The three days after that passed without much incident, and still no word from the mysterious witch. Although Sakura almost smacked Yamazaki a couple times when he popped up behind them, as he often did, because she was so jumpy. Tomoyo was slightly more composed than her friend, but not by much. The usual cool, sweet, and polite facade that Tomoyo could put up with ease was not coming as naturally, and as a result she felt much more exhausted at the end of each day. Despite her fatigue, when she lay down to sleep her mind would start racing, and would re-play her conversation with Yuko over and over. If this is the price of not being bored, maybe I have had enough, Tomoyo kept asking herself, but she also could not deny or forget the exhilaration she had felt setting foot in that shop.

Tomoyo collapsed down on her giant four poster bed at the end of the third day, totally spent. Tomorrow was Sunday, so no school, thankfully; but she, Sakura ,and Kero were planning to meet anyway to try to brainstorm some more, as fruitless as it felt. She had just gotten home from her regular choir meeting, and her Mother had left a note saying she would be late at work. The maids were down in their private quarters all the way on the other side of the mansion so Tomoyo relaxed her face, melting into the down comforter as she closed her eyes. This was about the only alone time she had gotten this week now that she thought about it. Her respite did not last long though; she heard her cell phone start vibrating inside her bag across the room where she had uncharacteristically thrown it to the floor a couple minutes earlier.

Heaving a big sigh, Tomoyo dragged herself out of bed to answer.

"Hello?" she asked, sounding a little more exasperated than she felt.

"Is this a bad time?" replied a deep woman's voice.

Tomoyo's eyes shot open in surprise, it was Yuko. Realizing that she still hadn't answered, Tomoyo stuttered a little bit as she switched the phone to her other ear and sat down on the sofa, "N-no I apologize, now is fine."

"Someone will be arriving at your door soon. He needs a temporary sanctuary, and staying with me is out of the question for various reasons so I gave him your address. Oh and I told him to wait somewhere inconspicuous rather than ringing the doorbell and alerting anyone to his presence, so you better go check in a couple minutes," Yuko's silky voice glided through the receiver, but Tomoyo thought she heard a smirk as the witch continued,"He's a lot less scary than he looks, I promise."

Tomoyo was stunned silent. She almost pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Maybe I was so tired I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow and everything since then has been a dream. No that's not right, she knew that. But still, it was tempting to believe.

Someone staying here? What?!

Even though it was probably within Tomoyo's rights to demand somewhat of an explanation her breeding and manners kicked in before she could think about it and so instead she replied rather dumbly, "I-I see. And this… this is the task that you told me you would compensate me for?"

"Yes of course, the balance must be maintained, though we will have to discuss the details of that later, now I must go! I apologize for not making better introductions, have fun, ne?" Yuko intoned cheerily, and hung up.

Tomoyo sat there holding her phone for a full minute, still in shock. What had just happened? How am I supposed to hide a strange man in my house? Why SHOULD a sixteen year old girl be hiding a strange man in her house?! She stood up suddenly, clenching her fists, anger and frustration flowing through her small body in powerful waves. I've taken everything pretty much in stride so far, but this is getting ridiculous! Anger wasn't something that Tomoyo normally succumbed to, but she actually had quite a stubborn temper once she got fired up, and all the stress of the past three days had welled up inside her. The accompanying rush of adrenaline perhaps was a blessing in disguise, as she put on a house coat and shoes to venture out into the dark to search for this "scary looking" man. At most other times Tomoyo probably would have felt afraid to wander outside at night knowing there was a possibly dangerous person lurking around, without Sakura at least. But tonight for whatever reason was the straw that broke the camel's back. She was tired of being the ever prepared, ever reasonable, ever dependable Tomoyo. Does nobody ever stop to think about my feelings? Right now she wanted nothing better than to curl up in bed and forget about everything; her boredom had been cured, but at the price of her composure. She was still rational enough to think about what would happen if her family bodyguards found a suspicious person hiding on the grounds, however, so she quickened her pace despite her frustration.

Tomoyo knew the grounds like the back of her hand, she had been sneaking out of the house at night since she was 10 years old after all. But once she got outside and had done a lap of the property there was still no sign of this mysterious person. It would of course be easier if she knew what she was looking for or where exactly to look; her family's house wasn't particularly small. But when she rounded the corner of the small garden shed that was tucked away at the rear of the property, two very large, strong hands darted out to grab her. One clamped firmly over her mouth, the other wrapping around her waist to yank her jarringly further into the shadows. She screamed of course, but only a muffled screech escaped through the man's fingers. Then a deep and deceptively calm voice growled out, "I will not harm you I promise… Are you the young miss Daidouji Tomoyo?" right next to her ear. His hand did not leave her mouth so Tomoyo just nodded under his grip. But then to her surprise he let go with a loud sigh of relief and promptly collapsed to the ground, almost bringing Tomoyo with him.

For her part Tomoyo did her best not to shriek and wake any of the house staff. She took a step back catching her breath. Now able to get a look at her temporary captor, she noticed just how large this man was. He was easily 6'4" maybe even taller, with black hair drenched with sweat dripping over his face. His huge body was anything but lanky, there was definitely a very strong muscle core underneath his tanned skin, and Tomoyo had felt the calluses on his hands when he grabbed her face. It was clear that this man was at least some kind of physical laborer, but judging from his quick instincts and skills when he had grabbed her, Tomoyo guessed maybe even military.

One more quick glance told her that there was no way she would be able to carry this man inside by herself, he was just too heavy. Never mind about getting caught, it would be impossible even for her to drag him more than a few feet. What have I gotten myself into? She sighed before pulling her cell phone out of her pocket to dial Sakura. With the float and illusion cards it would be easy to get the man inside unseen as long as Sakura could get here quickly. Her earlier anger now totally dissipated from the shock and this man's obvious need for medical care, Tomoyo switched back into "Tomoyo" mode. Ever ready, ever efficient.

The man slept fitfully the whole night in the bed she had prepared for him in her closet. Which wasn't much of a imposition considering Tomoyo's closet was as big as most Japanese people's rooms. Sakura and Kero had arrived right away after Tomoyo called and with their help, she managed to get the man cleaned up and looked over. Sakura used magic to try to help his system fight off whatever was plaguing him.

"I'm afraid that's all I can do," she said, "His aura feels more balanced now but if he has internal bleeding or anything more serious…" sounding genuinely apologetic for this man she didn't even know. She stumbled as she tried to stand and Tomoyo rushed over to catch her.

"Ne, SA-KU-RA," Kero scolded, "Why did you use so much energy on this stranger? I've told you before healing magic is dangerous!"

Sakura looked up at Tomoyo with a shaky smile before righting herself, "Because the Witch entrusted Tomoyo with this important task right? And besides I can't just stand by and do nothing. He looked like he was suffering terribly…"

Sakura's empathy and raw compassion still surprised Tomoyo sometimes. But Sakura had been right. The man looked a little better now that they had wiped the sweat from him, and the magic had calmed him somewhat, but Tomoyo was still worried. It seemed he had a terrible fever, and it had not broken yet, even now, hours later. Sakura and Kero went back home so that Sakura could rest and be back in time for breakfast, to pretend she hadn't snuck out, though surely Touya had noticed, as he always did. Yukito was currently away on a college trip but Tomoyo knew the inherently suspicious and mysterious Yue would have something to say about all of this too.

Sakura and her other guardian would be coming back later in the day, as they had originally intended, though the circumstances had changed of course. Rather than brainstorm about what Yuko could possibly want of Tomoyo, now they would be consumed with what to do once this man woke. This currently left Tomoyo by herself with the patient, and the thought struck her that she didn't even know this man's name. What she really wanted was to speak to Yuko, ask her to expound on the minimal information she had shared last night, and most of all to figure out what the Witch expected her to realistically do. But of course, Tomoyo had no way to initiate contact, she could only wait for another phone call from a 'restricted' number, or hope that the shop appeared once more.

"no… NO… mother…"

Tomoyo was startled out of her thoughts, and she rushed to the man's side, struggling to stay out of the way of his flailing arms. He was tossing and turning much more violently now, and this was the first time she had heard his voice since last night. It seemed that the vision behind his eyelids was horrific, he was making clawing motions and all intelligible words had given way to pitiful moans of terror. This was the first time Tomoyo had ever seen an adult man cry or look this way; it was strange but she didn't let it bother her. Finally managing to restrain his fists she started quietly comforting the man not really realizing what she was doing, just letting her own incredibly kind instincts kick in.

"Shhhhh, it's ok. You're safe, whatever you're seeing, it's over now. There's no danger here. Shhhh be at peace…"

She was stroking his forehead now, and her words were having their intended effect. The man's breathing was still uneven, but he wasn't thrashing anymore, and his face had relaxed from the grimace that had been there all night. Tomoyo breathed her own sigh of relief, this was the only marked improvement she had seen in a couple of hours. Dawn was approaching, and Tomoyo had gotten no sleep, focusing instead of course on the patient in her care. Sitting in the chair she had pulled next to the bed, Tomoyo leaned her head on her crossed forearms, closed her eyes, only meaning to take a short rest, but of course sleep soon came to her.

She dreamt of a mirror. Or at least that's what she thought it was at first, but of course it wasn't a mirror, it must have been more of a window, for the Tomoyo on the other side was wearing an ornamental head dress and elegant very old fashioned kimono. The edges of this Tomoyo's eyes were turned up in a subtle smile as she beckoned the sleeping Tomoyo closer.

"Hey,"

A gruff voice woke her, and she felt a hand on her shoulder. She was startled at the still unfamiliar voice and confused as to why she was looking around at her wardrobe on hangers. But then of course the last bits of sleep were chased away as she came face to face with… she still didn't know his name. Rubbing her eyes and smoothing her hair down she finally replied, "Good Morning."

Utter silence passed between them, except for the first chirping of the morning's birds outside.

"Don't you have any questions for me? I would if I were you."

The man's informal, almost rude tone put Tomoyo off but she didn't let it show on her face, because she did have many questions.

"May I know your name?" she asked with a strained smile.

"Kurogane," he answered almost immediately.

"Kurogane… - san, well then, pleased to meet you, my name is Daidouji Tomoyo, though you knew that I suppose," she introduced herself almost by force of habit. She could see that her extreme politeness was grating to the man. Tomoyo resolved not to let him get the better of her or scare her when they were sitting in her closet, in her home, after she had taken care of him all night long. He didn't respond despite his apparent annoyance. If he is going to be like this, then fine.

Standing up and looking down at Kurogane she said, "Well I'm sure you would like to get yourself cleaned up, I'm going to sleep for a couple more hours in my own bed. Feel free to use the bathroom in my suite though I wouldn't wander outside, unless you'd like to give one of my poor maids a heart attack. I don't know what trouble you are in or how long you expect to stay here… but I made a deal with the Witch, exactly how or for what reason, I'm not sure either. I was hoping perhaps the two of us could have a nice chat once you were feeling a little better but maybe you still don't feel well enough…"

"Thank you," he barked out, interrupting her.

That definitely wasn't what Tomoyo had expected.

"That Witch," he continued hesitating slightly at first, "she's not normal. I mean she doesn't follow regular Japanese custom, she doesn't think how her decisions affect other people. So thank you, for taking me in, in the middle of the night. Just take my advice and stay on the lending side with her, payment she collects is almost never in the form of money."

The pensive, halting tone of Kurogane's voice was an extreme juxtaposition to his gruff appearance, so despite her own exhaustion Tomoyo's curiosity reached up and asked, "And you? What payment did Yuko demand of you?"

She regretted speaking as soon as the words left her mouth, as Kurogane tensed visibly. Any barriers he may have let down went flying back up as he broke their eye contact.

Tomoyo bowed at the waist, a bit lower than she normally would to convey her remorse,

"I beg your pardon, I realize that was a terribly personal question. I'm going to go get some rest and I hope you can do the same."

Kurogane was done talking now it seemed, for he merely grunted a reply. However he did sit up slightly and nod at Tomoyo's bow, he couldn't help responding to her formal but genuine apology.

When she re-entered the bedroom from the closet Tomoyo let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. However, any remaining disconcerting thoughts drifted away as soon as her head hit the pillow.