Cryptic (Eriol/Kaho) *repost*

[storypaint]

Comm: 30_romances
Words: 451
Fandom: Cardcaptor Sakura
Title: Cryptic
Author: rhap_chan
Theme(s): 3. Anvil; Banter
Pairing/Characters:
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to CLAMP.
Summary: When Kaho catches Eriol trying to bring an anvil in the house, she wonders what sort of magic he'll perform with it. Eriol won't tell...

Excerpt: "An anvil," Kaho said, not sounding amused. She surprised Eriol, who was concentrating on the metal object, and he nearly dropped the magic he was using to get it into the house.

"An anvil," Kaho said, not sounding amused. She surprised Eriol, who was concentrating on the metal object, and he nearly dropped the magic he was using to get it into the house.

"Yes," he said cheerfully. "It's an authentic eighteenth-century antique. I thought it would look wonderful as a coffee table."

"In our living room?" Kaho said. The room was decorated in a very modern style and the anvil would have stood out like a sore thumb. Also, she noted, running a finger along the surface, it was extremely dirty. And angled, so that any drink you would set on this hypothetical coffee table would slide right off.

"What are you really going to do with it?" she said, raising an eyebrow. Eriol stared back with a blank face. He was quite good at those (Heaven knew she never won at poker, though that might have been because he'd Seen her cards in a dream the night before).

"Well, they were just going to throw it away," Eriol said, trying another tactic. "I figured we could find it a good home."

"This wouldn't happen to be an anvil that Clow bewitched for some reason, would it?" Kaho asked. He shook his head and she sighed in relief, then had another thought.

"It wouldn't be something you were planning to bewitch...?"

Eriol's smile widened almost inperceptibly, but he said nothing. Kaho thought that she was right then, but she couldn't perceive any reason he would want an anvil to conjure with.

"I'd rather it stayed in the garage," Kaho said firmly. Eriol carefully directed the anvil out of the doorway in the direction of the family garage. She watched him go, then shook her head.

"An anvil?" she said, and wondered if he would tell her.

*

When he was safely out of earshot, Eriol let the anvil fall into the grass. Spinel flitted over and landed on its tip.

"What were you going to use it for?" he asked curiously. He had watched the exchange from an upstairs window and wondered what his master was up to.

"Oh, nothing," Eriol said cheerfully. Spinel lifted an eyebrow.

"The image of a cryptic magician is not easily maintained," he said. "Sometimes one has to... remind."

"You were feeling mischievous again," Spinel said.

"I miss being a kid, what can I say?" Eriol said, using his power to lift the anvil again, and move it to a resting place in the back of the garage. Spinel settled himself on Eriol's shoulder.

"You never were a kid," Spinel said.

"I've always been a kid," Eriol said with a cheerful grin, and began searching for some red paint to write mysterious sigils all over the metal.