Tomoyo took her waiver from her notebook and ran upstairs to
her Big Bro's room.She was about to knock when she noticed that
the door was slightly ajar.
Carefully and quietly,she peeked into his room.
He was in front of his desk,reading a thick dog-eared book,and he
was clearly absorbed on it.
She grinned wickedly and tiptoed quietly behind him.She suddenly
covered his eyes."Guess who!"
Eriol laughed."Queen Elizabeth,are you taking me home?"
Tomoyo uncovered his eyes and sat on his desk."Hi!What are
you reading?"
"A book of poetry.Our project for literature is to choose a
poem which we would report about orally."he explained.
"What time will you finish?"she asked eagerly.
"Tomorrow,perhaps"He reclined on his seat."I'm
still choosing which poem is the best."
Tomoyo grabbed the book and skimmed its pages."This one
looks interesting."She pointed to a poem."Is the poet a
jetsetter?"
"Somewhere I have never travelled."Eriol read aloud.He
chuckled."Not really.Here,let me read it aloud for
you."He took the book from her.
She wrinkled her nose distastefully."Bo-ring.Let's just play
hoops."
"Just one moment."He cleared his
throat."Listen.This is one of my favorite poems."
Somewhere I have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
In your most frail gestures are things which enclose me
or that which I cannot touch because they are too near.
Your slightest look easily will unclose me
though I have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
Touching skillfully,mysteriously her first rose.
Or if you wish be to close me,I and
my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully descending everywhere.
Nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the colour of its ountries
rendering death and forever with each breathing.
I do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of our eyes is deeper than all roses
Nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands.
Tomoyo could hear Eriol's voice breathing life in every word that
came out of his mouth while he was reciting the poem,especially
in the parts when he would look at her to check if she was still
listening.She could imagine him being the poet himself,dedicating
the poem to her.
She imagined herself dressed in a royal purple silk medeival gown
sitting in the balcony of a huge mansion surrounded by lots and
lots of blood red roses.Eriol was standing before her,dressed
in....tights?
Tomoyo shook her head.She couldn't think of a costume for her
prince right now,but whatever he was wearing,he was looking
spankingly good.
She continued her daydream.He was looking up at her,and he
bowed."Good evening,my lady."
"Good evening,my lord."she greeted.
He looked up once again."I came out to voice out my solemn
avowals of my affection for you,my lady,and I shall say it
through a poem."
She giggled and cupped her face."Go on,my lord."
He gazed at her with heart-melting intensity."Kiddo."
She frowned.That didn't sound romantic.
"Kiddo!"Eriol snapped his finger in front of her face.
"Yes,my lord?"she replied dreamily.
"Lord?"Eriol frowned.
She blinked and looked around.They weren't in a balcony
underneath the stars.Eriol wasn't her prince,and she wasn't a
princess.She blushed."Er-I mean,lord,I forgot about my
practice!"she stammered.
"I knew it.You weren't listening."he scolded.
"I was too!"she protested.
"Ok,so let's go play ball."he said,closing his book.
"I-I can manage all by myself."Suddenly she didn't feel
at ease to play one-on-one basketball with her Big bro.The words
PHYSICAL CONTACT were glaring in her mind like Hollywood neon
sign boards.
"I thought you disturbed me to play?"he
asked,completely puzzled.
"N-No,I-I.."She slipped her hand into her pocket and
tossed a piece of paper down his desk."M-My waiver for the
prom needs your signature as my guardian."
Eriol read the circular letter."I see.So your party will be
celebrated the whole day in the beach,and the dance will happen
that night at a small club by the sea."He took his fountain
pen and signed his name.
"T-Thanks."Tomoyo stuffed the note into her jeans and
hurried out of the room."C-Ciao!"
Eriol was puzzled by Tomoyo's behavior."Girls!"he
groaned.
Tomoyo dribbled the ball and took a shot.It barely reached the
net.
She couldn't concentrate on her game.Somehow,Eriol's deep
resonant voice reciting the lines kept coming back to her mind.
"Nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals the
power of your intense fragility."
Fragility.
She groaned.How foolish of her to imagine that the poem was about
her.The last word Noah Webster will use to call her personality
is fragility.
The words are better suited to REAL women.REAL ladies.Like her
best friend,Sakura and her deceased aunt,Nadeshiko.
Or Kaho Mizuki.
She ambled towards the ball.Why was she suddenly acting this
way?What's with her?
Why did she suddenly realize that her Big bro can look so suave
and manly in his neutral-colored shirt and trousers?
Why did she suddenly find his voice very romantic-sounding and
sexily husky?
Why was she suddenly not seeing her Big bro anymore?
In her eyes,the boy was Eriol Hiragizawa.
And good heavens,he was handsome.
"Oh god,what is happening to me?"She groaned."It
was only a poem!"
A poem,it is,she thought.A poem that lit the little embers of her
hero worship to him in her heart into something frighteningly
deeper.