The Ripple Affect
By: Xiao
` Oh god, you guys. I'm sorry that this story has been delayed in updates for so long. I have to admit, I like the story a lot. Yet, I continue to lack my updates. As for My Immortal, the third chapter copy is on my other computer and it's not letting me pull it up.
One more thing, this is the last chaptered. I'll make it the best yet, okay? And don't worry, there will more than likely be an Epilogue (Which includes some ranting on this story from your lovely author here. Ha ha! DOOM! N_n;) `
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She breathed in his name as she leaned back and shut her eyes tightly. She didn't even know what to think anymore, since she could barely remember the past events and how she could have been in his house in such a situation. In fact, the only thing she could just barely grasp was her last thought of being brought to heaven. Tomoyo shook her head as she noticed everything wasn't even going as plan: that she was back in hell and she wasn't dead. She had a pounding headache and she had someone sleeping against her. How worse could it get?
Sighing for what seemed like the thousandth time that night, she gently squeezed her way away from him and let him lean against the cushions behind him. Stumbling, she made her way to the front door and opened it, looking outside at the pouring rain. 'Well, you should just go home...' She thought as she stepped outside and in front the driveway where she was becoming completely soaked within the minute. Every other second thunder rolled in, stinging her ears and then lightening came dashing to the ground.
Nothing looked familiar. She had no idea which way it was to get to her house and she just stared down the street trying to make sense of it all. She wanted to cry and just wait for someone to come and find her, but she was starting to get freaked out by the lightening because it was constantly hitting the ground, probably coming closer. She shook her head as she turned and watched the cement as she made her way to the door and inside, not even paying attention. It was then when she ran into Eriol.
"Tomoyo." Eriol said quietly, as she stepped back a little bit and looked at him. She nodded, shrugging a little bit as she just made her way back to the living room and grabbed the blanket that he had let her use earlier. Quietly, she wrapped it around her soaking self and sat down on the couch without so much as a word, shivering softly. Eriol followed behind her and sat next to her.
She wanted to hate him right now. After all, she could of just died and got it all over with he had to come along and find her. But for some reason, she wasn't even all that mad at him, and she didn't know why. "Damn rain," she mumbled as she pulled her drenched hair behind her ear. She even smiled very lightly, despite her situation.
"You want to change?" He asked, kindly. His voice was soothing, almost warming her.
"Yeah, well... I have nothing to change into." She said, pulling the blanket tighter around her petite form. Beneath it's fabric she could feel her clothes clinging to her body. He stood up and made his way toward the stairs, motioning her to come with him. She did, and followed him up to his room where everything was neat and organized. She stopped in the doorway, not sure if she should go in as he went to his closet and pulled out one of his black shirts. He tossed it to her, and she caught it, still holding that blanket around herself.
"I don't have any shorts or anything that will fit you, hopefully this will do..." He said, but not that it mattered. He was easily taller than her; it probably could have been a dress on her small form. She gave him a small smile, still slightly embarrassed to go around without pants but couldn't stand to be running around in soaking clothes. She waited until he exited and then shut the door behind her, eyeing his room carefully as she began to undress and then slip the shirt over herself. He was right at least, the shirt lasted another inch of two below her knees.
From downstairs, she heard the phone ring and paused dead still. For a moment, she listened in dead silence as she heard Eriol making his way toward the phone. She then dashed out of his room without even bothering to quiet and made her way to the edge of the stairs, where hers and Eriol's eyes met. He answered it, still watching her. "Hello? Oh, what can I do for you, Mrs. Daidouji?" Her eyes widened and mouthed 'I'm not here'. She waited until she heard him say that exact thing and then calmed down. A few moments later, he hung up.
"Bring your clothes down, and that blanket for me, please." He said. She nodded and made her way back into his room where she got her clothes, and out of habit, folded them neatly and stacked them on each other. She then picked me up and took one more look around his room, before a pencil on his desk caught her attention. She snatched and then made her way back downstairs and handed the stack to him. "You don't mind me washing them, right?"
"No." She said. He smiled, and she smiled in return as he went into another room and she took her usual seat on the couch. He then pulled her hair behind her and picked up the pencil and twisted it into her hair until it was in a somewhat messy bun, which didn't bother her at the moment; at least it was out of her face and not dampening the shirt she was wearing.
Tomoyo then pulled her knees to her chest and pulled the shirt over that to cover her self up. She listened to the steady sound of rain hitting the window and looked around the room. Thunder clashed with lightening as she let her eyes scan. It was so weird, being in a house that she wasn't exactly used to. She even felt comfortable in here, despite where she always lived. She didn't even know why. With a sigh, she stopped. Her head was starting to hurt again.
She was so alone right now. Eriol was gone off somewhere, and that left her only with her thoughts. At least now she could think about the previous actions of the day. She looked down at her wrist. Well, she had cut herself for some reason. Then she must have passed out because everything seemed to be a slight blur. Maybe she would of died. She shook her head, wondering why Eriol had to find her and then bring her here? Though, she had to admit that she liked it here with him.
But everywhere else was just hell. She wrapped her arms around her knees and hugged them close to herself. One place where she could be content compared to every other place she hated. Earlier she had kind of admired Eriol for going out of the way to save her. But now she just wished that she would just died there. She buried her face in her knees.
She couldn't even understand why he had to do that. Didn't he understand what she wanted? What she had been trying to succeed with this damn obsession? She couldn't come to a reason to how he could care about her, when even she didn't care about herself. What harm would it have done for her to die? In her own eyes she was just a stupid girl with no purpose in this world. What was she supposed to do? It wasn't like she was given a purpose. She knew she was useless.
Quietly, she began to sop, dampening Eriol's shirt. She wanted to know why he had gone and saved her! She didn't understand, and it was starting to drive her insane. Didn't he realize that she was just useless to this world? "Why could you have just left me to die?" She whispered.
"Because so many people care for you." He said as he made his way into the front room.
"You're lying." She said as she glanced up at him and then put her face back down. No one understood that no one cared for her. How could someone care for you when you don't care for yourself? That didn't make sense in her mind. They all must have been torturing her, not caring.
"Me."
"What?"
"I care about you." He said in a soothing tone as he knelt down in front of her. She shook her head quickly as she sniffled. 'No, you just want to torture me. That's what everyone wants to do to me is just torture me and make me believe every word you say and then laugh behind my back because I was so gullible. God, why can't I just die now?' she thought to herself.
He kept eyeing her, waiting for her to look at him so he could catch her gaze.
"You should of let me die!" She said through muffled sobs. She looked up slightly as she wiped her eyes with her hand and sniffled. Her own eyes a of a pink hue and no doubt hurt. She looked at him when she saw him staring at her with such a concerned look. He looked hurt, despite the fact that she knew, or at least she thought, that he was just trying to hurt her. She couldn't help but notice the fact that he looked so sincere.
"You've got to trust me on that." He said so soft and caring that she could barely believe that anyone could say such a thing in such a way. She watched him as he got up from his kneeling position and stood next to her. He put he elbows down on he knees and looked down. "If that's all you can trust about me, then make it that. I know it's hard to believe, but I think that out of everyone in this world you can at least trust me. Take my word for it, because, hey, I'm here for you, no matter what you need and no matter how bad or how good your situation is.
"I've gone down the same road you have, gone through the same state of mind you have, been through the same situations you have. I know exactly what you're feeling like right now, that the whole world would be so much better if you just died and that even if you did, no one would even have a care in the world for your death. But you're so wrong, Tomoyo... You have no idea how wrong you are.
"And I know right now you're having the worst time believing that someone actually cares for you, and maybe if I cared, I would have let you die, right? I don't know what to tell you to that, except maybe that all of us fell as much pain as you do. A lot of people can honestly say they've been in your shoes and I bet you millions of those people are trying to overcome that. Devastating to know that some people can just give up." He shook his head lightly as he sat up, looking at her. She was watching him closely, almost trying to read his actions. He couldn't help but smile softly at her. "Sorry, I'm rambling." He watched as she looked away and around the living room, eyeing each picture and each thing that could possible mean something in their family, not crying but trying to get over the last one. A moment later, Eriol stood and made his way to the kitchen.
Maybe he was right. As she scanned all the few pictures in that room, she couldn't help but think of her family right now, even if Eriol said nothing about family in his speech. There was on that particularly caught her eye; the whole family smiling, nothing false. They actually looked so happy to be in each other's presence. She remembered the pictures that were in her house, of her mom and her.
To tell the truth, she didn't know exactly why she kept running off from her mom. All she had ever done was try and help, and it was obvious that she wasn't exactly used to the situations placed at hand because of her daughter, but at least she tried.
She sighed as she realized how selfish she had been. Maybe no one really hated her like she thought. In fact, she even kind of felt bad for putting this all on Eriol and never actually knowing anything about him, his family, or even his past except for the that incident when they were in her back yard.
It was actually hard for her to admit it, even to herself, after the whole incident with him, but she actually might have liked him. After all, why else would she suddenly feel so bad about not really getting to know him and being so selfish around him?
It was so confusing, she knew. Everything was just starting to fall in place, the reason why she cried the first day he told her what had happened previously in his life, and how she couldn't hate him when she woke up, even through what she had thought about how everyone wanted to just torture her. She may have been mad, upset, hurt, but never once had she actually hated him... And she didn't understand why, until now, at least.
It was such a strong feeling, too. So much that she wanted to just apologize for absolutely every little thing that she had ever done to make it hard for him, no matter how little or small. She wanted to shut off her life to be in his, to know what everyone that he cared about was life - she wanted to know every thing about him, and she wanted to know why he had spent so much time trying to help her out, even when she threw it back at him without even caring, and yet he just continued.
She blinked as she realized that he had set down and was handing her a cup of hot honey milk. She smiled as she took it an uncurled herself, and relaxed against the couch. She then watched as he gave her an awkward look, almost as if asking if she was going to be all right. "Are you going to believe me now?" He said, finally.
She nodded without even looking at him, smiling down at her drink instead as she took a sip of it. He smiled in return as the rest of the place went silent, each of them drinking their drink, Tomoyo continuously smiling just to let him know that she was grateful to be in his presence.
It was already getting late, the sun dipping down beyond the horizon, but it didn't seem to matter in both of their minds, as long as they could spend it together. She quietly finished her drink in time with him and sat it down on the little table in front of her, with Eriol doing the same thing as she did right after.
There was an awkward silence for a few moments as Tomoyo went over what she had been thinking only a few minutes before, about how she couldn't hate him and how he always did his best to help her and he didn't stop even when she threw his efforts back at him. Smiling softly, she looked at him. "Eriol?" He looked at her, waiting for her to say something more, but all she did was move over to him slightly and replace herself so that she was sitting on his lap, her head rested against his shoulder. "Thank you for everything."
He looked at the girl in his arms, and smiled quietly at her and shook his head just lightly. She shut her eyes and just relaxed in his warm embrace, both of them so silent they could hear the sound of each other's heartbeats, beating in time with each other.
The End.
By: Xiao
` Oh god, you guys. I'm sorry that this story has been delayed in updates for so long. I have to admit, I like the story a lot. Yet, I continue to lack my updates. As for My Immortal, the third chapter copy is on my other computer and it's not letting me pull it up.
One more thing, this is the last chaptered. I'll make it the best yet, okay? And don't worry, there will more than likely be an Epilogue (Which includes some ranting on this story from your lovely author here. Ha ha! DOOM! N_n;) `
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She breathed in his name as she leaned back and shut her eyes tightly. She didn't even know what to think anymore, since she could barely remember the past events and how she could have been in his house in such a situation. In fact, the only thing she could just barely grasp was her last thought of being brought to heaven. Tomoyo shook her head as she noticed everything wasn't even going as plan: that she was back in hell and she wasn't dead. She had a pounding headache and she had someone sleeping against her. How worse could it get?
Sighing for what seemed like the thousandth time that night, she gently squeezed her way away from him and let him lean against the cushions behind him. Stumbling, she made her way to the front door and opened it, looking outside at the pouring rain. 'Well, you should just go home...' She thought as she stepped outside and in front the driveway where she was becoming completely soaked within the minute. Every other second thunder rolled in, stinging her ears and then lightening came dashing to the ground.
Nothing looked familiar. She had no idea which way it was to get to her house and she just stared down the street trying to make sense of it all. She wanted to cry and just wait for someone to come and find her, but she was starting to get freaked out by the lightening because it was constantly hitting the ground, probably coming closer. She shook her head as she turned and watched the cement as she made her way to the door and inside, not even paying attention. It was then when she ran into Eriol.
"Tomoyo." Eriol said quietly, as she stepped back a little bit and looked at him. She nodded, shrugging a little bit as she just made her way back to the living room and grabbed the blanket that he had let her use earlier. Quietly, she wrapped it around her soaking self and sat down on the couch without so much as a word, shivering softly. Eriol followed behind her and sat next to her.
She wanted to hate him right now. After all, she could of just died and got it all over with he had to come along and find her. But for some reason, she wasn't even all that mad at him, and she didn't know why. "Damn rain," she mumbled as she pulled her drenched hair behind her ear. She even smiled very lightly, despite her situation.
"You want to change?" He asked, kindly. His voice was soothing, almost warming her.
"Yeah, well... I have nothing to change into." She said, pulling the blanket tighter around her petite form. Beneath it's fabric she could feel her clothes clinging to her body. He stood up and made his way toward the stairs, motioning her to come with him. She did, and followed him up to his room where everything was neat and organized. She stopped in the doorway, not sure if she should go in as he went to his closet and pulled out one of his black shirts. He tossed it to her, and she caught it, still holding that blanket around herself.
"I don't have any shorts or anything that will fit you, hopefully this will do..." He said, but not that it mattered. He was easily taller than her; it probably could have been a dress on her small form. She gave him a small smile, still slightly embarrassed to go around without pants but couldn't stand to be running around in soaking clothes. She waited until he exited and then shut the door behind her, eyeing his room carefully as she began to undress and then slip the shirt over herself. He was right at least, the shirt lasted another inch of two below her knees.
From downstairs, she heard the phone ring and paused dead still. For a moment, she listened in dead silence as she heard Eriol making his way toward the phone. She then dashed out of his room without even bothering to quiet and made her way to the edge of the stairs, where hers and Eriol's eyes met. He answered it, still watching her. "Hello? Oh, what can I do for you, Mrs. Daidouji?" Her eyes widened and mouthed 'I'm not here'. She waited until she heard him say that exact thing and then calmed down. A few moments later, he hung up.
"Bring your clothes down, and that blanket for me, please." He said. She nodded and made her way back into his room where she got her clothes, and out of habit, folded them neatly and stacked them on each other. She then picked me up and took one more look around his room, before a pencil on his desk caught her attention. She snatched and then made her way back downstairs and handed the stack to him. "You don't mind me washing them, right?"
"No." She said. He smiled, and she smiled in return as he went into another room and she took her usual seat on the couch. He then pulled her hair behind her and picked up the pencil and twisted it into her hair until it was in a somewhat messy bun, which didn't bother her at the moment; at least it was out of her face and not dampening the shirt she was wearing.
Tomoyo then pulled her knees to her chest and pulled the shirt over that to cover her self up. She listened to the steady sound of rain hitting the window and looked around the room. Thunder clashed with lightening as she let her eyes scan. It was so weird, being in a house that she wasn't exactly used to. She even felt comfortable in here, despite where she always lived. She didn't even know why. With a sigh, she stopped. Her head was starting to hurt again.
She was so alone right now. Eriol was gone off somewhere, and that left her only with her thoughts. At least now she could think about the previous actions of the day. She looked down at her wrist. Well, she had cut herself for some reason. Then she must have passed out because everything seemed to be a slight blur. Maybe she would of died. She shook her head, wondering why Eriol had to find her and then bring her here? Though, she had to admit that she liked it here with him.
But everywhere else was just hell. She wrapped her arms around her knees and hugged them close to herself. One place where she could be content compared to every other place she hated. Earlier she had kind of admired Eriol for going out of the way to save her. But now she just wished that she would just died there. She buried her face in her knees.
She couldn't even understand why he had to do that. Didn't he understand what she wanted? What she had been trying to succeed with this damn obsession? She couldn't come to a reason to how he could care about her, when even she didn't care about herself. What harm would it have done for her to die? In her own eyes she was just a stupid girl with no purpose in this world. What was she supposed to do? It wasn't like she was given a purpose. She knew she was useless.
Quietly, she began to sop, dampening Eriol's shirt. She wanted to know why he had gone and saved her! She didn't understand, and it was starting to drive her insane. Didn't he realize that she was just useless to this world? "Why could you have just left me to die?" She whispered.
"Because so many people care for you." He said as he made his way into the front room.
"You're lying." She said as she glanced up at him and then put her face back down. No one understood that no one cared for her. How could someone care for you when you don't care for yourself? That didn't make sense in her mind. They all must have been torturing her, not caring.
"Me."
"What?"
"I care about you." He said in a soothing tone as he knelt down in front of her. She shook her head quickly as she sniffled. 'No, you just want to torture me. That's what everyone wants to do to me is just torture me and make me believe every word you say and then laugh behind my back because I was so gullible. God, why can't I just die now?' she thought to herself.
He kept eyeing her, waiting for her to look at him so he could catch her gaze.
"You should of let me die!" She said through muffled sobs. She looked up slightly as she wiped her eyes with her hand and sniffled. Her own eyes a of a pink hue and no doubt hurt. She looked at him when she saw him staring at her with such a concerned look. He looked hurt, despite the fact that she knew, or at least she thought, that he was just trying to hurt her. She couldn't help but notice the fact that he looked so sincere.
"You've got to trust me on that." He said so soft and caring that she could barely believe that anyone could say such a thing in such a way. She watched him as he got up from his kneeling position and stood next to her. He put he elbows down on he knees and looked down. "If that's all you can trust about me, then make it that. I know it's hard to believe, but I think that out of everyone in this world you can at least trust me. Take my word for it, because, hey, I'm here for you, no matter what you need and no matter how bad or how good your situation is.
"I've gone down the same road you have, gone through the same state of mind you have, been through the same situations you have. I know exactly what you're feeling like right now, that the whole world would be so much better if you just died and that even if you did, no one would even have a care in the world for your death. But you're so wrong, Tomoyo... You have no idea how wrong you are.
"And I know right now you're having the worst time believing that someone actually cares for you, and maybe if I cared, I would have let you die, right? I don't know what to tell you to that, except maybe that all of us fell as much pain as you do. A lot of people can honestly say they've been in your shoes and I bet you millions of those people are trying to overcome that. Devastating to know that some people can just give up." He shook his head lightly as he sat up, looking at her. She was watching him closely, almost trying to read his actions. He couldn't help but smile softly at her. "Sorry, I'm rambling." He watched as she looked away and around the living room, eyeing each picture and each thing that could possible mean something in their family, not crying but trying to get over the last one. A moment later, Eriol stood and made his way to the kitchen.
Maybe he was right. As she scanned all the few pictures in that room, she couldn't help but think of her family right now, even if Eriol said nothing about family in his speech. There was on that particularly caught her eye; the whole family smiling, nothing false. They actually looked so happy to be in each other's presence. She remembered the pictures that were in her house, of her mom and her.
To tell the truth, she didn't know exactly why she kept running off from her mom. All she had ever done was try and help, and it was obvious that she wasn't exactly used to the situations placed at hand because of her daughter, but at least she tried.
She sighed as she realized how selfish she had been. Maybe no one really hated her like she thought. In fact, she even kind of felt bad for putting this all on Eriol and never actually knowing anything about him, his family, or even his past except for the that incident when they were in her back yard.
It was actually hard for her to admit it, even to herself, after the whole incident with him, but she actually might have liked him. After all, why else would she suddenly feel so bad about not really getting to know him and being so selfish around him?
It was so confusing, she knew. Everything was just starting to fall in place, the reason why she cried the first day he told her what had happened previously in his life, and how she couldn't hate him when she woke up, even through what she had thought about how everyone wanted to just torture her. She may have been mad, upset, hurt, but never once had she actually hated him... And she didn't understand why, until now, at least.
It was such a strong feeling, too. So much that she wanted to just apologize for absolutely every little thing that she had ever done to make it hard for him, no matter how little or small. She wanted to shut off her life to be in his, to know what everyone that he cared about was life - she wanted to know every thing about him, and she wanted to know why he had spent so much time trying to help her out, even when she threw it back at him without even caring, and yet he just continued.
She blinked as she realized that he had set down and was handing her a cup of hot honey milk. She smiled as she took it an uncurled herself, and relaxed against the couch. She then watched as he gave her an awkward look, almost as if asking if she was going to be all right. "Are you going to believe me now?" He said, finally.
She nodded without even looking at him, smiling down at her drink instead as she took a sip of it. He smiled in return as the rest of the place went silent, each of them drinking their drink, Tomoyo continuously smiling just to let him know that she was grateful to be in his presence.
It was already getting late, the sun dipping down beyond the horizon, but it didn't seem to matter in both of their minds, as long as they could spend it together. She quietly finished her drink in time with him and sat it down on the little table in front of her, with Eriol doing the same thing as she did right after.
There was an awkward silence for a few moments as Tomoyo went over what she had been thinking only a few minutes before, about how she couldn't hate him and how he always did his best to help her and he didn't stop even when she threw his efforts back at him. Smiling softly, she looked at him. "Eriol?" He looked at her, waiting for her to say something more, but all she did was move over to him slightly and replace herself so that she was sitting on his lap, her head rested against his shoulder. "Thank you for everything."
He looked at the girl in his arms, and smiled quietly at her and shook his head just lightly. She shut her eyes and just relaxed in his warm embrace, both of them so silent they could hear the sound of each other's heartbeats, beating in time with each other.
The End.
