The Snowman and The Swallow

Yupperz! Finally up with the 34th chapter? The end? Most probably…one more chapter to go I think! So sad! This story had come a long way, all the way from August to December! Once again, I would like to thank all of those who had supported my fic from the start till the end and those who came in half-way to cheer me on this fic! The overwhelming reviews had been the thing that motivated me to continue writing eS&eS so I can never thank all of you enough. There are so many of you to thank that I can't name it all. Gomen for that! Demo, I will be adding an extra chapter at the Epilogue for all of you to enjoy. Don't get me wrong, this isn't the LAST chapter yet. So don't cry yet! ..::tears::.. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to Final Fantasy VIII Seifer Almasy, my first idol!

p.s. Eriol has finally melted! Who melted him? TOMOYO, DUH! All the way from the 1st chapter to the 34th! LONG WAY, EH?

R n r, keez?

As always,

Mysterio000

p.s.the almighty one!

*

( Where am I…? )

She looked around. Darkness. She was lost somewhere.

( …Darkness…? )

A blue figure caught her eyes at a corner and she immediately recognized who it was.

( ERIOL-KUN!!! )

She yelled, surging forward to grab that figure but it was beginning to run away.

( ERIOL-KUN! WAIT FOR ME PLEASE! )

But the figure continued to run away.

( Eriol-kun! )

She began to break down in tears when the blue figure suddenly paused in his tracks.

( Eh? )

The blue figure took a step forward, suddenly opening his mouth to speak.

"I won't give up, Tomoyo…Wake up, please…I'll be waiting for you…I'll bring you to Plum Blossoms Valley again…I'll teach you the piano again…I'll tutor you on History and bring you to the fair and sit on the rides again…Just please…wake up for me…"

( Eriol… )

Tears fell from her petal-like cheeks.

( I'll come back, Eriol…But I'm lost…I don't know where to go… )

The blue figure started to run away.

"Tomoyo, I'll have to go for now but just remember that I'll be waiting for you always. Just like the boy who will wait for his swallow until she returns."

( ERIOL-KUN! WAIT FOR ME! )

She raised her hand to grab him but got nothing but air. Her legs immediately moved towards the direction he just ran towards.

( ERIOL! PLEASE! Don't leave me alone in here! )

A tear seeped through her eyes.

( Eriol-kun…I wanna go back…Don't leave me please… )

"Eriol-kun…" A hoarse whisper drifted out smoothly from her lips. The tape in the radio continued its beautiful melodious piano piece, reeling and reeling the tune over and over again.

A tear fell from her eye.

"…Don't leave me…" She let out another inaudible whisper.

*

"HIIRAGIZAWA!!!" Syaoran practically screamed as he ran into the waiting room of the hospital. Eriol was there reading a magazine but it was obvious he wasn't concentrating at all.

He looked up, eyes amused as Syaoran almost flew into the room.

"ERIOL!" He screamed again.

"What!?" Eriol exclaimed, throwing the magazine away, afraid that Syaoran would break a horrid news to him, "Something happened to Tomoyo!?" He asked anxiously.

"YES! SHE'S AWAKE!" Syaoran whooped as he hugged a shocked Eriol, "I LOVE YOU, ERIOL! I LOVE THIS WHOLE WORLD!!!"

"A-Awake?" He managed to choke out, those surprised blue eyes meeting those amber ones.

"YES, YES, YES!" Syaoran screamed again. Eriol stopped, those words registering in his head when his legs suddenly took off for the ward.

"TOMOYO!" Eriol yelled as he dashed into the ward. Syaoran continued to cheer as he stood outside to watch.

*

"Doctor, how is she!?" Eriol had to control himself with all his might to keep from screaming. The doctor smiled as the nurses exited out of the room.

"She pulled through this ordeal. The miracle you had been waiting for days had happened. She's well and fine now. But she needs some time before she wakes up." The doctor said with a grin before exiting out of the room.

"Tomoyo!" Eriol cried out with happiness tracing in his voice. He settled down beside the bed, taking her cold hand in his. But her hand was beginning to get warmer every seconds.

He could feel her fingers twitching and could tell she was struggling to wake.

"Tomoyo, wake up please. I'm so happy that I'm about to jump to the sky now but please wake up so that I can actually do that." Eriol pleaded without realizing he had cracked the first joke in his 18 years of life.

Her eyes moved but that was all.

"Tomoyo! Please! Try to open your eyes! There's so many things waiting for you right now! I'm waiting, too! Please don't let me down!" Eriol tried again, almost to tears once more.

Amethyst met dark azure.

"TOMOYO!" He cried out as her eyes blinked, adjusting to the bright vision before her.

There was silence for a moment when she looked at him again.

Slowly, ever so slowly, she broke into a smile.

"Eriol-kun…"

*

"SHE'S ALIVE! SHE'S ALIVE!" The whole of Shades started running about the whole school wildly, yelling these four words. Though as infamous Tomoyo was in the past, everybody had heard of the touching romance story between her and the 'snowman' who had melted soon enough by the touch of the amethyst-eyed swallow.

"YESSSSSSSH!" Sallie, for once, ignored her flown-in Paris dress and stood on the table of the classroom, cheering on wildly. She was overwhelmed with joy that her once-enemy had returned. She no longer hated Tomoyo now, instead, she had grown to like that girl. To Sallie, Tomoyo was a capable girl, gentle and soft enough to melt those unbeatable icicles of the snowman's heart. And after that long lecture from Syaoran days ago, Sallie had learnt that she had never liked Eriol at all and that she should stop destroying the both of them.

"Hey, Sallie! Aren't you glad!?" A handsome and tall auburn-haired boy asked as he strode into the classroom. Sallie beamed, embracing her new-found boyfriend, "Yes, yes, yes!"

Syaoran was right about it all. The man who was always there for you will be the one you loved in the end. Jacke was there for Sallie all along, when she fell out of love with Eriol, when she was rejected umpteen times. She had finally realized that and had accepted Jacke's love. Those two had been together well ever since then.

Jacke grinned, "Let's go to the hospital sometimes and see Tomoyo, yea?" Sallie smiled, "Good idea. And I want to say thank you to Syaoran and Sakura sometimes, too. I still think that I can never say enough 'thank-yous' to them."

*

A sweet embrace was all that was needed to close the many words between the two of them. Tomoyo looked up at Eriol's warm and smiling eyes and she broke into a soft beam, "Ne, Eriol-kun, thank you so much."

He nodded, dumbfounded. Now that the miracle really happened, those words that he had wanted to tell her suddenly dissolved into nowhere.

"Well…" He started, looking into her earnest eyes, "You said you wanted to protect me…I should be the one to say thank-you. You saved my life but got yours to the edge of falling down the cliff."

She giggled, embracing Eriol, who was the happiest man alive on Earth at the moment just to hear the familiar laughter from the woman he loved again.

"I never regretted it." She whispered when the familiar tune of Once Upon a Time rang in her ears. She let go of Eriol, turning around to see the tape reeling in the radio.

"That song…" She whispered.

"It brought by a lot of memories, didn't it?" Eriol asked, smiling into those amethyst eyes.

"Hai…and so did the blue rose you gave to me." She said, taking the stalk in her hand. "I think it is time I returned you. Thank you for your support." She giggled, hugging Eriol once more.

"It was nothing…" That was all he could say as he embraced her wholeheartedly.

*

"You can get the nurse off her job. I'll take care of Tomoyo myself." Eriol declared to the doctor who grinned, giving Eriol an encouraging squeeze, "I knew that long ago so I didn't assign any nurse to your sweetheart." His heart twitched and his face felt hot, "T-Thank you." He muttered before walking away.

"Oh and Mr. Hiiragizawa?" The doctor called again. He turned around, blue eyes meeting those round brown ones, "Yes?"

"Give me regards to the future Mrs. Hiiragizawa." The doctor beamed before walking away.

Red stains came to his face once more.

"Ah, dang." Eriol muttered but not before a slow smile caught up on his lips.

*

"Here's your apple." Eriol handed her the fruit as he placed the knife down. She eyed it before looking at Eriol, "What?"

"For you to eat. You can't eat heavy stuff yet." He explained. She smiled, "I see. But the thing I don't understand is how come you're looking after me instead of the nurse."

"…I called her off." He admitted shyly, his eyes not willing to look at her surprised ones.

"….And let me guess, you're gonna look after me until I recover?" She asked with a shy yet warm tone.

"That should be it." He shrugged, finally looking up at her.

"You don't have to do that. You still have to finish your daily assignments and projects. You don't have to waste your time looking after me." She said gently, eyes full of love and gratitude.

"I will have the time. Don't worry." He reassured, starting to slice on an orange, eyes focusing on fruit in order to avoid her mesmerizing and shy gaze.

"Thank you, Eriol-kun." She replied with shyness tracing in her voice as she watched on intently as he sliced on the orange for her.

"…And…" He started again, "And I want to see you recover before my eyes." He looked up with the same flushing face.

She looked surprised before she broke into a giggle, "You look cute with those eyes." She commented, oblivious that the previous comment created many red stains on his face.

"But anyway, thank you so much." She said sincerely, "Those words mean a lot to me."

He nodded earnestly, handling her the orange. He suddenly broke into a smile, "Interested for a stroll at the garden later?"

She smiled, "Hai."

*

"Have you told her you love her?" Syaoran questioned as he and the blue-eyed boy stood at the corridor outside the hospital.

"…N-Not at the moment." To which Eriol replied with shy eyes.

"Why not?" Syaoran asked, amused.

"…I…I can't find the courage." He admitted.

"Hmm…Just do it as soon as possible, yah? I really want to see the two of you end things sweetly and lovingly." The once-matchmaker commented.

Eriol smiled, "I will. I promised I won't let her go once she wakes up. That is a promise and I won't break it."

"Glad to hear that."

"And…"

"Yeah?"

Eriol's gaze landed on Syaoran's questioning one.

"Thanks for being a great friend."

The amber-eyed boy grinned, "It was nothing."

"But…thanks anyway." Those blue eyes were full of sincerity and friendship.

Syaoran chuckled, wrapping a friendly arm around his roommate's shoulder, "Yup. You're welcome in all ways."

Eriol smiled as the two blossomed friends made their way back to Tomoyo's ward.

Sometimes, it really rocks to have a humorous yet loyal friend who stood by you all the way through ups and downs. And Syaoran was definitely one.

**

END OF CHAPPIE!!!

Wasn't Eriol and Tomoyo soooooooooooo sweet in here? Aw, I finally got this WAFFY chapter up! Cute, eh? My whole leg was shaking with excitement as I write the parts where Tomoyo wakes again. WHOPPEE! Aren't Syaoran and Eriol so goooooood friends? I really admired this kind of loyalty and friendship! Well, that's all for today's chappie. Watch out for the next one four days later! *If you're observant, you should noticed by now that I update 4 days later unless something crops up disastrously.* HOPEFULLY NOT!

Niway, spare the WAFFyness of this chapter but hope you enjoy anyway.

R n r!

As always,

Mysterio000

p.s.the almighty one!