Adam and Eve

A Sequel to After the Fall

by Kit Spooner

Warnings: If you were too young to read After the Fall, then you're too young to read this. Go read one of my other fics. Or better yet, go write something of your own. This fic features lots of sex, heavy consumption of alcohol, abuse of marijuana, periodic foul language, a few bouts of intense, sexual violence, and the usual doses of angst, WAFF, and OOCness. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Bah! I don't own CCS. I also don't own October Project's song, "Adam and Eve."

________________________

Only ever really one story

A boy and a girl
And a dream of the world
An apple, a kiss
A moment of sky
The moment you choose
Without knowing why

"You're where?!" Sonomi's voice rose to a penetrating shriek.

"In Auckland," Tomoyo replied calmly, her voice slightly hollow over the long-distance phone line.

Silence.

"That's in New Zealand," Tomoyo elaborated gently.

"I know where Auckland is!" Sonomi snapped, glaring at the receiver as though that particular piece of equipment was responsible for her daughter's inexplicable presence Down Under.

"Is that Tomoyo-chan?" Fujitaka peered cautiously around the doorframe from the safety of the kitchen.

"She's in New Zealand!"

"Oh," said Fujitaka. He smiled vaguely. "That sounds like a nice little vacation for her."

"She's with that Hiiragizawa boy!" Sonomi's tone of voice indicated clearly just what she thought of Eriol.

Fujitaka's smile widened, the corners of his eyes crinkling up behind his glasses. "Tell Eriol-kun I say hello!"

Sonomi ignored him and turned her attention back to her errant offspring. "What on earth are you doing in New Zealand?"

"I'm taking a nice little vacation, Mother." Tomoyo's smile was almost audible.

"But you just got home after Sakura-chan's wedding, Tomoyo." Sonomi continued to glower at the phone. "Why do you need another vacation? And what are you doing with that rootless, shifty Hiiragizawa?"

"We're going to be staying at his chateau down in the Southern Alps." There was a brief pause and Sonomi thought she heard Hiiragizawa's muffled voice in the background, though it could well have been static. "Hiiragizawa-kun doesn't remember the phone number right now, so we'll just have to call you once we arrive. We're spending the night here in Auckland, then flying on to Christchurch tomorrow morning, and then on to the chateau."

"Where are you staying in Auckland?" Sonomi demanded. It would be a simple thing to quickly charter a plane down to New Zealand and pick up her daughter before the girl did something completely ridiculous.

"In a hotel," Tomoyo replied smoothly. "With Hiiragizawa-kun."

"What?!" Sonomi's face turned purple and her eyes were bulging slightly. "You're sharing a room with that little creep?"

"I think we're going to have to pretend that we're married," Tomoyo mused thoughtfully. "If I remember correctly, they tend not to rent out rooms to unmarried couples."

"You can't sleep in a hotel with him," Sonomi declared in a voice that brooked no opposition. "He'll try to take advantage of you, child!"

"Too late for that," Tomoyo replied with a hint of laughter.

Sonomi began to gurgle inarticulately.

Fujitaka frowned as he watched his housemate hyperventilate. It sounded like Tomoyo was about to trigger another fit of hysterics in Sonomi unless he intervened. "Remember to stay calm, Sonomi-kun," he murmured soothingly. "We don't want a repeat of last month, do we?" He gingerly lay a gentle hand on her arm, hoping that she wouldn't deck him like last time.

"We've been shacking up ever since the wedding, Mother," Tomoyo continued, heedless of the strange noises her mother was making. "I thought you knew about it?" There was another brief pause. "Oh, Hiiragizawa-kun says we need to finish checking into the hotel. I'll call you from the chateau tomorrow night. And remember not to take it out on Kinomoto-san this time. He's only trying to help you. Bye!" And the line went dead.

"Deep breaths, Sonomi-kun," Fujitaka urged.

Sonomi slammed the cordless phone back into its cradle.

Fujitaka jumped and appeared ready to bolt if it looked like his personal safety was in danger.

"She's in New Zealand with that little pissant," Sonomi grated, her eyes narrowed to slits. "And she wouldn't tell me which hotel she was staying at. It's going to be a pain in the ass to find her in a city the size of Auckland . . ." She reached for the phone again.

Fujitaka's grip on her arm firmed. "You shouldn't go after her anyway." He carefully pulled her away from the phone. "She needs time to be alone."

"She's not alone! And that's the problem!"

"Just let her go, Sonomi." Fujitaka pulled her into a one-armed hug.

"But!" Sonomi's back was ramrod straight, her eyes wild with worry and anger.

"Shhhh." Fujitaka could be very convincingly soothing when he exerted himself. The adrenaline began to work its way out of Sonomi's system and she sagged against the warm support of the man who had once stolen her cousin and now cooked and cleaned and shared her house with her.

He nudged a nearby floor lamp out of Sonomi's reach, however, just to be safe. He'd been beaned by that lamp once before.

________________________

"Thank you for staying with us Mr. and Mrs. Reed," the concierge said through his wide smile. "We hope to see you again soon." He gave a perfunctory sort of bow, the gold accents on his Carlton Hotel livery glinting in the mid-morning light.

Eriol made a vaguely affirmative sort of noise in response and quickly guided Tomoyo by the elbow out to where their taxi to the airport waited.

"Nice hotel," Tomoyo pronounced once they were out of earshot of the concierge, "But there was something a little creepy about that man at the desk. I think he might have been trying to look down the front of my dress."

Eriol grimaced and opened the taxi's door for her. "Well, he was a bit of a pervert, but not the way you'd think." He slid into the car after Tomoyo.

"What on earth do you mean, Hiiragizawa?"

"It wasn't you he was staring at, dear," Eriol replied with a sour smile. "The man had a nasty little mind."

Tomoyo raised a single eyebrow as she gave her lover a quizzical stare. "But certainly being ogled by men is nothing new to you." Her mouth quirked into a faint smile. "You were even flirting with the waiter at the café yesterday."

"That was different," Eriol said haughtily. "The waiter just thought I was cute. The concierge thought I was cute, but he also thought I'd be cuter if I was perhaps eight or ten years younger."

Tomoyo wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Okay, you've made your point. How was I supposed to know he was a dirty old man with a fetish for pretty, underage boys?"

"You weren't, darling," Eriol replied with a rather patronizing pat on the top of Tomoyo's head.

Tomoyo rolled her eyes at her traveling companion and settled more comfortably into the seat of the taxi. "I need a drink," she muttered, digging through her handbag for the assortment of travel-sized bottles of hard liquor she had nicked from the mini-bar in the hotel room.

Eriol sighed mournfully. "I need a smoke."

"Poor Hiiragizawa," Tomoyo said with a truly astonishing amount of false sympathy. "You'll have to wait until we're at this chateau of yours before you can break out your goodies." She snapped the seal off a little bottle of rum and tossed it back in a single swallow. Then she continued to smile serenely at Eriol.

"You're a lot more vicious than most people give you credit for, Daidouji-san," he noted as he watched her carefully recap the empty rum bottle and stash it in her bag.

"And does that bother you?" Tomoyo asked curiously.

"It might frighten off some types of men," Eriol admitted. "I, on the other hand, find it disturbingly attractive." He licked his lips suggestively and reached out for her.

Tomoyo laughed. "I don't believe it's a very good time for that sort of thing, Hiiragizawa," she said, batting Eriol's roving hands away. "I believe we've scandalized the taxi driver enough already."

"He can deal with it," Eriol murmured before pressing his mouth to the side of Tomoyo's neck.

"I think we're almost to the airport," Tomoyo said pointedly before giving Eriol a firm shove that sent him ungently back to his side of the back seat.

Eriol sulked all the way through the airport terminal and onto the plane, perking up only long enough to suggest that Tomoyo join him in the lavatory for a go at the Mile High Club.

"You've got to be kidding," Tomoyo told him as she stared in disbelief at Eriol's hopeful expression.

"It could be fun," Eriol coaxed with a sensual little smirk.

"You want me to go into a tiny metal box with you, a box designed to accommodate a single midget." Tomoyo's voice was almost cold. "And not only that, but you want to have sex in the little metal box, the box that we might be able to both squeeze into, as long as we don't breathe deeply or try to move our arms."

"You make it sound so . . ." Eriol looked ready to resume pouting.

"And when was the last time you were even inside one of those airplane lavatories?" Tomoyo demanded.

"Um . . ." Eriol prepared to sulk.

"They smell," Tomoyo said firmly. "And that's final."

"You are such a stick-in-the-mud, Daidouji," Eriol muttered.

"Yes," Tomoyo agreed cheerfully as she downed a tiny bottle of scotch. "I certainly am. Now fasten your seatbelt. We're about to take-off."

Eriol sighed, closed his eyes, and resigned himself for about 75 minutes of acute discomfort until the plane landed in Christchurch on the South Island of New Zealand. Tomoyo, for her part, was pleasantly blitzed by the time the plane got fully airborne. Eriol was coming to understand that Tomoyo drank not only to drown her sorrows, but to cover nerves. The alcohol made Tomoyo an eerily mellow traveler.

Once the plane had landed and the pair had collected their luggage, Eriol paused outside the airport long enough to smoke a quick joint. "Damn, I feel better now," he announced after crushing the very end of the cigarette under his shoe.

"Can we please go catch our car to the chateau now?" Tomoyo asked plaintively. She had only two little bottles of liquor left in her handbag and she wasn't really sure how she should ration them for the rest of the trip.

"Fine, darling," Eriol said with a broad smile as he led Tomoyo to the curb, where a young man in black and green livery tentatively displayed a sign that read 'Reed.' "There's our ride," he said cheerfully.

The uniformed man confirmed their reservation and then steered them off to the car. "It's a bit of a drive to Te Anau from Christchurch," he told them once his passengers were settled and their luggage was stowed in the trunk. "If you'd like, we can stop at a hostel along the way and you two can get a bite to eat. I'm sure you're famished from your flight."

Tomoyo and Eriol exchanged a long, measuring glance. Both were tired and hungry, but more importantly, they needed to be alone. It had been far too long since they were able to truly relax in each other's company. In the end, it was that mixture of nerves and lust that prompted Tomoyo to say, "That's alright. We'll just head straight to that Te Anau place, if you don't mind."

The drive was, indeed, rather long. Fortunately, once Tomoyo finished off her last two bottles of liquor, she dropped off to sleep, her head resting on Eriol's bony shoulder. Her steady breathing and very quiet snores eventually lulled him to sleep as well. Tired as they were, they slept nearly the entire way.

Te Anau turned out to be a very pretty little resort town nestled in the lower regions of the Southern Alps amidst dense forests of ancient conifers. "Did you two say you were renting a car here?" the driver asked as he maneuvered around a small group of backpackers who were standing in the middle of the road, clustered around a poorly folded map.

"Mmm, yes," Eriol mumbled, picking a few long, dark strands of hair from his mouth. He wasn't entirely certain why it was that he always ended up swallowing some of Tomoyo's hair.

"Then I should let you off here," said the driver, steering the car up along the entrance to a small, poorly-labeled car rental agency. "Enjoy your stay in Fiordland!"

Eriol managed a relatively polite reply as he juggled both his luggage and the still-drowsy Tomoyo. He gave the driver a tip and then lurched into the rental office.

To his surprise, it took only a few minutes for the woman behind the counter to get their vehicle ready. As requested, a late-model Land Rover was waiting for them and soon Eriol and Tomoyo were on the road again. They drove south, higher up into the mountains, where the air rose in thick, misty waves over the peaks, the updrafts tossing hawks aloft to soar, where the glaciers waited patiently for winter to return to the Southern Alps.

Burning like a fever inside you
The head of your skin
And the taste of your lips
A shadow, a storm
A darkening sky
The reason you live
The secret you hide

Notes: The next part of this may take a while. I've got too much on my plate right now. But I will get to it. Promise. And then there'll be more sex. Lots more sex.