xaio-Lang's ire when Sakura-chan's voice drifted over the line.

"Syaoran? Is something wrong? Who are you talking to?"

Xaio-Lang hurriedly replied, in Japanese, "Ah, no one important, Sakura. Don't worry. Everything's okay." To Eriol, in Cantonese, he went on in a menacing growl, "I swear before all the gods and magicks in this world, Hiiragizawa, if you lay a hand on her, I'm going to run you though with my sword. I don't care if you were Clow Reed or not, I'll kill you if you hurt Tomoyo."

"What? What?" Eriol was confused at the hostility in the Li's tone. "What are you talking about?" How had he figured out Eriol's feelings for Tomoyo so quickly? The clever, clever man…

"I mean it, Hiiragizawa. You do anything to hurt her, I'll make you pay. She's too important to me and Sakura for me to let you mess around with her like you did with that teacher."

Eriol stiffened, and his voice went cold. "I don't intend to `mess around' with Tomoyo at all, Xiao-Lang. And my relationship with Kaho is none of your business, though I'll assure you I'm not `messing around' with Kaho, either. We are merely friends now." And she worked in his ice cream parlor, but he didn't think the Li would appreciate the information. His voice softened. "I'm not going to hurt her, Syaoran-kun," he said in Japanese. "I'll probably irritate her, annoy her, but never hurt her. I love her."

The simple admission left the Li sighing in frustration. "You'd damn well better not, Hiiragizawa," he said in Japanese tersely, and hung up.

Eriol wasn't sure if he'd been referring to hurting Tomoyo or loving her.

* * *

Syaoran stared at the phone, feeling more frustrated than he had in weeks. Since Tomoyo had left, actually. What business did the stupid Englishman have, falling in love with Tomoyo? He'd better be careful, Syaoran though darkly, scowling, or...

"Syaoran?"

He jolted and spun around to face Sakura. "Uh...yeah?" Lame, Li. Real lame, he admonished himself, blushing red.

Sakura studied him quietly. "I don't speak Cantonese, but I heard the name Hiiragizawa a couple of times," she told him frankly. "And you said Tomoyo-chan's name once."

"I..." Am an idiot. "Uh, that was..."

"And I know the last time we spoke to her," Sakura went on, apparently oblivious to her boyfriend's fierce blush, "Tomoyo-chan was somewhere in northern Europe. Near England, where Eriol-kun lives."

"Ah…" Damn. "Um…"

"So I'm guessing Tomoyo-chan is staying with Eriol-kun now. And probably has been there for days, am I right?"

"Well…" What was the point, Syaoran thought wearily, when she would just guilt it out of him anyway later? "Yeah."

"I see. And why didn't you tell me?"

He tried for an ingratiating smile. "I wanted to give her time to settle in. Plus, you know, she's probably mad at you for making Hiiragizawa take her to his house. I don't want you two angry at each other over the stupid Englishman."

Sakura beamed at him, softened by his concern for her and her friend. He blew out a breath. "And there's a problem."

"Problem, Syaoran?"

"Yeah. Guess what? The bastard's in love with her."

Her eyes widened in surprise, then her lips curved in amusement. "Is he really? That's nice. Remind me not to tell Onii-chan. He's really protective of her, like you." She tilted her head. "I guess you threatened him?"

"Uh…yeah."

"I wish you hadn't hung up," she said wistfully. He blinked at her.

"Why?"

She grinned. "So I could have threatened him, too."

Syaoran paled, abruptly feeling very sorry for the Hiiragizawa bastard. Poor jerk. Once Sakura's brother and Tomoyo's mother found out, he'd catch it from all sides. And even though the thought of practicing his swordsmanship on Hiiragizawa made him feel pretty good, the unpleasant images that rose in his mind of what Sakura's brother and Tomoyo's mother would probably do to him were enough to make Syaoran pity the guy.

But he'd still better not hurt Tomoyo.

* * *

Eriol walked into the dining room and found it empty. Smirking to himself, he then walked toward the kitchen. Approaching the door, he heard the telltale shrieks and moans that signaled Ruby Moon tormenting Spinel Sun in the kitchen. But this time, he discovered, there was something more.

There was laughter. Tomoyo's laughter.

He pushed open the door...and backed up, trying not to breathe in flour. The air was choked with it, and Tomoyo, Nakuru, and Spinel were covered in it.

So was most of the kitchen.

He blinked as Tomoyo, doubled up with laughter, tried to dust herself off to no avail. Nakuru glowered at Spinel where he sat in a large mixing bowl, groaning in horror, and tossed another handful of flour at him.

"I can, too, make pancakes, Suppi."

"Don't call me Suppi."

"Let me...I should..." And Tomoyo dissolved into more laughter, clutching a chair for support.

They caught sight of Eriol, and froze.

He smiled broadly, stepping into the kitchen. "What's this? A snowball fight, and I wasn't invited?"

A slow smile spread across Nakuru's face, a grimace across Suppi's. As the flour began to fly, Eriol glanced at Tomoyo's bright smile, and felt more at home than he ever had in his life.