Correspondence [Card Captor Sakura; English]

[laurus-nobilis.livejournal.com]

Title: Correspondence
Rating: G
Genre: Genfic / humour
Characters: Eriol, Kaho and the Guardians
Pairings: Eriol/Kaho
Summary: A fluffy family moment with letters from Tomoeda.
Notes: Written for fairymage's Lyrics Fanfiction Challenge.

Correspondence

 

“Erioool! The post is here!”

“And all of Great Britain has just found out,” Spinel said, looking up from the book he was trying to read. “Do you need to be so loud?”

“You're boring,” Ruby told him, but thankfully she didn't start a fight. She contented herself with sticking out her tongue at him and then gave Eriol the letters that had arrived.

“Thank you, Ruby,” he said.

She turned to Spinel with a smug look, but he was focused on his book again. A little disappointed, she sat on the arm of her master's chair, pouting. Her expression changed very soon, however, when Kaho entered the room bringing tea and scones.

“Any letters for me?” she asked, sitting next to Eriol. He handed her two closed envelopes.

“One from your parents,” he replied, “and one for all of us from Sakura.”

“What about me?” Ruby intervened. “Did Touya write this time? He never answers!”

“Tsukishiro did,” Eriol told her, as he gave her the letter in question. “Ah, and this one is from Yamazaki.”

“Be careful when you reply. Try not to be too much of a bad influence on him,” Kaho teased him.

“I thought you of all people would be on my side,” he sighed, pretending to be hurt. “Besides, Yamazaki doesn't need any external influence, my dear. He can handle mischief very well on his own.”

“Exactly,” she said, nodding. “I'm sure that his friends don't appreciate your encouragement.”

“Yanagisawa might,” Eriol began to say, with a rather dangerous smile, when a loud squeal from Ruby startled them all.

“I can't believe it!” she exclaimed. “Look, Suppi, I have something to blackmail you!”

“What are you talking about now?” the small Guardian asked her. He didn't even raise his head, as if he didn't care about what she was going to tell him; but Eriol knew him well enough to notice that he had tensed. Ruby bounced down from the chair and grinned at him.

“Tsukishiro says that Kero beat your latest record at that online game of yours.”

“That is completely impossible!” Spinel huffed, looking up at last. “He doesn't have the brains or the skills –”

“He has a photograph,” she interrupted, waving it mercilessly in front of him.

He snatched it from her with his little paw. Eriol and Kaho leaned closer, too curious not to stare at it. The picture showed the computer screen with those dreadful numbers and Cerberus making a triumphant pose next to it. Spinel twitched.

“That's because he plays all day long! I have better things to do, anyway. Unlike other people, I cultivate my intellect,” he muttered, sitting up very straight. “I'll be upstairs.”

“On the computer?” Ruby asked in her most innocent tone. Eriol gave her a Look, but he was trying very hard not to laugh. If Spinel had heard her, then he was really good at pretending he hadn't.

A few precious moments of silence followed while everyone read their respective correspondence and had tea. It was Eriol who spoke first, after he neatly folded Yamazaki's letter and put it back into its envelope.

“He's already asking if we have plans for the summer,” he said, thoughtful. “I guess it's a little early to start thinking about this, but... what do you say? Would you like to go to Tomoeda for the holidays? I know Spinel would; he often complains that he left half the library untouched.”

“Yay! Of course I want to go!” Ruby cheered, throwing her arms around him. Kaho gave him a long look before she replied, as if she had just seen something in him that she hadn't noticed before.

“You really did like it there, didn't you?” she asked. “It wasn't just that you had to go.”

“I did. It was... familiar,” Eriol admitted. “Everywhere I went it seems I'd been there before. It wasn't because of Clow's memories, because most of those places didn't even exist when he lived there. I had just seen it all so many times already.”

“But you remembered your house,” she pointed out. He smiled softly at her.

“And Tsukimine Shrine.”

“Hey, guys, I'm still here,” Ruby interrupted them, pulling a face.

“You can't be upset about that,” Kaho laughed.

“I'm just warning you so you don't get any worse!” she said, waving her index finger. “You two can be too sappy even for my taste. I bet you could get Suppi drunk if you put your heart into it.”

“But we aren't going to try,” Eriol told her.

“Awww. You're no fun,” Ruby sighed. “I'll just go and write to Touya and Tsukishiro. I have to warn them that I'm going to visit them.”

“So they can run away?”

“Don't be mean, Eriol! Just because I like to play with Touya a little...”

“You have no reason to do that,” he said, tilting his head.

“Of course I do,” said Ruby, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “It's fun to annoy him. His face starts twitching and then Tsukishiro laughs at him,” she explained, already running up the stairs.

“You know,” Kaho said slowly, once she was gone, “she takes after you.”

Eriol didn't try to deny that.

Comments

[cheloya.livejournal.com]

*giggle* You did a great job of character interaction, particularly between the Guardians. Ruby's comment about annoying Touya at the end was really sweet, too. ^_^ Good job!