eeveee | Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle ficlet, Piffle!Tomoyo/Nokoru (Reply)

"Is he your bodyguard?" she asks the third time Imonoyama-kun takes her out for lunch.

"No," says Imonoyama-kun, smiling, "he is my cook."

"Oh, my," she says, and Imonoyama-kun's smile widens.

"Just a little joke, Daidouji-san - although he does enjoy cooking and certainly takes it on himself to keep me well-fed, Akira-kun is employed as my secretary."

"Of course," she acknowledges, smiling also now "you must be very busy. Why, I do remember how people talked when you took your father's place at the age of thirteen."

"I was raised to continue my father's work someday," and his smile dims a little as he cuts of a piece of cake with his fork, "of course, nobody could have expected it to be so soon."

Tomoyo has been having tea with Imonoyama-kun since they were both five years old, with their parents and with her dollies and with Takamura-san, whenever he could be persuaded to leave his guard. Tea and cakes and polite conversation because it was only suitable to start making ones connections at an early age. Or so, at least, her mother had called it. The tea parties had decreased rapidly after Imonoyama-kun took over the lead of the enterprise that an ancestor of his once had founded two hundred and eighty-eight years ago, when he started trading sugar.

"I'm just glad that my mother is in good health," Tomoyo says quietly to that, and Imonoyama-kun, always the gentleman, straightens in his chair and reach over to squeeze her hand briefly.

"Daidouji-san, you don't need to worry about me."

"I realize that, Imonoyama-kun. But I do wish you had the time to come over to have tea like you used to, once in a while."

"Daidouji-san!" he cries, scandalized, "You don't think that I've been intentionally avoiding you, do you?"

"I do not," she assures him with a smile, and is not entirely sure if the relief that washes over his face is real or not.

"Of course, of course I will be delighted to have tea with you whenever I can find the time, Daidouji-san - " and that was when the smiling, light-stepped Akira-kun coughs discretely.

"Shachou..." he says and points to his wristwatch.

" - which evidently is not today. I'm so very sorry, Daidouji-san, but I'm afraid I have a car waiting downstairs."

"Please, Imonoyama-kun," she says, standing up as he does, "I don't expect you to be calling on old acquaintances as often as you used to. But if you have the time, one day, you should let met know."

"I will, if you refrain from using the words 'old acquaintance' about yourself in the future."

She's not entirely surprised when, instead of shaking the hand she holds out, he bends down to kiss it.

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