Title: Letting Go (1/1)

Author: anjali-chan

Category: Romance/Supernatural

Rating: PG

Summary: Eriol and Tomoyo connect. "She clung to him tightly, and he reciprocated, each trying to make one out of two, life out of love, love out of life. Only three words were needed. 'I loved her.'"

Warning: Much indecipherable, inarticulate, arbitrary description abounds. ^_^;; Read carefully if you don't want to miss anything.

Feedback: Would be much appreciated.

Disclaimer: CCS doesn't own me, and vice versa.

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Her head rested in his lap, rich dark hair spilling over his legs. He finger combed the wavy locks idly, wondering at the solid beauty of them. They were thick and coarse, yet comforting in that aspect. Glowing lustfully, they felt like strands of satin against his slim, pale hand. But not silk. Never silk.

"Sakura-chan's is nicer," a muffled voice murmured, lazy and melancholy. "Perhaps," he sighed tiredly, leaning back against the firm trunk of the tree. It was cool in the shade, and the soft grass pleasantly soft. The tree they lay beneath was dripping leaves like tears, their hues warm and bright. Many still remained on the tree, many were on the ground, and many were on the pair themselves. He left alone the ones nestled in his own dark bangs, but brushed away the ones in her hair and on her face, trailing his fingers along her delicate cheekbones. Her skin was so pale, nearly translucent. She could be Snow White, a corpse with a barely beating heart, lying in her eerie glass coffin. Was Snow White lonely there, waiting for her prince to come? Or was she perhaps content, and disrupted from her deep sleep by the intrusive young man? He observed the delicate line of her closed eyelid, the eyelashes long and bewildered. Her eyes were always firm and in control, yet her lashes betrayed her. But Kaho - her eyelashes were sultry, sensual; they had made him tremble with fear and desire.

He shifted uncomfortably. Her lifeless silence vaguely worried him. "But then again, perhaps not," he whispered softly. Her stoic visage didn't even tremble, yet his sharp eye detected a slight twitch of her hands, folded on her stomach as they were. He felt slightly relieved. He waited, feeling her response forming the air before the words emerged idly from her lips.

"Hers is auburn and silky, golden honey dripping from the spoon." He felt a trembling in the pit of his stomach, his thoughts flying to the come- hither glance of another silky-haired woman, one who was more like his last existence than he himself could ever hope to be. "Scarlet and silky, like the sun's rays against the moon," he murmured mistily. A light breeze was swirling about, drawing the words from their mouths. Suddenly, they weren't talking about just hair anymore.

"She is warm, like a hearth one might rest before." He barely heard the crack in her voice. He closed his eyes, sensing the raw words forming into a spell that he could not stop, did not want to stop. "She is hot, like a fire beyond my control." The winds were harsh now, drawing up fallen leaves into its whirlwind. They circled in unruly gusts, yet the pair remained unharmed in the eye of the storm.

"She wields the staff that will save us all." Her voice was even softer, if possible, yet he did not have to strain to hear it. The wind seemed to draw his own response unwillingly from him. "She rings the bell that will peal my fall."

Her eyes flicked open in a flash of inky light, and he was mesmerized. In a quick movement she was pressed against him, pinning him to the tree. The whirlwind held them tighter. She sobbed softly into his ear. "She taught me how to live." He wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face in her hair, choking out his response. "She taught me how to love." The tempest was now tugging at their clothes. Her lacy white dress swirled about her legs, and he felt an unnatural pulling on the edges of his navy jacket.

She clung to him tightly, and he reciprocated, each trying to make one out of two, life out of love, love out of life. They whispered in unison, their voices almost soundless, yet echoing in each other's minds. Only three words were needed.

"I loved her."

The winds died abruptly, and their walls finally broke. The orgasmic release of long pent-up emotion wracked his entire body, and it did likewise to hers. The tears coursed from his closed eyes in silent, engulfing waves. They sat there for a long time, relishing the rebirth. Finally, she stirred, stretched, and moved away from him. His eyes opened in surprise, his arms bereft of her warm weight. But she didn't have to see his longing before she was pulling him close again.

She brushed a tear from his cheek, examining the warm drop on her finger like she'd never seen anything like it before. He caught one that traveled from her eye and dripped off her chin, and pressed his prize to hers. Brow furrowed, he blew softly over their clasped hands, and she pried hers away from his to find a tiny tear-shaped crystal nestled in her hand. A silver chain dangled from it, so fine she could not make out the separate links.

She looked at him, merely looked. Her eyes were like amethyst, crystal shards that pierced him to the heart, and sewed him back together again with those slender, skillful hands. Those same hands now caressed his face, before taking off his spectacles. She examined his eyes. They were such a dark, mysterious blue, yet stabbed with shots of silver gilding that beckoned to her. Before she could respond, he had jerked her to him for a fast, hard kiss.

She gasped for breath when he pulled away. He flashed an uncharacteristic grin at her, before hauling her to her feet. He smiled at her, clasping her hands to his breast, and wouldn't let go until she reluctantly smiled back. Unbidden, she handed him the necklace and turned her back. He brushed aside her hair and draped it over her head, connecting the clasp on the back of her neck. She turned, hugged him briefly, and then took his hand. Leading him away from the now leafless tree, she laughed, a brilliant flying sound. It enhanced, rather than broke, their comfortable silence.

"You know I loved her, Hiiragizawa-kun." The avenue was deserted, and the houses lining it were brightly lit. "Yes." His short answer spoke much more, yet it was only she who heard the rest.

"But you loved another also." She said this factually, as both thoughts and emotions had been exchanged in the earlier surge of light.

A pause, then a quiet, "Yes." They walked closely, their steps in time to each other. The golden rays of the dying sun glinted off his spectacles, prompting a wistful sigh from her.

"So it is a good end, I think." The fireflies danced ahead, lighting their path.

"No, Daidouji-san."

She glanced at him in surprise. He didn't look at her, simply grasped her hand tighter and remarked to the orange rising moon, "Merely a good beginning."

*~ oWaRi ~*