Diamond Sky Chapter 9: Reveal, a card captor sakura fanfic

Diamond Sky

Chapter Nine: Reveal

Dawn arrived in Japan not with its rosy pink and yellow premise but with stormy skies. Gray clouds hovered overhead as thunder rumbled across the sky. It looked as if the rain that had threatened to fall during Tanabata just a month before had been holding back until today to finally make an appearance.

It did so, coming down in torrents later in the morning. It made everyone feel sleepy and cold. Even Yukio-sensei looked like he'd much rather be in his warm futon and dreaming of Hawaii than stand in the classroom and teach the uses of the past perfect tense.

During lunch, half the class forewent eating in favour of catching forty winks. Naoko and Rika were the only ones who actually left the class. The rest had their bentos in the class, staring out the rain-splattered windows and shivering at the howling wind. It was a rather large storm, noted Chiharu as she watched a tree nearly being pulled out of its roots by the strong wind outside.

"At least it decided to rain now rather than Tanabata." Sakura sighed. "I can still remember the fireworks."

"I'm surprised," commented Chiharu rather dryly. "Considering the way you and Syaoran-kun were kissing, I thought you hadn't even seen the fireworks!"

Sakura gasped. "Chiharu-chan! Th, that's not true!"

"I've got the tape to prove it…" grinned Tomoyo.

"Tomoyo-chan!"

Chiharu giggled, pacifying her friend with a pat on the shoulder. "I'm just kidding, Sakura-chan!"

Tomoyo joined in the giggling. "Well, I'm not. I do have the tape."

Sakura started begging her friend not to ever show it in the Kinomoto house lest her brother made good on his threat and stomped the Chinese boy into dust.

"Like he could," snorted Syaoran as he ate his sushi.

"I'm pretty sure he could, Li-kun. Touya-san has relatively longer legs than yours," cheerfully remarked Eriol from his end.

"Go jump in a lake, Hiiragizawa."

"After you."

With Syaoran scowling at him in the background, Tomoyo solemnly vowed to never show the tape to Touya and Sakura sat back in her chair with relief. Yamazaki who had been relatively quiet suddenly sprang up with a story about how the ancient Japanese would really jump in lakes to find worms to build houses. It was said that the mud worms were very good architects and could construct houses out of twigs and frog skin, according to Eriol.

They all bought it until Chiharu stuffed Yamazaki's mouth with a prawn and told him to shut up before she choked him with her chopsticks by stuffing them down his throat.

The rain petered out during the afternoon, giving the students enough time to head on home without getting soaked. Even so, the skies didn't clear much.

Three polite knocks resounded on Tomoyo's room door. She turned her head from where she sat at the desk, sketching out a new design.

"Yes?"

Tora poked his head in and nodded respectfully. "Hiiragizawa Eriol-san is on the line, Tomoyo-sama."

Tomoyo smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Tora-san."

As the door shut, Tomoyo picked up her own cordless phone and waited until the other receiver was replaced before saying anything.

"Moshi moshi."

"Moshi moshi, Daidouji-san." She could almost see the smile on his face. "How are you?"

She smiled even though he couldn't see it. "I'm fine, thank you. You?"

As if to answer her, a crash resounded on his end. He sighed.

"Nakuru's trying to stuff Spinel with maple syrup again and he's threatening to burn my music sheets if I don't do something about it. I'm afraid I need another babysitter for the evening. Would you be so kind as to oblige me?"

Another crash, louder this time, came over the phone again.

"Before my beloved guardians drive me up the wall and over the roof?"

Tomoyo chuckled, knowing very well that would never happen in either of their natural born lives. "I'll come over at seven."

"I am forever in your debt, Daidouji-san. Jaa ne."

"Jaa."

As she dialled Daidouji Sonomi's cell phone number to tell her mother, Tomoyo wondered if she really should go. She had been to dinner at Sakura's house just last night and her mother was having one of those rare temporary hiatuses when work didn't demand Sonomi's attention for more than the usual working hours.

Just then, the phone rang again.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Hello, Tomoyo."

"Hi, kaasan. How's work?"

Her mother sighed on the other end. "Hectic. Looks like another long day here."

"Oh… that's too bad… will you make it in time for dinner?"

"I'm afraid not. The board wants to go over the new toy line and I'll have to be here to oversee things. You'll have to eat without me. I'm sorry."

"That's alright… but is it okay I went to Hiiragizawa-san's house for dinner then?"

"Dinner at Hiiragizawa-san's again?"

"Yes, kaasan. If it's not okay, I could always call back and say no…"

Sonomi sighed. "Well… as much as I want to keep you at home… Go ahead, Tomoyo. Just save some room for supper with me. That alright with you?"

Tomoyo smiled. "Do you want apple or blueberry muffins?"

Her mother chuckled. "Blueberry sounds delicious. I'll see you tonight."

"Bye. And good luck."

"I'll need it… Bye."

Tomoyo smiled as she put down the phone and slid off her chair. She'd get started on the muffins right now and make some extras to take over to Eriol's. It'd be a change from the usual cakes and pies she'd been bringing over.

"I know the perfect thing to go with blueberry muffins!" exclaimed Nakuru as she finished wiping the dining table after dinner.

Tomoyo smiled as she arranged them on a plate, having been politely yet forcibly pushed out of the kitchen by Eriol who had said that if he saw Tomoyo wash the dishes one more time, he'd get Nakuru and a suitably drunken Spinel to tie her to a chair with bungee cords.

"Tea?"

"Exactly! English breakfast tea!" cheered the older girl. "Nothing suits a muffin better than English tea!"

"Oh, I don't know… some orange juice and strawberry jam go well with muffins too."

Nakuru stared at her for a minute before bursting out. "That's an even BETTER idea! Eriol-sama! Do we have any strawberry jam left?"

As she ran into the kitchen, Spinel groaned as he settled onto the dining table.

"Tomoyo-sama, what have you done?"

She giggled then broke off part of a muffin. "Sorry, Spinel-san. But they DO go nicely with a little strawberry jam on top."

Spinel accepted the bit of muffin with little fuss although he made a point of it to grumble once more. "Muffins coated in two FEET of jam will be 'little', knowing Nakuru."

Tomoyo giggled again. "Then, at least, I'll make sure she doesn't coat you in two feet of jam, alright?"

He looked at her gratefully. "Tomoyo-sama, you're a veritable angel."

Just smiling, Tomoyo picked him up and placed him on her shoulder. Carrying the plate into the living room, Eriol was already there placing a tape into the VCR. Tomoyo had also brought over the edited and cleaned up Tanabata tape just for fun. Even if both Eriol and Tomoyo had watched it already, Nakuru and Spinel had yet to see it. According to the moon guardian, she was anxious to do so since "Eriol-sama was stingy on details."

He looked up and smiled. "Luckily for you, Spinel, there isn't any strawberry jam left."

"Thank the heavens."

"There is apricot jam though."

Spinel cast his master a dirty look. Eriol merely grinned and turned his attention to Tomoyo.

"It was very nice of you to bring the muffins, Daidouji-san."

Tomoyo beamed as she set them on the coffee table. "It was no trouble. My mother loves them as well."

Eriol smiled and settled into a sofa. Tomoyo sat on the other end while Nakuru came bouncing in from the kitchen with a teapot and a few cups in a tray. Pouring the tea out into the cups for all of them, she settled on the floor by the couch. Spinel sat on the table, sipping his tea.

The tape began with Sakura and Syaoran in front of the viewfinder, waving at the camera. Well, Sakura was waving anyway. Syaoran was busy trying to get what looked like his shoe from Kero who was holding it just out of reach and cackling. Spinel dryly remarked on Keroberos recessing back into his first childhood. Nakuru replied that Suppi-chan was just too stuffed up and didn't know how to have fun, that's all.

The focus shifted onto Yukito who waved cheefully at the camera. It moved onto Touya who was trying to shoot a glare at his little sister's boyfriend. Eventually, he noticed Tomoyo. Raising an eyebrow at the camera, he asked her what she thought she was doing.

Her voice came over the speakers. "Making memories, Touya-kun! Smile!"

Eriol looked sidelong at Tomoyo who blushed. He smiled amusedly. "Making memories?"

"It's true and it sounded logical at the time."

He chuckled and looked back at the screen. He saw his own image smiling at the camera then, alongside the rest of them. The sounds and sights of the festival came back to them as Tomoyo's camcorder recapped the entire thing. Nakuru squealed in delight when she saw her surrogate father walking around in a half blue, half red yukata. Spinel fell over snickering when Kero-chan was discovered hiding in Sakura's small bag, munching away on lollipops. Lucky thing everyone could be convinced the candy was a new accessory for him.

As the tape continued on to the part where everyone was making their wishes and hanging them on the bamboo at the small grove, Tomoyo wondered if her own would ever come true. It'd been written in her neat handwriting on a pale blue piece of paper. She'd chosen to hang it near Sakura's, on a small thin branch with a new budding leaf on it.

Her violet eyes watched herself tie the wish (Yamazaki was in charge of the camcorder for a minute) and giggle with Sakura and Naoko as they three finished tying the strings and she grew sad.

It wasn't very likely to happen.

Her camera turned to where the boys were hanging up their own pieces of paper. Syaoran had needed a bit of persuasion but in the end, he too had written a quick wish and was hanging it on the highest branch he could reach.

"So as not to be read by nosy people. Like him," remarked Syaoran, jabbing a thumb in Eriol's direction who only smiled as he tied a last knot to the strings holding up his wish.

Tomoyo glanced over at the boy sitting on the other end of the sofa.

"Did you really make a wish at all, Hiiragizawa-san? I didn't seem to catch it."

He smiled. "With all honesty,I did. It's that one. The lavender one," he said, pointing at the screen.

Tomoyo's eyes couldn't pick out which one as the camera drew away. She smiled. "I'll take your word for it."

He nodded and looked back at the television. He had made a wish, alright.

It was just rather impossible to come true.

The tape continued on to the fireworks and ended there as everyone waved goodbye at the camera. As the screen faded to black, Nakuru declared that next year, she'd join them instead of hanging around the house with stuffy old Suppi-chan. It'd been a long time since she'd tried to steal Touya away from Yukito: two whole days!

"He's probably hiding," remarked Spinel dryly. "In Yue's wings."

Tomoyo had to laugh at the image of big, fierce, overprotective Touya cowering under the equally surly, grumpy Moon Guardian's feathery appendages. Eriol grinned as he ejected the tape.

"You had better not say that to his face, Spinel."

Spinel smirked. "I'm aware of that." Yawning, he bid Tomoyo and Eriol goodnight and flew on upstairs. Gathering up two cups, the tray and now empty plate, Nakuru dumped them in the sink and told Eriol she'd wash them tomorrow. After nearly strangling both Eriol and Tomoyo with a good night hug, she bounced on upstairs, saying she wanted to plan on how to glomp Touya without him running away faster than her.

It was nine o' clock, noted Tomoyo a little regretfully. She'd have to leave soon if she wanted to meet her mother for supper.

But she didn't have to leave right now.

"It looks like more rain," remarked Eriol as he glanced out the window. Indeed, the rain had resumed again and Tomoyo could hear the muffled sound of numerous drops beating against the roof of the house.

"And a good night's sleep," added Tomoyo with a small grin.

Eriol turned away and smiled at her, twinkle in his blue eyes. "True. Do you wake up in the middle of the night for no reason?"

"Sometimes. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. I occasionally find myself wide awake in the night and unable to fall back to sleep." He took a sip of tea. "Probably because I have a habit of drinking tea before I sleep."

Tomoyo chuckled. "I don't. Yet I do the same thing.

"Ah, a girl after my own heart," commented Eriol with a grin.

The girl laughed gently. As her eyes strayed to the window where raindrops fell upon, a memory floated out suddenly.

"…There was one night when I was awake and I happened to look out the window. Do you know what I saw, Hiiragizawa-san?"

"The sky, I assume."

Tomoyo laughed. "That and thousands of stars. Not like the ones we saw during Tanabata but even more than that number. And I actually recorded them. They were so beautiful, I couldn't help myself. Scattered all across the sky like that…" She looked back at him, eyes twinkling.

"It's silly, I know."

Eriol had watched her expression closely and smiled. "Not silly at all. I think I know what you're talking about. It's like… the entire universe opening up to you, letting you look at the stars like that… but you know there are so many more doors that remain closed."

"…something like that." She smiled. "All I know is, I remember thinking that no human, magical or not, could ever recreate that same splendour I saw. That was purely… something otherworldly. Something heavenly."

"…would you happen to have the tape with you?"

Tomoyo shook her head. "It's at home. But I could bring it with me another time."

"That would be fine."

"…or… I could ask you to do me a favour."

Eriol raised an eyebrow at her meaningful look but smiled. "I can do that."

Moments later, with the background of pouring rain in the quiet atmosphere of the room, Tomoyo watched that quietly beautiful night she had witnessed so many months ago, Eriol sitting beside her.

"…I'm amazed you managed to record this, Daidouji-san." He smiled at her.

She shrugged. "I don't know how I did it either. But perhaps the stars were exceptionally brighter that night. I don't know."

He looked back to the twinkling stars in the glass. "It seems to me, Daidouji-san… that if Sakura-san can charm the sun into shining for a little while more… you're able to persuade the stars into shining brighter in the night."

Tomoyo looked at him as he spoke, face still turned to the TV.

"I've seen this before… in England. The night before I came back to Tomoeda." He smiled sadly. "A good sign, I thought."

"…was it?" she ventured in a gentle tone.

"…in many ways, yes. But in one way… perhaps not so."

"…which way…?"

He kept silent for some time, his eyes seeming to travel into space to join the stars.

"…I have to keep quiet about something that's become very important to me. And it hurts to keep quiet about it. Because there is a risk it will go away for good. Yet… if I stay silent, I can make sure it's with me. For as long as is humanly possible."

Tomoyo turned her own eyes back to the television set. The hurt in his voice as well as the resignation seemed awfully familiar.

It sounded like her.

"…it's difficult, isn't it…? You want so much to say something. But you can't even begin to say what you want to. Because you're so… scared of what will happen if you ever try. Scared of what might be. It's just easier to keep quiet… easier to lock whatever's inside you. So you don't lose what you have already."

Eriol looked sidelong at her, eyes slightly widened. Something rose in him. Cautiously, he pushed the feeling back down again with little effect. It bobbed at his heart, wondering and pushing the thought:

Could it be…?

"…you've felt the same way before."

She let out a small breath. "Once."

"…and now?"

A small hint of a smile appeared but she said nothing. However, her eyes had travelled to the corner of her eyes and stayed on his face.

Eriol met her own gaze and felt his heart literally tear itself in two. He wanted, unbearably so, to let it all out. Right now.

But he couldn't.

So, with all his might, he took a breath, smiled and held out his pinky finger.

"Daidouji-san… you remember our promise, do you not?"

Tomoyo turned and faced him, her heart breaking as she recalled what they had pinky promised that night on his doorstep. She wrapped her own pinky around his.

"Of course… to be friends. Always."

"… Friends no matter what happens?"

Daidouji Tomoyo didn't cry a lot and didn't have many reasons to do so.

But for some dang reason, she was threatening to at this. Why it had to hurt so much to promise it, she couldn't fathom.

"… no matter what."

Eriol took a deep breath.

"…then for our friendship's sake, please forgive me for this."

The thunder rumbled on outside as a hundred thousand million crystal drops of rain poured down onto the earth, hiding a thousand million stars behind the clouds.

But on screen, a thousand million stars seemed to smile.

Daidouji Sonomi looked at the clock and frowned.

Tora stood some way away and grew slightly nervous.

A frowning Daidouji Sonomi was like a gaily-wrapped package that was making a ticking sound.

Potentially fatal.

"…Tora."

He took a step forward. "Ma'am."

"Exactly how far is this Hiiragizawa-san's residence from here?"

"A few blocks, Sonomi-sama.

"And how long does it take to get there and back again?"

"Around ten minutes or so."

"…" Sonomi checked the watch on her wrist and compared it to the kitchen clock. Were it alive and had a pulse, it'd have probably ticked three hours in two seconds at the rate Sonomi was glaring at it. Or two seconds in three hours, if you wanted to look at it from another angle.

Because it was already ten thirty at night.

And the young mistress of the Daidouji household was still not back home to share a supper of blueberry muffins with her mother. As she had promised.

She could have called by now. Or paged. Or sent an SMS. Or even an e-mail if necessary.

The mother in her was starting to scream of kidnappers, muggers and other very unhappy prospects for an ordinary sixteen year old and attractive young woman.

Add to the fact that Daidouji Tomoyo was not exactly the best example of ordinary because of her wealth and Sonomi already had the framework of a ransom note in her head. (We have your daughter. Drop three million US dollars by the local bridge or she gets it. Come alone. No police.)

Trying not to let panic overcome her senses, Sonomi got to her feet.

"That's it. Tora, call Shiro and have him come to the front of the house."

Her frown got harder.

"I'm paying a little visit to this Hiiragizawa Eriol."

Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura (c) CLAMP.