Disclaimer: I'm sure you all know what I'm about to say, but I better say it anyway so as not to get into any trouble with people at CCS. So yeah, I don't own CCS (I totally almost wrote Pokemon there), but it seriously isn't my fault.

Anyways, today's word is 'I'. As in:

I hate the way you talk to me

And the way that you cut you're hair

I hate the way you drive my car

I hate it when you stare

I hate your big dumb combat boots

And the way you read my mind

I hate you so much it makes me sick

It even makes me rhyme

I hate the way you're always right

I hate it when you lie

I hate it when you make me laugh

And even worse when you make me cry

I hate it that you're not around

And the fact that you didn't call

But mostly I hate they way I don't hate you

Not even a little bit

Not even at all.

I'm trying something new here, so please let me know if it works. Also, I hadn't realized that there was so much interest in this story. I kinda just randomly took a look at my reviews today and noticed there were quite a few in there suggesting that I update this story, so I decided to take a hint. Please enjoy,

Part II: Gossip

Touya sighed as he resisted the urge to just knock his head into his bedroom wall several times. He just couldn't seem to concentrate anymore.

Ever since Yukito had told him about Nakuru leaving yesterday he just hadn't been able to concentrate on anything. He couldn't seem to get her out of his mind.

He just kept on thinking about all the little things about her that he had failed to notice before.

Like the way she would scrunch up her nose ever so cutely whenever she concentrated really hard. And that way she would twirl a strand of her mahogany hair around her index finger carefully rearranging her perfect curls.

Or the way her eyes would light up when she saw him, or when she smiled, or just whenever. How they were this brilliant shade of ruby red that looked deep into his soul, entrancing him.

And her perfect smile that seemed to light up the whole room. The way it would melt his heart and make him feel so special, as if it was especially for him and nobody else.

Although it may seem that way, it wasn't like he had suddenly just realized that Nakuru was gorgeous and all these beautiful qualities about her. It was only now that he knew he was going to loose her that he had stopped to take extra notice, as if he was making sure he would never forget a thing about her.

From the moment he first laid eyes on her there was something entrancing about her that made it hard to look away, but now he didn't want to look away. And even if he wanted to, he was so captivated by her eyes that it was simply impossible.

And then he realized it.

The positively unthinkable had happened. He had fallen in love with Nakuru Azuki and now it seemed that there was no way out of it what-so-ever.

He guessed it was something that was progressing over the years as it had slowly taken longer and longer for him to shrug himself out of Nakuru's over powering grasp, savouring her touch just a little more than he should have been; and it had only taken the thought of losing her to make him admit it to himself.

He could hardly believe it.

Why hadn't he noticed it earlier? Why didn't he read the signs? Why didn't his heart give him any warning? Why didn't someone tell him?

But in a way someone had.

'Dammit, why didn't I listen to Yuki?' he thought to himself.

Yukito seemed to have almost a sixth sense for this sort of thing.

I guess it was a Kinomoto trait, being completely dense when it came to matters of the heart. A trait that most certainly came from his mother's side of the family.

And now, because he was so completely dense Nakuru was leaving and there wasn't anything he could do about it. All because of that damn blue haired freak and his girlfriend.

It was almost as if he was re-living his little sister's heartache. But Sakura had only been about twelve at the time. She didn't understand love or even what was happening to her.

Touya, on the other hand knew exactly what was going on, what he was feeling and why he was feeling it. He was in love and there was no better explanation for it.

And there wasn't anything he could do about the situation.

Even if he did have the chance to call her back, it wouldn't do them any good. He could open up his heart to her, tell her everything he felt deep inside and still she would leave because it was her master's decision and above all else she was taught to obey him.

This time Touya didn't hold back his urge. He slammed his head against his desk – hard – and hoped that all the confusing thoughts would be shaken out of his head. It didn't work, now he just had a headache to make matters worse.

A soft tap on the door interrupted his thoughts and added to the aching pain in his head.

He got up, careful not to move too quickly, and opened the door revealing his little sister ready to play her part in Eriol's little ploy.

She couldn't believe that she had actually let him convince her to help. She hated lying to her brother and he always seemed to be able to see right through her. Hopefully Eriol was right and he would be too overcome with grief to even care.

"What is it Sakura?" he asked waiting for her to speak as he rubbed his head where it had hit the desk. He really hoped it wouldn't be leaving a bruise.

"We convinced Eriol to let us throw a goodbye party at his house in a couple of days," Sakura explained quickly recalling the lines she had rehearsed over and over again with Eriol and Tomoyo to ensure nothing went wrong. "I know you and Nakuru are sort of friends, and I just thought you should know. I'm sure she would really appreciate you being there Touya."

Touya nodded his head thoughtfully and with that Sakura raced back to her room before he really began to think about what she had said.

She couldn't believe it had actually worked. Worse still, Eriol had been right.

She kind of felt sorry for her brother and wished that they weren't doing this to him. Her brother looked so depressed, as if his heart was simply breaking in two and there was absolutely nothing he or anybody else could do about it.

Yukito had mentioned that he and Nakuru had been avoiding each other a little bit almost as if they were trying to save each other any heartache that may come about just from being there. It was obvious that it wasn't doing either of them any good.

Nakuru believed it would make things easier when it came to say goodbye if she began to distance herself and it was easily seen that it was really just making things worse. It would only make things harder when they really did have to say goodbye, something Sakura knew personally.

Part of her was just glad this was all one big hoax cooked up by Eriol. She didn't think Touya would be able to survive Nakuru leaving for real, especially now that he knew exactly how he felt about her.

It felt as though a part of him was leaving too. As if he was losing something important that he'd never be able to restore. There was something about Nakuru that no one else would ever be able to take the place of.

God, she hoped Eriol knew what he was doing.

Eriol sighed as he watched things proceed. For the first time in his life, he was beginning to doubt the brilliance of one of his master plans and the likelihood of its desired outcome.

Nakuru had locked herself in her room hours ago and probably wouldn't be coming out until hours later. He had sensed her change from human form to guardian and he knew her reasoning behind it, but even in an immortal form tears continued to stain her pale cheeks.

It just wasn't quite fair and he knew it. Nobody deserved this sort of torture, especially not her, and it was he who had brought it upon her even if it was for the sake of her future happiness.

And it all confused him so.

He had created her in such a way that she would never be capable of emotional attachments deeper than the utmost respect. It was his way of protecting them from the same sad fate suffered by Keroberous and Yue and yet somehow . . .

Ruby Moon confused him further. Nakuru's tears could be explained, after all she was somewhat human but Ruby Moon was not. No other guardian of his creation or some other sorcerer's had ever shed a tear, and of all the guardians he knew, he had not expected Ruby Moon to be the first.

He sighed once again.

She was always so cold, his humanoid guardian; he could hardly believe she was even capable of emotion, at least not the way he made her. He just couldn't understand her reaction to these events and he needed answers that only she could give him.

'Ruby Moon,' he called out to her in his mind. He could hear her sobbing and knew she was listening. 'Why are you crying?'

Her crying was put on pause for the moment. Eriol couldn't tell if it was to try and make him believe she hadn't been or if she was embarrassed about her tears, or maybe she had simply paused to ponder his question, but it stopped for a few moments while she replied.

'I do not understand Eriol-sama,' she replied in a forced nonchalant tone as she cried silently in her room.

'Whom do you cry for?' Eriol answered rephrasing his question to make its meaning clearer.

He could sense Ruby nodding in understanding. 'I cry for Nakuru master,' she began solemnly, 'who's pain is so great it seems to burn through our very soul tearing us apart inside. And I cry for Touya who only recognizes too late how great a loss he is about to encounter.

'And I cry for myself, Eriol- sama,' she finished off sadly, 'because I only just realize that I too am in love with him and that Nakuru and I are only one person, not the two I had believed us to be.'

"But how?" Eriol asked himself aloud, cutting off the link between himself and his guardian. She needed to be alone with her thoughts and he with his; there were some very important things they both had to come to terms with.

Tomoyo took a deep calming breath and counted backwards from ten as she heard the whispers and giggles around her all concerned with the same gossip that had been going on since yesterday.

Who would have thought she and Eriol would have been such big news? Nobody had stopped talking about them since they had come in and sat on opposite sides of the rooms in fifth period the previous day.

And who could forget the endless gossip in study hall.

"Did you hear about Tomoyo and Eriol?" somebody would ask innocently.

"No, what about them? Is she pregnant?" another would ask curiously wanting to know more.

"Are they engaged?" some other unfortunate who wasn't up to date would ask.

"Are they eloping?"

The moment it was mentioned people came to their own speculations. After all, Tomoyo and Eriol were the 'it' couple; the only two people known in their high school to be more in love than she and Eriol, were Syaoran and Sakura. I guess the thought of the two breaking up was about the farthest thing from people's minds.

"Ok, this is what I heard . . ." would surely follow. Or "I heard from Mandy, who heard from Erika, who heard Angel say to Michael who heard from Bernice who heard Sakura and Tomoyo . . ."

The basic idea of these stories was that Tomoyo and Eriol had gone through some massive break-up at lunch that nobody had actually witnessed them selves but there was always a friend of a friend who managed to get front row seats. And if the concept of the couple voted second most likely to get married and live happily ever after wasn't gossip enough then just wait to you hear the stories of why.

"I heard that she was cheating on him with Li Syaoran."

"Li Syaoran? Isn't that Sakura's boyfriend in Hong Kong?"

"Yeah, I know. What a bitch, huh?"

"Totally."

"No I heard that she had a drug problem and she broke up with him in the middle of the intervention he planned to help her."

"Wow, Eriol is so sweet. He's just trying to help her and she just throws it back in his face."

"The way I hear it the only reason she was even going out with him was so she could screw him."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously, and once she was done with him she just kicked him to the curb like the slut she is."

"Well I heard that some of his investments went sour and he lost like a million dollars or something and she broke up with him because he wasn't rich any more."

"Gold digging whore. Like she hasn't got enough money on her own."

"I bet the whole thing was just some show to her."

Of course she was the bad guy in this whole situation. These rumours were spread by girls and they were too busy idolizing his athletic escapades, toned body and handsome face to see the horns and pitchfork he hid so well.

No matter what, the fault couldn't possibly rest upon him. Eriol couldn't possibly be the one sleeping with his best friend's girlfriend. And he couldn't be the player who was only going out with her to sleep with her, because guys don't do that sort of thing. And Eriol would never touch drugs, half the time it seemed like the only explanation for her boyfriend – heck Syaoran had constantly insisted that Eriol was mixing medications; he said something about Viagra and Ritalin that she never quite understood. And everybody knows that only girls are gold diggers.

No, Eriol couldn't quite come off in this whole thing as anything other than his perfect self, halo and all. And most of all, it couldn't have been a mutual decision because there always had to be someone to blame, and according to the entire female population of Tomeada High School; she was it.

But that was understandable, because there was only one thing on their puny little scandalous minds . . .

"What a bitch! Poor Eriol, I bet he really needs somebody there to comfort him now that he's totally single," she heard uttered for at least the twelfth time that day.

'What evil little backstabbing whores!' she thought to herself angrily as she flicked through the open vogue pattern book for ideas. She just couldn't believe them; she and Eriol had hardly been 'broken up' for twenty-four hours and already they were practically throwing themselves at her boyfriend.

'Ex-boyfriend,' she reminded herself sarcastically rolling her eyes. For his sake, this silly little plan of his better work.

Tomoyo took a deep breath and started counting once again. She wasn't going to let these tasteless tramps get to her. She wasn't going to let them ruin her absolute favourite shopping activity.

She was material shopping for Nakuru's dress; a dress she was yet to design thanks to Eriol's short notice, but a dress all the same.

After some careful consideration and a few glances at the stores varying shades, she had quickly decided against peach despite its symbolism. The colour alone with its resemblance to orange was enough to make her gag, but if you combine that with Nakuru's skin tone, ruby eyes and mahogany hair then you have a fashion disaster waiting to happen.

Anything red was an obvious choice, but in Tomoyo's opinion it was too sexy for a girl in mourning and way too much red for her liking. She got the feeling that Nakuru just wasn't in the mood right now for red, black would probably be more suitable.

So after a few words with Eriol and Sakura she had narrowed it down to a few basic colours: Yellow, perhaps to match Nakuru's bright personality which seemed to be absent currently – she was hoping perhaps the colour would help to inspire a smile onto the girl's unnaturally woeful face.

Blue or Silver or even perhaps a combination of the two because they were Touya's favourite colours. After all, the whole idea of her making a dress was to impress Touya and instigate a confession of undying love out of him.

Purple was another option. The colour would look positively stunning on Nakuru and is said to be the colour of passion to boot. It would really bring out her eyes and the pink in her hair, the fact that it was Tomoyo's own favourite colour only paid a minor part in its nomination.

The final choice was white, the colour of innocence. Maybe with the colour being so often associated with marriage they might be able to get a proposal out of him. Ok, maybe a proposal was pushing it, but she could dream right.

Tomoyo sighed thoughtfully. 'So many fabrics, so little time,' she thought as she scanned row after row of chiffon, silk, velvet and organza looking for that perfect fabric in that perfect colour.

And then she saw them, just sitting next to each other calling to her, telling her that they were it. She knew it had to be fate or destiny that caused this serendipitous act of some ignorant customer to place these two fabrics together. The chiffon and silken fabrics were perfect for one another, they seemed to complement one another in the same way Touya and Nakuru always had.

Tomoyo smiled gleefully as she went to the service counter collecting any necessary thread and ribbons needed for the ideas forming in her head.

She had no idea how they were going to convince Nakuru to wear it but the one thing she did know for sure was that if Touya wasn't already in love with her then he'd be hopelessly devoted the minute he saw her dress, and that was no exaggeration.

– End of Part II –

Right, another chapter up and ready for your consideration. I'd like to send a quick thank you toSockman for their critique as it was very helpful. The whole 'I mean' thing is a nasty habit I picked up from my dairy based fanfics (and there's a few of those) and probably something I need to work on. Thank you, also, to everybody else for their reviews. They were very encouraging.

Also, while I have your attention, I'm trying to force everybody to read my crossover fic More Than You Think You Are. It's a Pokemon/CCS crossover and as soon as I get a sufficient amount of reviews, I'll be putting the Sakura and Syaoran chapter up for your viewing pleasure.