*Chapter Re-done*

Four Months Later...

A woman's scream

Child-like cries of pain and agony...

Hiiragizawa Eriol began shifting uncomfortably in his bed, as beads of sweat soon began covering the whole of his body.

The haunting sounds taunted him.

The thick stench of alcohol

Brown ... green ... glass bottles...

Sweaty hands clenched onto the silken sheets, as the slow painful memories came to view.

The shiny glint ...

of a knife ...

Tears threatened to make its way slowly down the sides of his face, as he saw himself standing there. The past that he had hoped to be long forgotten, repeated itself as if it were yesterday, as he watched on agitatedly. One by one, the memories slowly unveiled themselves before him.

His eyes roamed over at the small frail boy, no older than the age of six, as he sat curled up in the furthest corner in the room. His face ashen with fear, and body uncontrollably shaking.

The feeling of a warm liquid substance averted his sight from the boy. Eriol raised his hand slightly upwards, and looked down. Teary eyes widened at the sight, as his lips began trembling, a familiar feeling of fear overcame him.

Blood.

"IIE!!"

Eriol jerked awake, screaming. Shaken by the nightmare, his eyes remained unfocused and unclear; breathing had almost become difficult for him. Sitting up on the bed, he looked down at his palms almost hesitantly, afraid if the stains of blood were still there.

Seeing as it was only sweat, Eriol sighed shakily with relief.

Why was he remembering again? He wondered endlessly, as he edgily ran his fingers through his soft blue hair, realising it had only been a bad dream. A nightmare. With the help from counseling and guidance from a therapist, it had been years since he last had the recurring nightmare that plagued his mind throughout the years of his childhood. But the question was, why now? All of a sudden out of the blue? Deciding to figure it out later, Eriol got off his large bed and made his way towards the bathroom.

After removing the last article of clothing he had on, Eriol stepped into the shower. The ice-cold water came down on him mercilessly as he stood under the showerhead for several minutes, hoping that the remnants of the horrid nightmare would vanish. The images repeatedly flashed in his mind as he thoroughly washed his face. A slight pain in his head made him turn off the cold-water tap and step out of the shower. Clad with only a towel around his waist, Eriol walked out of his bathroom, down through the hallway, and into the ceramic white coloured kitchen.

Opening the wooden doors of the medicine cabinet, he searched frantically for the packet of aspirin.

"Where is it?!"

With no luck in finding any, he wailed in pain, clutching the sides of his head as the pain worsened. Sighing frustratingly, he headed back towards his room. Deciding to go head out to buy some aspirin that he so desperately needed, Eriol dried himself and went towards his wardrobe. Picking out a black woolen skivvy and a pair of jeans, he put them on with ease.

Then grabbing a black trench coat and scarf on his way out, Eriol made sure he brought money with him before making his way out of his apartment. Walking down the silent corridor of the apartment block, Eriol halted at the large steel doors, and waited impatiently for the lift.

He winced as a shot of pain hit him unexpectedly, almost causing him to stumble backwards.

When the doors of the lift finally opened, Eriol hurriedly walked in and hit the button for ground level. Trying the best to compose himself, Eriol sighed shakily, while forcing a smile to appear before the doors to the lift opened again. His reputation after all, was still at stake.

As soon as Eriol entered the foyer, many stopped and quietened down, glancing at his direction, recognising him as that famous novelist on tele. There were many awe-struck looks from the females, whilst the males watched on in envy at the one who had caught their attention, wondering what he had that they did not.

Eriol had to smirk at the commotion he had caused, despite his painful state. He was going to have a little fun while he was at it. Eriol continued to make his way towards the main doors, but not before winking slyly at the young brunette behind the reception desk.

As a part of his devious plan, the other sharp-eyed women noticed it.

The poor girl, whom blushed a deep shade of red, dropped the handset of the phone that she had previously been talking into, and looked as if she was on the verge of fainting.

The other women in the foyer glared daggers at her as he became lost in their sights.

*

The cold air brushed icily against his pale face as he stepped out of the apartment building, chuckling slightly. Women were just too amusing to toy with.

The streets were still heavy in traffic as Eriol began walking towards the grocery stall, almost 3 blocks away from his apartment. The pain was still there, and he hoped that the sudden flashbacks did not happen again, at least not until he got back home with the aspirin.

As soon as the store was in his sight, Eriol hurriedly picked up his pace towards it. He was met with the warm air from the heater when he went through the automatic doors. Walking up to the medicine aisle, he held tightly onto the aspirin bottle and walked up to the cash register. Eriol closed his eyes and thanked kami that it was fortunate for him that there was a store nearby.

And that's when it hit him. He sniffed the air.

That scent. A very familiar smell of ... lavender.

Opening his eyes, Eriol noticed that he could not hear a word the grocery owner was telling him. Everything it seemed suddenly became quiet, as he could not even hear a sound.

Blurred memories of a time from long ago flashed in his mind.

As if on instinct, he suddenly turned around. A small figure bumped into him stumbling backwards, Eriol managing to catch her from falling just in time.

He eyed the young woman in his arms.

Thankful that she did not end up falling, Tomoyo looked up, wanting to thank her saviour.

"Ariga-" She stopped in mid-speech.

Her eyes widened as she recognised who was holding her.

"H-Hiiragizawa..."


Authoress: My math exam is finally -over-!! T_T I'm praying for a B, at least!

That should be my last exam for the term ... I think. Now, all I have to do is finish those 5 assignments... and I'll be fine... o.O

The other chapter I uploaded was rushed, so I did not spend as much time on it since I've been too busy studying. I didn't like how it turned out, so I re-done it again. ^^

I like this chapter, Eriol gets to be in the shower *drools*

And big thanks to those who reviewed that other uploaded chapter! ^__________^ [If you do read this version, and it's more disappointing than the other... I'm sorry!]

KyteAura, Aurora Starcrystal, Shadowed Amethyst Dreams, Sailor Star Sakura, and ms.evil

To Aurora Starcrystal:

Doesn't lime just contain sexual references...? Whereas lemons go a lot more further [uh... explicit/graphic sex ^^;;;] ? Well that's what I think of it anyway lols ^^

The vote for lemon is still on!

-Sweet-Innocence

24/06/03