Heaven by your Side

By brokenshadow23

Summary:

Eriol Hiiragizawa was the protector Tomoyo could ask for. Despite the number of times she pushed him away, he remained on her side and held her tight. But what if an inevitable thing comes their way? How can he protect her fragile heart?

Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to Clamp.

Author's Notes: And I'm down to last three chapters. It won't take that long now since I already wrote the draft for the next two chapters. Anyway, arunimons asked me in a review how come Tomoyo lost her voice with her condition called hyperthyroidism. Honestly, this was one of the reasons why it took me so long to write that chapter since I was trying to get the information too. Yes, the condition can be treated with PTU or other medication, but if it is on the late stage, it will require surgery. Then during neck operation, damaging the laryngeal nerves may lead to hoarseness of voice or permanent loss. It's very rare though, but it's possible. hehe. It's actually one of the complications that was raised to my friend who has the same condition. :)

Thanks for those who reviewed the last chapter! You really made me happy. :)

Happy New Year guys! Don't forget to review okay? :)

Last Chapter:

Finally, amethyst eyes turned to meet those emerald ones. Then Tomoyo looked down to write and lifted the notebook, "I let him go."

Sakura remained silent for a moment, understanding what was happening. "Are you sure?"

Tomoyo sighed inwardly and gave a soft smile. "I'll be okay, Sakura."

Chapter Sixteen:

The Search

Taking a sip of his coffee, Eriol stared out the window and saw the calmness outside his mansion. It was early sunrise, so the sounds of trees swaying along the wind and bird playing happily were the only things he could hear.

If only life were that simple.

If only he could just be like one of the birds that were enjoying the beauty of that day, without thinking of a certain someone seas away from him. Unfortunately, he wasn't. The happiness that he felt yesterday turned and was filled with confusion. To make it worse, he was tired, not only because of the tons of work he finished yesterday, but for being unable to sleep. He read Tomoyo's letter over and over again, figuring out what went wrong. He even memorized each word, but nothing gave him a clue to what made her decide to leave him.

Sure, he knew that having a long distance relationship was a struggle. He had heard many people comment that having your special person be in another continent was a sentence to a relationship. However, that should not be the case for them, shouldn't it?

They began being far away from each other since the beginning. Yet, with the series of phone calls and his travel to Japan every vacation, he did not see any trouble and saw that Tomoyo enjoyed that as well. Sure, they have arguments once in a while, but they could easily resolve it with compromise.

Though he had to admit that for the past days, he did not call her since he was busy with his transfer. And he knew that Tomoyo was busy with Sakura's wedding preparations too.

Taking a deep breath, Eriol tried to relax. For the first time in his life, he felt lost. Tomoyo was the only person he invested himself too much and now, without any warnings, she was disappearing from him.

"Kaho," he called out, "I need to go back to Japan."

Kaho finally opened the door to his study, after how many minutes of eavesdropping on him. Being with Eriol for a long time, she could easily understand his actions. Last night, after she gave the letter, Eriol locked himself in his study. The food she left on the table was still untouched this morning so she decided to look for him and found out that she was right. Something was going on. "I thought you have few weeks more left? And when did you make this decision?"

"Just now."

"Just now?"

"Now," he said firmly, not even looking back.

Kaho nodded, but threw a worried look. "I'll buy the ticket right away. You'll leave as soon as possible."

"Thank you."

Shutting the door behind her, Kaho came face to face with Nakuru and Spinel. They looked worried too, as expected from being his guardians.

"Hey, Kaho, what's wrong with him?" Nakuru asked, quietly.

Kaho raised a finger on her lips, signaling them to be silent. From what she saw, Eriol was not in his usual kind self. She was sure that he would not appreciate that his guardians were meddling with his personal life. She took few steps away from the room before she said, "It's the matters of the heart, Nakuru. Let's leave him be."

xoxoxoxoxox

After few days of being idle, Tomoyo was glad that she was back to her work. She, Sakura and Syaoran were at the wedding planner's now, trying to sort the things she left unfinished during her hospitalization.

Staring at her notebook from time to time, she conversed with the wedding planner about the dresses first. The wedding dress was halfway done and after that she have to work on the bridesmaids dresses. Luckily, she finished designing yesterday after Sakura's outburst in the morning.

"Are you sure she's okay?" Syaoran asked, watching Tomoyo at the end of the room. They were checking the list of guests in the invitations, but he couldn't help but be worried about her after the series of happenings she had gone through.

"I don't know." Sakura answered and sighed. "I insisted for her to take a rest, but she knew very well how to convince me."

"I think she's trying to distract herself."

Sakura nodded. "That's what I am thinking too. I still couldn't believe that she let Eriol go."

"I don't believe that Eriol would let her off that easily though," Syaoran said, knowing the English man's nature. Since they were in the fifth grade, he knew that Eriol was a type of person who wants to know mostly everything. He used his intellect in solving situations and even at times, in trying to manipulate people for their own good.

Sakura stared at her fiancée's amber eyes and smiled sadly. "I hope you're right."

"I will." Syaoran said, determined. "However, I am warning you Ms. Kinomoto. Don't you ever do what Tomoyo had done, okay?"

"Or else what?" Sakura challenged, smiling happily now.

"Or else I would jump on a plane the minute you say your goodbye and I will hunt you down the worst possible way." Syaoran answered then began to smile too.

Sakura giggled. "You really love me that much, don't you?" She said, "Don't worry, we have few weeks left."

"Few weeks left."

Tomoyo smiled, finally closing her notebook. Turning to her right, she caught the perfect glimpse of Syaoran and Sakura kiss. If she were in her normal self, she must have immediately pulled out the camera to record it, but she remained still and simply watched. She was happy for them, sure, but the sight instantly made her remember how it felt like to love and be loved.

'I made the right decision.' She convinced herself as she tried her best to remove the image of Eriol in her mind for the nth time.

Xoxoxoxoxox

Eriol arrived in Japan few hours after. He could feel his eyes giving up on him so he decided to take the rest and leave the searching for tomorrow. With Sakura and Syaoran's wedding set, he doubted that Tomoyo would do something reckless. He knew that Tomoyo would not be selfish enough to make Sakura worry, plus the wedding was one of Tomoyo's dreams as well.

"Do you want me to find Tomoyo for you, master?"

Half-opening his eyes, Eriol saw Nakuru standing in front of him. "It's okay, Nakuru. I'll search for her tomorrow. Just enjoy your vacation with Spinel okay?"

Nakuru hesitated at first, but decided to comply with his wish. There was nothing she could do after all. She made a deal with Kaho to not interfere for her plane ticket, and she was sure that if ever she would break it, Spinel would report.

'Might as well relax for a while then.'

Xoxoxoxoxox

The streets in Japan had always been welcoming for him.

Except today.

Eriol continued to walk in town, watching every person he came across with. Mostly were unfamiliar faces, even in the stores he went through before didn't have the same person to smile at him. It's probably because he had been away for long and his friends in Tomoeda elementary simply moved on with their lives. Actually, he didn't mind to be with strangers. Some times it's even comforting for him to move in front of the people he had no relations with since he could easily move without taking consideration of their thoughts and feelings.

Well, that's for him.

He wasn't sure about Sakura and Tomoyo though. Today, he would probably become a stranger to them. An unwelcomed, scary stranger.

After few days of searching, he finally knew Tomoyo's whereabouts from Nakuru. Though he planned to search himself, he decided to grab his guardian's help since he did not want to alarm anyone with his arrival. He did not want to cause commotion after all. He just wanted to know first and his actions would follow after.

Arriving at his destination, Eriol stood across the street and saw the wedding planner's shop Nakuru mentioned. He knew that his friends would be there at this time since Nakuru had been resourceful enough to get all the details he needed. He watched the people moving inside and finally saw her.

Eriol took in a deep breath and tried to calm down. He needed to pull himself altogether before he show himself. He watched, easily noticing something different that he couldn't put a finger on.

It took almost an hour when his wait ended and Tomoyo went out.

Eriol remained in his position. There was no need to move since her amethyst eyes immediately locked in his sapphire ones. He held it for a second then all of a sudden, Tomoyo's expression turned into fear and horror.

"Tomoyo, wait!" Eriol shouted, seeing her ran to the left. He tried to catch up, but a black car immediately came into the view and took her away. He watched her go, also remembering the time he saw her ran away like that few years back.

"Eriol."

Hearing the gasp behind him, Eriol turned and was glad to see that neither Sakura nor Syaoran decided to hide. He gave him a nod in recognition then knelt down to pick up the notebook, which Tomoyo dropped when she escaped. He flipped it open, finding the scribbles of short words or sentences.

Finally, he removed his eyes on it to meet emerald ones. "Sakura, what's going on?"

The tone of his voice made Sakura shiver. She thought that meeting Eriol again would at least be welcoming. "I…." She began, struggling. His appearance was not a surprise for her, but she didn't expect to be in between Tomoyo's wishes and Eriol's questions.

Feeling the tension rising, Syaoran held Sakura's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Go ahead Sakura." He told his fiancée. "I am sure that Tomoyo needs you right now. I'll pick you up for dinner later."

Eriol did not argue. He sighed inwardly; releasing the tension he wasn't sure for how long he had been holding.

Sakura gave a small smile to Eriol before turning to Syaoran to kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you." She whispered. "I love you."

"I love you too." Syaoran mumbled and watched her walk away. Once Sakura was a bit far from them, he smiled at Eriol. "Do you want to hit the bar or is it okay for you to join me in my training?"