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author Robert McIntyre <rlm@mit.edu>
date Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:42:35 -0400
parents fc00894c1d4a
children
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1 Fruits Candy
2 A Sakura and Tomoyo Story
3 By G. P.
4 Please send comments to treeandleaf2002@yahoo.com
5 Note: All characters depicted herein are property of CLAMP. This
6 work in no way is meant to infringe on those rights.
8 This is story is part of a continuing series, though it can also be
9 read alone. The previous stories in the series are:
10 1. Love is the Crooked Thing
11 2. First Date
15 Gazing out the window, Sakura caught sight of the long, black
16 Cadillac pulling up to the curb. With clipped, almost military
17 motions, a female bodyguard dressed in a severe, slate-gray dress
18 popped out and opened the back passenger door. Tomoyo emerged,
19 dressed in a simple cobalt-blue dress, her gray-black hair in two
20 long braids, tied at the ends with pink ribbons. Sakura felt her
21 heart flutter at the sight, and blushed deeply. She was still
22 adjusting to the notion of Tomoyo-chan as something more than her
23 very best friend. Like a double thunderclap, Tomoyo's love for her,
24 and her own love for Tomoyo, had come as explosive revelations, one
25 after another.
27 She still felt deafened by the shock, a bit confused and
28 disoriented. In some ways, nothing had changed. Tomoyo especially
29 seemed as she always had: bright, cheerful, kind, and helpful. But
30 Sakura was sometimes uneasy in her presence in a way she had never
31 felt before. Sometimes, sitting by her in class or at lunch, she felt
32 buffeted by a strange whorl of emotions. She knew now that those
33 emotions had always been there, laying unrecognized in her heart,
34 waiting. When she finally saw that Tomoyo liked her- like that, her
35 own feelings were at last unfettered. As the leaves fell and the
36 nights grew chill with winter, Sakura had struggled with the dilemma
37 of how to love her best friend.
39 Tomoyo stepped lightly up to the door, carrying a canvas bag with a
40 picture of a French flag on the side. Sakura sprang to the door,
41 opening it as she approached.
43 "Konichiwa, Tomoyo-chan!"
45 "Konichiwa, Sakura-chan!" She took Sakura by the hand and smiled,
46 "Thank you for inviting me to your house."
48 "No, thank you for coming. My father is at a Conference for the
49 weekend and won't be here, so I wanted to make a special dessert for
50 oniichan tonight. You're just so much better at it than me."
52 Tomoyo looked aghast, "But Sakura-chan, you make beautiful things.
53 The cake you baked for your father was wonderful".
55 "All the same, I'm glad you're here. Would you like some tea?"
57 "Oh, yes, thank you. Shall I help?"
59 Sakura smiled, nodded, and went to boil the water as Tomoyo gathered
60 up the cups and napkins. It was just like her. She was helpful and
61 considerate in such a natural way that you were sometimes unaware of
62 what a gracious friend she was. Sakura broke the silence,
64 "How is your Mother?"
66 "Oh, she is very well, thank you. She was talking about you the
67 other day".
69 Sakura tilted her head quizzically.
71 Tomoyo smiled, and continued, "I showed her the videotape of your
72 race from the school festival. She watched it so many times that I
73 had to make a copy for her before the tape wore out." Tomoyo
74 suppressed what seemed to be a giggle,
76 "She said you have great potential as a runner, but will need work
77 on your technique. She said your father should teach you, but if he
78 is too busy she would be happy to coach you."
80 At the prospect of running like Sonomi, Sakura brightened visibly.
81 Almost leaping from her chair, her eyes glistening at the prospect,
82 she blurted out,
84 "Really? That is so nice of her! I would love to run like that!"
86 Tomoyo touched her cheek with her hand and gazed adoringly at her
87 friend. In physical activity, in track and gymnastics and swimming,
88 Sakura was like some beautiful, feline animal, coiled power exploding
89 with easy grace. No wonder she made such an exquisite Card Captor!
91 Sakura caught the pale girl's look and blushed. Tomoyo was
92 so....eccentric. Even knowing they were now more than best friends,
93 her adoration still stirred a strange mix of feelings: embarrassment,
94 shyness, and a delightful sense of being utterly loved. Sakura put
95 her hand behind the back of her head and laughed in an odd voice,
97 "Ha-ha-ha, um, should we begin the dessert?"
99 Tomoyo nodded, all smiles, and began to open the large canvas bag.
100 Sakura watched, her curiosity aflame. First out of the mysterious bag
101 was....the video camera. She felt the welling of a sweat drop. Tomoyo
102 laughed and said,
104 " To film with, and to help you study your technique".
106 Sakura groaned at the prospect of her culinary clumsiness captured
107 for all eternity. She watched as Tomoyo next brought out a small
108 white bag and a set of little silver cones. Handling them with
109 respectful care she said,
111 "This is a piping bag, and these are the nozzles. With a delicate
112 finger she pointed to a cone with a slim, tapering opening, and spoke
113 in a hushed, reverent tone,
115 "This is a Saint Honore nozzle. Saint Honore is the Special Saint of
116 Pastry Chefs. The dessert we are making was done in his honor." Then,
117 she took out a small candy thermometer, a pastry mixer, and a
118 strange, wicked looking whisk, whose rounded ends had been clipped
119 off. Looking at Sakura, she asked solemnly,
121 "Do you have the other ingredients I asked for?"
123 "Yes, ummmm", Sakura's voice trailed off as she scrambled into the
124 kitchen, then rushed back in with the list, reading it breathlessly
125 while Tomoyo closed her eyes and listened, "Flour, eggs, sugar,
126 butter, milk, heavy cream, powdered sugar, superfine sugar, gelatin,
127 cornstarch?" Tomoyo nodded, opened her eyes, and smiled,
129 "Shall we begin, Sakura-chan?"
131 Vigorously nodding, Sakura followed her friend into the kitchen.
132 With a sinking feeling, she saw the dark-haired girl merrily setting
133 up a tripod in a corner. The red light showed the camera was on,
134 ready to follow her every blunder. At least it was something only
135 Tomoyo would see, and, thankfully, there were no costumes. The girls
136 tied on matching aprons and began, Tomoyo directing and Sakura doing
137 her best to follow.
139 "We'll start with the Pate Sucre", Tomoyo sang out. She set the
140 pattern by showing Sakura how to do it, and then watching,
141 encouraging, and helping her friend along. Sakura took pride in the
142 dishes she could cook, but desserts, especially fancy ones, baffled
143 her. Watching Tomoyo in the kitchen, she felt a sweet heartache.
144 There was a perfect precision in her movements as she sifted and
145 rolled and mixed and whisked. Like a ballerina, she whirled and
146 dipped and spun her own special magic. Tomoyo had no sense for the
147 magic of the Clow Cards, but here, she was the Mistress, the cooking
148 tools her Cards. Lightly dusted in the fine, white pastry flour, she
149 looked like an angel: calm, watchful, and glowingly beautiful.
151 Sakura lightly placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, as if to
152 assure herself that this was indeed her friend, and not some
153 celestial visitor. Tomoyo glanced up and smiled, placing her hand on
154 Sakura's own, then slowly pulling away, their fingers lightly
155 interlacing for the briefest second. Sakura caught her breath and
156 swallowed hard, a crimson blush tickling her neck and ears. But
157 Tomoyo was back to her choux paste, mixing the egg into the crumbly
158 dough. Sakura shook her head and tried to remember Tomoyo's
159 directions. Peering into the oven as the round base baked to a golden
160 sheen, she asked in a puzzled voice,,
162 "Tomoyo-chan, how can you be sure you can make it rise?"
164 Tomoyo turned with a puzzled look and answered, "I'm sorry, I don't
165 understand".
167 "The pastry base we made...how do we make it rise?"
169 Tomoyo laughed quietly and regarded her friend with thoughtful
170 eyes," We can't do anything to make it rise. It has to want to do it
171 itself".
173 Sakura stared back, blinking in quiet incomprehension.
175 The pale girl joined her at the window of the oven, "It's just like
176 flowers, or paintings, or sewing. You can't make it do anything. You
177 can only be there for it, to help it be what is wants to be." She
178 tilted her head, and smiled.
180 Sakura looked at her friend in slow realization of what she meant.
181 Tomoyo was so gentle, she would never force anything, be it pastry or
182 painting or costume. Or even, she thought with a start, her love.
183 Tomoyo had loved her for so long and never spoken, lest Sakura be
184 burdened or troubled. She had never tried to control their friendship
185 to her advantage, even going so far as to encourage Sakura's crush on
186 Yukito-san, and her tentative feelings for Li-kun. Tomoyo had been
187 ready to sacrifice her own happiness to ensure Sakura's own. The
188 auburn-haired girl felt a shiver as she blinked back the tears.
190 Tomoyo gazed at the shimmering emerald eyes and felt her own heart
191 racing. Sakura lunged at her, staggering her back, hugging her
192 tightly. Tomoyo closed her eyes, feeling the trembling form in her
193 arms. Had all her hopes and dreams and prayers come true it could not
194 have brought a sweeter moment than this. Sakura's love washed over
195 her like an ocean wave, knocking her off her feet, swirling and
196 eddying in every corner of her being. She smoothed the red-auburn
197 hair, straightening a ribbon with nimble fingers.
199 Sakura drew back slowly, smiling, blushing, looking dazed and
200 slightly embarrassed. Tomoyo smiled at the white flour that now
201 powdered the girl's cheek. She reached out her hand, tenderly wiping
202 away the flour and the tears. She rested her palm on Sakura's cheek,
203 and then lightly caressed the soft skin with her fingertips.
205 "I love you, Sakura-chan".
207 Sakura gently enfolded the hand in her own and squeezed tightly. "I
208 love you too, Tomoyo".
210 Hands clasped, both girls stood transfixed until Tomoyo wrinkled her
211 nose and exclaimed, "The pastry base!"
213 As if choreographed, the two twirled about and saw gray smoke
214 billowing from the oven. Quickly donning silver oven mitts, Tomoyo
215 opened the door and removed the baking sheet. Coughing in the smoke,
216 Sakura stared at the blackened circle.
218 With a disconsolate look, Tomoyo murmured, "I ruined it".
220 Sakura looked sadly at her friend, then suddenly brightened.
222 "We didn't ruin it. It wanted to burn!"
224 Tomoyo looked up, smiled, and suddenly began to laugh. Sakura looked
225 on in surprise, and then started laughing, too. Neither had laughed
226 so hard in a very long time. Gasping for air in the still-smoky
227 kitchen, Sakura blurted out,
229 "We...we better..hee...start another one, hee hee...before oniichan
230 gets back...hee..."
232 Tomoyo, still giggling, nodded, and the two began again.
234 After the surprisingly delicious noodle dinner, Touya watched Sakura
235 and Tomoyo disappear into the kitchen. The two had seemed inseparable
236 of late, and he was glad. He liked the pale, dark-haired girl,
237 sensing her intense devotion to his sister. He thought to call out
238 and ask if Tomoyo had actually cooked the meal, since it was so good,
239 but he smiled to himself and kept quiet. After several minutes the
240 two girls returned, each carrying one side of a large serving plate.
241 They placed the magnificent Saint Honore Pastry on the table before
242 him and shouted, "Happy Birthday!"
244 From his job at the bistro he knew it was a complex dessert that
245 only the boldest chefs would attempt. The carmel-dipped buns ringed a
246 lake of layered, criss-crossed Crème Chibouste, deftly executed to
247 look like ripples on the water. In place of the normal spun sugar
248 ball on top sat two delicate pastry swans, gracefully arching necks
249 entwined like lovers. Enclosing them was a sparkling, bowl-shaped
250 cage of golden carmel. Amazed that they could create such a work, he
251 glanced up at them. Like two swans, the girls nestled together, hand
252 in hand, expectantly awaiting his reaction. He smiled, and understood.
254 "It's beautiful."
256 And it was.