Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura and all its characters belong to CLAMP. The same ladies who came up with the recent Code Geass, which my friend likes to enthusiastically call Code Gay-ass. Wonder where that came from… Well in any case I heard that it was good angsty, emo fun. With mecha and guns and magic powers and hinted (or maybe not so hinted) shounen-ai. Well it is CLAMP after all. Give it a spin.

Chapter 03

She dreamt.

For three nights she dreamt of a suffocating darkness and a light that would unfailingly follow. The voice of her mother, gone from her too soon, echoed in her mind.

A comfort and a warning.

And now Tomoyo was curled in Sakura's living room couch, preoccupied with dreams. She would never make the same mistake of thinking her dreams as meaningless. The last time she did cost her dearly and she felt that she was still paying for her negligence. One night, in her dreams, she saw her mother die, watching as her mother's car burst into flames before her, and she, helpless to do anything about it. Tomoyo awoke crying out for her mother and sweat covering her face. Sonomi Daidouji had been on a business trip for a few days, and shaken from her haunting nightmare, Tomoyo had called her mom just to make sure that she was safe. The relief of hearing her mother's voice was enough to ease Tomoyo, allowing her not to worry for the rest of the night and the following day. She thought that she was overreacting. It was only a dream after all. But the following morning, a phone call came, one that told her that Sonomi's car had run off of the road, flipping over before catching flames. She had died at the scene of the accident.

The following days were the darkest of Tomoyo's life.

She went through the daily motions of life without really living, like a puppet on strings. In truth, she was completely inconsolable. Even now, whenever she thought about it, her heart would sink a little from the lingering sorrow that was not completely healed. Sometimes she wondered if it ever would. At least it was bearable now. When did it start to heal?

She seemed to recall it becoming less suffocating when Eriol had re-entered her life. Coming back from Europe, he decided to set up his home in Japan where he spent a lot of his childhood years. In fact, he had attended the same elementary school as Tomoyo and Sakura. When was it that she started noticing him? There was no pin pointing the exact moment. He just seemed to always be there. Eriol Hiiragizawa was not the talkative sort. There were a few moments that she recalled where he just stood beside her, not saying anything. Strange that some of those moments where he just happened to be there were when the memory and the loss of her mother seemed too much to take. All coincidences, surely.

"Care to share?"

Sakura walked in with tray with a plate of blueberry muffins and two cups of tea. After placing them down on the table, she sat down right next to Tomoyo, curling her legs underneath her and resting her head on Tomoyo's shoulder. Her chain of thoughts broken, Tomoyo turned to look towards Sakura who had taken to nibbling on one of the muffins, her head still resting on Tomoyo's shoulder. Sometimes Sakura seemed like a little girl. No one would ever imagine that she was literally a force to be reckoned with.

"The muffins?"

"That's a given. I was talking about whatever it was that you were pondering just a few moments ago."

"Eriol Hiiragizawa." Sakura started coughing all of a sudden, spewing crumbs on both their laps.

"Sakura!"

Tomoyo gave Sakura's back a couple of hard pats.

"I'm okay. Really." She replied after drinking some tea. "Give me a few more sips of this and I'll be fine. I'm sorry. I just never expected you to go honest on me all of a sudden."

Tomoyo gave her a playful smack on the head as a reply.

"You flatter me, you really do."

"No, but really…" This time Tomoyo took one of the pillows and started hitting her over the head. Sakura started laughing while trying to defend herself.

"Really, listen to me!"

"Some friend you are. How would you like it if I disowned you? Huh? Huh?"

Tomoyo's stern face was starting to crack and she joined Sakura in the laughter. By now, Sakura was laughing so hard, that she had rolled off of the couch and on to the floor.

"Will you just put down your weapon and listen?"

Tomoyo stopped her assault, looked down at Sakura and promptly dropped the pillow right on top of her laughing face.

"Sorry. That came out wrong. But what I really meant to say was that I'd usually have to poke and pry stuff out of you. And if it was about a man, then it becomes like trying to drawing blood from a stone."

Sakura sat up, but stayed on the floor, resting her head on Tomoyo's lap, smiling as she looked up at her cousin. Tomoyo feigned an exasperated sigh.

"All right, I won't disown you."

"Like I'd let you." Tomoyo played with Sakura's hair for a few moments before Sakura spoke up again. "Ne, Tomoyo."

"Hm?"

"You still don't remember anything do you?"

A sigh was all the answer that she received. A few seconds passed before she asked,

"You can tell me, can't you, Sakura?"

"I can. But I'm scared."

"That bad?"

Sakura did not say anything. Instead she reached for Tomoyo's hand and held it tightly. The house was empty save for the two women, and neither of them spoke. A mutual silence enveloped them, for being joined with bonds stronger than friendship, words are not always needed.

The quiet was broken by the sound of someone knocking at the door.

"Eriol."

Tomoyo was stroking Sakura's hair with her free hand as she stared out the window, which looked out into the backyard. Yet, even as she said his name, she did not flinch. There was not even a hitch in her breath. It rolled off of her tongue as smoothly as the melodies that she's been known to sing so beautifully. Sakura looked at her, her brows burrowed together in concern. The fact that Tomoyo was not even surprised that she knew who was at the door shook Sakura a little bit. As far as either of them knew, Tomoyo had no magical gifts save for her minimal ability to be able to mentally communicate with Sakura so long as Sakura was the one who initiated the link.

"What is it?" Tomoyo asked, upon seeing the strange look that Sakura was giving her.

Her cousin shook her head in response.

"Hm hm." She stood up, giving Tomoyo's hand a last squeeze before heading for the door.

When Sakura opened the door, sure enough, there stood Eriol, towering over her, as usual, impeccably dressed, as usual. He put a hand on her head, a brotherly gesture, one that used to annoy her. But somehow, this time, it was comforting. She remembered that she could have lost him as well in that little place of hell where Tomoyo had been kept. Remembering the distasteful memory probably showed on her face for Eriol bent to her eye level, his head tilted to one side, a questioning glint in his eyes.

"How are you, Sakura?"

"I certainly hope that that's a rhetorical question."

"Of course." He wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. To Eriol, Sakura was family, another sister to add next to his eccentric Nakuru. He did not like seeing that worried expression on her usually animated face. "It'll be okay, you know."

Sakura stepped back and gave him an amused look.

"Listen to yourself. You're the one who can't remember anything. I should be the one saying that."

He gave her a smile.

"And right you should." Closing the door behind him, he asked, "Is Tomoyo here?" Sakura looked at him, an eyebrow raised.

"You know she is."

"What?"

"She knew you were at the door."

"I see."

"You don't look so surprised."

"Not really."

"Why is that?"

The ringing of the phone interrupted their conversation. Sakura began to head for the phone in the kitchen.

"You can answer me later. Go on ahead, Eriol. She's in the living room."

Tomoyo was still in the same place on the couch, her legs curled under her, her gaze somewhere beyond the window. She did not seem to notice him until he was standing right in front of her.

"Funny how you can tell that I am at the door, but when I'm right in front of you, you don't seem to notice." She looked up at him, and for a moment he saw something in her eyes, a haunted look. But it was gone before he could delve deeper into it.

Tomoyo's head was pounding, a pain that came rushing out of nowhere a few moments after Sakura left her to get the door. She tried to ignore it but it would just get stronger.

"I'm sorry, I got this horrible headache all of a sudden. I was fine all day, but now…"

All of a sudden she stopped talking. Eriol saw her expression change, becoming blank and inanimate like a porcelain doll. Her eyes began to change color, turning into a grayish black, overtaking her vibrant violet-blue irises before her eyes closed and her entire body limply fell over. There was not even any time for Eriol to react because just as instantly as she lost consciousness, she jolted awake. Her eyes back to their natural color, but filled with so much pain that tears began to trickle down her cheeks. She turned to look at Eriol who had knelt down beside her, her eyes were wide with fear, her complexion, pale. For a few seconds there was nothing but absolute silence.

And then Tomoyo screamed and screamed.

A sound so tormented and distressed Eriol felt it pierce his soul.

Tomoyo grabbed her head with both hands and looked like she was trying to pull her hair out. She rolled over and would have hit the floor if Eriol wasn't already on one knee beside the couch. He attempted to try and hold her still so she would not hurt herself. Sakura ran into the room, fear all over her face. She had heard Tomoyo's shattering scream and came running into the living room to find Tomoyo thrashing in Eriol's arms.

"Eriol, what's happening?!"

"I don't know."

He somehow managed to get her back on the couch and pinned both of her arms to her side with his hands. There were scratch marks on Eriol's neck and arms. But what scared Sakura the most was the fact blood began to trickle out of Tomoyo's nostrils.

"Hold on to her legs." Eriol's voice was calm and controlled, which was good since Sakura would have broken down into a million pieces if this happened while she was the only one with Tomoyo. She watched him as he focused back on Tomoyo's face.

"Tomoyo." She had stopped screaming, and began trying to suppress the pain by biting her lips until they began bleeding.

"Tomoyo. I know you can hear me. Listen to me, listen to my voice, darling. Shhh, it's okay."

"Help me." Her voice was coarse and raw from the screaming. Her cheeks were stained with tears.

"I know it hurts, sweetheart, but you have to focus. Look at me, just look at me." Eriol felt like something inside of him was being torn to pieces on seeing Tomoyo in so much agony. He used the link that was between them and entered her mind. Immediately he was bombarded with the pain that Tomyo was suffering. He quickly started erecting protective walls around her mind, driving away the strange darkness that seemed to be trying to take over her psyche. However, to his frustration, he found that he could not destroy them, only contain them in the corner of Tomoyo's mind, entrapping them with one of his powerful spells. Eriol was vigilant and thorough in his task. He would not see Tomoyo subjected to such agony again. But the fact that he could not destroy whatever it was trying to take over Tomoyo disturbed him. When he was sure that he did all that he could, he put Tomoyo into a deep sleep. But before he was able to do so he heard her voice. Faint, barely a whisper. It was like feathers brushing along his skin.

'Thank you.'

Eriol looked down at her now sleeping face, her eyelashes still wet with tears, her forehead and hair damp with sweat, her nose and mouth stained with blood. He felt like tearing something to pieces, but instead cursed low and long.

"Is she okay now?"

Eriol looked up to see Sakura still at the foot of the sofa. She had let go of Tomoyo's legs when Eriol began calming her down, but she kept a hand there, needing the contact. Her eyes were brimming with tears that she refused to let flow.

"She's okay now." His voice was steady and cool. His cursing was the only thing that gave away his distress to Sakura.

"But for how long?"

Eriol lifted her into his arms holding her close.

"I put up walls around her mind and trapped whatever the hell it was that did this too her, but I couldn't destroy them. She will be fine so long as her mind is always open to mine. If our connection is severed, the spells will crumble. I assure you, though, whoever did this will be long dead before I ever let that happen."

"In other words, her mind will have to be open to you at all times, and vice versa, until then?"

"That is so."

"She's not going to be happy with that."

"She doesn't have a choice in this matter."

He turned and headed towards the hallway intending to bring Tomoyo to her room.

Sakura has heard that tone of voice before. It basically meant that Eriol's word was law. Tomoyo could fight him on it until her voice was hoarse and still she will not win. Before he was completely out of the living room, he turned his head slightly to the side and spoke.

"I know it's sooner than you probably would have liked, but when Tomoyo wakes up, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to help try to restore our memories."

And then he was gone.

Even though Eriol had used the word "ask", Sakura knew all too well that he wasn't really asking.

tsuzuku

Author's Note:

I am going to try, try, try to get this story finished with (between) 10-15 chapters minus the prologue. crosses fingers
And hopefully I will try to finish it before the New Year. crosses fingers and prays Hmm, maybe I should also go and through some coins at the temple…
In random news, it is the MIDDLE of September and here in the fair prefecture of Yamagata, I'm still using my AC!! Oi vay...