L-chan's notes: I'm sorry for the delay in updating. I've been suffering from a lack of inspiration lately. But, anyway... I hope you enjoy the new chapter.

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

Shadows

Chapter 12—Slipping

It was quiet except for the sound of pencils scratching against paper as Tomoyo and Sakura worked on their English translation assignment. They'd been silently thumbing through their dictionaries and frowning at their notebooks for the past hour, only speaking when they needed to exchange texts or found themselves stuck on a particular phrase. They were paired up for the end-of-term project, so when they each finished translating their passages from Japanese to English, they would trade papers and compare their work.

Tomoyo finished and set her notebook down, a little unsure of some of her choices but overall satisfied with her work. She looked over at Sakura, who was sitting at her desk with her head down and her eyes closed, either taking a temporary break or admitting defeat. Since her textbook was closed, she must have finished, too. "This is nice, isn't it?"

One of Sakura's green eyes opened to regard her friend. "Yeah, homework is the greatest," she mumbled.

Tomoyo giggled at Sakura's sarcastic tone, so out of character for the eternally cheerful girl. "No, I mean... it's just been a long time since we did this."

Sakura stifled a yawn as she stretched in her chair. "Homework?"

That was just one part of it. But there was so much more to it than that. And it was hard to explain. Maybe she really doesn't know. "We just never do anything together anymore."

"Sure we do. Didn't we all go to Tanaka-kun's baseball game last week?"

She doesn't get it. "Sakura-chan...."

Sakura distractedly ran a hand through her honey-colored hair, a restless gesture she shared with her brother, Tomoyo noticed. Then she pushed her chair back and crouched down on the floor next to the other girl. "I know," she said quietly. "I'm sorry." One corner of her mouth lifted in a sad little half-smile, again just as Tomoyo had seen Touya's do. She'd never realized that the two were so alike. "I was trying to pretend everything was the same as it's always been."

She does know. She's felt it, too. "But it isn't," Tomoyo added softly. "We're not ten years old anymore."

"How can that be?" Sakura asked with a weary laugh. "You know, I sometimes feel like we're still ten. I don't want to grow up." She leaned back against her bed and sighed. "No, that's not it. I just don't want things to change."

"I know." It really did seem like only yesterday when they'd all been in elementary school together, wishing they were older. Now that they were, they almost wanted to go back. Almost. "I've really missed you," Tomoyo said quietly. "How did we let this happen?"

"I don't know," Sakura answered, shrugging helplessly. "But we can't let it happen anymore. You've always been my dearest friend, Tomoyo-chan, and even if it doesn't seem like it sometimes, I still need you."

"Me, too." They'd needed to have this talk for a long time, and they took turns blaming themselves for letting other things, less important things, come between them.

"Maybe... maybe next weekend, you could stay over," Sakura suddenly suggested, and as the words came out, her tone shifted from the quiet musing of simply saying an idea out loud to the cheerfulness of being excited about it. "We never get a chance to talk anymore, and I think we have a lot to talk about."

Tomoyo nodded, a grateful smile coming to her lips. She hadn't made such an overture herself, thinking that Sakura would be too busy with Syaoran to accept. She hadn't wanted to risk the rejection, even though it wouldn't mean anything personal. They just had different interests these days, but that shouldn't change their friendship. "I'd really like that," she replied. "It'll be fun."

"And besides," Sakura continued, her smile matching Tomoyo's, "I know that Otou-san and Kero-chan have missed seeing you around here, too. Just look at the warm welcome they gave you when you arrived."

"Well, part of that may be due to the strawberry cake I brought with me."

"Well, yeah," Sakura agreed, her smile now turning into a teasing grin. "I mean, what other reason could they have?"

Tomoyo pretended to look hurt, but then she started giggling, which caused Sakura to break into laughter, too. This is how it used to be. Just because we've changed doesn't mean we can't be friends anymore. We just have to work harder at it and make time for each other. If we can do that, we'll be just fine.

When their laughter faded, the girls looked at each other for a brief moment before embracing in a warm hug. It said everything that they hadn't been able to find the words for over the past few months, and also those things that they didn't need to say.

"Am I interrupting anything?" The two girls broke apart and saw Meiling standing in Sakura's bedroom doorway with a curious grin on her face. "I thought this was a study group, not a love fest."

Sakura raised an inquiring eyebrow at Tomoyo, who nodded her assent. In a flash, they both jumped up and pulled Meiling into a three-way hug, sandwiching her between them.

Meiling indulged them for a minute before disentangling herself. "Hey, I love you guys and everything, but this would be more fun with a couple of boys." She rolled her ruby eyes in amusement at their shocked expressions. "Oh, please. You were both thinking the same thing," she teased. She let her heavy backpack slide off her shoulder, and she tossed it on the floor with an exaggerated sigh. "So, who's up for a little history?"

After working on the English assignment, Tomoyo and Sakura were more than ready to switch gears and focus on something else for a while. They all settled down on the floor again to prepare for Wednesday's history exam. Together they had decided to keep this a girls-only study session, because boyfriends tended to be distracting. Besides, Sakura had mentioned in an aside to Meiling that it had to make Tomoyo uncomfortable when they always flaunted their boyfriends in front of her. Meiling had just smiled mysteriously and told Sakura not to worry about that.

"Now, before I can even start looking at the review sheet, I need to know what reward awaits me for making it through the term," Meiling joked. "Any ideas?"

"The summer street festival starts next weekend," Sakura supplied offhandedly as she flipped through her notes. "We could all go to that together on Sunday."

"That's what I like to hear. And maybe you could even invite your brother to come with us," Meiling added slyly, ignoring Tomoyo's subtle head-shake. They'd been pushing their luck lately, and as much as Tomoyo may have liked the idea, she wasn't sure it was practical.

Sakura glanced up from her notebook, her green eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why?"

Meiling replied with a casual shrug. "Seems like a nice thing to do."

"You know, Meiling-chan," Sakura began, "it seems like you're always wanting him to hang out with us. Do you have a crush on him or something?"

Poor Tomoyo suffered a sudden coughing fit, but Meiling didn't pay any attention. "Well, who doesn't?" the raven-haired girl answered with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. "I don't expect you to see it, but he's absolutely gorgeous, a near-perfect specimen of the male gender. Lots of girls at school think so."

"Really?" Sakura made a face as if the thought of her friends crushing on her mean old onii-chan was somewhere between ridiculous and nauseating. No, she definitely could not understand the appeal. "Do you think so, too, Tomoyo-chan?" she asked unsuspectingly.

Oh, God, yes, Tomoyo thought, somewhat incensed that other girls might be daydreaming about her boyfriend. She felt a sudden wave of possessiveness and idly imagined hanging a sign around his neck that read Hands Off. "He's okay, I guess, if you like that type." She somehow managed to keep her tone flat and her expression neutral. As her feelings for him had become stronger, she'd had more difficulty hiding them from others whenever his name came up. She wished she could tell Sakura the truth, but Touya was right. For now, we still have to be discreet. Maybe someday soon I can tell her, but not just yet.

"Tall, dark, and handsome? What's not to like?" Meiling gushed, trying so hard not to laugh at Tomoyo's dismissive answer.

Sakura shuddered, desperately wishing for a change of subject. It was a little creepy to think of her brother as... well, as a guy. "If you say so."

"Well, anyway, it was just a suggestion." Meiling caught Tomoyo's eye and added, "Since I saw him downstairs and all." She grinned when the other girl's violet eyes widened slightly.

What's he doing here? Tomoyo wondered irrationally, as if he weren't allowed to visit his own family. He said he had too much work to do today. "I'm going to get some water," she said suddenly. "Anyone else want anything?" Her flimsy excuse to go downstairs might have been more believable if she had stayed in the room long to enough to find out if either of the other girls did, in fact, want anything. But in the back of her mind she knew that Meiling would cover for her.

She calmly walked down the stairs with her typical poise, but her heart was racing a mile a minute. Even though she'd spent yesterday afternoon with him, even though they'd talked on the phone afterward, she was amazed at how much she'd still missed him in the meantime. It was like her day wasn't complete unless she'd been with him, or heard his voice, or felt his gentle touch. Meiling-chan was right. I do have it bad, she thought as her heart kept speeding right along. She'd fallen hard, all right. But she loved feeling this way, and she wouldn't trade it for anything.

When she reached the kitchen, she found Touya and Fujitaka sitting at the table, talking over a couple of slices of her strawberry cake. She tried to hold back the huge smile that threatened to spread across her lovely face as she made her way to the refrigerator. "I don't mean to interrupt," she said politely, hoping the excited shakiness in her voice wasn't too obvious. "I just wanted to get some water."

Touya tried to act like he was surprised to see her but also maintain a casual air of indifference. That was a difficult combination to pull off, but it was the only way he could keep his true feelings hidden. Unfortunately, he failed on both counts, because he knew she would be here, and because he was happy to get to see her. It was why he'd dropped by the house under the pretext of wanting to borrow a book from his father. "Nice to see you, Daidouji," he said, and he couldn't quite keep that mocking inflection out of his voice. He couldn't keep the warmth out of it, either. That was another difficult combination to pull off, but this time he succeeded.

"Nice to see you, too, sensei," Tomoyo replied, not looking at him as she pulled a water bottle out of the refrigerator. She felt herself starting to smile anyway. As difficult as it was to keep their secret, sometimes it could be fun, too. Almost like a game.

"How's the studying going?" Fujitaka asked as he sipped his tea, oblivious to the lingering glance that now passed between the two young people.

"It's going well," Tomoyo answered, absently fiddling with the bottle's cap. "But I think it's going to be a long afternoon."

"Well, when you girls finish your work, you're welcome to stay for dinner."

"Thank you. That's really nice." Tomoyo raised inquisitive eyebrows in Touya's direction, silently asking if he'd be staying, too, but he shook his head.

He noticed the slight change in her expression, registering her disappointment, and he flashed her a quick grin, so quick that anyone else would have missed it. Then he arched his eyebrows back at her, wordlessly asking if she had anything to tell him. He knew she didn't just come downstairs for water. She'd had a more important reason.

"If it's all right," Tomoyo said now, recognizing her chance, "Sakura-chan has invited me to stay over next weekend so that we can go to the street fair together on Sunday." She directed the first part of this sentence to Fujitaka, but her violet eyes subtly shifted back over to Touya during the last part. She hoped he'd caught her meaning.

He did.

"Of course it's all right," Fujitaka answered, and he got the strange feeling that he was missing something. It was like this entire conversation was in code. "That is, if you girls do well on your exams this week," he warned gently with the voice of parental authority.

Tomoyo laughed. "Then I guess I should get back to studying." She excused herself and turned to head back upstairs, humming a merry tune under her breath.

Touya's brown eyes involuntarily followed Tomoyo as she left the kitchen and remained focused on the doorway after she was gone. I wonder what time she'll be getting home. I still have so much work to do, but maybe I'll get a chance to call her later. I should get going, so I can—

"Oh, my God," Fujitaka breathed in sudden realization.

Touya mentally cursed himself for being so obvious and brought guilty eyes back to his incredulous father. "What?" he asked innocently, knowing perfectly well what the older man had noticed.

"It's Tomoyo-san?" Fujitaka asked, his voice still pitched to a disbelieving whisper. "She's the student you're seeing?"

There was no point in denying it now. Touya nodded slowly.

"You've got to be kidding." This whole thing still had to be an elaborate joke. It had to be. But Touya just sat there stoically. "If you're kidding, it isn't very funny."

"No, it isn't."

The older man saw that his son was completely serious. He tried to digest this information, but it only added a whole new degree of difficulty to Touya's problem. "Well, you can forget what I said about losing your job, because I don't think you'll have to worry about that."

"Oh?" Touya should have intuited his father's reasoning, because it was something he'd known at the back of his mind all the while. But he still asked, "Why not?"

"Because Sonomi-san will kill you."

Will she? Yeah, probably. He remembered for the thousandth time what Sonomi had said to him, how adamant she was that Tomoyo be kept away from pests. And he'd turned out to be the largest pest of all. "At least I've got a month to get my affairs in order," he joked.

"What do you mean?"

"She's overseas until the end of August," Touya explained. "So I've got until then to figure out what I'm going to tell her."

Now Fujitaka didn't know what to think. Did his son really have some sort of death wish, or was this his dry humor covering up his anxiety about the situation? "You're going to tell her?"

"I have to, don't I?" They could keep it from everyone else—they had to—but he just didn't feel right keeping it from Sonomi. She'd trusted him.

"Yes, I suppose you do," his father agreed. "I know I've already asked you this, but you really need to consider it again before you go confessing to her mother. Is she worth it?"

Touya didn't have to consider it. There was no doubt in his mind. "She is."

Fujitaka nodded, impressed with his son's conviction. "Then can I have your stereo?"

Touya laughed. "Yeah, sure." He pushed his empty cake plate away and folded his arms on the table. "It won't be that bad, will it? I mean, you're still here. You survived dealing with Sonomi-san."

"Just barely," his father answered with a wry smile. "So, here's hoping lightning strikes twice." That analogy didn't sound quite right. "Or... not. You know what I mean. And maybe this time it won't take her twenty years to come around." It was supposed to be a joke, but he remembered how strained the relationship between Nadeshiko and her favorite cousin became after he married her, and how Nadeshiko had died before peace could be made between the families. But he knew that she wouldn't want him dwelling on the past like that, and he tried to focus on happier things as his brown eyes drifted toward the displayed photograph on the table. It was of his beloved bride in her modeling days, barely seventeen and glowing from within as she bestowed her angelic smile upon the camera. "You know, Tomoyo-san looks so much like your mother did at that age," he mused fondly.

Touya studied the familiar picture. "I used to think so, too, but I don't see it anymore." He only saw Tomoyo as the beautiful young woman she was now, not as the little girl she used to be, and not as a shadow of anyone else.

"Maybe you're right."

Touya wanted to talk more about this, because it was a relief to finally confide in someone, but he really did have to get home and finish his exam preparation. As he got up to leave, promising to come to dinner on Wednesday night, he asked, "Can you do me a favor?"

"Of course."

Touya paused just briefly as one corner of his mouth lifted in a sly smile. "Make Sakura invite me to the fair on Sunday."

-----

The group of teenagers had only just arrived at the street festival when Touya joined them. Sakura reluctantly admitted to Syaoran that she'd invited him, although she wasn't sure why both Meiling and her father had been so insistent. Her father did imply that the two siblings didn't spend much time together since Touya had moved out, and Sakura had bitten her tongue to keep from complaining that she had to see him at school every day, and she didn't want to have to see him every day of her summer break, too. Deep down, she loved him, but he was easier to take in small doses.

After a quick discussion, which called for some good-humored mediation from Hiro when Meiling and Sakura argued over who was hungrier, they all decided it would be best to find something to eat, and soon.

Touya and Tomoyo fell back behind the others, and he let her walk just a half-pace in front of him, keeping the distance comfortable yet appropriate. But then she suddenly stopped and turned around, and he almost tripped over his own feet as he tried to keep from knocking her down.

She didn't know how many moments alone they'd get today, so she was going to take advantage of all of them. She tossed a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching. Then she brought her eyes back to his and gave him a secret little smile. "I'm glad you came," she said softly.

"Me, too," he answered, matching her hushed tone. "You look beautiful." He was used to seeing her in skirts or dresses, but today she was wearing simple khaki shorts and a plain white t-shirt, her lavender hair twisted in a loose braid down her back. She could be wearing a plastic garbage bag, and she'd still look lovely.

She smiled again and whispered, "So do you." He managed to make a casual blue button-down shirt and jeans look incredibly sexy. His eternally disheveled hair and warm brown eyes weren't so bad, either.

They shared one last private look, speaking without words, and then they fell right back into place behind the others, their brief pause unnoticed as Sakura and Meiling continued their friendly arguing, now over what they should have for lunch.

It was a wonderful afternoon, perfect in terms of the mild weather and the bright sunshine, and the group of six wound its way around the booths, trying the games and sampling treats, watching the musical performances of the elementary school students, and stopping to chat when they ran into anyone they knew. Many Seijou students had had the same idea and were celebrating their first real day of the summer break by coming to the festival.

It was after saying goodbye to Chiharu and Takashi when Sakura realized that two people were missing from their group. "Where did Onii-chan and Tomoyo-chan go?" she wondered. "They were over there just a second ago."

"I think they wanted some... ice cream," Meiling answered, her ruby eyes sparkling with knowledge. "They should be back in a minute." Well, she wasn't sure exactly where they'd wandered off to, but they'd gotten amazingly adept at finding ways to unobtrusively separate themselves from the group. Although, she had to wonder how they'd managed in this crowd, and in broad daylight. And, how unobtrusive were they really, if even Sakura had noticed them missing? They were slipping a bit.

"Well, at least Onii-chan's been leaving us alone," Sakura said, squeezing Syaoran's hand. "He's barely said anything to you all day. I'll have to thank Tomoyo-chan for being nice to him. I feel bad for her, though, getting stuck with him all the time." It didn't really seem fair that Tomoyo was always the odd one out when the friends went anywhere, and so when Touya came along, she probably felt that she had to be polite and make him feel welcome and included. They were the odd ones out together, if that made any sense. "Maybe," Sakura mused, the wheels turning in her mind almost visible through the windows of her green eyes, "maybe we should help Tomoyo-chan find a boyfriend. And, maybe," she continued, talking to herself more than to Syaoran, "maybe a girlfriend for Onii-chan, too. You know, I'm not sure if he'd still—"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Syaoran mentioned now, and she blinked at him as if she'd just realized that she'd in fact been saying all of that aloud.

She knew she shouldn't meddle, but she was just concerned about them. "I just want them to be happy, like us," she said, giving him a tender smile.

But that wasn't what Syaoran meant.

Syaoran didn't make a habit of noticing what Touya did unless he was right in his face about something—usually along the lines of getting the hell away from his little sister—but he did think it was odd that Touya had been so open to spending his free time with a bunch of teenagers like this. Not just open—willing. And as for Tomoyo being nice to him, well, Tomoyo was always nice to everyone. But with Touya, it was different. The difference was subtle, but it was still there.

He tried to put his finger on it, but the only explanation he'd come up with was so absurd that he kept it to himself. He'd noticed the two of them talking together, sharing jokes, and generally acting friendly toward one another. There wasn't necessarily anything strange about that, on the surface. But then other times, he'd notice a look pass between them, and it would last a beat longer than it should. And it did seem like the two of them would often disappear without telling anyone, but they usually—conveniently—came back with sodas or ice cream. It was possible that he was simply imagining all of this, so he didn't share his observations with Sakura. He'd look like a complete idiot for even speculating about such a thing.

But still, he thought he knew flirting when he saw it.

There was definitely something going on.

Sakura was tugging at his arm, pointing excitedly toward a candy stand, and Syaoran pushed those ridiculous thoughts out of his mind. It wasn't any of his business, anyway.

-----

I know this seemed like more filler, but in terms of the overall plot, this is an important chapter. Thanks again for reading and reviewing, everyone! hugs