amethyst sweet angel thank you for your review. I like long reviews…Yes, Tomoyo still thinks she's in love with Sakura, but (hint hint hint) she's not dumb because she also realizes that she thinks more of Eriol. And her mom…well the woman does love Tomoyo, but she's sort of detatched from her daughter and doesn't know that. Eriol says that no one is perfect, and he is most definitely right, but Tomoyo doesn't see things that way. She thinks she isn't good enough for love and that she has to earn it which would be why her mom isn't around and Sakura is with Syaoran (she doesn't think she's earned their love). And of course the short leather skirt would be HIRALIOUS. Unfortunately I'm not sure if I can work it into the story…sigh… Anyway, this whole long note was just my way of saying thank you for that lovely review you sent. I loved it.

Chapter 9: The Caged Bird—Eriol

We sat in the cafeteria before school looking over homework and studying lessons. Many students came in early for help from teachers, tutors, or other students and so the cafeteria was littered with various study groups like a library.

"Eriol, have you seen Tomoyo?" Sakura asked, genuinely concerned for her friend. "I haven't seen her these last few days."

"Umm," how to answer that question with respect for Tomoyo? "Yes, I've seen her, but I couldn't tell you what's bothering her." I only have a very educated guess.

"Oh," She looked back down at her notebook. "I certainly hope it doesn't have anything to do with me."

Her statement surprised me. "Why do you say that?"

"Oh Eriol, I know she thinks she's in love with me and love her too, a lot. But not the way she wants me to. So I just hope she isn't all depressed because of me."

I wanted to reassure her, but I made it my policy not to lie to those I love either. "A depressed Tomoyo just doesn't fit with her reputation, she's probably fine." A little half truth never hurt anyone.

"If you believe that, then you don't know Tomoyo very well."

Or maybe I knew her too well.

"Maybe I should go look for her?" Sakura mused aloud.

"No, no, I'll go." I jumped up from the table. "If she's upset because of you, it's probably better if I go." Tomoyo would never hold up under an interrogation from Sakura-chan, especially not now.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on the point of view, no one found her. Not for lack of trying, Sakura searched every one of her classes and all the bathrooms and I explored every other nock and cranny she might have hidden herself away in. It wasn't until English class that I found her.

"Okay class, since many of you are having trouble reading the whole play, I've pushed back the due date and decided to give you class time to work. Please use the time wisely." Our teacher announced at the beginning of the period.

"Well, Romeo and Juliet is obviously a play, written by William Shakespeare and published by Thomas Creede in the Second Quarto. Its full title is the Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of—"

"Tomoyo, I think that part of our report is good enough, but we need to work on the class presentation." I looked over at autopilot Tomoyo. "Perhaps we could demonstrate something from the part that begins 'O Romeo, Romeo/Wherefore art thou Romeo?'"

"Oh, yes, 'Deny thy father and refuse thy name.' That's a fine quote to share with our class." Her sarcasm scared me. "Deny my family, how does one deny her family? How could someone just give up assured love?" She mumbled looking down at her shoes.

She still obsessed over our conversation from the other day. Great. "Well, it is a very well known quote, but maybe the class would like something else." I tried to drag her mind away from that line of thinking. With eyes that didn't see, Tomoyo looked over her notes, her lips reciting the rest of the scene. "I'm also rather fond of Mercutio's lines about Queen Mab."

"Perhaps, Queen Mab hath been with me." She continued to mumble to the desk. "'O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you…/ She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes/ In shape no bigger than an agate stone/ on the forefinger of an alderman,/ Drawn with a team of little atomi/ Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep.'"

"Tomoyo!" I shook her shoulders hard. "What's gotten into you today?"

"Hun?" She stared at me with empty eyes, devoid of any kind of person or spirit. "Oh, I'm sorry Eriol. I got lost in thought. I was thinking we could each present a passage, maybe act it out, and then explain the importance of those lines to the class."

"That sounds good, which lines do you like?" At least she was talking, even if it was an automated response.

"It's just too bad Rosaline doesn't have any lines. I feel rather sorry for her. But then I also pity Paris, but he doesn't have any major lines." She looked forlornly at a copy of the play.

It dawned on me that both of those characters got the short end of the stick in the play. Rosaline, forgotten so quickly by Romeo, does not even appear in the story at all. And Paris was cast aside almost hastily by Juliet, not ever given the chance to fully explain himself. Would Tomoyo ever return to normal? Or was this the normal Tomoyo?

At eight that evening, I found myself sipping a beer in a little bar called The Caged Bird. A drunk on the street recommended it, said every Wednesday the best singer came in. What can I say? I couldn't help myself.

Thus, eight o'clock and I was sitting in a bar, thinking about Tomoyo and her strange antics. I drained the glass and pushed Tomoyo to the corner of my mind. This was supposed to be an excursion away from all of my problems. The beer tasted good and soothed my nerves, at least until the show started.

A soft sweet voice echoed through the dingy room and everyone turned to the source. On the stage, a lovely woman dressed in an almost scandalous outfit held a microphone between two delicate hands. I say almost scandalous because it showed a fair bit of cleavage and leg, but not as much as I'd seen on other women. But for this particular woman, that outfit embodied the word risqué.

It took no time at all to recognize her, despite the obvious changes. She looked stunning with her hair curled in perfect rings and swept up in a tangle on her head. The paleness of her skin, the curve of her breast, the amount of leg showing mixed with the sound of her voice sent a whole different kind of shudder through my body.

Not since Kaho had left me had such a desire ran rampant through me. And of all people I never expected Tomoyo would bring about an emotion of that magnitude.

She looked so good, standing there on the stage, her cheeks flushed, sweat on her forehead, and lips parted. Tomoyo looked alive and thriving, the words flowing gracefully from her lips and her body swaying with the music. What happened to the Tomoyo from a few hours ago?

And why did I suddenly wish all the other men in the room dead?

Nakaru finally went to bed and a silence fell over the house, a beautiful silence, a silence that I waited every night for. The time had finally arrived when I could look back and review the day. First, non-existing Tomoyo, still as stone and about as alive as it too, had frightened nearly everyone at school. And then, un-caged Tomoyo, laughing and teasing like any other normal girl, had astounded a room of grown men with her vigor for life.

I stared at the coals of my almost dead fire. A dull, rather useless amount of light and warmth radiated from it. Anyone else would call it a dying fire, a fire at the end of its life, one with little potential left. Rather like Tomoyo, it did not scream for people to sit up and pay attention. So why would I care?

'When any of my friends are hurt I feel sad.'

Had Tomoyo become one of my friends? When had I started having friends? Before here, before Tomoyo, I needed no one but Kaho to fulfill my dreams. But now, those small pleasures no longer mattered. Had Tomoyo become one of my friends? Yes, and I cared. She was beautiful, but no one ever got the chance to see it; they only saw the dying fire.

Reaching down I threw another log into the coals; it took only a few prods for the wood to catch fire. Sparks flew through the air, sizzling and fiery. Soon, half burnt pieces ignited, burning anew, in a way they never had before and never would again. The flames licked at the air, devouring the wood and it was then that I saw her.

Cold, indifferent Tomoyo with her frosty smile and frigid eyes stood among the flames. I poked at the wood, prodding her to do something, go somewhere, say anything and she danced. Her smile taunted me with a devilish turn and then it was gone, replaced by eyes that stared deep into mine. Twisting, burning, I could see her body dancing, moving as she did in the bar. And just like the bar my body reacted with searing desire raging everywhere.

No one saw this Tomoyo, the Tomoyo who looked so wanton, the Tomoyo just like every other woman. If only they could…

Well, it looks like Eriol isn't that stupid either. He's knows he wants other people to see the Tomoyo he sees...but then, why did he wish all those men in the bar dead? Hmmmmm, more's going on here then we know....