Character Profile: Tori Avalon

Tori is Sakura's big brother. He loves picking on his little sister, but inside, he really cares about her. Sometimes, he can be too over-protective of her. He also has the ability to see spirits or ghosts. He used to tell Sakura this when she was little, so it sort of had a reverse effect on her, making her afraid of ghosts. Tori sees his mother's spirit guarding them once in a while.

Tori's best friend is Julian. They are a couple, but not in the English version. Tori knows that Julian is not 100% real human, but he still accepts him. He also knows about Sakura being a cardcaptor, but keeps quiet about it.

There seems to be some controversy as to whether or not Tori and Layla were in love and/or dated. I now believe that this controversy stems from the highly edited version of the show broadcast in the United States on the WB network, where such a teacher/student relationship would not be appropriate for the target demographic.

In the manga, Tori and Layla met under a cherry blossom tree where they talked about a spirit that only they could see. Then later, in class, Tori discovers that Mrs. Mekenzie is his new junior-high math teacher! Even so, Tori fell madly in love with Mrs. Mekenzie, though he did not like to speak of her moving overseas because it hurt to talk of her. She was also in love with him but because of the serious age difference nothing ever happened between them.

In the unedited version of the anime, it is true they did date and she broke his heart when she refused a long distance relationship with him when she went to study in England. It was actually mentioned in one of the episodes that they had a romantic relationship. `

When Sakura goes back in time, she sees Layla and 13 year old Tori talking about how they are going out and how Sakura will start school soon. Then Tori leaves and Layla senses Sakura's presents and tells her to come out of hiding.