"I bought the tickets last week." Eriol smiled, cutting her off before she could apologize. "I thought…" His felt his smile become something slow and sweet and utterly happy. "I thought that my father would have wanted me to visit my friends in Japan more often."

Tomoyo beamed, ducking her head slightly as a blush lit her features. "I'm sure he would have wanted that." She agreed softly. "I'm glad that you came, Eriol-san, I…

"Tomoyo-sama!" And Tomoyo grinned ruefully, turned on her heel, and darted across the lawn.

Sonomi had a look of great speculation as she glanced after Tomoyo. "Hmm. The competition is only for a few hours. Would you like to come back for dinner?"

"It's been a long flight, Daidouji-sama." Kaho stated firmly above Ruby Moon's happy acceptance. "With the exception of Akizuki-san, we're all very tired."

"I understand; it was rude of me to ask you to stay without considering your traveling." Sonomi apologized. She turned an innocent smile that Eriol didn't trust for more than a second, on him. "Perhaps another time, then?"

Kaho was already sliding back into the car, having pulled Ruby Moon away from the newest object of her affection. Eriol smiled hopefully at her baleful look before turning back to Sonomi. "Most definitely."

"Eriol, what are you doing?" She asks, even though she's aware that what he's doing is perfectly obvious. He finishes knotting the school tie and grins broadly at himself, and her, in the mirror.

"Tomoyo-san has it on good authority that every year Yamazaki-san makes a New Years wish for me to come back to school in Tomoeda." He grins again and grabs his school satchel up from the dresser. She feels herself frown slightly; he's kept it? All this time? She wonders why she didn't see it when they were packing or, for that matter, when they moved to Reed Manor in the first place.

"It's a nice thought, Eriol, but you can't stay after the bell. I thought we'd visit my parents this morning." She tells him, smiling and wondering where he got the uniform to begin with.

"I've got permission to stay for Homeroom and the morning classes." His smile is utterly charming. She wonders, vaguely, why she doesn't feel charmed. "I spoke with the school when I bought the plane tickets."

"Ah." She frowns, following him as he makes his way to the common room of their suite. "This afternoon then. We can have dinner with them."

"Do I look like a University student?" Akizuki-san has bounded out of her room, dressed rather outrageously as usual. "I'm going to go with To-ya-kun and Yukito-san to all their classes and then they're going to buy me mochachinos at Café Piffle Princess and then we're going to see a movie! And get lunch and dinner and popcorn together. Just the three of us. Until I can get rid of Yukito-san and have Touya-kun all to myself."

"Ruby Moon," Spinel sighs. "Murder and kidnap are still illegal here." Akizuki laughs and looks amused and only mildly affronted. It's a grating sound, irritating and out of place.

"Suppi!" Scandalized giggles. "Touya-kun and Yukito-san missed me! Fujitaka-sensei said so. They talk about me, he said." She swats at the hovering cat; Akizuki, Kaho muses, probably thinks it's affectionate and cute. "Besides, I want to see their apartment." A smile. "We've never lived in an apartment, Suppi. Do you think it's fun? Eriol, is living in an apartment fun? Did Xiao-Lang say?"

"I'm sorry, Kaho." He ignores his creations, kisses her fingers briefly, more of an afterthought, she thinks, then real affection. "I made plans with Fujitaka-sensei to see him this afternoon."

"Ohhh," Akizuki trills and Kaho has the sudden urge to slap her. "But Suppi will be lonely all by himself! I mean…"

Eriol breaks in before Akizuki-san can bother to apologize to her for thinking that she's not suitable company for Spinel Sun. "Spinel is coming with me. He and Cerberus have some catching up of their own to do." Spinel snorts. "What? You like Cerberus."

"Like fun, I do." Spinel retorts, climbing nimbly into the school bag that Eriol is holding open. "Let me out at the wood at the back of the school. If I have to see Idiot-san today then I'm not spending my morning crammed in with your books." They are, the three of them, heading out the door without a word to her. She is stung.

"Eriol!" He backtracks quickly at the hurt and indignation in her voice. Hugs her briefly.

"We'll go see your parents soon. Tomorrow, perhaps. Okay?" A light kiss on her cheek and he is gone. And why didn't he see what is really bothering her?

These notes are marked return to sender
I'll save this letter for myself
I wish you only knew
How good it is to see you
~~ See You; Foo Fighters, The Colour and the Shape

"Tomoyo-chan? Why did you bring your video camera to school?" Sakura asked as she dropped her book bag onto her desk.

"Shhh, Sakura-chan." Tomoyo heard herself giggle quietly. "I don't want Yamazaki-san to hear you."

Behind Sakura, Syaoran studied Tomoyo carefully. "What's happening with Yamazaki-kun?"

"Shh." She reminded him and trained her camera on the door, widened the view to get a better angle. "I'm so glad we sit in the back, I've got a really great shot." She murmured. "It should be soon." Out of the corner of her eye she caught Sakura-chan and Li-kun trading 'looks' with each other and wished she had another camera. She heard herself giggle again. "I should just move to the front of the room—it's going to be pandemonium anyway."

"Tomoyo-chan, did Eriol-san call again?" Sakura asked, looking from the front of the room to the video camera.

"No, Sakura-chan. He didn't call at all." Which was true. Mostly.  Or at least, not in the sense that Sakura meant. "I just thought that something might happen today." Tomoyo didn't take her eyes off of the view presented by her camera. When she'd asked Kinomoto-sensei to not tell Sakura-chan about Eriol-san's visit she hadn't had this moment in mind, but it was turning out to be an unexpected bonus.

"Take your seats, class." Terada-sensei strolled to the front of the room. "The bell is going to ring in a moment."

"It's weird having Terada-sensei teaching homeroom again." Li-kun whispered, leaning forward so that both she and Sakura-chan could hear him. "What are the odds, really, that they'd get him to fill in for Iwao-sensei while she teaches in Hong Kong?"

"I think it's weirder for Rika-chan." Sakura whispered, leaning back. "Rika-chan said that she and Terada-sensei had to always hide what they felt before. Now they're married and don't have to hide and he's our teacher again."

"Shhh." Tomoyo whispered. "It's soon."

"We'll be having a special visitor, class." Terada-sensei said, after taking roll. "Yamazaki-san, sit down." He sighed as Yamazaki tensed and half rose out of his seat, eyes whipping over to the door.

"He never really got over Hiiragizawa, huh?" Syaoran muttered.

"It was worse when you were gone." Sakura told him.

"It was." Tomoyo agreed, lowering the camera to smile at her friends. "The only time we got a transfer student, and the door opened to reveal a girl, he cried. Chiharu-chan had to take him to the infirmary to calm down."

"Really?" He sounded impressed.

"Well, mostly." Sakura flashed a dimpled grin. "But we thought for sure he would cry. Terada-sensei sent him out to get a drink of water."

"He sent Chiharu-chan after him." Tomoyo added. "And then we didn't get another new student until you came back." She cocked her head, listening as Terada explained about the 'special visitor'. "Soon." She muttered, bringing her camera back up. "Li-kun, get ready."

"Get ready for what?" He asked, but it was drowned out by the sound of the door sliding open and the words:

"Ohayougozaimasu, Hiiragizawa Eriol desu." Yamazaki vaulting out of his desk, screaming incoherently and throwing his arms around Eriol overlaid most of what he said.

"You came back!" Yamazaki shouted, hugging him madly. "You came back too!" He whipped around, still clutching Eriol. His eyes lighted on the very astonished Syaoran. "You're both back!" Tomoyo stifled her giggles as she filmed Yamazaki dragging Eriol down the aisle and pulling Syaoran up out of his seat.

"Ow!" They said as Yamazaki trust them together so hard that they knocked heads. He stepped back, beaming, and stared at them. Then he hugged them both. Eriol-san hugged him back, briefly, as Li-kun patted his back.

Tomoyo panned around the room, catching helpless laughter on most faces, Chiharu clapping, glowing at Yamazaki's happiness. Terada-sensei's quiet "Yamazaki…" and his sigh and smile as Rika placed a gentle hand over his, smiling up at him and then back at the class.   "Give him a minute." She murmured. Tomoyo smiled and turned in her seat to catch Yamazaki-san shoving both boys into their seats.

"Sit down. In your seats! Your seats!" He beamed at Terada-sensei. "Is it time for class? We're all in our seats, now." Terada shook his head, smiling. Yamazaki continued to beam as he darted back to his desk, reaching out across the aisle to catch Chiharu's hand in his own for a long moment. Tomoyo felt a soft tap at her shoulder and turned again, Eriol's face filling the viewfinder of her camera. She felt her breath catch at the warmth of his smile.

"You could have warned me." He told her, his gray-violet eyes twinkling brightly. He gestured vaguely at the front of the room.

She shut off her camera with an answering smile. "And miss that?" She shook her head. "You know me better, Eriol-san." She turned to face the front of the room, still smiling, as the class settled into their normal routine. Eriol-san was a warm presence behind her. Tomoyo found that she'd missed this, this having Eriol sitting behind her, quiet and studious and there. And she wished, suddenly, that she could pretend that everything and nothing had changed. That he hadn't left, not with Mizuki-sensei; that he didn't love Mizuki-sensei, that he loved her, the way that she'd found she loved him. She wished she could pretend that he wasn't leaving in two weeks.

Tomoyo closed her eyes on a soft sigh. It was two weeks; plenty of time to spend with friends. Wishing for more, more of anything, would be pointless and stupid.

Lunch, Eriol thought, was a calm affair when compared with his arrival in homeroom. Yamazaki seemed content to sit close to Chiharu and watch him and Xiao-Lang. Sakura told him the story of the girl transfer student--to Yamazaki's denials--and about how exciting it was to have almost everybody back. She and Xiao-Lang had actually gotten into a discussion of how to best bring Mei-Ling to Tomoeda. And Tomoyo had been warm and smiling at his side. He hadn't realized, until the day before, how very much he'd missed seeing her in person. It hadn't really hit him until he'd seen her, just how much time had passed. Until he'd listened to her speak in soft, amused tones he hadn't realized just how fierce an ache that missing was inside him. It had been odd.

He'd missed all of it though, Eriol realized as he left Seijou High, Spinel having already been collected by Cerberus if the note for help scrawled in the dirt was any indication. It wasn't just Tomoyo-san he had missed. He'd missed the polite, formal manners and the orderly way of life in Japan. He'd missed hearing Japanese spoken all around him, hearing Sakura-san and Xiao-Lang whispering to each other during the morning announcements. He'd missed Tomoyo-san's hair drifting across the front of his desk; the light playing on the dark strands that seemed to move on their own, though he'd never really itched to touch it before today. That was new.

"An ice-cream while you think deep thoughts, Eriol-san?" Kinomoto-sensei asked, handing him a banana crème pop.

"Thank you. But they're not really deep thoughts, Sensei." Eriol said.

Fujitaka smiled. "Sometimes they are, even when they're not."

Eriol blinked. "I'm not that obscure am I?" He seated himself on the low stone wall next to Fujitaka. He'd been intending to meet with the older man at the Kinomoto house, however a knowledge and certainty that existed only when dealing with the other half of Clow Reed's incarnation had lead him to the ice-cream bar near the University.

Fujitaka continued to smile and ate the bottom of his ice-cream cone. "I wouldn't know. We haven't talked to each other very often. And he certainly didn't have meaningful conversations with himself before." Eriol tilted his head and considered.

"True; we didn't." He paused. "Damn, I am that obscure." He chuckled. "That explains why only Tomoyo-san caught on to me."

"Tomoyo-san is very observant in most matters." Fujitaka nodded. "Sometimes, when it's unexpected, she needs a little time to see what was not there before."

"That's very cryptic." Eriol said, taking a bite off the bottom of his ice cream. "And not very accurate. You and Daidouji-sama certainly managed to hide your relationship from everybody."

"Something tells me that Touya-kun managed to guess." Fujitaka smiled a wry smile. "And Kero-kun most certainly was aware of it."

Eriol took another bite from the bottom. "And Nadeshiko-san?"

"Ah." Kinomoto-sensei managed to pop his scoop of ice-cream into his mouth without touching it. "Actually, it was Nadeshiko-san's idea."

"To date Daidouji Sonomi?" He nearly suffocated on a mouthful of banana crème, and was thankful he hadn't yet reached the top of his ice-pop; heaven knew he would have ended up choking himself on the stick. Eriol knew that Clow's love-for-the-next-life had been a romance-loving, freethinking woman, but that was a bit much.

Fujitaka laughed. "No. Not Sonomi-kun. To take my own advice." He laughed again. "And that day Sonomi-kun came by the office with words of advice from your letter.  So yes."

"I don't…" 'get it' he was about to say, until it struck him. "She meant you should take my advice?"

Fujitaka nodded. "She seemed to think she was being very clever." He smiled. "It was actually very funny."

Eriol blinked. He went to buy them both more ice cream. And, handing Fujitaka his, blinked again. "Wow."

"That's mostly what I said." Fujitaka admitted. He looked down suddenly, studying his lemon ice. "Nadeshiko told me it was time for her to move on. We would meet again, but for now she wanted me to live and be happy. There was something, she said, that my heart had been ignoring for several years."

Eriol found himself blinking back sudden tears. The part of him that had once been Clow Reed, the part that was still connected to Fujitaka, had loved her, and he himself had liked her. He'd enjoyed looking into her life with his counterpart. "She was wonderful, wasn't she?" He murmured. Fujitaka nodded.

"One of the most amazing people I've ever met." He agreed. "And I've known a lot." He smiled suddenly. "Most of them are Amamiya women. Or related to them. Isn't that a fun coincidence?"

Eriol snorted. "There's no such thing as coincidence. Not where women are concerned."

"Madoushi." They chorused, shaking their heads.

"Cerberus probably doesn't like Daidouji-sama any better than he liked Madoushi." Eriol laughed.

Fujitaka winced. "He likes her a lot less, actually." Something about the way he said it tickled in Eriol's mind.

"Daidouji-sama didn't just find Tomoyo-san's tapes…did she?"

Fujitaka flushed. "Well, she did. After a while…and some…advice."

"Cerberus spilled the beans, didn't he?" Eriol watched as Fujitaka fidgeted nervously.

"Not entirely."

"You?" He was stunned.  Even Clow had been able to keep the cards a secret from non-magic users and Clow had tended towards 'braggart', most especially where women were concerned. Eriol was certain that, of all of Clow Reed's traits, that one had been balanced between them, so that neither would ever be as bad as their former self.

"Not by choice." Fujitaka protested mildly. "But there was baking involved…"

"And Kero-chan is certainly fond of sweets, isn't he?" A sweet voice said behind them. They turned to find Tomoyo smiling at them, holding her own ice cream. "I had wondered how Mother managed to 'stumbled across' those tapes."

"Tomoyo-san!" Eriol felt the smile spread across his face. "What are you doing here? School can't be out yet." Fujitaka said something about finding a table inside and left. Tomoyo sat down in his place, her feet not quite touching the sidewalk. "Don't tell me you skipped school just because you missed me!" He couldn't resist teasing.

She flushed and smiled down at her ice cream. "I did miss you." She aimed that smile up at him and Eriol felt the sudden urge to give his treat his full attention. "But Kinomoto-sensei and I had arranged to have a talk here today. And I have last period free, so I just left early."

"Last period free? I'd have walked you over, if I'd known." Eriol told her, earning another smile. He couldn't help smiling back at her.

"But then we'd never have…"

Never have what, Eriol didn't know. "Eriol." Kaho's voice cut across whatever it was Tomoyo had been about to say. "I didn't know that you and Daidouji-san were both going to be meeting with Kinomoto-sensei." She frowned slightly. "If I'd have known it wasn't going to be a private talk, I would have liked to come along." Her frowned deepened. "Where is Kinomoto?"

Tomoyo slipped easily to her feet. "Sensei is inside, finding a table."

"It was a private talk, mostly." Eriol said, at the same time. Kaho raised one eyebrow. Eriol winced. He hated that look…like he was a small child caught in the midst of telling tall tales.

"I didn't know that Eriol-san would be here." Tomoyo said, drawing Kaho's arched look to herself. "Sensei and I also arranged to meet today. I came early."  She explained. Eriol frowned. What did it matter if she'd known he would be there or not?

Apparently it did mean something because Kaho's look sharpened and then relaxed. "I imagine that you and Kinomoto-sensei have many things to talk about, with everything that's gone on recently." Her voice was gentle and friendly and Eriol released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. A tap on the window behind them interrupted before Tomoyo could say a word. Fujitaka was waving and smiling inside. He had more ice cream, a lot of it. He looked as though he was expecting Yukito instead of the girl who would be his stepdaughter. Tomoyo laughed, waving back.

"I should go inside." Tomoyo said, still smiling, the laugh still in her voice. Eriol had the odd notion that he was grinning like an idiot. Today was a good, good day.

"We should be going as well." Kaho's hand alighted on his shoulder. "We've got dinner reservations to prepare for. To celebrate our trip." She smiled as Eriol turned to ask her about the plans he didn't remember making. "I thought we should make tonight special." She told him.

"I'm going in. It was good to see you, Mizuki-sensei." Tomoyo said quietly. Her smile had faded. As she turned to go Eriol found himself reaching out to touch her arm.

"I'll see you in school tomorrow, Tomoyo-san." He smiled, hoping she would smile back. She glanced quickly at Kaho before giving him a tiny smile and a nod. Eriol was confused as Kaho draped an arm around his shoulder and drew him with her to the car. She hated driving.

Tomoyo walked into the seating area of the ice-cream bar with a sigh and a sad twist of her lips that she knew didn't quite qualify as a smile. Kinomoto-sensei waved at her from his table by the window. She forced a smile and reprimanded herself sharply. There was no hope in trying to pretend things away.

"Ah, Tomoyo-san!" Sakura's father smiled at her sweetly. "You're just in time for your cake!" A waiter appeared as though summoned and deposited a six-layer vanilla ice-cream and chocolate cake on the table. Kinomoto-sensei beamed. Tomoyo stared, blinked and tried to find a response until he burst into laughter. "I ordered most of this for Kero-kun and Yukito-san. The delivery boy is going to take it to my house soon." He started in on a chocolate sundae. "You're my proof." He told her. "If, for some reason, one of them doesn't get any ice-cream you can tell them that I definitely sent enough home for both—no matter what one of them might think."

She couldn't help the laughter that shook her shoulders. "No wonder Mother's been so happy lately, if you always act like this."

He smiled gently. "I only act this way for her. And now, you. You looked like you needed a smile." He said as the waiters began to clear away the ice-cream to be sent home. "So, Sonomi-kun's been happy. How have you been?"

Tomoyo plucked a cherry off one of the sundaes, rolling the stem between her fingers. "It was just a shock, Sensei." She murmured. "I'm very sorry that I ran away like that, you and Mother and Sakura-chan must have been very upset and worried."  She sighed.  "I just needed time to think about it; to think it out."

"I'm glad." He told her. "Your Great-Grandfather was ready to have me hoisted up on a pig-pole when I told him how upset you were."

"You spoke to Great-Grandfather?" Tomoyo felt her jaw drop. "Even after..." She stopped abruptly, loath to bring up the subject of her mother's cousin. Fujitaka, however, beamed brightly at her again.

"Apparently your mother and I both did." His eyes twinkled. "I told Grandfather that the only person who could talk me out of marrying your mother was you, because you were so heartbreakingly upset. Your mother told him that nobody on the planet was talking her out of her decision, disowning her out of it, or haunting her out of it, if it came to that. You know," He continued on looking puzzled, "I rather think that Grandfather approved. How novel."

Tomoyo dropped her head into her hands, thinking hard. "You can be very confusing, Sensei." She muttered. "Let me think. Again." She listened to the clink of his spoon against the glass of his dish and the chatter of the other patrons. "Mother knows about Nadeshiko-san?" She asked finally. "That she's been...around?"

Fujitaka nodded. "She, your mother I mean, brought me some very nice Valentine chocolates this year. At my office." He winced slightly. "We had a nice, long talk about a lot of things."

"Sakura-chan once said that you told her you'd love her mother forever, for over a thousand life-times." Tomoyo bit her lip and decided that she might as well say it all now. "Mother deserves to be loved for herself. Not because of someone being lonely." She looked away and was surprised when Kinomoto-sensei got up from the table and crouched down in front of her, ducking down to peer into her face.

"I love Sonomi-kun with all my heart, Tomoyo-san." He smiled, handing her a wet napkin to blot at her eyes. "She's very special. I thought Eriol-san had mentioned to you the possibility of loving more than one person in life." He said softly. "And he is very right. Tomoyo-san, suppose you lived one-thousand lives after this one. Who, from this time, would you want to see again, in those lives?" He asked.

"Anou," her brow furled. "Sakura-chan. Eriol-san, Mother, Great-Grandfather, Li-kun." She paused. "I...I think I would want to see Yamazaki-san and Chiharu-chan and Rika-chan." Fujitaka held up a hand to stop her.

"Would you be happy, do you think, if you never saw Sakura-san or Great-Grandfather again?" He asked her.

She shook her head automatically. "I'd miss them!" He smiled and sat back on his heels.

"So." He nodded. "If you didn't have them, you'd be sad. So what are you to do but look for them and love them again? Maybe Nadeshiko-san and I were fated to be together and maybe your mother and I weren't." Tomoyo felt her shoulders relax as Sakura's father smiled into her eyes and took her two hands in his. "But sometimes, Tomoyo-san, sometimes what isn't so important is fate. Sometimes nothing is fate.  Sometimes love and hard work and wanting are just as important. Remember that, that once fate has had its say, it's okay to have your own too."

Tomoyo sat back in her chair as she watched him make his way back to his side of the table. "Sensei?" She asked slowly, biting absently into her abused cherry. "Do you remember being Clow Reed?"

He rolled his eyes cheerfully. "I do. I think that's why I have such a charming, attractive son. So that I could have Yue-san back and shovel three tons of food into his false form and Kero-kun every week. Life wouldn't be nearly so much fun without it."

"And he, Clow-san, I mean, wanted a daughter, to find Kero-chan and have magic." She smiled. "And Sakura-chan is a wonderful daughter. Just as he always wanted. And you too. Is that work or fate?"

Kinomoto shrugged. "It's both. Sakura-san is more than he expected; different as well. Me, I always wanted more children." He looked up at the ceiling. "I like having little girls call me papa."

It sounded like an invitation if ever she'd heard one. "I have to go home." Tomoyo murmured, standing. "I have a lot of homework for tonight."

"I'm sorry I've kept you." Fujitaka apologized instantly, coming to his feet. "I'll wait with you until your bodyguards arrive, if you'd like." He offered.

"Maybe you could walk me home, if you have time, Kinomoto-papa." She felt her smile tremble just a little as he offered her his arm with a flourish.

"I'd like that very much."

She spends her mornings, as she has the last three mornings, doing chores at the shrine.  Her parents, as much as she doesn't like to admit it, are aging.  Soon, she thinks, she will have to take over the shrine or see to hiring a new priest or priestess.  Eriol comes in the very early afternoon, though she thinks that he mightn't come at all if the school would allow him to stay the entire day.  He is rosy and glowing when he arrives, always with a smile.  Quite handsome, she muses, as she finishes sweeping the courtyard.  Her parents do not see him as she does.  His smile grows polite and distant as he enters this place and the laughter leaves his eyes.

In fact, to her memory, he's only worn a real smile inside these walls a handful of times.  The last time, which was the first day that they had come, it was because her father had asked him to sign his copy of that ridiculous book. Eriol had beamed and signed with a laugh and a flourish over his picture.  Oh, and her face had burned with shame.  It flushes even now when she thinks of it.  She'd been quick, but not quick enough she thinks, to explain how that picture came to be on the book-jacket.  Papa had waved it away, remembering Ruby Moon's false form as 'the cheerful youjo' who would come to make tea while his own daughter had been away in England.   Eriol had smiled then as well. 

Spinel and Ruby Moon's false forms had visited constantly.  Eriol had as well.  And so she doesn't understand why he and her parents are so very distant with each other now.  When she watches them together…it's very confusing.   Eriol doesn't stay long at these visits; he leaves to go have ice-creams with the other students, to see a new film with Takashi-kun, to have a visit with Kinomoto-sensei.  She leaves with him often.  She sees her former students, shops in the stores while Eriol and Takashi spin their lies to each other, talks business with Kinomoto while he and Eriol say vague half-phrases to each other and laugh or sigh or shake their heads in confusion.

Today he is late.  She wonders if he means not to come at all today when she sees him walking slowly, pushing a wheelchair and talking brightly to a young woman who is walking with him.  It takes a moment for her to identify the girl as Terada-sensei's wife, Sasaki-chan. 

"Hiiragizawa-san mentioned that he would be visiting with your family today."  Sasaki-chan smiles politely.  "I'm very sorry to intrude upon you all, but today is Great-Grandmother's day to visit the Bird Pond.  She's come every week since Hiiragizawa-san was last a student with us."  She smiles, fondly now, at him.  Inexplicably, he seems shyly embarrassed by this comment.

"Great-Grandmother, why don't I take you back to the pond?"  He asks quickly and she is surprised to see both his and Sasaki's hands make identical movements.  Sign language.  She didn't know he knew it.  Eriol signs something else and Sasaki-chan shakes her head.  The old woman, however, is delighted; she barks out a laugh as Rika kneels and signs swiftly.  Eriol laughs at whatever it is and promises not to run away with the old woman until he's spoken to Sasaki-chan's father.  The old woman continues to laugh as Eriol wheels her out of sight.

Sasaki-chan is still smiling as she stands again.  "I'm very sorry."  She murmurs and Kaho wonders what the girl has seen on her face to cause her to say this. 

"It's nothing, Terada-san."  She tells her.  "This is why the Tsukimine Shrine is here.  I'm sure my parents are grateful to be able to allow your Great-Grandmother use of the mineral baths."

The girl frowns slightly.  "I didn't mean to intrude on your family's time to visit with Hiiragizawa-san." She repeats.  "But he said that he missed seeing Great-Grandmother, and he did offer to walk with me today.  It seems as though he spends all of his time with us at school or after school.  He must not have had much time to visit your family.  And he seems to be such a good friend to all of you."  She pauses, and then smiles suddenly.  "I know!  We're all going skating on Sunday.  If you don't have any chores, why don't you join us?  Hiiragizawa-san has already been invited and said he would come; so you could have a very fun visit with him at the skating rink, to make up for our intrusion.  I will write down the time and bring it here tomorrow for you, if you'd like."  Sasaki-chan smiles brightly again before making her way to the Bird Pond. 

She wonders why Sasaki-chan feels the need to bring the times to her here, at her parents, instead of simply leaving them with Eriol.  And she wonders, as she turns to see Eriol watching her with a guarded face, if he would have extended the invitation.  She dismisses the notion almost immediately.  Of course he would have told her.  He would have invited her straight away.  She knows he would have.

I watched the world float to the dark side of the moon
After all I knew it had to be something to do with you

I really don't mind what happens now and then

As long as you'll be my friend at the end

~~Kryptonite; 3 Doors Down, The Better Life'

"Why don't you sit down and read, Eriol.  You brought along your research materials."  Kaho murmured.  Eriol could see her reflection behind him in the glass.  He shook his head mutely, feeling the press and roll of his forehead against the cool window.

"Is something wrong, Eriol?"  Spinel hovered into view.  Eriol felt a smile curve his mouth.  Spinel was currently a bright, fluffy pink, owing to a run-in with something-or-other and Cerberus. 

"Nothing." 

"You're awfully weird tonight."  Ruby Moon chimed in around her toothbrush.  "Even for you you're weird."

"Now really, Akizuki-san."  Kaho sighed. 

"What?"  Ruby Moon brushed vigorously, affronted.  "He is."

Eriol sighed.  "Did you ever wish you could…just…fly?"  He asked the room at large.  Spinel snorted.   Eriol ignored him.  "I feel…a little trapped, like there's something I forgot to do.  Or something I should be doing.  I don't know."  Unbidden, an image of Tomoyo's smile as it had been outside the ice-cream bar, before she'd gone in, popped into his head.

"Maybe you forgot to get the time to meet Tomoyo-chan and the others at the Aquarium tomorrow."  Ruby Moon suggested helpfully.   "Or to find out what you're all doing on Saturday.  Or when to meet for skating.  I need to spit."

"Maybe it's the fact that I'm still the wrong color."  Spinel said archly as Ruby Moon wandered away.

"I'm going to go work on my music down in the ballroom.  I shouldn't be gone long, but if I am, don't wait up."  Eriol said suddenly and left before any of them could say a word.  As it turned out, he spent most of the night there, falling asleep in the grimy pre-dawn hours and waking only when Ruby Moon hefted him into her arms to carry him back to their suite.  "You shouldn't be out like this..."  He mumbled, heavy-eyed and half fascinated, as always, by the way her wings fluttered slightly as she walked.

 "Neither should you, but you don't hear me harping on it."  She muttered.   She refused to explain herself when he roused himself enough to ask what she meant. Which was why later that morning, after an hour or two's worth of sleep, Eriol knew he was being taxing.  He was cranky and out of sorts and inflicting it upon everybody within his general vicinity. 

"Geez, go to school already!"  Ruby Moon was packing his books for him and shoving his bag over his shoulder.  "You've been a real mister-crabby-pants since last night.  Even before you feel asleep on the piano you were all ratty."

"Mister what?"  Spinel coughed up his tea.  "The language you use, Ruby Moon."  He shook his head.