Author's Note: Many more reviews than I thought I'd get...wow. I was expecting screaming hordes of E+T 'shippers to descend upon me and eviscerate me or something. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a good E+T fic, but so many of 'em today aren't good and I was left with a thirst for something...different. It looks like I'm not alone. (Incidentally, that's what inspired me to write Solace. I was looking for good Eriol fics that didn't include Tomoyo and I found some well written E+S by Emily-chan and Lady Kazune Kikenshi that made me sit back and say, "I can do that!" So I did. This is just the next step in my new Eriol obsession.)

To the usual suspects, thank you for sticking with me and reading everything I write. It's very flattering! Look, I'm blushing! Thank you Rakko-chan for de-lurking. That in itself is also very flattering...thank you! And, Dragonbane! Tybalt cookies just for writing E+K? Wow! I'm in heaven. So, what does a girl have to write to get Tybalt himself. ~wicked grin~ On second thought, don't answer that. He's too cute with Skids. ~laughs~ ~ducks rotten fruit from any lurking S+C 'shippers~ (And if you didn't get that, may I recommend an online comic called Boy Meets Boy? Awesome stuff, very well done, and addictive.)

Now, before my author's note becomes longer than my fic...

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Moon's Dance and Shadow

A Kaho and Eriol story

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Chapter Three

Shade of History

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My ankle healed quickly. I ended up spending a lot of time with Spinel Sun during that time, reading and occasionally talking. He was very interesting to discuss literature with and he challenged the limits of my knowledge of English. I, in turn, pushed him to improve his Japanese. We became rather close as the other two spent time outdoors, playing in the sun that had appeared. I couldn't blame them a bit for taking advantage of the good weather.

After I was healed life fell into a routine quickly. The drive back and forth to the college in the morning; homework and studying on the way back and as soon as I returned; tutoring Eriol and Spinel in Japanese as a brush up to their already impressive understanding of the language until supper; teaching Ruby Moon the basics of the language and culture. Eriol said he had tried teaching her before, but it had fallen on deaf ears for the most part.

I found out quickly that he was wrong and that Ruby had just gotten bored with it quickly. She responded well to the right teaching techniques, but Eriol was too enamored of seeing her as his friend and fun butterfly girl to want to push her so hard. She was too intelligent and too impatient, so it took a special touch to keep her interested.

But, she had retained everything Eriol had tried to teach her with stunning clarity. His way of teaching was just so boring to her that she...discouraged the lessons.

Then, there were the weekends where nothing was scheduled at all. Two full days where I could catch up on schoolwork if I needed to, or do anything at all if I didn't. I almost felt guilty when I had free time because when I still lived at home there had always been something calling my attention, something that needed to be done since I was the only daughter at the shrine. There had been so many duties for me to fulfill.

Thinking of duties made me start wondering what my duty here truly was. I had a feeling, a very strong feeling, that language tutoring was the least of the puzzle pieces I had to figure out here. I also knew exactly where I had to turn to get the answers I craved.

"Eriol," I began one Saturday night. "Isn't it time you told me why I'm really here?"

His frown, the dark look in his eyes, and his suddenly stiff posture changed his appearance dramatically. His voice was deep and ominous as he spoke, telling me a story that seemed out of the blue at first. Naturally, the seeming randomness of his initial words told me that it was very relevant to my purpose here.

"Once upon a time, there lived a great magician. His father was English and his mother was Chinese, so he naturally settled in Japan when they both died. He lived in a spacious house in Tomoeda with two creatures. They were his guardians; one made of sun energy, the other of moon magic. While he spent time alone with his creations he became the most powerful mage in the world, though that was not his intent. He simply sought the power to take back what was his. His dead wife, who he was convinced was his one true love.

"Part of what he did while trying various ways to bring her back was that he created some extremely powerful magic items. They were sentient, like his guardians, and trapped in the form of cards to contain their potentially lethal power. He knew he could not destroy them any more than he could run out and murder innocents, so he made arrangements to have them carefully sealed until a worthy person came along to replace him as their master after he died. He also sealed his guardians with the cards right before he died so they would protect the cards from anyone unworthy.

"He occasionally traveled, but he spent most of his time in Tomoeda, and one day he visited the nearest shrine and had a vision of the future. He immediately began working on a bell imbued with moon magic for a purpose that only a daughter of that shrine, full of her own moon magic, could employ. And some day soon, that bell will become important in the final battle to determine who will finally have control over this man's legacy."

I knew the bell he meant. It had been entrusted to my family hundreds of years ago. It looked more like a crescent moon than like a bell, but the distinctive chime had always somehow called to me, whispering of things to come that could change--everything. It was my bell. It hadn't been entrusted to them, but given to them so that I could use it.

"You left a lot out of your story," I observed.

"Yes." He smiled at me this time.

I knew so many things he had left out. I knew that he had all the magic and all the memories of this dead sorcerer. I knew he felt responsible for the cards and their guardians even though he had never laid physical eyes on them.

I knew where the cards were and I gasped as the knowledge came to me. "Touya!"

I had told him so many times that there was no coincidence, only the inevitable. Never before had I felt more like a pawn on a giant chess board being moved by the will of some unseen puppet master. This time the thought didn't simply amuse me in an abstract manner. The puppet master in question was sitting in his usual red chair right in front of me.

"Yes, it seems that your ex-boyfriend's little sister will find the cards and release them in about a year. And you will be the one who can help her in her darkest hour to prevent the world from falling into a great disaster."

"That is why you brought me here?"

He blinked. He stared at me for a minute before he swallowed and looked away. "Yes, that is why I brought you here."

We let the lie hang in the air for a long time. Neither of us wanted to unlock that door, though I wasn't sure why I really didn't want to know. Just a feeling....

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Time passed quickly because I kept myself busy. When my bow arrived home I made it a point to practice every weekend. To keep myself from losing my mind I meditated every morning and every night. Slowly I pulled out more of the story of why Eriol brought me here, but it took patience. He had many secrets to guard and was used to hiding things. He was also trying to hide something very big from me, though I had no idea what it could have been. I would know in time. I would know when I was meant to know, and not a moment before.

Too soon the leaves changed color, drifted to the ground, then were covered in a blanket of white. I did not give up my archery on the weekends, but I added ice skating on Sundays when the pond was frozen enough. I had never been skating outdoors before, and seeing the sky above me added to the experience in a way I couldn't explain. I found myself more lost than ever in what I was doing at the time while my mind drifted off to sort through everything I had taken in.

"If I had known you love skating so much I would have frozen the pond sooner," Eriol said one afternoon. I was in the process of removing my skates and hadn't noticed him join me outside.

I smiled at him, shaking my head. "All things in their own time. I didn't mind waiting until the ice was solid enough, and I won't mind when everything thaws. I'll just enjoy the time given to me and move on to other activities when it's time."

"Annoyingly wise and logical. What's the good in having magic if you don't use it when you get impatient?"

He was just teasing me, I could tell.

I brushed some hair out of my face absently, smiling at him and deciding to tease him back. "Don't you have better things to waste your magic on, little boy?"

He chuckled. "First you call me an old man, now you're calling me a little boy. Make up your mind some time, okay?"

"I will the moment both don't apply," I said with a wink.

We shared a laugh, then stood to walk back to the warmth inside. About half way there he took my hand and gave me a piercing stare. "You don't have to distance yourself from me so much you know."

I swallowed, wanting to pull my hand back and do exactly what he said I don't have to do. I left my hand where it was though, feeling the warmth of his small hand in mine. Yes, in addition to the warmth I felt that familiar tingle that came from physical contact with him and I could sense that other part of him that had been an ancient and powerful sorcerer. The stronger that feeling became, the more I wanted to pull away and just slip my hand into my solitary pocket.

"You know why I've been trying to distance myself, Eriol."

He looked so sad as he nodded, head bowed. "I can tell you all day that it doesn't apply to me, that I am far older than you even in this lifetime alone, but you'll have to accept that for yourself."

"It's easy to accept in some ways, but it's too hard to accept in others. Touya was much younger than me, and I'm terrified that it will be a sick pattern. I thought he was special because he was so mature, and even that tore me up inside."

We walked the rest of the way in silence, but I did not take my hand back.

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That night the winter wind howled like some injured beast, chilling my soul and breaking into my meditation. My sleep was fitful and restless and it took forever for me to reach a place where I could dream. And that dream, the one it took me so long to get to, was the first time I saw him.

In the dream I was at home, standing near the moon pond. I wondered at my future since I hadn't been able to check in so long, but there was no moon in the sky so I could not search the calm water for answers.

The voice behind me explained, "My dear, you are the moon and the answers you seek are within."

"Of course, they always are, but a mirror shows you a point of view you never had before." I smiled, turning around to see who was there This felt like a dream conversation, but at the same time it didn't. They were my symbols, but the voice that had spoken said something that had not come from within me even though they had a dream quality. "Who are you?"

He sighed, stepping into view and sitting on a conveniently nearby bench. He was...he was beautiful. His long hair was pulled back, but midnight strands still fell into his face. He was tall, about the same height as Touya, and he had the same angular look to his face. I could not tell his build from the voluminous robes he wore, but he very much appeared to be in good shape. Glasses perched on his nose, almost shielding the world from the intensity of his gaze. And then he smiled, further softening the intensity I had seen on his face at first. "In life I was known as Clow Reed."

The name should have meant something to me, but the nature of the dream was such that I could not remember why. Something to do with something my grandfather had said when I was little. I shrugged. "So, you are a ghost?"

"No." His smile grew larger, but he would not elaborate.

"Why are you in my dream?"

"I wanted to meet you, and I wanted you to meet me. I also want to apologize. I am the puppet master you keep thinking of. Eriol is--"

I cut him off, leaning close and brushing my fingers over his lips. I had realized why that name meant something to me. "Eriol is you. I don't know yet to what degree, but if you think I couldn't put that together you've been around too many people with no awareness of magic at all."

"He is half of my reincarnation. He is me, and yet he isn't. It is lonely for him, and I'm afraid I've done him a great disservice by intruding on his life so fully, but it was necessary."

I nodded, sitting next to him without a thought of how strange it was to be so comfortable with him. "Sometimes necessity can drive us to do things that others can't understand."

I was thinking of my relationship with Touya when I said that. Necessity had driven us together just as much as it had driven us apart. He knew my thoughts, just as I knew his thoughts had turned to me when I said those words. But...why me? Why when we're talking about the world not being able to understand doing what is necessary.

His lips pressed down upon mine and I understood it was not about necessity, but just that the world does not always understand the full truth.