storypaint | Pride (Eriol/Kaho)

Fandom: Cardcaptor Sakura
Title: Pride
Author: rhap_chan
Theme(s): 14. Craven; Democracy; Aristocrat
Pairing/Characters: Hiiragizawa Eriol/Mizuki Kaho
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to CLAMP. Price and Prejudice was written by Jane Austen, and this book was a great influence on this fic.
Summary: "It will be a lovely ball today, do you think, Kaho?" [AU, then back to canon-verse]

"It will be a lovely ball today, do you think, Kaho?" Nakuru leaned forward eagerly for her answer. Kaho tried to remain calm, like all ladies were supposed to do. (Nakuru simply hadn't learned yet. Perhaps when she finally became a woman and filled out a little, her exuberance would fade.)

"Yes, I am sure it will," Kaho answered politely. "Mr. Hiiragizawa is new to town and I'm sure he wishes to impress us all."

"Oh, they're saying he's a nobleman, Kaho! Living on five thousand pounds a year-- could you imagine that kind of money? And he's single!" Nakuru clapped her hands. "You know what Mother used to say--"

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that every man in possession of a fortune must be in want of a wife," Kaho quoted along with her sister. She personally had always been quite suspicious of Mother's platitudes. Their other sister Jane agreed with Kaho, but who knew what she really scribbled down in those little notebooks of hers? She said she didn't want to marry at all. Kaho knew better. It would be best to marry a very busy man-- a rich one, if she had to-- so she could have time in the house alone. That would be heaven.

They arrived and were shown in by a very polite footman. The guests were abuzz with the news that their host was nowhere to be seen. Everyone agreed that it was terribly rude, and money or not, there was no reason to treat them this way.

Kaho wasn't particularly interested in meeting Mr. Hiiragizawa, or honestly being at the ball. She did a perfunctory glance at the men present-- none were to her taste-- and wandered out of Nakuru's sight. If done in stages, Nakuru would barely notice at all. As long as she had someone to talk at, she was fine.

There was someone playing piano. For once it wasn't dull Mary, and the player's fingers were lively on the keys. She approached and found that it was a young boy. Perhaps Mr. Hiiragizawa's brother, because he was much too young to be of age to attend balls. His feet barely appeared to touch the foot pedals, but his hands were light and his skill was obvious. He was concentrating, but when she approached, he looked up and smiled.

"Miss Mizuki," he said. "I am pleased to meet you."

There was something old in his eyes that struck her heart, making it beat faster. Her vision blurred a little and she blinked twice, trying to reconcile the image of this boy with the image of the much older man that overlaid him for a moment, a man with the same smiling eyes but heavy blue robes.

"Mr. Hiiragizawa?" she found herself saying, knowing it couldn't be possible, but the boy nodded and went back to his piano playing.

Kaho awoke to the soft strains of Beethoven's Fourth Symphony, played by a boy with fingers lively on the keys, but whose feet barely touched the pedals.

She smiled and rose from her bed, picking up the book she had been reading last night, which had fallen to the floor. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. That book, combined with their late flight (they had landed at midnight), had served to give her strange dreams.

She went downstairs, unbound by corset and the rules of society, to meet the man no longer in want of a wife.