"Tomoyo Captor Sakura"
by: Ren-chan

Part II: Prelude to a Picnic



Wai! Today Tomoyo, Shaoran, and Kero-chan are going to the park for a 
picnic with me! It's been awhile since all of us were together. Two 
weeks to be exact. Semester finals are finally over, so it's time to 
have some fun. It makes me really happy I get some time off to spend 
with my best friend and my boyfriend. But I can't help but feel Tomoyo
being upset about something. Something in her eyes tell me that's she's
sad. I asked once about it, but she said it was about school work. Odd,
she never seems to have a hard time with school. Whatever is bothering 
her she knows she can come to me. Hopefully today will cheer her up. 

Sonomi-san can cook really well. It seems she only does when I'm around.
I wonder why that is? Whenever I'm around she's overly happy to see me. 
It makes me glad she likes me. Though I still wonder what she has against
Father. I tried asking Touya, and he just gave me a weird look. I really
don't like it when people don't explain things to me. I know I'm a bit 
dense, but if they tried spelling it out for me I know I'll understand. 
I'm seventeen already. I'm not ten anymore. Sigh~ I'll ask him again 
later.

"Sakura-chan, did you enjoy breakfast?" Sonomi asks sweetly.

"Un!" I grin happily.

"Oh, I do hope you come back again, and maybe we'll-" One of the maids 
come in handing her a phone. Sonomi in her professional tone speaks into
the phone, hanging it up sadly. "I was about to ask if you'd like to join
Tomoyo and me to a weekend at the beach, but it looks like I some work
to handle instead. I'm sorry, Sakura-chan."

I shake my head. "It's alright. Maybe next week. I'd love to go with the
both of you for some weekend. I'm sure Father won't mind." I smile hoping
it would make her feel better.

The stars I could see in her eyes told me she felt more than better. 
"That would be great!" She rose from her chair and smiled. "I should be
going. Good bye, Tomoyo. Good bye, Sakura-chan. Come over again soon!"
She left the room as the maids began to clear the table.

"You go ahead upstairs and get Kero-chan ready," says Tomoyo,"I'll catch
up."

I happily skip up the stairs to Tomoyo-chan's room. Tomoyo-chan and 
Sonomi-san live in such a big mansion. I wonder if they ever get lonely
living in big place like this. And what about Tomoyo-chan's father? I've
never met him before. Now that I think of it... Neither Sonomi-san nor 
Tomoyo-chan has ever mentioned him really. I've never seen any pictures
of him. 

Finally I come to Tomoyo-chan's room. I open the door thinking about what
store we should go to first to but Shaoran's present. I wonder what he
would li-

"PAAANCAKES!!"

"Gyaaaahh!" Kero pops out of nowhere squishing his little forehead against
mine. He looks at me gravely, giving me a ghastly look. Hunched back, he
stares into my eyes hungrily, rubbing his little paws together.

"Wheeere's myy swweets Saaa-kuu-raa!" 

"Uh-uh-uh... um... K-Kero-chan... I-I.." I sweat furiously not knowing what
to do. He seriously freaks me out when he does this. 

"Here you go Kero-chan!" Tomoyo swings the door open with a tray of fresh 
fruit in yogart, croissants, a jar of strawberry jelly, and banana pancakes
topped with warm maple syrup. Carefully she places it in the table in the
center of the room. She looks at me warmly then amusingly at Kero-chan.
"Sorry I took so long. I had to warm up the syrup a bit."

"Ii-taaa-daa-kii-maa-suuuu!!" Kero-chan insanely happy flies to the tray of
sweet breakfast food muttering 'Wai! Wai!' in between bites. I sweat drop as
I watch him devour the food, his belly growing bigger and rounder with each
bite he takes. "Arigatou, Tomoyo!"

I slump to the soft carpeted floor breathing heavily in relief. I look up to 
see Tomoyo-chan offering her hand to help me up. I take her hand, such a soft 
and gentle touch, feeling warm inside. Did I ever feel like this before when 
I held her hand? I gaze to into her eyes, a sweet melancholy shimmers in her
delicate violet eyes. "Tomoyo-chan..," I say barely above a whisper.

"Are you ok, Sarkura-chan?" Tomoyo asks in a worried tone. I shake my head.

"Yes, I'm alright. Thanks for saving me." 

"No problem. Anything for you, Sakura-chan." She smiles again, eyes looking 
like slits, barely seeing her eyes. "I have out picnic basket ready. Shall
we go?"

"Un!" I nod to her. I look at Kero-chan who now has an enormous round belly
that could make Santa himself be jealous. I glare disapprovingly to my glutton
guardian beast. Grabbing him abruptly by his back I plop him into my backpack.
"Geez, Kero-chan! All you do nowadays is eat and snack! What kind of guardian
beast are you getting out of shape like that!?"

He didn't hear a word I said. He keeps muffling 'Wai! Wai!' in my bag. I let 
out a sigh and put on it on. He's utterly hopeless. Tomoyo-chan and I walk out
of the room and out the front door towards her limo. Her bodyguards bow to 
greet us hello, and we bow back. They sure are intimidating. I've always felt 
awkward around them, even until now. I guess I'll never get used to them.

"I'm sorry we had to take the limo," Tomoyo says. "I know you like riding in 
my moped with me. But it isn't working well, so it's in the repair shop."

I shake my head. "It's alright." I stop and wonder for a moment. "Why's your
moped in the shop?" I tense up, squeezing my hands. "Did something happen?"

Tomoyo turns to look out the window. Not quite able to meet my gaze. Her long
bangs slightly mask her face. "I've been having some trouble with the engine.
It's been making some weird noises." She turns to me smiling. "I'm sure it's
nothing. So don't worry about it."

I nod slowly. Part of me doesn't quite believe it. But Tomoyo-chan would never
lie to me. The limo comes to a slow stop and pulls over to the curb. Finally,
we arrive in the commercial district. The bodyguard with the real long hair
opens the door and we step out. We bow good bye to them and go on our way. Hand
in hand we go through the streets looking around the various stores looking for
a good place to look for a present. After a bit of window shopping and browsing
through some clothes stores, Tomoyo stops and looks up at the sign of a store. 

"Premiere Chocolates." 

"Li-kun likes chocolates doesn't he?" I nod to her. We look at the window and 
see many types of boxed chocolates, wrapped chocolates, and chocolates shaped 
like animals and people. There is also a display of stuffed animals holding a 
box of chocolate. Tomoyo-chan nudges me. "Maybe we can get those import choco-
lates he like. Maybe they come with something special like those stuffed animals
over there."

I nod enthusiastically. "That'd be a great idea!" We enter the store looking at
various chocolates. We look at the shelves with import chocolates looking for 
the brand and flavor Shaoran likes. I take a step back-

"Oi, watch where you're going." 

I accidentally bumped into someone behind me. "Go-gomen na-" I look back to a-
pologized to see who I bumped into. "Onii-san!!"

"Well, well. If it isn't Kaijuu," he says with a smirk. "Monsters shouldn't be
let loose in a quiet town like this. See you just bumped into me almost dropp-
ing these newly made chocolates. Trying to cause a ruckus, huh? Heh heh."

"KAIJUU-JANAI WA!!" I raise my voice at him, annoyed. How dare he call me that
in public! I'm not a kid anymore! Why must he insist on calling me that!? GRR!!

"Oooh? Well, only monsters scream in a quiet little shop like this." I turn 
around and notice the other people in the shop staring at me. I flush bright red
and lower my voice. I notice onii-san smirking amusingly. 

"You just work everywhere don't you?? I swear it's like you're trying to keep an 
eye on me!" I realize what day it is and look at him oddly. "Don't you have a 
modeling job today?"

Touya nods his head. "It's later today." He turns his head noticing Tomoyo and 
gives her a small smile. Tomoyo smiles and bows back. "I have to work, Kaijuu. 
You better not eat out the store." He walks away smirking towards the counter, 
newly made chocolates in hand. I angrily glare at him, but stop when Tomoyo lays
on of her hands in my shoulder, calming me down. She always relaxes me.

"Look over there." I turn to where she pointed to. I stare in awe at the display 
towards the back of the store. "I think, Li-kun would like it. And it's also one
of his favorite brands of chocolate." I nod in agreement as we walk over to the
display.

Belgium chocolate pieces surround a beautifully crafted dagger in a carved and 
laminated wood box. Shaoran likes collecting swords and daggers. He practices 
everyday with his sword. We both stared at it admiringly. It's kinda rare to see
a dagger surrounding chocolates. One of the sales associates comes to us and look
at us kindly. "May I help you with something today, ladies?"

I nod my head. "Yes," I say to him, "how much is this chocolate set?" 

The young man nodded. "This is a rare collection. Only one thousand of these sets
were made. Each dagger was hand-made by some expert blacksmiths in Europe. I don't
everything about it. But I know the company wanted to try something new with sell-
ing their chocolates. I find it odd for them to be selling daggers with chocolate.
Doesn't make sense to me, but they're quite popular." The sales associate coughs.
"I'm sorry for rambling. This set costs nine thousand five hundred yen."

"Hoe!?" 

"I told you. It's a rare collection. This is one of the only places in Japan, in 
the world that sells it. We have only ten sets here. We already sold six of them.
I'm not sure if the last four will be here by the end of the week." He turns around
noticing another customer. "Excuse me, ladies. If you need help with anything, just
call me over." He walks away, leaving us to ponder about the set.

"It's really expensive Sakura-chan. Can you really afford it?"

"Actually I can. I saved up some money from when I used to model in the same place
as Touya. The thing is I worked for months to save that money..." 

Tomoyo pulled out her credit card. "I'll help pay for half. How about that?"

I look at my best friend wide-eyed and felt my cheeks faintly blush. "I couldn't.."

"It's quite alright," Tomoyo says dreamy eyed, "I have some old costume designs I 
never got you to try out. I re-did that prince costume design I made for you back
in grammer school. I also have a princess and other costume designs for you to try 
out." She starts to blush eyes filled with stars more bright than before. "Oh, 
Sakura-chan, you'd look so beautiful in those costumes!" She takes my hands in hers
staring happily into my eyes. "Please wear them! I could tape them you in them like
old times! I could use them to help my portfolio for art school. Maybe I could be a
theater costume designer. You'd do that for me won't you?"

I laugh nervously, sweating dropping more than this morning. So Tomoyo-chan still 
hasn't given up on me wearing those fancy designs. I really don't mind. I actually
feel kind of honored she'd let me take part in her artistic genius. Though, I do find
it a bit weird. Oh, well. I can't say no to her. I nod to her uncertainly, and she
sighs happily. She seems a little too happy, but at least she doesn't seem sad like
before. I'm glad I can make her smile. I don't think I'd be able to bear to see her
sad... or cry..

Tomoyo called over the sales associate and charged the set on her card. I thank her
repeatedly, and she says its ok. "I know you'll look wonderful when I tape you in my
costumes," she says enthusiastically. I sweat drop again, but quickly smile.. and 
faintly blush? I wonder why my cheeks gets so warm when...

"Oi, Kaijuu. What are you still doing here? Don't you have do some stomping somewhere?
Like maybe trash that Li punk's place?"

I turn around and glare at Touya. "I'm not a monster! And stop saying bad things about
Shaoran! He's a very nice guy! He's MY boyfriend!"

Onii-san narrows his eyes. "I don't like that punk. I suggest you find someone else."

"Don't tell me who to go out with! Shaoran is a gentleman and has always been there for
me!" I lower my voice. "Besides he helped me a lot when I captured the Clow Cards and
turned them to Sakura Cards! How can you not approve of him!?"

"Here you go, miss," says the sales associate as he hands the set to Tomoyo. "Thank you
very much. Have a nice day!"

Touya looks into the bag and gasps. "Why the hell are you buying that expensive thing!?"

"It's for Shaoran! Our anniversary is coming this week!"

"Over my dead body! I do not like that punk kid and how he treated you before! I don't
trust him!" Now he lowers his voice. "I think me and the little beast agree on that!"
A little muffled cry of agreement comes from my backpack.

"I don't care I love him! And you can't stop me from loving him! Why can't you just be 
happy for me? Why can't you see what a good guy he is!?" I'm nearly crying as I say 
this. Why can't onii-san be happy for me? For us?

Onii-san looks sadly at me. Oddly he looks sadly at Tomoyo-chan too. She shakes her head
and faintly smiles back at him. He shakes his head in defeat. "If he does anything to 
hurt you," his eyes narrow again, more serious, and voice grows deadly, "I swear I will
make that punk will PAY."

"Shaoran's a good guy, Onii-san. Please believe me.."

***

"Achoo!!" I rub my nose, sniffling. I decided to come to the park a little early. I sit
on the park bench listening to the birds chirp and trees rustle in the wind. I narrow my
eyes thinking about Sakura and Tomoyo. Sakura I trust. But what about Tomoyo? I know she
helped me confess my love for Sakura. Thanks to her, we're together. She also has lessen
her idolization towards her. I mean would a best friend make silly costumes for her to 
wear, taping her constantly, flattering her constantly and going dreamy eyed sometimes
to the point where she seems going orgasmic 'just' because they're best friends? Doesn't
that seem strange to go through all that, feel all that over your best friend? Maybe I'm
thinking too much. Could she really be in love with her? I mean it's not impossible. I 
liked Yukito-san... Now that I think of it, Sakura also was a bit "Haniyaaan" around 
Mizuki-sensei..

"Hmph!" I shake my head furiously at the thought. It was all because of our magical ties
with them. I cross my arms, closing my eyes feeling the wind mussing my hair. If one 
thing is for sure, Tomoyo-san and I look out for her happiness and well-being. She knows
we're happy together. She won't jeopordize her happiness.. Our happiness. At least, I 
don't think so. I hope not.

This week is our two year anniversary. I saved up a lot of money for this white gold
celestial bracelet. I hope she likes it. I can feel the box fitting snuggly in my breast
pocket of my denim jacket. Hopefully within the next four or five years I can save up for
an engagement ring. Sure it may seem a bit early for marriage, but I know for sure whom
I truly love. There's no other woman for me. I hope she'll except my proposal when I do.

Then it hits me. It's not going to be easy. There's her over-protective brother and that
damn stuffed animal. They won't let me marry her so easily. They still don't approve of 
me. What the hell!? I've been treating her like a princess! I helped her become the Card
Mistress! I really do love her! Why can't they see that!? Geez, buncha idiots. If I was
bad to her, Sakura woulda burned me with Firey or something. I'd never hurt her...

"Shaoran!"

I turn to see Sakura in the distance with Tomoyo. Both of them wave at me. It's best if
I don't think of it. I just want a great afternoon with the girl I love and the girl who
made our relationship possible.




Author's Ramble:

Hello! Hope you people understood whatever Japanese I used. I hope I used it right. ^_^;;
Well, it took me awhile but I finally kicked myself in the butt and wrote this down. In
art history class too! ^_^;; Also when I should be drawing storyboards for my narrative 
class! Sigh.. when will I get my priorities straight??


insanelycutetomoyo@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/kanzikari/