Settling of Scores by firestar385. A Cardcaptor Sakura story.
Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing the Cardcaptor Sakura characters, who belong to CLAMP. Plot and original characters belong to me. None of this is making me any money. Any similarities to other works is strictly a coincidence. All mistakes are mine.
Thank you to my great reviewers. Please continue to vote for whether this should be continued or not.
Sorry for the delay in posting... I'm on vacation right now and this is the first time I've had access to computer for four days!
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Nakuru tapped her finger unconsciously on the small concrete parapet that ran along the entire perimeter of the hotel's roof. The hotel was not as nice as the one Fujitaka and Syaoran had stayed in while in Hong Kong, but at least there was room for all of them on such short notice. Nakuru and Spinel were sharing a small room while their master convalesced in the hospital. She wanted to be at the hospital but Fujitaka and Kaho had insisted that she rest at the hotel so she wouldn't be tired when Eriol did wake up.
Nakuru trusted Kaho and her husband. Even after the school teacher and her master had realized that their feelings weren't true love after all, Kaho had remained close, becoming like an older sister to the teenager. Kaho would come over to the mansion for almost all of the holidays and celebrations. In time, she started bringing her boyfriend-turned-fiancé as well. Nakuru even liked Hakushi, who was a bit older than Kaho. The doctor and psychiatrist never treated Eriol like competition for Kaho's attention. Like Kaho, he viewed the younger male like a little brother. He had even taken it upon himself to introduce Eriol to rugby so the sorcerer wouldn't spend all his free time holed up in the mansion with dusty books.
Nakuru would still laugh whenever she remembered the time she and Kaho had returned to the mansion after spending the day shopping to find Hakushi lazily watching infomercials with the remote in one hand and a can of beer in the other. Next to him on the couch was sprawled Eriol, sleeping off the beer he had imbibed over the course of a thrilling match of rugby on TV. Kaho had been quite upset and it had lead to an argument over how old Eriol really was when it came to alcohol. Hakushi argued that the teenager was actually forty-odd years old and able to make decisions for himself while Kaho insisted that his body was still only thirteen and not ready to be consuming large quantities of alcohol. Eriol had blissfully slept through the entire exchange.
None of this, however, was on Nakuru's mind at the moment. Instead, she mentally berated herself for her short-sightedness at allowing the mad magician to come so close to her master. In her mind's eye she replayed the scene over and over, feeling more guilty each time. She didn't even notice someone approaching her until Yukito sat down next to her, his soft eyes regarding her worriedly from behind metal glasses.
"Did Kaho-san call?" Nakuru questioned, unable to think of any reason why the young man would seek her out otherwise. She and Yukito had never been close.
"Not yet," Yukito replied. "I came to check on you."
"Me? We're not friends, Tsukishiro-san," she reminded him.
"We could be," he said with a shrug. "You always saw me as Yue and a threat to your gaining Touya's magic. I never disliked you."
"I was trying to take away your best friend and lover."
"My biggest wish is to see Touya-kun happy. If he had been most happy with you, I would not have tried to hold him back. I owe Touya-kun everything."
"You're too nice, Tsukishiro-san," Nakuru informed him shortly.
"Thank you, I think," Yukito replied, feeling that her statement hadn't exactly been a compliment.
"Don't you worry that you're going to be nice to the wrong person and it's going to backfire on you?"
"No," Yukito answered truthfully. "Especially now that I am learning more about my other self. My other self is quite suspicious of most people and I respect that. Touya-kun is a very good judge of character, so he would tell me if someone was untrustworthy." It was quiet for a few minutes as the two guardians thought about this last comment. Eventually, Yukito spoke again. "Do you worry about that?"
"I should have," she replied. She sniffled slightly and turned her face away so the young man couldn't see her watery eyes.
"Will you tell me about it?" he asked. "Or maybe you'd like to talk to my other self?"
"No, Yue-san is a smug jerk," Nakuru declared without much heat. "He'd only tell me what a horrible guardian I am and then go off and be self-righteous." Yukito flinched slightly at this description and tried to keep in mind that Nakuru was very upset and stressed and hopefully didn't truly mean what she said.
"I don't think you're a horrible guardian, Akizuki-chan."
"Thanks, Tsukishiro-san, but if you knew…" she trailed off.
"Knew?" he prompted.
"I practically lead that madman straight to Eriol-kun," Nakuru exclaimed tearfully. "I even invited him to meet my master when Eriol-kun was suffering from his most recent attack." She covered her face with her hands.
"How did that happen?" Yukito was stunned at this information.
"I swear I didn't know," Nakuru told him. "I didn't know who he was. Eriol-kun is my most precious person. I wouldn't lead the mad magician to him on purpose. When I saw him in front of the hotel, I didn't know who he was," she cried. "I should have known."
"I'm very confused, Akizuki-chan," Yukito admitted. He reached over to place a comforting hand on her quivering shoulder. Nakuru took a few seconds to compose herself before starting her story.
"Right after Sakura-chan destroyed the shield around the tomb, I noticed the madman Edward Winston fleeing from the area. I set off in pursuit to stop him and bring him to justice for hurting Eriol-kun so much. His back was to me as I chased him in the air. I shot him through the shoulder with one of my arrows to slow him down since he didn't stop when I yelled at him. He fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder.
"It only took me a moment to land next to him. Roughly, I grabbed his shoulder and flipped him over so I could see the face of the man who was trying to kill my master. As soon as I saw his face, I realized why he had looked familiar when I was chasing him. I hadn't known him as Edward Winston, but as Eddie Smith.
" 'Eddie!' I exclaimed in shock.
" 'Nakuru! How did you get here? What's going on? What was that explosion?' He pretended to not know what had just happened and that he had nothing to do with it, but I'm not stupid even if I do act flighty sometimes.
" 'You're the one who has been tormenting my master,' I accused him. I was so hurt. I genuinely liked Eddie Smith, almost as much as Touya-kun. I felt like I had been impaled by one of my own crystals at the betrayal. He must have known the game was up so he stopped acting innocent.
" 'You finally figured it out, Nakuru, or should I say, Ruby Moon,' he sneered. He stumbled to his feet and smirked at me. His look was sinister. 'I had hoped you wouldn't. Now that your master is dead, you could have come to me for comfort after returning to London.'
"I couldn't help myself as I replied, 'I trusted you, Eddie.'
" 'You were foolish to do so, Nakuru.' I felt so heartbroken and betrayed that I could do nothing but watch as he started running again and eventually transported himself elsewhere. I simply knelt there in the snow and tried to breathe."
"I'm so sorry, Akizuki-san," Yukito said sincerely. He learned forward to hug her, a move that surprised both of them. Nakuru returned the hug, glad that she had been able to share her burden with someone else.
"Thank you for listening, Tsukishiro-san."
"Hiiragizawa-san will forgive you, Akizuki-chan. You couldn't have known," Yukito assured her. "He will probably say there is nothing to forgive."
"I can't forgive myself," she wept, pressing her face to his shoulder again. He rubbed her back with one hand until she was able to stop crying. Even when she stopped, she remained hidden in his arms, unable to face the world just yet. Yukito turned his face towards the door to the stairwell. Touya stood there, watching them with a concerned look on his face. Yukito, or rather Yue, had noticed his presence about halfway through Nakuru's narrative but neither thought Nakuru would want Touya to know about her mistake yet.
Silently, Touya pulled open the door again and let it slam shut. Nakuru's head shot up to see who it was. When she recognized Yukito's lover, she pulled away from the boy in question. "I finally found you," Touya commented as if he hadn't been standing there for the last ten minutes. "I was wondering where you disappeared to, Yuki."
"Akizuki-chan and I were having a heart-to-heart," Yukito told him.
"Is everything alright?" Touya asked with genuine concern. He reached the two guardians and knelt down. He studied Nakuru's face closely to see if he could judge her mood.
"It will be," Yukito answered optimistically. Nakuru faintly nodded in agreement.
"Good," Touya stated. "If you're feeling up to dealing with the monsters, we should return to the room. Sakura-chan is impatient to return to the hospital. Otou-san just called. The kid is going to be released this afternoon and the wizard woke up for a few minutes." His good news was greeted with a small glimmer of hope in Nakuru's eyes, even though she felt sure she couldn't face her beloved master right now. She felt too guilty.
"To-ya," Yukito chided lovingly at the use of Touya's "pet" names for the two youngest males.
Nurse Chan was quite frustrated with the "family" of the young English patient in the ICU. Their blatant disregard for the maximum allowed number of persons in an ICU room at one time had been a constant source of confrontation between the nurse and the group. She was sick of telling them to clear out and they were sick of being cleared out. It was made even worse now that the young man had finally awoken. No one wanted to be the last to see him.
She had grown comfortable with the permanent fixtures in the room: the Japanese man, Kinomoto if she remembered correctly, was quiet and his presence seemed to do the Japanese-English boy good; the Japanese woman from England seemed to be the only one truly related to the teenager (what Nurse Chan didn't know couldn't hurt her); and her husband came and went rather regularly. However, the young teenagers and college-aged youths were loud and disruptive and the one Chinese girl in particular was quite stubborn.
Fortunately, the other patient would be leaving that afternoon and Nurse Chan hoped that most of the group would accompany him. At least, his mother, cousin (this she actually believed, since both were Chinese), and girlfriend might return to their hotel.
She glanced down the short hallway and saw through the window that the room was once again holding too many people. With a sigh and a wish for aspirin for her headache, Nurse Chan rose from her seat and went to clear out the room once more.
"Where is Nakuru?" Eriol questioned sometime the next afternoon. He was slowly working on a cup of vanilla pudding which Hakushi had thoughtfully brought for him since the hospital food left much to be desired.
"She's in the waiting room," Spinel answered.
"Why isn't she here?" Eriol persisted, looking between his guardian and friend, Kaho. He turned to look out the window into the hallway, hoping to see his missing guardian. "She isn't so mad at me that she won't see me, is she?"
"No," Mr. Hakushi answered from Eriol's other side. "She is feeling guilty about something and is worried that you will be angry with her." Nakuru hadn't told anyone else after Yukito about her confrontation with Winfordshire.
"I doubt it," Eriol muttered. "Please tell her to come see me. I need to see her." He looked beseechingly at Mr. Hakushi.
"She will come when she is ready," the doctor replied. "Finish your pudding, kiddo."
Eriol set the dessert aside sourly. He wanted to see his guardian. He was ready to find her himself if she wouldn't come to him. He couldn't imagine anything that would keep Nakuru away from him, especially when he really needed her. Nakuru and Spinel had been with him since he first learned that he was the reincarnation of Clow Reed and Nakuru's absence was achingly obvious to the young sorcerer.
"When can I get out of here?" Eriol asked, changing the subject.
"You've only been awake for a few hours, kiddo," Mr. Hakushi reminded him. "It will be a while yet."
"Syaoran got to go to the hotel," Eriol pointed out.
"Syaoran didn't come out of that situation with half as many ailments as you," Kaho argued. "But, if you're feeling that much better, perhaps now is a good time for me to inform you of my feelings towards your sudden departure to Japan."
"I am in the ICU, Kaho," Eriol moaned. "Obviously I am too ill to hear about how disappointed you are in me… again."
Kaho laughed. "Convenient, isn't that, Eriol?" He scowled at her and turned away. His eyes landed on Spinel.
"Spinel, would you please find Nakuru?" he implored.
"She doesn't listen to me," Spinel stated.
"Try?" Eriol insisted.
"As you wish," Spinel agreed grudgingly.
"I'll go with you," Mr. Hakushi offered. Spinel landed in his arms so the doctor could carry the guardian out of the room in order to keep up his guise as a stuffed toy. Once the two were gone, Eriol eyed the distance between himself and the door and Kaho and the door. Since she was seated on the far side of the bed, it would give him a small advantage, but judging by how weak he felt, he would need a huge advantage to make it down the hall before she caught him. Besides, she knew him well enough to watch him closely for any escape attempts.
His hopes were further dashed when a freshly showered Fujitaka entered the room and smiled at his young counterpart. "I am glad to see that you are still awake, Eriol-san." Over the course of time spent in the cramped room, Fujitaka had picked up on Kaho and Richard's less formal address of the younger reincarnation.
Eriol glowered at him in response, not for the name which he was actually secretly pleased with, but for the fact that Fujitaka would also object to Eriol leaving the bed.
Fujitaka didn't even blink. He took his usual seat at the foot of the bed. Eriol's face cleared and he addressed the Japanese man courteously. "Kinomoto-san, would you please go to the waiting room and see if Nakuru-chan is there? Let her know that I wish to see her."
"Hakushi-san is speaking with her. I passed them on the way here," Fujitaka replied. Eriol was beginning to feel like the whole world was against him.
"I've been through hell and back these past few days and I'm trapped in a hospital with wires and needles stuck everywhere and all I want is to see my guardian and no one will help me," he cried with large crocodile tears. Fujitaka, who didn't know Eriol as well as Kaho, looked dismayed and was about to offer to try his own luck with Nakuru, but the school teacher shook her head at him.
"You know that your dramatics don't work on me, Eriol-kun," she told the teenager. "We are trying as hard as we can to get Nakuru-chan to agree to come in here but in the end the choice is up to her."
"My dramatics work on Nakuru-chan," Eriol sighed, his fake tears gone as quickly as they had come. "You don't love me at all, Kaho-chan."
"Not at all," she agreed with a warm laugh. She leaned forward to kiss his cheek.
Mr. Hakushi returned with Spinel and, to Eriol's joy, his errant guardian. Nakuru approached the bed shyly as Eriol watched her progress hopefully. When she reached the side of the bed, Eriol reached out to take her hand. "I'm very sorry, Nakuru," he said in English. This seemed to take Nakuru by surprise. She had completely forgotten her own anger at her master for leaving without telling anyone and getting himself captured by the mad sorcerer.
"Not as sorry as I am," Nakuru countered. She sat down on the edge of the bed.
"We should let them have some privacy," Kaho suggested to the two men. Silently, they left the sorcerer and his two guardians to have their conversation in private.
"Why are you sorry, Nakuru?"
"For helping that madman to get close to you, Eriol," she admitted.
"I don't understand," Eriol said after a brief pause. Her words alarmed him but her expression was one of true repentance.
"Eriol, Edward Winston is Eddie Smith," Nakuru blurted and immediately burst into tears. "The boy I was seeing in London." Everything immediately seemed to make sense to Eriol. He realized that Nakuru hadn't actually invited his tormentor to get close to her guardian but numerous times she had expressed interest in having Eriol meet her current beau. He knew that Nakuru hadn't know who Winston, or rather Winfordshire actually was. When Eriol had met the antagonist at Heathrow, Nakuru hadn't seen him and couldn't have made the connection then.
"It's not your fault," Eriol assured her. "You couldn't have know, Nakuru."
"But if I wasn't so flirty I wouldn't have gotten to know him. When I look back I see all the suspicious things that he did or said, but I was blinded by my infatuation with him. I failed you as a guardian."
"You didn't," Eriol insisted. "I made you like that and I like you like that. Don't blame yourself, Nakuru. You and Spinel have helped me the most since this whole thing started and you two are the only ones I care about being nearby. You're part of me, Nakuru, and I need you, no matter who you like at the time, mad sorcerer or not."
"Oh, Eriol," Nakuru cried. She threw her arms around him and hugged him for all she was worth. Eriol endured the hug until his lungs protested.
"Please don't leave me again, Nakuru. I need you to help me fight off all these well-to-doers who want to keep me trapped in this lumpy bed." This caused Nakuru to laugh tearfully. She wiped at her eyes and bounced up and down on the bed.
"I don't think it's that bad," she joked.
"It is," Eriol promised her.
"Thank you for not being angry with me," Nakuru said seriously.
"Thank you for not yelling at me for sneaking away in Hong Kong. I know that Kaho is more than ready to give me that lecture. Maybe if I pretend to be on my death bed until she forgets I can escape."
"Maybe," Nakuru said with a shrug. "It is Kaho, after all."
Eriol yawned. Having finally seen the one person he truly wanted to see, the adrenaline that had been keeping him awake quit.
"You should lay down, master," Spinel suggested. He landed on Eriol's pillow.
"Yes, you should," Nakuru echoed. Once Eriol was situated in the lumpy bed, Nakuru tucked the blankets snugly around him. She sat down in the chair Kaho had vacated and made herself comfortable. She wouldn't leave Eriol's side again.
tbc…
Let me know what you think and if I should continue. Two chapters to go.