The insane musings of the authoress: How will the painting go? Only chapter six will tell!

Special Thanks to: All reviewers!

Disclaimer: CCS isn't mine. Now, if I had a penny for every time I said that, I could… Buy CCS! Shattered laughs

Glass Roses

Chapter six What Happens When: E+T Get Artistic

Tomoyo and Eriol were seated on a hillside just outside Tomoeda, Tomoyo looking distinctly uncomfortable as Eriol instructed her on how to sit. The soft grass underneath her made a fine seat and the sunlight was streaming down through the gaps in the leaves on the trees. Birds were singing, and the sky was a shade of the most impossible blue. Rather like Hiiragizawa-san's eyes, Tomoyo mused.

She smiled nervously and arranged her hands in her lap uneasily. Eriol sighed and shook his head, walking over from the spot a few feet away where he was setting up his easel.

"It's not your fault. My instructions must be poor," Eriol said softly as he picked up her arms gently by her wrists and positioned them the way her wanted in her lap. Her breath caught in her throat and she flushed at where he was touching her.

"I'm sorry I have to…" he began. She shook her head.

"No, it's okay. I understand that it has to look perfect," she replied, purposefully looking away from him. He seemed to finally be happy with the positioning of her hands and moved on to her face.

He gently tilted her head a little before pulling a strand of hair so it would line her jawbone. Tomoyo forced to herself to ignore the fact that she could feel his breath on her face and fought to control her own breathing. She silently willed her heart's beat to calm itself or he would surely feel the frenzied passage of blood through her skin.

How could she let herself fall apart like this?

"Now, look at me and smile," he instructed. Though it was the last thing she wanted to do, she obeyed.

"There. You look magnificent," Eriol said softly, staring into her violet eyes, his fingers still on her chin. He was centimeters from her and her eyes fell closed of their own account as he licked his lips unconsciously. He leaned ever so slightly closer to her but…

A butterfly landed on Tomoyo's hair and ruined the mood, for Eriol immediately jumped back, shocked and when the thing Tomoyo had been waiting for didn't happen, her eyes opened and she looked confused.

"A butterfly just landed on your hair!" Eriol filled her in as he ran to his easel.

"Oh," she replied, trying to look pleased.

Perhaps it was for the best. The last thing their tentative friendship needed was for Tomoyo to fall in love with Eriol, or him with her, for that matter. She gave a genuine, beaming smile and Eriol stopped his frantic sketching for a moment to stare at her.

The beauty of the nature around her paled in comparison to her. The birds could sing and the sun could shine, butterflies could flap their wings and leaves could rustle while dewdrops shone, but still… They still didn't…

Damn, but this was bad. He shoved those thoughts out of his mind as Tomoyo said, sounding worried,

"You're not working- is something wrong? Did I go out of position?"

"No, no. You still look perfect," Eriol replied, sounding uneasy. In fact, he doubted Venus herself would look better…

"Oh dear!" Nakuru cried as yet another bag of flour exploded.

"Nakuru, dear," Isabelle said calmly as she passed with her arms filled with boxes, "I don't think baking is quite your thing. Why don't I take care of the bread-baking and you can take these boxes out into the main body of the shop?" she suggested kindly.

"I'm sorry I'm not more useful," Nakuru said, sounding deeply unhappy. Isabelle laughed.

"Don't worry. You're doing fine back here, but I think you would be better taking care of customers and the cake display and things like that. In fact, I just heard the bell, so you go and deal with whomever it is, okay?" Nakuru smiled and nodded, looking relieved that she could finally be a help and not a hindrance.

"Oh," Isabelle heard her say from the front of the store, "Ichiro-san, how nice to see you…"

And by the sounds of things, Nakuru was nervous. Isabelle could just picture her friend blushing and twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

"My, my, Akizuki-san, you look lovely today, I must say," came the man's deep-voiced reply.

Isabelle fought the urge to laugh. She may as well rename the place 'Matchmaker's Bakery' since everyone seemed to find their match here! Now, if only she could find her own…

Tomoyo had been sitting in silence for an hour while Eriol sketched her face in preparation for painting. By some miracle, the butterfly was still sitting as serenely as ever on her head and Eriol wondered if it had perhaps fallen asleep. If butterflies slept, that was- he didn't really know.

The only noise was provided by the battery-powered radio Eriol had brought with them and which was faintly playing a mixture of music, such as pop, rock, classical etc.

"You can talk to me now," he told her and she looked relieved, "I've finished sketching your face and am moving on to your body, so it's okay."

"So," she asked, "how's it looking?"

"I think it's going okay. I hope I do you justice," Eriol said, looking critically at his work on the canvas in front of him. Tomoyo blushed but didn't seem to have a suitable reply as she chose to remain silent.

Mr Ichiro-san must have been served because Nakuru fell silent after the bell above the door rang again, signalling someone's departure.

"So how come you never mentioned lover boy?" Isabelle asked in a teasing tone of voice when she joined her redheaded friend in the front of the store. Nakuru flushed even more if that were humanely possible.

"Oh, I… He's not interested in me, so I thought there was no need to tell you… Besides, I barely know him! I've seen him around the town a few times, that's all," Nakuru said in a rush, obviously not sure of what she was saying.

"And you say he's not interested?" Isabelle asked with an eyebrow raised, the picture of skepticism.

"Yes. Because he's not!" Nakuru said defensively.

"And I thought that, after all these years of trying to matchmake various members of the community, you'd know a besotted guy when you saw one," Isabelle said with a sly grin in Nakuru's direction.

"I DO know what a besotted guy looks like- but Ichiro-san DOESN'T look like one!" Nakuru yelled after Isabelle as the bakery owner giggled and ran to the back of the store.

Two hours after they began, Eriol had finally finished his sketch and was looking at it and correcting any small mistakes before he started to add colour. Tomoyo had proved the perfect model, moving so little it was as if she was made of ice.

"I promise I'll take you out for lunch when we're done, okay?" Eriol said as he picked up his paintbrush.

"No! It's not 'okay'! Absolutely not!" Tomoyo said, sounding horrified, her fists clenched as she leant forward.Eriol paused with his paintbrush in midair.

"Do you not want to have lunch with me? Nakuru can come too, if that's what-"

"No, no, that's not it," Tomoyo said, shaking her head vigorously, "I mean that I couldn't possibly let you take me out. You've been so kind already-"

Now it was Eriol's turn to cut Tomoyo's sentence short.

"No, please, I have to repay you for sitting so patiently and so still," Eriol said; now shaking his head.

"Well, I suppose…" Tomoyo said, brow furrowed as she looked at the ground and was slowly won over.

"If Ms Chase doesn't mind me going out for a long lunch again," Tomoyo added. Eriol raised an eyebrow and smiled at her.

"Do you really not see what's going on there?" Eriol asked, sounding disbelieving. Tomoyo smiled fondly.

"Of course I do, but let's just go along with it, okay? Match-making us makes her happy and… It's not the worst thing in the world, right? It's not like it puts us to any sort of a disadvantage," Tomoyo reasoned.

"You really are a kind person, Daidouji-san," Eriol said with a smile as he looked up at her from his painting. Tomoyo blushed.

"Not really. I mean, if you can make someone happy then shouldn't you?" Tomoyo asked, quick to try and make herself look less good.

"You obviously don't realise that it is sometimes the smallest gestures that make the most impact," Eriol said in a tone of voice that could almost be described as teasing.

Tomoyo didn't know what to say to this, so she just smiled and looked at a point beyond Eriol's shoulder. He, taking her lead, also did not pursue the matter further, instead concentrating hard on sketching Tomoyo's form, the creamy arch of her neck, the graceful slope of her shoulders falling to join a perfectly straight back…

She was an artist's dream, and he took every delight in portraying her basking in her natural beauty as sunbeams kissed her hair, her eyelashes, her pale, pale skin… He gulped, and returned his attention to the canvas.

Nakuru was still out in the front of the store waiting for customers. Isabelle, it seemed, was doing nothing, for Nakuru hadn't seen her in such a long time. Nakuru drew patterns on the countertop with her finger and sighed wearily. This certainly wasn't the most interesting job in the world and she was more than glad that she didn't have to do it regularly.

It had been four hours since he first started painting Tomoyo, and finally Eriol painted the last brush stroke of Tomoyo's raven head of hair, and the picture was finished. He sat back and smiled as he looked from the real Tomoyo to the canvas and back again, comparing the two. He seemed satisfied, if his actions were any indication.

"How does it look?" Tomoyo asked timidly, supposing that it was finished.

"It looks… Good. I think. You were the perfect model, I-" Eriol began, but abruptly stopped when Tomoyo pressed her finger to her lips and got up from her seat, walking over to the radio and turning the volume up.

He couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face when he heard the familiar first line. Of course the radio would play this song when he was with Tomoyo. Of course.

"Dance with me?" Tomoyo asked suddenly, looking shy. She wasn't quite sure why she asked him, but she just felt like it would be… Right.

"What, now? Right here?" Eriol asked, looking surprised. Tomoyo blushed, certain that Eriol thought her odd.

Eriol shrugged.

"If you want to, then okay."

They moved together into the centre of the clearing and Eriol's hand went to Tomoyo's waist. Tomoyo's arm went up to Eriol's shoulder and their free hands caught each other.

They waltzed slowly around on the grass, Tomoyo's smile soft and gentle.

"This is one of the strangest things I have ever done in my life," Eriol muttered.

"You mean you don't spontaneously begin to dance on grassy hilltops with your models?" Tomoyo asked, her voice heavy with sweetly sarcastic surprise.

"I suppose I should expect it by now- you make me do the strangest things, Daidouji-san," Eriol murmured to the girl a few inches below him. She simply craned her neck to smile up at him.

He had pulled her closer. Had he meant to? Was he conscious of it? Had he done it on purpose? Was she being obsessive? Definitely- this was just part of the dance. It just felt so weird. So different.

This, he thought, was rather nice. He was growing to like this song. He didn't like the reasons why.

They twirled in a blur of pale skin and dark hair, Tomoyo's ankle-length dress swirling and wrapping alternatively around their ankles, her hair falling in a glittering raven waterfall as it kissed her shoulder and his and their hands.

Tomoyo was certainly very warm. Warm and soft. And her hair smelt of vanilla and lavender and roses and… Eriol felt dizzy just thinking about it. And she was a marvellous dancer. But then again, he didn't really know very much about her yet, so that shouldn't come as a surprise.

Eriol had to laugh- Tomoyo was clinging to him, eyes shut tight.

"I do believe," Eriol said, his voice betraying the fact that he was fighting back another laugh, "that the song is over, my dear Daidouji-san."

Tomoyo opened one eye but didn't move her head from its position on his chest.

"Really? I was afraid of that. Do we have to stop?" she asked.

"Well, they're playing Nirvana now, so I don't think that's really suited to ballroom dancing. Come on, let's go get lunch," Eriol said as Tomoyo reluctantly let go of him. She smiled and nodded and they walked away, Eriol carrying his easel, Tomoyo carrying the radio.

Suddenly Eriol shifted his grip on his easel and grabbed Tomoyo's hand with his newly-free hand. Just because he wanted to, and because he didn't think she'd object. When her smile brightened considerably and she gripped his fingers back gently, he knew he'd made a good choice.

At any rate, Ms Chase and Nakuru would be pleased.

A.N.What a delightfully fun chapter to write! As to the re-occurrence of 'Come Away With Me', I'm afraid I'm rather obsessed with it. Just, it makes me think of E+T every time now, so listening to it is so comforting… Again, thanks for the reviews. I'll see you next chapter.

Shattered Midnight Dreams

Because life's like that sometimes…