A/N: Oh gosh, people can really make me cry! Tee-hee...just kidding. ^_^ Sowee for the long update on this fic. I was busy making a Mankin of Horo/Tamao and a YnM. But I promise I won't work on another fic UNTIL this one is complete. If I do break that promise, I will hate Eriol for the rest of my life!! See how much I mean it???? Hehehe... ^^;;;;;;

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Chapter three: Inevitable Circumstance

She slammed the door behind her, tears threatening to spill from her lilac eyes. They weren't as vibrant as they were before she stepped in his room back in the hospital: full of eagerness to see the injured magician.

Daidouji Tomoyo raced to her bed, burying her face in the soft fluffy pillow.

"How could he forget?" murmered the girl. "He was...so cold..." she sat up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. The look on his face back in his bleak room was just blank...and it broke her heart.

Hiragizawa Eriol could not remember Tomoyo anymore; not even her name. But Tomoyo knew she had no right to get mad at him because it wasn't his fault. Nor wasn't it hers. Nor Nakuru's. Not anyone's at all.

'He'll eventually get his memory back...and everything will return to normal,' she assured herself, smiling bitterly. When she remembered the cold words he said, her forehead creased as she sighed.

'Who am I kidding?'

"Eriol." Kaho opened the door to Eriol's room, but only to find him looking out the window blankly. She grieved a look of concern as she walked in the dark room quietly.

"Eri-"

"Kaho," he cut in, his unusual cold tone echoing in the empty room. Looking at her intently, he said three words that would break Tomoyo's heart: I love you.

Before Kaho could reply, he added, "I know who I am now, and I have been searching for a part of myself for the past years. But I never knew it was yo--"

A sudden slap hit Eriol's face as he stopped in the middle of his confession. Slowly looking up at the red-haired woman in front of him, Kaho frowned.

"This is not you, Eriol." Her eyes clearly upset.

"I told you I loved you," said the boy once more. He knew that as Clow Reed, this was the right thing. But deep down, his heart was aching, telling him to take those words back.

Kaho faced him, her eyes moist. It was true that Clow Reed had fallen in love with her, but that was the past. "You are Eriol Hiragizawa now; not Clow. And as Eriol, you have a future...and it is not with me," she told him straightforwardly.

"I don't understand." The reincarnation sat up. "K-Kaho..."

"I've loved you, too...but only as Clow Reed." She turned her back and walked out the doorway. "Remember who you are as Eriol. Remember what it was like to be her friend. Remember her...Tomoyo Daidouji."

The room was once again engulfed in darkness after Kaho closed the door, leaving Eriol's heart split in two. To be damned that his memory and his heart were loving two different people. Fate played a game on him...a game that played with his feelings.

But his mind tried to convince himself that Kaho was the right person for him...although his heart belonged to a girl he cannot even remember.

Eriol limply lay his head on his pillow when he felt sleepy. He closed his eyes and before he slumbered, he whispered to himself, "Who is Daidouji Tomoyo?"

"It's so nice of you to come, Daidouji-san!" exclaimed Nakuru enthusiastically, opening the door to let the raven-haired girl in. Tomoyo forced herself to smile as if she was unaffected yesterday. Eriol went home from the hospital that morning, so Tomoyo took the initiative to see him in his mansion.

"H-How is he?" she asked immediately, not moving from the porch as her eyes focused on the floor, shaking uncontolably, but still hiding it.

The servant sighed, her enthusiasm fading as fast as it came. "I-I just don't understand," Nakuru's voice trembled. "He...he was just fine some days ago...but because I didn't watch over him, I...I--"

"It's not your fault," Tomoyo assured her. "It was just an accident. But you did your best to save him, and he's still alive. That's all that matters." She smiled bitterly. Inside Tomoyo's heart was really pain, but she forced herself to hide it...again.

"A-Arigatou," replied Nakuru, quickly wiping her tears. "Won't you come in?"

Tomoyo froze. She felt she had no right to step in the Hiragizawa mansion for her presence was unwelcomed. "I...I think I'll give him more time to recover. I'll drop by soon," she replied, turning her back on Nakuru.

'Leave here, Tomoyo,' she told herself, taking abrupt steps away from the mansion. 'Just hope he'll remember you as a person...'

Nakuru closed the door sadly. "I'm so sorry, Daidouji-san."

Kaho walked in the living room with a heavy sigh. She knew what Eriol was going through but she needed to encourage him to live as himself...not as Clow Reed.

Nakuru sat on one of the couches across Kaho.

"Daidouji-san came," she stared at the floor.

"And she left already?" asked Kaho worriedly.

Nodding, Nakuru replied, "I could clearly see in her eyes that she desperately wanted to see Master Eriol...but she also knew she would find him not recognizing her anymore."

"Why?" a deep voice asked. The two turned when they saw Eriol coming down the stairs cautiously with Spinel guiding him. He was in clutches, having a hard time walking.

"Master, I don't think--"

"Tell me, Nakuru," he interrupted his servant, looking at her with his azure eyes. "Did I hurt her?"

Nakuru felt her chest tighten. She stared at the floor. "I'm sory, Master. But you did."

Silence filled the room. Minutes later, Eriol sighed. "Tell her to come see me." And when he continued, a smile crept in Kaho's lips. "I want to remember."

~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Daidouji-san? It's me, Nakuru," said the girl on the telephone.

"Nakuru? H-Hai, can I help you?" asked Tomoyo at the end of the line.

"Master Eriol said that he wanted to see you."

Tomoyo felt her heart race. "S-Seriously?" she asked, a smile finally on her face.

"Yes, Daidouji-san! Can you come this afternoon?"

"O-Of course," replied the girl. "Y-Yes...3 would be fine...I'll be there, I promise...okay, goodbye."

She smiled sincerely when she placed the phone down. At last, her hope was revived. "I'm going to do my best to make him remember," she told herself with determination.

"Trust me, Hiragizawa-kun."

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A/N: That is it for Chapter 3. Sorry for making it really short. I just wanted to write about Eriol's recovery all in Chapter 4, or perhaps the finale would be in chapter 5. Oops, I hate spoilerz. ^^;;;