Title: Finding Solace

Pairing: Tomoyo/Touya

Cannon: Manga

Her best friend was getting married. Correction, her best friend and the woman she loved. Yes, woman. Not only a woman but her second cousin. Twice the sin. But it was Sakura. It didn't matter who Sakura was, male, female, whatever. She would have loved her either way. But now she was getting married. And she was the Maid of Honour.

She was truly happy for her friend, really. Nothing meant more to her than to have Sakura happy. And Li could give her that happiness. She wished him well, too. They were both her dear friends. Nothing about the whole situation really upset her. She wanted them both to be happy and they would be. They really would. And she was happy for them.

But her heart was still breaking in the finality of the situation. Any last remnants of hope left in her heart were now darkened forever, as they should have been years ago.

It was time now. Tomoyo smiled and entered the room where her friend sat nervously fingering the beautiful dress she herself had made. She smiled and made herself ignore the pain that irrationally imposed itself upon her as she set forward in procession of women who would stand and watch their friend adoringly, enviously and contentedly.

It was time to let go.

It was time to let go. She was his sister. He was a good man. He would take care of her. Even if he was a Chinese brat. And if Li didn't take care of her, he would have every satisfaction of beating him to death.

Still, for so long she had been his to take care of. She was his to protect, to care for, to love. She was the one woman in his life who had always been there. She was the consistency in his life. She meant more to him than a simple brother sister relationship. She was more in his life than a little sister.

He knew that perhaps his amount of affection for her wasn't entirely natural. Some might say that it bordered on incestuous but he was more honest. He had no desire for his sister like that. The idea was repulsive. But she was still the only woman he loved. Every other woman had left, she had stayed.

But now she was leaving. And he had to let her go. He had to let her be happy. He wanted her happiness. Even if it meant that he was going to be alone now. Sure he wasn't really alone. He still had his sister. She was still there for him to hug at the end of the day, unlike his mother and father who had passed away the year previous. She was still there.

But she was still leaving just like everyone else had. Like Yuki had. Taken away harshly by the Moon Guardian who had to swallow the alternate personality in hopes of remaining alive when Sakura had lost herself in depression after her father's death. It was assured that Yuki would return, one day. Perhaps.

But now, on this day, Touya was alone. He felt it so harshly, as if he had walked into a brick wall. Still, he had to let go. He had to let her be happy and put away all the feelings that raged in his veins. Straightening, he smiled down at his sister in her beautiful gown as Tomoyo stepped from the room to process out before them. She smiled gently up at him, obviously a little nervous. Then they stepped forward, processing to the front among all the guests who stared at the couple lovingly.

He gave her away with a smile in his father's place. They looked at each other in mutual sadness for a moment as both realized once again the missing person but it only lasted a second before she stepped away and walked towards Li.

It was done.

It was done. She had watched her friend marry someone else. She had spoken kindly to them at the reception and wished them luck. Now she was alone once more. The large room was still filled with people. Many of them were Chinese and milled around talking to others. Tomoyo couldn't help but stare in mild interest at Li's mother and sisters, but it was only a fleeting interest.

Tomoyo felt hollow. She had lost her best friend in more than one way this day. In reality, not much had really changed. Tomoyo knew she would see her friend just as much as she had before. This was not a new loss. They had been together for so long.

But that comfort was taken from her as well when she heard the Li women pass by her chatting quietly.

"Oh, I'm so glad little brother will be coming back home soon."

"He did tell the little cherry blossom didn't he?"

"He says he did. She seemed a little sad about having to move so far from her family. So he told me that he plans to make regular trips back here with her."

"Is that alright mother?"

"He will assume the head of the clan when he returns. If he says it's alright, we can hardly stop him."

"Yes, but..."

The conversation trailed off. Tomoyo stared at the space in agony. Sakura hadn't mentioned any of this. Perhaps it had slipped her mind, but Tomoyo knew better. Sakura had kept it a secret on purpose. She hadn't wanted to sadden her friend anymore than was necessary. Sakura wouldn't know how to say it. But this was too much.

Looking around desperately, Tomoyo searched for someone to anchor onto, someone who would bring her stability. Her eyes flitted through the room quickly, anxiously. It only took a moment before her breath caught and she found someone else doing something so similar.

Violet eyes clashed with brown.

Touya locked eyes with his sister's friend. It was obvious from the look on her face that she too had overheard the conversation. She too was feeling the sudden loss. Silently he stared at her for a minute before standing up and turning to walk out onto the patio of the large hall.

As he had planned, she followed and he wondered just what he was doing really. He had frequently discussed things with Tomoyo when he was upset, but it just seemed like the natural thing to do. She was the type of person everyone confessed to. She had listened to him many times without even needing to speak. She exuded comfort.

But this was different, he realized. This time she too was upset. Oh, long ago he had guessed what she kept hidden. Unlike his sister, he caught the longing looks she would sometimes send towards her dearest friends. Much like her mother had once sent to his own he supposed. He knew that she felt this loss as much as he did, if not more. He didn't know what he could do for her, but perhaps just this once he could try. Or at the very least, he could share the pain instead of unloading it.

She came to stand beside him as he leaned on the stone wall that surrounded the small patio raised slightly from the gardens outside the paved walk. He noticed that she didn't lean onto it for support like he did. No she never did something like that. She was never the sort to lean on anyone. He stared at her and wondered what that must be like. She was always so calm and yet he knew she must feel pain and hurt and terror just like everyone else. Still she managed to be so calm. She managed to hold it all in without forcing anyone else to hear her worries.

In that moment, he did something he had never done before and pulled her into a hug. Tomoyo stiffened in surprise for a moment before leaning into him and wrapping her arms around him.

Tomoyo couldn't hold it in anymore. She had never before embraced Touya. There had never been any call to. When she thought about it though it felt perhaps a bit weird. They were relatives and had known each other for most of her life. Yet never once had they embraced and shared a hug. It seemed unnatural. Especially in light of how good it now felt.

She leaned into his hard chest and didn't object when she felt him sway ever so slightly in a rocking manner. He was giving her comfort, she realized. He was comforting her in exchange for all the comfort she had given him, all the times she had listened without mind. She was truly grateful, but she also felt bad. She knew he was suffering as much as she was.

Pulling away, Tomoyo looked up into his deep brown eyes. A world of emotion and words passed silently between them as they stared into each other's eyes. Then, in silent agreement, Touya bent his head and Tomoyo reached up to share in a tender kiss. They both recognized the loss in each other and in that moment they both prayed to find solace in the other.

The next morning, Touya woke to the gentle sounds of fabric swishing. Opening his eyes, he saw Tomoyo slowly dressing with all the care she had always put into her wardrobe. It was fascinating to watch. He had never seen a woman dress before, never watched the slow and sensual way they put on their clothes.

Suddenly he realized he wouldn't mind waking up to watch her dress again.

When she had finished dressing, Touya saw as she made to leave before speaking up. "Where are you going without saying goodbye?"

Tomoyo jumped a little and turned around quickly. She hadn't thought he had woken up. She had dressed quietly on purpose, trying hard to keep the resolve she had mustered after slipping out of the warm and comforting embrace he had afforded her.

It had taken all she had to get out of bed.

"I was going home. I didn't think goodbye was necessary."

"You were wrong," he muttered, sitting up and pulling his legs to one side of the bed. Wrapping the sheet around his waist he stood and walked over to her.

Tomoyo bit her lip and closed her eyes. It was too much for her. The night previous had been filled with so many warring emotions. Then to have such a violently passionate reaction to a man she had seen for so many years as a friend, a brother almost, it was more than she could handle.

Touya watched her carefully as he approached. He could tell that she was desperately trying to keep her calm demeanor. For some reason, he really didn't want her to. He wanted to her to have the same weird heart beat that he did. The same misunderstanding as to how something like this could come so quickly.

Finally he reached her after what seemed an hour and reached a hand up to caress her cheek. "I don't think you should be leaving at all."

Tomoyo gasped and looked at him. His eyes seared into her. For a moment cold logic jumped into her head and she argued everything. She knew that it was probably nothing really. They were both hurt, they were both at a loss. It would pass, nothing like this could last. No relationship based on this kind of start, this weird passion would ever last. She should say no now before things got bad.

But she couldn't.

Touya smiled as he saw her give up. He too knew everything that had wildly passed through her mind. But he didn't care either. Instead he pulled her back into his arms and once more lowered his lips to kiss her passionately.

For the time being, neither would be alone.

A/N: Now that was fun. I recently read something by another author with this pairing and I wanted to make sure it was very different from that. I hope I managed it. And I know a lot of people are going to be irritated at me for the half explained disappearance of Yuki. But this wasn't about how Yuki disappeared. Still, since I wanted it to be as canon as possible I wanted to make sure there was some mention of Yuki. So thus, he is just gone now, perhaps to return but who knows. If you want further explanation of the logic of him disappearing and not Yue, review and I'll go into it further.

And no, I won't go into further detail and say whether in this story Touya and Tomoyo would actually stay together past a few weeks or not. Use your imagination.