Fruits Candy A Sakura and Tomoyo Story By G. P. Please send comments to treeandleaf2002@yahoo.com Note: All characters depicted herein are property of CLAMP. This work in no way is meant to infringe on those rights. This is story is part of a continuing series, though it can also be read alone. The previous stories in the series are: 1. Love is the Crooked Thing 2. First Date Gazing out the window, Sakura caught sight of the long, black Cadillac pulling up to the curb. With clipped, almost military motions, a female bodyguard dressed in a severe, slate-gray dress popped out and opened the back passenger door. Tomoyo emerged, dressed in a simple cobalt-blue dress, her gray-black hair in two long braids, tied at the ends with pink ribbons. Sakura felt her heart flutter at the sight, and blushed deeply. She was still adjusting to the notion of Tomoyo-chan as something more than her very best friend. Like a double thunderclap, Tomoyo's love for her, and her own love for Tomoyo, had come as explosive revelations, one after another. She still felt deafened by the shock, a bit confused and disoriented. In some ways, nothing had changed. Tomoyo especially seemed as she always had: bright, cheerful, kind, and helpful. But Sakura was sometimes uneasy in her presence in a way she had never felt before. Sometimes, sitting by her in class or at lunch, she felt buffeted by a strange whorl of emotions. She knew now that those emotions had always been there, laying unrecognized in her heart, waiting. When she finally saw that Tomoyo liked her- like that, her own feelings were at last unfettered. As the leaves fell and the nights grew chill with winter, Sakura had struggled with the dilemma of how to love her best friend. Tomoyo stepped lightly up to the door, carrying a canvas bag with a picture of a French flag on the side. Sakura sprang to the door, opening it as she approached. "Konichiwa, Tomoyo-chan!" "Konichiwa, Sakura-chan!" She took Sakura by the hand and smiled, "Thank you for inviting me to your house." "No, thank you for coming. My father is at a Conference for the weekend and won't be here, so I wanted to make a special dessert for oniichan tonight. You're just so much better at it than me." Tomoyo looked aghast, "But Sakura-chan, you make beautiful things. The cake you baked for your father was wonderful". "All the same, I'm glad you're here. Would you like some tea?" "Oh, yes, thank you. Shall I help?" Sakura smiled, nodded, and went to boil the water as Tomoyo gathered up the cups and napkins. It was just like her. She was helpful and considerate in such a natural way that you were sometimes unaware of what a gracious friend she was. Sakura broke the silence, "How is your Mother?" "Oh, she is very well, thank you. She was talking about you the other day". Sakura tilted her head quizzically. Tomoyo smiled, and continued, "I showed her the videotape of your race from the school festival. She watched it so many times that I had to make a copy for her before the tape wore out." Tomoyo suppressed what seemed to be a giggle, "She said you have great potential as a runner, but will need work on your technique. She said your father should teach you, but if he is too busy she would be happy to coach you." At the prospect of running like Sonomi, Sakura brightened visibly. Almost leaping from her chair, her eyes glistening at the prospect, she blurted out, "Really? That is so nice of her! I would love to run like that!" Tomoyo touched her cheek with her hand and gazed adoringly at her friend. In physical activity, in track and gymnastics and swimming, Sakura was like some beautiful, feline animal, coiled power exploding with easy grace. No wonder she made such an exquisite Card Captor! Sakura caught the pale girl's look and blushed. Tomoyo was so....eccentric. Even knowing they were now more than best friends, her adoration still stirred a strange mix of feelings: embarrassment, shyness, and a delightful sense of being utterly loved. Sakura put her hand behind the back of her head and laughed in an odd voice, "Ha-ha-ha, um, should we begin the dessert?" Tomoyo nodded, all smiles, and began to open the large canvas bag. Sakura watched, her curiosity aflame. First out of the mysterious bag was....the video camera. She felt the welling of a sweat drop. Tomoyo laughed and said, " To film with, and to help you study your technique". Sakura groaned at the prospect of her culinary clumsiness captured for all eternity. She watched as Tomoyo next brought out a small white bag and a set of little silver cones. Handling them with respectful care she said, "This is a piping bag, and these are the nozzles. With a delicate finger she pointed to a cone with a slim, tapering opening, and spoke in a hushed, reverent tone, "This is a Saint Honore nozzle. Saint Honore is the Special Saint of Pastry Chefs. The dessert we are making was done in his honor." Then, she took out a small candy thermometer, a pastry mixer, and a strange, wicked looking whisk, whose rounded ends had been clipped off. Looking at Sakura, she asked solemnly, "Do you have the other ingredients I asked for?" "Yes, ummmm", Sakura's voice trailed off as she scrambled into the kitchen, then rushed back in with the list, reading it breathlessly while Tomoyo closed her eyes and listened, "Flour, eggs, sugar, butter, milk, heavy cream, powdered sugar, superfine sugar, gelatin, cornstarch?" Tomoyo nodded, opened her eyes, and smiled, "Shall we begin, Sakura-chan?" Vigorously nodding, Sakura followed her friend into the kitchen. With a sinking feeling, she saw the dark-haired girl merrily setting up a tripod in a corner. The red light showed the camera was on, ready to follow her every blunder. At least it was something only Tomoyo would see, and, thankfully, there were no costumes. The girls tied on matching aprons and began, Tomoyo directing and Sakura doing her best to follow. "We'll start with the Pate Sucre", Tomoyo sang out. She set the pattern by showing Sakura how to do it, and then watching, encouraging, and helping her friend along. Sakura took pride in the dishes she could cook, but desserts, especially fancy ones, baffled her. Watching Tomoyo in the kitchen, she felt a sweet heartache. There was a perfect precision in her movements as she sifted and rolled and mixed and whisked. Like a ballerina, she whirled and dipped and spun her own special magic. Tomoyo had no sense for the magic of the Clow Cards, but here, she was the Mistress, the cooking tools her Cards. Lightly dusted in the fine, white pastry flour, she looked like an angel: calm, watchful, and glowingly beautiful. Sakura lightly placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, as if to assure herself that this was indeed her friend, and not some celestial visitor. Tomoyo glanced up and smiled, placing her hand on Sakura's own, then slowly pulling away, their fingers lightly interlacing for the briefest second. Sakura caught her breath and swallowed hard, a crimson blush tickling her neck and ears. But Tomoyo was back to her choux paste, mixing the egg into the crumbly dough. Sakura shook her head and tried to remember Tomoyo's directions. Peering into the oven as the round base baked to a golden sheen, she asked in a puzzled voice,, "Tomoyo-chan, how can you be sure you can make it rise?" Tomoyo turned with a puzzled look and answered, "I'm sorry, I don't understand". "The pastry base we made...how do we make it rise?" Tomoyo laughed quietly and regarded her friend with thoughtful eyes," We can't do anything to make it rise. It has to want to do it itself". Sakura stared back, blinking in quiet incomprehension. The pale girl joined her at the window of the oven, "It's just like flowers, or paintings, or sewing. You can't make it do anything. You can only be there for it, to help it be what is wants to be." She tilted her head, and smiled. Sakura looked at her friend in slow realization of what she meant. Tomoyo was so gentle, she would never force anything, be it pastry or painting or costume. Or even, she thought with a start, her love. Tomoyo had loved her for so long and never spoken, lest Sakura be burdened or troubled. She had never tried to control their friendship to her advantage, even going so far as to encourage Sakura's crush on Yukito-san, and her tentative feelings for Li-kun. Tomoyo had been ready to sacrifice her own happiness to ensure Sakura's own. The auburn-haired girl felt a shiver as she blinked back the tears. Tomoyo gazed at the shimmering emerald eyes and felt her own heart racing. Sakura lunged at her, staggering her back, hugging her tightly. Tomoyo closed her eyes, feeling the trembling form in her arms. Had all her hopes and dreams and prayers come true it could not have brought a sweeter moment than this. Sakura's love washed over her like an ocean wave, knocking her off her feet, swirling and eddying in every corner of her being. She smoothed the red-auburn hair, straightening a ribbon with nimble fingers. Sakura drew back slowly, smiling, blushing, looking dazed and slightly embarrassed. Tomoyo smiled at the white flour that now powdered the girl's cheek. She reached out her hand, tenderly wiping away the flour and the tears. She rested her palm on Sakura's cheek, and then lightly caressed the soft skin with her fingertips. "I love you, Sakura-chan". Sakura gently enfolded the hand in her own and squeezed tightly. "I love you too, Tomoyo". Hands clasped, both girls stood transfixed until Tomoyo wrinkled her nose and exclaimed, "The pastry base!" As if choreographed, the two twirled about and saw gray smoke billowing from the oven. Quickly donning silver oven mitts, Tomoyo opened the door and removed the baking sheet. Coughing in the smoke, Sakura stared at the blackened circle. With a disconsolate look, Tomoyo murmured, "I ruined it". Sakura looked sadly at her friend, then suddenly brightened. "We didn't ruin it. It wanted to burn!" Tomoyo looked up, smiled, and suddenly began to laugh. Sakura looked on in surprise, and then started laughing, too. Neither had laughed so hard in a very long time. Gasping for air in the still-smoky kitchen, Sakura blurted out, "We...we better..hee...start another one, hee hee...before oniichan gets back...hee..." Tomoyo, still giggling, nodded, and the two began again. After the surprisingly delicious noodle dinner, Touya watched Sakura and Tomoyo disappear into the kitchen. The two had seemed inseparable of late, and he was glad. He liked the pale, dark-haired girl, sensing her intense devotion to his sister. He thought to call out and ask if Tomoyo had actually cooked the meal, since it was so good, but he smiled to himself and kept quiet. After several minutes the two girls returned, each carrying one side of a large serving plate. They placed the magnificent Saint Honore Pastry on the table before him and shouted, "Happy Birthday!" From his job at the bistro he knew it was a complex dessert that only the boldest chefs would attempt. The carmel-dipped buns ringed a lake of layered, criss-crossed Crème Chibouste, deftly executed to look like ripples on the water. In place of the normal spun sugar ball on top sat two delicate pastry swans, gracefully arching necks entwined like lovers. Enclosing them was a sparkling, bowl-shaped cage of golden carmel. Amazed that they could create such a work, he glanced up at them. Like two swans, the girls nestled together, hand in hand, expectantly awaiting his reaction. He smiled, and understood. "It's beautiful." And it was.