SEASON OF WINTER
Part Two v1
By: Lau-kun
Disclaimer: A/N at end. CCS©CLAMP and this fiction is ©2005 by yours truly. So if you even dare steal it or use it w/o permission, a pack of white wolves with steel fangs will eat you... ALIVE. And for those who wanna sue me, I don't own CCS (along with a few copyrighted things mentioned in this fiction) coz if I do, Eriol would be off with Tomoyo by now. (Yeah... that's putting it mildly... XD)
Feedbacks are always welcome... even cruel ones. VampirePeaches! Vampy! You're a precious, precious gem!
As for the OC's, I beg your pardon for creating them but they're needed for keeps and certain twists. Don't worry. They wouldn't kill anyone. They're not as despicable as they seem. Ahahaha... I think that's some giveaway. XD XD XD
Winter
Marked by lack of Life, Warmth and Cheer.
It's funny how one simple event can turn somebody's life upside down.
For an instance, Daidouji Tomoyo was just your average woman — okay, maybe not so average woman since it's not everyday that you encounter the sole heiress of a wealthy business tycoon, trying to get some quality time with her not-so-average best friends — technically an understatement since one wouldn't just walk around the block and by some luck, make friends with two people who could wield actual magic; along with a walking, flying, talking, sugar-addicted plush toy who transforms into a bigger, life-size fire breathing Armored Plushie Version™ — when two black-winged beings suddenly appeared to wallop them. Not that it actually worked but the two plush toys certainly had their share. Physically.
And, not to mention, she had her own fair share of it too...
Emotionally.
Feelings must be powerful things if one of them could twist life into a big yarn of messy, complicated knots.
Tomoyo was diligently reading a business proposal — well, at least she was diligently staring at it for the past three hours, when she realized she wasn't making any progress at all. Yes, it took her three hours to realize that. And that thought. Wasn't. Helping.
Ever since the winter festival incident occurred about a week ago, she couldn't stop thinking whether it was her fears that drove her to think of such... thoughts. She didn't know how to describe it so she settled for simplicity. And within that week, she realized she had also been distracted from work. She couldn't finish the same load as before and right now — she glared at the innocent black-leathered folder on her hands — NOW, she couldn't even finish the STUPID, LOUSY business proposal...
It frustrated her to know that if only her concentration didn't leave her for Timbuktu or Haiti, her work should almost be completed by now.
She groaned, and then carelessly dumped the folder on her working table. Well, THAT didn't improve her mood. She tried giving her aching temple a rub and somehow felt it loosen a trifle — if ever you considered loosening the tightness of a garrote around your neck by perhaps a millimeter after one full twist, it was close to that. Not exactly the best example, but still close.
She frowned.
It felt awfully like she was being hit by Chiharu-chan's infamous mallet, straight on. And thinking about it rocketed her respect for Yamazaki-kun's tolerance sky-high.
She frowned harder.
Who was she kidding?
Tomoyo buried her head on her hands then closed her eyes. And instantly, without meaning to do so, images from last week's event came to her like she was experiencing everything in rewind.
Light... screaming... sword bouts... and Sakura-chan...
She smiled. Her headache faded abruptly.
She almost died because of her love for Sakura-chan. She hurled herself in death's path just so she could protect the one she loves best but still, she managed to live. She was barely a hand's reach from death when someone took hold of her and pulled her back to safety... someone actually had enough grace in him to save her.
But THAT. Wasn't. IT.
Emptiness. Concealing.
Why was she concealing emptiness at the time of her death — she amended, near-death — when she knew it was all for Sakura-chan?
She should be feeling complete. And even if she had died in that instant, at least, the thought stands that she did it for her loved one's sake. After all, Sakura-chan's happiness is her happiness.
...Right?
Flustered, Tomoyo balled her eyes then frowned. Hard. Harder than the previous frowns she managed to twist on her face. The throbbing pain in her temple was back and it was deliberately pissing her off. She thought, if only the throbbing pain she was currently feeling had a neck, she would've strangled the living daylights out of it by now.
Well, of course it is! She whined, inwardly. Sakura-chan IS her number one and nothing can change that. And no, she admitted, bordering on bitterness and gladness, Sakura-chan wouldn't be happy at all if something bad happens to her, but at least she can get over it with Li-kun's help.
Then she realized she was desperately bent on justifying her thoughts.
She made a face, stifling an amused little chuckle as a sudden thought rammed in. If they were already panicking at the thought of her losing her life, figuratively, at work, what more if she loses her life, literally, in the hands of those Yue-san and Kero-chan Look-a-Like creatures?
For one, her mother would surely give them bloody hell and pull a Rambo without even a care if they were powerful magical beings (that gave her a funny image of her cat-eyed mother in a full-gear military camouflage suit, firing a pair of machine guns in her hands); and, on the other hand, Sakura-chan would probably do something drastic with her magic to bring her back or something; even if Hiiragizawa-kun told her that they could never bring someone who died back to life again. And, after knocking some sense in her head, she would then resort to do something that involved the four major elements of the cards, together with Light and Dark, and then most probably call out Yue-san and Kero-chan — in his true form —, then enjoy torturing the suspects until they looked like something even oxygen wouldn't come within a radius of a hundred meters.
It was beginning to give her unsettling pictures of Sakura, forking out their crossed-eyed enemies with her staff-gone-trident, cackling out an evil Ka. Ka. Ka. I'm Roasting You To Death Because Of — add appropriate reasons to your heart's content — And I'll Never Forgive You. She immediately pushed THAT aside. It was totally un-Sakura-chan with prolonged morbidity — okay, too much morbidity. But Li, however, would gladly fill in that part for her best friend.
And along with the cringing - she wasn't even aware she was already making weird faces. Good thing she was alone at that time.
Tomoyo closed her eyes once more and again, saw the same blinding white light, enshrouding the entire place as if it only occurred a minute ago. Kero-chan and Sakura-chan were shouting her name in inexplicable horror; Li-kun was battling with the black-winged Yue-san counterpart; while she, Tomoyo, succumbed to the inner voice that bid her to do something immediately...
And then her subconscious senses brought back everything she felt at the moment. Everything. Including the undeniably masculine scent of rich musk that invaded her nostrils when she thought her life would come to an end already...
Her brain screeched to a stop.
He was warm and strong. His arms surrounded her, tightly... protectively.
She blinked and burrowed her brows.
She remembered the uncanny similarity whenever she was holding Sakura-chan in her arms or vice versa; and the oddness of its calmness and comfort that suddenly filled her with peace — protection. And somehow, she also found it odd to know she could find it elsewhere. More so, in the presence of danger...
Her mind drew blank.
More so, in the arms of another...
Her jaw had somehow fallen down an inch, and quite unaware of it too.
His voice echoed through her brain; bespectacled pair of sapphires were worriedly staring upon her own pair of amethysts. And once again, she wondered when her arms had slid around his waist for support...
Eriol-kun! Came Sakura-chan's voice.
"Eriol-kun..." she repeated, unconsciously.
She contemplated for a good five seconds. Stopped. Then groaned; ready to beat her head with the stapler or the hole-puncher... or both... or perhaps the hardbound two inches thick English dictionary on her office shelf... or —
She groaned some more.
What was WRONG with her?
Tomoyo searched for more solid things to beat her head with, then settled for the table; and was about to seriously bang her head on it — hard —, when somebody opened the door in time to spare her from possible brain damage and severe internal hemorrhage. "You look like you could use a cup of these..." a woman's calm voice hung in the air. "That must be one heck of a headache, Tomoyo-sama."
Tomoyo sighed, counting a hundred-and-one, before looking up to face a pair of soft and gravely concerned green-gray eyes. "How do you know?"
"Let's just say that you look exactly like someone who's been hit by a boulder, fell off a cliff and got backed by a truckload of gravels and hot asphalts..." she sounded like it was something similar to I Took A Bath This Morning, Hopped In My Clothes And Went To Work. "Then, you somehow managed to crawl out of the nasty hole to get straight back to work without breaking your most revered punctuality record..." Louise Westmore grimaced then rolled the pushover cart near her boss' table. Two years of working as Daidouji Tomoyo's secretary made her aware of every unimaginable personality contours of her boss at work... well, maybe not as much as Sakura but she was close to that; considering, she was always with her during business hours, which were roughly eight (if she was lucky) or more hours a day (if she was not), not counting the business trips outside the country.
"I resented it immediately when it graced my eyes for the first time," she said, quite audaciously, casually glancing at the proposition folder on her boss' desk. "And since that paper had been messing you for hours already, I've come to a conclusion that it's either that proposition is three-hundred pages of nonsense drabble," which clearly wasn't, thought Tomoyo, since it was only forty to fifty pages long of bad drabble. "Or something's bothering you." Louise smiled, awfully resembling someone who had been force-fed with vinegar. "Choose."
Grandiloquent preference for words was her secretary's forte. It was her best means of fishing out information, even from a thick, solid pond of ice, AKA her boss.
"Low blow." Tomoyo chuckled, giving her aching forehead a massage. "Nothing really. Maybe it's one of those days... I can't really concentrate."
"Right..." Louise's drawl suggested she'd rather believe tales of a meowing wolf and a purring lion. She poured tea in Tomoyo's teacup. "And so was yesterday... the other day... and the other, other day... and the other, other, other day and —"
Tomoyo cut her by laughing lightly. "Sum it up to one week already."
"Hmm... Perhaps, yes..." she nodded, considering the thought. "If you wouldn't consider the days when I was still living in the arms of my motherland in New Zealand and YOU'RE still attending college at — where was that again? — Oh yes... Tokyo University..." the secretary plastered a smug look, carefully placing the teacup on Tomoyo's table. "I may be a foreigner and I may not have a lot to say when it comes to this country's working customs but I know 'stressed-out' when I see it. It's the one thing both countries have in common — all countries in fact." she turned abruptly towards the door and smiled, kindly. "And Sakura-san's not taking it as an excuse. She's coming by the way."
On cue, the door shot open, revealing a beaming Sakura-chan and a yellow plush toy peeking out of her coat jacket, oh-so-casually. "Good afternoon, Tomoyo-chan!" She greeted then turned a 1000-watt smile towards Tomoyo's secretary. "Good afternoon, Louise-chan!"
The timing was so perfect, it made Tomoyo's head shoot up towards her in confusion; scrutinizing the normal-look on her secretary's face for any kinds of explanations because, if ever Louise had ESP, she wasn't really giving her inkling about it.
"Good afternoon!" Louise greeted, pouring tea for Sakura. "Nice day, Sakura-san?"
Sakura nodded and cheerfully flumped on the chair. "We're going to the amusement park today!"
"Ah... that's thrilling..." answered Louise, aware of the confused and wondering looks her boss had been giving. "I talked with Sakura-san before I entered the room. Daidouji-sama pulled her for a chat outside, that's why she didn't come in right after me." Louise widened her smile as she saw Tomoyo ease up.
"Oh..." was all Tomoyo could say. She heaved a heavy, exhausted sigh then frowned — or pouted... or both. It morphed into a full frown anyway, then she fought the urge to groan.
This was NOT a good day.
The door opened once more and a black-blue headed lady poked her head on the door before fully entering with a grin. "Good afternoon!" she bowed; her cheerfulness not lessening the intense glint in her green-gray eyes.
And upon realizing that particular note, Tomoyo wondered for a brief second — as did Sakura, judging from the way she was blinking like she was sending off encrypted messages using Morse code via her eyes — and then went back to her normal state. Tomoyo saved the bit of information for scrutiny later.
"Good afternoon, Akiyo-chan!" greeted a cheerful Sakura, beaming the same watt, or higher, of her smile.
Shinokawa Akiyo brightly nodded, then placed a folder carefully on Tomoyo's desk. "I've brought a message from Daidouji-sama." her smile was enough to light up a giant Christmas tree. "She told me to let you sign these papers and then you're off with Sakura-san in the amusement park today."
Tomoyo nodded. Stopped. And then blinked...
It took a while to process the words completely but when it did, she immediately riveted her attention towards the ladies in her office.
She was met by three, suspicious-looking smiles.
She counted and assessed the looks on their faces: one was Sakura, two was Louise, and three was Akiyo. All of them bore the same identical innocent smiles — supposedly at least, since Tomoyo thought they were flaunting a lot of their fangs in the process, like a snarling saber tooth after finding prey. "Are you—" she stared at Sakura; looking utterly betrayed, "—ganging up on me?" she managed to blink.
The contriving trio merely smiled some more.
"I can't believe you forgot that I was in your pocket, Sakuraaaa..." Kero sniffled, nursing his bumped and aching head. "You can really be mean, sometimes"
No one can blame him for this one. It was really Sakura's fault since, out of pure ecstasy, she gleefully launched herself forward, accidentally banging the poor plush toy's head — forgetting that he was in fact, inside her coat-pocket — on the table one time or five...or more. She couldn't really tell considering she was so overwhelmed by happiness, she didn't even realize what she was doing.
Needless to say, she only stopped when she heard a small whimper — a small, pained whimper.
"I'm really sorry, Kero-chan." apologized his mistress. "I was just happy because Tomoyo-chan agreed without putting up much of a fight." Sakura pursed her lips in thought, "Akiyo-chan and Louise-chan were also surprised since we were extremely sure it would take an army to convince her."
"Really, Sakura-chan..." Tomoyo pouted cutely. "That's not true..."
"Sakura-chaaaaaaan! Tomoyo-chaaaaan! Liiii-kuuuun!" trilled a high-pitched voice of somebody from somewhere. It didn't take long for them to realize where it was coming from, or who it was, since Li-kun made it a point of skewering her companion in a glance, all together with dozens and dozens of Chinese words under his breath — Tomoyo guessed correctly, it was a bunch of curses — that earned him a certain Look; bidding him bad things later from sweet and nice Sakura-chan...
Eriol, somehow, managed a fairly normal smile despite of his descendant's murderous stares, whilst Nakuru was beaming happily — maniacally; then somehow managed to engage the girls in a bone-crushing hug, wring Li-kun's hand and stretch Kero-chan's face in record time of five seconds, "Keeerroooo-chaaaaan!" she trilled, a few decibels up. "It's good to see you!"
Kero looked completely and utterly ready to bite her finger off.
"Please forgive her." Spinel poked his head out of his master's pocket, looking exactly like someone who had been dragged, while managing to stay gloomily unruffled, from somewhere without asking proper permission. "She may have aged but her mentality refuses to abide by it."
Kero, Sakura, Li and Tomoyo sweat dropped, not doubting a letter in Spinel's words. Nakuru chose to ignore his comment.
"I hope we're not a bother..." said Eriol, implying most of it to a very busy company heiress.
Sakura beamed a happy smile, Li burned a hole on his face, Kero grumbled some more about the aching parts of his whimsical body (considering Nakuru's fatal fondness for him, his cheeks were now hurting too) and Tomoyo smiled at him, quite politely. "Not really." she answered, "Okaa-san finished most of work this week so I have time to spare."
"That's good to hear then..." Eriol smiled. Li-kun threw him pointy daggers-in-a-glare since it awfully reminded him of elevators, a deranged piano and other things that somehow managed to crawl out of the cob-web infested hole he had excavated to dump a truckload of memories that really reminded him of how evil Hiiragizawa was — or still is.
Eriol's smile stretched. Li-kun scowled.
"I'm heading off to find Touya-kun and Tsukishiro-kun!" Nakuru announced to the world. "I overheard them yesterday talking about working here in the weekends."
Spinel muttered something about Nakuru's bad habit of eavesdropping.
"I HEARD their conversation, SUPPI! I WASN'T eavesdropping." She uttered with dignity.
Spinel mumbled some more incomprehensible things.
Nakuru violently complied by snatching a comical darting glare at the plush toy, fully intent on stuffing sweets in his mouth but decided against it... for now. Glomping Tsukishiro-kun and Touya-kun until their colors turn an unhealthy hue of blue to violet was number one on her agenda list. Feeding Suppi-chan would be next to, well, glomping them, she guessed.
"They must be over by one of the newly-established booths." Sakura thoughtlessly said, earning a gleaming, maniacal look from Nakuru. "Yukito-san told me that Onii-chan wanted to do some extra work to buy presents for Christmas this year." Her lips crossed. "Though I think his work already pays him more than what he really needs."
Eriol's smile radiated something like I Just Bet Your Onii-chan's Up To That 'Cause He Was Giving Me The 'I'll Strangle You And Make YOUR Life Miserable, Hiiragizawa — ALONG With Akizuki — If You Even DARE Do Something To My Baby Sister Again'. He was surprised to know that Sakura wasn't yet aware of her brother's sister complex.
"Really!" Nakuru was oozing euphoria. "Ooh! I wanna help out too!" and without a word more, she zoomed out of sight, leaving a sweat dropping Eriol, Li, Sakura, Tomoyo, Spinel and Kero on her wake.
"And that..." said Spinel, unconsciously imitating a gargoyle statue from the Notre Dame cathedral. "... Is one of the things I have to endure for as long as I exist."
Kero gruffly snorted. "Include him. I don't see much change given a lifetime."
"That's the reason why I said ONE of the things..." Spinel smugly agreed.
Eriol pouted cutely. "That's entirely mean..."
"And I wonder where they get it from..." Li-kun muttered sarcastically.
Tomoyo could only giggle.
"So," Spinel was eyeing the heap of prizes on Eriol's arms after engaging in a fierce competition of Who's Better In All The Games In The Amusement Park, where Eriol emerged victorious much to a grudging descendant's displeasure. "What are you going to do with all of those?" he inquired, looking up at his master who was momentarily observing Sakura-san, Li-kun and Daidouji-san.
They were peeking at something unusually interesting inside a paper bag full of goodies.
It was probably Kero passing in a state of immeasurable joy after hearing his mistress say he could have some of the chocolates and other sweet treats. And judging by the way the Li clan's head was glaring down at the paper bag, Spinel assumed that Kero must have been wolfing down more than what Sakura said he could touch — no personal implications upon the 'wolf' part.
He cringed at the thought. Well at least, he was spared from actually having Kero ram it down his throat buuut —he cautiously glanced at Eriol — he had a baaad feeling about that one. REALLY bad.
"These are for Nakuru-kun." Eriol smiled cheerfully. "She asked me to win something for her."
He knew it.
"And you just have to win ten games in a row to keep her happy..." He didn't look too pleased. "Am I not allowed to take some of my happiness?"
"I'll tell Nakuru to give you some chocolates." The teasing edge on his voice didn't match the gentleness on his face.
Spinel gave his master a Look anyway, then stared after him...
From where he was hiding, he could make out Sakura throwing in angry fits; Li was probably thinking of a hundred or more ways to strangle the living lights out of Kero; and, Daidouji was giggling in delight with a handy-dandy camcorder to capture the moment.
Spinel blinked. He looked up to his master once more and then back to Daidouji, to his master, then to Daidouji again. That occupied him for five seconds until he was certain he figured out Eriol's trail of thoughts. "It's amazing to know that some things stay the same..." he nodded approvingly. "No matter how drastic changes are on the outside."
Eriol nodded absently, still staring at Tomoyo with that unreadable gentle expression. "You noticed."
"It's blindingly obvious..." said Spinel, matter-of-factly. "Even Nakuru noticed."
Eriol glanced at the plush toy then chuckled. "Yes... she did now, didn't she?"
"Well, she does know more than she cares to show." Spinel's tone suggested that he wished Nakuru would ACT more of it.
His master nodded again.
"I don't usually meddle with other people's affairs but somehow," Spinel released a surrendering sigh. "I can't seem to stand seeing her like that, Eriol." he looked up at his master, hopefully. "Did Clow Reed plan anything for her? I'm sure he knewthis would happen."
Eriol shook his head. "As much as some things really are unpredictable, even I — no — Clow Reed may over look things." He saw Li-kun's face flush, obviously from a remark given by a grinning Tomoyo. "And from the way things are turning out of thin air, I think Clow had other things in mind too. I'm sorry but I don't remember him planning anything for Daidouji-san." A small, tender smile formed on his lips. "As I've said before, I once thought that Yukito-san would return Sakura-san's feelings but..." his eyes gently settled at a clueless Sakura and a really, really red Syaoran — a steaming Syaoran. "I was wrong..."
Eriol swore he heard Spinel mumble something about him, being wrong with a few more things. He chose to ignore it anyway.
"So certainly, you're planning to do something..." said Spinel.
"Plotting to make Daidouji-san do something she had been doing for quite a long time would be fruitless, Spinel."
The plush toy quirked an eyebrow, "So I guess we'll be staying here for QUITE some time..." Deadpan. "What delightful news for Sakura's brother..."
Eriol lightly chuckled before turning one calculating glance at Tomoyo. Spinel stared after him then saw the chocolates. He stared at it for a while; turned to his master, to Daidouji then back to the chocolates again. He did that rotation for a minute until his idea bulb lit up... well, needless to say, he was actually getting a little dizzy. "You can start by giving those to Daidouji-san."
Eriol's eyes widened for a brief second then blinked, sorry to see the beginnings of a smirk on his creation's face. "If you're thinking in that light, Spinel, I'm not."
Spinel's smirk morphed dangerously. "Whatever did you mean by 'thinking in that light', Eriol-sama?" The smirk deepened. This was turning out better than planned.
He shrugged then glanced at Spinel Sun again. "Nothing... But I am curious about something though..." he retaliated, easily walking towards the shooting alley with a thoughtful look.
Spinel curiously eyed Eriol as he paid for the game and effortlessly brought down a target — a huge and horribly cute panda plush toy.
Silence was observed for a while.
It extended.
Then Spinel spoke. "Considering the fact that I could recall seeing Daidouji-san glancing at that particular booth earlier with unfathomable interest," Spinel was sharp enough to grasp the matter at hand, leaving Eriol wondering whether Spinel's smirk depicted evil or connivance. It was normally AND downright dangerous to see him imitating an innocent-looking imp on an oozing streak of evil roll—even more dangerous than Nakuru—so he settled for both. He wasn't loud but he spoke in volumes when needed. "I'm assuming you're not planning to give that to Nakuru—" Spinel's smirk grew. "—Aren't you?"
"It seems you've grown a certain fondness for watching Daidouji-san."
"No more than as much as you do, Eriol."
He smiled, cheerfully. "You know me well, Spinel."
Syaoran was now horribly aware of the fact that Hiiragizawa had been missing for quite some time now.
He didn't like it.
It brought back horrid memories from the past and he was feeling a ripping sense of paranoia whenever Hiiragizawa did his disappearing act. He craned his neck around the crowd and saw him walk towards a game booth; winning a plush panda that suddenly disappeared in thin air when he casually made a small hand gesture. He felt his eyebrow quirking in suspicion.
For whom, and where did it go?
"I want to ride the Ferris wheel!" announced Sakura, beaming a smile that could easily make Syaoran's knees buckle in the joints, crack, then fall. It was different today because he only managed a nod; half keeping his senses peeled for anything funny Hiiragizawa might be hiding up on his sleeves and half towards Sakura. Lucky for him though, his ancestor's missing and much loathed presence didn't go by unnoticed for a second more, after an eternity of five minutes.
"Where's Hiiragizawa-kun?" asked Tomoyo.
"I'm here." Syaoran skewered Hiiragizawa's obnoxious smiling face. "Spinel insisted that I get Nakuru something."
Spinel mumbled something only his master heard.
Syaoran blinked, registering his words for a while, then concluded that the panda must be for Akizuki. There was no other possible reason. Nevertheless, he darted a suspicious glare at Hiiragizawa. There's nothing wrong in sniffing trouble around the block, plus — he thought, darkly — it's safer to be cautious especially when you're around Hiiragizawa.
"Eriol-kun," Sakura looked up at him happily, "Is it okay if we ride on a Ferris wheel?"
Eriol nodded, cheerfully. "Of course..."
Syaoran could hear evil laughter from the way Hiiragizawa said 'of course'. "As long as I don't get to ride with him." He mumbled, audibly.
Eriol feigned a hurt look that Syaoran — wisely — didn't trust one bit. "If that's the case," he cheerfully pulled a smiling face, snatching a quick easy glance at his guardian. "Will I ride with Sakura-san?" he received a glare that promised death from Syaoran. "Or perhaps with Daidouji-san?" Syaoran SWORE his eyes were gently staring at Daidouji. "If you don't mind, that is?"
Tomoyo blinked. Then retaliated immediately with a smile. "Of course I don't, Hiiragizawa-kun."
Verbal hit-offs — polite verbal hit-offs, concluded Syaoran from where he was standing, momentarily forgetting that the yellow stuffed animal inside the paper bag was pigging out on his hard-earned prizes. And like most things about Hiiragizawa, he didn't like it... again.
He didn't like the way he looked at Daidouji because it wasn't at all like him. He didn't like how Hiiragizawa was looking at Daidouji because it's too gentle for any comfort and — Goddamn him — the look that Hiiragizawa was giving Daidouji was something familiarly unsettling. It's either he's hatching up something in his twisted brain box, or Hiiragizawa's at it again, just like when they were in fifth grade.
The only difference was he's doing it to Daidouji.
He frowned. Well, the difference wasn't even THAT far off, even if it was Daidouji. And he bet even Kinomoto Touya would form a truce with him to strangle or torture Hiiragizawa any given time.
He didn't like it.
Something was definitely going on.
"Sakura..." Syaoran made a mental note of bringing out the topic after getting in on one of the Ferris wheel capsules. "Aren't you sensing something unusual reverberating FROM Hiiragizawa?"
"Hoe?" Sakura confusedly blinked at her fiancé.
"I mean," Syaoran frowned. "Think about it. He comes back all the way from England and announces he's staying here for quite some time..." his frown deepened, not at all liking the idea of Hiiragizawa staying because it probably meant added trouble. It's been hard enough coping with Daidouji's whims, and adding fuel to her already devious plots meant more than a nuclear explosion, for him at least. Between Hiiragizawa and Daidouji, he'd rather have... well... at least one of them in two separate places for goodness' sake! "Don't you think he's on to something again?"
Sakura pursed her lips at a thought, "I think..." a genuine smile replaced it. "If Eriol-kun were really planning something, it wouldn't hurt anybody. Eriol-kun is a very kind person and I doubt that he could even stomach hurting anybody... well, not intentionally at least." her lips crossed. "But I'm sure Eriol-kun would most likely prevent any danger before one even gets close to anyone."
Syaoran sighed. No, he grudgingly admitted that he didn't doubt it one bit. Hiiragizawa may spurt evil in any random occasions but one thing's for sure, he wouldn't hurt anybody unless he was provoked to do so — and that goes for serious matters, such as the attack last week.
He stopped.
How could he forget the attack?
"What about Clow's presence? Don't you find it unusual?" asked Syaoran.
Sakura peeked at the paper bag and saw a snoring Kero. She let a smile take over her lips before opening her mouth to speak. "Well, it IS unusual..." she shook her head, "And coincidental..." she hesitated, "but I just know there's something more."
He raised an eyebrow, inquisitively.
"I don't know how to explain it..." she pouted, looking extremely helpless — though Syaoran knew more than to see Sakura in the helpless department. He was even closer to it in terms of power. "But somehow, I just know that everything will really be okay... for everyone." she glanced behind Syaoran and stared at the capsule that bore her best friend and the reincarnated mage. "... Even for Tomoyo-chan... I'm pretty sure that everything will be alright."
Syaoran could only stare and half agree.
Well, she's the one who has foresight...
"I never really had the chance to talk with you, Hiiragizawa-kun." Tomoyo said, smiling up at Eriol's cheerful face. "How have you been these past years?"
"You would know if you didn't stop writing back then." he accused with a cute pout, earning a guilty giggle from Tomoyo and a look from Spinel that depicted both amusement and interest.
"I'm sorry..." She giggled some more. "I didn't get the chance to write back to your last letter because I was too busy with work." she smiled apologetically at Eriol. If her memory serves her right, the last time she had written him a letter was when she was still in high school — right before she entered college. It wasn't entirely her fault to begin with because unlike any other normal college student, Tomoyo spent her college years, juggling her time expertly at work and at school. And even if she DID find some time to spend for her self, she didn't have the energy to engage in any activities other than sleeping.
Come to think of it, maybe her bad habit of working too much — or so Sakura-chan and the others say, she amended defensively — developed within those years; along with other reasons, said a nagging voice at the back of her head.
She instantly batted it away before it got the best of her.
"Everything's okay." Eriol settled for a gentler look, while Spinel scoffed something under his breath. Tomoyo blinked at him and then turned a puzzled look at Eriol. "And I hope your late nights at work are doing you fabulous credit?" he simply smiled, blue eyes meeting blue-violets.
"Yes..." Tomoyo cheerfully answered despite the fact that the steady thud-thud of her heart had somehow gone crazy for a while before settling into its regular normal beat. She inhaled to compose herself before speaking, "I'm doing great." she was thankful she didn't stammer even if she was now aware of something radiating from his stare — electricity, perhaps — that somehow made her feel uncomfortable on the insides; and, she didn't like it one bit. Knowing that the reason was still at dark didn't help improve her puzzled state and what annoyed her most was that she was feeling something that she couldn't quite comprehend. Tomoyo never liked feeling something she couldn't understand.
It was frustrating her so she tried to set it aside for scrutiny later. Much later. It's not wise to be showy around Hiiragizawa since he had a really bad habit of seeing through her barriers without putting up much of an effort. "It's great but it can get a bit stressing at times." and so, within the span of a microsecond, she plastered a smile on her lips.
"So I've heard from Sakura-san." Eriol returned the smile, drawing her eyes to his. "She's very happy now, isn't she?"
She forced the butterflies away from her chest, seriously considering that riding the Ferris wheel with Hiiragizawa-kun was a terrible, terrible mistake for her part, even if Spinel was with them. "Yes..." she managed, calmly, eventually staring out at the capsule behind Eriol with a gentle smile as if she was actually seeing Sakura there. "She's very happy with Li-kun."
Spinel and Eriol switched casual but meaningful glances.
"And how about you?" Eriol suddenly injected, snapping Tomoyo out of her reverie to meet his gentle gaze. She didn't know exactly what was going on but Hiiragizawa's gentleness was somehow affecting the speed of her heart's thudding; it was really uncomfortable, and quite annoying, she just might scream. "Are you happy, Daidouji-san?" too uncomfortable; Hiiragizawa did have a bad habit of seeing right through her. "But of course you are..." only his light chuckling reached her dulled senses; too fazed to even react and too late to realize that he's not being fair. "You must forgive my rudeness."
"Oh no... Really." She steeled herself and plastered a smile once more. "Yes... I'm quite content with everything."
Content? She blinked at that.
Wasn't Hiiragizawa asking her if she was happy?
She fought the urge to groan. Now, she couldn't believe her subconscious mental processes were being turncoats, like her secretary, too.
And why was she feeling obligated to answer his question anyway?
Tomoyo looked at Hiiragizawa and swore she saw the faintest sign of a smirk appear for a microsecond, before it transformed into a full obnoxious smile. She didn't like it, thus, making her swear to be cautious in handling her emotions and thoughts around this man. Strictly observed caution. Extra, extra caution in handling her emotions...
"I'm sure you are content with everything." And it seemed like Hiiragizawa noticed too.
She frowned inwardly. She should've known Hiiragizawa was pulling her strings and pushing her buttons.
"Daidouji-san," he was now dripping an aura of uncanny lightness, which Tomoyo suspected as bait meant to fish her out of the bowl. "If you're really—" his words were blocked. The half reincarnated mage stopped, suddenly looking distressed as he abruptly craned his neck to look out with Spinel Sun.
Tomoyo stared after them.
Nakuru and Yukito stopped at exactly the same time and turned to face the clock tower of the amusement park.
"Oh dear..." Nakuru muttered seriously, earning a strange look from Touya who was in the process of driving a nail on a plank. He turned to look at Yukito and noted that both of them bore identical puzzled and distressed looks. He aimed, mindlessly, for the nail but hit his thumb instead. "Ouch!" he yelped, nursing his thumb as several people—mostly girls and a few not so girls—threw concerned looks at him.
And those several people didn't include Nakuru — who would normally pounce him and make his hurting thumb all the more unbearable instead of actually healing it — and Yukito.
Something was wrong.
Again.
The condition on the other Ferris wheel capsule was clearly the same since Sakura and Syaoran were now up and searching the grounds for anything fishy. Even the snoring guardian beast, who was chanting a song or mantra of the sort with lyrics that was mainly composed of chocolates and cakes and pastries in his sleep, blasted out of the paper bag with a yelp to alertly search for the source of the familiar and much loathed auras, much to his mistress and the brat's surprise.
"It's them..." murmured the false form of the guardian beast. "They're somewhere nearby."
"How are you sure about that?" asked an annoyed-looking Syaoran.
Kero bounced an equally annoyed look at him. "Well you brat, considering your point of stupidity up until now, it's really hard to wake me up when I fall asleep."
"Which proves you're a lazy bum..."
"What WAS that!"
They were only stopped when charges of powerful magic gave them goose bumps. The bickering duo turned and saw the same blank and gleaming look in Sakura's eyes, creeping the wits out of their holes to scamper off and hide somewhere safe... in a different dimension. "They're here..." she said.
Kero and Syaoran could only switch glances.
Inside the clock tower stood the hooded figure, surrounded by golden radiance. His staff was thrust firmly on the ground where Clow's magical insignia shone brightly...
He smirked from beneath his hood.
Sakura and Syaoran immediately leapt out of the capsule and searched the grounds for the aura. "It's over there!" pointed Syaoran towards the Clock Tower, almost at the same time when the people around them started disappearing.
Once more, it was déjà vu.
"They do have something about festivals, do they?" Kero flew out of his hiding place and transformed, half glaring. "Geez... what a bunch of party poopers."
Eriol jumped a few feet down the capsule and helped Tomoyo do the same. Spinel flew out in the open and automatically transformed into his true form.
"Eriol!" Ruby Moon landed beside her master with Yue trailing closely. "It's them. They're coming."
"Where's onii-chan?" asked Sakura.
"He disappeared along with the others..." said Yue, slightly wondering why one non-magical creature didn't vanish.
Heavy silence hung in the air as everyone warily eyed the grounds for any signs of uninvited company. It didn't take a long time though, before somebody finally had the grace to break the flowing silence, "S-Sakura..." Tomoyo poked Sakura, looking paler than usual as she stared at something... unusual.
Sakura spun around and immediately felt her jaw sag...
An army of plush toys, coming in all sizes and horrible cuteness, were marching towards them in a formation.
Beads of sweat started to roll down everyone's heads.
Then, a ball of radiance coming from an unknown source took shape in mid air; magnetizing each variety of plush toys towards its direction. They have inkling of what's going to happen next but still they stared. And the next thing they knew, they were already staring at a humongous plush penguin that clearly resembled the biggest one in King Penguin Park, with an addition of a big yellow sledgehammer.
It made a gruff sound and moved, flumping clumsily on the ground with a heavy thump in the process.
Even Yue sweat dropped.
"Hey Hiiragizawa..." called Li without taking his eyes off the struggling penguin. "Are you sure you're not involved in this?"
Eriol blankly stared at the humongous hammer-wielding plush toy. "I've had my share already..." he stole a quick glance at Spinel and Cerberus — who speared him in a glance in return — and then abruptly turned towards the penguin. Somehow, he felt relieved in choosing the cute panda over the penguin plush toy — it vaguely reminded Eriol of Spinel Sun with its deadpan expression and annoyed eyes so he voted for the panda — at the game booth earlier. At least, if ever the receiver of said toy would see it, she wouldn't freak out of the memory, though Eriol thought she would most-likely freak out of missing a kawaii Sakura-chan moment than facing a full-grown fire-breathing dragon.
The penguin struggled to stand up and made a loud-sounding thump with its foot on the ground.
"Isn't this too much of..." Sakura was staring, dot-eyed, at the penguin. "... a cliché?" There was no other word for it.
Tomoyo was dumbfounded. Dot-eyed as well.
After a few leg-wobbling moments, the penguin finally managed to drop a heavy glare upon Sakura-tachi.
A pause followed; buckets of sweat were trailing down each of their heads.
Then the penguin made the loudest gruff sound of all — it awfully sounded like a grunting pig — before raising its hammer to pound them.
The ground rattled.
"Hey Hiiragizawa! I have a question!" Li immediately jumped out of the way when the sledgehammer descended on his path, "What's with Clow Reed and stuffed animals?" he asked quite loudly, earning a darting look from Cerberus.
"I won't take it against you if that'd bring comfort." Spinel smugly turned a brief look at Li before flying out of harm's way. Then, he opened his mouth to release a ruby beam.
It was a direct hit.
The annoyed-looking penguin faltered a few steps back and fell on a supine position on the ground, barely missing the carousel in the process.
"I think it's cute..." answered Eriol, smiling lightly at his cute descendant.
A vein swelled on the two Larger Versions of the Plush Toys' heads.
Atop the clock tower stood a dot-eyed Raven and Cyrus, together with their master who had this really ridiculously amused and cheerful smile on his lips.
One big bead of sweat was trailing down Raven's head as she stared at the unusual, ongoing event. "Mind explaining why a clumsy penguin of all things?" another sweat dropped when the penguin wobbled around and flumped on the ground, heightening its clumsiness by ten folds. "Okaaaaay... I'm taking my statement back... a clumsy, CLUMSY pen—" a crash, "—guin?" dot-eyed.
Cyrus was too overwhelmingly dumbstruck to even speak.
The cheerful smile on their master's lips intensified. "It's cute."
His guardians hit the ground with an unhealthy sounding thud.
"With all due respect, sire... You DO have problems..." Cyrus smiled, imitating a picture of someone who had something sour for lunch and was on the verge of throwing it up, "Mental problems."
And for the record, Raven agreed.
Being the only non-magical being in the group, Tomoyo was left on the ground to do nothing but capture the footage on video. She didn't mind, really. But sometimes, she just couldn't help it but feel a little useless. She wished she could do something to lend a hand. Or protect Sakura, one way or the other, but right now, the only rein she could hold on to was Li's promise to protect Sakura-chan to the very last of his breath...
A sad smile crept on her lips as she maneuvered the camera.
Maybe, she was right after all. Assuming that she couldn't do anything but give them moral support, Sakura-chan was every inch, capable of protecting her rather than the other way around. The only upper hand she had was her ability to observe keenly — scarily, amended Touya-niichan, while blushing ten shades of red, when Tomoyo commented something about him being concerned and all about Sakura's overnight duty at work even though he wasn't even saying anything — and her ability to keep her composure in check under stressful conditions.
She sighed. Things really had turned upside-down now. Changes in life really are inevitable as she had always thought but—
"Konbanwa, Tomoyo-san..." her trail of musings was cut short upon hearing a female's smooth voice.
Tomoyo swiveled — camera and all — despite the feeling of her heart pounding against her ears.
And once more, she found herself face to face with the tiger and the Yue-san counterpart...
A very pissed off moon guardian that went by the name of Yue, was firing rounds after rounds of crystal shards. The reason why he was pissed off was because, they had been deliberately trying to bring it down for some time now but it WASN'T even showing signs of weakening. He burrowed his brows and launched another batch, prickling the oversized plush toy like a pincushion.
He didn't know what THIS was all about. Why would Clow engage them into fights like this? And thinking of his former master's involvement in this kind of disturbance, he frowned, he just KNEW he foresaw everything that was happening. Meaning, this entire trouble WAS deliberate. It was all part of his plan...
But why?
Sakura-san collected the cards. He and Cerberus were in good hands. And everything was fine and dandy so, why was HE causing trouble now?
There must be something else. Something that he couldn't remember... he halted.
Or maybe something that Clow didn't WANT him to remember...
"Yue! Look out!" He heard someone shout, warningly.
Yue spun and saw the hammer descending his path. It was too close for any actions but, surprisingly, something red zoomed in and cleared him out of the way. "Were you EVEN listening?" it was a glaring Ruby Moon. Considering the fact that she had been doing nothing but annoying him under the impression of a kindergartner in sugar-overdose, Ruby Moon, was in fact, glaring at him — not the normal and much anticipated 'You See You Dumbass, I Actually Rescued You From Your Stupidity' kind of glare, but a different, chokeconcernedchoke kind of glare; and Yue didn't know if he wanted to puke blood at that. "Stop thinking too much..." she said, "You should learn more from Tsukishiro-kun... he's more fun than you are." she replaced the concerned look with a smug one. Instantly, Yue felt the urge to throw her down the 40th floor of Daidouji Company building with a hundred pounds of metal tied around her feet. "But don't worry, Yue-san..." she turned a comical glance at Yue. "I'll always be there to save you. I got your back, ne?" she winked and patted him on the head as if he was a little boy.
Yue looked extremely murderous.
He was still busy throwing her his Looks when Ruby Moon's gaze narrowed at something above them once more, "Move!" she shouted and pushed him out of the hammer's way.
"Two in a row!" Ruby Moon grinned. Yue frowned and let the plush toy suffer his wrath instead by using it as a gigantic pincushion — or something similar to that — for his bolts of crystal shards. She DID have a point, he admitted grudgingly, but she really DIDN'T need to flaunt it over HIS face.
And by that, he went over the fence and leagues, out of the definition by being officially, scarily cranky.
He somehow managed to make the penguin look like a giant cactus with crystal-clear thorns — or shards, or whatever possible name one would wish to bestow upon it. But all that Yue knew was that, he's positively, absolutely, not liking the idea of a certain Ruby Moon getting the upper hand. He almost exploded. Again.
Good thing the penguin was there to serve as his pincushion.
"Hey Suppi!" called Cerberus. A vein swelled on Spinel's head, "Check this out!" he opened his mouth and blasted a good round of flame — in higher intensity than usual — burning the penguin's arm in whole. It tried to extinguish the flame with its other arm but unfortunately for it, Li made sure, with his kashin shourai, it didn't even flap one single bit. "Bulls eye!" grinned the lion.
"Show off..." Spinel grumbled.
"Now I would LOVE to see that on video! I'm SO cool!"
"Stupid, conceited, GREEDY, show off..." Spinel grumbled some more with passion.
"Did you capture my AWESOME move on that thing, Tomoyo-chaaaan?" He cackled delightedly and turned towards the empty ground. "Tomoyo-chan?" He blinked and eyed the ground still. "Where's Tomoyo-chan?"
A brief shriek was heard from the Clock Tower.
Everyone spun around and saw the hooded figure poise his forefinger up on Tomoyo's forehead. And, after a certain yellow light flickered, she was rendered unconscious...
Yue's eyes widen in realization. So, that's the reason why one non-magical being didn't vanish. They were after the mistress' best friend.
"Tomoyo-chaaaaaaaan!" screamed Sakura, immediately pulling out a card to give the annoying, annoyed penguin one good beating. "Earthy!"
In two shakes, the earthy card shook the grounds and half swallowed the penguin. She pulled out another card, "Sword!" Sakura flew forward and divided the penguin into two, miserable halves; sending a burst of plush toys riveting everywhere before catapulting herself upward towards the clock tower; the fly card sprouting on her back.
The others followed; Cerberus landed on the ground and shouted at Li, "Hey brat!" he called. "Saddle up!"
Well, they could get along when they wanted to, anyway.
Li immediately jumped behind Cerberus and made a flying dash towards the clock tower. It was then did he sense the familiar aura again. "Is that..." Li quietly spoke, but the bigger version of the plush toy heard him.
"It's him alright..." said Cerberus, "But what does he want with Tomoyo?"
"You tell me." answered Li, double checking Hiiragizawa and was severely disappointed to find out he was telling the truth.
Sakura abruptly halted and spun, realizing that she was really seeing something on the side while they were flying out towards the Clock Tower. "Shield!" a single sapphire shard collided on her barrier.
"Didn't think so..." said the winged female; smirking back at them in amusement with inexplicable confidence.
Yue jumped — flew forward to defend his mistress. Ruby Moon followed; and so did Spinel Sun, Cerberus and Li-kun in tow, all bearing the same murderously skewering glares.
She let out one calculating smile; "I wouldn't worry a trifle about the one in front of me, for a while... well, not just YET at least..." she threw a look at her master who was currently carrying an unconscious Tomoyo. "If one other case meant more than the other..."
The hooded figure smirked, chuckling amused evil.
Sakura looked worried. Eriol and Spinel stared at them in quiet dislike. Ruby Moon scowled. Yue glared.
Li and Cerberus swore the same word, at the same time.
"Mind introducing yourself first?" Eriol floated next to them, Sakura followed shortly.
The winged female merely smirked. Then the tiger suddenly materialized next to her, "You must forgive her rudeness..." he smiled, amiably, as if upon appearance he was expecting a casual trivial discussion over a cup of green tea and delicious sweets. "My name is Cyrus and she's Raven." The smile on Cyrus' face turned awfully cheerful. "Pleased to meet your acquaintance!"
He wasn't even offended when seven deadpanned faces met him.
"Well they don't look too pleased..." Raven chuckled, amusedly. "But I guess it could be pardoned, especially..." she turned a mocking look at a half-scowling Li-kun. "After what I did to him..."
"Speak for yourself..." Cyrus grinned at the dangerous glares he was receiving from Spinel Sun and Cerberus, positively turning murderous, both in thoughts and in looks. His grin intensified.
He could tell how fun everything would be later on...
"How about him?" Eriol looked extremely calm, which wasn't entirely a good sign, thought Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun. Whenever Eriol resorted to that look in extreme cases, it usually meant he's totally disliking the whole situation. It's just his way of setting things in order before going to his actual plan and this certainly had a lot to do with everything. And both his guardians knew Eriol was exactly the epitome of the saying, action speaks louder than words — more than the cat and mouse show on a TV program that Spinel Sun abhors since it was giving Nakuru ideas of twisted fun for herself, and torture FOR himself — and quite dangerous at that. They didn't want to think about it.
"I don't think we're called to answer that but if you wanted to, you may as well approach him..." muttered Raven before poising her right hand up with a lopsided smile, suggesting danger after glowing shards of sapphires began surrounding her. "And our master instructed us as well to give you... presents..." she smiled, sweetly, with a biting, dangerous edge to it since his piercing green-gray eyes were surely talking in volumes. Large volumes.
Cyrus settled comfortably in midair and opened his mouth. The same dangerous radiance was building up in concentration.
They had a horrible sense of what was coming next, and before anyone could even say snap, the attacks came out at the same time...
"Shield!" Sakura summoned again, light surrounding them in a way that proved to be fatal if necessary courses of actions were not taken into considerations.
"Where's Eriol?" Ruby Moon broke the ice, looking around inside the barrier in distress. When everybody was aware of the fact that Eriol wasn't inside the barrier, they couldn't do anything but wait until the light faded. And when it did, they just saw him coming face to face with the hooded man.
Spinel and Ruby Moon were most horrified. "Eriol!" they darted out of the barrier but were stopped midway by Cyrus and Raven.
"What's wrong?" Cyrus feigned a hurt look, clicking his tongue in the process before turning a glance towards the clock tower. "Don't you guys wanna play with us anymore?"
Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun looked like they wanted to roast him, then mince him to minute sizes until no one would ever recognize him anymore; and then, afterwards, feed him to the sharks to complete the whole set of passionate torture.
Li-kun cursed and muttered something about dumb heroics, and how he would absolutely kill Hiiragizawa if something bad happens to him. In other words, Li-kun was saying he actually cared for the guy.
Though he'd lash his tongue out first before Hiiragizawa hears it.
Eriol confronted the hooded figure, straight-faced. "Clow Reed..." he said, "I wasn't aware there are three of us..." he suspiciously lowered a Look to check, "Or WERE there?"
He heard him chuckle evilly. Too evil, in fact, he even dumped the suspicion that this was Fujitaka-sensei cloaked in burnoose hood. "Let's just say that Clow Reed hid a lot of things..." he smiled. "Because if he didn't, you never would've created mistakes—" Eriol's eyes narrowed at this. "—And learned from them."
"What do you mean by that?" there was a dangerous biting edge in Eriol's voice as his eyes narrowed into slits.
"I remember Fujitaka-sensei saying something about Clow Reed leaving something for you to figure out..." the hooded man upturned a smile, "... and I just HAVE to agree... It isn't accurate but it can stand as a clue..." he chuckled. "Because it wouldn't be fun at all if you remember... You just have to fall into the puzzle perfectly... Eriol-kun."
And if there was one thing that Eriol didn't like, it was being utterly confused in such dangerous position.
"They're talking..." Yue's eyes narrowed down at Eriol's and the hood's figures on the clock tower.
"Really?" Cerberus made an effort to dodge the tiger's attack with Li-kun holding on, listening to their conversation as well. "I wonder what they're talking about this time... Duck."
Li slumped down, barely saving himself from Cyrus' claws; Cerberus made a motion to ram the tiger's side but failed.
"Probably some stuff about the past..." Li-kun suggested, halting a trifle to glance at the clock tower. "But really... Clow reincarnated himself into three?" he shook his head, "Even so, why would he do something like this?"
Yue and Cerberus shrugged.
"He had problems. And Clow, more or less, had a very twisted way of thinking. He doesn't talk about his plans a lot so..." Cerberus explained, dodging another attack before ramming his head on the tiger's side again. "Don't. Ask. Me."
Yue, grudgingly, HAD to agree.
And all the while Cyrus was dodging each of their attacks; he allowed an impish snicker under his breath, totally aware of their little verbal exchange...
Eriol was still processing his words in his brain. What did he mean by falling into the puzzle perfectly?
Sure, it was very much like Clow Reed to form mental puzzles of plans in his head but he couldn't figure out how or why, for the life of it, his past self placed HIM — which was technically, HIMSELF — on one of the checkered boxes. What annoyed him equally was he couldn't remember. He didn't have a clue. He was utterly at the point of unknowing everything that was happening, he even felt sorry for Fujitaka-sensei for living a life under the fog of fake memories and other things...
Well, even if he is, said the little voice inside his head, at least Fujitaka-sensei is happier than you are.
He kicked himself mentally before turning a bland look at the hood. It wasn't the time for jigsaw questions. "Even so, why are you involving Daidouji-san in all of these?"
The hood turned a suspicious-looking lazy smile, "Nothing much really..." Clow Reed's insignia appeared beneath him, "I just want to know your reaction if something terrible happens to one of your..." the smile revealed its evil streak, "Friends..."
Eriol sharply stared at him. "Do NOT involve others in this one."
His other self only snickered then motioned to do something...
Eriol's eyes widened. "Don't you even dare..." he warned, raising his own staff that was identical with the other's own...
Their spells collided.
Tsuzuku...
a.) Originally, I wasn't really planning to separate the second part of winter season but my precious beta reader (VampirePeaches! 'Waves') told me it was toooooo loooooooooong. (I agree anyway... 19,000 words... ehehehe) So I split this up to two but I'm going to post it soon, don't worry... XD XD XD So give me reviews, else I'm not going to do anything! XD XD XD