A/N: Thanks for reading and for the reviews. :) And I dedicate this chapter to 2 of my most supportive readers, Benjamin Lau and NoneofYourBwax. Love ya, guys. :)
Act 8, Autumn
Eriol fought the urge to audibly sigh, finding it too selfish of him to do so. He couldn't find that inner peace despite the lulling hum of her sound breathing. In fact, the dark-haired pianist hadn't been by any means at ease since that night he found her unconscious. He couldn't forget how he had reacted upon seeing her like that, sprawled on the ground lifeless. It was unlike him to be so—
—Out of control, his braver mind finished for him and he could only frown at the sight of the IV drip above the young woman's head.
The nurse came to offer him a fresh cup of green tea, which Eriol graciously accepted but still chose to neglect at the time being. However, the swirling display of supple steam that rose from the china arrested his bitter morning meditation for a minute.
"She's dreaming again, isn't she?" Akizuki Nakuru, his cousin's assistant, said quietly, peering over the patient's fairly tensed face before pulling the pasty linen covers closer to her chin. It was intensely raining outside the draped windows, the late autumn draftiness leaking through the walls somehow despite the installed heater in the clinic.
They stood rather close to the bed, watching the cataleptic young woman take uneven inhalation as if the kohai was fighting for air. Tomoyo had been unconscious for two days, but this restless state had happened more than once in between those days.
"What is happening to her, Nakuru-san?"
Nakuru instantly checked her client's vital signs again and deemed them normal regardless of the girl's restive condition.
"Daidōji-chan needs this rest so we'll just have to wait again until she wakes up on her own," the nurse whispered again, almost to herself. "But she's troubled. I wonder what she dreams about."
She is dreaming about her mother, the young man thought to himself, recalling the girl muttered the word in a delusion. It also proved as a clue to whatever the amethyst-eyed girl was going through these days.
"I am going to help Kinomoto-sensei with the clinic report, Eriol-kun. Please look after Daidōji-chan for the mean time," she excused herself, velvety long brown hair sweeping across her face as she made a bow.
When the comely nurse left he returned his gaze on the sleeping woman's face. In the middle of his muddled reflection, Tomoyo had started crying, tears leaking slowly from her closed lids and crimson lips slightly parting in muted cry.
"Daidōji-san," he weakly called her name, trying to soothe the dreaming girl who didn't even stir from Nakuru's touch a few minutes ago. The girl still refused to rouse and her tears were already staining the pillow when she slightly moved her head to Eriol. "What is bothering you?"
Eriol wasn't sure what made him so eager to lean closer to tentatively dab the silver trail of tears on her creamy face. His fingers that merely ghosted the softness of Tomoyo's skin moved back to brush a dark lock away from her eyes.
Wake up, Daidōji-san.
He remembered how she appeared to be misplaced in the piano room that afternoon weeks ago. Her cascading, raven tresses and fair face didn't belong in the austerity of that place, and besides her enigmatic nature, the raw emotion in her music intrigued him. There really was a secret that needed to be unraveled about her. Of course it was not right to recall about things like that more than once, but he supposed it was anyway unavoidable in the last few days, though the senpai did not need to blame Tomoyo for such circumstances.
Dazed sapphire met equally bemused amethyst.
"You," Tomoyo Daidōji said in a relatively husky voice, staring at his wide azure eyes. She was still caught in a pensive state when she leisurely lifted a pale hand to reach his face. "You have the most beautiful eyes."
The dreamy look on the girl's interestingly flushed face only added to her already potent appeal. For a second, Eriol was powerless to her innocent charm.
"Eriol-kun," began the young doctor, who was just walking in the room, oblivious to the awkward situation that his cousin got himself involved in. "Aren't you going to be late for school? It's already past eight."
The pianist was at least able to capture Tomoyo's fingers before she could sweep his bangs away, saving them from any more embarrassment her future actions would cause them.
"Oniisan, Daidōji-san is finally awake," Eriol informed him when he recovered from his dorm mate's transitory spell before averting to finally grab the already cooled tea on the table. Whatever just happened made him suddenly self-conscious and uncomfortable, and he figured that it was about time the he dissolved from the scene once again.
Tōya Kinomoto was quick to call his assistant in the room.
"How do you feel, Daidōji-san?" With his tall form, he easily hovered the young woman's supine form.
As the girl gradually regained recognition, and as her eyes lost the wistful glaze after few quick blinks, her tentative youthful glow became a mortified blush.
"What happened? Where am I?"
Quick Notes:
oniisan – older brother
