AN: Lookee, a new chapter!! I don't think this story will be too much longer. Not for any real reason or anything, it's just probably drawing near the end. Some things just have to end. Sorry ^_^ I don't own CCS.

Song

Tomoyo was being far too quiet.

That was Maya's opinion, anyway. For someone who was going through everything Tomoyo was going through, she was being almost frighteningly quiet about it. She had barely said two words since the sunrise had risen over Earth that morning.

To be a resident of Heaven, the Here-Above, meant being able to hear the sunrise. It was a sound beyond any and all possible descriptions of words. It was a song that no composer could have ever put down on paper, for it was simply too beautiful for mortal ears.

This morning, Tomoyo hadn't reacted. She hadn't even blinked at the Song of the Sunrise. This in itself was a sign that something was quite amiss. No one could hear that song and not react, unless something was drastically, drastically wrong. And Maya had a very strong suspicion that something was very, very unright, and she had a slight idea as to what that something was.

"Do you want to talk about it?" the angel hazarded an attempt at communication.

She had figured out very early on that this young beauty would pose a challenge. Tomoyo just wasn't the type of person who necessarily wore her heart on her sleeve, and even after all this time, she still seemed genuinely miserable with her fate. She still hadn't made peace with what had happened, and a part of her still appeared to greatly resent the fact that she had been so callously ripped away from the safe haven of love and friendship that had made her Earth life so precious to her.

But to her surprise, Tomoyo answered, "I hate this. I can't do anything."

"You can help them," Maya pointed out carefully.

"And earn my wings. Become an angel," Tomoyo said, a mere hint of bitterness touching her voice. She looked up at Maya with eyes that were almost angry. "I still hate this."

There was a brief silence, as Maya really didn't know what to say.

Suddenly, Tomoyo shattered the silence with her next words. "I want to go down there."

Maya blinked, a little taken aback by the request. "Nani?"

"You said I can go down there, and help them," Tomoyo persisted. "I want to go back to Earth, and see what I can do to help my friends." Her eyes drifted back towards the Here-Below. "They're not moving on. I don't believe that there's such a thing as closure, because you never really stop hurting. But there is such a thing as coming to terms with things that happen. They need to accept. And I want to see if I can help them do that."

The angel stared at the girl for a long, silent moment, then smiled and nodded. "Hai."

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

Li Syaoran had been trained from his earliest years not to let his emotions take control. Discipline was the key, and he had mastered it long, long ago.

It was that discipline, and only that discipline, that kept him from shattering on the spot.

He held everything in. He had shed precious few tears over the death of one of his closest friends, opting only to let anything out when he was alone. Only Wei had seen him break down, and even though, only the one time, right after the accident. He hadn't even wept at the funeral.

There were two reasons for his behavior. One was the teachings of his past. It was a simple rule of the Li Clan—men didn't cry.

The other, more important reason, was Sakura. He held on for her sake. She needed him.

But it was hard. He had never had this much trouble keeping things locked away before. Which was why he had opted to come to school a little early and just sit in the classroom, alone. Sometimes it felt like only here and only now was he really able to be alone with his tangled jumble of thoughts. Most of the students would probably start milling into the room in another twenty minutes or so, leaving him still plenty of time to just sort through things.

It was because of this that he was actually fairly irritated when the door to the classroom slid open.

"Ohayou," Syaoran said automatically as Eriol entered.

"Ohayou," Hiiragizawa said softly. He dropped his bag beside his chair before putting his elbows on top of his desk, putting his chin in his hands, and staring off, blankly, into space.

"You could at least make an effort," Syaoran pointed out after watching Eriol for a while.

"Doesn't matter," Eriol muttered.

"The rest of us miss her too, you know," Syaoran said, feeling anger begin to rise in the back of his throat. "You're not the only one who hurts."

"Leave me alone, Syaoran," Eriol said wearily, without any hint of his usual mild arrogance. He slumped against the back of his chair, posture going completely limp, and put his face in his hands. "You don't know what I'm going through."

Above him, Li Syaoran finally lost his temper. He'd been holding a lot in for a long time, all for Sakura's sake, and now that he had a victim, it was all going to come spilling out at once.

"You think you've got it so much worse than the rest of us?!?" Syaoran shouted; his hands were clenched into tight fists at his sides. At this rate, it wasn't going to take a whole lot more to send him completely over the edge, to make him do something he knew he would regret.

Eriol shook his head.

"I knew her a hell of a lot longer than you did, and Sakura's known her for years longer than either of us! And what about Tomoyo's mother?!?" he barely realized that he had referred to Daidouji by her first name, and he didn't have a whole lot of time to really contemplate it. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but there are people out there who are getting hit by this a lot harder than either of us!!"

Eriol still didn't look up, and somehow, that made Syaoran snap.

He lunged forward, grabbed the front of Eriol's uniform, and roughly hauled the latter to his feet, not caring if anyone saw him. One fist was already pulled back and ready to launch. "You—"

He stopped. Was that…

Yes.

Hiiragiziwa was crying. Tears ran from his hollow eyes down his face, leaving tiny wet dots where they fell onto his shirt. He simply stared at Li with eyes that said quite bluntly, 'I don't care.'

And suddenly, Syaoran just couldn't make his fist fly. But he couldn't let go of Eriol's shirt, either. He was just frozen, like a photograph, capturing that one moment in time.

Likewise, Eriol remained completely motionless, still caught in his friend's grasp. The only thing about him that moved was one slow, genuine tear, inching its way down his flushed face.

They were still like that when the door slid open again, and someone stepped in.

"Syaoran-kun, Eriol-kun, are you…" Sakura's voice trailed off as she took in what she saw. Eriol was hanging by the front of his shirt from one of Syaoran's hands; Syaoran's other hand was poised in a clenched fist, as if to strike. "What's going on?"

"We're talking," Eriol said flatly.

"It doesn't look like talking to me," she replied quietly. There was a pause. "Does this have something to do with Tomoyo-chan?" There was a slight tremor in her voice as she said the name.

Both boys nodded.

Sakura fought back tears. She had never cried this much in her life. "Stop it. Both of you, just stop it! I don't want anyone else to get hurt!" Her voice grew louder with each word, and at the last, she wheeled and fled the room.

That seemed to jolt both boys back into motion, and they followed her. Guilt spurred both of them in the chase. It had never crossed either of their minds that Sakura might come in and see them on the verge of a fight. And now she was probably angry at them. Possibly worried.

And forever heartbroken.

Syaoran and Eriol caught up to her in the music room. Sakura was standing beside the glossy black piano; one hand was resting gently on the keys, though she didn't yet put enough pressure into that hand to make any sound echo from the instrument.

"Tomoyo-chan was always in this room," Sakura said softly. Her voice was surprisingly steady.

After that, the room fell into silence. The two young men stood just inside the door, and Sakura stood beside the piano. After a few seconds, she put a little pressure on her fingers, and a few soft notes played. From the faintest echoes of those randomly pressed keys came another sound. A different sound.

The sound was very soft at first, but grew gradually louder, gradually more powerful. At first, Sakura and Syaoran didn't even notice it. Then they both fell silent and listened.

It was a song. A familiar song, echoing all around them.

"This was the song Tomoyo-chan sang a solo for when we were in elementary school," Sakura whispered, looking around for the source of the music. "It was for a competition, remember that? It was when the Voice Card stole her voice!"

Syaoran nodded, also searching for the person responsible for this.

Slowly, the wordless tune faded into lyrics.

After about five words, Sakura gasped and clutched at Syaoran's shirt. "This is Tomoyo-chan's voice! I'd know it anywhere!" Her brow furrowed in suspicion, and she fished into her pocket, soon producing the SONG Card. It was still sealed away, and showed no signs of having been used recently. Another dig into her pocket produced the VOICE, and it was the same thing. Safely sealed.

But there really was no more time or cause to ponder it.

The music wove around them, like a mother wrapping a warm blanket around her cold child. It was warmth, caring, love, a summer embrace, and the three closed their eyes, giving themselves over to the simple melody and simple words, floating around them from an invisible singer who used Tomoyo's song and Tomoyo's voice.

As the music faded away, like the last breath of an angel in flight, all three of the teenagers in the room let out breaths that they hadn't even realized they were holding. The pent up breaths came out as heavy sighs.

Suddenly, it didn't hurt quite as much. The ache was still there, ever present, but something about that ache was dulled in the slightest. And even the smallest of helps can be the greatest of reliefs.

So engrossed in the now silent room were they, they failed to notice a faint shadow on the wall, beside the window. And they certainly didn't notice as the shadow seemed to move over the wall, to finally move out the open window.

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

Above the sky, on top of the clouds, two women sat.

One, wearing a red kimono, was applauding, her face full of adulterated delight. "Tomoyo, that was wonderful! When you said you were a singer, I didn't dare imagine you were that talented!"

The other young woman, a young, dark haired beauty, flushed a brilliant crimson and waved her hand, as though dismissing the compliment as ridiculous. "No, I'm not that good…"

"We could argue for the rest of eternity about this, but I would rather not," Maya decided to close the argument before it really got started. "There are far more pleasant things one can talk about."

Tomoyo nodded and looked back down at the Here-Below, at her friends, still standing in the music room, staring off in wonder. "I think that helped a little, but there's still so much to be done. I'm going back again. Soon."

"You're determined to help them accept, aren't you?" Maya asked.

A nod. "I'm the reason they're in pieces, so it's my responsibility to put them back together. And I will. I swear it on the Cards, I will."

AN: Whew, another chapter done. Yay rah. And don't worry, it's not over yet. No, Tomoyo doesn't have her wings yet…Heeheehee… Thanks!