A/N: Hello, hello, hello. Exams day after tomorrow, but this one's for Brad Trinity 666. Also many thanks to my reviewers. Here's the eigth chapter. I think it'll hit double digits in chapters before it finishes. Anyway, enjoy!

"Has he been like this, all this time?" Xiao Long asked Meiling, watching Syaoran as he walked a few feet behind them in a detached fog, so distracted that he might as well have been dead to the world at that point despite the spectacular view from the top of the Empire State Building. "I thought…"

"That he wouldn't be all torn up? I'm not surprised that he's like this," Meiling sighed. "He was a lot more of a train wreck the last time I saw him. It was… two years ago." She shuddered. "He was even worse—he hid in the office all the time and he barely spoke two words to me—after nearly throttling me looking for his dearest beloved, that is. And he completely disregarded how Auntie Yelan must have felt, watching him acting like that. I mean, he didn't even show up for dinner most of the time." Her tone, formerly sympathetic, now held an edge of anger in it. "He was always working or studying or whatever. It nearly killed Auntie."

Xiao Long shook her head, knowing that Meiling was annoyed at how he had acted, not matter how patient she had been with him formerly. "And from the looks of it, it nearly killed him, too."

Syaoran frowned inwardly. He may have been caught up in his own thoughts, but did they really think that he was deaf? He could hear every word that they said. And to be honest, it was just annoying the hell out of him. Especially Meiling's little 'he-was-even-more-pathetic-and-whiny-and-reclusive-before' speech. As though he didn't know all that already? He didn't have to hear it.

Mother understood why I was hiding from Meiling, he thought. It was because of Tomoyo. And because it was in Meiling who she confided in. Meiling could have told me something. I was her cousin, after all. But she didn't tell me a damn thing. He glared at her, and she flushed but looked defiantly back at him.

That evening hadn't been all that eventful, five—no, four—years ago. They all just met at the shrine, as was typical for them—or they would have, anyway, if the girls hadn't insisted that they all meet up at the Daidouji residence instead. Tomoyo and Sakura had gone over to Tomoyo's house to get dressed up for the occasion—and Syaoran had been pleasantly surprised to see Tomoyo wearing the robes that he got her for her birthday.

She had taken his breath away.

"I don't look stupid in it, do I?" she asked him, her cheeks heating up as soon as the words left her mouth. She must have looked absurd—not just because she was unsure of how she looked, but because she was so obviously fishing for compliments. Especially from him. "Eriol keeps insisting that I'm just fine, but..." She grinned. "You know how he is. He's quite the ladies' man. He could tell the ugliest woman on earth that she was a goddess and she'd probably believe him."

He shook his head slowly—it was like time had stopped and nothing else mattered except looking at her. "You look perfect." Then he remembered himself just in time. On cue, he slipped his arm around Sakura. "And so do you, cherry blossom." She looked adorable, he had to admit, in a pink kimono that looked remarkably like the one that she had worn when they had been younger. It evoked fond memories.

But he couldn't help thinking that that was the problem. Nothing had changed—every day was the same. He looked into the mirror hanging in Tomoyo's living room and was surprised to realize that he had changed.

It was that day at the movies—the first time he had asked her to go do something with just him (other than martial arts practice)—that they were talking about it. Love, that is. Funny thing to discuss over coffee after just watching a kung-fu movie.

"I have to ask you—how do you do it?" Tomoyo had asked, stirring her third packet of sugar into her coffee. It tasted too sweet now, and was more like coffee-flavored sugar than sugared coffee. "Have a perfect relationship that lasts for years, I mean. It's just so difficult for me to imagine. You see all that sort of thing at the movies, but in reality it's a lot harder to grasp."

"I don't really know," he said honestly. "It… just kind of all fell into place at one point. What about you?"

"The person I love doesn't care for me."

He flinched. "But maybe it'll work out. Maybe you'll meet someone else."

She shrugged. "That's not the way I view things. If that was the case, it wouldn't be love." She took a sip of the coffee and made a face; she had put so much sugar into it that it was completely inedible. "I mean, I think that love is more than just… what does Sakura call it again? The 'hanyaan' feeling—being floaty. Like what she thought she felt for Yukito-san. And it's more than just turning red in the presence of that certain someone because you're embarrassed to be around them, although I have to admit that it happens to me sometimes." She turned pink at that and avoided his gaze.

"Then what do you think it is?" he asked her, looking intently at her. She still wouldn't meet his eyes.

"I think… well, loving someone… it's something akin to learning, I guess. About discovering each other every day. You know that that person is the reason why your sun rises and why the stars shine." She smiled, finally looking up at him. "It's something steadier than infatuation… something that develops gradually. I mean, feelings right now are just… well, feelings. I don't know whether we can rely on them."

"So how do you know that you can rely on your feelings of love for your number one right now?"

"Because," she had said simply, "I just do."

That had been some nights ago, and he couldn't get it out of his head. "The two of you don't look half-bad yourselves," Tomoyo said, smiling. She seemed positively euphoric tonight, and Syaoran arched his eyebrows up at her. She fanned herself with an envelope that she had picked up from the front table beside her. "Mm-hmm. Eriol, you look too good. Stop that right now."

Eriol laughed. "I will when you will." Syaoran ignored the little flip that his stomach made when she spoke to Eriol in that teasing, half-flirtatious tone. He was her boyfriend, for goodness's sake. Of course she spoke to him like that. There was no reason for him to get irritated. Most certainly nothing…

He felt a brotherly protectiveness come over him. But somehow, he knew that he would never have treated his own sisters with that same fierce covetousness.

"Beautiful dragon," Tomoyo told Syaoran, referring to the green one stitched on his black shirt. Immediately the prickly heat that had been building up angrily in his chest disappeared. "As a designer, I just can't resist. Can I take a closer look?"

"Sure," he said. She bent close to examine it and he felt her cool fingers slip something discreetly into his jacket pocket—the envelope. She was so skillful about it that neither Sakura nor Eriol noticed. "It was my father's, once," he managed to say, pretending that he hadn't felt anything.

"I ought to use dragons in my designs sometime," she murmured thoughtfully, regarding it now with professional interest. "What do you think, Eriol? You can wear my first test design—I could maybe make you a shirt. I think Sakura's gotten fed up with my costumes, don't you?" She didn't even hear Eriol's response as her eyes met Syaoran's silently, holding them there for a moment before she turned back to Sakura and Eriol.

"Hey, Tomoyo, can I use your bathroom for a sec before we leave?" Syaoran asked.

"Sure, go ahead. You know where it is."

Once safely behind the locked door, he pulled out the envelope that she had slipped him. Taped on its side was a piece of purple paper that was covered in Tomoyo's precise calligraphy—Chinese characters. He smiled proudly as he noted how well she wrote—or well enough, considering the short amount of time that she'd learned it all. They had had many happy lessons over that, at her house, and sometimes she came to his apartment and studied with him. In return, she helped him with his Japanese, and he had gotten higher grades than ever in that subject. Sakura and his classmates had marveled at the phenomenal improvement he had made in the subject, but they had no idea that Tomoyo had been behind it all. Nor did they know about how rapidly she had improved in Chinese—they had no chance to know, since they never spoke it in front of the others.

Another secret between them. And there seemed to be quite a lot of them these days. He felt mildly uncomfortable at not telling Sakura or Eriol anything, but he argued with himself that there was no reason to feel guilty. They were just friends teaching each other, learning together.

Again her words echoed in his mind: I think… well, loving someone… it's something akin to learning, I guess. The delicate faltering in her voice, the faint pinkness of her cheeks, the way she shook her head at herself when she spoke sometimes. He looked stupidly at himself in the mirror for a while before going on to read her letter.

Dearest Xiao Lang,

He shivered at that. Dearest.

When you open the envelope I'm sure that you'll be proud of me. I just wanted you to know—I couldn't have done this without you. Thank you… for everything. I have no words to express how much you have helped me, and how grateful I am for everything you've done.

There her hand seemed to hesitate, as though she had wanted to say something more, but had decided, at the last moment, not to. It was just as well, he supposed later on; otherwise he wouldn't have known how he would have reacted to what she would have written. Instead, he remembered her careful signature.

Always and forever,

Tomoyo

He opened the envelope.

Dear Miss Daidouji,

We are pleased to inform you that you are formally accepted in Tokyo University for the Music course which you applied to. Contact details—

He folded up the paper again, feeling dizzy. It had been a couple of months ago when he'd finally convinced Tomoyo to apply to Tokyo University for the music course because Tomoyo's mother had been in Amami when application time had come and had distractedly told Tomoyo to apply by herself and just use the family seal if a signature was necessary. But of course Sonomi hadn't expected Tomoyo to apply for anything other than a course pertinent to the management of Daidouji Corp, not after the many harsh conversations they had had on the matter.

At least, when they had had the time to speak to each other, and when Tomoyo gathered up the nerve to bring it up.

He was glad that it had happened; it was her first choice, or it would be if she ever mustered the courage to tell her mother. He just prayed that Sonomi would understand. It was Tomoyo's life, and she should be allowed to do as she wished.

I'll protect her, he vowed. With my life.

He grew still as a soft, mischievous voice whispered in his ear. But what if you had to choose between her life and Sakura's?

"It will never come to that," he whispered harshly, not believing it even as he said the words. "Never. I… I love…" He faltered. He couldn't say Sakura's name. "Tomoyo?" he said uncertainly. He felt a pang of horror strike him. It was impossible. Quickly, he brushed the thought aside. He was getting carried away. He was just happy for her, that was all.

He stepped out, his eyes all lit up when they fell on Tomoyo. She was talking to Eriol, with his hand around her waist, and Syaoran went to Sakura to pull her out as well. But when they locked eyes again, for the briefest of seconds, and he very purposely let her see him slip the envelope into a drawer of the table just beside the front door just as Eriol and Sakura were steered forward—they felt that something deeper was going on.

Hearts from Aries

Sonomi Daidouji exhaled slowly, massaging her temples as the limo that had been sent to pick her up wound its ways through the quiet streets of Tomoeda from the airport. It had been such a long time since she'd seen Tomoyo—nearly a month, she realized. But since the New Zealand deal had closed so quickly, she'd decided to go back home.

Tomoyo will be thrilled, she thought happily. Although, she had to admit, Tomoyo hadn't been all that enthusiastic to talk to her of late. She chalked it up to the usual adolescent pangs (clearly forgetting that Tomoyo was growing up, for heaven's sake) and was simply too busy out with her friends and schoolwork to talk much. She made a mental note to ask Tomoyo how her classes were going.

This time she would keep her promise.

She had to admit that in the eyes of some people, she hadn't been a very good mother—always off somewhere closing business deals, talking down stubborn investors, and all the rest of that whatnot that cluttered her life as the head of the Daidouji Corporation. But at least Tomoyo understood perfectly that it was all for her future's sake anyway. Tomoyo had never once complained whenever she had to go off somewhere—not even, Sonomi reflected miserably, when she had to miss her only child's birthday. In a way she felt a bit disappointed that Tomoyo had agreed so gracefully and quickly with her decision; perhaps she felt that it was a sign that her daughter didn't care very much whether she was there or not.

But then, that had always been Tomoyo's way. She simply didn't want to make Sonomi feel bad.

She couldn't do anything about it. The deal was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that had garnered Daidouji Corporation millions of dollars.

She reflected that Tomoyo had always been a calm, stable child, and she'd never had any problems with her only daughter. Oh no, not Tomoyo. She had always accepted both the good and the bad with admirable poise. And Tomoyo… Tomoyo was the spitting image of the one whom she had loved the most.

Nadeshiko…

Her stomach gave a little lurch at the word, but she firmly ignored it. She wondered whether some people thought her psychotic for trying to make Tomoyo as much like Nadeshiko as possible, growing her hair long and teaching her music and even signing her up for modeling classes at one point (but though Tomoyo modeled a few times, it never really came to anything; her little girl simply protested that she was too busy with her singing to take it seriously). There was nothing wrong with trying to preserve the memory of the one that you loved the most.

"Tomoyo!" she called out as soon as she stepped out of the car. "I'm home!"

"Daidouji-sama!" one of the maids gasped, looking surprised and nearly dropping the feather duster she was holding. Sonomi guiltily realized that she should have phoned ahead to tell them that she was coming. The maid curtsied hurriedly. "Um, young mistress is out right now, at the festival with her friends."

"Oh," Sonomi said, feeling stupid. She frowned, covering it up well. "Well, I'd like you to go draw my bath and perhaps see to it that my luggage is put away. Did Tomoyo say what time she would be coming home?"

"No, ma'am. Young mistress did say that she would be home much later than usual, though, and that she would let herself in with her key."

"Mmm. Thank you." Sonomi dismissed her with an imperious wave of her hand and peeled off her coat, hanging it up on the rack. Then she took out her keys and opened the drawer of the table beside hers to put them inside.

An envelope?

Curious, she noticed the Tokyo University seal on it. Oh, Tomoyo! Her heart sped up as she opened it.

Hearts from Aries

"Enough with the sightseeing already, Meiling," he complained, finally stretched past his limits. At first he had been annoyed at her for her earlier comments, but to the devil with his pride and silence; he couldn't take any more of this tourist claptrap, lovely as New York was. "Can't we go do something sensible? When's the meeting that you were talking about going to be held anyway?"

Meiling looked caught off guard. "Er, well, you see, I was hoping that you and Xiao Long would get acquainted first," she said. Xiao Long, beside her, squirmed uncomfortably and moved away a little to let them talk.

"I thought you said no match-making!" he hissed in her ear, clearly infuriated.

"I'm not! Don't be ridiculous!" she defended herself. "All right, all right. The meeting's to be held later this afternoon anyway. Why don't you go back to your hotel and pop in that CD of hers? I bet that you haven't even listened to it yet." She gestured for Xiao Long to rejoin them, so that they could get a cab.

He glowered at her, but surrendered. She was right, anyway, much as he abhorred admitting it. "Fine," he said grudgingly, as they hailed a taxi and sped back to the hotel.

"Can I beg off?" Xiao Long asked them. "I get a headache when I listen to myself singing. I know those songs cold anyway, and I don't have to make a decision. And no, I won't wander off by myself!" she added hastily when she saw the expression on Meiling's face. "I'm just going to go on the 'net. Scout's honor, Meiling-chan."

"All right, then," Meiling said, relaxing. "Syaoran and I have to talk anyway." She hesitated. "Tell… tell Eriol hello for me," she ventured, not meeting Syaoran's eye.

"Thank you very much, Meiling-chan. Li-kun," she added, nodding politely at him before turning on her heel and disappearing into her own suite.

"What's up with her?" he immediately asked Meiling. "And you, Meiling? I can't believe that suddenly you're letting her know everything that happened."

"Xiao Long deserves to know," Meiling said primly. "I don't want to hear anything from you against that. You'll see in the end that I'm right, Syaoran." She popped the disc into the player and nonchalantly changed the subject as the room was filled with the soprano strains of a Chinese love ballad filled with the tragedy of a stormy relationship. Syaoran winced; it wasn't exactly the kind of music that he wanted to be hearing right now. "Her voice is very beautiful," Meiling said.

"Yes, it is." And so sad.

In the other room, Xiao Long was talking to Eriol through the webcam. "Hi, Eriol" she said to him the moment his face came into focus. She pulled off her hat and sunglasses and smiled weakly at him.

"You don't look too well. I take it that whatever's going on down there isn't going very well," he said dryly.

"True."

"Idiot Syaoran," he mumbled to himself before focusing on her again. "Syaoran keeps beating himself up for what happened. Not that I'm morally against that, you know. I think he kind of deserves to agonize over it. Actually, if I had known that having you there would make him relive all those memories, I might not have been so opposed to it at first. At least he's suffering."

"Eriol!"

He offered her an apologetic little smile that didn't quite ring true. "All right, I'm sorry. I'll be a good, sympathetic little boy now and keep my evil comments to myself. Or you could just change your mind and come back here to Japan. I don't think that it's fair that you go on with this madness. You're not going to reveal yourself to him, and you're going to stick around until that blind fool realizes the truth? It's a waste of your time." He made a face at her. "Come on. How long are you going to wait?"

"Forever, if I have to," she said solemnly.

"It would be nice to see you again." The fake smile turned wistful. "I miss you. Even if you are inclined to mope whenever I see you. Oh no, don't give me that look—you know it's true. Underneath all those smiles of yours, it's not as though I can't see into your heart."

She scowled at him. "Reading my mind again, Eriol?"

"No," he said seriously. "But I think I understand you a little better now. If I had known you this well before, if you had just been a little more honest, or if I hadn't ignored the signs, then maybe we would have been spared this heartache—although I can't see how it would have been possible. Our fates were already written, and I'm sure that this was all part of it. It can never be changed."

"I wish that it could have been, though," she said in a low voice. "I was a fool."

"We all were." He looked at her with a fierce sort of hunger and despair in his eyes. "Won't you come back?"

"I can't." It was clearly costing her a lot to say this. "I have a budding career over here, and Meiling has been so good to me about it—I'll try to visit over the Christmas break, okay? I can only hope that I can help him too. It's been years and years, and for once… he hasn't changed. He changed so much when we were younger, but he didn't realize it at all. He helped me back then. It's my turn to help him now." I wanted to, long ago. But he didn't need it, or he wouldn't let me.

Now he does. And I'll try, whether he'll let me or not.

"He doesn't deserve it," Eriol muttered darkly.

"Eriol," she warned him. "It isn't for you to decide whether he deserves it or not, even if you are Clow Reed's reincarnation. He's suffered so much. We all have." She softened. "Can't you forgive him?"

"Only for your sake," he replied.

"You forgave me," she said softly. "Why not him?"

"Are you the only one at fault here? I wanted—no, needed—your absolution as well. And… and I can't deny you anything!" he burst out. "You don't understand."

She looked at him with sad eyes. "But I do. Because I can't deny him either."

Hearts from Aries

"I'm going to go get ice cream," Tomoyo said suddenly. Eriol and Sakura were both already eating cotton candy, which she and Syaoran had declined. "I feel like a strawberry cone." She caught Syaoran's eye and tilted her head to one side meaningfully.

Come with me?

He gave her the tiniest of nods. Sure.

"Mmph," Eriol said, his mouth full of the sugary floss.

"What a gentleman," she complained, rolling her eyes. "It's okay, I can get it myself."

Eriol rolled his eyes at her and swallowed quickly. "Of course I'll come along with you. I don't like the thought of you going around unprotected. Can't let my fair lady get held up by admiring perverts or marauding muggers." He swept into a comical bow. "I am at your service, my beautiful princess."

She laughed but shook her head. "Save your breath, Romeo. I can take care of myself."

Sakura shrugged. "It would be better if you took him along with you anyway, Tomoyo, just in case."

"Wait, Hiragizawa, I'm going to go buy a chocolate one anyway, so it's all right if you guys just stay here," Syaoran said smoothly, just on cue. "You want anything, Sakura?" She shook her head no. The two of them started off towards the ice cream stand (strategically located at a fair distance from where they'd been standing), where there was thankfully a long line. At least Eriol and Sakura wouldn't puzzle over what was taking them so long.

And they did plan on taking their own sweet time.

She looked up at him, her eyes shining wordlessly, reflecting the stars. "Tokyo University," he said softly, involuntarily tucking back a strand of her hair. God damn it, was he flirting? No, certainly not. They were friends. She had a boyfriend. He had a girlfriend. There was no room for idiocy here. The arrangement was foolproof… except for the part where even he wasn't dense enough to not know that they were already in over their heads with each other.

"I know. Thank you so much, Xiao Lang," she whispered back. She expressed her joy in a way that was very different from Sakura; whereas Sakura was inclined to be bouncy and cheerful, she reined in her pleasure in a refined way that made her seem so much older than she was. "I'm so happy I think I could die." The only thing that I need more is you.

"I'm glad," he answered. "I'm happy that you're following your heart for once, Tomoyo. I don't want you to make sacrifices that might make you regret them later. I want you to be able to look back on life and say that you lived it to the fullest and… I guess that I'm being corny."

"Oh no. Believe me, you're not."

All too soon, they were at the front of the line, and Syaoran heard Tomoyo sigh lightly in disappointment. He knew what she meant, even if she didn't speak out. Both of them looked at each other as they placed their orders. "One strawberry cone and one chocolate, please."

"Right away," the apple-cheeked woman behind the counter said. She beamed benevolently at the two of them and giggled when Syaoran unconsciously brushed against her hand then blushed. Tomoyo turned the palest shade of pink but made no comment. They were so sweet together! (Forgive her, for she knows not what she does). She handed them two towering cones. "You two make a lovely couple."

They both choked. "Er, no, I'm not his girlfriend," Tomoyo said, blushing madly. Oh God, how humiliating. Syaoran was probably embarrassed and repulsed by the very idea. She sneaked a glance at him and saw his cheeks burning, but not looking disgusted.

Did he…? Could he possibly…?

You'd think that she'd have caught on by now…

"I'm so sorry," the woman apologized, not looking sorry at all. She looked mischievously amused, if anything, as though she was sure that they were only denying it. "It's just that the two of you have a sort of glow around you when you look at each other. And your clothes seem to match so well, as though you were both dressed for each other in your Chinese costumes. I get a little carried away. Although," she added, her eyes twinkling, "I think I'll let the both of you have these ice creams on the house. For being such an adorable pair. Even if the two of you aren't together, I think that there's something like magic connecting you."

Tomoyo's hand flew to the charm around her neck. "Um, thank you," Syaoran said, not knowing what else to say under the circumstances. He was so red that he might as well have been a tomato. The woman giggled and shooed them away, saying that the line had to keep moving.

"Honestly," Tomoyo said, trying to will away the heat that remained stubbornly in her cheeks. She wasn't someone who blushed all that easily, but she seemed to do it quite a lot in Syaoran's presence. She wished that she could be more the way she was in the old days, when she was calmer and more stable around him—and not at all inclined to turn red. "That was an ordeal."

"Let's walk slowly," Syaoran suggested. "I don't really feel up to watching Hiragizawa and Sakura get high on their cotton candy." It was a flimsy excuse, but at this point, he couldn't come up with any other.

"Yes, let's," she agreed quickly. A little too quickly, as though she was grabbing at any excuse possible to spend a little more time with him. He scolded himself for thinking such conceited thoughts, but the way she looked at him, he felt it to be true.

One part of his brain was telling him to rush straight back to Sakura and forget that this whole thing was happening. Before it was too late… and if he spent all that much longer in her presence, it would be much, much too late to stop.

And the rest of him was telling that part to shut the hell up—it was too late already, whether he liked it or not, and whether he rushed to Sakura or not.

She sighed. "It's been a wonderful evening so far."

Hearts from Aries

A/N: That's all for this installment. Hope you liked it. Remember, more reviews equals faster updates. Thanks for reading!