Author's note: This is the third chapter, should be more exciting than the other two.

Chapter three: Up Against Nature

All through the ride to the camp, Sakura and Li worried about Eriol and Tomoyo and half-expected them to show up in one of Tomoyo's private planes.

"What do you think could have happened to them?" Sakura asked anxiously. Pictures of the two of them being blasted into oblivion danced in her head.

"The maids don't know where she is and Nakuru and Spinel can't sense Hiiragizawa-kun." Li reported to her after using a phone and asking the maids and guardians if they knew their missing friends' locations.

"Oh no! What do you they could be?" The pictures in Sakura's head turned worse as she imagined them both lying in a pool of blood and bleeding to death.

"I don't know… I hope Daidouji-chan is okay… who cares about Hiiragizawa…"

"Syaoran-kun!"

"Okay okay, hope he is okay, too."

Tomoyo couldn't believe it, she was going to miss the field trip that she looked forward to so much and she was, in a way, stranded here until they find out where they really were and if they can get home by themselves or if they needed help. At the thought of being stranded somewhere with a big forest full of who-knows-what in it, fear stricken her heart.

Eriol, seeing a frightened look cross Tomoyo's face, hastily comforted her. "Daidouji-chan, don't worry. I'll go and try to find a road leading out of the beach and forest so maybe we can walk somewhere to call someone and get a ride home."

Tomoyo liked the idea that he was going to try to get them out of there…but she didn't want to be alone in case some wild animal came and tried to eat her up or something.

"Uh…Hiiragizawa-kun, let me go with you…I…don't want to stay here… by myself."

Eriol looked surprised. "Okay… but what about our things?"

"We can just hide it in a bush first."

"Hmmm, good idea Daidouji-chan. But we better put a marker there or we won't remember which bush it was…"

"That's not a problem Hiiragizawa, here…" Tomoyo opened one of her bags and took out a multi-colored ribbon. "This should stand out if we get lost. I wasn't really planning to use it but it looks like it came in handy."

"Alright then, but let's have a little breakfast first. We don't want to get hungry during our search. Who knows how long it will take."

Tomoyo agreed and they both had a small breakfast. Afterwards, they prepared for their search. Tomoyo tied her hair ribbon around the branch of a particularly thick bush so their things would be hard to find by other animals or whatever was in the forest. They both pushed their luggage bags beneath the bush and quickly set out to find a path leading them out of the forest.

The forest was very thick and there was hardly enough space between all the trees for them to walk around. All that the eye could see in the forest were layers of green trees after green trees. There was the largest variety of animals that Tomoyo had ever seen. It was the best nature walk she ever had, but the sense of danger always hung in the air. She started to feel like something in the air was very stuffy and pushing in on her. She did the best she could to ignore it; they had to find the way out of the forest and get out of there. Eriol kept track of the trees and things that they passed. It would be very hard for them to find the way out if they got lost in the forest.

After an hour of looking, the two came up with nothing. The forest seemed to go on and on forever. Halfway through their search, a tiger approached them. Tomoyo was scared out of her skin. She really didn't want her life to end now when no one would even know what happen to her or where she was. Why was this happening to her? She quickly jumped behind Eriol and peeked out form around his shoulders. Eriol didn't exactly have a good idea what to do and was starting to panic when the tiger bared its teeth and positioned itself to jump on him. Thankfully, another tiger approached the first one. The second tiger looked at them and then back at the first tiger. It was very hungry and wanted to have Tomoyo and Eriol for itself. The two tigers got in a fight. During their fight, Eriol motioned to Tomoyo that they should leave while they still had the chance.

When they finally got away from the tigers, they were both tired and very hungry, so they gave up and decided to look again some other time. Back at their luggage site, the two started to unpack the things that they needed. It looked like they were going to stay for a while.

Tomoyo was deep in thought and was shocked when it clicked in her mind that they were lost, stranded on a beach that was right next to a very thick forest, and in danger of getting eaten by wild animals. Kami-sama, I'm stranded here with ERIOL-kun and a pack of hungry tigers! Tasukete!

Eriol couldn't believe his luck. It was like he won the lottery but fell off an airplane on the same day, not that that would hurt him a lot. Of all the people that I had to get stuck with, it has to be Tomoyo! Why is Kami-sama doing this to me?

Tomoyo started to feel hopeless. She started thinking that her life got sucked into a black hole and she would never escape it. She couldn't take it anymore; the world had come crashing down on her. What happened to her? Why was she here? What did she do to deserve this? Who did this to her? Tears of despair started to slide down her cheeks. She really didn't want to die like this. She still had a life to live.

Eriol started to panic again. Tomoyo was starting to cry on him! Eriol had no experience when it came to girls and when they starting crying. So he did the only thing he could think of, hug her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him.

Tomoyo felt his arms slip around her and felt herself being pulled close to him. She felt her heart beat faster and her face burn, but she was still thinking of her misery. She was drawn to his warmth.

He understood what was going on in Tomoyo's mind. "It's okay Tomoyo; I'll get us out of here. Somehow. Maybe my magic will work sometime today or maybe tomorrow. Then I'll get us out of here. Don't worry, I wont let you die."

"Thank you Eriol."

A silence settled over the two of them as they looked out to the ocean towards the horizon. It was a very beautiful and tranquil sight that relaxed the two of them, especially Tomoyo. She felt more light-hearted after Eriol had reassured her. She was confident that she could survive here as long as she had Eriol with her.

As the two continued to unpack, Eriol became aware of someone's gaze on him. He looked up and found Tomoyo in the middle of her unpacking and looking at him. She saw him watching her too and she looked embarrassed.

"Uh…Hiiragizawa-kun…I was thinking…since we're going to be here for a while…can I call you…Eriol-kun?" Tomoyo stuttered.

Eriol looked baffled and pleased but he recovered and smirked. He hadn't really expected that. He had been wanting her to call him that for a long time, so since she asked… "Okay… but only if I can call you Tomoyo."

"O-okay…" Tomoyo agreed.

Later, after they finished unpacking some things, Tomoyo felt her stomach rumbling.

"Eriol-kun, I'm hungry. Are you?"

Eriol had been feeling his stomach rumble but didn't really mention it until now.

"We shouldn't eat anything that can last for a while yet. We should eat those in case of emergencies. Would you like to go looking for some fruits or just eating something you packed?"

"I would love to go looking for food, genius, especially since the last time we went in the forest, we nearly got attacked by a tiger, so let's go in again all sweaty and afraid and become tiger chow." Tomoyo answered sarcastically. She was feeling better than she was before and she knew that as long as she was here, she didn't need to be her polite self that her mother raised her to be. She liked being sarcastic once in a while.

"Alright, alright, I get your point Tomoyo-sama!" Eriol teased.

The twosome unpacked some food and had their lunch. They knew that they still had to conserve so they wouldn't need to go into the forest too often. They also hid their food so it wouldn't attract too many animals. The sky hard covered up with clouds so it wasn't as sunny as it was in the very morning. Some looked like rain clouds, Tomoyo noted to herself with uneasiness. Eriol also noticed the clouds and his heart filled with apprehension. It looks like we have some time to get under shelter if it starts to rain.

"Well, it looks like we're up against nature, Eriol-kun." Tomoyo said to Eriol when she noticed where he was looking.

TBC…

Author's note: See, wasn't this one a little better?