The insane musings of the authoress: 'Glass Roses' chapter nine! Hopefully this one will be more cheerful than the last one! I told you I would get this one out faster, didn't I?

Special thanks to: All the reviewers who waited so patiently for chapter eight, and thanks also to Lily, because she bugged me so hard I eventually got on with writing this chapter out of pure irritation ;-)

Disclaimer: CCS is not mine.

Glass Roses

Chapter Nine

What Happens When: They Make It In Time

"Keep your eyes closed…" Eriol said teasingly as he directed Tomoyo in the direction he wanted her to go, by means of his hands on her shoulders. Tomoyo's hands were covering her eyes, and she was laughing.

"Mou, Eriol-kun, this isn't fair!" she complained light-heartedly.

"You'll see in a minute, hold your horses," he said, smiling.

"Okay… Now!" he said, and Tomoyo whipped her hands from her eyes and gasped in delight.

They were on a grassy hilltop, but that wasn't the impressive part. No, the impressive part was that when you looked out, there was a whole city below them, a network of lights in the darkness, like diamonds scattered on black silk.

Then, if you looked above the city, the sun was setting, turning the sky a thousand shades of orange, purple and pink. Clouds that had been stained pink by the light floated gently like wisps of candy floss.

"Well," Eriol asked softly from his position standing behind her, "what do you think?"

Tomoyo whirled around to face him.

"It's amazing!" she exclaimed quietly, breathlessly, as if the sight would shatter if she spoke too loudly.

"It's one of my favourite places in the world when the sun sets," Eriol said, smiling.

He paused to show her the blankets and flask of hot cocoa he had brought.

"I thought we might be needing these if we were going to sit long enough to see the stars come out," he said, blushing a little. He blushed even more when Tomoyo rushed over and hugged him.

"Thank you!" she cried, "I can't believe this! Thank you so much for sharing it with me. I'm so glad we made it in time."

Eriol chuckled softly.

"We almost didn't," he pointed out gently, "but we were lucky."

Then he reluctantly untangled himself from Tomoyo's enthusiastic embrace and spread a blanket out on the ground for them to sit on. A few moments later they were seated side-by-side, each of them had a blanket wrapped around their shoulders and they were drinking their first mugs of hot chocolate.

"This," Tomoyo said as the sunset began to slowly dissolve into a night sky, "is incredible. I'm so lucky. I can't believe I'm seeing this! I can't say enough thank yous!"

Eriol had to laugh at her exclamations.

"As long as you stay my friend," he said, his voice a little gruff with embarrassment, "that's all the thanks I need."

Tomoyo had been watching the sky, spellbound, but when he said that, she turned to him and smiled.

"I'll stay with you forever," she promised.

The sky turned completely dark and the stars twinkled invitingly. An hour after the sun had finished setting and the stars had come out to play, Tomoyo had fallen asleep. Eriol figured it must have been the fact that she was warm and comfortable, and all that cocoa she drank.

He really didn't mind, even though he was propping her up as she was leaning against his side, her head on his shoulder.

His hand stroked her hair absent-mindedly as he watched the stars twinkle. Then, to his amazement, he saw a star shoot across the sky - the first shooting star he had ever seen.

He made a wish quickly - I hope she'll be happy.

Really, he thought, there was no question that that was what he would wish.

…

Meanwhile, back at Matchmaker Headquarters…

"So Hiiragizawa-san is taking Tomoyo-san to watch a sunset?" Isabelle Chase asked, her hands clasped in front of her while sparkles and hearts danced in her eyes.

"Yeah. That wasn't his original intention but I managed to persuade him otherwise. Of course," said Nakuru, looking smug.

She had called Isabelle to tell her to come over after she got rid of Tomoyo and Eriol, and now they were sitting at the large wooden table in the kitchen of Hiiragizawa Manor, sipping tentatively at steaming mugs of coffee and generally letting their imaginations run away with them.

"Well, what was his original intention?" Isabelle asked as she took a daringly large sip of coffee. Her eyes began to water when she got a scalded tongue as a reward.

"He said he wanted to go to the hill where you get that really good view of the sun setting, but he needed to borrow my car to get there. So I said he could only have my car if he took Tomoyo-chan with him," Nakuru explained, looking pleased with herself.

"Nice bit of manipulation," Isabelle admitted.

"It was a great bit of manipulation! I got him so good he even began to think it was a fantastic idea by the time I sent him off!" Nakuru exclaimed.

"He said he couldn't believe that he hadn't thought of it himself!" she continued.

Isabelle laughed and held up in her hands in mock surrender.

"Okay, so you did a fantastic job!" she said.

"In fact," she began as she paused to check her watch, "I'll have to get going soon. They left ages ago."

Nakuru made a face.

"Do you have to?" she whined. Isabelle nodded.

"It wouldn't do if I were here when they got back and they found out we are more familiar than they realise," Isabelle got up from her chair and paused to wink, "if they don't know then it'll be easier for us to matchmake."

Even though she knew Isabelle was right, Nakuru couldn't withhold a heavy sigh as she too got up from her chair and walked with Isabelle to the door.

"Or alternatively," Isabelle began as they stood at the door, Isabelle pulling her coat on.

"Oh, an alternative. I like alternatives," Nakuru said, smiling. Isabelle smiled back.

"Okay, as I was saying, alternatively you could come back with me to my house," Isabelle suggested. Nakuru clapped her hands in delight.

"Great! I'll just write Eriol a note," she exclaimed and pulled a piece of paper and pen from a drawer. She hastily scribbled this:

'Eriol, you were such a long time with Tomoyo-chan (guess you guys are having fun, huh? /wink/ I'm a genius for suggesting you take her, aren't I?) that I got bored, and now I've gone out. I shouldn't be too long.

Nakuru'

"There!" Nakuru smiled brightly as she left the note where Eriol would be able to see it.

"Hiiragizawa-kun is going to kill you when he reads that," Isabelle observed as her blue eyes flicked over the untidy scrawl. Beside her, Nakuru was shoving her arms into her coat sleeves.

"Oh well," she said, grinning wickedly, "it's worth it."

…

"Tomoyo-san," Eriol said as he gently shook the girl sleeping on him. She mumbled something unintelligible and burrowed her face further into his shoulder. Normally Eriol wouldn't mind, but they had to go now - it was getting steadily darker and colder, and Nakuru must be worried about them.

Or, more likely, worried about her car.

"Tomoyo-san," he attempted again, his voice a little louder and firmer. This time she muttered a sleepy but definite 'Eriol…', but still didn't wake up.

"Tomoyo-san!" he tried again, almost shouting, but she still refused to wake. Either she was just a naturally very deep sleeper, or she was exhausted.

"If you think I'm going to carry you to the car, you are mistaken," Eriol said, but he couldn't help smiling. Tomoyo opened one eye and sighed.

"Spoilsport. Still, it was worth a try, wasn't it?" she said, smiling. Eriol looked shocked.

"You mean you were awake all that time?" he asked, incredulous. Tomoyo's smile turned into a grin.

"Of course!" she said, as if it were obvious.

"You mean you let me yell at you like an idiot for nothing?" he asked.

"Well, it was quite funny," Tomoyo pointed out. Eriol had to admit she had a point.

They got to their feet and gathered their belongings before climbing into the car and driving away into the night.

…

"Do you want me to drive you home?" Eriol asked some time later. Tomoyo looked confused.

"Of course," she said, "where else would I go?"

"Well," Eriol said as he turned left, "you could come home with me."

Tomoyo wiggled her eyebrows in an exaggeratedly suggestive manner.

"'Come home with you', huh? Great pick-up line, by the way."

She grinned when Eriol blushed.

"You know I don't mean it like that," he said, "I just meant that Nakuru would be happy to see you."

Tomoyo shook her head.

"No, I have to go to bed. I'm exhausted!"

Eriol opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to think better of it, as he shut his mouth again.

"What?" Tomoyo asked. Eriol shook his head and blushed furiously. Tomoyo grinned wickedly.

"You were about to suggest I come sleep at your house, weren't you?" she asked. She began to wiggle her eyebrows again.

"Well, you know, I'm flattered, but…"

Eriol had to laugh, even as he told her to shut up.

…

Eriol pulled up outside Tomoyo's house and stopped the car. Tomoyo opened the door and got out, pausing to tell Eriol thanks.

"For everything," she added, and Eriol knew she was referring to her confession as well as the sunset. His face softened into a warm smile.

"It's no problem," he said truthfully, and after he watched her walk up to her door and let herself in, he drove away, ready to face the teasing he was going to get from Nakuru.

…

The first thing Eriol noticed when he got in was the fact that when he called 'I'm home!' no shrieking Nakuru bounced out and demanded to know every detail about what had happened.

"That's odd," he said to himself as he walked through into the kitchen, calling out Nakuru's name. Then he saw the note sitting on the kitchen counter. He read it and had to smile. When it came to getting Tomoyo and him together, Nakuru never gave up.

…

Tomoyo pulled off her coat and flopped down on to her couch, telling herself that after a little sit-down she would drag herself upstairs to bed, but for now, she couldn't face all those stairs.

She had been sitting with her eyes closed for no more than five minutes when her doorbell rang. She smiled to herself - she knew it was Eriol. It was funny how, when it came to him, she could get up just fine, but she pushed that thought to the back of her mind as went to answer her door.

"I thought I told you," she began, sounding jokingly annoyed but smiling as she opened the door, "that I was exhaust…"

She stopped dead when she saw who was standing on her doorstep.

"What are you doing here?"

…

A.N. Sorry, I know I'm mean! That was quite an evil cliffy to leave, I know, but I couldn't resist! And as to who the mystery caller is, it might not be who you think…

That was quite a short, uneventful chapter, but at least I managed less angst and more fluff with it.

The more reviews I get, the faster I put the next part up! (The next chapter should be up some time next week, if I get enough reviews.)

Shattered Midnight Dreams…zzz…

Because life's like that sometimes…