Disclaimer: I do not own CCS or somewhere over the rainbow.
"Master, what is it that you want?" Spinel once asked Eriol.
"You really want to know?" Eriol asked.
"Of course, I want to know," Spinel said intrigued.
"It's something you least expect," Eriol said leaving a dumbfounded Spinel.
---
Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
And way above the chimney tops
Is where you'll find me, and
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
And way above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me, and
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true
If happy little blue birds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, or why, can't I?
Chapter VII – Perceptions
Eriol looked at the platinum phone in his shoe locker confused. Beside it was a note that read:
Hiirigizawa-kun,
Thank you for your help. This serves as a token of my gratitude. I'm sorry about my bodyguards. My mother tends to overreact on things.
Sakura's, Li-san's and my number are already in the phonebook just for you to know.
Daidouji
Looking at the mobile phone's directory he smirked upon sight of a line by the edge of the note.
P.S. Don't even think about returning it. Trust me, you wouldn't want to see me grumpy. )
Tucking the note and the phone in his pocket he walked his way too class.
"Do you know when a stuffed bear's birthday is?" Tomoyo asked during recess. The girls were by the school grounds enjoying Rika's cooking and are all watching Rika saw a bear with such precision.
"The day it's finished?" Sakura suggested taking another cookie.
"That would have been a good day. But if you buy from a store, you would not know when it is finished, right?" Tomoyo said thoughtfully.
All eyes turned to her.
"That is why, its birthday is the day that you name the bear and put a ribbon on it." Tomoyo finished.
"That's quite wonderful, isn't it?" Sakura said clapping her hands in delight.
"Also overseas, they said if you name the stuffed bear you made with your own name, and then give it to the person you love, the two of you will fall in love." Tomoyo continued.
"Fall in love..." Sakura repeated lost in her thoughts. All girls were thinking as well.
"Rika, you're blushing." Naoko noted.
"No, I'm not." An embarrassed Rika said placing her hands to cheeks all red.
"Fall in love..." Li repeated in a tree branch not far away from the girls. He has been there since break and overheard their conversation.
"The girls are so cute, talking about a stuffed bear's birthday." Eriol said appearing out of nowhere under the tree.
Li scowled at him.
"You always look at me with such scary face. Did I do something that displeased you?" Eriol asked looking up at him.
"No, you didn't." Li said not looking at him.
"You were from Hong Kong, were you not?" Eriol asked.
"Yeah." Li said.
"I have just come to Japan. Would you mind showing me various things?" Eriol asked looking straight in the eye at Li.
"Syaoran Li..." he said to which Li got into a daze and fell only to be caught by Eriol.
"Are you okay?" he asked settling him down.
"I...I'm fine! So...Sorry about that." Li stuttered running away like as if he has just been possessed.
"What an interesting person. This town is many of them…Maybe you can help me out..." Eriol said a hand on his chin smirking.
----
"About bears, you know...They were originally sea-animals. Apparently, they used to swim the seven seas in pursuit of salmon." Yamazaki lectured during dismissal.
"Is that so?" Sakura asked listening.
"From Alaska and the Arctic Ocean in the north, to Antarctica in the south, it was truly a great voyage that spanned the world. On top of that, bears back then used to be able to dive deep into the ocean." Yamazaki said in excitement.
"That's incredible." Sakura said impressed.
"Yeah. I've heard that the white part on the neck of a Japanese moonbear is a marking so that they don't lose sight of each other in the dark depths of the ocean. And the thing that caused them to come up on land is..." he continued.
"Not these lies again!" Chiharu Mihara said whacking him hard on the head surprising the daylights out of Sakura.
" ...because of the existence of a salmon big enough to be mistaken for a whale..." Yamazaki continued as Chiharu dragged him out of the room while hitting him from time to time.
"They were lies?" Sakura asked confused.
"So, shall we go?" Tomoyo asked turning to Sakura. She has just finished packing her things and Sakura is still confused about truths and lies on bears.
"Are you going to the handicraft store?" Eriol asked packing his things as well.
"Yes, we are." Sakura said.
"Do you mind if I come along?" Eriol asked putting on his backpack.
"No, I don't." Sakura said getting her bag.
"I'm going too!" Li declared zooming to them from the door.
"O...Okay!" Sakura said surprised. In the background they could still hear Yamazaki narrating.
"And the battle between the legendary salmon and the bears was unfolded over the long time period of fifty years..."
And then another WHAM!
---
"You are going to buy stuffed bears?" Eriol asked as they walk to the handicraft store. Sakura who was all the way excited was walking a good ten paces ahead of them together with Li who seems to be temperamental that day.
"Yes." Tomoyo replied watching Sakura in glee behind her camera.
"I see that you're feeling better now," Eriol noted.
"I am," Tomoyo replied with a smile.
"Thank you for your gift by the way," he said.
"Thank you as well… I'm glad you did not put up an argument on whether you are to take it or not… because I tell you Amamiya women are very persistent." Tomoyo chuckled.
"I learned from my experiences," Eriol said recalling how he and Tomoyo were surrounded by a dozen bodyguards the other day when they were by the park.
Their little conversation then ended when Sakura announced their arrival at the store and they started checking one rack after another.
"Thank goodness. I can buy it with my allowance." Sakura said in delight upon sight of the teddy bear kit's price tag.
"For Tsukishiro?" Tomoyo asked.
Sakura nodded.
"What about you? Are you not buying?" she asked.
"For me...For me, if the person I like most can be happier than falling in love with me, I would like to keep this happiness for this person the way it is forever." Tomoyo said with sincerity.
"You mean, it's okay even if the person you like doesn't return the feeling?" Sakura asked confused.
"If this person can return my feeling, of course, I would be really happy. But the greatest happiness for me is to let the person I like have the most happiness." Tomoyo explained.
"I'm sure this person you like most is really happy as well." Sakura said amazed.
"You think so?"
"Yup! I'm sure!"
She smiled.
"Thank you very much."
Sakura then proceeded to the counter to buy the kit without knowing that a rack beside her was Eriol listening.
---
"...How's Dad...?" Sakura asked worried upon her father's reaction to the spell. The final judgment was over. The secret of Clow's reincarnations is out and Eriol asked Sakura to split his powers in half in his manor. She was a bit hesitant at first but with Eriol's assurance did as told.
"Just fine." Eriol said as he and Syaoran got out of the guestroom where Fujitaka was resting.
"It's only because he received my magic." Eriol explained. Tomoyo looked at him.
"Why did you..." she started.
"There was something I wanted." He said cutting her off.
"Wanted...?" she repeated.
"Not to be the most powerful sorcerer in the world." Eriol said smiling. Sakura looked confused. Tomoyo on the other hand understood and smiled.
"When weird things happened there was Clow-san's presence..." she said.
"That was me." Eriol said.
"Sakura became the new mistress of the Clow Cards! So why'd ya do all the weird stuff!!" Kero asked in an angry voice.
"There are two reasons. -One is that Sakura-san's power is the power of the Stars." Eriol started.
"My power...?" Sakura asked.
"Do you remember the spell for the Key of the Seal, before the change?"
"Key which conceals the power of Darkness, reveal your true self before me."
"But the new, changed Key..."
"The power of Stars...!"
"The Clow Cards were my magic. The power of Darkness was in them. But you were the new Mistress, with Star power."
"I see...!" Syaoran said listening intently.
"With the new Star powered Key she couldn't use the Clow Cards..." he continued.
"A long time ago I put the power of Darkness into the Cards to activate them. But after all this time the Clow Cards would lose their power and become normal cards." Eriol explained.
"But with your initial power, it would have been dangerous to change the Cards without purpose. Therefore..." he continued.
"You made situations where I had to change the cards...?" Sakura finished.
"So...it was like that..." Syaoran said understanding it all.
"I knew it, that you were really a kind person, Hiirigizawa-kun." Tomoyo smiled.
"Why do you think that?" Eriol asked surprised.
"You were always watching Sakura-chan and Li-kun with kind eyes and looking out for them." She replied.
Eriol looked at her taken aback.
"You were worried about the kind of person I am?" he asked.
"No. Not that at all." She said shaking her head.
"...You don't have magic, but instead- you have keen powers of observation." Eriol managed to say. She smiled.
For a moment they were but looking at each other when Kero came flying before Eriol's face, annoyance completely evident in his features.
"Start from the beginning. You're not telling us anything!!"
"Eriol revealed that you had to change the cards by causing incidents to happen." Ruby Moon explained.
"It had to be the same as how Clow made the Clow Cards, otherwise you'd need more magic. At the time that we came to Tomoeda your Mistress didn't have that sort of power, I think." Spinel Sun continued.
"Eriol's been waiting for you. So he could be near you as a classmate as you changed the Clow Cards into new Cards."
Sakura's eyes watered.
"Thank you so much, Clow-san...no, Eriol-kun." Sakura said clutching Eriol's hands.
"You really knew everything. About us and the Cards." She said.
"Not everything." Eriol said.
"Huh?"
"There are some things even I couldn't predict." He said looking at Syaoran.
"What's something even Clow Reed couldn't predict?" Syaoran asked.
Eriol just gave him a mysterious smile.
"That's a secret." He said.
"And my other reason...That was for myself." He said turning to Tomoyo who looked at him a bit confused.
"I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you." He said turning to Sakura.
"Please take care of, the Cards, Cerberus, and Yue for me."
"...Sure." Sakura nodded.
"I'm sure you're all hungry, Ruby, Spinel, could you get everyone some tea and snacks?" he said changing back into normal-cheerful aura.
"I'll help," Sakura, Syaoran and Tomoyo said in chorus following the two guardians to the kitchen.
The first one to come out of the kitchen was Tomoyo carrying a tray of tea for everyone.
"...So now Sakura-chan's magic is stronger than Clow-san's." she said.
"Yes." Eriol said.
"Then she'll be like you and Clow-san - Always knowing the future?" she asked handing Eriol some tea.
"It's all right. As you say, Daidouji-san, now Sakura-san is stronger than me...no, Clow Read. Actually, she'll be able to control powers that Clow Read couldn't." he said taking a sip of the tea.
"Then the power to see the future...!" Kero asked.
"Unless she wishes to invoke it, she won't." Eriol assured.
"Hearing that relieves me." Tomoyo said giving out a sigh of relief.
"You really are a truly kind person." Eriol commented. Moments later Sakura, Syaoran and his guardians joined them in the room and had some tea.
In between their chatter Eriol excused himself and walked to the foyer where an expressionless Yue was standing.
"...Won't you come inside, Yue?" he asked.
"...You still haven't answered me. Why didn't you tell me, that you would be reborn? And you changed my memories...Why..." Yue asked his eyes pained.
"If I hadn't done so, you would have searched for Clow forever." Eriol said.
"I did search!" Yue snapped.
"If I had known you were reborn I would have searched until I found you!" he said his voice angry, sad and confused the same time.
"And so...Why did you make me decide upon a new master?!"
"Because I was reborn. I am not Clow Read." Eriol answered looking at a far off distance. Yue looked at him.
"I may possess the memories of Clow Read, but that doesn't mean that I am Clow. Something that was dead cannot live again. Which is why Clow entrusted the both of you to Sakura-san." Eriol said looking at Yue.
"...Yue, do you hate Sakura-san?" he asked.
"...It's not that I hate her." Yue said looking down. Eriol laughed. Yue looked at him partially annoyed and confused.
"And for Yue that means 'really likes.'" Eriol said smiling.
"...Yue -"I think it's a good thing that I came here. This way I could meet Sakura-san, and Yue and Cerberus, that Clow created." Eriol said looking at a far off distance yet again, his glasses glinted by the sun's rays.
"Moreover...There were things I couldn't have predicted." He said watching something from the slightly ajar door. Yue followed Eriol's gaze and wondered.
Sai-chan: I finally got to update, I've been pretty busy as we had school yet again and I had all those projects to pass on time and all. On top of that, our computer has gone bonkers and is acting really really weird that I update for Project Engagement may come late as I lost my good old notebook where I wrote the last two or so chapters - sigh, just when I promised that I'd finish it by the end of the year. I'm so sorry about that. Evanescent will be meeting its end in three or more chapters. Please do tell me what you think about this chapter, the previous chapters, and all. Special thanks to my reviewers especially Requiem Elise, Elvirna and Nanie-san, you guys make my day. I'm hoping to hear from you guys again. Also, please do check out my other stories, Again, Close Call and Project Engagement. I'll be uploading a new story this February, please watch for it.
Thank you very much!