Amaryllis Dusk: I suspect that this plot has been done to death several times already. Ah wells. (whistles innocently). Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura.
…ONE…
When he had received the news of what had happened to his childhood acquaintance, he was holding the letter that he had received from her only the day before and had stared at the elegantly scripted words until they swam before him.
"Come to Japan sometime, won't you, Hiiragizawa-san?"
The day he received the thin white envelope-lightly scented with something that reminded him of orchids, roses, and cherry blossoms-it was weeks after she had written and mailed it. Mail from Japan generally tended to take a while to be delivered if it was addressed to England. It was the second and last letter ever sent from her though she had implied upon his departure ten years ago that she would attempt to keep in touch.
Her first letter had been eight years after he left and had informed him of her best friend-his semi daughter through a rather obscure and best left unexplained history-and her plans to marry her boyfriend. Said best friend was to marry in five months and three days and she truly hoped that he would come. Sakura-chan, she had written, was too preoccupied with wedding plans to write and so had delegated her to invitation duty. They would all be delighted if he came, she had continued, though she suspected that Syaoran-kun was an exception. He had smiled at that but then regretfully and briefly declined in a letter of his own, sent by express mail. Though he would have loved to see them all again, he was simply too busy. He did wish the happy couple the best of luck.
She had never replied to that letter.
The next letter came two years after that.
"It is boring here in Tomeda, though I have little to complain about", she had written in her delicate handwriting, "I am not wanting for much here, Mother's toy business is doing fine and all our friends are healthy and happy. How are you and Mizuki-san doing? And Nakuru-san and Suppi-chan? Well, I hope."
He had eagerly scanned her letter once, twice, thrice, many times over though nothing personal was scribed there. The reserved quality of the letter was just like her. He imagined her as he remembered her, ten years of age and already a lovely beauty with gentle amethyst eyes and long flowing dark hair. What did she look like now?
"Come to Japan sometime, won't you, Hiiragizawa-san", she had concluded finally, "I'd like that very much."
Scrawled on the very bottom of the page was a phone number.
"You can reach me by this number."
"Daidouji-san?" He stood leaning against the table, his phone pressed to his ear as he absently tapped his fingers on the dark mahogany table. The woman's voice did not sound anything like the Daidouji Tomoyo he remembered but that had been ten years ago and she had only been a child then.
A soft sob was his reply. Shifting confusedly in his position, he bit his lip. His two roommates in the room with him perked up at his reaction. One, a pretty woman with dark red hair and vibrant happy looking eyes cocked her head to the side at the look on her master's face. The other, a small black cat with large grave eyes and two miniscule wings sprouting out of his back gave the man an appraising look. He took no notice of either action but instead focused on the woman on the other line.
"Um…forgive me but…is Daidouji Tomoyo there? I'm Hiiragizawa Eriol."
"I'm sorry but…" The woman suddenly had become articulate. A small scuffling sound came from the other line as well as another woman's voice. "Here, let me."
"Who is this?" The woman was soon replaced by another. Her voice sounded younger and vaguely familiar.
"Hiiragizawa Eriol."
"Eriol-kun?" Her voice was muffled, still etched with an odd tone of sorrow. Behind her, he heard a woman sobbing loudly.
"Who is this?" He inquired curiously, his dark blue gaze landed on the woman who threw him an amused look followed by a childish face meant to make him laugh. He smiled slightly at her effort and then turned back.
"It's me, Sakura."
"A pleasure to hear from you again, Sakura-chan."
"Same here."
"Not to be rude, Sakura-chan, but where's Daidouji-san?"
There was a long pause from the other end of the line.
"Sakura-chan?"
There was another pause before she finally spoke.
"Tomoyo-chan's dying."
The innocent letter trembled between his suddenly sweating fingers before crumpling up into a futile, nostalgic ball of ruin.
"Come to Japan sometime, won't you, Hiiragizawa-san?"
"She's in a coma", said the woman over the line after he had stood in shocked silence for several minutes and Sakura had finally passed the phone back to the older woman for help, "The doctors are doubtful of her ever waking up again. I don't know what to do…" She broke off, weeping terribly.
He understood, tremendously well under the circumstances he had found himself thrust under so immediately. After all, sometimes he suspected that the mothers were the most inconsolable during times such as this.
"Are you to come to see her?" She inquired abruptly, interrupting the brief silence that had ensued after her semi-announcement. He was indistinctly aware that his two roommates were still occupying the room and now viewing their master with varying degrees of concern; the woman with an almost comical amount of worry drawn on her pretty face, the cat with grim expectation in his solemn eyes.
"Yes", he said too loudly after a few more seconds of quiet, swiftly remembering the woman on the other line and the question he was to answer, "Of course." It would take him approximately a day to reach Japan via the fastest flight possible and then some several days to settle in.
"Eriol-kun? It's me again." It was Sakura. "Is Kaho-san set to come too?"
His gaze became colder, harder as he stared off at a certain point on the pale white wall of his living room.
"I do not think that Mizuki-san will be coming with us", he stopped short, "However I will be bringing Nakuru and Spinel with me."
"Alright. We'll be waiting."
There was a small click and he realized that the sound of the dial tone buzzing in his ear was most distracting.
…END…
Amaryllis Dusk: Interesting? I actually intended to kill off Tomoyo-chan in my first version before deciding that it might make for more drama to have her dying instead of already dead. Heh. Please review.