Friday night, and it was snowing in Sapporo. There wasn't a lot of wind, but the snow fell in thick flakes that quickly built up into drifts. Daidouji Tomoko didn't envy the pedestrians that she passed as she drove home to her apartment. She could have a chauffer like her mother, but she liked driving around and the few times she needed to work on something while travelling the car's AI could handle the work. But tonight she drove, hoping that the work would distract her from what would be waiting at the apartment when she got home. Or rather, what wouldn't be. It wasn't working. She made the right-hand turn into the apartment building's private garage area, the door's systems recognizing her car and letting her in. After that she let the car park itself and took the lift up to her apartment on the top floor. It was more of a penthouse, as Sumire had said, but she liked to think of it as an apartment. She had no desire to grow old in a cavernous vault like her mother was, no matter how nice the vault may be. Entering her apartment, she stopped and listened to the silence. There was a note on the wall, but a quick glance showed that it wouldn't say any more than the other notes had: Tomoyo was very nice, but never fully committed to the relationship, always seemed apart when they should have been closer. She crumpled the note in her hand, and then just let it drop to the floor. Tomoyo jumped when the intercom signalled, playing the notes to a classical symphony that she had forgotten the name of. Overcome with the thought that Sumire may have returned, she had to steady her voice before she could tell the apartment to show the visitor. Li Sakura's face filled the screen. Tomoyo's heart took off as she saw her friend's face, so long only seen in flat photographs. But then she noticed that Sakura's eyes were red and teary, and that her friend was sniffling. "Open voice and video." "Tomoyo! Uh, Daidouji-san. Um..." Tomoyo smiled. "You can still call me Tomoyo, if I can call you Sakura." Sakura gave her a tear-stained smile. "I... can I come in?" "Yes, yes, certainly." She walked over to the console and pressed the entrance button, connecting herself with one of the lobby bioroid guards, Bertrand. "Hello, Bertrand. I have an unexpected guest. Could you escort her up to my room? She hasn't been here before." The guard nodded, his face in 'helpful' mode. "Certainly, ma'am. And may I say, both Ernest and myself are again greatful for the Christmas gift." Tomoyo grinned. "No problem," and cut the link. Bioroids were technically property of the building, but most of them were just as much people as herself, and she saw no reason not to treat them like people. She hadn't seen Sakura since just before college. They'd just taken their finals, and had both done well enough to get into the college they wanted. So that night had been a big party, going from bar to bar and then ending up at Tomoyo's house. Sakura had been teasing Tomoyo about how she had never been kissed, and Tomoyo had replied that she didn't know how. Sakura had blinked at her for a moment, letting that sink in, and then smiled. "It's easy! Like this!" And then she kissed her. And Tomoyo had kissed back with all her heart. Sakura was drunk enough for this not to bother her, and they had gone on to several interesting activities that Tomoyo had fantisized about before they passed out from the alcohol and the exertion. Unfortunately, Tomoyo awoke with Sakura gone. In several confused conversations between her, Syaoran and Sakura, it was quickly established that Sakura was completely freaked over what had happened, and so Tomoyo switched her college to a different one. There were a few tries at rekindling the old friendship at the old level, but Sakura was uncomfortable, and Tomoyo found it harder than ever to keep her distance. She had gone to Sakura's wedding, but left the reception early. Tomoyo was interrupted in her musing by the elevator arriving at her floor, and found to her surprise that she had stepped out of the apartment to wait for her friend. As the doors opened she was shocked at what she heard. "Get away from me you thing!" Sakura's voice was shrill and fearful as she ran out of the elevator towards Tomoyo, who caught the woman in her arms. Sakura burst out crying again. Tomoyo sighed, and breathed a 'sorry' to Bertrand, who gave her a sad look back and told the elevator to take him back down. Helping Sakura into her apartment, she made a mental note to give him a thank you gift. "Sakura, why?" "They're all, they're all thieves." Sakura said with a heaving voice. "She took, she took Syaoran away from me. She's just supposed to sit there and be a Secretary, not to be a real person!" Her voice raised into a wail, and Tomoyo hugged her old friend, trying to give her some comfort. "Look, you're soaked. Did you run here through the snow?" Sakura nodded. "Here, get out of these sopping wet clothes and take a shower. I'll set out a robe for you, and make some hot chocolate. Then we can talk some more." Sakura sniffled, and nodded. "Okay." She looked left and right, confused. Tomoyo gave a slight giggled. "Oh, right. This way." She led her friend through her bedroom, and into the bath. "Here we go. You can just drop your clothes into the laundroid." Sakura had just walked through her large bedroom quietly, but now spoke. "Are you married?" Tomoyo shook her head as she set the shower to a warm temperature. "No." Sakura nodded, and Tomoyo left her to her shower. There's something comforting about making hot chocolate, Tomoyo always thought. Heating the milk, but making sure it didn't boil, mixing the chocolate, and making sure it doesn't clump. It wasn't a tea ceremony, but it was enough of something to do that it allowed her to get her thoughts in order. So, when Sakura shuffled out in one of Tomoyo's robes, Tomoyo gave her a sunny smile and a mug, and brought her to her couch. A moment, and the fireplace started up, a roaring fire warming the room. "Now, who is this?" Sakura took a sip of her chocolate milk, and sighed. "Syaoran's office bought a bunch of bioroid secretaries two years ago. They can't strike, they don't take nine months off to have children, and they can legally be told to wear makeup." Tomoyo nodded. Several companies were doing this, which had been leading to a number of people losing their jobs. The government was implementing educational programs to get the ex-secretaries into new jobs, in fact. "Well, I think... no, I know that Syaoran is having an affair with his. She's stealing him away from me!" "Are you sure?" Sakura nodded emphatically. "I found lipstick stains." "Well, that could be something innocent?" Tomoyo said hopefully. "On his underwear?" "oh" Sakura took a long pull of the chocolate. "What's Syaoran doing at a corporation?" Sakura sighed, and drank again. "The magic's gone away." "What?" "It started ten years ago. Magic stopped working so well. It's always been fairly weak in America and Europe, but suddenly China, Hong Kong and Japan started to fade as well. Kero said he thought this had happened before - that that was the reason that he'd been asleep in the book so long." She sighed. "That was before he had to sleep again." "I'm sorry." "Without magic, we had to get normal jobs. He works at a corporation, I do some photography. I started out modeling, but I'm no longer able to compete with the looks of bioroid's grown to look glamorous." Tomoyo nodded. Another strike against bioroids, from Sakura's point of view. "So we settled down to be normal, and things were fine for a while. But lately he's been growing away, coming home very late. Not wanting, you know, sex." Tomoyo blushed slightly. "I didn't want to think... but he is. And she is!" Tomoyo put down her mug and gave Sakura a hug while she cried, and they sat before the fire and Sakura let out all of the pain and frustration she was feeling. Later that night, Tomoyo realized that Sakura had fallen asleep. She stood without waking her, shifted her to lay out on the couch, and then went to get a blanket for her friend. As she tucked Sakura in, the woman rolled over slightly. "Tomoyo, is it okay for me to stay here tonight?" "Of course." Tomoyo expected to have a hard time sleeping that night, with the focus of so much of her life sleeping in the next room, but found that Sakura caused the opposite: The fact that she was not alone in the apartment helped her fall asleep quickly. A sleep that was interrupted by a gentle shake. Her eyes opened, and she made out Sakura's shadow against the dim lights from the window. "Sakura?" "Can I sleep with you?" Tomoyo nodded, not trusting her voice. She tried not to watch Sakura as she peeled off her robe and climbed into bed, but caught herself watching the reflection in a mirror. There was a moment of absolute silence. And then Sakura's hand touched her shoulder. "Tomoyo, do you still love me?" Tomoyo bit her lip. "yes" It was barely a whisper. "I need some love." Tomoyo almost cried. This wasn't right. Sakura wasn't turning to her out of love, but out of need, a reaction to what Syaoran had done to her. But she wasn't made out of stone, and when Sakura's hand slid down to cup her right breast, she turned towards her and gave her a kiss that contained two decades of pent-up desires. It went on from there.
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