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 EYES
By bishounen lovah
Chapter 9
The painful throbbing of her head woke her up. Tomoyo forced herself on a kneeling position, all the while rubbing her temples to ease the pain. When it became more or less bearable she started to look around, eyes growing more accustomed to the pitch-black surroundings.
It didn't take long for her to realize where she was. The darkness itself was familiar, what more of the room? It was how she remembers it from her dreams. The room was small and bare. Nothing else could be seen except for the four cement walls, an old wooden staircase, a slightly putrid urinal on one corner and a tall bookshelf against one wall.
She walked towards it, knees wobbly from lack of energy. The shelf itself was empty except for a covered bulky area. She knew what was hidden there...knew that underneath the cloth were the amethyst eyes that the madman had collected from the little girl's bodies. She started to reach out for the cloth with shaking hands but stopped halfway through.
She was not ready to come face to face with her guilt. Those girls suffered because of her...because they were unfortunate enough to have the same eye color as hers. It was not the morbidity of dissected human eyes that prevents her from reaching out, although she had to admit that it was way beyond her liking too. It was because she didn't want five pairs of eyes staring at her, boring into her soul.
Five girls! Where's the other one? Keiko!
She whirled around, wincing once at the twinge of pain in her head, and looked from left to right, squinting her eyes in the dark. She heard rather than saw the movement. She walked slowly to the stairs, stumbling over the chair in the middle of the room. Crouching low, she peered at the small space between the staircase and the wall.
Sure enough there was a shaking bundle underneath, squeezing her body against the wall. It was as if the girl was trying to disappear in the shadows.
"Hey there. Don't be frightened. I won't hurt you." Tomoyo made sure that her voice was as soft and soothing as it could be, not just for the child's sake but also to not catch the attention of the perp. The poor child had been through enough and didn't need any more fright to strain her nerves.
The shaking had stopped but the girl was still curled up in a tight ball and won't look at her. Tomoyo's heart started to wrench again in guilt. Keiko Mori wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for her. She should be with her parents, playing in the backyard or sleeping soundly on her bed (depending on what time it is).
Stop it! A voice inside her head reprimanded her. Feeling guilty and blaming yourself won't comfort that child. They won't help you to escape either.
The voice was right like it always was. Right now she should put the child at ease and think of a way on how to get out of this god-forsaken place. She tiredly sat down on the floor and leaned on the wall. After a minute, she heard the girl move again.
"My name is Tomoyo. You're Keiko, right? A lot of people are looking for you, including my friend. He's a policeman."
The girl sat up and faced her, although she still kept her distance. Tomoyo smiled at her even if she was unsure if the girl could see it. "He must be pretty worried about me too. But don't worry. I'm sure he'll find us."
"Will he be coming before the bad man comes back?" came the high-pitched whisper.
"I don't know, chibi-chan. But if the bad man does come back before my friend arrives I won't let the bad man come near you. I won't let anything bad happen to you." She heard Keiko sniff, trying hard not to cry. Her heart went out to her but she meant every word she said. "Did the bad man hurt you?"
"He hurt my hand and feet when he had me tied me up for the longest time. And the food he kept feeding me was yucky."
Tomoyo was relieved and couldn't help but smile. She could just imagine the girl's nose all crinkled up in disgust. At least she's loosening up.
"Ne, Oneechan, why did the bad man bring you here?"
Her smile had grown wider when Keiko called her 'big sister' but that smile stiffened at the end of the sentence. How could she respond to that? Will Keiko hate her once she finds out that her oneechan was the root of this problem? She decided to go with the evasive answer.
"I'm here because of the same reason as you."
"What's an amethyst? The bad man kept on talking about 'amethyst eyes' but I don't know what that means. I don't like the way he looks at me."
"Amethyst is a precious stone with an unusual purple color. It's a very beautiful gem."
"But my eyes aren't stones."
"No. He just meant that you have beautiful eyes."
"Do you also have amethyst eyes?"
"Aa."
A couple of minutes passed in silence before Keiko spoke again. "Ne, Oneechan, did the bad man stole you from your friend like he stole me from my mommy and daddy?"
Tomoyo stiffened at the memory. It was a very surreal experience, her second abduction. That is if she could call it an abduction. Her body had moved against her will. Her mind was taken over by an unseen force, leaving only a small part aware and sane. It was like an out-of-the-body experience where she watched herself run to the man.
~Flashback~
She sat on the swing, just like in her dreams. Staring at her feet on the ground, she now understands what they meant. The scenario was the same years ago when she was just seven. Though she can't remember it at all, unsure if she'll ever will, she knew from the way her feet dangled above the ground in her dreams that this was how everything started.
She waited for a while, occasionally darting glances at her surroundings particularly at the woods. When nothing out of the ordinary happened, she started swinging herself, humming a long-forgotten tune that she usually sang while she played alone. Her mother was always too busy to play with her while her nanny was not so fond with children despite of what her job entails. And being the daughter of the richest woman in Tomoeda, she had no friends...was not allowed to mingle with ordinary children.
If Sakura had an overprotective brother, she had an overbearing mother. At least Touya had let his sister lead an ordinary life...well, more or less. He only became overprotective when there's a guy hanging around Sakura, especially if that guy was Syaoran. Whereas her mother was particularly suffocating. Even though she had thought that she was independent as one could get, she realized that she never got free of her mother's hold...that her so-called independence was just a farce. To Sonomi she was not just a daughter but also an asset. Something that should be kept in the family at all costs.
She couldn't believe that her very own mother had manipulated her mind. All of those years of suffering and her mother knew the reason why. Maybe Tomoyo could understand why she had her hypnotized though it doesn't mean that she approved of it. What hurt her most was her mother chose not to believe her, did not comfort her when she needed it the most.
Perhaps in time she could forgive her. But not yet. Not right now when that psycho was still on the loose with an innocent girl in his clutches.
It was then that she noticed it. The all-too-familiar flickering light dancing in between the trees. And just like in her dreams, she felt drawn to it, mesmerized as she was with its twirling motion. She could feel her head turning lighter. As she continued to watch the light, she could feel her subconscious taking over. It was like moving from the driver's seat of a car to the backseat with its seat belt strapping and grasping her body in a death grip.
She felt detached from her body and watched herself move to the woods even if inside she was screaming to stay put.
No. Eriol said I should stay. Don't go there!
But still she followed the light. Soon she was breaking into a run with the light leading the way.
Where am I going? Why can't I stop? What's happening to me?
Her body knew where she was going and so was that large part of her mind that won't respond. She had been here before. No, not just in her dreams but as a child she had weaved through these trees...had walked away from her nanny to catch the enthralling firefly. Though her memory fails her, everything was going on an instinctual level that it's impossible that she had never been here at least once in her life.
And just as she thought that she couldn't run no more, her knees gave up from under her and she dropped on all fours. Each heaving breath caused some pain making her clutch at the loose dirt of the ground. A second later she noticed a pair of shiny black shoes within an arm's reach.
"Tomoyo."
Her body involuntarily stiffened at the sound of his voice. Slowly she forced herself to look up...to finally know who the madman was. But circumstances still would not allow her. Though the moon was full, a partially thick canopy of branching trees covered the clearing they were in. She couldn't see his face, not that clearly. All her mind could register was the glowing light of the man's cigarette, her eyes following its upward and downward movements in a mesmerized way.
"Come to me, Tomoyo."
No! But again her body won't cooperate. What is happening to me? How can he control me like this?
She stood up and stared at the chest of the faceless man in an impeccable business suit. He moved forward to cup her face with his free hand and tipped it up.
"Your eyes...they haven't changed a bit. They are still as beautiful as ever. Tell me, my amethyst eyes, did you miss me?"
Sudden tears stung her eyes. Go away. Please, God, make him go away.
"What's this?" His hand left her face to reach for her angel brooch and deftly removed it. "But it's not real. Not like the amethysts that you have."
He threw the brooch away. Again she couldn't do anything about it except protest vehemently in her mind. It was her last hope...her last connection to reality. Her last connection to Eriol.
"Sleep now, Tomoyo. Soon you'll be home."
She fought with her mind even as consciousness started to leave her. She sent out a last cry for help, wishing that his heart would hear her plea.
Eriol-kun, where are you?
~End of Flashback~
"Don't cry, Oneechan. My mommy and daddy will come and fetch us. And they'll bring your friend too."
Tomoyo had not noticed that Keiko had finally crawled out of her hiding place and was kneeling besides her, patting her head. She brushed her tears away and smiled at the girl's grubby face. She was the one who's supposed to cheer the child up, not the other way around.
Who says so, she thought to herself. Just because she's older doesn't mean that she's less scared of the situation they were in. At least her phobias were not kicking in.
This is no time to be scared. The voice was back to distract her from the telltale tightening of her chest. Think, Tomoyo. Find a way out.
"If only it wasn't so dark," she whispered back.
"Ne, Oneechan, maybe you could open the window."
"Huh?" she turned in confusion at Keiko. She was pointing high at a wall. It was barely noticeable because of its black covering. No wonder she missed it. But it was obvious now since daylight was peeking through a couple of minute holes from whatever was covering the window.
All of a sudden, several images flashed through her mind. Of her as a young girl crouching in the corner of this repulsive room. Of her climbing up. Of her heaving her small body out the window. Images that could only be part of her lost memories.
The bookshelf!
She remembers some of it now. The bookshelf used to be located at that side of the wall. That's how she managed to climb to that window. That's how she escaped when she was seven.
And that's how we're going to escape now.
She crawled around, searching for the chair she tripped on earlier and quietly dragged it to the wall. She stood on it, balancing herself because the chair was lightly wobbly. She strained to reach for the cover to the point that she stood on her toes just so she could touch the tip of the black cloth. As soon as her fingers touched it, she grabbed a handful of the fabric and yanked it down.
Yes...NO!!!
She felt her heart fall hard to the bottom of her stomach. The window was still there and it was not locked as far as she could see. Unfortunately there was something else that hindered their escape route.
Built outside the window were bars that weren't there years ago. Each grill was welded so close together that not even a cat would be able to squeeze its body through.
"Surely you didn't think I would be stupid enough to leave it open after I lost you."
Tomoyo jumped in surprise. She slowly turned around, dreading this moment since she knew there's nothing that could keep his face and identity from her view. Keiko had moved closer to her, clutching the edge of her pants almost hugging her legs.
She was shocked anew when she realized who the evil man was. She felt her face lose all of its blood and color.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"
"YOU!"
"Ah, yes, me. It's hard to imagine, ne? The police and the brilliant Sonomi Daidouji fooled by simple old me."
"Damn you! My mother trusted you! I trusted you!"
Never in her entire life had she thought that everything would come to this. The serial killer...the madman...was someone they had trusted. Someone who had been at their side from the very beginning.
She had known this man since she was just a babe. He had taken care of her...had made sure that she was in a good condition all the time. It was ironic that this man whom she had trusted with her life was the one who ruined it in the first place.
"Kazuma-sensei." She made no effort to hide the disgust in her voice.
Her doctor.
Her therapist.
Her tormentor.
To be continued...
BISHLOV'S NOTES:
[1] Corny ending, ne? A bit anti-climactic too. At least it wasn't a cliffhanger. Truth be told, I was tempted to stop at the part when Tomoyo said "YOU!" but then I don't want any more shoes thrown at me. I could already rival Imelda Marcos with her collection of footwear if only I could get the other pairs of the shoes you've thrown at me. Hehehe.
[2] Some people said for the past few chapters that they regret not having read this fic when it first came out. It's okay. I don't blame you because I can't write a decent, catchy summary worth a single penny. If I could then I'd be filthy rich right now then I'd be able to bribe FF.net to put back the NC17 category. Bwahahahahahahaha! Lol ^_^
[3] Make bishlov happy. Help me reach at least 110 reviews and I'll forever send you sloppy kissy thanks and diabetic I Wuv U's.
I wuv u...I wuv u...I WUV YOU!!!