Litanya: I'm really sorry for the delay; I have had a lot on at the moment. Anyway, thank you to all who read this fic, I really appreciate it! Anyway, I do not own CCS.

Cursed Love

Chapter 3: Illusions

They had now attended the University for ten months. They had become closer and closer and both of them were afraid. Eriol was afraid that he really was in love with Tomoyo, whilst Tomoyo was afraid that Eriol did not love her. So they both put up a pretense that they were just close friends. It had gotten to the point where they were making up excuses for each other. They had been secretly voted as the two most likely people to become a couple by the end of the year by their fellow Law students, and even though they had heard the rumors, they ignored them. As far as they were concerned, their love did not exist.

"Hiiragizawa-kun, when is the essay due?" Tomoyo asked him over the phone as she frantically searched her room for her lap top, which she had seemingly misplaced.

"Next Wednesday Daidouji-san, and your lap top is under the kitchen sink. You put it there when you went to get the fly spray," there was only a slight hint of amusement in his voice. He had been having problems with his health for the past two weeks and his thoughts flittered between the curse and Tomoyo. He had figured out that he had 'fallen for her' but he refused to use the 'l' word. He also erected the illusion in his mind that his feelings had been influenced by the curse, that it was because of the curse that he was developing attachments to the girl. That was the only thing he could think of.

"I'm sorry Hiiragizawa-kun, I shouldn't be bothering you when you're sick," she dug the lap top out from under the sink, but her thoughts were focused on the light purple gadget in front of her. She was worried. He had been getting sicker and sicker over the past two weeks, and he had not even been able to go to uni the day before. It was almost as if something was zapping the energy out of him. His illness was not like a cold or the flu, but it left him as weak as a kitten. Nakuru had told her the day before that Eriol had been extremely quiet about everything and had not responded to questions like 'Are you alright?' This worried the dark haired girl greatly. Eriol was now one of her closest friends and she knew instinctively when something was wrong. She didn't want to admit that she knew what was wrong with him because he was her soul mate. She had woven up illusions in her own mind, the illusion that she did not care for him as more than a friend.

"It's okay Daidouji-san, at least now I can stop feeling sorry for myself," he said lightly, as if telling a joke. At that moment though, he felt too sick to laugh at anything. The sickness had started off as a small cold-like virus and had grown from there. At random times his chest would burn so hard that he felt as though he was on fire. He had sporadic periods of hallucinations and headaches that threatened to tear his head open. It was not a regular disease and if he went to a doctor, they would be baffled by his symptoms. The disease of a curse could not be cured by a doctor and that was why it was so deadly.

"Hiiragizawa-kun, have you been to the doctor's yet?" she was surprised at how much she sounded like a mother. She couldn't help it that she cared about his health. It came naturally to her.

"Not yet. I don't think that this is worth going to a doctor over. Maybe if I'm sick for… another three months I might go," again he said this as if he was joking, but he was being deadly serious. There was no point in paying doctor's bills when nothing would be gained from it. Eriol had already been down and seen his lawyer about his will. He was leaving almost everything to Nakuru and Spinal and some things to Tomoyo. He did not want to waste some of their inheritance by seeing a doctor, as small as the cost may be.

"Eriol, you need to go to the doctors. They'll give you some medication and then you'll get better quicker. If not then you'll have a HEAP to catch up at uni and… I'm going to come over right now and take you to the doctor," she said in a hurried frenzy, packing her lap top back into its case, "And before you protest, it's no big deal. I need to take some time off anyway."

"I'm fine, really. I just need some rest and then I'll be better before you know it. I never got to the doctor. I have a fear of going there," he was panicking and making up any excuse that would seem reasonable.

"Come on Eriol, you shouldn't be scared of them! Look, I know that you think that you only have a virus, but what if it is something that's a little more serious? You could be sick for months if you don't go. By the way, I'm coming over anyway and I'm NOT going to take no for an answer," before he could respond, she hung up the phone. She was out of the door a few minutes later. She had forgotten that the weatherman had predicted pouring rain for the next few days and so she was caught in the rain as soon as she left the building. She considered going back for an umbrella, but decided that it would take too much time. After all, her friend was very sick, and he had to get to the doctors. Yes, her friend was sick.

Eriol put the phone down on the table next to him and let out a faint groan. She was coming over. And she wanted to take him to the doctors. The pain in his chest started again, but this time it was fiercer than it had been before. He bit his tongue hard to stop himself from gasping out loud and he closed his eyes. He instinctively curled up into a ball. It was lucky that he had been lying on the couch otherwise he would have collapsed. As it were, he avoided injury other than the burning pain that he was going through.

'Stupid, stupid curse! Why did they choose me in the first place? I was just happy the way my life was, and then they came around and spoiled it!' he cursed as the pain slowly faded into an ache. He knew that it would not be long before it turned back into the stabbing pains. He pushed himself off the couch gingerly and grabbed a wooden walking stick so that he wouldn't collapse. Using the stick he slowly maneuvered himself to the door of the room and from there he called down to Nakuru.

"Nakuru, Daidouji-san is coming over. She'll be here in a few minutes," there was a delighted squeal from below and he knew that she had heard him.

"I'll make sure that she gets here, but I have a date this afternoon so the two of you will be here by yourselves," Eriol ignored the obvious attempt to match-make him with Tomoyo and hobbled back over to the couch. He collapsed easily to lie on the couch, all of his energy spent from that small walk. When Sintered and Santerado had told him that he would get sick two months before he died, he had not expected to get this sick. Then again, curses were unpredictable. He felt as though he were about to fall asleep. He was sure that he did fall asleep because when he next opened his eyes, Tomoyo was sitting in a chair across the room, reading a novel.

"Oh, you're here Daidouji-san," he said, a little confused because of his nap. She tossed the novel down on the floor as she heard his voice and leapt up.

"You have had me extremely worried Hiiragizawa-kun! You were asleep when I arrived and you haven't even moved in the past three hours," he blinked as she mentioned the time.

"Three hours? I feel as though I have hardly slept at all," he confessed, rubbing his left eye with the small amount of strength that he felt he had gained from his nap.

"That's it, I'm taking you to doctor right now!" Tomoyo ordered, and she grabbed his hand to pull him to his feet. However, due to his lack of energy, Eriol could not pull himself up and the result was that Tomoyo fell on top of him. Their eyes met for a second and Eriol felt himself lean in to kiss her. She could feel his breath on her neck and she felt something click in her mind, but just as she thought that he was going to kiss her, he pulled away slightly and began to cough.

"I'm sorry, you were too heavy to lift," she apologized quickly as she jumped to her feet, her cheeks several different shades of scarlet. He held up a hand, as if to tell her to wait, and his coughing fit continued. After it had finished, he was finally able to speak.

"It's okay. I just don't feel like going to the doctors. Maybe we can just sit here and talk for a while?" he offered, knowing that she would be too embarrassed to disagree.

"Okay, I guess that we can hold off the visit to the doctors if you promise me one thing…" she said slowly, suddenly getting an idea.

"And what is that?" he was a little wary of what her plan would be. He knew that she could be devious if she wanted to be.

"If you promise me that you will…"

To be continued….

Litanya: I'm really sorry that I have only updated now, after so long, and that it is very short. But I have been extremely busy. I may be able to update tomorrow, but if not, it will be definitely before next Wednesday, as it is a long weekend over here in Melbourne. Thank you for reading and I hope you have a good day/night/morning/afternoon!