A thousand apologies! I'm so sorry! I got caught up in schoolwork again. I know this chapter won't make up for it, but, here it is anyway!
Married?
by xArcherx
Chapter Eight
"This is going to be a little tricky." Kaho sighed uncharacteristically as she leaned back in her chair. It felt like she was always exhausted no matter how many hours she slept or how many cups of coffee she had to pull herself together. She frowned unconsciously at the thought. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so fatigued. The incident with the fire really was dampening all of their spirits. She glanced at Tomoyo, seated in an identical chair placed across from hers, who looked the exact opposite of how she felt. There was some colour in her usually pale cheeks and her eyes were shining brightly. Tomoyo looked, for the lack of a better term, gleeful.
She seemed to register Kaho's words belatedly. A slight frown marred her features. "Tricky how?"
"Well, for starters, it will take us some time to get there." They were discussing how to get to the Guardians. Kaho stared at her hands curled in her lap. "I can't use magic to transport us."
"Why not?" It frustrated Tomoyo that even after years of being Sakura's closest friend, she still could not grasp certain aspects of the magic that she – and the rest of them – wielded. "I mean, Sakura would often use the Fly Card to get me somewhere if there was an emergency—"
"Sakura's magic is different from my own." Kaho interrupted gently. "She's the Card Mistress. My…access to my magic is much more limited. Especially since I don't use Cards."
Tomoyo's brows knitted in confusion. Again. There were suddenly a lot of questions she needed answers to. But she pushed them away with effort. She could always learn about the technical aspects of Kaho's magic later. As it was, they were running out of time. She took a deep breath and nodded. "So we'll have to book tickets?"
"Yes. That's not exactly a problem. This whole plan will have to be carried out in secret."
Kaho's worried tone only added to her confusion. Hadn't they been over this already? Of course they had to carry this out on their own. Including someone else was unnecessary and dangerous. It was also extremely foolish because they were basically acting on a whim here – something neither of them was comfortable with but that was just how things had unfurled. Desperation had pushed them to take drastic measures. They had to hold on to the smallest, most insignificant clues. That was all that they had. "I understand that." Tomoyo said quietly.
Kaho hastened to explain. "It's just that we can't expect to disappear all of a sudden without a proper, believable explanation. People are much more agitated at the moment than usual, what with everything else that has been taking place. . ." She trailed off, not quite sure of where she was going with that thread of thought. "Can you think of any excuse to give them?"
Tomoyo shook her head. She had been thinking about it every since the previous night, when she had overheard her mother talking to Kaho about the wedding. "I honestly don't know. Mother will throw a fit if I tell her I'm going away for a few days. And Sakura. . .well, I know she has a lot on her plate right now, but what excuse do I give her for abandoning her?"
"Exactly." She took a deep breath and began yet another attempt at dissuading Tomoyo from accompanying her. "It's easier for me to get away. Sonomi-san is in no condition to work. I could persuade her to let me go check—"
"Kaho-chan. Please, don't." Tomoyo's gentle voice stopped her. She stared at the younger girl, biting her lip. "I know that you think it's unnecessary for me to come along. I know that I'm useless when it comes to dealing with magic. But I want to help." She looked up at Kaho, her eyes burning with a fierce determination that was seldom seen on her. "I can't shake away this feeling—this need to be there. I promise to listen to all your instructions. I will try my best to not become a burden."
The earnestness in her voice was not lost on Kaho. She sighed for a second time as she nodded resignedly. "Very well." She smiled tiredly. "Let's move on then."
They discussed various excuses but there was always one loophole or another that made most of the ideas useless. They shot down each other's ideas, debated the pros and cons of some that seemed like they could work but, more often than not, they concluded that the excuses were far-fetched and lapsed into silence soon.
"Maybe we could use Eriol-san." Tomoyo said randomly.
Kaho stiffened noticeably. "What. . .how do you mean?"
"Well, okaa-san is curious to know who he is, isn't she? Perhaps you could say that you've been doing some research and that you might have found something about him." Kaho raised an eyebrow. That was an inadequate explanation but Tomoyo continued. "You could tell her that, to confirm your suspicions, you need to go visit a place."
"She would want to know what exactly I had managed to unearth about him."
"I know. You could tell her it has something to do with his magic and that you'd rather not say anything at all until you are certain that you have your facts right." Tomoyo's eyes were shining again. "You will have to tell her that she will have to keep the reason for your sudden departure a secret because you really don't want a lot of people knowing, just in case you're wrong about everything."
Kaho stared at her thoughtfully. That could work, except. . ."But Tomoyo, where do you come in?"
She smiled bitterly in response.
Sonomi returned to her hotel room after another day at the hospital, worrying incessantly about Sakura and Syaoran and half-hoping and half-dreading to see Eriol Hiiragizawa again. Fortunately, or unfortunately, there had been no sign of the man today and Sonomi had been left to wonder once more about the strange incident that had taken place on Sakura and Syaoran's wedding day.
She sat down on her bed as she removed her heels and then lay flat on her back. Confiding in Kaho about what she had seen had truly helped relieve a major part of the burden that had been bothering her. She had been so afraid of letting people know about what she had seen – she had been quite certain that she would have been termed 'delusional'. But in retrospect, she could not help but admit (to herself) that it had been foolish of her to keep it to herself. Kaho had believed her. Kaho had assured her that she would look into it. She could breathe a little easily now.
The knock on the door startled Sonomi but she sat up immediately when she heard Kaho's voice. She hurried to the door and opened it to find the other woman looking slightly worried. Her heartbeat quickened. She really could not have more than one moment of peace. "What is it? What's happened?"
"Nothing, nothing. May I come in?" Sonomi stood aside to let her in, her panic subsiding slightly. Kaho wanted to talk. That certainly meant there was no imminent danger. She was, however, surprised to find her pacing the length of the room, obviously feeling uneasy. It really was quite a sight to see Kaho wringing her hands.
"Would you like something to drink?"
Kaho looked surprised by the very mundane question. She shook her head. "No, I'm fine. There's just something I need to talk to you about." She paused and Sonomi waited, curious. "I don't quite know how to say this. . ." She crossed the room to look out the window. Without turning around, she said, "It's about Eriol Hiiragizawa."
Sonomi was astonished, to say the least. It was only last night that she had told Kaho what she had seen and made clear her desperation to know more about the man. What could have Kaho possibly discovered about him in twenty four hours that Sonomi had not managed to find out in the last six months? "That's. . .that's. . ." She really didn't know what that was. "What did you find out?"
Kaho kept her back to her and pretended to trace a pattern in the window frame. It was easier to carry out the plan this way. She still had trouble saying his name effortlessly. Sonomi was a perceptive woman, even if recent events had altered that a bit (but who was she to talk, anyway?), and Kaho could not take any chances. This needed to be perfect. Or the closest it could come to it, anyway. "His magical abilities are. . .amazing."
"How. . .how—"
"I talked to Sakura-chan this morning." This was an outright lie. "Apparently, Hiiragizawa-san paid Syaoran another visit. Today." She finally turned around.
Sonomi frowned. So she really had missed him after all. But she looked up at Kaho eagerly. "And?"
"And. . .I was there too. I didn't see him, but I should have been able to sense him." Sonomi's bewildered look was quite similar to Tomoyo's. Kaho sighed and sat down beside her on the edge of the bed. "People who use magic have an aura around them that other people, with magical abilities, can sense. There is a range, of course, but sensing Hiiragizawa's aura should have been easy. But. . ." Kaho shook her head. "I couldn't. I had no idea he had been there." Sonomi was hanging on to her every word. "This either means that he has no magical abilities whatsoever or that he is powerful enough that he can conceal his own aura. And judging from what you told me last night, I think we can conclude that it's the latter."
Sonomi cradled her head in her hands, slowly processing this. Kaho watched her silently, hoping her explanation had been convincing enough. She had gone over this plenty of times before knocking on Sonomi's door but she was still quite anxious as to how the older woman would react. "Sonomi?"
She lifted her head from her hands and looked up at Kaho. "Are you. . .are you basing this entirely on what I said last night?"
"Not exactly. I could tell, from the way Sakura-chan spoke about him, that he was—he had magic in him."
Sonomi nodded slowly. She could understand that. "What are we going to do?"
Kaho took her time answering. "I have my suspicions about who exactly he is." She heard Sonomi's sharp intake of breath but refused to look at her. This was probably the only honest piece of information that she would be giving Sonomi for the day. "But I'll have to make a few trips to confirm them."
"Where will you go?" Sonomi's voice was barely above a whisper. "You can't take off to some unknown place with this small discovery."
"I'm going to start from scratch." Kaho ran a hand through her hair absentmindedly. "I'll have to visit his high school and see if I can learn anything from there. I'll have to test my magical skills and see if I can probe him again." On seeing the frown on Sonomi's face, she elaborated. "It's a magical term. It means trying to gauge the other person's aura and—"
"Never mind." Sonomi said brusquely. "I'll never understand."
Kaho nodded. "But, Sonomi, I want you to trust me on this." She took the older woman's hand and squeezed it. Her eyes were blazing. Sonomi stared into them, surprised. "I know I'm leaving you with nothing. I know what I just said made no sense to you whatsoever and I understand that this is rather reckless of me. But I would do anything—anything at all to find something that could help us all." This much was true.
Her beseeching look made Sonomi relent. She nodded wordlessly. "I understand. And I cannot thank you enough. But Kaho, promise me that you'll be careful."
After numerous reassurances and a promise from Sonomi to not a breathe a word about it to anyone, Kaho finally retreated to her own room—only to find Tomoyo waiting for her , her face full of anxiety. Kaho smiled weakly and nodded. Part of the plan had been executed. It was now Tomoyo's turn.
It had been so long since the last time Spinel had really been worried that when he experienced it one morning, it felt quite alien to him.
They had only just returned from England after visiting Eriol's mother. Spinel was watching Ruby cook breakfast for Eriol (to make sure she didn't accidentally kill the man with some of her preparations) the morning after their return and his thoughts were all over the place. He wondered idly about how long they were to stay in Japan, about how the Cards were giving Eriol a bit of a headache and then about Eriol, himself.
And he realized that he, Spinel, was worried about his master.
It was common knowledge that Eriol was a strange and mysterious man. Some people even called him eccentric, and Spinel couldn't say he disagreed. But you know there is something seriously wrong with the universe when Eriol Hiiragizawa does something that would be considered strange even by similar, eccentric people like him.
Ruby Moon was not particularly concerned even though she knew Spinel was worried. Spinel understood that Ruby had not been created to be the 'thinker'. That job had been assigned to him, instead. And judging from all the things he had seen and wondered about in the last seven days, something very ominous was going to happen. It was what most people called 'gut feeling', and when you are one of the companions of a powerful and peculiar sorcerer, you had to rely on your instincts a lot.
And recently, Spinel's instincts have been telling him that the fire in Tomoeda was somehow connected to Eriol.
Normally, Spinel would brush such a thought aside and attribute its creation to the accidental ingestion of a sweet that had sent his brain into overdrive. That was much more plausible than the stupid notion in his head. You can trust your instincts only so much.
But Spinel had some proof to back the statement. He did not quite understand why he had not thought of it before – the day of the incident was a distant memory and it bothered him that he had not paid attention to Eriol's behavior that day. It was unlike Spinel to be careless – he was always on guard even when danger was the last thing on most people's minds and it unnerved him that he had chosen to take the day off on a very important day.
If he was being honest with himself, Spinel felt like he had just. . .conveniently forgotten about what had happened on the day of the fire. It was only now dawning upon him to try to recollect the events of the day. He was only now starting to ask himself the question, 'Where were we just before the fire started?'. It was this sudden realization that he had slacked off that frightened Spinel the most.
He had tried numerous times, after this particular awareness, to make himself remember what had happened. But all he could remember was that Eriol had spent the entire day with them and nothing remarkable had happened. Somehow, Spinel did not trust this recollection. The day was a blur and it felt strangely like someone had tampered with his memory, modifying it to suit their convenience.
It felt like he was only just breaking free from a powerful spell—one that had been cast to keep him from finding out anything.
"Ah, Ruby-chan is cooking again?" Spinel turned to see Eriol standing by the kitchen door, smiling serenely. He looked just like he always did in the mornings. It surprised Spinel just how much the sight of him calmed his racing heart. His happiness was directly linked to Eriol's.
"Yes, yes. Suppi-chan's been keeping an eye on me, though—as if I was bound to do something wrong." Ruby shot Spinel a reproachful look, who, used to this nonsense, rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"That sounds rather discouraging." Eriol said distractedly, as he sorted through the mail near the front door. Spinel watched him like he had never watched his master before, fully aware that Eriol was quite conscious of this sudden scrutiny. It struck him as odd, however, when Eriol continued to go about the house as if he hadn't caught Spinel staring at him.
Something was definitely wrong. Eriol never avoided confrontations. Why hadn't he turned around and said, "What is the matter, Spinel? Why are you looking at me like that?"? Was it, perhaps, because Ruby was around?
Spinel dismissed the thought. As thick as Ruby might pretend to be sometimes, she was never kept in the dark about anything. Ever. Ruby might not concern herself with a lot of things but that did not mean that she was not just as useful and skilled as Spinel in whatever she was asked to undertake. Their personalities differed quite a bit but Ruby had a malicious side to her that, more often than not, outshone Spinel's own evil side.
"Breakfast's ready!" Ruby chirped as she set the plates down on the table. "Eriol-sama?"
But their master was fully dressed and was slipping into his jacket. Eriol smiled at them apologetically. "I am really sorry, Ruby-chan, but I'm going to have to enjoy your delicious meal another time." And without another word, he swiftly disappeared out the front door.
"I can't remember the last time Eriol skipped breakfast." Ruby commented and turned to Spinel. "Can you?"
He could. It was the morning after Kaho-chan left them.
Syaoran watched as Sakura made him some hot chocolate. He had been craving something sweet and everything in the hospital cafeteria tasted like cardboard so when he had mentioned this to Sakura without thinking it through – honestly, these days it felt like he was walking on eggshells whenever he talked to her – she had taken it upon herself to prepare something. In all honestly, hot chocolate wasn't exactly what he had had in mind – he would have needed an entire meal of chocolate to be satisfied – but Sakura's enthusiasm had been infectious. She was rarely ever enthusiastic about anything anymore. He had realized that after both Tomoyo and Hiiragizawa had pointed it out.
It was almost a week (six days, to be precise) since the accident and he wasn't feeling any better, but of course, he kept his mouth firmly shut about his problems whenever Sakura was in the room. He really could not take another fit of tears. He wasn't even in the physical condition to embrace her and stroke her hair. Hell, he could hardly move.
But he had noticed something else about Sakura that had surprised him, in a good way. She wasn't fawning over him anymore. That's not to say that she neglected him – she was still as observant and careful as ever around him – but she was no longer asking him if he needed anything every five seconds and she even left the room sometimes when he dozed off (he would wake up to find himself alone).
It was quite a relief, actually.
"Here you are, Syaoran." She placed two mugs of hot chocolate on the small table next to him and helped him sit up. He gritted his teeth at the movement but remained silent. His palms, surprisingly, were devoid of bandages and after hesitating for a moment, Sakura handed him one of the mugs and sat down beside him.
He was so surprised that he almost dropped the mug. She was trusting him with a utensil. She thought he was capable of holding something. His astonishment must have been rather obvious because she smiled at him sadly. "You look surprised."
Well, denying it would be stupid. She would be able to see right through it. "It's just that I. . .well, I didn't think you would be. . ."
"So careless around you?" The smile was almost teasing now.
His eyes widened. Was he dreaming or did Sakura actually look a little less worried today? He nodded. "Yeah. What brought this on?"
She took a sip before answering. "Tomoyo-chan talked to me yesterday."
He frowned. What had happened yesterday? Oh. . .of course, she had come to see him and he had cried embarrassingly in front of her and she had asked him not to lose hope. Yeah, as if it wasn't hard enough to let go, the woman actually wanted him to hold on more tightly. He noticed that Sakura was watching him closely. He got rid of the frown and looked at her expectantly.
She took his mug away from him and placed it back on the table, along with hers. She then turned to him completely and took both of his hands in hers. She studied their intertwined hands as she spoke, "She explained how you must be in a lot more pain than you were letting on. She made me realize that my idea of taking care of you was not exactly. . .it was not helping you, at all." She looked up at him and for a second, he could see the familiar worry and guilt in her eyes. "It must have been annoying, having me by your side all the time, attacking you with questions about how you're feeling. . .God." She let go of his hands and buried her face in her own. "I'm so sorry, Syaoran. I thought I was helping, honestly! I had no idea I was being a bother."
"Sakura." He stared at her. She would not face him. "Nothing about you is annoying."
It was true. Keeping up the façade had been exhausting but he knew Sakura. Worrying about other people was a part of who she was. He had learnt to accept that a long time ago. He loved her for it, too. But the attention had been rather overwhelming after a point and in the end, Syaoran was Syaoran. He got grumpy about it but wouldn't tell her that it was "annoying" him. Thankfully, Tomoyo had stepped in and helped them both. He didn't know if he should thank her or yell at her the next time she decided to pay him a visit. It bothered him a little that she had talked to Sakura about it.
"Do you remember the first time we met?" Sakura smiled brightly. "You called me annoying."
He blushed at the memory. He remembered it rather well. They had been ten years old and he had recently shifted to Tomoeda. He had hated how she kept pursuing him, not to mention that she was just so damned nice all the time. Oh and let's not forget the fact that she was also chasing down the Cards just like he was. "I barely knew you then." He mumbled, embarrassed.
She giggled but quieted down when she took in his awed expression. "Syaoran, I'm not saying that I don't worry about you anymore. I'm still just as worried as before. But I'm learning to. . .dial it down a bit." She tilted her head to one side. "Does that make sense?" He nodded. "Good. I understand that it really must have bothered you—don't make any excuses, I just know, okay? And since I'm your best friend, I think I'll be able to handle it if you just told me it was annoying you, Syaoran." She shot him a dry look that was so unlike her that he couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him.
She grinned in response and excused herself to go to the bathroom. He reached for the mug and held it with both his hands, deep in thought. Seeing a hint of the old Sakura had hurt him once more. It made him long for how things used to be before they had got married. The romantic dates, the secret smiles, the surprise visits—they really had lit up his world. She had lit up his world.
A tear dripped from his chin and fell into the mug. He sobbed as he hugged the mug closer, unaware that just outside the door, Sakura was struggling to hide her own tears as she watched him suffer.
Thank you so, so much for reading this! I know it's a very boring chapter and also very short but I'm still working through the plot, making a few changes here and there. I am immensely grateful to all the people who still continue to read this story. I know asking for reviews is too much, but PLEASE DO REVIEW!
On a completely irrelevant note, I have started another fanfic. I know what you're thinking: 'Really? Why would you do that when you're so awful at updating?' But it was just something that happened. So if any of you are interested in reading a Honey and Clover fanfict, please check mine out. It's called 'Wishful Thinking'. Thank you!
