Disclaimer, ratings, and other legal stuff can be found in Part One.
Reviewers: A great big hug and thank you, once again, to all of you! ^_^ I can't emphasize enough how you keep me going, so please drop me a line if you have the time. And no, I'm not really trying to rhyme. Ugh.
Author's Notes:
After watching Slayers NEXT and TRY, I found myself obsessed with Xelloss/Filia, which is why I actually started to write *another* fic in spite of my promise to myself to NEVER write more than one story at a time. Oh well. My X/F downward-spiral-into-madness and my midterms (gag!) added to the delay of writing this chapter, so I'm sorry to keep everyone waiting. I'm aiming to crank out at least one chapter per month... (crosses fingers)
This part isn't quite as long as the previous two (which were *massive*) but it's close. Now on with the show! ^_^
Chapter Warning:
Profanity and harsh violence. The latter is definitely not for the weak of heart (and stomach).
~ Dark Rune
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"The dead cannot cry out for justice;
it is a duty of the living to do so for them."
- Lois McMaster Bujold
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-= Part Five: Because You Fell =-
He remembered that night, just a little over a week ago. He hadn't understood her cryptic remarks then, but they all made sense now.
"Eriol?" Kaho had murmured so softly that he had thought she might be half-asleep already.
"Hmm?" he replied, shifting comfortably in the bed to envelop her more tightly in his embrace. Her back was to him, and they were lying on their sides, spooned together, so he couldn't read her expression. He could only guess at her emotions through her voice.
"I have... I have some really strange questions for you," she had admitted hesitantly, and Eriol had only briefly wondered why.
He had smiled, his eyes closed. "We *are* unusual people, so we naturally ask strange questions. What's your question?"
"Just don't think too much of it," she had warned, and so he hadn't.
Until now.
Until now, he hadn't realized how important that question was to Kaho. Had he really been that blind to her emotions?
But Eriol couldn't cry anymore; he had already shed enough tears.
"I won't," he had promised her easily.
"All right." Her shoulders had relaxed, and he had not stopped to ask why. "As Clow Read, you knew everything, right?"
"Yes."
A beat.
"How much do you remember now?"
He had given his answer genuine thought. "Just glimpses, really, of life here and there. The only solid block of memory I have is of how the Clow Cards were supposed to work, because that was all related to Sakura-san... I remember all of my magic, and so I'm gifted with Clow's mastery of sciences, mathematics, and languages... But outside of magic, Clow wanted me to start fresh. The knowledge I possess now may seem like a lot, but it's only a very insignificant fraction of what Clow actually knew."
Another pause.
"But since Clow knew everything, he predicted the day of his death, right?"
"Of course."
"So how did he... do you remember how Clow dealt with it?"
"I... he... was happy. Happy to be free from having too much magic and too much knowledge... By then, I think he realized that having all the knowledge is best left to God."
"He just... accepted his death?"
"Yes. But he didn't just sit back and say, 'Okay. Today I'm going to die. I'll just sit here and have a cup of tea.' Clow knew what would happen and prepared, as best as he could, for everything that would take place after his death. He understood that even after he died, the world must go on. What matters the most is the future we give our children. The future we give our loved ones."
If he had known to look, Eriol probably would have seen glimmers of tears in Kaho's eyes. He could still hear the profound sadness in her voice. "I suppose Clow was right, wasn't he? He may have been a foolish boy once, but he grew into a wise man."
He had not asked how Kaho knew that Clow had been a foolish youth, and a moment of silence passed before Eriol had ventured to ask his own question. "So why are you suddenly so curious about Clow's death?"
"Iie. I'm not really curious about his death... I was just... I was just wondering how he could handle knowing he was about to die. That's all."
Eriol had actually laughed. "Well it's not like you predicted your own death, right? Besides, what's in the past is gone. I've learned from Clow's mistakes, and I'm looking forward to my own future. With you."
It had taken her an unusually long time to respond, Eriol now realized, and when she finally did, her voice had been a few notches softer. "A vision of the future..."
"A future with you," he had repeated, instinctively pulling her closer as if to reassure her and ask for her affirmation in return, but she had not said a word of agreement.
He had believed she had fallen asleep.
How oblivious.
How pitifully naive.
"Hiiragizawa-kun?"
Eriol stirred at the slightly muted sound of his name, then opened his eyes, only to find himself looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling, lying on an unfamiliar bed, in a room that felt distinctly familiar. It seemed that he was doomed to be perpetually disoriented. When he finally remembered where he was and what had happened, he closed his eyes a moment longer until he heard a soft knock on his door, and the gentle voice calling him again.
"Hiiragizawa-kun? Are you all right?"
Blinking the bleariness away, Eriol quickly got up and padded over to the door to open it. He found Tomoyo standing in the hallway, frowning, worriedly biting her bottom lip, her fist raised to shoulder height as if she were about to knock again.
"Ohayou, Daidouji-san," he smiled cheerfully, and he noticed the startled relief crossing her features even as she lowered her hand to her side. "Is something the matter?"
He could have sworn she was blushing, albeit faintly. Then again, maybe he just didn't know what Tomoyo looked like in the morning. She seemed uncharacteristically insecure when she spoke. "Iie. I just... I thought I heard you... talking. Sumimasen. I woke you up."
Tomoyo bowed her head a little, and Eriol politely nodded back. "It's all right. You really didn't wake me."
"So... would you like some breakfast?" she asked tentatively, still red-faced, and then Eriol noticed that she was still in her nightgown. He realized that she must have come running from her room when she thought she heard something, leaving him with an uncomfortably tight feeling in his chest. Tomoyo was doing so much for him already.
Eriol smiled as a thought occurred to him. "In return for everything you've done for me, why don't *I* cook breakfast while you get changed?" his grin widened at her surprised expression, and then he proceeded to herd her towards her bedroom, his hands on her shoulders gently guiding her back.
"But... you're a guest, and you're still injured, and I really shouldn't let..."
"I'm fine, and it's nothing," he interjected smoothly, pushing Tomoyo further down the hallway. "Besides, you let Touya-san and Yukito-san cook yesterday, so why shouldn't I cook for you today? I get to show off my great culinary skills for you with a traditional English breakfast!"
"Hiiragizawa-kun..."
Finally managing to trap her back in her room, Eriol gave a cheerful wave of his hand just as she turned around to face him. "Thank you for letting me do this for you."
And he shut the door.
Tomoyo almost sweatdropped. "But... Hiiragizawa-kun... there's practically nothing in my fridge since Touya-san and Yukito-san raided it yesterday..."
She blinked for a moment, then smiled when she heard Eriol's upbeat whistling as he walked towards the kitchen.
At the very least... he wasn't outwardly grieving anymore.
Yukito, who had fallen asleep outside on the couch late during his watch, hadn't been roused by Eriol's movements in the kitchen that morning, so Eriol managed to surprise everyone with the feast he made, resourcefully using what little food was left in Tomoyo's kitchen.
In fact, breakfast was so good that even Touya, who had been taken aback at finding Eriol as the morning chef, had given Eriol a smile. No matter how much he didn't like the Englishman, or blamed him for hurting Tomoyo, Touya had to admit that Eriol was a damn good cook. Touya's father, after all, excelled at this kind of stuff, so naturally Eriol would be just as good. Yukito had only smiled happily before digging into his plate, while Tomoyo had politely thanked Eriol for the meal before eating. She had the sneaking suspicion that he had used magic to enhance the meal somehow, because she was quite sure there was nothing in her fridge to begin with, but she said nothing.
Overall, Eriol thought it was a success and was glad to be repaying Tomoyo's kindness somehow, even if it was just through small gestures. He planned to do more for her in the future; after all, it wasn't every day that someone would save his life while shouldering the burden of his curse without having a nervous breakdown.
Over breakfast, the four of them quickly decided that they would take Touya's and Tomoyo's cars to the airport to pick up Sakura and Syaoran, who were arriving just that morning. Touya and Yukito needed to go home afterwards to get changed since they weren't exactly prepared for a slumber party when they came over to Tomoyo's apartment. They figured Sakura and Syaoran would be good enough guardians until they could figure out their next move against Evil Eriol, as they had now dubbed the curse's manifestation.
Eriol grinned happily at the thought of being in a car (Tomoyo owned a convertible Mercedes!) alone with Tomoyo (so he could reminisce with her, of course), until Touya announced that *he* would be riding with Tomoyo in her car, while Yue (*not* Yukito) would drive Eriol in the other car (Touya owned a Celica, which was okay...).
After his declaration of seating arrangements, Touya shot Eriol a look that said, perfectly clearly, "There's not a chance in hell I'm leaving you alone with my other baby sister, you freaky, borderline-deranged, potentially homicidal, manipulative bastard," and Eriol had to grimace.
It was partially the truth, after all.
He conceded that Touya was being pragmatic, since the only one who would be capable of fending off Eriol, if Eriol were to snap and try to kill someone, was Yue. No matter how cautious Touya was, however, Eriol doubted Sakura's brother would be strong enough to protect Tomoyo should the curse attack.
Then again, Eriol remembered the flash of energy that Touya had displayed only the day before. While Touya, being the son of Clow's reincarnation and the brother of the Card Mistress, was blessed with vast stores of latent power, that surge *had* been unexpected. There was something unusual, yet vaguely familiar about that powerful energy signature, and Eriol tried to think about where he'd felt it before. Unable to concentrate, especially since pieces of his memory were still missing, Eriol filed away the thought for further consideration later.
With all things thus decided, the four set off for the airport. Eriol's mind wandered during the drive because Yue was not exactly the most talkative being, and though the guardian had practically worshipped Clow Read, he had been quiet about his devotion. He was no different now, and, surprisingly, he made no attempt to start a conversation with the reincarnation of his former master.
Eriol guessed that Yue was simply giving him peace, and for that he was grateful. He needed to reflect on what the curse would do next and how it would try to destroy him. He was certain it would go after the people closest to him, so he wasn't sure if being near his friends was such a brilliant idea, but then he reasoned it would be easier to keep an eye on them this way.
Of course, his mind scoffed. So you can watch them die one by one.
Eriol hurriedly stifled the horrible notion and wondered how much more he could lose before he finally went off the deep end. He hated feeling so much guilt, so much uncertainty.
When they were finally only minutes away from the airport, Yue's cool voice at last broke the stillness and startled Eriol back into reality. "Have you heard from Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun?"
Eriol needed a moment to orient himself before responding. "Actually, no. I tried calling them before dawn and didn't get anything. I can't even sense them," Eriol confessed worriedly.
"If Sakura-san says they're all right, then they must be."
"I don't doubt what Sakura-san said. I just..." Eriol sighed, his voice growing quiet as he tiredly rubbed his eyes. "You remember how it was, don't you, Yue? Clow never once lost track of you."
For a long time, Yue didn't say anything, and Eriol began to wonder if the guardian had even heard him. Just as Eriol resigned himself to staring out the window again, Yue spoke. "But you're not him, Eriol-san... Surely you..." the guardian hesitated, glancing sideways at his passenger, his tone softening. "Surely... you can forgive yourself for that."
Eriol blinked at Yue, surprised and somewhat wistful. An ironic smile crept across Eriol's features, and, after a moment, the cursed young man turned away from Yue, his bitterness sharpening his tone. "How I wish that were true..."
They drove the rest of the way in silence.
The flight from Hong Kong arrived on time, and since Sakura and Syaoran were traveling first class, they were among the first to emerge from the baggage claim area. The reunion was just as explosive as Eriol had pictured it.
"TOMOYO-CHAN!"
"Ohayou, Sakura-ch--"
The rest of Tomoyo's greeting was cut off as her petite, not-yet- visibly-pregnant, yet unbelievably powerful best friend almost toppled her with a running bear hug. Tomoyo staggered backwards in surprise, whilst everyone else looked on with amused expressions.
Syaoran, sporting a sleek goatee well suited to his clan-leading persona, walked over to the group at a much slower pace than his wife did, partly because he was carrying two large, heavy suitcases. "Good morning," he greeted the welcoming committee casually, a smile on his face. By that time, Touya had already fixed his death glare on him, as was the older brother's custom.
Greetings and handshakes were exchanged all around, and Eriol was surprised when Sakura gave him a hug almost as suffocatingly tight as the one she had bestowed upon Tomoyo. A meaningful silence passed until Sakura let him go, and then Eriol found himself in Syaoran's strong (yet pointedly brief) embrace.
Eriol managed a smirk when Syaoran released him, but before he could spew out the obligatory teasing remark, Syaoran had already retorted, "Don't get any ideas, Hiiragizawa." Syaoran grinned at Eriol's surprised stare, and he added slyly, "After all, I'm a married man. You have to control yourself... 'til my wife's not looking."
Syaoran emphasized his point with an overly dramatic wink and a conspicuous elbow nudge, earning him a burst of genuinely amused and impressed laughter from Eriol. Sakura, done giving her round of hugs, tried her best to suppress a fit of giggles, and Tomoyo hid her own smirk by demurely clearing her throat and nonchalantly looking up at the ceiling. While Yue raised an eyebrow, Touya simply rolled his eyes in mock exasperation, wordlessly grabbing one of the suitcases his still-snickering brother-in-law held before gesturing at everyone to start moving.
"By the way, nice beard, gaki," Touya huffed, shooting Syaoran a sideways glare. "You look like a goat."
Syaoran shrugged helplessly. The comment wasn't unexpected from his wife's older brother.
"See? Even Onii-chan thinks it's awful," Sakura told Syaoran, before explaining to everyone else, "I've been trying to get him to shave it off but he won't do it. He says it makes him feel younger--whatever *that* means."
"Just let me have my fun," Syaoran pleaded. "I'll shave it off when the baby's born."
"If you need something to make up for your inadequacy as a man that badly, then by all means..." Eriol smirked, and Touya chuckled his approval.
"I'll have you know I'm quite secure in my masculinity, thank you very much," Syaoran glared, recognizing that his friends were ganging up on him again, so he was relieved when Tomoyo came to his rescue.
"I actually think it makes Li-kun look very sophisticated and artsy," she declared as the six of them started their trek back to the parking lot, and Syaoran gave her a very thankful grin. Over the years, Tomoyo had sided often with the Chinese youth because Sakura, Eriol, and Touya constantly picked on him. Her support had led to a very stable friendship based on deep, mutual respect--not to mention Tomoyo's mildly amused pity.
Tomoyo smiled upon identifying Syaoran's half-exasperated Thank-You-Now-Please-Help-Me-Change-the-Subject look, and smoothly, Tomoyo asked, "So how was your flight?"
No one noticed she had changed the subject.
"It was... relatively quiet," Sakura shrugged, sending obvious warning glares at her husband. "The flight wasn't too long, so there wasn't much to do other than wait."
Of course, given Sakura's warning looks, Syaoran saw his chance at payback. "What do you mean, quiet? You freaked out because your light didn't turn on when you pressed the button to recline your seat," Syaoran shrugged, and his wife promptly slapped his arm. He pouted, rubbing his mock-injured limb, before adding, "Well at least I didn't tell them you also screamed something about perverted announcements when the pilot said the connecting flight to Bangkok--"
At this point, Eriol and Tomoyo started snickering.
"--was going to be 'de-laid' and--"
"I think you've done enough talking about that, ne, Syao-chan?" Sakura smiled, her voice dripping with saccharine sweetness, her eyes glaring daggers. Syaoran didn't say anything more, but there was a satisfied twinkle in his eye and a slight smile on his face when he put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.
Eriol silently marveled at the changes one year of married life and a pregnant woman's supply of hormones had brought. Regardless of where they were or what was happening around them, Sakura and Syaoran were so obviously *happy* together. As far as Eriol could tell, Syaoran had mellowed out even more since the last time they had spoken to each other at Sakura and Syaoran's wedding reception.
Then Eriol's thoughts took a sobering turn, and he couldn't help but wonder. If he'd had that same chance... what would life have been like for him and Kaho?
His chest constricted painfully, and he looked away, his grin faltering. Although he was happy for and undeniably proud of Sakura and Syaoran, considering they *were* his daughter and his son of the next life, he hurt just by looking at them. He knew he shouldn't feel that way, and guilt tore at him even as he tried to ignore the jealousy welling in his chest. The part of him that retained Clow's paternal instincts was glad for them, of course, but the side of him that was just Eriol, the young man who had lost everything, raged against the injustice.
"Forgive me for being so practical, but what exactly is the plan for today?" Yue seamlessly cut into the light conversations that had stirred naturally between Sakura and Tomoyo (about maternity fashions), and Syaoran and Touya (about the merits of facial hair).
The question caught Eriol's attention, because then everyone turned to look at him.
He smiled the best cheerfully fake smile he could possibly muster and asked, innocently, "What? Do I have something on my face?"
"Well," Sakura began, "now that Syaoran and I are here, we were hoping you had a plan worked out, Eriol-kun."
Unfortunately, he really had no idea what to do. He just wanted to know how to defeat the curse, too, and he had hoped that maybe Sakura and Syaoran might have an idea of how to do that.
Beating it was his only real remaining reason to live, and he absently wondered if he could actually get on with his life without Kaho, once his remaining purpose was fulfilled. Would he just let himself die of starvation afterwards? He pushed aside the depressing thought for later.
It occurred to him that Tomoyo would probably slap him again if she knew what he was thinking, and his mood lightened at the memory. No one had ever struck him before, and Tomoyo was the last person he would have expected to have the courage to do that. Needless to say, that particular experience had been a refreshing eye-opener.
Realizing that everyone was still waiting for his response, Eriol tried to inject optimism into his smile, knowing that his words would not be so uplifting. "The problem with the curse is that... well, it's a *curse*, and a powerful one at that, so it's not designed to be easy to break," he explained, rubbing the back of his head ruefully. "I'm not entirely sure how to shake it off," he admitted at last.
"But it *can* be broken, right?" Syaoran spoke, his earlier humor gone, his eyes narrowed and intense.
Eriol shrugged. "Clow never freed himself from it. I don't see how I can, if *he* couldn't, being all-powerful and all."
"But he didn't even realize it was there," Tomoyo pointed out gently. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Hiiragizawa-kun. Anyone else in your position would have crumbled by now. You're strong to be able to stand this far."
Eriol gave her a small, but genuine, smile, hoping that she could sense the warmth he felt and wondering how she could always somehow make him feel... safe.
Touya cleared his throat, not really comfortable intruding on the moment yet needing to, and said grimly, "But the question of how to get rid of the curse still stands."
"It's not like any of us has experience dealing with a curse before," Sakura added, eyeing Eriol. She and Syaoran had assumed Eriol would know how to lift the curse because he had Clow Read's knowledge, but she could see that Eriol had already given up on himself.
The six of them were still silently mulling over that problem when they finally reached the parking lot. Even after Syaoran and Touya put the luggage in the trunk of Tomoyo's car, no one made a move to get into the vehicles, still uncertain about what they were going to do.
"Well..." Sakura began, looking at everyone.
"Well..." Eriol echoed, at a loss.
"Well..." Syaoran shrugged, indecisively.
"Well what?" Touya snapped, and Yue snickered at Touya's impatience.
It was Tomoyo, after finally losing some of her notorious patience, who ended up taking the role of the leader. She slipped quickly into the comforting familiarity of her CEO mood because she liked having things in firm control, after all, and when she was in that mood, she could be frighteningly efficient.
"Other than standing around and staring at each other, does anyone have actual suggestions at all?" she asked, looking around at the uneasy and undecided expressions that her friends wore. Satisfied that no one, not even Eriol, had a real plan for the day, she briskly turned to the two newest arrivals. "Sakura-chan, Li-kun, you're not tired, are you?"
Her best friends in question shook their heads, recognizing that they shouldn't dare to cross Tomoyo when Tomoyo Was In Full Command Mode.
"Good," Tomoyo nodded, then turned to Eriol, who paled, recalling several instances in college when she had used that same tone of voice and wrought devastation upon unsuspecting subjects. "Hiiragizawa-kun, what are the chances that the curse will attack us today, given that you weakened it yesterday?"
"Slim to none," Eriol replied, squelching the instinctive urge to salute and say 'Ma'am'. "Why?"
Tomoyo didn't answer because she asked him another question. "How are your injuries?"
"Almost completely healed," he answered, puzzled, "but I still don't see how..."
She grinned at him, waving away his question, and turned to Touya and Yue. "Touya-san, Yue-san, you need to get back to work and organize classes so that you're available at a moment's notice. You don't have to do it, but it would be convenient for us in case the curse strikes again. Will you be all right and ready to go by this evening?"
Touya and Yue's eyes widened at Tomoyo's bluntness, then both men nodded.
"That's good," Tomoyo smiled disarmingly, and her commanding aura faded to be replaced by charmingly magnetic kindness. "Touya-san and Yue-san, please go back to your place and rest," she paused, her smile communicating so much gratitude and affection that Touya and Yue were almost overwhelmed. "And thank you for staying yesterday," she reached out to hug them, surprising everyone. "It means a lot to have two older brothers who care as much as you do."
When she stepped back, Touya was positively glowing, while Yue appeared somewhat flustered, yet pleased. Tomoyo always had that effect on people--even those with the coldest of hearts.
"It was nothing," Touya said modestly, and he smugly glanced sideways at Syaoran as if to say, "Look who has Tomoyo's approval now!" Syaoran only rolled his eyes, suspecting that it was partly Manipulative!Tomoyo at work but wisely not voicing his thoughts for fear of his life. Touya didn't see Syaoran's unimpressed glare because he turned back to Tomoyo worriedly. "So what are you four going to do? I don't think leaving you trouble magnets alone is such a great idea."
"Well, we'll be fine. As a matter of fact, WE..." Tomoyo trailed off, inwardly chuckling as everyone unconsciously leaned closer towards her with bated breath.
"We're what?" Sakura asked tensely.
"...are going *shopping*."
There was a pause.
Then, a combined cry of stunned disbelief. "*SHOPPING*!?"
"Yes, shopping," Tomoyo repeated calmly. "It's only logical."
"Wait... shopping? At a time like this?" Eriol blinked at her incredulously. Maybe she *had* gone crazy. Maybe she had hit her head harder than she claimed she did.
"You said so yourself, Hiiragizawa-kun. We're not likely to be attacked," Tomoyo reasoned. "Would you rather sit in my apartment watching soap operas while wallowing in misery all day, especially when you can physically do something more active and beneficial?" She accepted his bewildered look as his answer to her question and added, "Practically speaking, we also NEED to go shopping."
"Huh?" eloquently stated an even more confused Eriol.
"You can't live on my design prototypes forever, you know," Tomoyo said simply, as Eriol looked down at what he was wearing in realization. "You may look great in those clothes, but I don't have that many of them, and they're all expensive outfits..." Her eyes twinkled as he blushed at the unexpected compliment. "They're also not the kind of clothes I want to see ruined by miscellaneous accidents, including, but not limited to, oh... food fights, spaghetti sauce stains, coffee stains, tea stains, wasabi stains, soy sauce stains, tempura batter stains, teriyaki sauce--"
"I'm feeling unusually hungry right now..." Yue remarked absently.
"--grass stains, mud stains, dirt stains, snot stains--"
"I would like to retract my previous statement," Yue said, suddenly looking slightly green.
"--blood stains, soot marks, burn marks, tire marks, shoe prints, and the like," Tomoyo finished.
Eriol blinked at her. "Wow. It's like you expect me to get all dirty while I'm here."
Tomoyo smiled. Innocently. Then she shared an equally innocent glance with Touya, who grinned at her in understanding, which caused both Eriol's and Syaoran's faces to instantly turn white with fear.
"Besides," Tomoyo said, as if she hadn't noticed the pallor of Eriol's face, "if you're going to be staying for a while, you need things of your own. Including new glasses."
"But..." Eriol wracked his brain for a suitable excuse. Recalling how maniacal Tomoyo had been about dressing Sakura up during her card-capturing days, he had a bad feeling that shopping with Tomoyo would yield similarly painful results. "I... I need to contact Ruby Moon and Spinel."
"It's night time in England," Tomoyo argued, unperturbed by his reluctance. She was used to bending people to her will, after all. "You already tried to call Akizuki-san and Spinel-san early this morning, and you can't sense them. You can afford to wait to call them again tonight, and hopefully you will get a response then. And hopefully, you'll be strong enough to be able to sense them again."
Touya smiled wickedly. "Then it's decided! You can all go shopping," he asserted, happily shoving Eriol towards the front of Tomoyo's car. He was gleefully imagining the tortures that Eriol would be submitted to with Tomoyo playing Dress Up the Live Eriol-Doll. If all went according to Tomoyo's wishes, Eriol would eventually end up trying out maternity fashions with Sakura and Syaoran, and that mental image was just too sweet a motivation to resist.
"I suppose it makes sense, in Tomoyo-chan's twisted way," Sakura said, doubtfully. By this time, Touya had pushed a weakly sputtering Eriol into the front passenger seat and shut the door.
"Although I was hoping we'd get more done about the curse as soon as we got here," Syaoran admitted, yelping in surprise when Touya pushed him and Sakura until they were both tangled ungracefully in the backseat of Tomoyo's car. "Hey, what's the rush?"
"Onii-chan!" Sakura cried, her voice muffled by Syaoran's arm somehow getting in her face in spite of the car's surprisingly spacious interior.
"I hear there's city-wide autumn sale going on today," Touya grinned.
Yue, with his arms folded across his chest, added as flatly as he possibly could, "Hurry. You might miss the low, low prices."
A dumbfounded silence followed Yue's remark.
Tomoyo only arched an eyebrow at her honorary older brothers before she slid into the driver's seat with a shake of her head, her shoulders quaking with silent laughter.
"Call us if you need us," Touya ordered, one hand on the roof of Tomoyo's car as he leaned down next to Tomoyo's open window. "Drive carefully. We should meet for dinner later so we can discuss what we're going to do, don't you think, Tomoyo-san?"
"Hai, that's a good idea," she agreed calmly. "Regroup at my place at seven thirty?"
"We'll be there," Yue and Touya replied, stepping back and waving as Tomoyo pulled out of the parking space with her three passengers bewildered at Touya's obvious rush to get rid of them.
"I expect to see pictures, Tomoyo-san! I know you still carry around that digital camera!" Touya called after them, and he was rewarded with her wave in acknowledgement even as she drove off. His smirk widened; that's what he loved about Tomoyo. When they were thinking along the same wavelengths, things could get downright wicked. Sakura was always too innocent and naive about pranks and practical jokes, but Tomoyo wore the mask of an angel and possessed the twisted cunning of a masterful manipulator. While Sakura was the younger sister he could tease, Tomoyo was the younger sister with whom he could plot the demise of several close, personal friends over a cup of tea.
"You are *so* transparent, To-ya," a voice behind Touya called, and he turned, pleasantly surprised to see that Yue had reverted back to Yukito. "It's so obvious you want Eriol-san to be very badly humiliated."
"Yeah, well, I have to have my revenge *somehow*. Thanks for supporting me back there anyway," Touya gave the shorter man a brief hug. "You could have told your other self to work on his delivery, though."
Yukito shrugged as they both got into Touya's car. "Convincing him to actually say 'low, low prices' was hard enough, and Yue-san is not exactly the most flexible actor. I think I did a pretty decent job there."
"Yes, you definitely did," Touya chuckled, glancing at Yukito affectionately. "Let's just hope Tomoyo comes through with those pictures."
"So we'll have something fun to show off and look at while we're grading papers, ne?" Yukito smirked, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "I can't wait!"
After dropping off Sakura and Syaoran's belongings at Tomoyo's apartment, the reunited best friends had opted to go to the mall closest to Tomoyo's home, even though it was slightly more expensive than the standard shopping center, given the neighborhood in which it was located.
The first thing the quartet accomplished was ordering Eriol new glasses. Eriol selected a pair of rectangular, wire-rimmed glasses, not needing to explain to his friends that he did not want to wear the circular ones that his evil counterpart wore. They had to wait an hour for the new prescription to be ready, so the four of them began their shopping spree by browsing a nearby department store.
Within a half hour, Tomoyo and Sakura had made Eriol try on outfits ranging from the stylish ("Hoeeeeeee!!! You look like a supermodel, Eriol-kun!"), to the bizarre ("I don't think that pink fur boa is, in any way, reassuring to *your* masculinity, Hiiragizawa, but it sure as hell is doing wonders for mine."), to the simply ludicrous ("Well why *not* purple spandex, Hiiragizawa-kun? You might need it for certain extracurricular activities... Ohohohoho!").
All in all, Eriol was overwhelmed, and he was starting to get really suspicious because Tomoyo, who had *conveniently* brought along a digital camera, thoughtfully took several pictures of him ("I'm building your portfolio, silly! You're fiiiiiine... You look faaaaaantastic.") in each outfit that he was forced to try out. Tomoyo even forced him to *pose* for each outfit, becoming incensed if he so much as flinched in protest. Syaoran was cackling with glee during every moment of Eriol's humiliation at the mercy of Tomoyo's madness, until they reached the forty-five minute shopping mark.
When Tomoyo decided it was time to pull out the big guns.
When Tomoyo decided to apply the saying, "Misery loves company."
When Tomoyo decided that Eriol needed moral support from a fellow male who would be going through the same ordeal.
THEN, Tomoyo's eyes gleamed wildly, and she said, very, very, very casually, "Ne, Sakura-chan, I bet Li-kun would look good in this. He and Hiiragizawa-kun would match..."
At which point she held up two very skimpy-looking Speedos, one a blindingly hot pink and the other a blindingly neon green. The green, of course, was meant for Syaoran, who paled considerably when the almost non-existent piece of fabric was dangled nauseatingly in front of his face.
"Why do we need bathing suits?" the Li Clan Leader squeaked in the most undignified manner possible, finding himself inching towards Eriol, who also looked about ready to flee for his life as well. The two men were apparently thinking the same thing: safetyinnumberssafetyinnumberssafetyinnumbers.
Right.
The two women advanced upon them with innocent-yet-so-obviously-evil grins. "Well, I just came up with a very good idea on how to help us get rid of the curse requiring bathing suits," Tomoyo explained, and suddenly everyone stopped moving, and her friends' eyes became riveted on her seriously.
"What!?" the others asked in bewildered unison, even Sakura, who thought she had known what Tomoyo was thinking all along.
"Well, the curse feeds on Hiiragizawa-kun's sadness, right?"
Her three friends nodded cluelessly.
"The simplest way to remove a curse is to starve it, right?"
"Um... That could work..." Eriol said dubiously. "But soul curses like this have some kind of original condition that must be fulfilled in order for the curse to be broken. You can't break it by simply starving it..."
"Hear me out, then," Tomoyo said, holding up a hand. "You don't know what condition must be fulfilled in order for this curse to be broken, right Hiiragizawa-kun?"
"I guess not..."
"Well then," she smiled, "since the curse feeds on your misery, the easiest, most logical way to starve it is simple: you must be happy."
There was a stunned silence.
"I admit that sounds like valid reasoning..." Syaoran said thoughtfully.
"Pretty smart, actually," Sakura agreed.
Eriol took a deep breath. "Forgive me, but... what EXACTLY does that have to do with ME wearing a HOT PINK BATHING SUIT!?" he exploded, and suddenly Syaoran remembered why he was practically cowering behind his best guy friend.
Tomoyo had the most self-satisfied smile on her face, and Sakura suddenly radiated wickedness as she *finally* understood her best girl friend's intentions.
"We're going to have a beach party, of course!" Tomoyo exclaimed triumphantly. "We're going to Tomoeda and having a welcome-back-Sakura-chan-Li-kun-and-Hiiragizawa-kun reunion with our old friends at a barbecue by the beach!"
While Eriol and Syaoran were too shocked for words at the moment and staring dumbfoundedly at each other, Sakura whispered worriedly to Tomoyo, "When did you plan this, Tomoyo-chan? Or was it just a spur-of-the-moment thing you thought of just to get the guys to wear the swimsuits?"
"A little of both, actually," Tomoyo replied, blushing. "I was just thinking this morning of how Hiiragizawa-kun tried to be so cheerful in front of everyone, even though he was really miserable inside, and how much I wanted him to be genuinely happy. I got to thinking of how that might affect the curse, and, well... since no one had plans for anything, I figured we might as well enjoy our reunion and make the best out of a bad situation."
"You really know Eriol-kun well," Sakura nodded sagely in approval, noticing Tomoyo flush at the compliment. "Good thinking. I'm sure Eriol-kun will be cheered up if he sees his old friends. Especially Yamazaki-kun."
"I certainly hope so," Tomoyo said, then turned back to the guys, who, by now, had picked up their jaws off the floor. "Well?"
"The reunion sounds like a good idea," Eriol began, "but don't you think it's a bit dangerous to involve the people I know? The curse might attack them..."
"That's why we'll be there to destroy it if it does, indeed, attack," Sakura stated firmly. "It's the perfect setup. If we can lure it out in the open while you're feeling happy, then it must be feeling weak, so we can easily destroy it then."
"What about the actual condition that Hiiragizawa-kun needs to fulfill in order to fully remove the curse?" Syaoran spoke up. "Don't you think we need to explore that, first? The curse will return in another form later on, even if we destroy this one, unless we satisfy that condition."
"I think that's something I have to figure out on my own," Eriol muttered, looking serious for a moment.
"Well then," Tomoyo said happily, "it's decided! We'll have everyone together on Monday afternoon."
"Wait a minute... That's a work day, isn't it?" Eriol interjected reasonably.
Tomoyo winked at him. "Never underestimate the power of a Daidouji, especially a Daidouji who wants to help her friends. It'll all work out."
Eriol smiled at her, the happiness glowing in his eyes, and he took her hand gently in his. The light air of humor between them faded, only to be replaced with a tender, heavy seriousness beyond words. "Daidouji-san... I just... thank you for being such a wonderful friend."
For a few instants, no one spoke.
Sakura held her breath, awed by the beautiful moment transpiring between Eriol and Tomoyo, suddenly and clearly casting their relationship in a light so obviously beyond simple friendship. Syaoran only looked at Eriol and Tomoyo with newfound amazement and something akin to silent encouragement; those two certainly deserved each other, he realized, after all those years together.
Time froze in that precious moment of connection between Tomoyo and Eriol.
That is, until Tomoyo said, "Just don't think flattery will get you out of trying on your Speedos." She flashed Eriol and Syaoran her sweetest smile, reinforced by Sakura's equally potent persuasive grin.
In despair, Eriol and Syaoran yowled.
Putting up a small, inconspicuous magical barrier in a corner of the parking garage required little energy, and it effectively gave him the privacy he needed. Regular humans unaware of magic were always ridiculously easy to control, after all, and he didn't need outsiders prying into what he was about to do now. He had waited since yesterday to find the perfect opportunity to finally make his move, and he did not want to be disturbed when he finally had his prey cornered.
"Onee-chan, something feels wrong," the little boy quietly said while getting out of the car, looking very ill at ease.
The silent observer raised an eyebrow. So the little brat was a bit sensitive to magic after all? He might make a fine meal as well...
"Is your stomach upset?" the older sister asked as she stepped out the driver's seat, shut the car door, and hurried over to her younger sibling's side. "Was it something you ate?"
The boy shook his head numbly, scanning his surroundings. "Iie... It feels like something really bad is going to happen." He paused, clutching his sister's skirt tightly, and his voice shook as he spoke softly. "I'm scared, 'Nee-chan."
The boy's eyes suddenly widened when they found and focused on the stranger's eyes glinting in the shadows.
The dark figure smirked and stepped forward, purposefully removing his hood and prompting the boy to shrink away in fear and panic. Noting the direction of the boy's frightened gaze, the older sister whirled around in time to spot the threat emerging from the darkness. The figure approached slowly, trapping the siblings between their car, and the black Mercedes parked next to it.
"Excuse us, sir. We'd like to get through," she said, nervously backing away, all the while keeping her little brother behind her. The stranger didn't stop coming forward and only smiled delightedly as his prey backed up against a wall. "Please... move away," she insisted, in a louder voice this time. "You're scaring my brother."
"Really?" he said, perfect white teeth flashing predatorily. "Am I scaring you, too?"
"Please... I'm... I'm warning you..." the young woman said bravely, reaching into her purse.
Was it pepper spray? Mace? The hunter chuckled. Nothing so mundanely human could possibly affect him, and he continued forward until he was only a meter away from them.
"RUN KENJI!!!" the young woman screamed.
It happened in a flash.
She pulled out a small can of pepper spray and used it against him, while shoving her little brother forward past him with her other arm. To her shock and dismay, the spray was deflected by an unseen shield around her attacker, who was momentarily distracted by the little boy who had managed to squeeze past him.
Deciding that restraining the boy was a waste of effort, he returned his attention to his original target just in time to catch her arms as she tried to push past him. Brutally he slammed her against the cement wall, ignoring her cries for her little brother to run and get help. He silenced her with a deft elbow smashing the side of her face, and then he looked back to the little boy, who was frozen in his tracks and now staring at him with a horrified expression.
The hunter smiled his most charming smile, for the first time glad that his Other Self appeared so harmless and so charismatic; his Other Self's innocent appearance intensified the shock and terror that his victims would feel. After all, who would suspect that such a handsome, cheerful-looking, bespectacled young man would be capable of so atrocious a crime?
Feeding on their intense fear, he cheerily said to the boy, "You have a lovely sister, but she's mine now. Say goodbye, Kenji-kun!"
Tears filled the boy's eyes. "ONEE-CHAN!!!"
Ignoring the boy, and now glowing with dark energy, he plunged his fingers through the young woman's chest, in the space between her breasts, reveling in the feel of the blood suddenly trailing hotly down his arm. "So delicious..." he sighed as he gazed at her face, contorted in indescribable pain and terrified disbelief. Unable to resist a sudden, yet familiar urge, he bent down to kiss her, savagely crushing her against the wall with his body.
His prey looked so much like Her... That was why he had chosen her, after all, but it was still a remarkable resemblance, really, and *far* too tempting...
The dying young woman moaned as his hand viciously buried itself deeper into her flesh, finding her heart and systematically ripping her apart inside, and when he finally pulled his head away from hers, her blood stained his lips, trickling down his chin and dripping on to his cloak. Satisfied as he felt her energy merge into his, he looked back at the boy again, hungrily this time, and smiled again.
Kenji ran.
And in spite of his tears, or perhaps because of the emotional overflow, the boy unexpectedly broke through the magical barrier.
The hunter's bloody smile wavered only slightly.
The quartet spent the rest of the day in the mall, pausing in their shopping spree only to have a reasonably civilized lunch at the food court. It was reasonably civilized because only Syaoran's goatee, Eriol's new glasses, Tomoyo's purse, and part of Sakura's sleeve were the unfortunate casualties of the mini food fight that ensued amongst the four so-called adults. Those casualties were easily wiped clean, of course, and the four friends had happily resumed a five-hour marathon shopping frenzy that left the women giddy with happiness and the men staggering with weary embarrassment about the clothes they had been persuaded to model for the women.
Thankfully, the men were not forced to buy the original Speedos that Tomoyo had them try on... though she discreetly took pictures of Eriol and Syaoran wearing them, in spite of their protests, and plotted to share the pictures with the old Tomoeda gang. The men had settled for traditional swimming shorts, a dark green pair for Syaoran and an elegant black for Eriol.
Although they were supposed to be shopping for Eriol (who, against Tomoyo's insistence on paying for everything, paid for his purchases since he had his wallet with him), both women took the opportunity to make a few purchases of their own, including new, modest bathing suits.
At least, the women's swimsuits were modest only when compared to the current trend of skimpy bikinis, because when Tomoyo and Sakura came out of the changing rooms wearing nothing but their bikinis, both Eriol and Syaoran blushed profusely and politely excused themselves. As soon as they were out of the women's line of vision and out of their earshot, both young men screamed and scrambled feverishly to the bathroom to stem the flow of their simultaneous, massive nosebleeds.
For five minutes of mortified silence washing in the bathroom, Eriol had felt incredibly connected to Syaoran, because in those precious few minutes, they were simply two males reduced to puddles of hormonal goo by the sight of sexy females in swimsuits, both of whom were unaware that they were very sexy females in swimsuits, which made them all the more sexy in the eyes of the two young, drooling men. That was male bonding at its finest.
Eriol became concerned that the image of Tomoyo and Sakura in bikinis might have been burned into his retinas, and he was glad to hear Syaoran voice those same concerns. The rest of their meaningful conversation in the bathroom went something like this:
"Damn," Eriol had difficulty swallowing. His voice was a bit nasal-sounding since he was still trying to stop the blood flow. "Hot."
"Yeah," Syaoran agreed dazedly, his voice also distorted by the tissue blocking his nose. "Damn hot."
"..."
"..."
"By the way, Hiiragizawa, if I catch you looking at my wife like that again..."
"But I *wasn't* looking at your wife!"
At that point, Syaoran's eyes widened, and he grinned, suddenly very, very wickedly amused. Then Eriol paled, realizing what he had admitted in an obvious, yet roundabout way.
Anyway, all things considered, it was a good, productive day, and Eriol had to admit that in spite of the slight humiliation, or maybe because of it, he had enjoyed himself. True, he was embarrassed to have to model so many outfits of varying flavors for Tomoyo, but he understood that it was all in good fun. She was trying to cheer him up, he realized, and she had succeeded beyond his expectations. Once he let go of his reservations about trying on the most outrageous clothes, they all had a good time generally complimenting and then making fun of each other. Even Sakura and Syaoran, who didn't really need to buy anything other than their swimming gear, had joined Eriol in trying new outfits, much to Tomoyo's satisfaction.
Eriol decided Tomoyo really deserved to dress him up for all that he was putting her through, and he was glad she was enjoying it immensely. Her joy and laughter were contagious, and Eriol had found himself genuinely laughing throughout the day, almost forgetting why he was no longer in England in the first place--almost.
But he honestly hadn't felt so relaxed since that fateful night.
He guessed he had been feeling the weariness of Clow's age, and hanging out with his old friends simply made him feel like 23-year-old Hiiragizawa Eriol once more. He never knew how refreshing that could be, and he never knew how much he had missed being with his friends until now.
And then... he had to admit there was nothing on Earth quite comparable to the beautifully warm glow of Tomoyo-san's smile, of her happiness. She was so beautiful, and she didn't even know how much of an effect she had on the people around her...
Eriol reddened as the thought registered in his mind and looked away from Tomoyo's face, where, he belatedly realized, he'd been staring for the past five minutes while they were walking.
What the hell was wrong with him!? Damn that stupid, revealing, form-fitting, strapless, ivory white bikini...
Turning even redder, he shook his head, switching the bags he held from one hand to the other as an excuse to look away from his friends.
When he tuned back into the conversation, Sakura was relating some embarrassing story about Syaoran's antics ("A BARNEY costume. Can you believe it? A *Barney* costume!") in front of other, older clan leaders in Hong Kong just as the four of them exited the mall and walked towards where Tomoyo's car was parked. Tomoyo, Sakura, and Syaoran were laughing about Syaoran's misfortunes until they actually made it into the parking lot.
The joking mood ended there.
That was when they noticed the sirens, the flashing lights, the plethora of uniformed officers trying to thin the somber crowd, and the throngs of onlookers milling about gravely in the parking garage.
Abruptly the quartet's conversation ground to a halt.
"What's going on?" Sakura mused out loud, worriedly standing on her tiptoes to try to see above the masses. Unfortunately, Sakura was still petite, so standing on her toes didn't do her much good.
It was easy to figure out what had happened, however, because everyone else around them was talking about it.
"A murder? In this neighborhood? How frightening..."
"Did you hear? It happened a half-hour ago..."
"...young woman..."
"They say her little brother saw the whole thing..."
"...poor kid..."
"...traumatized for life, that one..."
"No, no, just the older sister. Really bloody..."
"With a knife?"
"...no murder weapon found..."
Eriol paled. There was something vaguely disturbing in the air. Something was wrong, and it was really grating on his nerves because the wrongness was too faint for him to be completely able to grasp what it was. He looked to Sakura and Syaoran, who gave him equally serious looks, and he knew that they could sense it too.
That wrongness.
The slightly tilted balance.
That... evil.
Evil.
*SHIT*.
"Oh no," he whispered under his breath, and he began to push his way through the crowd, followed closely by Tomoyo, who had quickly sensed the drastic change in his mood. Sakura and Syaoran trailed a few meters behind them, their eyes continuously scanning their surroundings for something that might be amiss.
Because something was horribly, horribly wrong.
Eriol was the first to reach the yellow tape preventing civilians from trampling the crime scene, and he nearly fell over at what he saw.
A dead body, covered by a sheet now soaked in blood, lay on the ground a good distance away, but he could still see it. The horrible part was that it lay right next to Tomoyo's black Mercedes, now splattered with blood, as if confirming what he already knew; it was all HIS fault.
It was HIS fault.
He had killed someone again, however indirectly, but in the end, it was still all Eriol's fault.
Suddenly he felt nauseated, and he tried to stop Tomoyo from coming any closer, but it was too late. She came to a halt at his side and gasped at the scene, yet instead of showing any sign of revulsion, which he had expected, she simply reacted by reaching for his hand and holding it tightly in hers, as if she understood the guilt and the pain he must be feeling at the moment.
Her hand was his lifeline. In that instant, she became his anchor once more.
"A vision of the future," she whispered.
Eriol turned sharply to face Tomoyo. "What did you say?"
She shook her head and pointed to the ceiling solemnly. "A vision of the future," she repeated.
Sure enough, those words were written crudely in blood on the ceiling, and the warm liquid was still dripping to the ground, which was why the police had taped the crime scene off so widely. So that people wouldn't accidentally be tainted with blood.
"No..." Eriol swallowed hard, his throat feeling parched. "I..."
The low buzz of the people surrounding the crime scene and the tense murmurs of the police officers investigating the crime were suddenly silenced by a repetitive, piercing, bloodcurdling scream unlike any that Eriol had ever heard before. It sounded like a cross between a wolf howling and a young child screeching and a nail tearing across a chalkboard, and it chilled everyone's blood to the bone, stopping every activity cold.
And suddenly everyone realized that it wasn't just random screaming either; there were actually words being shouted, and it took a few seconds for every syllable to make a twisted, terrifying kind of sense.
"IT'SHIMIT'SHIMIT'SHIMIT'SHIMIT'SHIMHEKILLEDHERHEKILLEDHER HEKILLEDMY'NEE-SANSTOPHIMHEKILLEDMY'NEE-SAN!!!"
And there, the source of this frantic wailing, was the seven-year-old, dark-haired boy, sitting just inside an ambulance, shivering intensely even with the blanket wrapped around his small shoulders, his face deathly white with fear and confusion and uncontrollable rage, shrieking with immeasurable panic that rose above the crowd.
He was pointing directly at Eriol.
Time seemed to slow down, and Eriol became acutely aware of every horrified, shocked face around him, the crowd backing away from him in a wave of steeply rising terror, Tomoyo-san's hand clutching his even more tightly, Tomoyo-san moving forward as if to shield him from the rest of the world, in spite of the army of furious-looking police officers lunging in his direction.
The boy never stopped screaming, never stopped pointing.
Eriol wasn't so sure what happened next, because he was hit on all sides by people, too many people, but one of them, he knew, was Tomoyo-san, who had tried to protect him with her own body, and she was crushed against his chest even as the other ten bodies tried to pin him down all at once.
"Iie! He didn't do it! Please no! Don't! He's hurt! You're hurting him! Don't hurt him!" he heard Tomoyo-san shouting, to no avail, because that didn't stop the barrage of pain hitting him, suddenly tilting his world on its axis, restricting his movement so completely that he almost couldn't breathe as he lay on the pavement. He became vaguely aware of the sharp crack of his skull making contact with the ground, and the excruciating burst of pain that followed, before the police officers who had trapped him swiftly snapped the handcuffs on his wrists, pulling him and Tomoyo-san (no, they shouldn't arrest Tomoyo-san too because she was innocent and she tried to protect him) up to their feet and hauling them both towards the boy.
But the boy shrank away in terror, frantically clawing his way into the back of the ambulance he was sitting in, screaming a new mantra. "KEEPHIMAWAYKEEPHIMAWAYKEEPHIMAWAYKEEPHIMAWAYHE'LLKILLMETOO
HELOOKEDATMEHE'LLKILLMETOOHELOOKEDATMEHE'LLKILLMETOO!!!"
There was a sudden flash of familiar dark energy coming from somewhere behind him, and Eriol swiftly turned back, in spite of the jarring pain the swift movement caused him, in spite of how badly blurred his vision became, and in spite of how much more viciously the police officers treated him. He turned just in time to spot the dark figure lurking beyond the distracted crowd, standing conspicuously atop a car a few aisles away from the crime scene.
It was laughing.
Before he was forced to turn away, Eriol was glad to catch a glimpse of the familiar forms of Sakura and Syaoran, in full battle mage mode, going after the fleeing curse, their magic unleashed at full strength since no one was paying attention to them anyway.
Good.
Maybe they would destroy the bastard. At this point, Eriol didn't care anymore if the curse would just keep coming back, as long as they managed to kill this one bastard for what it had done.
As he was shoved roughly into the back of a police car, Eriol found himself unreasonably glad for only one other fact; Tomoyo-san was there with him. He was in a horrible place, a horrible situation, but he was glad that Tomoyo-san was there with him.
She would save him. He knew she would save him again.
Kaho wasn't there anymore, so Tomoyo would most definitely save him.
-= End Part Five =-
Chapter Started: March 25, 2003
Chapter Finished: April 28, 2003
Chapter Revised: August 15, 2003
End Notes:
Hmm... This chapter certainly surprised me while I was writing it. I found myself inserting some humor (hopefully not too cheesy) where I hadn't planned for humor, and so I wondered if that contrasted too much with the darker aspects of the storyline. Is it OOC for the foursome to be kidding around when there's someone dying because of Eriol (and, by extension, Tomoyo)?
Then I realized that this is *exactly* how the characters are acting and interacting in my head, when placed in the situations I put them in. They can't be serious in serious situations all the time because then they'd go REALLY crazy...
I just write the characters as I see them. ^_^ So... 'nuff said.
I was also actually planning to write the scenes following the arrest in this chapter, but that last scene was screaming "MAKE ME A CLIFFHANGER DAGNAMMIT!" at me, so I left it the way it wanted to be. The author cowers before her work's wishes. -_-;;
Besides, it's about time for me to post another chapter, isn't it? ^_^;; Heh.
Thank you for your patience! (That is, if people are still out there reading this...)
Please review and direct all questions, comments, and criticisms to rune_dreaming@yahoo.com. Thank you!
Copyright (C) 2002-2003 by Dark Rune. All rights reserved.
Reviewers: A great big hug and thank you, once again, to all of you! ^_^ I can't emphasize enough how you keep me going, so please drop me a line if you have the time. And no, I'm not really trying to rhyme. Ugh.
Author's Notes:
After watching Slayers NEXT and TRY, I found myself obsessed with Xelloss/Filia, which is why I actually started to write *another* fic in spite of my promise to myself to NEVER write more than one story at a time. Oh well. My X/F downward-spiral-into-madness and my midterms (gag!) added to the delay of writing this chapter, so I'm sorry to keep everyone waiting. I'm aiming to crank out at least one chapter per month... (crosses fingers)
This part isn't quite as long as the previous two (which were *massive*) but it's close. Now on with the show! ^_^
Chapter Warning:
Profanity and harsh violence. The latter is definitely not for the weak of heart (and stomach).
~ Dark Rune
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"The dead cannot cry out for justice;
it is a duty of the living to do so for them."
- Lois McMaster Bujold
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-= Part Five: Because You Fell =-
He remembered that night, just a little over a week ago. He hadn't understood her cryptic remarks then, but they all made sense now.
"Eriol?" Kaho had murmured so softly that he had thought she might be half-asleep already.
"Hmm?" he replied, shifting comfortably in the bed to envelop her more tightly in his embrace. Her back was to him, and they were lying on their sides, spooned together, so he couldn't read her expression. He could only guess at her emotions through her voice.
"I have... I have some really strange questions for you," she had admitted hesitantly, and Eriol had only briefly wondered why.
He had smiled, his eyes closed. "We *are* unusual people, so we naturally ask strange questions. What's your question?"
"Just don't think too much of it," she had warned, and so he hadn't.
Until now.
Until now, he hadn't realized how important that question was to Kaho. Had he really been that blind to her emotions?
But Eriol couldn't cry anymore; he had already shed enough tears.
"I won't," he had promised her easily.
"All right." Her shoulders had relaxed, and he had not stopped to ask why. "As Clow Read, you knew everything, right?"
"Yes."
A beat.
"How much do you remember now?"
He had given his answer genuine thought. "Just glimpses, really, of life here and there. The only solid block of memory I have is of how the Clow Cards were supposed to work, because that was all related to Sakura-san... I remember all of my magic, and so I'm gifted with Clow's mastery of sciences, mathematics, and languages... But outside of magic, Clow wanted me to start fresh. The knowledge I possess now may seem like a lot, but it's only a very insignificant fraction of what Clow actually knew."
Another pause.
"But since Clow knew everything, he predicted the day of his death, right?"
"Of course."
"So how did he... do you remember how Clow dealt with it?"
"I... he... was happy. Happy to be free from having too much magic and too much knowledge... By then, I think he realized that having all the knowledge is best left to God."
"He just... accepted his death?"
"Yes. But he didn't just sit back and say, 'Okay. Today I'm going to die. I'll just sit here and have a cup of tea.' Clow knew what would happen and prepared, as best as he could, for everything that would take place after his death. He understood that even after he died, the world must go on. What matters the most is the future we give our children. The future we give our loved ones."
If he had known to look, Eriol probably would have seen glimmers of tears in Kaho's eyes. He could still hear the profound sadness in her voice. "I suppose Clow was right, wasn't he? He may have been a foolish boy once, but he grew into a wise man."
He had not asked how Kaho knew that Clow had been a foolish youth, and a moment of silence passed before Eriol had ventured to ask his own question. "So why are you suddenly so curious about Clow's death?"
"Iie. I'm not really curious about his death... I was just... I was just wondering how he could handle knowing he was about to die. That's all."
Eriol had actually laughed. "Well it's not like you predicted your own death, right? Besides, what's in the past is gone. I've learned from Clow's mistakes, and I'm looking forward to my own future. With you."
It had taken her an unusually long time to respond, Eriol now realized, and when she finally did, her voice had been a few notches softer. "A vision of the future..."
"A future with you," he had repeated, instinctively pulling her closer as if to reassure her and ask for her affirmation in return, but she had not said a word of agreement.
He had believed she had fallen asleep.
How oblivious.
How pitifully naive.
"Hiiragizawa-kun?"
Eriol stirred at the slightly muted sound of his name, then opened his eyes, only to find himself looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling, lying on an unfamiliar bed, in a room that felt distinctly familiar. It seemed that he was doomed to be perpetually disoriented. When he finally remembered where he was and what had happened, he closed his eyes a moment longer until he heard a soft knock on his door, and the gentle voice calling him again.
"Hiiragizawa-kun? Are you all right?"
Blinking the bleariness away, Eriol quickly got up and padded over to the door to open it. He found Tomoyo standing in the hallway, frowning, worriedly biting her bottom lip, her fist raised to shoulder height as if she were about to knock again.
"Ohayou, Daidouji-san," he smiled cheerfully, and he noticed the startled relief crossing her features even as she lowered her hand to her side. "Is something the matter?"
He could have sworn she was blushing, albeit faintly. Then again, maybe he just didn't know what Tomoyo looked like in the morning. She seemed uncharacteristically insecure when she spoke. "Iie. I just... I thought I heard you... talking. Sumimasen. I woke you up."
Tomoyo bowed her head a little, and Eriol politely nodded back. "It's all right. You really didn't wake me."
"So... would you like some breakfast?" she asked tentatively, still red-faced, and then Eriol noticed that she was still in her nightgown. He realized that she must have come running from her room when she thought she heard something, leaving him with an uncomfortably tight feeling in his chest. Tomoyo was doing so much for him already.
Eriol smiled as a thought occurred to him. "In return for everything you've done for me, why don't *I* cook breakfast while you get changed?" his grin widened at her surprised expression, and then he proceeded to herd her towards her bedroom, his hands on her shoulders gently guiding her back.
"But... you're a guest, and you're still injured, and I really shouldn't let..."
"I'm fine, and it's nothing," he interjected smoothly, pushing Tomoyo further down the hallway. "Besides, you let Touya-san and Yukito-san cook yesterday, so why shouldn't I cook for you today? I get to show off my great culinary skills for you with a traditional English breakfast!"
"Hiiragizawa-kun..."
Finally managing to trap her back in her room, Eriol gave a cheerful wave of his hand just as she turned around to face him. "Thank you for letting me do this for you."
And he shut the door.
Tomoyo almost sweatdropped. "But... Hiiragizawa-kun... there's practically nothing in my fridge since Touya-san and Yukito-san raided it yesterday..."
She blinked for a moment, then smiled when she heard Eriol's upbeat whistling as he walked towards the kitchen.
At the very least... he wasn't outwardly grieving anymore.
Yukito, who had fallen asleep outside on the couch late during his watch, hadn't been roused by Eriol's movements in the kitchen that morning, so Eriol managed to surprise everyone with the feast he made, resourcefully using what little food was left in Tomoyo's kitchen.
In fact, breakfast was so good that even Touya, who had been taken aback at finding Eriol as the morning chef, had given Eriol a smile. No matter how much he didn't like the Englishman, or blamed him for hurting Tomoyo, Touya had to admit that Eriol was a damn good cook. Touya's father, after all, excelled at this kind of stuff, so naturally Eriol would be just as good. Yukito had only smiled happily before digging into his plate, while Tomoyo had politely thanked Eriol for the meal before eating. She had the sneaking suspicion that he had used magic to enhance the meal somehow, because she was quite sure there was nothing in her fridge to begin with, but she said nothing.
Overall, Eriol thought it was a success and was glad to be repaying Tomoyo's kindness somehow, even if it was just through small gestures. He planned to do more for her in the future; after all, it wasn't every day that someone would save his life while shouldering the burden of his curse without having a nervous breakdown.
Over breakfast, the four of them quickly decided that they would take Touya's and Tomoyo's cars to the airport to pick up Sakura and Syaoran, who were arriving just that morning. Touya and Yukito needed to go home afterwards to get changed since they weren't exactly prepared for a slumber party when they came over to Tomoyo's apartment. They figured Sakura and Syaoran would be good enough guardians until they could figure out their next move against Evil Eriol, as they had now dubbed the curse's manifestation.
Eriol grinned happily at the thought of being in a car (Tomoyo owned a convertible Mercedes!) alone with Tomoyo (so he could reminisce with her, of course), until Touya announced that *he* would be riding with Tomoyo in her car, while Yue (*not* Yukito) would drive Eriol in the other car (Touya owned a Celica, which was okay...).
After his declaration of seating arrangements, Touya shot Eriol a look that said, perfectly clearly, "There's not a chance in hell I'm leaving you alone with my other baby sister, you freaky, borderline-deranged, potentially homicidal, manipulative bastard," and Eriol had to grimace.
It was partially the truth, after all.
He conceded that Touya was being pragmatic, since the only one who would be capable of fending off Eriol, if Eriol were to snap and try to kill someone, was Yue. No matter how cautious Touya was, however, Eriol doubted Sakura's brother would be strong enough to protect Tomoyo should the curse attack.
Then again, Eriol remembered the flash of energy that Touya had displayed only the day before. While Touya, being the son of Clow's reincarnation and the brother of the Card Mistress, was blessed with vast stores of latent power, that surge *had* been unexpected. There was something unusual, yet vaguely familiar about that powerful energy signature, and Eriol tried to think about where he'd felt it before. Unable to concentrate, especially since pieces of his memory were still missing, Eriol filed away the thought for further consideration later.
With all things thus decided, the four set off for the airport. Eriol's mind wandered during the drive because Yue was not exactly the most talkative being, and though the guardian had practically worshipped Clow Read, he had been quiet about his devotion. He was no different now, and, surprisingly, he made no attempt to start a conversation with the reincarnation of his former master.
Eriol guessed that Yue was simply giving him peace, and for that he was grateful. He needed to reflect on what the curse would do next and how it would try to destroy him. He was certain it would go after the people closest to him, so he wasn't sure if being near his friends was such a brilliant idea, but then he reasoned it would be easier to keep an eye on them this way.
Of course, his mind scoffed. So you can watch them die one by one.
Eriol hurriedly stifled the horrible notion and wondered how much more he could lose before he finally went off the deep end. He hated feeling so much guilt, so much uncertainty.
When they were finally only minutes away from the airport, Yue's cool voice at last broke the stillness and startled Eriol back into reality. "Have you heard from Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun?"
Eriol needed a moment to orient himself before responding. "Actually, no. I tried calling them before dawn and didn't get anything. I can't even sense them," Eriol confessed worriedly.
"If Sakura-san says they're all right, then they must be."
"I don't doubt what Sakura-san said. I just..." Eriol sighed, his voice growing quiet as he tiredly rubbed his eyes. "You remember how it was, don't you, Yue? Clow never once lost track of you."
For a long time, Yue didn't say anything, and Eriol began to wonder if the guardian had even heard him. Just as Eriol resigned himself to staring out the window again, Yue spoke. "But you're not him, Eriol-san... Surely you..." the guardian hesitated, glancing sideways at his passenger, his tone softening. "Surely... you can forgive yourself for that."
Eriol blinked at Yue, surprised and somewhat wistful. An ironic smile crept across Eriol's features, and, after a moment, the cursed young man turned away from Yue, his bitterness sharpening his tone. "How I wish that were true..."
They drove the rest of the way in silence.
The flight from Hong Kong arrived on time, and since Sakura and Syaoran were traveling first class, they were among the first to emerge from the baggage claim area. The reunion was just as explosive as Eriol had pictured it.
"TOMOYO-CHAN!"
"Ohayou, Sakura-ch--"
The rest of Tomoyo's greeting was cut off as her petite, not-yet- visibly-pregnant, yet unbelievably powerful best friend almost toppled her with a running bear hug. Tomoyo staggered backwards in surprise, whilst everyone else looked on with amused expressions.
Syaoran, sporting a sleek goatee well suited to his clan-leading persona, walked over to the group at a much slower pace than his wife did, partly because he was carrying two large, heavy suitcases. "Good morning," he greeted the welcoming committee casually, a smile on his face. By that time, Touya had already fixed his death glare on him, as was the older brother's custom.
Greetings and handshakes were exchanged all around, and Eriol was surprised when Sakura gave him a hug almost as suffocatingly tight as the one she had bestowed upon Tomoyo. A meaningful silence passed until Sakura let him go, and then Eriol found himself in Syaoran's strong (yet pointedly brief) embrace.
Eriol managed a smirk when Syaoran released him, but before he could spew out the obligatory teasing remark, Syaoran had already retorted, "Don't get any ideas, Hiiragizawa." Syaoran grinned at Eriol's surprised stare, and he added slyly, "After all, I'm a married man. You have to control yourself... 'til my wife's not looking."
Syaoran emphasized his point with an overly dramatic wink and a conspicuous elbow nudge, earning him a burst of genuinely amused and impressed laughter from Eriol. Sakura, done giving her round of hugs, tried her best to suppress a fit of giggles, and Tomoyo hid her own smirk by demurely clearing her throat and nonchalantly looking up at the ceiling. While Yue raised an eyebrow, Touya simply rolled his eyes in mock exasperation, wordlessly grabbing one of the suitcases his still-snickering brother-in-law held before gesturing at everyone to start moving.
"By the way, nice beard, gaki," Touya huffed, shooting Syaoran a sideways glare. "You look like a goat."
Syaoran shrugged helplessly. The comment wasn't unexpected from his wife's older brother.
"See? Even Onii-chan thinks it's awful," Sakura told Syaoran, before explaining to everyone else, "I've been trying to get him to shave it off but he won't do it. He says it makes him feel younger--whatever *that* means."
"Just let me have my fun," Syaoran pleaded. "I'll shave it off when the baby's born."
"If you need something to make up for your inadequacy as a man that badly, then by all means..." Eriol smirked, and Touya chuckled his approval.
"I'll have you know I'm quite secure in my masculinity, thank you very much," Syaoran glared, recognizing that his friends were ganging up on him again, so he was relieved when Tomoyo came to his rescue.
"I actually think it makes Li-kun look very sophisticated and artsy," she declared as the six of them started their trek back to the parking lot, and Syaoran gave her a very thankful grin. Over the years, Tomoyo had sided often with the Chinese youth because Sakura, Eriol, and Touya constantly picked on him. Her support had led to a very stable friendship based on deep, mutual respect--not to mention Tomoyo's mildly amused pity.
Tomoyo smiled upon identifying Syaoran's half-exasperated Thank-You-Now-Please-Help-Me-Change-the-Subject look, and smoothly, Tomoyo asked, "So how was your flight?"
No one noticed she had changed the subject.
"It was... relatively quiet," Sakura shrugged, sending obvious warning glares at her husband. "The flight wasn't too long, so there wasn't much to do other than wait."
Of course, given Sakura's warning looks, Syaoran saw his chance at payback. "What do you mean, quiet? You freaked out because your light didn't turn on when you pressed the button to recline your seat," Syaoran shrugged, and his wife promptly slapped his arm. He pouted, rubbing his mock-injured limb, before adding, "Well at least I didn't tell them you also screamed something about perverted announcements when the pilot said the connecting flight to Bangkok--"
At this point, Eriol and Tomoyo started snickering.
"--was going to be 'de-laid' and--"
"I think you've done enough talking about that, ne, Syao-chan?" Sakura smiled, her voice dripping with saccharine sweetness, her eyes glaring daggers. Syaoran didn't say anything more, but there was a satisfied twinkle in his eye and a slight smile on his face when he put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.
Eriol silently marveled at the changes one year of married life and a pregnant woman's supply of hormones had brought. Regardless of where they were or what was happening around them, Sakura and Syaoran were so obviously *happy* together. As far as Eriol could tell, Syaoran had mellowed out even more since the last time they had spoken to each other at Sakura and Syaoran's wedding reception.
Then Eriol's thoughts took a sobering turn, and he couldn't help but wonder. If he'd had that same chance... what would life have been like for him and Kaho?
His chest constricted painfully, and he looked away, his grin faltering. Although he was happy for and undeniably proud of Sakura and Syaoran, considering they *were* his daughter and his son of the next life, he hurt just by looking at them. He knew he shouldn't feel that way, and guilt tore at him even as he tried to ignore the jealousy welling in his chest. The part of him that retained Clow's paternal instincts was glad for them, of course, but the side of him that was just Eriol, the young man who had lost everything, raged against the injustice.
"Forgive me for being so practical, but what exactly is the plan for today?" Yue seamlessly cut into the light conversations that had stirred naturally between Sakura and Tomoyo (about maternity fashions), and Syaoran and Touya (about the merits of facial hair).
The question caught Eriol's attention, because then everyone turned to look at him.
He smiled the best cheerfully fake smile he could possibly muster and asked, innocently, "What? Do I have something on my face?"
"Well," Sakura began, "now that Syaoran and I are here, we were hoping you had a plan worked out, Eriol-kun."
Unfortunately, he really had no idea what to do. He just wanted to know how to defeat the curse, too, and he had hoped that maybe Sakura and Syaoran might have an idea of how to do that.
Beating it was his only real remaining reason to live, and he absently wondered if he could actually get on with his life without Kaho, once his remaining purpose was fulfilled. Would he just let himself die of starvation afterwards? He pushed aside the depressing thought for later.
It occurred to him that Tomoyo would probably slap him again if she knew what he was thinking, and his mood lightened at the memory. No one had ever struck him before, and Tomoyo was the last person he would have expected to have the courage to do that. Needless to say, that particular experience had been a refreshing eye-opener.
Realizing that everyone was still waiting for his response, Eriol tried to inject optimism into his smile, knowing that his words would not be so uplifting. "The problem with the curse is that... well, it's a *curse*, and a powerful one at that, so it's not designed to be easy to break," he explained, rubbing the back of his head ruefully. "I'm not entirely sure how to shake it off," he admitted at last.
"But it *can* be broken, right?" Syaoran spoke, his earlier humor gone, his eyes narrowed and intense.
Eriol shrugged. "Clow never freed himself from it. I don't see how I can, if *he* couldn't, being all-powerful and all."
"But he didn't even realize it was there," Tomoyo pointed out gently. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Hiiragizawa-kun. Anyone else in your position would have crumbled by now. You're strong to be able to stand this far."
Eriol gave her a small, but genuine, smile, hoping that she could sense the warmth he felt and wondering how she could always somehow make him feel... safe.
Touya cleared his throat, not really comfortable intruding on the moment yet needing to, and said grimly, "But the question of how to get rid of the curse still stands."
"It's not like any of us has experience dealing with a curse before," Sakura added, eyeing Eriol. She and Syaoran had assumed Eriol would know how to lift the curse because he had Clow Read's knowledge, but she could see that Eriol had already given up on himself.
The six of them were still silently mulling over that problem when they finally reached the parking lot. Even after Syaoran and Touya put the luggage in the trunk of Tomoyo's car, no one made a move to get into the vehicles, still uncertain about what they were going to do.
"Well..." Sakura began, looking at everyone.
"Well..." Eriol echoed, at a loss.
"Well..." Syaoran shrugged, indecisively.
"Well what?" Touya snapped, and Yue snickered at Touya's impatience.
It was Tomoyo, after finally losing some of her notorious patience, who ended up taking the role of the leader. She slipped quickly into the comforting familiarity of her CEO mood because she liked having things in firm control, after all, and when she was in that mood, she could be frighteningly efficient.
"Other than standing around and staring at each other, does anyone have actual suggestions at all?" she asked, looking around at the uneasy and undecided expressions that her friends wore. Satisfied that no one, not even Eriol, had a real plan for the day, she briskly turned to the two newest arrivals. "Sakura-chan, Li-kun, you're not tired, are you?"
Her best friends in question shook their heads, recognizing that they shouldn't dare to cross Tomoyo when Tomoyo Was In Full Command Mode.
"Good," Tomoyo nodded, then turned to Eriol, who paled, recalling several instances in college when she had used that same tone of voice and wrought devastation upon unsuspecting subjects. "Hiiragizawa-kun, what are the chances that the curse will attack us today, given that you weakened it yesterday?"
"Slim to none," Eriol replied, squelching the instinctive urge to salute and say 'Ma'am'. "Why?"
Tomoyo didn't answer because she asked him another question. "How are your injuries?"
"Almost completely healed," he answered, puzzled, "but I still don't see how..."
She grinned at him, waving away his question, and turned to Touya and Yue. "Touya-san, Yue-san, you need to get back to work and organize classes so that you're available at a moment's notice. You don't have to do it, but it would be convenient for us in case the curse strikes again. Will you be all right and ready to go by this evening?"
Touya and Yue's eyes widened at Tomoyo's bluntness, then both men nodded.
"That's good," Tomoyo smiled disarmingly, and her commanding aura faded to be replaced by charmingly magnetic kindness. "Touya-san and Yue-san, please go back to your place and rest," she paused, her smile communicating so much gratitude and affection that Touya and Yue were almost overwhelmed. "And thank you for staying yesterday," she reached out to hug them, surprising everyone. "It means a lot to have two older brothers who care as much as you do."
When she stepped back, Touya was positively glowing, while Yue appeared somewhat flustered, yet pleased. Tomoyo always had that effect on people--even those with the coldest of hearts.
"It was nothing," Touya said modestly, and he smugly glanced sideways at Syaoran as if to say, "Look who has Tomoyo's approval now!" Syaoran only rolled his eyes, suspecting that it was partly Manipulative!Tomoyo at work but wisely not voicing his thoughts for fear of his life. Touya didn't see Syaoran's unimpressed glare because he turned back to Tomoyo worriedly. "So what are you four going to do? I don't think leaving you trouble magnets alone is such a great idea."
"Well, we'll be fine. As a matter of fact, WE..." Tomoyo trailed off, inwardly chuckling as everyone unconsciously leaned closer towards her with bated breath.
"We're what?" Sakura asked tensely.
"...are going *shopping*."
There was a pause.
Then, a combined cry of stunned disbelief. "*SHOPPING*!?"
"Yes, shopping," Tomoyo repeated calmly. "It's only logical."
"Wait... shopping? At a time like this?" Eriol blinked at her incredulously. Maybe she *had* gone crazy. Maybe she had hit her head harder than she claimed she did.
"You said so yourself, Hiiragizawa-kun. We're not likely to be attacked," Tomoyo reasoned. "Would you rather sit in my apartment watching soap operas while wallowing in misery all day, especially when you can physically do something more active and beneficial?" She accepted his bewildered look as his answer to her question and added, "Practically speaking, we also NEED to go shopping."
"Huh?" eloquently stated an even more confused Eriol.
"You can't live on my design prototypes forever, you know," Tomoyo said simply, as Eriol looked down at what he was wearing in realization. "You may look great in those clothes, but I don't have that many of them, and they're all expensive outfits..." Her eyes twinkled as he blushed at the unexpected compliment. "They're also not the kind of clothes I want to see ruined by miscellaneous accidents, including, but not limited to, oh... food fights, spaghetti sauce stains, coffee stains, tea stains, wasabi stains, soy sauce stains, tempura batter stains, teriyaki sauce--"
"I'm feeling unusually hungry right now..." Yue remarked absently.
"--grass stains, mud stains, dirt stains, snot stains--"
"I would like to retract my previous statement," Yue said, suddenly looking slightly green.
"--blood stains, soot marks, burn marks, tire marks, shoe prints, and the like," Tomoyo finished.
Eriol blinked at her. "Wow. It's like you expect me to get all dirty while I'm here."
Tomoyo smiled. Innocently. Then she shared an equally innocent glance with Touya, who grinned at her in understanding, which caused both Eriol's and Syaoran's faces to instantly turn white with fear.
"Besides," Tomoyo said, as if she hadn't noticed the pallor of Eriol's face, "if you're going to be staying for a while, you need things of your own. Including new glasses."
"But..." Eriol wracked his brain for a suitable excuse. Recalling how maniacal Tomoyo had been about dressing Sakura up during her card-capturing days, he had a bad feeling that shopping with Tomoyo would yield similarly painful results. "I... I need to contact Ruby Moon and Spinel."
"It's night time in England," Tomoyo argued, unperturbed by his reluctance. She was used to bending people to her will, after all. "You already tried to call Akizuki-san and Spinel-san early this morning, and you can't sense them. You can afford to wait to call them again tonight, and hopefully you will get a response then. And hopefully, you'll be strong enough to be able to sense them again."
Touya smiled wickedly. "Then it's decided! You can all go shopping," he asserted, happily shoving Eriol towards the front of Tomoyo's car. He was gleefully imagining the tortures that Eriol would be submitted to with Tomoyo playing Dress Up the Live Eriol-Doll. If all went according to Tomoyo's wishes, Eriol would eventually end up trying out maternity fashions with Sakura and Syaoran, and that mental image was just too sweet a motivation to resist.
"I suppose it makes sense, in Tomoyo-chan's twisted way," Sakura said, doubtfully. By this time, Touya had pushed a weakly sputtering Eriol into the front passenger seat and shut the door.
"Although I was hoping we'd get more done about the curse as soon as we got here," Syaoran admitted, yelping in surprise when Touya pushed him and Sakura until they were both tangled ungracefully in the backseat of Tomoyo's car. "Hey, what's the rush?"
"Onii-chan!" Sakura cried, her voice muffled by Syaoran's arm somehow getting in her face in spite of the car's surprisingly spacious interior.
"I hear there's city-wide autumn sale going on today," Touya grinned.
Yue, with his arms folded across his chest, added as flatly as he possibly could, "Hurry. You might miss the low, low prices."
A dumbfounded silence followed Yue's remark.
Tomoyo only arched an eyebrow at her honorary older brothers before she slid into the driver's seat with a shake of her head, her shoulders quaking with silent laughter.
"Call us if you need us," Touya ordered, one hand on the roof of Tomoyo's car as he leaned down next to Tomoyo's open window. "Drive carefully. We should meet for dinner later so we can discuss what we're going to do, don't you think, Tomoyo-san?"
"Hai, that's a good idea," she agreed calmly. "Regroup at my place at seven thirty?"
"We'll be there," Yue and Touya replied, stepping back and waving as Tomoyo pulled out of the parking space with her three passengers bewildered at Touya's obvious rush to get rid of them.
"I expect to see pictures, Tomoyo-san! I know you still carry around that digital camera!" Touya called after them, and he was rewarded with her wave in acknowledgement even as she drove off. His smirk widened; that's what he loved about Tomoyo. When they were thinking along the same wavelengths, things could get downright wicked. Sakura was always too innocent and naive about pranks and practical jokes, but Tomoyo wore the mask of an angel and possessed the twisted cunning of a masterful manipulator. While Sakura was the younger sister he could tease, Tomoyo was the younger sister with whom he could plot the demise of several close, personal friends over a cup of tea.
"You are *so* transparent, To-ya," a voice behind Touya called, and he turned, pleasantly surprised to see that Yue had reverted back to Yukito. "It's so obvious you want Eriol-san to be very badly humiliated."
"Yeah, well, I have to have my revenge *somehow*. Thanks for supporting me back there anyway," Touya gave the shorter man a brief hug. "You could have told your other self to work on his delivery, though."
Yukito shrugged as they both got into Touya's car. "Convincing him to actually say 'low, low prices' was hard enough, and Yue-san is not exactly the most flexible actor. I think I did a pretty decent job there."
"Yes, you definitely did," Touya chuckled, glancing at Yukito affectionately. "Let's just hope Tomoyo comes through with those pictures."
"So we'll have something fun to show off and look at while we're grading papers, ne?" Yukito smirked, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "I can't wait!"
After dropping off Sakura and Syaoran's belongings at Tomoyo's apartment, the reunited best friends had opted to go to the mall closest to Tomoyo's home, even though it was slightly more expensive than the standard shopping center, given the neighborhood in which it was located.
The first thing the quartet accomplished was ordering Eriol new glasses. Eriol selected a pair of rectangular, wire-rimmed glasses, not needing to explain to his friends that he did not want to wear the circular ones that his evil counterpart wore. They had to wait an hour for the new prescription to be ready, so the four of them began their shopping spree by browsing a nearby department store.
Within a half hour, Tomoyo and Sakura had made Eriol try on outfits ranging from the stylish ("Hoeeeeeee!!! You look like a supermodel, Eriol-kun!"), to the bizarre ("I don't think that pink fur boa is, in any way, reassuring to *your* masculinity, Hiiragizawa, but it sure as hell is doing wonders for mine."), to the simply ludicrous ("Well why *not* purple spandex, Hiiragizawa-kun? You might need it for certain extracurricular activities... Ohohohoho!").
All in all, Eriol was overwhelmed, and he was starting to get really suspicious because Tomoyo, who had *conveniently* brought along a digital camera, thoughtfully took several pictures of him ("I'm building your portfolio, silly! You're fiiiiiine... You look faaaaaantastic.") in each outfit that he was forced to try out. Tomoyo even forced him to *pose* for each outfit, becoming incensed if he so much as flinched in protest. Syaoran was cackling with glee during every moment of Eriol's humiliation at the mercy of Tomoyo's madness, until they reached the forty-five minute shopping mark.
When Tomoyo decided it was time to pull out the big guns.
When Tomoyo decided to apply the saying, "Misery loves company."
When Tomoyo decided that Eriol needed moral support from a fellow male who would be going through the same ordeal.
THEN, Tomoyo's eyes gleamed wildly, and she said, very, very, very casually, "Ne, Sakura-chan, I bet Li-kun would look good in this. He and Hiiragizawa-kun would match..."
At which point she held up two very skimpy-looking Speedos, one a blindingly hot pink and the other a blindingly neon green. The green, of course, was meant for Syaoran, who paled considerably when the almost non-existent piece of fabric was dangled nauseatingly in front of his face.
"Why do we need bathing suits?" the Li Clan Leader squeaked in the most undignified manner possible, finding himself inching towards Eriol, who also looked about ready to flee for his life as well. The two men were apparently thinking the same thing: safetyinnumberssafetyinnumberssafetyinnumbers.
Right.
The two women advanced upon them with innocent-yet-so-obviously-evil grins. "Well, I just came up with a very good idea on how to help us get rid of the curse requiring bathing suits," Tomoyo explained, and suddenly everyone stopped moving, and her friends' eyes became riveted on her seriously.
"What!?" the others asked in bewildered unison, even Sakura, who thought she had known what Tomoyo was thinking all along.
"Well, the curse feeds on Hiiragizawa-kun's sadness, right?"
Her three friends nodded cluelessly.
"The simplest way to remove a curse is to starve it, right?"
"Um... That could work..." Eriol said dubiously. "But soul curses like this have some kind of original condition that must be fulfilled in order for the curse to be broken. You can't break it by simply starving it..."
"Hear me out, then," Tomoyo said, holding up a hand. "You don't know what condition must be fulfilled in order for this curse to be broken, right Hiiragizawa-kun?"
"I guess not..."
"Well then," she smiled, "since the curse feeds on your misery, the easiest, most logical way to starve it is simple: you must be happy."
There was a stunned silence.
"I admit that sounds like valid reasoning..." Syaoran said thoughtfully.
"Pretty smart, actually," Sakura agreed.
Eriol took a deep breath. "Forgive me, but... what EXACTLY does that have to do with ME wearing a HOT PINK BATHING SUIT!?" he exploded, and suddenly Syaoran remembered why he was practically cowering behind his best guy friend.
Tomoyo had the most self-satisfied smile on her face, and Sakura suddenly radiated wickedness as she *finally* understood her best girl friend's intentions.
"We're going to have a beach party, of course!" Tomoyo exclaimed triumphantly. "We're going to Tomoeda and having a welcome-back-Sakura-chan-Li-kun-and-Hiiragizawa-kun reunion with our old friends at a barbecue by the beach!"
While Eriol and Syaoran were too shocked for words at the moment and staring dumbfoundedly at each other, Sakura whispered worriedly to Tomoyo, "When did you plan this, Tomoyo-chan? Or was it just a spur-of-the-moment thing you thought of just to get the guys to wear the swimsuits?"
"A little of both, actually," Tomoyo replied, blushing. "I was just thinking this morning of how Hiiragizawa-kun tried to be so cheerful in front of everyone, even though he was really miserable inside, and how much I wanted him to be genuinely happy. I got to thinking of how that might affect the curse, and, well... since no one had plans for anything, I figured we might as well enjoy our reunion and make the best out of a bad situation."
"You really know Eriol-kun well," Sakura nodded sagely in approval, noticing Tomoyo flush at the compliment. "Good thinking. I'm sure Eriol-kun will be cheered up if he sees his old friends. Especially Yamazaki-kun."
"I certainly hope so," Tomoyo said, then turned back to the guys, who, by now, had picked up their jaws off the floor. "Well?"
"The reunion sounds like a good idea," Eriol began, "but don't you think it's a bit dangerous to involve the people I know? The curse might attack them..."
"That's why we'll be there to destroy it if it does, indeed, attack," Sakura stated firmly. "It's the perfect setup. If we can lure it out in the open while you're feeling happy, then it must be feeling weak, so we can easily destroy it then."
"What about the actual condition that Hiiragizawa-kun needs to fulfill in order to fully remove the curse?" Syaoran spoke up. "Don't you think we need to explore that, first? The curse will return in another form later on, even if we destroy this one, unless we satisfy that condition."
"I think that's something I have to figure out on my own," Eriol muttered, looking serious for a moment.
"Well then," Tomoyo said happily, "it's decided! We'll have everyone together on Monday afternoon."
"Wait a minute... That's a work day, isn't it?" Eriol interjected reasonably.
Tomoyo winked at him. "Never underestimate the power of a Daidouji, especially a Daidouji who wants to help her friends. It'll all work out."
Eriol smiled at her, the happiness glowing in his eyes, and he took her hand gently in his. The light air of humor between them faded, only to be replaced with a tender, heavy seriousness beyond words. "Daidouji-san... I just... thank you for being such a wonderful friend."
For a few instants, no one spoke.
Sakura held her breath, awed by the beautiful moment transpiring between Eriol and Tomoyo, suddenly and clearly casting their relationship in a light so obviously beyond simple friendship. Syaoran only looked at Eriol and Tomoyo with newfound amazement and something akin to silent encouragement; those two certainly deserved each other, he realized, after all those years together.
Time froze in that precious moment of connection between Tomoyo and Eriol.
That is, until Tomoyo said, "Just don't think flattery will get you out of trying on your Speedos." She flashed Eriol and Syaoran her sweetest smile, reinforced by Sakura's equally potent persuasive grin.
In despair, Eriol and Syaoran yowled.
Putting up a small, inconspicuous magical barrier in a corner of the parking garage required little energy, and it effectively gave him the privacy he needed. Regular humans unaware of magic were always ridiculously easy to control, after all, and he didn't need outsiders prying into what he was about to do now. He had waited since yesterday to find the perfect opportunity to finally make his move, and he did not want to be disturbed when he finally had his prey cornered.
"Onee-chan, something feels wrong," the little boy quietly said while getting out of the car, looking very ill at ease.
The silent observer raised an eyebrow. So the little brat was a bit sensitive to magic after all? He might make a fine meal as well...
"Is your stomach upset?" the older sister asked as she stepped out the driver's seat, shut the car door, and hurried over to her younger sibling's side. "Was it something you ate?"
The boy shook his head numbly, scanning his surroundings. "Iie... It feels like something really bad is going to happen." He paused, clutching his sister's skirt tightly, and his voice shook as he spoke softly. "I'm scared, 'Nee-chan."
The boy's eyes suddenly widened when they found and focused on the stranger's eyes glinting in the shadows.
The dark figure smirked and stepped forward, purposefully removing his hood and prompting the boy to shrink away in fear and panic. Noting the direction of the boy's frightened gaze, the older sister whirled around in time to spot the threat emerging from the darkness. The figure approached slowly, trapping the siblings between their car, and the black Mercedes parked next to it.
"Excuse us, sir. We'd like to get through," she said, nervously backing away, all the while keeping her little brother behind her. The stranger didn't stop coming forward and only smiled delightedly as his prey backed up against a wall. "Please... move away," she insisted, in a louder voice this time. "You're scaring my brother."
"Really?" he said, perfect white teeth flashing predatorily. "Am I scaring you, too?"
"Please... I'm... I'm warning you..." the young woman said bravely, reaching into her purse.
Was it pepper spray? Mace? The hunter chuckled. Nothing so mundanely human could possibly affect him, and he continued forward until he was only a meter away from them.
"RUN KENJI!!!" the young woman screamed.
It happened in a flash.
She pulled out a small can of pepper spray and used it against him, while shoving her little brother forward past him with her other arm. To her shock and dismay, the spray was deflected by an unseen shield around her attacker, who was momentarily distracted by the little boy who had managed to squeeze past him.
Deciding that restraining the boy was a waste of effort, he returned his attention to his original target just in time to catch her arms as she tried to push past him. Brutally he slammed her against the cement wall, ignoring her cries for her little brother to run and get help. He silenced her with a deft elbow smashing the side of her face, and then he looked back to the little boy, who was frozen in his tracks and now staring at him with a horrified expression.
The hunter smiled his most charming smile, for the first time glad that his Other Self appeared so harmless and so charismatic; his Other Self's innocent appearance intensified the shock and terror that his victims would feel. After all, who would suspect that such a handsome, cheerful-looking, bespectacled young man would be capable of so atrocious a crime?
Feeding on their intense fear, he cheerily said to the boy, "You have a lovely sister, but she's mine now. Say goodbye, Kenji-kun!"
Tears filled the boy's eyes. "ONEE-CHAN!!!"
Ignoring the boy, and now glowing with dark energy, he plunged his fingers through the young woman's chest, in the space between her breasts, reveling in the feel of the blood suddenly trailing hotly down his arm. "So delicious..." he sighed as he gazed at her face, contorted in indescribable pain and terrified disbelief. Unable to resist a sudden, yet familiar urge, he bent down to kiss her, savagely crushing her against the wall with his body.
His prey looked so much like Her... That was why he had chosen her, after all, but it was still a remarkable resemblance, really, and *far* too tempting...
The dying young woman moaned as his hand viciously buried itself deeper into her flesh, finding her heart and systematically ripping her apart inside, and when he finally pulled his head away from hers, her blood stained his lips, trickling down his chin and dripping on to his cloak. Satisfied as he felt her energy merge into his, he looked back at the boy again, hungrily this time, and smiled again.
Kenji ran.
And in spite of his tears, or perhaps because of the emotional overflow, the boy unexpectedly broke through the magical barrier.
The hunter's bloody smile wavered only slightly.
The quartet spent the rest of the day in the mall, pausing in their shopping spree only to have a reasonably civilized lunch at the food court. It was reasonably civilized because only Syaoran's goatee, Eriol's new glasses, Tomoyo's purse, and part of Sakura's sleeve were the unfortunate casualties of the mini food fight that ensued amongst the four so-called adults. Those casualties were easily wiped clean, of course, and the four friends had happily resumed a five-hour marathon shopping frenzy that left the women giddy with happiness and the men staggering with weary embarrassment about the clothes they had been persuaded to model for the women.
Thankfully, the men were not forced to buy the original Speedos that Tomoyo had them try on... though she discreetly took pictures of Eriol and Syaoran wearing them, in spite of their protests, and plotted to share the pictures with the old Tomoeda gang. The men had settled for traditional swimming shorts, a dark green pair for Syaoran and an elegant black for Eriol.
Although they were supposed to be shopping for Eriol (who, against Tomoyo's insistence on paying for everything, paid for his purchases since he had his wallet with him), both women took the opportunity to make a few purchases of their own, including new, modest bathing suits.
At least, the women's swimsuits were modest only when compared to the current trend of skimpy bikinis, because when Tomoyo and Sakura came out of the changing rooms wearing nothing but their bikinis, both Eriol and Syaoran blushed profusely and politely excused themselves. As soon as they were out of the women's line of vision and out of their earshot, both young men screamed and scrambled feverishly to the bathroom to stem the flow of their simultaneous, massive nosebleeds.
For five minutes of mortified silence washing in the bathroom, Eriol had felt incredibly connected to Syaoran, because in those precious few minutes, they were simply two males reduced to puddles of hormonal goo by the sight of sexy females in swimsuits, both of whom were unaware that they were very sexy females in swimsuits, which made them all the more sexy in the eyes of the two young, drooling men. That was male bonding at its finest.
Eriol became concerned that the image of Tomoyo and Sakura in bikinis might have been burned into his retinas, and he was glad to hear Syaoran voice those same concerns. The rest of their meaningful conversation in the bathroom went something like this:
"Damn," Eriol had difficulty swallowing. His voice was a bit nasal-sounding since he was still trying to stop the blood flow. "Hot."
"Yeah," Syaoran agreed dazedly, his voice also distorted by the tissue blocking his nose. "Damn hot."
"..."
"..."
"By the way, Hiiragizawa, if I catch you looking at my wife like that again..."
"But I *wasn't* looking at your wife!"
At that point, Syaoran's eyes widened, and he grinned, suddenly very, very wickedly amused. Then Eriol paled, realizing what he had admitted in an obvious, yet roundabout way.
Anyway, all things considered, it was a good, productive day, and Eriol had to admit that in spite of the slight humiliation, or maybe because of it, he had enjoyed himself. True, he was embarrassed to have to model so many outfits of varying flavors for Tomoyo, but he understood that it was all in good fun. She was trying to cheer him up, he realized, and she had succeeded beyond his expectations. Once he let go of his reservations about trying on the most outrageous clothes, they all had a good time generally complimenting and then making fun of each other. Even Sakura and Syaoran, who didn't really need to buy anything other than their swimming gear, had joined Eriol in trying new outfits, much to Tomoyo's satisfaction.
Eriol decided Tomoyo really deserved to dress him up for all that he was putting her through, and he was glad she was enjoying it immensely. Her joy and laughter were contagious, and Eriol had found himself genuinely laughing throughout the day, almost forgetting why he was no longer in England in the first place--almost.
But he honestly hadn't felt so relaxed since that fateful night.
He guessed he had been feeling the weariness of Clow's age, and hanging out with his old friends simply made him feel like 23-year-old Hiiragizawa Eriol once more. He never knew how refreshing that could be, and he never knew how much he had missed being with his friends until now.
And then... he had to admit there was nothing on Earth quite comparable to the beautifully warm glow of Tomoyo-san's smile, of her happiness. She was so beautiful, and she didn't even know how much of an effect she had on the people around her...
Eriol reddened as the thought registered in his mind and looked away from Tomoyo's face, where, he belatedly realized, he'd been staring for the past five minutes while they were walking.
What the hell was wrong with him!? Damn that stupid, revealing, form-fitting, strapless, ivory white bikini...
Turning even redder, he shook his head, switching the bags he held from one hand to the other as an excuse to look away from his friends.
When he tuned back into the conversation, Sakura was relating some embarrassing story about Syaoran's antics ("A BARNEY costume. Can you believe it? A *Barney* costume!") in front of other, older clan leaders in Hong Kong just as the four of them exited the mall and walked towards where Tomoyo's car was parked. Tomoyo, Sakura, and Syaoran were laughing about Syaoran's misfortunes until they actually made it into the parking lot.
The joking mood ended there.
That was when they noticed the sirens, the flashing lights, the plethora of uniformed officers trying to thin the somber crowd, and the throngs of onlookers milling about gravely in the parking garage.
Abruptly the quartet's conversation ground to a halt.
"What's going on?" Sakura mused out loud, worriedly standing on her tiptoes to try to see above the masses. Unfortunately, Sakura was still petite, so standing on her toes didn't do her much good.
It was easy to figure out what had happened, however, because everyone else around them was talking about it.
"A murder? In this neighborhood? How frightening..."
"Did you hear? It happened a half-hour ago..."
"...young woman..."
"They say her little brother saw the whole thing..."
"...poor kid..."
"...traumatized for life, that one..."
"No, no, just the older sister. Really bloody..."
"With a knife?"
"...no murder weapon found..."
Eriol paled. There was something vaguely disturbing in the air. Something was wrong, and it was really grating on his nerves because the wrongness was too faint for him to be completely able to grasp what it was. He looked to Sakura and Syaoran, who gave him equally serious looks, and he knew that they could sense it too.
That wrongness.
The slightly tilted balance.
That... evil.
Evil.
*SHIT*.
"Oh no," he whispered under his breath, and he began to push his way through the crowd, followed closely by Tomoyo, who had quickly sensed the drastic change in his mood. Sakura and Syaoran trailed a few meters behind them, their eyes continuously scanning their surroundings for something that might be amiss.
Because something was horribly, horribly wrong.
Eriol was the first to reach the yellow tape preventing civilians from trampling the crime scene, and he nearly fell over at what he saw.
A dead body, covered by a sheet now soaked in blood, lay on the ground a good distance away, but he could still see it. The horrible part was that it lay right next to Tomoyo's black Mercedes, now splattered with blood, as if confirming what he already knew; it was all HIS fault.
It was HIS fault.
He had killed someone again, however indirectly, but in the end, it was still all Eriol's fault.
Suddenly he felt nauseated, and he tried to stop Tomoyo from coming any closer, but it was too late. She came to a halt at his side and gasped at the scene, yet instead of showing any sign of revulsion, which he had expected, she simply reacted by reaching for his hand and holding it tightly in hers, as if she understood the guilt and the pain he must be feeling at the moment.
Her hand was his lifeline. In that instant, she became his anchor once more.
"A vision of the future," she whispered.
Eriol turned sharply to face Tomoyo. "What did you say?"
She shook her head and pointed to the ceiling solemnly. "A vision of the future," she repeated.
Sure enough, those words were written crudely in blood on the ceiling, and the warm liquid was still dripping to the ground, which was why the police had taped the crime scene off so widely. So that people wouldn't accidentally be tainted with blood.
"No..." Eriol swallowed hard, his throat feeling parched. "I..."
The low buzz of the people surrounding the crime scene and the tense murmurs of the police officers investigating the crime were suddenly silenced by a repetitive, piercing, bloodcurdling scream unlike any that Eriol had ever heard before. It sounded like a cross between a wolf howling and a young child screeching and a nail tearing across a chalkboard, and it chilled everyone's blood to the bone, stopping every activity cold.
And suddenly everyone realized that it wasn't just random screaming either; there were actually words being shouted, and it took a few seconds for every syllable to make a twisted, terrifying kind of sense.
"IT'SHIMIT'SHIMIT'SHIMIT'SHIMIT'SHIMHEKILLEDHERHEKILLEDHER HEKILLEDMY'NEE-SANSTOPHIMHEKILLEDMY'NEE-SAN!!!"
And there, the source of this frantic wailing, was the seven-year-old, dark-haired boy, sitting just inside an ambulance, shivering intensely even with the blanket wrapped around his small shoulders, his face deathly white with fear and confusion and uncontrollable rage, shrieking with immeasurable panic that rose above the crowd.
He was pointing directly at Eriol.
Time seemed to slow down, and Eriol became acutely aware of every horrified, shocked face around him, the crowd backing away from him in a wave of steeply rising terror, Tomoyo-san's hand clutching his even more tightly, Tomoyo-san moving forward as if to shield him from the rest of the world, in spite of the army of furious-looking police officers lunging in his direction.
The boy never stopped screaming, never stopped pointing.
Eriol wasn't so sure what happened next, because he was hit on all sides by people, too many people, but one of them, he knew, was Tomoyo-san, who had tried to protect him with her own body, and she was crushed against his chest even as the other ten bodies tried to pin him down all at once.
"Iie! He didn't do it! Please no! Don't! He's hurt! You're hurting him! Don't hurt him!" he heard Tomoyo-san shouting, to no avail, because that didn't stop the barrage of pain hitting him, suddenly tilting his world on its axis, restricting his movement so completely that he almost couldn't breathe as he lay on the pavement. He became vaguely aware of the sharp crack of his skull making contact with the ground, and the excruciating burst of pain that followed, before the police officers who had trapped him swiftly snapped the handcuffs on his wrists, pulling him and Tomoyo-san (no, they shouldn't arrest Tomoyo-san too because she was innocent and she tried to protect him) up to their feet and hauling them both towards the boy.
But the boy shrank away in terror, frantically clawing his way into the back of the ambulance he was sitting in, screaming a new mantra. "KEEPHIMAWAYKEEPHIMAWAYKEEPHIMAWAYKEEPHIMAWAYHE'LLKILLMETOO
HELOOKEDATMEHE'LLKILLMETOOHELOOKEDATMEHE'LLKILLMETOO!!!"
There was a sudden flash of familiar dark energy coming from somewhere behind him, and Eriol swiftly turned back, in spite of the jarring pain the swift movement caused him, in spite of how badly blurred his vision became, and in spite of how much more viciously the police officers treated him. He turned just in time to spot the dark figure lurking beyond the distracted crowd, standing conspicuously atop a car a few aisles away from the crime scene.
It was laughing.
Before he was forced to turn away, Eriol was glad to catch a glimpse of the familiar forms of Sakura and Syaoran, in full battle mage mode, going after the fleeing curse, their magic unleashed at full strength since no one was paying attention to them anyway.
Good.
Maybe they would destroy the bastard. At this point, Eriol didn't care anymore if the curse would just keep coming back, as long as they managed to kill this one bastard for what it had done.
As he was shoved roughly into the back of a police car, Eriol found himself unreasonably glad for only one other fact; Tomoyo-san was there with him. He was in a horrible place, a horrible situation, but he was glad that Tomoyo-san was there with him.
She would save him. He knew she would save him again.
Kaho wasn't there anymore, so Tomoyo would most definitely save him.
-= End Part Five =-
Chapter Started: March 25, 2003
Chapter Finished: April 28, 2003
Chapter Revised: August 15, 2003
End Notes:
Hmm... This chapter certainly surprised me while I was writing it. I found myself inserting some humor (hopefully not too cheesy) where I hadn't planned for humor, and so I wondered if that contrasted too much with the darker aspects of the storyline. Is it OOC for the foursome to be kidding around when there's someone dying because of Eriol (and, by extension, Tomoyo)?
Then I realized that this is *exactly* how the characters are acting and interacting in my head, when placed in the situations I put them in. They can't be serious in serious situations all the time because then they'd go REALLY crazy...
I just write the characters as I see them. ^_^ So... 'nuff said.
I was also actually planning to write the scenes following the arrest in this chapter, but that last scene was screaming "MAKE ME A CLIFFHANGER DAGNAMMIT!" at me, so I left it the way it wanted to be. The author cowers before her work's wishes. -_-;;
Besides, it's about time for me to post another chapter, isn't it? ^_^;; Heh.
Thank you for your patience! (That is, if people are still out there reading this...)
Please review and direct all questions, comments, and criticisms to rune_dreaming@yahoo.com. Thank you!
Copyright (C) 2002-2003 by Dark Rune. All rights reserved.