Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Welcome to Delusion ❯ Chapter 1

Welcome to Delusion

Hiirgizawa Eriol could never occupy the same room as a group of women but that he would be the focal point of their attentions. This, Daidouji Tomoyo reflected, was a bit of a mixed blessing. On the one hand, Eriol was at his charming best with an audience of dreamily sighing women to regale with his embellished tales of the romantic and exotic. It gave Tomoyo an opportunity to observe him unimpeded, and for this she was grateful.

Eriol never told Tomoyo stories. He said-and she agreed-that she was much too intelligent to be taken in by such wiles, and when they talked, it was with the easy candor of those on the same mental plane. On the other hand, she could not help feeling faint stirrings of jealousy at how easily he entranced so many women, and slight annoyance at the ease with which he could choose any of them, should he feel so inclined. She watched, her gaze laden with bemusement and mild hostility, as he kissed the hand of one particularly pretty girl, emulating a gesture he averred they still practiced in the French court (the fact that there hasn't been a French court since the Revolution being conveniently forgotten by the girls-if they'd ever known it in the first place).

Eriol was, by nature, affably fascinating, with a devastating, enchanting winning-smile-twinkling-eyes combination. And Tomoyo could never be sure if she should resent this or cherish it.

She turned a mild glare on the pretty girl who seemed to be garnering an undue amount of attention from Eriol. The girl sent her a saccharine smile in return, and Tomoyo felt the petty compulsion to prove that she, Daidouji Tomoyo, still held the highest claim to him.

"Eriol-kun?" she said, quietly. Had he not been straining expectantly for the sound of her voice, he never would have heard it.

Immediately, he excused himself politely from his retinue, and came to sit beside her. Tomoyo permitted herself a small smirk. It went unnoticed by most, but Eriol saw it and exulted. Their fledgling romance was still at that point.

And so it was almost every morning. Everyone knew, of course, that Hiirgizawa Eriol and Daidouji Tomoyo would end up together. That's just the way it was.

-~*~-

Eriol patted his pockets absently, then checked his backpack again. He frowned, sighed, and went to stand in the cafeteria lunch line beside Tomoyo.

"Afternoon, Eriol-kun," she said, smiling ever so slightly.

He mumbled a greeting, blushing. Tomoyo did a double take. Eriol? Blushing! Indeed it was. The usually calm and collected magician, who hadn't even blinked when he suggested locking Sakura and Syaoran in a closet until they started necking out of pure frustration, was turning a mortified, bright magenta colour.

"Are you alright?" asked Tomoyo, all concern. Eriol nodded, turning ever redder.

"Ah… Tomoyo-san…"

"Hmm?"

"Can I… uh, ask you a question?"

"Too late. You just did."

"Ah… another one, then?"

Tomoyo frowned, worried. Usually Eriol was firmly in control of every conversation. He should never have fallen into a silly word trap like that.

"Are you quite sure you're alright?"

"Um, yes. Rather, oh… yes. It's just…"

"Well?"

He flushed to the roots of his dark blue hair, an interesting colour combination. "Er… Tomoyo-san…"

She swatted him lightly. "Just say it."

"I… can I touch you up, Tomoyo-san?"

She stiffened. "What?"

He repeated his request, and it was her turn to blush bright red.

"What, here?" she hissed.

He had the nerve to look around innocently. "Well, yes."

"You… you…" she mumbled, almost accusingly. "Want to touch me up…HERE?"

And he actually said; "can you think of a better place?"

-~*~-

It was seven o'clock that evening, and Tomoyo didn't even remember what excuse she'd used to get away immediately, and couldn't even begin to think about how she would explain why she had skipped the last two classes of the day.

Oh, by the Gods, he wanted to touch her up. He actually asked if he could feel her up in public! That was one step away from the … cough… full deal, real McCoy, ah, homerun… so to speak.

And he had actually ASKED her! In front of everyone…

… and what if she'd said yes?

Tomoyo paced frantically up and down the length of her large room.

He-she-they-but-

They weren't like that-

He couldn't mean-

-could he?

Yes, he could. She knew he could. She knew he was exactly the sort of snarky, smug, lovable bastard who would ask her that sort of question.

But-

They-

They weren't-but-

He was joking with her… he was trying to gauge her feelings for him. She knew that…

But, oh…

She couldn't- obviously-

She… couldn't…

But if she did?

Tomoyo smiled into the night. The answer, when it right came down to it, was fairly obvious.

-~*~-

"Tomoyo-chan? Tomoyo-chan, are you okay? Because you just disappeared from school yesterday and we are all so scared that you were sick and you're not sick are you only we all worried because you never skip ever ever ever and we hoped you were okay and you weren't taking calls."

Tomoyo giggled a little bit. That was Sakura; she never spoke with punctuation.

"Yes, thank you, I'm perfectly, wonderfully, alright. And if you'll excuse me, I have to speak to Hiirgizawa-san."

She went to her seat, and sat, half-turned, it in. Eriol smiled calmly at her, all vestiges of yesterday's ham-fistedness dissipated

"Good morning, Tomoyo-san."

"Good morning, Eriol-kun. Er… yesterday-"

"Oh, that. Yes. Naturally I did not mean to-"

She cut him off, stung by how detached his tone was.

"I meant-my answer… yes."

He seemed momentarily disconcerted. "What?"

"In response to your question yesterday… yes." Her voice, she was pleased to hear, had gained a little more confidence

He looked terribly amused. "Oh, that's quite alright," he said, dismissively, "I don't require to anymore."

And she almost lost her head.

-~*~-

Eriol was baffled by the way Tomoyo was acting. Even barring her sudden departure from school, she was behaving quite inconceivably. She had glared at him so angrily then, and ignored him so resolutely for the remainder of the day that he was begin to wonder… well, exactly what the problem was.

He had decided it behooved him to speak to her and he proposed to walk her home after school (to which she acquiesced with a look of utter utter confusion).

"Tomoyo-san, I must ask-is everything quite alright?"

She scowled at him and he was quite taken aback.

"Tomoyo-san?"

Her furious countenance was turned resolutely away from him, her lips pursed.

"Tomoyo?"

Nothing.

"Tomoyo?"

Still nothing.

"Tomo-chan?"

Her voice was dispassionate, soft and cold. "Shut up, you bastard."

How dare he toy with her like that and then address her so affectionately?

It was so unbelievably out of character for her. His mind reeled and he nearly stopped choked on his own tongue. Now he was sort of angry too.

"Tomoyo!" He caught her by the arm, and pulled her around to face him, shocked to see tears brimming in her eyes. "What have I done? What's doing on?"

She looked at him suspiciously, sniffling a little. "You really don't know?"

"Of course not! I would never deliberately do anything to hurt you!"

"Ah, yes… never deliberately. But you might do something you think is so awfully funny that hurts me?"

"Well… I… I think that if I was going to do something that stupid and horrible, I would at least have some idea that it might conceivably hurt you…I honestly don't in this case."

She stared up at the sky for a long moment, then said, wearily. "What about your question?"

"What question?"

"Eriol, please don't do this! The question that you asked me at lunch yesterday. Still don't get it? Let me quote, `Can I touch you up, Tomoyo-san?'."

"Look, I hardly see what there was to get upset about in that!"

"What?!"

"I mean, if it's just a question of money, I-"

She nearly hit him. "What the hell is wrong with you? I thought you were… I don't know… even if I hadn't thought you were nice or gentleman-y or anything, who says things like that? What exactly are you implying? And, and WHY? I mean, aren't we friends? Even if we weren't, how you do expect me to respond?"

She was getting increasingly hysterical and Eriol was getting increasingly scared. She was infuriated by this.

"You still don't get it? Let me spell it out for you, real slow. You asked if you can feel me up!" she fumed. "Which in itself would be kinda funny, a little cute. But then you said you didn't need to anymore! Then you offer to walk me home and then act all stupid and innocent and clueless and actually ask me whether I'm pissed off because, I don't know, because you think it's a question of money. And why the fuck are you smiling like that!?!"

"Tomoyo-chan, please, please let me explain!"

She glowered, he gulped and took that as an affirmative.

"In England, the phrase `to touch someone up' is a colloquialism. It means you want to borrow money from them. I had forgotten my lunch money yesterday, that's all. And I was a little embarrassed about it. I'm really sorry if I sent you really horrible mixed messages, and I ask you most humbly for forgiveness."

She stared at him as if he had grown an extra head, and for one apprehensive moment he really did fear for his life.

Then she plopped down on the curb, and buried her head in her hands.

"Oh, gods, Eriol. I'm so sorry," she moaned, tearfully. "I just… it seemed… oh, god." Her face was burning red, she knew.

He sat down beside her, and patted her awkwardly. "I know, it's my fault. I forgot it just doesn't mean the same thing in Japan. I'm sorry too."

"Shall we forgive each other, then?" she asked, dismally.

"Of course. Come on," he helped her up. "No harm done, right?"

She stood. "No… I guess not."

She rubbed her eyes, and straightened her skirt, and they walked the remaining distance to her house in dreadful awkward silence.

--

The next morning at school, Tomoyo waited uneasily for Eriol to arrive. When he did, he took his seat behind her and turned to her, smiling hopefully, as if something had been weighing on his mind.

"Tomoyo?"

"Yeah?"

"When you thought I was asking if I could feel you up?"

She pinkened. "Yeah?"

"Did you say yes?"

"Er---"

--finis--

Note: It is a British colloquialism. "Can I touch you up?" does (or did in a less perverted time) mean "Can I borrow some money?". If you've ever read PG Wodehouse, this phrase appears too many times to count. I do so love this story! Please review!