Disclaimer: I don't own CCS.

Chapter 2

Losing Reality

Tomoyo watched from a distance as Syaoran and Sakura avoided eachother throughout the school day. It's amazing how people can dodge having eye contact for a long period of time. Chiharu and Tomoyo exchanged worried looks. They were very astonished that they were able not to look at eachother considering that they sat beside each other. At lunch, Tomoyo followed him behind a tree. She was going to make sure that Syaoran would hold on to the bond he had with Sakura. "Li," she called out.

"Yeah?"

"What's the matter with you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I mean! You kissed Sakura, now you're destroying your friendship over it."

"I didn't kiss Sakura," Syaoran lied.

"Yes you did, I have proof," Tomoyo shouted. "My video camera was on when you kissed her."

"Great!" he shouted sarcastically, "If this gets around, my mom will kill me."

"You shouldn't worry about it if you only did it to wake her up," she gasped, "Do you love her?"

"I... I... I don't have time for this!" he shouted, trying to get away.

Now enraged, she grabbed his collar and swung him against the tree. "Don't walk away from me you little creep!" she screamed, "You may be able to do it to Sakura, but not me! Now answer."

"Okay fine, I love her, but I can't love her," Syaoran admitted in fear, "I'm engaged, my mother and Meilin would never forgive me, and she's my friend. I just want her to be my friend."

"You talk to her or else... or else... or else I'll make sure that you'll play a major part in my chef's kitchen!" Tomoyo shoved him to the ground and out of her sight. She went over to a tree with lots of shade and rested her eyes.

...Later in the day...

Tomoyo looked at her watch; she needed to meet Sakura after her cheerleading practice. She ran down the path towards the corner. She turned the corner and ran into someone. She looked up at a boy black hair falling onto his face, but not touching his dark eyes, for a pair of flawless glasses shielded his eyes. He sighed and stooped down to pick up the many books he dropped. Tomoyo kneeled down beside him and began to gather his books into a pile. 'I think he's the exchange student,' Tomoyo pondered, ' I believe his name is Eriol. Eriol Hiiragizawa.' Eriol remained silent, also situating his books into a pile. Tomoyo and Eriol reached for the last book, as their hands touched Eriol withdrew his hand immediately. "Do you need some help carrying these?" Tomoyo put the last book onto her pile.

Eriol nodded his head smiling at her. "Thanks. You're Tomoyo, right?" he guessed.

"Yeah," Tomoyo got to her feet, carrying the many books with her.

Eriol got up and brushed the dirt off his pants. As he reached down for his books, Tomoyo began tipping over. He caught her in his arms, and a strange feeling rushed though his mind. 'What is this feeling?' he asked himself. Eriol noticed her pile was larger than his, so he took some books off her pile and placed it on his. He picked up his pile of books and walked with Tomoyo to the library. "Why do you need so many books?" Tomoyo asked.

"I'm studying mythology. Things that can't be explained, "Eriol described, I'm finished reading these books."

They entered the empty library; Eriol put each book on their proper shelves. "Promise to keep a secret," Eriol came closer to Tomoyo. She nodded with interest, "You can't even tell Sakura, Syaoran or any of your friends," Tomoyo nodded again. Eriol lowered his head to Tomoyo's ear; Tomoyo felt her heart beat faster as he whispered into her ear, "Did you know we're both involved with the Clow Cards, or Star Cards, as they are now known as."

Eriol then turned away from her and returned to putting the books on the shelves. Tomoyo was frozen on the spot. "How are you involved?" Tomoyo asked.

"Have you ever heard about reincarnations?"

"Yeah."

"I'm the reincarnation of Clow Reed."

"What?"

"It means I'm the one behind all of the strange occurrences." he finished replacing the books.

Eriol made his way up to Tomoyo and kissed her on the hand. "Don't forget, you promised," Eriol then strolled out of the building.

...An unidentified area...

Tomoyo's eyes shot open. It was just a dream although it seemed so real. Tomoyo checked her watch and noticed that she was late. Tomoyo felt something in her hand as she ran to the soccer field. She stopped and opened up the crumpled paper in her hand. All it said was:

Don't forget Tomoyo. You promised.

Tomoyo knew it was from Eriol; that was the last thing he said to her before she woke up, but how did he know? Was the dream real? Tomoyo saw Sakura standing alone. "Sorry I'm late Sakura," Tomoyo apologized.

Sakura didn't answer. She was busy watching the soccer team practicing. Tomoyo looked at the boys practicing. Sakura was looking at Syaoran. "Are you okay?" Tomoyo was very concerned.

"Going I'm to be yes I'm okay fine."

"Obviously you're not okay."

"No, I'm fine Kero!"

"Kero? What's the matter with you?"

...On the soccer field...

Syaoran look up on the hill. Sakura was still standing there; her eyes followed him wherever he went. 'I don't care, rain or shine, I'm going to talk to her tonight.' "Watch out!" one of his team-mates shouted, but he didn't hear him.

All of a sudden the soccer ball hit him on the head.

...On the way home...

Tomoyo walked Sakura to her house. She now found Sakura loss of reality quite amusing, so she continuously asked her questions. "What's your name?"

"My sisters name is Touya."

"How old are you?"

"Tuesday."

"What's your sister's name?"

"Mr. Terada."

"What's your favourite subject?"

"Magenta."

"Who's your best friend?"

"The dictionary."

"What's wrong with her?" someone asked from behind Tomoyo.

"Oh, hi Kaho!" Sakura greeted.

"Um, she just lost track of her mind," Tomoyo turned around and nervousness streamed through her veins, "Hi Eriol."

"Hope she gets better," Eriol kindly wished, "This is for you."

He pulled out a beautiful red rose from his bag, "See you tomorrow Tomoyo."

"Something's different about him," Tomoyo she told herself as she watched him faded into the distance.

"Huh? Where am I?" Sakura asked coming to her senses, "Hi Tomoyo, where'd you get the flower?"

"Thanks. I see you snapped out of your trance."

"Trance?"

"Never mind. I need Kero to come over today. I need measurements and I'll cook him cake!"

"What kind of cake?" Kero shot out of Sakura's backpack, at the sound of food.

Sakura screamed, not know Kero was there.

"Strawberry short cake," Tomoyo smiled at Kero's enthusiasm.

...Tomoyo's room...

They entered Tomoyo's room, and Tomoyo plugged in her video camera. "I want to show you the tape from the carnival. I'm only going to use the beginning of it though tell me when you accidentally crush Touya's foot," Tomoyo brought Kero to the other side of the room to measure him. "Sooo, what have you been up to?" Tomoyo asked Kero.

"I finished my 32nd game! I'm so proud," Kero responded happily.

"She got hit by Sleep," Kero heard his voice on the television.

"Tomoyo! You never said you knew about this!" Kero whispered furiously, "Turn it off quick!"

But it was too late; Sakura was already watching the kiss. She noticed that she had already woken up, but Syaoran was still kissing her. Did that mean that he loved her? She ran out of Tomoyo's room and went home.

...Sakura's house...

Syaoran rang the doorbell at Sakura's house. It was raining hard that afternoon. Touya answered the door and glared at him. "What do you want?" Touya rudely demanded.

"I need to talk to Sakura," Syaoran hoped that Touya would let him see her.

"Fine. She's in her room. No funny stuff okay?"

Syaoran walked up the stairs and knocked on Sakura's door. "Touya! How many times do I have to tell you," Sakura shouted from the other side of the door, then she swung it open, "Don't... bother me."

Syaoran panicked for a second then stuck his hand out and gave her a letter. "Here."

Sakura began to open the letter, "I better go," Li suggested.

"No stay, the storm's too strong, you'll get hurt."

The lights went out as a flash of lightning brightened the room. Sakura screamed as the black out began and jumped into Syaoran's arms. The two then registered the position they were in and quickly stepped away from each other. "I guess I can't read your letter now," Sakura sighed disappointedly.

Syaoran was relieved, so she couldn't talk to him about it. He sat down, leaning against the wall; Sakura then flopped onto the bed. "What's your favourite capture?" Sakura asked, trying to start a conversation.

"I'd rather not say."

"Why not?" Sakura demanded.

"Look Sakura, I'll tell you anything except for that."

Sakura wondered why he wouldn't tell her, it wasn't like it was something bad. "Maybe I'll tell you some day, but not today," he continued.

"Least favourite?"

"I don't know," he thought for a while, "Dark and Light."

"But you weren't there!"

"I know. I didn't like it because I wasn't there and I was wearing a frilly, pink dress."

Sakura laughed at the thought of that dress. She was the prince and Syaoran was the princess. "What are your favourite and least favourite?" Syaoran asked.

"Since you don't want to tell me your favourite, I won't tell you mine," Sakura said logically, "My least favourite is Dash."

"Dash? Why?"

"Because I didn't want to hurt my friend, and you got the card."

Sakura looked at the letter in her hands and placed it under her pillow. "Where's Kero?" Syaoran searched for the little stuffed animal.

"He's at Tomoyo's. She needed to measure him for costumes, plus she's cooking him a strawberry short cake."

Sakura then noticed that they were alone. She had one question on her mind all day. "Syaoran?" Sakura looked for Li in the pitch black, "Where are you?"

"I'm beside the door."

Sakura looked down at the foot of her bed, 'Here goes nothing.' She sat up and crawled over to the foot of the bed. "We can tell each other anything, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"If I ask you something, will you answer truthfully?"

"Yeah," Syaoran automatically responded, unsure of the answer.

"Why did..."

There was a knock on the door, just before Sakura finished her question. Touya stuck his head in holding up two candles. "I brought you guys one, so you can see," Touya placed the candle on Sakura's headboard.

Touya was acting very strange today. He let Syaoran in the house, he was being nice to Sakura, and he wasn't forcing him out of the house. Sakura couldn't stand the likeableness. "Okay, what did you do to Touya, and how can I get you to stay?" Sakura questioned.

"There's nothing wrong with me squirt, I'm just a little tired," Touya lightly pushed Sakura over and left the room.

Now that there was light in the room, Sakura reached for the letter. She stared at it for a while then looked over at Syaoran. He was watching the letter in fear. Sakura always noticed when he was afraid, she was used to seeing it when he spoke to Kaho. Sakura replaced the letter under her pillow, hearing Syaoran sigh with relief. "What were you going to ask me?"

Sakura remembered her question, "Why didn't you stop kissing me when I woke up?"