Author’s note: Konnichi wa^-^. This fic, Ever After, is not based on the movie Ever After. I liked the name though, so I decided to use it anyway. This is going to a multiple part fic, though I am not sure how many parts there will be at this point in time. I will just keep adding installments until I’ve reached my satisfaction with the fic. Hope you like it. ^-^ Ja ne.

The characters in this story are based of the ones from the manga and anime
series, Card Captor Sakura created by CLAMP.

“Okay little miss, your math lesson is over. Why don’t you go out and get some fresh air.” The little girl got off her chair and bowed slightly to her teacher.

“Thank you,” she replied. She then walked outside. An auburn/violet haired lady walked up to the teacher watching her child sit down on a boulder and stare out at the ocean, lonely.

“She’s not truly happy here,” the woman commented to the teacher. The teacher stood up and watched the girl as well. “Miss, perhaps she needs to go to school with other children. She’s almost in the third grade after all, and she hasn’t made any friends.”

The mother looked out worried for her daughter. “She’s an image of me when I was her age.” She smiled to herself. “Nadeshiko,” she whispered. “Yes, I wouldn’t have been able to survive with out friends.” The woman turned around and started rambling off to one of the maids. “First I need a driver for Tomoyo and I to go house shopping. Make sure to inform the driver that it will most likely be a long drive. Also, get a maid for me to talk to about arrangements for renting a house. I need to talk to Tomoyo while you make preparations.”

The maid bowed and said her thanks and went quickly off to work. The lady turned back around and saw the teacher looking extremely worried.

“Miss Sonomi, ano, will I still have a job if Miss Tomoyo goes to school?” Sonomi smiled. “Of course you will. You can be Tomoyo’s tutor. I wouldn’t get rid of you like that.”

The teacher bowed deeply. “Thank you very much.” She gathered up her books and walked off with an extra skip in her step.

Sonomi walked outside and sat beside her daughter. She looked down into her violet eyes. “Tomoyo, would you be happier if you went to a school with lots of children instead of just learning at home by yourself?”

Tomoyo continued to look out at the ocean. “There are no schools around here though.”

Sonomi laughed. “No, no. We’d be moving.”

Tomoyo looked up at her mother. “What about your job?”

“My job is fine, I’m the president of the toy company after all. I could just move my office elsewhere. Don’t worry about me though, I’m wondering about you. Would you like to live in an actual city instead of out here on the beach and got to an actual school? You would be able to make friends that way.”

Tomoyo looked down at her knees. “As long as you are happy,” she replied softly.

Her mother smiled. “I’m happy if you are happy and I am convinced that you are not happy. We’re going to go house shopping somewhere away from the beach and in a nice city.”

Tomoyo enwrapped her mother around the waist. “Thank you.”

***


I slowly walked on the brick walkway toward the huge, elegant looking house. The scent of roses and other various flowers reached me. I stopped in the middle of the pathway and spun around absorbing the sun. My mother walked up to me with a bright smile.

“You like the garden?” she asked.

“Oh yes! It’s much better than the other ones we have been to so far.”

“I agree,” she replied. A man in a suit walked up to my mother and shook her hand.

“Pleasure. My name is Takuri Zentabo. I am the owner of this house.”

“Pleasure,” my mother replied. “ Daidouji Sanomi.” The man walked us through the large house. Each room was twice as big as it had to be. Every thing looked so perfect; from the walls to the carpet to the windows to the drapery. I could tell my mother was won over. She adored the house. If I had any doubt about the house myself, it defiantly vanished when we came upon the back yard.

It was gorgeous! There was a beautiful finished wood deck that split into three different pathways that winded though out the garden over and endless pond that took up the whole yard. It was plain beautiful.

Mother promptly turned to the man. “We’ll take it at any price.”

The man smiled. He obviously was happy with the offer. “Sold.”

***


A week after moving in we went in search of a school. The searching was not hard, after a talk with the principle of the local elementary school I was enrolled to start the following week.

Everything went smoothly until I actually sat down to think about what school might be like. Sure, the principle seemed nice enough, but what about the other teachers. What about the students? My mind was cluttered of thoughts of school and the up coming week. There was no way to answer these questions though, not until I actually started school for my self. That day came all to soon.

***


I slowly made my way down a hall in the large school. Never being to a school before, I never knew one could be so large and easy to get lost in. At least I was on the right floor now, a half hour ago I was still hopelessly searching the first floor.

Finally getting the right room number I walked in. At a desk in the front of the room was a man sitting and shuffling papers. He looked up when he saw me walk in.

“Oh! Hello. You’re awfully early,” I smiled and decided not to tell him of being here an hour early searching for the classroom. “Well then you must be Daidouji Tomoyo. Am I correct?” I nodded. “My name is Mr.Terada. I’ll be your teacher for the next couple of years. That is, your home room teacher. It’s a pleasure meeting you.”

“Nice to meet you to,” I replied. Maybe this wouldn’t turn out so bad after all. He seemed really nice at least.

“I’ll find a seat for you when everyone else shows up. I want you to introduce yourself at the beginning of the period. Sound good?” I nodded.

“Alright then. How about you stand outside for the next five minutes while every one shuffles in and settles down for the new day, then I’ll open the door to let you in and you can introduce yourself.”

“Okay.” I followed his directions and stood outside the door watching the hallways slowly fill with people. I watched girl after boy after girl slowly file through the doorway of my new classroom. Would these people be my friends? Would they accept me? I looked at all of their faces closely. Some of them seemed tiered while others were ecstatic. My eyes lay upon a girl walking with three other girls. Her face had a bright smile on it, the loveliest smile I had ever seen. Her eyes opened to reveal beautiful jade in color. Before I could see much more of her, she had entered the classroom, out of site.

Five minutes later Mr.Terada opened the door of the classroom to let me in. I walked in feeling many eyes upon me. I nervously stood at the front of the room. Remembering what Mr. Terada had told me earlier, I introduced myself.

“My name is Daidouji Tomoyo. I moved here just two weeks ago. My mother is the president of the Daidouji toy company.” At the mention of that all of the students burst out talking. The teacher hushed them and searched the room for a place where I could sit.

“Lets see. Why don’t I put you in the back next to Sakura-chan, the girl with the short brown hair in two pig tails. I looked around and found the girl he was talking about. The girl I had seen earlier with the beautiful jade eyes. I walked over and sat in the desk just to the right of her. She smiled at me and I smiled back. She was so…so…cute. Cute? What was I thinking? She just had an adorable smile. That’s all.

“Now then,” Mr.Terada started. “I have a little class work for you all to do.” At the mention of class work some people groaned. Mr. Terada turned around and started writing the assignment on the chalkboard.

I got out a pencil and some paper. I side glanced at the girl sitting next to me who noticed my stare. She smiled. “I guess we are sitting next to each other now,” she whispered to me. “I hope we get along.” She looked down at my pencil and noticed that it was missing an eraser. She pulled out a bunny eraser from her own backpack and handed it to me. “You don’t have an eraser? Here. If you want it you can keep it.” Her hand brushed across mine and my heart skipped a beat. The girl looked back up at the chalkboard to read the assignment.

I clutched the eraser tight in my fist and tucked it away in my skirt pocket.


***


My mind wondered off the rest of the day. All I could think about was that girl, Sakura I had found out her name to be. We had eaten together at lunch and talked together during break.

She was so amazing. Her greed eyes always sparkled with delight, Her hair was done up in two miniature pig tails. She was funny and sweet. Was this how it felt to have a friend? Or…could I possibly have fallen in love with her? The thought seemed very likely, but I had just met her! Could someone possibly fall in love that quickly? And even if you could, weren’t girls suppose to love guys, not other girls? All of these questions were confusing me, though I new I had to get them answered.

***


Right when I got home I ran up to my room and jumped onto my bed kicking off my shoes. I couldn’t stop smiling. Today had been such a good day. Not only had I made friends with Sakura who I found out to be a very happy and athletic girl, but also Rika, a quiet, smart girl who helped the teacher out a lot; Naoko, who loved ghost stories that scared Sakura to death, and Chiharu who was very humorous. Chiharu, Naoko, and Sakura were also on the cheer leading team together. They invited me to go and watch them tomorrow and I could hardly wait. I loved to videotape things. This seemed like another good chance.

A chance to film Sakura…

I heard a knock on my door and I sat up. “Come in,” I answered.

Mom walked in and smiled. “You look happy Tomoyo.” She sat beside me on my bed. “How was school?”

“Wonderful!” I replied enthusiastically. “I love it!”

“Good!” Mom replied. “Did you make any friends?”

“Yes, tons of them. They are all really nice.”

“That’s wonderful Tomoyo! I’m so happy for you.” She leaned over me and hugged me. That day must have been one of the best in my whole life.

***


I stayed after school the next day so that I could film the cheer leading squad. I watched as the girls got lined up into neat rows to practice their cheers. The cheering uniforms looked cute on the girls, especially Sakura. They started with baton throwing. Sakura did amazing throws, but wasn’t exactly spectacular at the catching part. Filming her catch the baton with her head just made it all much cuter. Next they worked on simple steps were Naoko seemed to lack. She tripped over her feet a couple of times. Then came more advanced skills such as cartwheels, summer salts and flipping. Sakura did all of these with extra jazz. Her cartwheels went three times as farther than anybody else’s. Her summer salts were clean and smooth. Her air flips were the best of all though. She stayed in the air longer than any one else because of the height she got in her jumps. By the end of the practice, I certainly had a tape from heaven of Sakura.

***


I rushed home and passed my mother with out even noticing her running up the stairs. I ran into my room and to the connected theater that came with it. I stuck the film in the VCR from that after noon and sat down in front of the big screen.

I felt my heart flutter as Sakura appeared on the television screen. It was then that I realized I really was in love with her. When the video ended I took the tape out of the VCR and hugged it tight to my chest and whispered,

“I love you Sakura.”

I then felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to see my mother. Had she heard? A look of panic appeared on my face. Mom saw it and giggled.

“I’m so happy for you Tomoyo.” She sat down on a chair in the theater and lowered me onto her lap stroking my hair. “I really am Tomoyo.”

“But…mom…” I felt a tear go down my cheek. “I’m not normal!” I cried out.

“I’m not supposed to love another girl! And, I fell in love with her so quickly-“ Mom cut me off before I could continue my mad rambling.

“Nonsense Tomoyo. Never get those thoughts into your head. Never. My first and only love was female also. I loved her to the bottom of my heart and still do though she is dead now and had married a man then. But my love was the same nonetheless. I had to accept the fact I was in love with her on my own though since my parents were terribly homophobic meaning they did not approve of the same sex loving each other. You don’t have to worry about though. I’m here for you and I’ll support you all of the way. Besides,” she continued, “She was extremely cute. The few seconds I saw of her.”

I giggled. “I love you mom. Thank you.” I then stood up and looked questioningly at her. “Did you want something?”

“Oh!” She exclaimed then laughed. “No. I was just wondering what could be more important than saying hello to your mother. I saw you rush to your room and thought that you might be upset about something.” She then winked. “I came out to find out the exact opposite though.” I smiled and then took out the eraser Sakura had given to me earlier that week. My mother looked down at it. “Is that from the girl?”

I nodded. “She gave it to me two days ago, but I never used it.”

Mom looked thoughtful. “I have an idea Tomoyo. Go into your room and wait for me.” I nodded and waited patiently in my room for my mother.

She came back with an antique looking, wooden box. “Here. You put this on your counter.” She then handed me a small silk bag. “Put the eraser in this and then put the back in the box. That way you will have it forever and you won’t have to worry about losing it.” She then handed me a key. “This is so you can lock it.” I put the box on the counter and opened it with the key. Inside was a beautiful bouquet of Sakura blossoms.

“What is this?” I asked her picking up the bouquet of flowers. “It’s beautiful.”

“It’s the bouquet of flowers that the girl I was in love with had for her wedding. Obviously they wouldn’t have lived this long so I got a fake bouquet that looked almost exactly like the original thing. Very good copy if you ask me. It even smells like real flowers.” She looked at her watch.

“Well, I’m going to go ask the maids to start some dinner.”

Just as she was about to stop out of my room I stopped her. “Wait!”

“Yes Tomoyo?”

“Thank you.”

*End of Prologue*