--; I really really want to finish this story, I mean this was the fic I was suppose to focus on this summer and suddenly I get inspiration for so many other fics, but here I am I'm still writing this thing...

Thanks to all my faithful reviewers if not for them I would've delted this story a really long time ago.

A week passes and I'm surprised to still find myself in Tomoeda I haven't even thought about buying a ticket back. I'm surprised at myself I really am. My week has consisted of finally being able to see Yamato play and Eriol treating me to shaved ice, and the most important being with Sakura. That week turns into another and that becomes another week as well. In what I feel to be only mere seconds I have been in Tomoeda three weeks.

Syaoran takes me out to talk in the afternoon. As we drink our tea I tease him for old times sake

"So are you going to ask her to marry you already?"

As I expected he blushes and I smile "Even though we've gotten older Sakura hasn't really changed... she's still as care free and oblivious as she was when you started falling in love with her. She won't notice until you're holding the ring right in front of her"

"Neither have you, you haven't changed either" he turns the conversation around giving it a different tone.

"Your still the same smiling girl Tomoyo. I know that a lot happened after your mother passed away. But I also know that despite all that your still you"

I smile though his words are so hard to hear, just like Sakura telling me how much she misses me.

I sneak back into Sakura's house, "Is she here?" I ask Toya.

He shakes his head and I give a sigh of relief and bring out my laptop onto the kitchen table. I've been neglecting my project. Faces smile at from the screen, reminding me of good memories. We've changed so much from the times those photos were taken, our faces especially: we no longer have the chibi face that gave us that look of innocence. Now we have faces that are defined by high cheekbones and big eyes. I reach out and touch the screen, remembering that I once read this story where the girl had grown up watching old movies and on seeing Marilyn Monroe on the TV screen she had tried to touch her and instead was surprised by her fingers meeting only static, "I thought she would feel as silky as she looked" the line from the story pops into my head. I smile as the only response my own fingers get it light static never the warm pulse that I hoped for.

My years away taught me that there was something worse those videos, telephone calls. Telephone calls give you the agony of hearing the person's mourning voice but letting their expression up to your guilty imagination.

"What are you working on?" Toya asks sitting next to me. I give him a mysterious smile shaking away all my sad thoughts and say "It's a secret and I'll work on it later. Let's talk!"

He gives me a look "about?"

"Come on! Everyone is so vague on what's happened these past few years, you have to tell me!"

"Tomoyo why would I be interested in my little sisters and her friends lives?"

"Because you would be, I know you are interested about every little detail about Sakura and Syaoran. And I want to know about you, Yukito, and Nakuru as well"

He blushes when I mention Yukito, and I grin. "Are you still-"

"Nakuru and Yukito are an item now" he smiles "We both agreed that it would be best. Nakuru looked ready to kill him anytime she saw us together, at first we thought it was because of Yukito in a sense beating her to me, and you know how much Nakuru hates to loose." Toya's eyes get a distant look in them; it's another reminder of what I missed in my absence what I could witnessed if I hadn't run away. "But it turns out it was just the opposite"

"You missed her when she returned to England those times didn't you?"

"Ironically yes. My day never seemed complete with having her pounce on me. The day they came back after you left I went with them to pick her up, she refused to get off me until we got to the car." He laughs "I'm happy for them, they make the oddest couple. But love isn't picky"

I smile "And you?"

"Kaho and I have been sending letters to one another" is all he says. "Okay then… other than Yukito and Nakuru who else is or was dating?"

"Why are you so interested in this?"

"Because they're my friends" I say cheerfully "And I need to know who I should record!"

"Yamato and Chiharu, my sister and the brat, Yamato's dated a few random girls. Naoko fell in love with a poet" he stops to laugh "Rika and Terrada"

"Naoko fell in love with a poet?" he nods "She almost ran after him when she found out he was a traveling poet."

"Poor Naoko"

"And you Tomoyo" he says "Did you find love in that city?"

"No" I say not thinking about my words, "No one could ever amount to what I had here"

Toya smiles "No one could measure up to Eriol or Yamato, huh?"

"That's not what I meant." He grins and gives a little laugh

"Do you still call Syaoran 'the brat'?" I ask him

"Occasionally"

I laugh and stand up "Please try to be kind to him"

"One day maybe"

"Maybe soon you'll have to." I smile again "Bye Toya, I'll see you later"

He takes my hand before I leave, "Everyone said that Nakuru would end up winning my heart, and it's true how my day never seemed complete with out her attacking me. But when she and Yuki were alone it was the first time I had ever seen Nakuru Akizuki actually being shy." The statement surprises me; Nakuru isn't the kind of person you expect to be shy, then again Nakuru and Yuki aren't exactly the two that everyone thought would end up together.

"Tomoyo if you ever do fall in love tell me who it is okay? I want to know who I should hurt if he ever makes you cry"

I have the next day free. Sakura apologizes over and over but she has some previous engagement that she can't get out of. After assuring her a hundred times that it was okay, and that I would see her later that night for a girls movie night she finally left. My best friend is so… she makes me laugh. She hasn't grown up in some aspects. I take a cab into the city to walk around near Tokyo Tower. I try hard not to feel envy as I see groups of friends walking together.

"Tomoyo!"

I turn to see familiar brown hair "Oh, Hello Nakuru" she falls into step next to me and grabs my arm raving about a clothes store around here that I might like. We reach a parting place and I have two choices- spend the day with Nakuru, or alone. I grin and say "Lead on!"

Nakuru smiles "I know you'll love this place"

And I do, we model clothes for one another laughing at the outrageous outfits we chose for one another. I never noticed what an easy person Nakuru is to be around, she's carefree and everything is funny to her. An hour and a half later we emerge from the store with two bags in our tow each.

"I'm starved" she announces "How about lunch, my treat!"

Over deli sandwiches we gossip shamelessly and Nakuru laughs so uproariously that people in surrounding tables turn to stare at us, but for once I don't care. She tells me details that not even Toya is aware about, explaining with great depth the relationships that have been formed and broken in my absence. This lunch was so relaxing and as we walk out of the deli I start to tell her good bye when she takes my hand and walks with me down the side walk "Come on Tomoyo, let's have some more girl talk; let's whisper about being in love, it's been awhile since I've had someone to have a sleep over with"

"I can't, you'll be doing all the talking," I say somewhat sadly

"No, not by the end of the night"

Nakuru and I lay on her bed giggling like high school cheerleaders.

"Tell me about everything" I say to Nakuru, I turn my camera in her direction and focus on her face that has a slight blush creeping into it. "Tell me about holding Yukito's hand, tell me about love."

Nakuru laughs, "I'll just say I know Yue did not enjoy the first time I kissed Yukito"

I break into uncontrolled laughter "Do you not like Yue?" I ask her

She makes a face "He and Ruby Moon have their little disagreements, but it's okay"

I suppress my giggles "It's now your turn" she says grabbing my video camera and making the subject of this portion me, "Have you ever been in love?"

The first person that enters my head is Eriol. "No…I don't think so…"

Nakuru smiles as if she knows my thoughts "Thinking is not what your heart does" she says

"Yes but thinking kept me sane" Nakuru hugs me and starts laughing

"If we were all sane some of the best stories, plays and poetry would have never been written. You need to act insanely once in awhile, like me!"

I laugh at the thought of acting just like Nakuru. A knock on the door interrupts our talking "I'm almost afraid to know what you are doing in there Nakuru" says Eriol's voice.

"Don't be master! I'm just giving Tomoyo a makeover! So don't you even dare come in here!!" she screeches and pulls out a makeup bag and a comb, and gets an insane gleam in her eye. "Ready for a new look?"

An hour, a bottle of hair spray, and a bag of makeup later I emerge from Nakuru's room, feeling myself already blushing. She rakes through her closet before throwing a dress at me. "Try this one on! I bought it but I never put it on" The dress is Victorian styled, it's material is flowly like and a light violet.

Nakuru refuses to let me look in the mirror as she laces up the dress and pushes me out the door with only a "good luck!"

But I have to say this day has been great, no matter what Eriol will have to say about my new look. It felt so good to have Nakuru's light fingers running through my hair and giggling as she applied eyeliner and mascara, it felt so… normal, telling me about one of the few things I know so little about- love. Nakuru acted like the sister I never had.

I tiptoe out of the room and down the stairs, without a trace of Eriol. I look around for a place to hide from the dark eyed sorcerer and finally remember the garden. "Are you looking for Eriol or trying to run into him?" my mind teases as I quietly open the terrace door and step out into Eriol's magnificent garden. I've always loved how Eriol kept the garden, it seemed to radiate even in the night. I walk among the gorgeous blossoms stopping to admire my favorites, perfect companions of the ones Eriol presented me on the night I returned, morning lilies.

"And who might you be?" comes a voice from behind me.

"Very funny Eriol" I say with a hint of our old game. He smiles innocently "Such a beauty I have never seen before this night, I would have never forgotten you if we had met previously"

All my mother's old teaching on being lady like in high society flood my mind and I curtsy slightly

"Then it is a pleasure to meet you my lord. This is such a beautiful house that I could not help but look in, who could resist peaking into the beautiful garden you have"

"May I invite this mystery lady to dinner?" He asks offering his arm.

I decide to continue play along "You may"

With a bow fit for a courtier he lightly takes my hand in his own and leads me out of the garden and into the dining room. Before we enter I finally glimpse my reflection and am surprised not to see myself. Another girl with a simple hair style, bright eyes, and flushed cheeks stares back at me; Nakuru worked a miracle.

After dinner mysteriously and conveniently enough soft music begins to play. I look around for traces of Nakuru or Eriol's magic.

"May I invite the lady to dance?"

Tonight I will be bold, I won't be the girl Eriol teases with the sole purpose of instigating a fight that will end with him in laughter, not tonight at least. "You may"

Eriol and I have been friends for a long time even with all our disagreements, and yet until tonight, I have never been this close to him. He got much closer than the slow dance required and I struggled to try to breath calmly. I can hear his soft breathing as we turn at the required times and his smile makes me concentrate on keeping my knees from buckling beneath me. What is this… didn't Nakuru just tell me about this, how she felt when she was with Yukito?

He leans in closer almost enough to kiss me, my eyes close and my body anticipates another kiss, no wait - my heart does, I am not thinking. Instead of a kiss Eriol says, "Good night mystery lady, I bid you adieu. "

He bows over my hand and I can help but smile.

"Now I must wait for an old friend" he says excusing himself. Finally I laugh and throw my arms around him.

"Thanks Eriol, let's never tell anyone about this okay?" He joins me in my laughter and kisses my hand.

"Our secret"

I can already here Nakuru's giggling from the other side of the wall and Spinel Sun whispering "Why do you insist on prying in Master's life?"

What else could I want? But there is something... something I need to figure out.