Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura. Hail the beautiful ladies of CLAMP. ::bows and bwaps those who aren't bowing:: So, don't sue me.
For Elizte. You made me happy with your comments about this fic of mine. But I'm still disappointed with what you did to Kai'nee-san. She trusted you. I trusted you. But you betrayed our trust. I'll still be on good terms with you but like what meemee-san and Ate Les said, I will not trust you.
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Chapter 5:
Eriol crossed his arms and gazed outside. He was sitting in the terrace, which opened out to a clearing of trees and gave him a full view of the magnificent lake, shining, in its full splendor.
The lake really did look beautiful, perfect if there was such a thing as perfection. In fact, everything in this little town seemed perfect. It was strange in a way that scared him. It scared him that such a thing as perfection existed. He didn't believe in it, so to speak.
In both his two lives, now and then, he never even encountered something close to this. Surely, he saw great happiness in people but they would soon crumble away or return back to being normal, with troubles in life.
Of course, this world was not exactly what you would call true. It was a figment of Man's imagination that turned real. Tens of thousands of fantasies combined to form one. This was Eden, the place called paradise. And in a way, this was paradise for it contained everything that Man ever dreamed of.
Eriol sighed, stood up and sat on the bed next to Tomoyo's. He felt soft cloth used to cover the mattress. Silky and smooth. He thought, Even this is perfect. Everything here was perfect, down to the last detail. He wanted to stay here forever, wanted to stay as to not be haunted by problems and enjoy his life fully.
But what then? What is life without problems? Without trials in life? They make your life fuller. They make you learn. Who cares if your life was not perfect? Having these things makes life even more perfect. Having a life like these people was… artificial. It was not real, only a fantasy. It would never be real.
He gave the lake outside one final gaze before drifting off to sleep.
Tomoyo opened her eyes to the sound of birds chirping happily under the morning sun. The pain was gone, astonishingly. She could now move her limbs without feeling pain. She about to tell Eriol the she didn't have to go to the doctor anymore, only to find him still sleeping under the covers.
She giggled slightly at Eriol who looked so boyishly cute with his dark hair in a mess. His azure blue eyes opened sleepily to give the amethyst-eyed girl a half-glare for waking him up. He closed them and turned the other way to sleep again.
Eriol sank back to his blissful sleep, drowning himself in the soft mattress. It was such a long time he actually got some decent sleep after the incident with the Sirens. "Five more minutes, if you don't mind, Daidouji-san."
Tomoyo shrugged and went off to the bathroom to bathe and change. Approximately five minutes later, she emerged wearing a white shirt and a light blue skirt, something that was laid out for her by the mistress of the inn. She went over to Eriol and cheerfully pulled down the covers. "Five minutes is up, Hiiragizawa-kun!"
The boy groaned, wiped the sleep out of his eyes and slowly sat up on the bed, disgruntled but he still managed to greet Tomoyo a good morning politely as ever. He stifled a yawn and sleepily went to the bathroom.
Coming out of the bathroom about ten minutes later due to the fact that he spent the other five sitting while sleeping on the toilet, he wore a dark blue robe with many ornate designs and with a large sun and moon blended into it. Obviously, Tomoyo thought, he had changed the clothes that the mistress had given him into something more to his taste.
Everything had gone well that morning. They left the inn without as much as a coin as payment to the mistress. She was just happy to see them looking well and healthy once more. Tomoyo had told Eriol that the muscle pain was gone but all he did was frown. All that was forgotten by the time afternoon came. Let's just say, it was eventful.
"Come back with that, you utterly underhanded thief!" The violet-haired girl angrily shouted after a running brown-haired figure that had stolen her necklace, which Eriol had bought her when they took a leisurely stroll along the stores.
"Calm down, Daidouji-san," Eriol told her. They were now out of all the villager's prying eyes. He performed a spell that sent the brown-haired boy sprawling on the brown earth. Following that spell, Eriol hung the boy in mid-air to prevent him from escaping.
Tomoyo blinked twice at the magic the mage had displayed before running over to the thief who was now praying a dozen Hail Mary's with chattering teeth. When he saw them approach him, he hurriedly dropped the necklace to the ground and begged them not to harm him any further.
"Seeing that you returned my companion's necklace without much of a complaint, I guess not," The blue-haired boy returned him to the ground with a wave of his hand.
The amethyst-eyed girl returned her necklace back into place. It was a simple necklace with a single sapphire, smooth and carved into a flower. She didn't know what was so interesting about it. It merely drew her.
"Say," said the boy while peering at them closely. "You're not from around here, are you?"
"What is it to you, if we're not?" Eriol spat out. He evidently had not a good impression of this boy.
"Hey, hey, no need to be angry at me," The boy uneasily waved his hands in surrender. "My name is Zachary, by the way. I'm nothing more than an ordinary boy –"
"Thief, you mean,"
"You're still sore about that?" Zachary inquired but recoiled once he received two death glares from both Eriol and Tomoyo.
"O-kay. I think I get the message, so I better be hurrying along now…" He gave them an awkward smile and ran off.
Eriol sighed. "Daijoubu desu ka, Daidouji-san?"
"Daijoubu." Tomoyo answered cheerfully.
The pair stared up at the sky. It was sun set already. It looked like they had to spend another night in the little village again. Tomoyo had used too much time in the stores, looking at their lovely trinkets.
"I guess we'll be spending another night in the inn again,"
"I guess…" the raven-haired girl moved her gaze from the setting sun to Eriol. "Why are you looking at me that way?"
"You spent too much time in the shops. By now, we could have reached another city or town,"
"Well, excuse me!" Tomoyo said in mock-anger. Seconds later, she giggled a bit and they headed back to town.
A loud crack of electricity made them halt in their tracks and turn around to see what it was. A small, black vortex was opening above them, crackling with fierce power. The fleeting gale got stronger and circled them; their hair flying in the wind, whipping themselves against the pale faces of Tomoyo and Eriol.
The dark-haired girl backed away but Eriol remained in his place, studying the vortex closely. From the black depths of the eddy, an amber-eyed boy jumped out, smirking. Hundreds of golden, mechanical bugs followed him and the vortex closed.
Eriol hurriedly called out his staff.
"Your staff won't be of any use, human," the boy told him in a cold, calculating voice. "And neither will your magic."
The mage ignored him and sent the boy sprawling towards the ground with a wave of his staff. He stood up with no difficulty, as if nothing had happened. He smirked.
"See? You should have listened, mage. Now, your turn is over. It's my turn now." And he commanded his insects to attack.
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A/N: Hopefully, you don't think of that as a cliffhanger. I am really, really in a bad mood today. So, tell me how you found it. ^-^ Just click the box below and review. Maybe I'll make the next chapter longer. ::shrug:: Up to you.