Last Time: Eriol came back to Japan…and had his heart broken when he saw Madison and Tori kissing by the front gate. Dejected, Eriol went back to his apartment. Kero knew there was one thing he could do to help. He could try to talk to Eriol, but that meant…following Suppi home. And how would he explain that to…Sakura and Li?


Making A Choice: Part 4


Kero didn't know why he wasn't surprised to find Sakura and Li kissing in the dark. It seemed so routine by now. All he could do was turn on the lights…which didn't sit too well with the loving couple.

"Kero! Turn out those lights!" Li shouted.

Kero sweatdropped. "Are you two going to be at it all night?"

Sakura looked up at the clock. "You're right. It IS getting late. I think it's time for me to go home."

A warning bell rang in Kero's head. He realized he was throwing a monkey wrench into his own plans. He had to stall Sakura a little longer…

"Um…it's not THAT late," Kero backtracked. "I think you two could have a few more minutes. But…I'd better go. I still need…some fresh air."

"Is something wrong, Kero?" Sakura asked.

"Uh, no, no," Kero exclaimed. "I…just need to clear my head. I'll tell you what. I'll meet you home. Just don't lose track of time."

Sakura pondered that. Kero knew it sounded strange to ask Sakura to meet her home. They always traveled together. But this was different. Kero had to go talk…to Eriol. And he knew of only one way to do that. Kero went over and knocked on the bathroom door.

"Keep it quiet out there! I'm trying to read!"

"Suppi, it's me," Kero called out. "Come out here. I need to talk to you."

The bathroom door opened and Suppi stuck his head out. "What is it?"

"Um…you know, Suppi…we haven't talked in the longest time. I mean, how long has it been? Seven years? We have a lot of catching up to do. And we should do that outside."

Suppi wasn't sure about that. "You want me to go outside with you in the state you're in?"

"Just DO IT!" Kero snapped. Then he caught himself before it looked bad. "Because I really want to…catch up. Um…Sakura…I'll be talking to Suppi. So I'll meet you at home whenever you're done. Just…enjoy your time with Li." Then he added one more thing. "Oh, and I saw Madison walk in. But I saw her go straight to bed, so this might not be the best night to talk to her. In fact…that's why Eriol went home."

That got Suppi's attention. He looked incredulously at Kero, but Kero just made a motion to not say anything.

Sakura was about to say something, but Li hushed her by putting his fingers to her lips. "Don't ask. We don't need Eriol here. Let's just enjoy this." Li shot Kero a cold stare. "Well, are you leaving or not?"

Kero decided that now wasn't the best time to get into it with the brat, so he just grabbed Suppi by the arm and flew out the window. It was a long two minute flight to Madison's front gate, but when they got there, Kero landed.

"I hope there's a good reason you brought me out here," Suppi said. "I probably should go find Eriol."

"I told you he's gone," Kero told him. "He went home."

"Huh? That can't be right," Suppi said skeptically. "Eriol wouldn't leave without me…would he? Not unless…Kero, what happened?"

Kero let out a long drawn out sigh. "I'll tell you everything while you lead me to his apartment."


~--------------------~


As good as it felt to have Li's lips on her own, Sakura wasn't in the mood for this anymore. This was getting too weird. So she just turned her head as Li was moving closer and turned on the lights.

"Is something wrong?" Li asked.

"Li…does it feel like we're missing something?" Sakura replied.

"Yeah," Li agreed. So he turned out the lights.

Sakura let out a quick huff and turned the lights on. "I don't mean THAT! I mean…you think there's something going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"Something we don't know about? You think something's wrong…between Madison and Eriol?"

"Why do you say that?"

Sakura paused for a moment before going on. "If Eriol went to wait by the front gate…wouldn't he have seen Madison come in? And if Kero saw her go up to her room…wouldn't he have said something about Eriol waiting for her? I know she would have been down there in a flash. We wouldn't be able to pull them apart, but…instead…I don't know. I think there's something wrong."

Li then read Sakura's mind. "You think Kero has anything to do with this?"

"With the way he's been acting?" Sakura answered. "I have a feeling he DOES know something."

"Maybe…" Li said skeptically. "But really, Sakura. What could he possibly know? It can't be anything THAT important."

Sakura breathed a deep sigh. "I guess you're right." Li tried to move in for another kiss, but Sakura stood up. "I'm not in the mood anymore. I…just want to go home right now." Sakura walked straight to the door. "I'll call you tomorrow."

Li was obviously disappointed. He turned the lights back on. "Yeah…good night."

Sakura hated to end the night on that note, but she couldn't get this out of her mind. Was anyone hiding anything from her? What was she missing? It couldn't be anything big…could it?


~--------------------~


"So what aren't you telling me, Kero?"

It was about the millionth time that Suppi asked that question and it was beginning to irritate Kero. The yellow guardian beast had enough running through his mind. He didn't need Suppi nagging him the whole way.

"What's got you so quiet?" Suppi asked. "Usually you never shut up. What am I missing?"

Kero didn't answer. He just looked up at the three story building in front of him. "Is this the place?"

"That's the one. It's our new home. Granted, there's not as much room as I'd like but…Kero? Wait for me!"

Kero didn't wait for Suppi to keep blathering on. He just flew in right through the window. It was there that he found an old friend. In a long shirt and jeans and her hair hanging down, there was Nakuru.

"Kero! I haven't seen you in years!"

Nakuru was getting emotional over the sudden reunion. But Kero couldn't take a reunion right now. His conscience was bothering him and he needed to do something about it.

"Nakuru…where's Eriol?"

Nakuru frowned. "As soon as he came in through the door, I asked him how everything went. He didn't say anything and just went into his room and shut the door. Kero…what happened? Madison didn't…dump him, did he?"

"NO!" Kero snapped. Then he calmed himself. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little edgy. Some of this might be my fault."

"It's not your fault, Kero," Suppi cut in. "Believe me. I had a feeling something like this would happen."

Kero blinked. "Yeah…well, anyway…I need to talk to Eriol. You said he was in his room?"

Nakuru nodded and led Kero towards a door. Nakuru knocked on the door and got a sour reaction.

"I said leave me alone!!"

Nakuru took a step back, but Kero couldn't take a hint. He landed and gently pushed the door open a bit. Then he went in and flew up to the light switch. He turned on the lights to find Eriol despondently looking out the window.

Eriol was about to snap. "I said…!" Then he found the yellow guardian beast. "Kero…what are you doing here?"

Kero had to do this gently. He couldn't mess this up anymore than it already was. "Eriol…I…" Then he looked behind him to see Suppi and Nakuru peeking in. "This is private! Get out!" Kero walked over and pushed the door shut. Then he flew over next to the sad reincarnation. "Where was I? Oh…yeah…Eriol, I know that must have looked bad."

Eriol glared at him. "No…you think? Why would you think that? Just because the one girl I've loved more than anyone was kissing someone else?"

"Eriol, you don't understand…" Kero began.

"No, I understand perfectly," Eriol cut him off. "I've been away for far too long. Suppi was right. I should have stayed in touch. I shouldn't have believed that Madison could wait for that long without hearing from me. I thought the phone was an expense I could easily live without. It's too bad that wasn't the case.

"I didn't think she'd fall for anyone else. I especially didn't think she'd fall for…Tori of all people."

Someone gasped from behind the door. Kero groaned. "Nakuru! I told you this was private!"

Silence from behind the door. It was no secret that Nakuru used to have a thing for Tori. She was really attached to him, and sometimes just looked like a stalker. It often gave Tori headaches.

"I probably should have seen it coming, though," Eriol continued. "She just…forgot about me."

Kero put a gentle paw on Eriol's hand. "She hasn't forgotten. There's no way she could forget about you."

"They why'd she do it?" Eriol asked.

Kero gulped when he thought of the answer. "Well…a few months ago…something just happened. Madison didn't mean for the first kiss to happen…it just did. But when Tori kissed her, she felt something. Something she hadn't felt…since she kissed you. So she felt really confused and then she talked to me. She didn't know whether to keep her promise to wait…or go with Tori. And…without thinking…I might have…sort of…told her to go out with Tori."

Silence.

Something began to snap in Eriol's head. The eyes behind those glasses began to ignite in a fire of rage. Eriol reached out and picked up Kero…and then held him over the edge of the window. Kero looked down and saw that it was at least a three-story drop. Kero turned his head to see that Eriol was absolutely enraged.

"So let me get this straight…she WANTED to wait for me! She didn't forget about me! All that other kiss was, was a temptation! She could have overcome it! But NO! YOU had to open your big mouth! Why couldn't you just keep your mouth SHUT?!"

Kero stammered amidst his defense. "You should have seen her, Eriol. She was just so sad and confused. And I didn't really know if you were coming back. And I thought what she felt for Tori was just a little infatuation. I didn't think it'd last for six weeks."

"SIX WEEKS?!"

Kero gulped. He was surprised that Eriol didn't drop him right there. "Um…yeah…six weeks."

"So that's it, huh? One kiss, one date, and six weeks later Madison forgets all about me! All because YOU couldn't keep your mouth shut! This is all YOUR FAULT!"

"No it isn't, Eriol. It's yours."

Kero looked over at the door to see Suppi and Nakuru standing there. Even in his precarious position, Kero still managed to be indignant.

"Hey! I told you two this was private!"

Suppi scoffed. "Oh, excuse us. I'll remember to let him drop you next time."

Kero remained cool. "Hey…I could always fly, you know."

Eriol still had a scowl on his face. "My fault? How could you say such a thing, Suppi?"

"Because it's true," Suppi answered. "How long has it been, Eriol? Almost six months since Madison came all the way to England to look for you? And what happened when she found you? You said you'd come back to her. But come on, Eriol. You never even bothered to pick up the phone after that day."

"I tried," Eriol stammered. "But…I was just so busy, you know…working around the clock…trying to get enough to go back to Japan…"

"That's no excuse, Eriol," Nakuru snapped. "You haven't contacted her at all since that day you two reunited in London. What did you think would happen? Did you think she wouldn't start to wonder if you really cared about her?"

"But I DO care!"

"Madison doesn't know that," Suppi continued. "If she did, then maybe she wouldn't be going out with Tori right now. Face it, Eriol. This could have been avoided. All you had to do was keep in touch. But now she doesn't know about you anymore. Had you just kept in touch, she wouldn't have been confused at all. She wouldn't have given Tori a second thought. But you had to learn the hard way."

Suppi's words were harsh. But from the look on Eriol's face, they looked to be the right words. Eriol brought Kero back in and set him gently on the bed.

"He's right, you know," Eriol told Kero. "This IS my fault. What kind of man am I that I couldn't even make a phone call? All I had to do was just keep in touch. If anything, just to see how Madison was faring. Instead, one kiss turned her world upside-down. You're right, Suppi. There should have been no confusion. Even one 'I love you' would have been enough. But I messed up. And now…she's forgotten about me. She doesn't care about me anymore."

Kero looked up into Eriol's eyes. "That's not true. I talked to her. She still cares about you, Eriol. She didn't want to hurt you. She cares."

"Maybe she cares…but does she love me?"

Kero took a deep breath. "I'll be honest. I don't think she knows. I think she's still confused. She's still thinking about whether she loves you…or Tori. In these last few weeks, they've become a lot closer than I thought they'd be. I think she does feel something, but I don't think she's sure. Madison doesn't know who she loves right now: you or Tori?"

Kero expected to see another dejected sigh. That's not what he got. Instead, Kero saw a determined expression grow on Eriol's face. He saw a glimmer of hope in his eyes. And then…he saw that trademark evil smirk, that everyone knew, start to widen.

Kero didn't know what to think. "Um…Eriol…?"

"So Madison's confused, is she? In that case, maybe all is not lost. Maybe I'll have to help her. I have to help her see that she loves only one man…and that's ME!"

"But she doesn't even know you're back yet," Suppi pointed out.

Eriol's evil smile remained. "Then I'll have to pay her a visit tomorrow. When she sees me, I'm sure she'll remember everything we've shared. I'm sure she'll remember that she loves me."

Nakuru sweatdropped. "Why am I not sure about this?"

By now, Eriol was pushing everyone out the door. "Ok, everyone out! I have a lot of thinking to do! Out, out, out!"

Everyone was pushed out and the door closed. Nakuru, Suppi, and Kero all stood near the door sweatdropping. Kero had unknowingly lit a fire under Eriol. Eriol loved Madison and it looked like he wouldn't lose her without a fight.

"Do you think everything will go the way Eriol hopes?" Suppi asked.

"I don't know," Nakuru responded. "Speaking from personal experience, Tori's quite a catch. I don't see how Madison could resist him." She chuckled. "I know I couldn't."

Kero could only think one thing. "I've got enough weight on my shoulders. I just hope my part in all this is over. Now it's between Eriol and Madison."

"You think Sakura and Li could stay out of this?" Nakuru asked.

Kero sweatdropped. "Actually…they don't even know about any of this."

Of course, Kero knew that he couldn't keep Sakura in the dark forever. And when Sakura did find out, it would be almost a sure thing that she would get involved…but for whose side: Eriol's…or Tori's?


Next Time: A reunion! Eriol and Madison will reunite again. But will it be the heartwarming reunion like last time? Or…will there just be more confusion? Come back to find out!


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