Disclaimer: I don't own CCS

Oh, Ladies and Gentlemen!

Summary : The endearing but reserved Daidouji Tomoyo was experiencing a love loss. Enter Eriol, the not-so-gentle gentleman who experienced the same loss. But no love grief, for a partnership would soon be formed and scheming would soon be planned. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our duo in their quest to win back love!

Chapter 1:: Bombshell

Pants

…

Touches

…

Clouded vision

…

Muffled voice

…

Hazy mind

…

Stranger

…

Pray tell, how could she ever get in this situation again?

Daidouji Tomoyo tried to recollect back her memories. Rewind, rewind, rewind… back to this morning… what did she do this morning?

She woke up just normally. Then she did all her morning routines. After that, the woman went to the theatre to see the script of the newest drama. Why did she go to the theatre? No, she wasn't an actress. The 24-year-old had decided to pursue her dream of being a fashion designer…. Or a costume designer, as what her current job was. So yes, she needed to scan through the script and had brainstorms with the director to share vision about the costumes. Tomoyo thought that she had left the theatre at around 3 o'clock. What else did she do after that?

Ah, she remembered. After she exited the theatre building, she received a phone call from Sakura, inviting her for dinner. She could never neglect a Kinomoto's dinner offer. Meeting Sakura had always been a stress-reliever for her.

And besides…

Besides… she could meet him…

Tomoyo forgot how this had all started. Perhaps in High School or perhaps in college, but all she knew was that she started to feel a crush towards her own cousin.

No, not to Sakura, but to her older brother…

Yes,to Kinomoto Touya.

So, when Sakura invited her over for dinner, the invitation sounded like a ticket to La-La Land. Masking through her poise, Tomoyo tried to hide her entire girlish affection during the dinner course. She could still remember Sakura's giggles (of course, Tomoyo had told her cousin about her secret love) when seeing her slightly blushing face. Funny how she felt like she never grew up if it concerned Touya. Always like a high school babe who drooled after her hot crush…

Okay, back to business… what happened afterwards?

During Sakura's giggles, Touya had said something… something that instantly stopped Sakura's giggles and turned the atmosphere stiff…

Despite her current temporary 'loss' of memories and dizzy mind, Tomoyo could still feel pain when remembering Touya's words:

"I know this is all so sudden, but I'm going to marry my girlfriend,"

Tomoyo had been stunned when Touya said that. Marriage? She meant… damn it, she didn't even know he had a girlfriend!

What happened afterwards were blurry images. Sakura with her worried expression, food that made her throat sore, wrenched heart... She remembered walking in robotic mode out of the Kinomoto residence after they all finished dinner. Then she walked… walked to…

A bar. Yes, a bar.

One thing that she managed to keep a secret from most people (especially her mother and Sakura) was the fact that she depended on alcoholic beverages whenever she was feeling stressed out or plainly bored. She was sure that it wasn't what people wanted to expect from a Daidouji, moreover a Tomoyo. But well, that was the fact. Liqueur helped ease her mind. And after Touya's confession, she needed many dose of those liqueurs to soothe her heart and soul.

So, she drank. A lot. Yes, a lot. Fortunately, she was given with the gift not to be easily drunk. Even after shots she had drunk, (some) of her consciousness remained.

But apparently, her self-control didn't.

A guy who sat next to her on the bar noticed her muffles and whimpers, and kindly asked her why she did so.

Thus, she spilled all. She told the stranger how broken her heart was when she found out her love was getting married to another woman…

The gentleman had been nice enough to accompany her through the night and gave her some sympathetic pats on her back.

By the time the bar was closed, Tomoyo was wobbly enough. The man… ah, he offered her to rest in his place.

So she followed the guy to his car, slept throughout the journey back, and woke up when he shook her body.

"Come on,"

She vaguely heard him adding 'Daidouji-san' , but she must have been imagining things. This guy was a total stranger –there was no way he could have known her…

Or so she had thought.

The house she got into was familiar. If only Tomoyo had been in her normal mode instead of this drunken one, she would have had recognized it right away. But she was drunk. Thus, she could not recognize.

The guy invited her in to his mansion. She remembered she walked unsteadily inside and heard him close the front door.

Then she felt her body was pulled down.

Hitting the floor hard, she let out a groan, but it died on when she felt his mouth on her lips.

…

…

And that was how she ended up in the situation.

…

…

More pants, ragged breath…

Strangers' lips on her neck… trailing down…

Conscience kicked in.

Her eyes snapped opened and Tomoyo let out a scream as she pushed the guy away.

"What do you think you're doing?!!" she shouted, and earned the bad effect instantly afterward: the heavy nausea. She even felt like she wanted to puke.

Even in her condition, she could hear the guy groaned back, "I thought we agreed to have sex!"

Such vulgarity startled her off her reverie. "What?! I will never agree for that, foremost to a stranger like you!"

"But…you said you want to," he grumbled.

Tomoyo groaned. Despite her drunkenness, she could tell that perhaps it was her fault. It wasn't the first time that in her drunken state, her mouth spoke things that sent her to troubles. Her head was aching badly, but she managed to say, "Sir, this is my bad. I was … and still am drunk, thus I might have just said things that I didn't exactly mean. So, Mister whoever-you-are, I hope we can cancel the 'agreement' because I'm a virgin and I'm not planning to lose it to anyone beside my future husband,"

Oops. Another mouth spilling secret, stupid you…

She heard him sigh. "Too bad, I thought I would have the chance to get THE Daidouji Tomoyo laid…"

Her eyes focused instantly to the stranger guy.

"… You know me?"

A chuckle. "Quite well, indeed,"

More cautiousness.

"… And do I know you?"

"Yes, yes. Pretty well also,"

"Wait. We know each other pretty well and you… are planning to get me laid?!" Her voice tone raised an octave and in her might she tried to scan through her old memories as for who might be the pervert with excessive sexual urge and potential chance to be her secret stalker.

Another chuckle. "Well, you were the only decent one back in the club. The other women didn't interest me enough to seduce them. And since you practically surrendered yourself to me, well… what I can I say? I'm a normal guy with needs,"

Okay, so he might not be her personal stalker, but just any random guy who entered the club in the search of one-night-stander… Great, just as great… She thought as massaging her pained head. The alcohol effect was starting to disturb her…

Tomoyo was so prepared to leave, but one last shred of her curiosity got the best of her. "… Who are you anyway?"

Unfortunately to her, great pain attacked her head. And the only thing she remembered before passing out was that the man's eyes.

Blue. Indigo blue.

----------------------------

Tomoyo woke up with a gasp.

Incredible pain shot through her head and she groaned. She didn't usually experience the worst of hangover, but the tendency seemed to alter that day. Gazing at her surrounding, she realized that she was safely tucked on her bed in her own apartment.

"How…?" she muttered to herself. She was sure that what happened the night before was a reality, not a mere dream. But then again how? Did that guy take her home? How could he know where she lived? And how could he get into her apartment?

She tried to shrug the matters off. Perhaps he found her identity card along with her apartment key and took her back home.

But to think, a man who had the intention to assault her sexually wouldn't have to bring her back home… unless –

Abruptly, she swung over her blanket and checked on herself. She was still wearing the same clothes as the night before… and her legs didn't feel sore…

She hoped it was safe to assume that he hadn't done anything improper after she passed out.

Tomoyo sighed. Whoever that guy was, she was just going to erase last night's memory out of her mind and continued with her daily. Deciding to focus, the Daidouji heiress then checked on her schedule. It was the day to do some garment shopping for the theatre's costume. Although theater shows didn't always perform every week or so, but her payment from each show was enough to make her living. And to aid her income, she was also a freelancer with a job to make costumes for singers, dancers, performers on everyday's TV show. But foremost, she was glad that she actually enjoyed her job. So, garment shopping or anything like that had never been a burden (and instead became one of her favorite moments).

So then, her days went casually well. After finished with her garment shopping, she returned back to her apartment and used her spare time to cook some meal for her own lunch. It was during that meal, that she thought about him again.

No, not the guy she met yesterday (although, somehow it was a good thing that she met him –she could pour all her sadness and desperation to him), but the certain brown haired that had been occupying her mind for years.

Yes, years… of one-sided love.

It was rather hard to think that her object of desire was going to tie the knot soon. Sure, there had never been anything romantic going on between the cousins, but when she heard THAT news… her world felt like collapsing. And it was during this time, that she let her usual confidence seeped out. The fact that a Daidouji Tomoyo –although called 'gifted' in every aspect of life –failed in her romance life was surely rather depressing. She even sometimes asked whether she wasn't attractive enough or whether she had unknown bad personalities, or…

Perhaps it was just that she was simply not destined to have a soul mate…

That thought scared her. And a picture of her, being old without having a husband or children or grandchildren and dying alone…

Her terrifying imagination was snapped out when she heard her door bell rang.

Sighing, she then walked to the door to greet her guest. Opening the door, what greeted her was…

A pair of indigo eyes.

"YOU!"

The man chuckled at his reaction, "Yes, it's me, Daidouji-san,"

Her eyes widened. "W-what do you want?!" she said in quick alarm.

"My, my, Daidouji-san, is that the way you greet someone who has saved you? Unless you didn't notice, but it was me who brought you back," he explained, strangely without being arrogant or cocky.

"…Y-you didn't do anything to me right?"

"Well, I did touch you…" he paused to enjoy her horrified expression. "If not, how else was I going to able to pick you back to your bed?"

Eyeing him warily, she questioned him again. "Other than that?"

He sighed. "Sadly, no,"

"Oh," she murmured, slightly letting go of her defense cautiously. "T-thank you… But… what do you want now?"

"An agreement for a dinner date," He replied instantly.

She blinked. "A dinner date?"

"Yes,"

Tomoyo laughed nervously. "Why, Sir, although I'm deeply grateful that you brought me home unharmed yesterday, I'm afraid I have to say sorry that I –"

"Tonight," he cut her. "I'll pick you up at 7,"

"I don't recall I've agreed to that," she pointed out.

"Oh, you have to. We're going to discuss something important,"

"But –"

"See you tonight, Daidouji-san,"

"But Mister, I don't even know you!"

He turned back around to face her and flashed one debonair smirk. "Well, where's my manner? Then let me re-introduce myself. Good afternoon, Daidouji-san, my name is Hiiragizawa Eriol,"

Her eyes widened.

His smirk got even wider and she swore she saw mischievous glints on his sapphire eyes.

"Remember me?"

To Be Continued

A/n: This fic is like… the other version of the real original one. I had already typed out almost all chapters of the original one but then that damn virus attacked my computer and made me lose all the data. Took me a while to recover and started this fic again. MANY changes from the original ones, but it turns out now that I like this version so much more.

I've also already typed out all chapters (yes, I already write the ending for this) of this version, so, unless a virus attack my computer again, I should be able to regularly update this fic every week (or 2 week). Still need a couple of revision, but yes, I think I'll be more consistent with the updating. Hopefully.