DISCLAIMER: I do not own CCS or any of its characters. CLAMP does. This plot is a product of my imagination. Any similarities to other fan fictions are unintentional.
AMETHYST EYESBy bishounen lovah
Chapter 5
They had been on the road for five days now. Today was the sixth day since Keiko Mori was kidnapped. And tomorrow would be their last chance to find the girl alive.
Since they left Tokyo, the silence between Tomoyo and Eriol became more and more unbearable. With each family they visited, they became more frustrated at the way their investigation was going…
Nowhere.
The head of the Tokyo Police Department had authorized this road trip and knew all about Tomoyo's 'gift'. Eriol had no choice but to tell him in order to gain permission to follow this unusual lead. His superior was of course skeptical but he allowed Eriol to bring Tomoyo along with him. He wanted no stones left unturned. He wanted no leads left unexplored even if the lead was something as silly as a dream…a vision.
He wanted his goddaughter back alive.
And so they left Tokyo on the second day. Eriol was assigned to question the victim's families and local police. Tomoyo tagged along to observe and hopefully get a clear vision.
But she couldn't. She tried everything from touching the victim's personal belongings to hugging family members. Not a single vision came to her. All she could sense was the hurt and loneliness and fear that their loved ones felt.
Even in her sleep, there was nothing that could be of help. There were the usual dark room and shadow man but there was nothing new like that dream she had on the afternoon of the first day. All she could feel was the child's growing fear and the man's obsession for amethyst eyes.
Only one more day left and we're still going in circles, she angrily thought.
"We're here," Eriol's voice jolted her from her thoughts.
Tomoyo looked out of the car window and saw that they were parked in front of a highway motel at the outskirts of Tomoeda. The feeling of dread that was steadily building inside her, and which she had stubbornly refused to acknowledge, burst because of the enormous pressure. Her tired face momentarily showed the panic that she felt at being back at the town that had mocked her.
"You don't have to be scared of anything, Tomoyo-chan," Eriol reached over to squeeze her hand in encouragement.
They had long since discarded the formalities of calling each other by their last names. It seemed quite inappropriate to do so when they were closer to each other than they had ever been before. Sure they rarely talked about personal stuff since they were working during the day and could barely keep awake afterwards. But for some reason they did not need to talk. They just have to look at each other's faces and they would know instantly what the other was thinking and feeling.
Just like this very moment.
She squeezed his hand back and pasted on her most courageous smile. They got out of the car and Tomoyo waited for Eriol to fetch their bags from the trunk. She had learned the hard way that there was no persuading Eriol that she could carry her own things. Instead of wasting her energy arguing with him, she let him do as he wishes and walked beside him as he balanced the bags in each hand.
All throughout the trip, they had stayed in places like this. This was all their per diem could afford but she didn't mind. They weren't luxurious but at least they were clean and comfortable.
An old couple greeted them. Eriol asked for two bedrooms only to find out that only one room was available.
"There's a convention in town so all the other rooms are occupied," the old woman explained. "This would be the only room available in the whole Tomoeda since even the fancy hotels in the town proper are fully booked. But you're in luck. Our vacant room has two separate beds so if you don't mind bunking in together…"
Eriol shot a questioning look at Tomoyo. She blushed slightly and then shrugged. She wouldn't mind if he didn't.
"We'll take it," Eriol nodded.
The old man took one of the bags and led the two to their room. It was big enough for the two of them and the bathroom looked squeaky clean.
The moment the door closed behind the proprietor, a sudden tension passed between them. Their gazes met and locked, their eyes flickered with nervousness and confusion. Eriol was the first to break the silence although his sapphire eyes were still locked with her amethysts.
"I'm, uh, going to go get us some dinner. Would you like to come?"
She quickly averted her suddenly panic stricken eyes. "I don't know. I don't think I'm ready to…"
"It's okay. I'm not going to push you if you're not ready. Will Chinese be okay?"
"Chinese will be great," she smiled brightly at him, touched yet again at his perceptiveness and kindness.
After he left, she took the longest shower she had in days, knowing that Eriol would be out for quite a while. She donned on a black fleece jogging pants and a purple baby tee that emphasized the unusual color of her eyes. She had just finished brushing her hair when he entered the room again
.
"What is it? You look like you've seen a ghost," she nervously teased when he just stood there and stared at her in an intense way.
"Just hungry, I guess," he said after clearing his throat. He closed the door and handed her the cartons of food. He shrugged out of his jacket as he turned on the TV before joining Tomoyo on the floor in the middle of the room.
"So how was Tomoeda?" She asked as they opened all the cartons. To be honest, she was really curious at what had happened to her hometown even though she hated the place.
"Same old, same old," he shrugged. "Even with that convention, Tomoeda is still the quiet, boring place it was when I stayed there."
"That's why they love a good scandal. The people there need something to perk up their monotonous lives."
"So you think of yourself as a good scandal."
"Now that you've mentioned it, yes. Funny, huh?"
"Ah. Then the citizens of Tomoeda must be truly grateful to you since you brightened up one point of their lives."
Right now it was she who was grateful to him. Whenever their conversation would veer towards her 'gift' and the humiliation and pain that it had brought, he would be able to replace those negative emotions with confidence and sometimes joy. If she hadn't seen him on TV and went to him for help, she would probably have gone insane from her nightmares.
He doesn't know it but he was her anchor to sanity. Her glow of light in the darkness of her life.
She loves him for that. For his kindness and understanding.
Yes, there was no denying it. Sometime during the six days they spent together, she had fallen hard for him. At first she refused to believe it but as the days passed she could no longer ignore the wild beating of her heart whenever he would smile at her. Could no longer ignore the sense of belonging she feels whenever he would enclose her hand in his.
"So I ran into Syaoran and Sakura," he said cautiously, afraid that she would clam up at the mention of their mutual friends from Tomoeda.
"Oh? Did they recognize you?"
"Yeah, they did."
"What did you talk about?"
"A little bit of this, a little bit of that. I didn't tell them I was a cop though. People usually think that cops are jerks. Why do you suppose that is?"
"I have absolutely no idea," Tomoyo grinned back at him, recalling the first time they met again in the police station after all of those years. They exchanged cartons and ate each other's food. That was one of the comfortable habits they had developed in the past few days.
"Did they mention about me," she asked before her mouth closed in on a chopstick-full of his greasy noodles.
"No."
"Did you mention about me?"
"Did you want me to?" He raised an eyebrow at that.
"No. I miss their company but I don't want to see them. Not until this is all over."
As if on cue, the sounds coming from the TV distracted them. A news flash was aired regarding about the Mori case. Apparently, news about the kidnapping being connected to several missing children incidents had already been leaked to the media. The reporter went on with an account about a serial kidnapper on the loose and the police's incapability of linking the kidnappings together much earlier.
Eriol grimaced at the last part. It was true. If it weren't for Tomoyo they would still be unaware of the other kidnappings. Thankfully, there was nothing in the news about Tomoyo or how the police came to be aware of the other children.
"You don't look too surprised," she observed her companion.
"Not really. I was expecting the chief to drop a hint to the media for the past couple of days."
"But I thought he didn't want to compromise his goddaughter's safety by involving the media."
"You could say that this is the last resort. There's no other choice but to use the media now. Perhaps the kidnapper would do something stupid and expose himself now that he knows that he's found out."
"What if that 'something stupid' is killing the girl?"
"He won't do it. Not until tomorrow. From what you told me of your dreams, the abductor is a fancy man. He'll stick to his pattern. It's a chance we have to take. There's no other choice because we always end up in dead ends. With the exception of Keiko Mori, all the other abductions are witness-free."
"Why do you suppose is that?" Tomoyo wondered out loud. She had been speculating about that for a long time now. "If he's so fond of his modus operandi, why did he change his style of kidnapping?"
"Because unlike the first five, he has some demands now. Remember? His amethyst eyes? He wants those goddamned amethyst eyes."
"But what does it mean?" She sighed in frustration.
"Welcome to the world of police work," he teased to lighten the tension. "It's hard to make sense of something that doesn't have any sense at all. And to think that you people kept on looking down on us measly cops."
"I never looked down at anyone," she replied haughtily although her eyes gleamed with laughter.
After they cleared up their meal, Tomoyo went directly to bed. The moment her head touched the pillow, her eyes closed and promptly fell in a deep slumber. Eriol watched her sleeping figure for a while before taking a cold shower.
~Start of Dream Sequence~
The moment she opened her eyes, she knew that this was different. She was no longer in that small, dark room. Instead, she was sitting on a swing, her feet dangling an inch from the ground. It was a quiet night…a peaceful night. Even though the streetlamps were not working, the moon gave away enough light on the entire Penguin Park.
From the corner of her eyes, she saw something flicker in the woods. Thinking it was a firefly; she jumped off the swing and chased after the flickering light. She had never seen a firefly up close before.
Deeper into the woods she went. She did not stop running until she reached a very small clearing. Suddenly she was scared. The tall trees were blocking out the moonlight. No sound could be heard except for the mournful howl of the wind and the rustle of the trees.
An unexpected movement caught her eye. The shadow man appeared from behind a tree. He held out a hand as if to beckon her. She stared at him for a moment, wondering why she could experience de ja vu even in her dream.
"Come to me."
It was a different voice and yet it came from the same man. The voice was no longer raspy and unnerving. Instead it was deep and mesmerizing.
And mesmerized, she was. She took a step forward to him. And another. And another. She slipped her hand in his and was instantly pulled in a tight embrace.
She was having trouble breathing but she didn't struggle. Not until she heard his next words.
"Such beautiful eyes. Soon you will be mine, my amethyst eyes."
~End of Dream Sequence~
She struggled to get out of the arms that held her. She needed to escape from their death grip. Desperate tears escaped her tightly closed eyelids. It wasn't until she heard Eriol's voice that she opened her eyes.
"Ssshh. It's all right. It's just a dream. He won't hurt you. I won't let him."
Her purple eyes filled up again, this time with tears of relief. She had stopped struggling for quite a while now and was quietly resting against his chest.
"Don't leave me alone," she whispered, scared to have another nightmare.
"I won't," he reassured as he brushed some stray strands of hair from her face. "Rest now. I won't let go."
To be continued…
BISHLOV:
I do believe I gave enough clues already so, more or less, some of you might have already guessed what's the deal with this story. Don't write your suspicions in your review though. It might spoil the fun to those people who haven't connected the dots yet. Anyways, the truth will finally come out in the next chapter so don't miss it. It's bound to be mushy too especially since I ended this chapter with our kawaii lead characters on the same bed together. OHOHOHOHOHOHO!
Don't forget to review, minna, and see you next chappie! Arigatou gozaimasu!