Story: Tomoyo's World -Part 2- Bitter Turns To Sweet (all chapters)

If you haven't read Tomoyo's World Part 1, it would be a good idea to do so as it explains how and why Tomoyo gets magic and who Kutong was.

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Disclaimer: None of the characters in this story, with the exception of Kutong, belong to me, they belong to CLAMP. I am just borrowing them for a bit.

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Tomoyo's World - Part 2 - Bitter Turns To Sweet

Chapter 0

Sakura stayed close to Tomoyo and would not let her get up at all that evening. But there were a parade of visitors. Ieran, of course and her daughters, but also many of the others who had been in Ieran's fighting team. They all told her how grateful they were and then asked her questions about her Earth Magic and just how she had brought Syaoran back. She quickly realized that giving out information freely may not be a good idea as it may spread and reach those who would harm Sakura and herself so she said as little as she could.

Tomoyo was surprised to feel sleepy not long after 10pm and in a little while she dozed off. Once Sakura was satisfied that Tomoyo wouldn't soon wake up, she retired to her own room next door.

Tuesday July 25, 7:34am Hong Kong time.

When Tomoyo opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Sakura. "You haven't been there all night have you?" she exclaimed.

"No." Sakura laughed. I went to my room next door and fell asleep not long after you did. I just woke up early and came in to see how you were doing."

"It's rather unusual for her to be up by herself this early. Maybe it was all the excitement yesterday..." Tomoyo wondered.

As they waited for their breakfast Sakura suddenly remembered something. "Your mom called yesterday and I forgot to tell you!"

"That's okay, I was really tired of talking, what with all the visitors I had trying to politely squeeze information out of me. I thought about calling Mom but decided that if she really needed to talk to me, she would call me and she didn't. I guess I'll call her now. "

After just punching a couple of buttons on her little cell she was almost magically connected to her mom's private number at her office. "Hi Mom!" Tomoyo said happily.

"Tomoyo! Did Sakura remember to remind you to call me last night?" Sonomi asked with a smile.

"Of course she did. I just forgot." Tomoyo lied smoothly.

"That's okay." Sonomi replied not believing a word of it. "So how are things between you two?" Sonomi probed hopefully.

"Fine. Same as always." Tomoyo deflated her.

"Oh." She gave a sigh and continued. "So what were you doing that tired you out so much you were sleeping at five last night?"

"Well I spend a lot of time sightseeing in a helicopter with Ieran, then I met a lot of new people and we talked. I'll tell you everything when I get home, okay?" It was obvious to Sonomi that her daughter was evading her questions so she ended the conversation with some small talk. She was confident that Tomoyo would tell her everything when the time was right. She trusted her daughter to have a good reason for not discussing things over the phone.

Later when Ieran asked if it would be acceptable if she had a special dinner for her and Tomoyo that night, Sakura remembered something. "I have tickets for Japan at four this afternoon, and my dad said that I have to be on that plane because my tickets can't be changed."

"Please do not worry about tickets. The Li family will be honored to provide first class seats back to Tokyo any time you wish. Perhaps you could see if it would be acceptable to your father for you to stay an extra day or so?" Sakura felt embarrassed, but was smart enough not to protest.

"Okay. I'll call him and my brother and let them know that I won't be flying home today. I don't think they will mind a day delay as long as I have time to finish my summer break homework."

Sakura did call, left a message on her Dad's voice mail and told her brother that they would be staying longer and that she would let him know when her new flight would arrive.

"But I thought you had a special fare that couldn't be changed?" he asked.

"I did, but the Li family wants me to attend a special dinner tonight and they said they would provide tickets for me to fly later on."

"Why ever would they want a monster to have dinner with them?" he teased.

"I am not a monster." she responded automatically, then continued, "Tomoyo and I did a great service to the Li family and Hong Kong and I guess everybody else as well, so the dinner is especially for us. We are the guests of honor!" She finished proudly.

"But what kind of service could you have done to earn such a thing?" He honestly wanted to know. So Sakura gave him a very short explanation. "Wow! But how could you actually kill someone?!"

"He killed me first!" She snapped back.

"Uh...yeah, I guess. This time travel stuff is really confusing. But anyway I guess your Cards finally came in handy." Then an unpleasant thought came to him. "But once Yuki finds out about this," he continued sadly "I don't expect that Yui will let you go off on your own anymore. And that will stink!" He added with a sigh. "But on the other hand, you did save Yuki's life. So I guess it's okay... But could you not say anything to Yuki about all this stuff?"

"Sakura had to smile at the pleading tone in her bothers voice. I don't know if I should do any favors for someone who calls me a monster."

"Okay! Okay! As long as Yuki doesn't find out, I won't call you a monster."

"Deal!" Sakura grinned.

Not long after she talked with her brother, her dad called back and they talked for over an hour. Sakura mostly listened happily as Fujitaka told her all about what they had found on their dig and how it fitted his theories. Sakura didn't really understand the fine points but she loved hearing her dad talking so happily. She in turn told her dad about the things she and Syaoran had done the previous week as well as how happy she was that Tomoyo had come for a visit. After she hung up she remembered that she hadn't told him about Syaoran asking her to marry him, but since she had said 'no' she decided it wasn't important.

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That evening Tomoyo was picked up at her room by two men with a wheel chair. She insisted that her ankle was much better, but gave in when Sakura pleaded with her. Until they got to the big staircase. "What are you planning to do?' she asked suspiciously.

"Carry Daidouji-sama down." one of the men said as they lifted her, chair and all, and started down.

"No!" she protested, but it didn't stop them at all. She was scared for a moment and then she laughed. "This shouldn't bother me after all the life and death things I've been through lately. And I -can- fly after all. I even jumped out of a helicopter for goodness sakes!" she remembered with some astonishment. "But this -still- feels scary..." she admitted to herself as she clung to the armrests.

Syaoran was the first to greet her at the dining room. "Welcome Daidouji-sama. I owe you my life will be eternally grateful for as long as we both shall live."

"Sounds like a speech someone wrote for him. And he looks more embarrassed than grateful. I wonder why?" No one had informed either Tomoyo or Sakura just how his death was the result of his adolescent overconfidence, and clumsiness. And Syaoran wanted to keep it that way. After a few more words assuring Tomoyo that he was fully recovered, the blushing boy disappeared into the crowd.

The dinner started with a speech by Ieran. "Daidouji-sama and Kinomoto-sama deserve a proper formal dinner with all branches of the family represented, but that would take time and cause more talk. Since we do not know just how far word of the Cards has spread, I think it would be wise to not attract anymore attention to their visit. However I still want to honor them as best we can.

Kinomoto-sama has done the world a great service by using her immense power to destroy the evil one, and for that I hold her in the highest regard.

But I must give even greater honor to Daidouji-sama, who even though new to Magic, showed immense courage and astonishing power in saving all of Hong Kong. And then if that wasn't enough, she brought my son back from the dead! But of far greater importance, she was responsible for saving the life of Kinomoto-sama and preventing her Cards from being used by the evil one. For these deeds the whole world owes these two humble teen aged girls eternal thanks! They have earned a place among the greatest Mages of all time. The Li family at least will never forget their debt."

Then Ieran turned to the guests of honor. "If either of you ever need any help or any material goods that we can provide, we will not hesitate to provide you with whatever we possibly can."

Chapter 1

Tomoyo found it strange being treated like royalty, but at least she wasn't as embarrassed by it as Sakura was. She had to smile to herself when Sakura would blush each time someone called her "Kinomoto-sama".

All those who participated in the attack, were there, plus some others including Meiling who approached Tomoyo right after the dinner.

"Did you save him for Sakura?" She began in her direct style of speaking.

"I didn't think about why I should save him, I just felt that I might be able to save a member of our team, so naturally I tried my best. And I was fortunate enough to be successful."

"Well, I'm very glad you did save him no matter what the reason, but now my question is, are you still trying to talk Sakura into marrying him?"

"No." Tomoyo shook her head slightly and looked down. "If she doesn't love him, there is nothing I can do. The main reason I was trying was because she needs a boy with Magic, and he was the only one I knew. And Sakura did like him a lot. It seemed perfect. It just didn't work. But now I still need to find a boy with powerful Magic that she can fall in love with."

"You are a real idiot, you know."

"Am I?" Tomoyo said casually though Meiling's words stung sharply.

"Yes you are! You love her and she loves you, so get together already!" the Chinese girl said with feeling.

"We are just friends. Sakura needs a nice boy with Magic and I intend to find her one." Tomoyo said in her formal way, and then had an idea. "However I could use someone who knows the boys with Magic in Hong Kong."

"I owe you more than I can ever repay for saving Syaoran, but I really hate to be a party to this stupidity of yours. But since this plan of yours for Sakura's future is doomed to failure anyway..." Meiling finished with a shrug and a twisted smile.

Meiling's words still stung but Tomoyo was determined to look for a substitute Magic Prince no matter what. And she had already discovered that all of the males at the dinner were way too old for Sakura. "I take it that means you will help... So how many boys, say, sixteen to twenty, with powerful Magic do you know?"

Meiling thought about this for a moment before answering. "Four who have some Magic in about that age range. But none of them are nearly as powerful as Syaoran."

"That's unfortunate. But it is a start..."

"And they are all assholes who think that any girl they want should fall into bed with them just because they have Magic."

"Maybe I can find her someone back in Japan." Tomoyo sighed.

xxxx

That night as Tomoyo tried to get to sleep, her thoughts were racing. "It's finally over. I don't have to worry about searching for lost cards or fighting evil sorcerers anymore...

It is -so- unbelievable though! I really have Magic now. And it's special and in some ways very powerful. Who could have guessed that the little girl who used to sew those cute Card Captor costumes and followed Sakura around with a camcorder would one day save a city with her Magic. Not to mention bring a dead person back to life." This thought gave Tomoyo such a wonderful feeling inside she felt like she was glowing; but it didn't last very long.

"But what now? The adventure is over. Has anything really changed? I am still just a high school girl on her summer break. In a little while I will have to go back to school and back to the life I was living before all this impossible stuff happened. And now I have to find Sakura another Magic Prince...somehow." she sighed. "Too bad there wasn't any possibilities at the dinner. I wonder if Meiling was just giving me a hard time. I really should ask Ieran about possible candidates. I'll bet she would be delighted to get the Cardmistress married to a member of the Li Clan, even if it isn't Syaoran.

But it's still going to be hard to find someone suitable that she can love and be loved by in return. And it still hurts the same. Or more. Not only is my Sakura-chan sleeping in the next room, but I can now feel her through the wall with my Magic. No! I must not touch her. It is very impolite. Impolite, but SO tempting. If only I could touch her without her knowing. But no, I shouldn't even think of such things! I must get myself under control. I must regain my calm acceptance of my fate... And I must stay away from Sakura. She is much too attached to me. I MUST get her interested in a suitable boy. Perhaps I can talk her into extending her stay. And if Ieran knows any decent boys with Magic we could have some parties or something. So she could meet them... She had said at the dinner that she would do anything for me."

But as she thought and planned she kept getting the feeling that something bad was going to happen. "I must be really messed up from all the fear and fighting and stuff. It's all over now." she assured herself. "The bad guy is dead and Sakura is safe. And I am SO sleepy." By making herself think about how wonderful it was having Sakura back alive again, she was finally able to ignore the bad feeling and fall asleep.

But less than three hours later Tomoyo woke up in the dark with the feeling that something horrible was close by and threatening. "Must have been a very bad dream, I still feel the fear. Not surprising considering what has been happening. But it really feels like there is something horrible...right...over...THERE!" With hardly a thought, Tomoyo had reached out with her Magic and touched the thing. And it felt real. Very real, and very horrible. This woke her up completely. "It's real!" Was the first shock, but then she got a much greater one. "IT'S IN SAKURA'S ROOM!!!"

Chapter 2

For a just an instant fear swept through her, then she remembered that she had Magic now, and a wonderful shield. As soon as she thought of it, her shield snapped out to enclose Sakura as well as herself. A second or so later she felt a horrible and very familiar attack aimed at Sakura. "It's Kutong's slime needle attack! But he's dead! Even his ghost disappeared!" she thought as she went out her door and ran down the hall to Sakura's door. By the time she got there the attack had stopped, but she kept her shield around herself and Sakura as strong as she could and swept the room with her Magic as she tried the door. She didn't feel anyone but Sakura in the room but when the door didn't open, she called up Light Saber and cut the lock out anyway. As she entered and made her way to Sakura's side she continued to check around for the attacker, and continued to sense nothing strange. As hard as she was concentrating with her Magic sense she didn't even realize the lights were out and the only light in the room was from Light Saber. Once she was at Sakura's side she quickly swept the whole house with her Magic sense and found no trace of the strange thing, so she put Light Saber away. As she touched the Cardmistress with her magic to see if she was all right, Sakura spoke.

"What happened, Tomoyo-chan? Something really strange woke me up!"

"There was someone in this room a moment ago. They tried to attack you but were held off by my shield. And now they seem to be gone." But just then she felt a shielded something coming up the hall. She spun around and watched the open door with her shield solid and Light Saber out and ready. A second later she realized it was Ieran behind the shield and relaxed just a bit, but was still standing at the ready when Ieran reached the open door. Suddenly Tomoyo felt a powerful nonphysical Magic attack stab at her shield.

For an instant Tomoyo didn't understand, but then she realized that with the lights out and with her shield, Ieran had no idea who she was. "IT'S ME, TOMOYO!" She quickly yelled and her announcement made Ieran stop and turn the light on.

"I'm sorry Daidoji-sama! I saw the strange light- I didn't know what was behind the shield- Are you two all right?" she asked apologetically, then more quietly, "And what is -that-?!"

"Yes, I believe so." Tomoyo answered the first question. "I managed to get my shield around Sakura before he attacked. It felt like Kutong! But he's suppose to be dead!"

"Yes, it was his attack all right but did you notice a somewhat different feel to it? Ieran asked. As Tomoyo forced herself to remember what just happened in detail, she realized that the attack had felt different.

"It did feel sort of... Hollow? And not as strong as it was. But it was still the same slimy stabbing attack!"

"Indeed it was the same, I could feel it from my room, but It wasn't Kutong. If he had been in my house I would have known it. I think it was a Magical entity like a Sakura Card."

"That was nothing like a Sakura card!" Tomoyo exclaimed as she put Light Saber away.

"It didn't feel anything like a Sakura Card, but I believe it was a Magical entity just the same. So it seems that Kutong had either learned how to make Cards, or had found or stolen it. And whoever had made it, had been clever. The disgusting feel of it has the ability to penetrate shields and sickens those who it is used against, and thus weakens them. But in any case, now that he is dead it is free.

"Oh. But why did it attack Sakura?"

"It is hard to tell. Perhaps it is attracted to her Magic. And be aware that if he had one such entity he may well have had more of them. This would help explain why he was powerful enough to nearly beat my team of excellent Mages. I respectfully suggest that you stay close to Kinomoto-sama and keep your shield ready.

"Yes, of course. I will not leave her side!" In spite of the stress of the moment this brought a small smile to Sakura's face.

"And Kinomoto-sama? I believe you should keep your cards very close to you and ready to use at any time. And you might use your Shield Card as you sleep as well.

"I will!"

"Good. I will also set a guard. It seems the wards I have around this house were not strong enough to stop the thing. If anything happens, alert me with your Magic. Do you know how to do that?"

"Like this?" Tomoyo responded as she reached out, touched Ieran's shield and tried to convey a sense of danger to her.

Ieran winced as she replied, "Not so strongly! It only takes a gentle touch to get my attention. I will recognize your touch and come at once."

"Okay, I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for. You are doing astonishing well handling your new Magic. I owe you my life twice over, Daidouji-sama." And since this door no longer locks, I respectfully suggest you two spend the rest of the night in Daidouji-sama's room.

"I'm very sorry about ruining your door like that." Tomoyo said apologetically.

"Don't be the least concerned. And do not let anything stand in the way of your protecting Kinomoto-sama."

"I certainly won't!"

"Good, and how does your sprained ankle feel?" Ieran asked with a small smile.

"Oh, I forgot about it... It doesn't hurt at all."

"I thought that might happen. I've read that Earth Magic has great healing power."

"It does?"

"So I have read. However I did not read anything about a Magic sword that lights up like yours does." She finished.

"It's another Card that Eriol made, or... Actually he made it for himself a few years ago after he saw one of the movies, and then just re-made it as mine, like he did with the Fly Card and my Shield Card."

"I'm very glad you have such power," she said without any of the envy she felt, in her voice. "You may well need it." She finished with a note of warning that Tomoyo missed. Then after wishing both of the girls a safe and comfortable night she left.

As soon as Ieran was gone, Sakura grabbed her pillow, picked up a still sleeping Kero and followed Tomoyo to her room.

"I'm going to have to sleep with her until this emergency is over!" Tomoyo realized as Sakura got in the bed first. "This is really bad! I'm suppose to be staying away from her, not sleeping with her-" Her thought was cut off at this point by the thrill of what she was doing. "This may be bad for the plan, but I have to do it! Sakura's life is at stake. No, actually a lot more than Sakura's life is in danger. If some evil Mage gets the Sakura cards it could be a disaster for the whole world. But I must just think of the danger I am protecting her from, not of the fact that she is so very close to me."

After Tomoyo had turned out the light and settled herself in the bed, Sakura spoke softly. "This is just like when we would sleepover when we were 12, remember? We used to stay up so late and talk about things like monsters who threatened the world and how we would save everyone with the Cards."

"Sure, I remember, but this is -much- different!" Tomoyo said with tears in her eyes. "Now the monsters are real and the danger is real! You have already died once! I don't want that happening again."

"I don't either. Although dying isn't all that bad. The worst part is that you lose this wonderful world, and the special people in it." She finished wistfully.

"This is horrible. I am trapped -so- near to temptation and still worried about being attacked by a loose card monster. Or maybe even more than one. How can I be expected to protect her from monsters and from myself at the same time? It is too much! Just too much, and I am too tired. I must sleep but I am so scared!" Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by Sakura's Magic.

"There! Now I have Shield out and on guard around us. Shield is a good loyal Card and won't misbehave if I leave her out of card form while we sleep. I'm not so sure about the others, so I'll just keep them under my pillow where I can call on them in an instant." Sakura said with more confidence than she felt. "But I don't really think anything else will happen tonight. The bad feeling I had before I went to bed is gone now." As Tomoyo rolled over to turn the bedside light off the significance of this came to her.

"So Sakura also had a premonition of this trouble!"

"From now on, if you have any bad feelings, please let me know?" Tomoyo said quietly.

"Of course I will, I promise. I really should have known better. I had a real bad feeling the morning before Kutong trapped me and I didn't pay attention to that either. I am SO dumb sometimes! I really need you around to watch over me." Sakura finished longingly and both the words and the tone stabbed through Tomoyo's heart.

"That hurt! But she is right. I do need to stay close to her to protect her. At least until I find a suitable boy who can do the same. I can no longer take the easy way out and just stay away from her. But am I strong enough to stay close and not break down?" After a deep breath Tomoyo firmed her resolution. "I HAVE to be strong enough. I just have-" At this point Tomoyo's thoughts were interrupted by the touch of Sakura's hand on her arm. As Tomoyo unconsciously held her breath, she felt Sakura's fingers slide down her arm and grasp her hand.

"You don't mind if I hold your hand, do you? I'm scared."

"Of course you can." Tomoyo heard herself say automatically. "You can hold my hand anytime."

"NO! I don't mean that!" she corrected, but only in her mind.

"There. Now I feel better." Sakura sighed. "I'm sure everything will be okay as long as you are with me."

"Don't say things like that!" Tomoyo whined to herself. Her defenses were being overloaded but there didn't seem to be anything she could do about it. As she tried to regain her acceptance of her bitter fate, she found herself wrapping her left hand around where Sakura held her right hand. "But it feels SO good to just be with her and feel her touch. Perhaps I can forget my fate for a little while. Just for tonight..." As she finally relaxed a little and stopped her internal battle over Sakura's future, she noticed something; she still had her shield wrapped around the two of them. She had completely forgotten about it, yet it was still up and strong. "I guess this explains how Eriol had kept himself shielded while he slept."

"I want to spend as much time together with you as I can before you have to go back to school. Is that all right?" Sakura said softly.

"Of course! I wouldn't have it any other way."

"What choice have I? I can't make excuses and leave her now. I have to guard her! I couldn't stand losing her again. Of course I could use the return card again. Maybe. If whatever attacks her doesn't take the cards too. And if I am allowed to save her again. No, I can't afford to take any risks with her life! I have to guard her closely until we deal with this new threat... And then what? Ieran said Kutong may have had other cards. What if they come after Sakura too? And if Kutong found out about Sakura and the Cards how many other evil people and...things will come after her? And even when Sakura does get with her magic prince, what then? Will I be able to trust her life to someone else? Ieran says I have a far stronger natural shield than anyone she knows of. Unless his shield is as strong as mine, I would still have to guard her... So..." It finally dawned on her. "It seems I must stay with her to protect her...likely for as long as we live." She could not help being thrilled to her core by this logical reasoning. And as she savored this thought, she finally fell asleep.

Chapter 3

She woke up after less than half an hour with the bad feeling again but wasn't as strong this time. "My shield is strong and Sakura's Shield Card is also protecting us so it is probably impossible for that card to hurt us now...but I can't assume anything."

"Tomoyo?" Sakura whispered. "Are you awake?"

"Yes, I'm awake and I feel something." As she spoke she was reaching out with her Magic and sure enough she touched the same thing that had attacked Sakura earlier. But this time it was outside the house and it vanished as soon as Tomoyo touched it. "It seems to be gone now, but we can't be sure."

"Don't worry, Tomoyo. My Shield Card is protecting us. There is no way it can hurt us."

"That may be, but there is nothing to stop it from attacking others in the house." As Tomoyo kept scanning for it with her Magic she realized the bad feeling was gone. And after nearly an hour of scanning without any sign of the thing or any bad feelings, she relaxed and fell asleep again.

Wednesday July 26 7:12am

Tomoyo woke up feeling wonderful. She had been dreaming that she was getting married to Sakura, and as the image of Sakura in a cute Tuxedo and herself in a long white gown faded, she was left with a warm wonderful glow all through her body. A moment later she realized some of the warmth was from the body she was snuggled up against. It took her sleepy mind another second to remember just who she had gone to sleep with. "SAKURA! I'm actually snuggled up to my Sakura-chan. What a heavenly feeling." But as she finished waking up she continued remembering. First she remembered just why she shouldn't be sleeping with Sakura, and then, why she was.

"I have to guard her. No matter what." Then she continued with a sigh. "But it would be best if we didn't snuggle like lovers." With that thought Tomoyo was completely awake. She checked her shield and found it up and strong. "That's a relief. It does actually stay up as I sleep. And, yes, Sakura's Shield Card is guarding us too." She then swept the whole house and found no sign of the evil card. She did find Ieran, Syaoran and a number of other people though. She remembered to not probe them with her Magic, but lightly touch them just enough to tell they were there.

Since all was clear, and Sakura was still sound asleep, there wasn't really any reason for her to get up just yet. So she just laid there, close to Sakura but not touching and dreamed of living with the girl she loved for their whole lives. It seemed she would have to be Sakura's shield against those who would hurt her. "She still needs a proper husband to love and be loved by. But I have to start being realistic about this. She isn't going to fall in love with the Magic Prince I pick. She will fall in love with a boy of her own choosing. But since I have Magic now, and a strong shield to protect her, I don't have to ensure that she falls for a boy with powerful magic. She can pick whomever she pleases. And I can take the responsibility to protect her from evil. And if the boy she picks treats her badly, I can also deal with him. I'm not the powerless normal girl behind the camera anymore. I can fly, and fight if I have to. And I will do whatever I need to...to protect my Sakura-chan!"

Tomoyo had laid next to Sakura and day dreamed for nearly an hour when Sakura woke up. "Tomoyo-chan!" She said excitedly. "It is -so- wonderful waking up with you." She continued as she rolled and hugged Tomoyo. "I wish you could stay with me always."

The old pain clawed at her for a moment but then she remembered that -everything- had changed. "I must stay near you and keep my shield around you until I know you are safe." Tomoyo replied with a small smile. "I will be your bodyguard for as long as it is necessary."

"As long as necessary?" Sakura took a moment to digest this. "Do you mean just while we are here in Hong Kong? Or till school starts?"

"There is at least one and possibly more evil cards out there. And if Kutong found out you had the Cards and where you were, there may be other evil sorcerers out there who will be after you as well. I fear you will be a target from now on." Sakura's eyes got big at this news.

"But... Are you going to transfer to my school?" She asked excitedly.

Tomoyo shook her head sadly. "She isn't worried about being a target of evil for the rest of her life, she only thinks of being with me. This is really not going well."

"Yes. I must. I have to guard you." Tomoyo said simply and without any feeling, even though her heart was racing at the thought. "I must not get so excited. I am only her bodyguard. Not her lover!"

"But then what about after school?" Sakura asked with a hopeful look.

"We will need to move in together." Tomoyo said simply as Sakura practically squealed.

"We can live together! That will be so wonderful! And I have that slimy evil Card to thank for my good fortune!"

Tomoyo ignored Sakura's excitement as well as her own, and continued. "There is a lot of room over at my Mom's house. And I'm sure she would be happy to have you stay, if you can get your dad to agree."

"I'll ask him as soon as we get home! He's hardly ever home anymore anyway and I'll make him say yes!" Sakura's excitement was just so cute Tomoyo couldn't help smiling.

"It will be hard but I am much stronger now. I feel like I've grown up a lot in the last week. Or was it two weeks? I don't know... It's hard to keep track when you time travel." She had to smile thinking of it. All the things that had happened since she had seen the Hong Kong buildings falling over and burning on television seemed so impossible. And yet they were real and had changed her life in so many ways. She felt like a completely new person. With a new life. And a new purpose in life. "I am Sakura's bodyguard now. But that won't stop me from carrying a camera." She thought with a smile. "I can get one of those new ones that are really small and keep it in my purse..."

At breakfast Tomoyo told Ieran about sensing the evil Card again during the night and apologized for not notifying her. Then Sakura added her thoughts. "I hate to leave you here with that evil Card. Shouldn't we stay here and try to destroy it?"

"If you wish to do so, we will all be even more in your debt. But of course you do not have to do anything."

"I think we should try to locate the Card before we go. If we can find it, then we will destroy it." Tomoyo put in.

Ieran nodded and then took her cell out. "I will arrange for transportation." She said before using her phone.

xxxx

Less than two hours later Sakura, Tomoyo and Ieran were in a helicopter, once again flying over Hong Kong with Tomoyo using her Magic sense to examine the area. And just in case, Sakura had her Shield Card around the whole helicopter.

They decided to head straight for the house where they had fought Kutong, and they got lucky. As soon as they were near the charred ruin, Tomoyo called out, "I found it! It's just the other side of Kutong's house over there. But it's moving now. That way." She pointed to the left and Ieran directed the pilot to follow Tomoyo's directions. As they followed the wild Card and flew lower, Tomoyo asked Sakura if she could feel it.

"No, not yet...wait...yes! I feel it. "Shadow! Trap that evil card in your blackness!" Sakura called out loud, directing Shadow with her thoughts, and just a few seconds later Tomoyo could feel the thing fighting to get out of the power of Shadow. It tried to attack Shadow, but it's attack didn't work at all, so the evil Card then tried to attack them, which Tomoyo felt quite clearly, but it could not even penetrate Sakura's Shield Card let alone her own natural shield.

"Tomoyo? I will have to put Shield away so we can land, are you sure you can protect all four of us with your shield?"

"I don't know, just a moment." Tomoyo then expanded her shield until it was outside Sakura's Shield. She could feel some weakening due to the larger size but it was still enough to stop the Card's attack. "No problem. You can put Shield away now."

Once this was done, Tomoyo brought her shield down until it just protected the four people. The next problem was where to land. They were over a residential area on the side of a mountain, and there wasn't a large enough flat spot without overhead wires anywhere. But Sakura had this figured out. "We can return to the field where we took off from. I'll just have Shadow follow us while still holding the evil Card."

Once they had gotten back to the sightseeing company, Ieran had the pilot radio back to their home base and tell everyone to stay inside while they landed. To be even safer the pilot landed as far away from the buildings as he could. This was of course, to prevent the evil Card from attacking any innocent bystanders.

Once they were down, Sakura had Shadow come up close to her. She could now clearly feel the mind of the Card what there was of it, and this gave her an idea. So she materialized her Star Staff, pointed it at the black sphere of Shadow and commanded Kutong's card to take it's solid form. Then when Sakura put Shadow back to Card form, a small black and white card flew to her hand along with Shadow. But instead of calling on Fiery to destroy the card, she seemed to be writing something on it with her finger. Then she threw the Card up in the air and as it floated above her Star Staff it started shooting out sparks.

"She is remaking the Card? Maybe that will make it easier to destroy?" Tomoyo wondered.

As the Card started to come down a mystified Tomoyo noticed it was now purple, instead of black and white. But the bigger surprise was when the Card came to her instead of to Sakura.

"Now you have an attack Card, Tomoyo." Sure enough, the card now looked like the ones that Eriol had made for her, even having her name on it.

"Sakura! I don't want that evil Card! I thought you were going to destroy it!"

"It's not really evil, it was just made to feel that way. It's just another Card. Remember my own Cards tried to attack us when they were free. It's just something an attack Card does naturally. Now that it has a nice owner like you, it will behave just fine. But don't call it unless you really want to attack someone, otherwise it may be hard for you to handle."

"I don't want an attack Card! And I really don't want this slimy Card!"

"But Tomoyo, it's attack is what made you stay with me. I am grateful to it for bringing us together. I can't destroy it!"

"What if you need to attack some evil sorcerer to save Sakura?" Ieran put in. This she couldn't argue with.

"I can't afford to throw away a weapon I may need to save Sakura, no matter how evil and slimy it feels." But as Tomoyo touched the Card with her Magic she realized it didn't feel so evil as a Tomoyo Card. And it did feel like it wanted to protect her. "Okay, Sakura. I'll keep it."

"But it -still- feels rotten and slimy." She sighed.

Chapter 4

That night they again slept in the same bed with both Tomoyo's shield and the Shield card protecting them, but there were no bad feelings and only one incident. And it had nothing to do with evil cards. It seemed that Tomoyo had had rather a lot of tea before going to bed, so during the night, when nature called, she got up and headed for where she knew the private bathroom was. She was somewhat startled when she passed through the Sakura's shield Card barrier and Sakura became unreachable with her Magic. But after a moments thought, she just extended her shield all the way around Sakura's Shield.

But not too surprisingly, being far from fully awake, she had completely forgotten about Shield by the time she was heading back to bed, so when her right foot struck the impenetrable barrier it crumpled her toes painfully and caused her to lose her balance and fall forward. Her hands struck the dome shaped upper part of the barrier next, but since one of the properties of Shields barrier is that it is incredibly slippery, they could not prevent her chin from also striking rather painfully. "I'm glad that wasn't my nose." she thought as she rubbed her sore chin.

Sliding down Shield until she was on her knees on the floor, Tomoyo called out. "Shield! Let me in! I need to protect Sakura!"

"That was dumb. Sakura set Shield on guard, so of course it will only listen to Sakura. I need to wake her up. I hate to disturb her sleep, but I need to be near her to properly shield her. And besides, I want to get back in that nice warm bed."

"Sakura? Wake up. Shield won't let me in." But her soft words had no effect on Sakura at all.

"I know she is a heavy sleeper, but this is getting annoying!" So Tomoyo turned on all the lights in the room and kept calling Sakura; getting louder and louder until someone knocked on the door and asked if there was a problem. "NO! NO PROBLEM! EVERYTHING IS FINE!" She yelled back with an angry note in her usually sweet voice. Then she realized that she had been very rude, and went over and opened the door; but who ever had spoken was gone. So she went back to waking Sakura up.

"SAKURA!!"

"You don't have to yell Tomoyo-chan. What's the matter? Are we being attacked?"

"No. I just got up to use the bathroom and Shield won't let me back in bed."

It didn't help Tomoyo's mood any when the Cardmistress burst out laughing before having Shield let her in.

Thursday July 27 7:12am

Tomoyo again awakened first. And felt a thrill when she felt Sakura snuggled as close as she could get and holding her arm. "I must not enjoy this too much. I have to remember that she is not mine. Even though she seems to be acting like I am hers." she noted with a smile. But after reminding herself that she was just Sakura's friend and bodyguard, she slipped out of the Cardmistress' hold and moved a little so they didn't touch. But being so close to her Sakura soon became too painful to bear. Half of her wanted desperately to take the Cardmistress in her arms but the other half was holding her back. "This is making me crazy! I have to get further away from her."

So she decided to get up. After showering and getting dressed she waited a while for Sakura to wake up.

"I suppose this is a waste of time. She will likely sleep another hour or so. Maybe I could just go down for some breakfast. I can still keep scanning around for any threat from downstairs." Doing a quick scan of the house she found Ieran having breakfast outside in the garden and decided to join her.

xxxx

It was comforting to be able to check on Sakura with her Magic sense, even while she was talking with Ieran.

"I suggest that you and Kinomoto-sama stay here another day, so I can work with you both on your offensive and defensive Magic." Ieran was saying.

Tomoyo thought that was an excellent idea so after Sakura had gotten up and had her breakfast the three of them met outside at a table just outside the garden. Ieran started by trying to teach Sakura how to reach out with her Magic and touch things, but had very limited success. Very limited indeed. Other than Magic Cards, she could only detect large things that were fairly close to her.

Then Ieran tried to introduce her to nonphysical Magic attacks and defense and found Sakura had no idea what she was talking about. And since she couldn't feel Ieran's Magic, Ieran couldn't even show her how to do it.

"Have you ever tried moving things with your Magic?" Ieran asked in her calm voice.

"No? I never thought of it."

"Well, try moving that chair over there."

"How can I move something I can't feel with my Magic? I can move Cards..."

"Ah yes. You can't feel anything else. But you said you could feel the flower box, on the edge of the garden there."

"Yeah, but just barely." Sakura admitted.

"Well, just try moving it, like it was a Card."

Sakura looked at the massive concrete casting for a while and nothing happened. "Do your best!" Tomoyo encouraged the Cardmistress. Sakura gave her a small smile and then an expression clearly showing her concentration crossed her face before the box suddenly pulled out of the depression where it's weight had sunk it into the ground, went up six feet or so and moved sharply towards them.

"How is that?" Sakura asked as she turned and noticed that Ieran had vacated her place at the table and was retreating rapidly.

"I don't think our hostess has confidence in your ability to control that thing. Perhaps you should just put it back?" Tomoyo finished with a smile.

In a minute or so the flower box was back in it's place and Ieran was back at the table and composed again. "I'm sorry for my reaction but I wasn't prepared for something that large and heavy to start coming at me so fast." After a pause Ieran continued. "You have great power, but lack sensitivity. Now I don't suppose you have any idea how to do fire Magic?" When Sakura shook her head Ieran nodded. "I didn't expect you to. Nor can I teach it to you with your lack of sensitivity. It is something that can only be taught by example. There is no way to describe the spell in words. So you will have to wait on this until you can develop your Magic sense to the point where you can feel others Magic. You have much work to do. Having the power of the Cards at your command has spoiled you and made it unnecessary for you to properly learn Magic. I believe it would be wise of you to take the time and lean all the Magic you can as you never know when you may need it."

"Okay. I will do that." Sakura said hesitantly.

"Now we will test Daidoji-sama's abilities." Ieran had expected, Tomoyo's magic sensing ability to be good as she had found Kutong's house, but the actual extent of it astonished her. She could identify objects around her at least as well as seeing them and the range she could sense things was so great that Ieran had no way to measure it. She could also feel Ieran's Magic, as if she could see that as well. "You have a remarkable power. I expect it is due to your Earth Magic as I have never known anyone else with your ability. Your Nonphysical Magic shielding is well known so we need not test that. But now we will see what nonphysical attack magic you can do."

Tomoyo quickly figured out how Ieran formed a spear of stabbing Magic, but when she tried to do it herself, it was pitifully weak. "Well now that you know how, you can work on developing some power in your attack. You can practice on animals or even plants, if you prefer. This sort of attack can kill anything that lives. But of course you don't want to practice on people, as it is very dangerous. Particularly when you are inexperienced. Next is physical Magic."

They soon discovered that Tomoyo's ability to lift and move objects was limited to very small things. She could lift a spoon but not a plate. Not could she propel that spoon very far from her. "So there is another thing you need to work on." Ieran said in her calm way, yet Tomoyo could feel the emotions she concealed.

"It wasn't strange that she was frightened of Sakura's power, but she seemed worried when I showed I had better Magic sensing than she did. And then she was relieved when I showed that I lacked any significant power with Physical Magic. I wonder if she is really an ally, or if she is in fact a rival who wants the Cards for herself? After all she never dropped her shield once with us. Still, it could just be that I just hurt her pride a little."

"Now we will see if you can do some fire Magic." Ieran said to Tomoyo.

"Doesn't that require a great deal of Magic power?"

"Not if you do it correctly. You can make things hot by using your Magic power directly, but that is wasteful. The proper way to do it is to use a circular spell, that is one that repeats itself over over, each time it gathers a little more heat, until it runs into it's limit. Then you just project the spell at your target. When the spell strikes a physical object the circle will open and all the heat it contains will be released."

"Okay, but where does the heat really come from then?" Tomoyo, as usual, wanted to understand the theory as well as the application.

"It doesn't come from anywhere. It's just there." Ieran said and Tomoyo could feel her irritation.

"She doesn't know." Tomoyo smiled to herself.

"So now try to feel what I am doing, and I will make a simple fireball." Ieran then proceeded to make one fireball after another until Tomoyo was finally able to follow all the steps that had to be done before the heat would begin to build up in the circle. Then Tomoyo tried to do what she had felt Ieran doing. And nothing happened. In fact it took over an hour of trying and being corrected before it suddenly worked. "YAY!" Sakura cried when the large orange fireball appeared in front of Tomoyo. "You did it!"

"Yes, but I'm not really sure how I did it." Tomoyo admitted.

"Well then try it again." Ieran suggested.

The next two tries failed and then Tomoyo finally got the bit she had been missing. "Now just keep practicing that spell until you can do it reliably. Then once you can do that, I will show you how to make proper attack fireballs. They are smaller and much hotter than these. And Sakura, you work on you Magic sensing ability. Unfortunately I have things I must do now, and I must withdraw for a while. I will check back with you this afternoon." With this Ieran excused herself and left the two girls sitting at the table on the edge of the garden.

So up until Lunch, Sakura practiced her Magic sense with Tomoyo's help and guidance, and in between, Tomoyo practiced her fireballs. Taking Ieran's hint she tried making them smaller. Sure enough they grew brighter. Then remembering that each time the spell looped around it picked up heat, she tried to make spells that ran faster. This took a lot of trial and error but by the time they were notified of lunch Tomoyo could make fireballs that were very bright indeed and nearly white.

Sakura had made progress as well as she could now feel the chair that she failed to earlier. And being able to feel it meant she could lift it. She didn't try to throw it of course.

After lunch Ieran seemed pleased with Sakura's progress and then astonished when Tomoyo demonstrated one of her small super hot fireballs. "How did you learn to do that?" She wanted to know.

"I just listened to what you said and applied it. You said that attack fireballs were smaller, so I tried making mine smaller, then you said that the spell picks up heat each time it runs so I just tried making my spells run faster. Now what should I do?"

"Your talent for fire Magic is impressive. And Kinomoto-sama has made good progress with her Magic sense. I suppose you two can have the rest of the afternoon off to rest or practice as you will. I regret to say that I must leave you again, but I have responsibilities. I will see you at dinner." With a few more polite words Ieran was gone.

xxx

That night after dinner Sakura's dad called. It seemed that he was flying back to Tokyo for a one day meeting and he wanted very much to see her while he was back. So after checking with Ieran, she let her dad know that she would be home the next day before his meeting would be over.

That night Tomoyo was so exhausted she fell asleep almost as soon as she got into bed. When she awoke, Sakura was again snuggling with her. "This feels so good, and yet I can't let her keep doing it. She is much too affectionate for us being just friends. But it is SO hard to push her away!"

Friday July 28 10:21am Hong Kong time

Waiting in the airport for their flight, Tomoyo again thought about her new life as Sakura's bodyguard. "I remember how hard and painful it was in ninth grade when I saw Sakura at school every day and I longed to confess to her. But now when I think about the fact that I will be living with her all the time, I can feel nothing but joy. I don't understand why everything is SO different now... But what about my plan to have her marry a suitable boy? How can she date when I have to stay close to her? I wonder... Maybe Sakura will let me use Illusion to make myself invisible like she did that one time. Yes! That might actually work. Then she should be able to find a boy she is likes. But will she agree to such a plan? Of course! Once she finds a boy she is really interested in, she won't want me to interfere with her dating him, so she should agree with no trouble." This thought satisfied Tomoyo for the moment.

Kero was riding on Sakura's lap as a stuffed animal and as usual he wouldn't hold still and keep quiet. The lady on the aisle side of Sakura commented several times on what a wonderful little robot bear Sakura had.

They were less than half way to Tokyo and Tomoyo was wondering if she should let Sakura keep holding her hand when she remembered that she had flown this same trip with her own wings. "Now this is the way to fly! In an airplane! Warm, comfortable and so much faster!" This brought a grin and a chuckle which she then had to explain to Sakura. And she forgot about the fact that Sakura was still holding her hand for the rest of the trip.

"My mom and Sakura's dad are going to have to be informed and understand the situation so they will allow us to stay together at all times. Of course mom wouldn't complain a bit if I told her I wanted to live with Sakura. Oh I forgot, school! She isn't going to want me to transfer to Sakura's school. So she is going to have to know."

While her bodyguards were picking up her baggage, Tomoyo called and left a message on her mom's private voice mail, that she had arrived safely and would be going directly to Sakura's house.

xxxx

When they arrived at Sakura's, Tomoyo had her body guards carry her bags in and put them in Sakura's room. "But what if my dad says you can't stay over?" Sakura wanted to know.

"We will stay together no matter what. And I doubt that your dad will mind. He seems quite fond of me."

Fujitaka was delighted to see his daughter of course but he did indeed seem very pleased to see Tomoyo with her. Touya was there as well, to welcome "the monster" home, but he seemed so honestly pleased to see his little sister that Sakura didn't even yell at him. And it seemed that neither of them had remembered their little agreement.

There was one thing Sakura wanted to make sure of before she forgot. "Would it be all right if Tomoyo-chan stayed here tonight?"

"Of course, she is always welcome in our house. But Tomoyo-san, won't your mother want you see you tonight?"

"I'm sure she will, but she always works very late on Fridays and I really want to spend time with Sakura."

"All true." Tomoyo thought to herself.

As Sakura was telling her dad and brother about what she had done in Hong Kong, minus all the Magical stuff, including some of what she had already told her dad on the phone, she remembered something. "Syaoran took me out to a real expensive restaurant Saturday night. And he asked me to marry him."

"NO! Don't you dare!" Touya said angrily.

"You are rather young to be thinking about getting married, Sakura-san." Her dad quietly added with a worried look.

"Well anyway, I turned him down. I decided I like him, but I don't really love him, and I don't want to spend my life with him." Sakura finished as she glanced at Tomoyo, who was just sitting there with her usual little smile.

"Well! That's a relief!" Touya said as he relaxed back on the sofa.

Shortly after a wonderful dinner that everyone helped cook, Tomoyo's cell rang. "Yes mom, everything is fine. I know you are busy so I will tell you all about it tomorrow, however I want to stay here with Sakura tonight, if that would be okay?" Sonomi was obviously delighted at this news and was happy to let Tomoyo go without further explanation.

xxxx

Tomoyo had assumed without thinking that they would sleep in Sakura's bed as they always had. But when they went in to go to bed, she realized it was a single bed. This hadn't been a problem when they were little kids but they had gown some since they were eleven. "I could sleep on the floor." Tomoyo offered.

"No!" Sakura answered with surprising firmness. "I will lay back against the wall which will leave plenty of room for you."

As Tomoyo got in under the covers she again remembered that she needed to keep more space between Sakura and herself. "But I suppose that won't be practical tonight." she relented with a warm happy feeling. Then, right after Sakura set Shield she snuggled up to Tomoyo's back and put her arm around her. "I should tell her not to do that, but I really don't feel like bothering. And it feels so very warm and good."

Too good perhaps, as Tomoyo couldn't seem to get to sleep. After a half hour or so she rolled over which forced Sakura to let go of her and backup against the wall. But then when she got tired of laying on that side and rolled back away from Sakura the Cardmistress went right back against her back and held her again. "This is too much. She is driving me crazy!"

"Sakura? I know you are awake. You really shouldn't be holding me like this."

"Just a moment... There is something I need to say... And I need to say it now. Remember last Sunday when I called, I said there was something I wanted to talk to you about? Well, I'm finally ready. Once I've said it, I'll let you go." Tomoyo was surprised and worried at the intensity in her Sakura-chan's voice.

"So what is it that you have to say?"

"I have been thinking a lot since that Evil Card attacked me. There really are things out there that want to kill me."

"Finally, it dawns on her that she is really in danger!" Tomoyo nods to herself.

"And one of these days they may do it. So anyway, there is something you need to know. Before I'm gone." Sakura now had Tomoyo's undivided attention and she was just about to assure the Cardmistress that she would protect her, when Sakura continued. "I am in love with you!"

Chapter 6

"NO! She can't be-" ran through Tomoyo's mind but her mouth wasn't working and Sakura was still speaking.

"And I don't mean as a friend either. You are my special person and you are the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with. You and only you. I think I've known this for a long time but it wasn't really clear to me until I refused Syaoran's offer of marriage. The one I want to marry is you! I was too shy to say it before now, but life and death battles make shyness seem silly. And so I'm glad that there are things trying to kill me as long as this keeps you by my side for as long as I may live."

"You are mistaken Sakura!" Tomoyo said in a somewhat panicky voice. "I know you are very fond of me, but you aren't in love with me. You can't be! I'm a girl! You need to find a nice young man and fall in love properly. You must!"

"I am not mistaken." Sakura stated firmly. "And I won't let you talk me out of it. I am as certain of my love for you as I am that I have Magic." This reminded Sakura of something. "And you can feel inside people's minds with your Magic. I heard Ieran say so. So reach into my mind and feel my love for you!" But Tomoyo was way too afraid of what she might find to do any such thing.

However Sakura wanted Tomoyo to accept the fact that she loved her so much, she unconsciously used her Magic to strongly send her feelings of love to the very sensitive Tomoyo. And since Sakura was inside of Tomoyo's shield, Tomoyo had no defense at all against such an attack. She was overcome with the power of Sakura's love and she could not prevent her love for Sakura from responding. And her love flowed back over the Magic link that Sakura had accidentally created, causing Sakura to feel her love for her childhood friend even more strongly. And this went back to Tomoyo amplifying her love. And so it spiraled out of control. In seconds, the two girls minds were filled to bursting with nothing but love and their spirits wound around each other as if trying to be one. There were no tricky words and nothing hidden anymore. How long they bathed in the ecstasy they had no idea. They were not aware of time at all.

This continued until they became exhausted, slowing the run away feedback loop until it broke. The two girls then fell into a deep almost coma like sleep.

Tomoyo's shield had collapsed, but Sakura's Shield Card was still protecting them; not that it mattered as they were not troubled by any threats during this night. And as they both were used to drawing on their Magic when tired, they recovered long before the time the alarm was set for.

Kero, of course, slept through the whole thing in his drawer.

Saturday July 29 6:00am Tokyo time

The alarm woke them up at the same moment and at the same time each realized that they could now feel the others mind. A link had been forged that now connected them together. And as they looked at one another they could each feel the others love. There was no hiding or denying it any longer.

"So you do love me." Sakura said with a soft smile. "But why did you hide it?"

"I didn't want you to be strange like me. I wanted you to have a normal life, and get married to a nice boy and have children."

"But you do realize that isn't going to happen now, don't you?" Sakura said firmly.

"Yes... I do now." Tomoyo admitted reluctantly. "But I never imagined that you could love me so much!"

"I did, and I do. And you love me at least as much. I can feel it. And it feels more wonderful than anything I have ever felt before." Sakura then suddenly rolled and before Tomoyo knew what was happening, the athletic girl was on top of her.

"You seem to have lost your shyness, Sakura-chan." Tomoyo said as she smiled up at the beautiful face of the girl she loved.

"I am not afraid of being embarrassed, or being rejected now that I know what you are feeling." And then Tomoyo was being kissed. By her Sakura-chan. And the feelings began to spiral again, but Tomoyo recognized what was happening and kept her feelings under control this time. However she still felt like she was totally immersed in Sakura's love and it made her want to scream with joy.

When Sakura finally broke the kiss and lay limp on top of her, Tomoyo spoke softly in her ear. "Careful, my...love."

"How incredibly wonderful this is! We are lovers now. And for always." This thought caused such a storm of love in her mind that it was a few seconds before she could speak again. "We need to hold back now or we will lose control again." she cautioned with tears of happiness in her eyes.

"And was that so bad?" Sakura asked as she bathed in the feeling of Tomoyo's love.

"Well no, but you wouldn't want to miss having breakfast and saying goodbye to your dad." At this point Tomoyo suddenly realized she didn't have her shield up. "Oh no!" she thought as her shield snapped into place, "I am a terrible bodyguard! That must never happen again!"

"Oh. Yeah, I remember now." So Sakura reluctantly rolled off the soft body of her love and put Shield away. I guess I could use some food too. I'm really hungry."

Then a few moments later as Sakura was deciding what to wear she felt soft arms slide around her. Clothing and food were forgotten as she turned around and put her arms around her Tomoyo-chan. When she gazed down at the lovely face only inches from her own, she realized that she hadn't seen such joy on Tomoyo's face since she was capturing the Cards. Now instead of her usual small smile, she was positively glowing with happiness. Then abruptly, Tomoyo's expression switched from a look of joy to one of pain.

"I told myself so very many times that this day would never come. That I was destined to be without you. All these years I wanted so much for you to have the perfect life that I had read about in books. I was -so- sure that if I just protected you from my feelings, you would have that life... But it seems I was wrong. You fell in love with me anyway. And I refused to see it. I was so blinded by my own vision of your perfect life that I would not see it. So fate turned everything around. Now, instead of you protecting me with your Magic, I protect you with my Magic. And instead of my love for you making your future, it is your love for me that has made my future." Sakura then ended Tomoyo's speech with a long slow kiss. "You are getting better at that, my wonderful Sakura-chan."

"I've thought about it a lot. And imagined how it would be. But I could still use more practice."

"My Sakura-chan wants to kiss me some more. And I can say "My Sakura-chan" now. And I am her Tomoyo-chan. I can feel her love like something solid wrapped tenderly around me. Such a heavenly feeling.... This is like...a dream. But she is real and right there, and so beautiful! But I must not let it carry me away. I must maintain some control. I must remember that I am still her bodyguard. But now I'm her lover too!" Once again, Tomoyo had tears of joy in her eyes.

Chapter 7

"What about breakfast?" Tomoyo forced herself to say.

"Did someone say breakfast?!" The little seal beast piped up as his drawer popped open.

"I will fix you something after Dad leaves for the airport and Onii-chan goes to the university." Sakura replied.

"Pancakes!"

"Okay. Pancakes."

'YAY!!" Kero announced so loud Sakura had to hush him.

"Okay, back in your drawer now Kero, we are going to change." Once he was in the closed drawer Sakura stripped her pajamas off before glancing at Tomoyo. She was immediately stunned by the sight of Tomoyo's beautiful nude body. "Tomoyo-chan?" She said with a hesitant smile. As Tomoyo looked at her questioningly Sakura started moving towards her and lifting her arms for another hug.

"Oh no! If she touches me like this...I don't know what will happen. I need some time to get used to this connection we have. Her love is so strong! It's like she is caressing me with her mind. And I want to... No not yet. We're not ready yet!" Your dad and brother are just downstairs waiting for us. We need to get dressed and go down."

"Well, okay." Sakura said with a cute pout.

After assuring the Seal Beast that he would get his pancakes later they went downstairs. As Tomoyo descended she was thinking a dreamy thought. "When we are both ready and everything is arranged just perfectly, then we will do it."

xxxx

"Good morning Monster, Good morning Tomoyo-chan." Touya greeted them in the dining room, and then noticed that they were not their usual selves. They both had radiant smiles.

"Good morning Onii-chan." Sakura replied as if she didn't even hear his "monster" comment. He immediately jumped to conclusions and grinned at them.

"So my little sister isn't a virgin anymore." He said with a laugh and immediately had Sakura's full attention.

"That's not true!" Sakura snapped at her brother who then chuckled at her intense blush. Though no one noticed Tomoyo's much smaller blush she could feel it herself.

"Sakura still blushes very cutely!" She laughed, trying to get her control back. Then she turned to Touya and Fujitaka who was bringing food to the table. "And Sakura's virginity is still intact...for now." She couldn't help adding and this time the two males did see Tomoyo's blush.

"So you are saying you are a couple now?" Fujitaka asked politely.

"Yes we are, dad. We are very much in love." Sakura announced with a smile that she couldn't seem to get rid of.

"But Tomoyo, how could you fall in love with a monster?" Touya said with a grin.

Then Sakura remembered their agreement and smiled at her brother. "Monster, huh? I think I need to call Yuki and let him know how things went."

"Of course you aren't a monster! I'm sorry I said that. I was just kidding. You are a wonderful little sister who wouldn't do anything to hurt her older brother..." Sakura loved the way she had finally, at long last, turned the tables on him.

"Maybe I won't and maybe I will. Depends on how my brother treats me..."

"As Sakura smiled threateningly at her apologetic brother Tomoyo turned to Fujitaka and announced, "Sakura and I will be staying together from now on. Including living together if that is all right with you?"

"Yes, of course it is." he replied as he saw how his daughter's face lit up with joy at Tomoyo's words. "But where will you two live?"

"We have a great deal of room at our house, and my mother would love to have Sakura stay there." Tomoyo said.

"But you will visit me when I am here, won't you Sakura-san?"

"Of course, Dad!" Sakura replied happily as she hugged her father.

XXX

After Fujitaka and Touya had left, Tomoyo explained that now that they were an official couple, that was a good enough reason for them to remain together and so her dad didn't really need to know about the Magic. However as Tomoyo was finishing her explanation, Sakura's arms were sliding around her again.

"It feels so good to have my Tomoyo-chan in my arms and to know that you won't leave me anymore. I missed you so much while you were-"

"Where are my PANCAKES?!" Kero interrupted loudly and made both the girls laugh.

After Kero's breakfast was made and he was eating it, the girls talked quietly. "Our love is truly wonderful, yet It still seems strange that I can no longer imagine your future with a handsome Magic Prince and beautiful children. And I had so wanted that for you."

"I thought that's what I wanted too. Even though I was in love with you, I would still imagine that dream. And tell myself that my love for you was just friendship. I used to tell myself that a lot even though it felt like so much more! But I was still stuck with the dream that Syaoran was the one I was destined to be with, and this caused me a lot of trouble over the years. It was like I was fighting myself. Then when you told me to expect Syaoran to propose, I tried really hard to imagine a life with him. It didn't feel right, but I kept telling myself that it would be much better than I was imagining. I was confused right up until he actually asked me. Then it struck me like lightening! I did -not- want to spend my life with him. I wanted to spend it with you!"

Sakura was now so overcome with the feeling of Tomoyo's love and the perfection of her imagined future that she couldn't speak for a while. But words weren't necessary at all as the two girls held each other and basked in their mutual love.

Then when Sakura began running her fingers through Tomoyo's long dark hair, Tomoyo felt the passion starting to build inside her. "No! Not yet. Not here. It must be in my room. Where I had all those dreams of her. We will make all those dreams come true. When we are ready and everything is perfect."

"I will call my mom and have her send my limo now." Tomoyo gasped as she pulled free of Sakura's rather firm grip.

Kero had heard and saw everything and it confirmed what he had thought earlier. He was honestly happy for both Sakura and Tomoyo that they had finally gotten together, but he couldn't help smiling even more when he thought about the wonderful desserts Tomoyo could now fix him every day!

Chapter 8

Sonomi's usual rather grim expression turned to a happy smile when she heard her daughters voice on her phone instead of the usual business calls. "Are you ready to come home now?"

"Yes. Please send my limo to Sakura's house."

"Of course. And it will be wonderful to see you again! I've missed you, my darling daughter. But I am surprised that you chose to spend the night with Sakura. Have things changed between you two?" She couldn't help asking hopefully.

"I don't really want to discuss that right now Mother." She said with no emotion. "Is that okay?"

"As you wish. Please hurry home. I am really looking forward to seeing you when you get here."

Tomoyo could hear the disappointment in her voice and she had to struggle to keep her voice flat as she answered. "I will be there soon." The moment she closed her cell, she chuckled with delight. She -so- loved giving her mom happy surprises.

xxxx

"It feels really strange to be moving out of that house. I've lived there since I was born." Sakura said wistfully as Tomoyo's bodyguards packed the last of her things in the huge trunk of the limousine.

"We have a very nice house, and I'm sure you will soon get used to it." Tomoyo assured her.

"I will love living anywhere with you, Tomoyo-chan." Sakura replied before kissing her girlfriend yet again.

Then it seemed like just a couple of minutes later when Sakura noticed that they were going through the electric gate that protected the Daidouji property.

After instructing her bodyguards to take everything up to her room, Tomoyo almost casually did a quick scan of the house, finding her mother on the south terrace. As Tomoyo led Sakura through the large mansion she had an idea to make her mom's surprise even better. So when they came out on the terrace and saw Sonomi watching them, Tomoyo grabbed Sakura and began kissing her. Sakura was embarrassed for a moment at kissing in front of Tomoyo's mom, but quickly forgot all about it as she got lost in the wonder of Tomoyo's kiss.

When they finally stopped kissing, Tomoyo led a blushing Sakura out to the table where a very relieved and brightly smiling Sonomi was sitting. "Okay, I was surprised. And it was a really nice surprise! It looks like things have worked out between you and Sakura-chan."

"Indeed they have. The next piece of news is that Sakura has her fathers permission to move in here with me. Will that be all right with you?" Tomoyo finished to an even more overjoyed Sonomi.

"Indeed it will! It will be wonderful to have Sakura-chan living here with us! It is too bad that there isn't very much of your summer break left now."

"No reason to wait I guess. First I'll see if she will give in easily. I'm sure she won't but I still should try."

"I need to transfer to Sakura's school, and be in the same classes as her. Otherwise we will both have to quit school."

Sonomi was shocked to say the least. "Is this a joke?" she asked hopefully.

"No Mom. I'm very serious. I need to be with Sakura all the time. It's more important than you can imagine."

"Tomoyo! I know how much you love Sakura, but you mustn't sacrifice your education just to stay with her. You really need to be in the best school you can for the future!"

"Actually, this has nothing to do with our love. But to tell you about it we need to be in a private place where we cannot be seen or heard. We have a secret that is...well it involves life and death... Lots of death."

Sonomi was now hoping that her daughter was joking rather than hallucinating. And she didn't sound like she was joking. "Okay dear... Whatever you say. Let's talk about it up in my suite."

"I would prefer my room, if that's okay? There is someone there I would like you to meet." Tomoyo said with a little smile.

"Of course, but I didn't know we have another guest." Sonomi wondered out loud as they started for the stairs.

Once in Tomoyo's room with the door locked Sonomi spoke first. "All right, now what do you need to say in private?"

Sakura looked uncomfortable, but Tomoyo was grinning She was really looking forward to showing off for her mom. First she went over to where Kero was pretending to be a stuffed animal. "Kero? We are going to tell my mom here all about our Magic so she can help us, okay?"

"It's about time!" Kero piped up as he flew up and over to hover in front of an astonished looking Sonomi.

"Sonomi-sama, this is Kerberos, also known as 'the beast of the seal', but we just call him, Kero-chan. Kero-chan, this is my mother Sonomi-sama.

"Pleased to meet you!" Kero said to Sonomi before turning to Sakura. "Didn't you bring me anything for lunch?"

"Here you are, Kero." Tomoyo said, as she held out a large piece of cake on a plate.

"Yay! Cake! Yay!" Kero yelled as he took the cake plate on his head and flew over to a table.

"Is Kero an alien?" Sonomi asked her daughter shakily.

'No, mom. Kero is a being created by Magic. We will talk more about him later. But remember when you saw Sakura grow wings and fly away from my window?" As she expected, her mom looked surprised.

"How do you know that?" She asked firmly.

"We will get to that in time. We have a LOT to explain to you about us and the world in general. First of all, as Kero demonstrates, Magic is real. Sakura has had powerful Magic since she was ten. I have Magic now as well, but I just got it recently." Tomoyo had expected a little more surprise from her mom as she had shown the first time she had told her, but this time her look was one of intense concentration.

"And you can demonstrate this of course?" She asked as if they were talking about everyday stuff.

"Sakura-chan, call on your fly card and show Mom your wings." Sakura nodded and in a moment she had her long beautiful white bird wings out. She then flapped them a little just to show them off."

"May I look closer, Sakura-chan?"

"Uh, sure." Sakura replied hesitantly.

Sonomi then looked carefully at where the wings came out of Sakura's shoulders as well as felt the feathers and the way they moved when she touched them.

"And where do they go when you don't have them?" She asked with a fascinated look. So Sakura put them away and showed Sonomi her Fly card.

"This is a Magic card. It doesn't look like much but it is actually alive. I ask it to give me wings and it does." Sakura shyly explained. Sonomi raised her eyebrows then nodded as Tomoyo began lecturing again.

"Sakura has many Cards that were originally made a long time ago by a great master of Magic named Clow. Sakura found them when she was ten and accidentally set all but one of them free. Kero then came out of the book the cards had been in, showed her how to use her Magic, and told her she had to capture the loose Cards. Once she did this, she made them her own and now they will do what ever she tells them to do. Unfortunately Sakura's Cards are incredibly powerful. This isn't a problem as long as they are Sakura's, since she has no interest in making herself queen of the world." Tomoyo said as she smiled and winked at Sakura, "However there are others out there who hunger for power, and would not hesitate to kill Sakura for those Cards. We had to fight one such person in Hong Kong called Kutong." This speech took Sonomi a moment to digest.

"And what happened to this Kutong? Did he give up?" Sonomi asked, sounding slightly worried now.

"He wasn't about to give up. Sakura had to use her Cards to kill him."

"You killed a man!? Sonomi burst out at Sakura. She was having serious trouble accepting the fact that the sweet shy daughter of Nadeshiko could have killed anyone.

"I had to. He was going to kill Tomoyo." After this fact penetrated, it began to make some sense.

"Okay, I'm very glad you saved my daughter, but wasn't there trouble with the authorities over this incident?"

"No. The only people who know about him say they owe us a great debt of gratitude for ridding the world of such an evil person." Tomoyo explained.

Sonomi was silent for another moment as she digested what she was hearing. "You said that you gained your Magic only recently, Tomoyo. How did this come about?"

"Okay now, this is really complicated, so listen carefully and don't interrupt please." Sonomi nodded immediately. "Last Monday, I found out from the cable news that Hong Kong was being destroyed." Sonomi looked startled but didn't interrupt. "Later Eriol called from London and told me that Sakura had been killed. He knew because her ghost had told him what happened. She had been kidnapped and then killed by the evil sorcerer I mentioned a minute ago. It seems that Eriol has the power to see the different paths that events could take. And he found that Sakura's death was not destined, and therefor that event could be changed." At this point Sonomi leaned forward a bit.

"The past can be changed?"

"Yes it can, if the event you want to change isn't a destined event, which means one that has to happen. Those can't be changed.

"So how do you find out if something can't be changed?"

"Eriol is the only one who can do that."

"Would he check and see if Nadeshiko's life could be saved?"

"I don't see why not. He does owe me for saving Hong Kong as well as Sakura. But we need to get my future figured out first, okay mom?" When Sonomi nodded hesitantly, Tomoyo continued her story.

"A Magic Card called 'Return' enables someone with enough Magic power to go back in time. So Eriol looked at how Sakura's death could be avoided and he was very surprised to discover that Sakura could only be saved if I were the one to go back and do it. He had not been aware that I had any Magic power, but it seemed I did, since you have to be born with Magic, you can't get it any other way." At this Sonomi sighed noticeably. "However my Magic wasn't really active yet. So Eriol came here and used his Magic to activate my Magic. In the process he discovered that I have a rare kind of Magic called Earth Magic. This gives me a power that no one else has and this was the main reason that I was the only one who could save Sakura. But first I had to find Sakura's cards. She had had them with her in Hong Kong so I started looking there. But it turned out that they had scattered and I had to fly all the way back here to Sakura's house with my own wings, which exhausted me, so I went home to rest."

"You have wings? Sonomi interrupted.

"Yes, I have some Magic Cards of my own that Eriol made for me. One of them is a Fly Card which gives me these wings." She called on her Fly card and her dragonfly wings appeared, which obviously delighted Sonomi.

"Insect wings? But why are they different from Sakura's?

"Sakura's were designed by Clow and are the traditional style. Mine are a new version, designed by Eriol. They are dragonfly wings which are faster and more maneuverable than Sakura's, though harder to learn to control. It took a lot of practice before I could use them properly, but they are really amazing. Can I go back to my story now?"

"Of course, I'm sorry I interrupted you." Sonomi said politely.

"As I was saying, I went home and you saw me flying so I explained all this to you then. And that's when you told me that you had seen Sakura's wings. Then, the next day I used the Return card to go back to last Sunday. Since the Card sort of rewinds reality, anyone who doesn't both have Magic power and a close connection with the use of the Card loses their memory of the events that now will not happen."

"But what about the paradox? If Sakura hadn't been killed you wouldn't have the Magic to go back in time?"

"There are no paradoxes in time. Even though a new timeline will be selected, that doesn't mean that the old one never happened, at least as far as I'm concerned. Do you understand?"

"Not really, but go on anyway."

"So to make a long story short, I and some other Mages found Kutong before he had killed Sakura and defeated him. Thus Sakura stayed alive and Hong Kong wasn't destroyed."

"But why would Kutong destroy Hong Kong?"

"He didn't, the Cards did. They love Sakura, so as soon as she was killed, they killed Kutong, but that didn't satisfy some of the most powerful of them, so they went on a destruction, and killing rampage."

"And they destroyed a city?"

"Yes indeed. Millions of people were killed. Like I said these cards are powerful!"

As Sonomi grasped this terrifying information her eyes got big for a moment. But then she shook her head as if to dispel a horrible vision. "But something doesn't seem right. You said you flew back from Hong Kong to find the Return Card. Why did you go there in the first place if these other Cards were rampaging and the Return Card was here anyway?"

"I didn't know where Return was until I contacted the other Cards and used them to follow Return all the way back to Sakura's basement."

"But when you got to Hong Kong why didn't the Cards kill you?"

"Because they knew that Sakura loved me. So as soon as they realized who I was, they let me talk to them and explain that I could bring Sakura back with the Return Card. And this is another reason why I was the only one who could save Sakura. However after Kutong's death, Sakura was attacked again. It was Kutong's version of a Card. I saved her life again with my Magic shield. My shield seems to be the strongest one known. And this is why I need to stay with Sakura. To keep her safe and what is even more important to the world, to keep her Cards from falling into evil hands."

"That is a lot to digest. I need to think a while."

"Of course." But as Tomoyo and Sakura were leaving Sonomi thought of something.

"Can you tell if I have any Magic power?"

"No, not really. I have no idea how to do it. Eriol can though." With this Sonomi nodded.

"Okay. He seems to be the Master of Magic."

"He is," Tomoyo replied. "He is the reincarnation of Clow. But I have a stronger Magic shield than he does." Sonomi just nodded and the two girls left her there.

Chapter 9

"Your mom sure accepts Magic easily." Sakura wondered out loud.

"I expect it is because when she was young she really really wanted to be a Magic Girl. So perhaps now she feels happy to find that the Magic she believed in so hard back then, is really real."

Even though Sonomi said "a while", she caught up with Tomoyo and Sakura less than ten minutes later, having some lunch. "Could you show me what all your Magic Cards can do?" Sakura didn't hesitate.

"Sure! They love to come out and do stuff, and it's good for them too."

"Sakura, how about if we go out in the woods behind the house? I don't think you want to call some of your Cards here in the house. There could be damage." Tomoyo pointed out.

So when they finished eating they had a Magic party in the woods on the back of the Daidoji property. Sonomi was serious when Sakura introduced her to Fiery and Watery, and rather scared of Earthy who came out of the ground making a small earthquake in the process. And she cried just a bit when Sakura had Flower give her a bunch of Nadeshiko flowers. But other than that, she was practically giddy with excitement; laughing and clapping her hands like a little kid. And to Tomoyo's delight she got nearly all of it with her camcorder.

Then when Sakura came to Float she had an idea.

"How would you like to fly with us, Sonomi-sama?" With this suggestion her smile got even wider than it was."

"Could I?!"

"We would have to be careful not to be seen, but I can use this Card called Float to hold you up and Tomoyo and I could pull you around in the air."

"YES!! I've always wanted to be able to fly!" So as they rose above the treetops she could see all over the neighborhood. "This is SO fantastic! I LOVE it!"

"Sakura, could you use Illusion to make us invisible?"

"Of course!" This seemed fine until Tomoyo realized something.

"We had better stay up high enough so people on the ground don't hear my wings, unlike yours they're really loud." But this gave Sakura an idea. She called Silent and had her take away just the sound of Tomoyo's wings. It worked wonderfully! They could even talk in normal voices then. And with Sonomi's delight in the amazing feeling of floating around in the air and Sakura and Tomoyo's love tickling each other every few minutes, the time went by quickly. In fact they had to hurry back to be in time for dinner.

As they were eating, Tomoyo reminded her mom. "Well? Do you have any problem with my changing to Sakura's school now?"

"Oh. I had forgotten all about that... I hate the thought of you giving up not only the status of your school but the quality of the education they give you." Sonomi looked at her daughter and sighed before she continued. "But since you have such important responsibilities I guess I have no choice. I will call the necessary people Monday and arrange it."

All through the rest of dinner, Sakura and Tomoyo kept glancing at each other and grinning. Sonomi felt herself grinning from time to time as well. Even though she knew logically that if everything her daughter had told her was true, and she believed it was, then both Sakura and her daughter and possibly she herself were in constant danger for their lives. But right at the moment, that didn't seem important. What was important was that her daughter had finally gotten together with the one she had loved for such a long time and Sakura returned her love. That seemed to make everything else in the world seem insignificant... Except one thing...

"I would like to call This Eriol and ask him if he would check on Nadeshiko's death and see if it is a destined event."

"Sure! He said he owed me more than he could possibly repay for my services. So I expect him to be willing to do any favor within his power for me." Then after a moments thought Tomoyo added, "Do you happen to know the time difference between here and London, mom?"

"London is nine hours ahead of us, so that would make it about ten in the morning there." Sonomi supplied.

Good enough! So I'll call after we give Kero his dinner in my room."

So shortly they all went up to Tomoyo's room with a dish of food and a large dessert. Then as the little Seal Beast stuffed himself, the three went to the office Sonomi had in her private suite. Tomoyo then used the speaker phone so everyone could hear the conversation. They were in luck as he was home and once he came to the phone he seemed delighted that Tomoyo had called him. So after listening again to him tell her what a wonderful a job she did, she asked him about Nadeshiko.

"I'm sorry. Even if her death isn't destined, which it almost certainly is, she is a very critical person in this Timeline. She is critical to both you and Sakura. So any change to her life will affect both of you. And of course the Clow- er Sakura Cards. And that is extremely dangerous."

"But can't you check and see what the result of saving her will be?"

"But she died a long time ago, didn't she?

"Yes. Almost thirteen years." Sonomi put in.

"That is -far- too long for me to be able to track all the possible branches in Timelines. It was hard enough to track possibilities when I only had to go back one day. If I went back thirteen years, I could not check out all the possible branches even if I had a million years to work on it! The number of Timelines is astronomical!"

"So you don't really know if her death is destined or not. Is that right?" Sonomi asked with her commanding business voice.

"It doesn't matter. It is far too dangerous to even try without knowing what changes it may cause."

"Too dangerous to who?"

"To the world! There is no way to tell! That is the point. It could cost any of us or anyone you know their lives. Or what is far worse, it could result in Kutong getting the Cards! And then there would be a lot of misery and death. From what I found out he had no respect for human life at all. He could destroy Japan with those Cards! And if you made the change and the Cards disappeared, you couldn't undo it. Do you understand now? It is just too great a risk to take."

"Okay. I understand. Does anyone else have any questions for Eriol?" Tomoyo inquired.

"Yes!" Sonomi replied. "I would still like for you to check and see if Nadeshiko's death is a destined event."

"But it makes no difference!"

"It does to me." Sonomi said with great feeling.

"Eriol?" Tomoyo jumped in. "You said you would grant me any favor in your power didn't you?"

"I did." he replied hesitantly.

"Then I would like you to check and see if Nadeshiko's death is a destined event."

After a large sigh, Eriol answered. "All right. I will try my best. As a favor to you, Tomoyo. It will take some time to prepare and I will look for her in as many Timelines as I can before I get exhausted. I will call you tomorrow morning. Or tomorrow night there." With this the call was ended.

Then Tomoyo thought of something that brought a smile to her lips. "Sakura-chan?"

"Yes."

"Have you finished your summer break homework?" She couldn't help chuckling at Sakura's exaggerated groaning in response. "I'll take that as a "no" then. Your books should be in one of the boxes in our room, so let's get them out, okay?"

"But we have plenty of time yet. And we haven't had our bath yet. We can do that first." Sakura whined.

"No. I think not. There is too much chance of getting distracted and not getting to the homework." She smiled nervously before continuing. "We will do the homework first."

"But I really don't want to work on it today." She whined some more.

"But think how good it will feel to have it done and not have to worry about it?"

"Actually, I wasn't worrying about it now." Sakura admitted with a little smile.

"Come on, let's go. I will give you a kiss for each part you do."

"You could give me a kiss now to motivate me." Sakura said playfully, and then when she remembered Sonomi was right there she looked at the floor and blushed, which as usual, Tomoyo enjoyed.

"Sorry Sakura-chan. No kisses until you get some of it done." Tomoyo insisted while still smiling.

"Girls? Do you mind if I were in the room while you are doing your homework? I would like to enjoy your company if I could." Sonomi politely asked.

"She wants to watch me having fun with a...mostly shy Sakura. And Sakura's blushes are SO cute!" Tomoyo smiled.

"But-" Sakura wanted to protest about public kisses, but Tomoyo interrupted.

"I'm sure Sakura won't mind a bit. Where would you like us to meet you?"

"The green room. There is a table you can work on and I can sit and listen and look at the garden."

Once the girls got set up and started, Sonomi was delighted by the sound of hushed whispers about kisses as well as the shy kisses themselves. She was constantly thrilled at seeing her daughter so totally happy and bubbling with joy. It had been many years since she had seen that and she had missed it terribly.

Despite much further whining, Tomoyo did manage to get Sakura to get her history and geography done. Then came math, her worst subject. It took a while, but after a lot of patient coaching and more than a few kisses it was finally done as well.

"Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura whined, "my head is all worn out and I can't do any more!"

"Okay. I'll have some mercy on you my poor overworked Sakura-chan. You still have all that English to do as well as read that book for Japanese. But you can do the English tomorrow morning and then start reading the book."

"You know how to spoil a day, Tomoyo-chan." Sakura said with mock sadness.

"But now, if you like, we can have our bath." This got a happy smile out of Sakura as well as a chuckle out of Sonomi.

"I've been looking forward to this!" Sakura said happily.

"But I'm scared!" Tomoyo suddenly realized. She remembered how her passion had overcome her the last time they started to bath together. "But she loves me. I can feel how strong her love is. So why don't I feel the time is right?" Suddenly she realized what had been bothering her. "I feel love in her, but not passion! That's what's wrong! She doesn't want me the way I want her! Sixteen should be plenty old enough to feel physical attraction. Or is it because she isn't attracted to girls the way I am? As that thought crashed through her mind she felt the icy sword stab through her heart just like it used to. "Wait! Remember what you have!" With this thought Tomoyo concentrated on the deep and powerful love that she could feel in Sakura. "I have her love. And that's what's important, not anything else!" Sure enough, the icy pain vanished in the warm wonderful glow of Sakura's love. But then she felt her love swelling as it became mixed with Sakura's love and her control started slipping. "Hold it! We can't afford to wind up locked in that loop again, no matter how wonderful it felt. I need to keep control. Let the feelings go only so far. There! That should do it. It's not really that hard once you know how." She congratulated herself. And tried not to think of her passion.

When they got to her bedroom, Tomoyo handed Sakura a robe and then turned to her closet to undress. She took her time and carefully hung up her clothes before slipping into her robe. Once she was done and a quick glance at Sakura's lower legs revealed that she was in her robe, Tomoyo turned around with a slightly fake smile, and escorted Sakura to her private bath.

Once there, Tomoyo hung up her robe and while being careful to not look at Sakura, she began washing herself. But in less than a minute she felt something on her back. "You don't mind if I wash your back, do you?" Sakura asked as she started running the soapy sponge over Tomoyo's back.

"Of course not." Tomoyo answered automatically as she tried to not think of Sakura. "I can do this. All I have to do is concentrate on washing and nothing else." This worked for a minute or so, but then Sakura dropped the sponge and was running her bare hands over Tomoyo's back.

"Tomoyo-chan?"

"Yes?"

"I... I want to...touch you. All of you..." She continued in a strange voice as she hugged Tomoyo from the back.

As the words registered in Tomoyo's mind she realized that she had been unconsciously shielding herself from Sakura so she could concentrate on washing. And when she dropped her shield Sakura's feelings came through powerfully. Her love was very strong, but now there was something more! "My Sakura-chan WANTS ME!" As the wonderful thought crashed into Tomoyo's mind, she turned around in Sakura's arms and hugged the taller girl back. Tomoyo could now feel Sakura's excitement growing as well as her own, and she had to concentrate to keep from losing control. "It is SO wonderful! She really wants me!" But as Tomoyo basked in the passion that was now building between them, she remembered where they were. "Not here! Not covered in soap on this hard cold tile floor!"

"Tomoyo? This... is okay isn't it? For us?" In spite of the fiery excitement inside of Tomoyo, she had to smile at the pleading look on the taller girls face.

"Yes! It -is- okay for us! But we must not start anything here. Wait until we get back to my room. Then you can have me. I am all yours, my wonderful Sakura-chan."

"I'm so glad! I wasn't sure about this. You seemed worried or something, but it feels fine now. It's something that's really hard to think about, then suddenly it's like I just want you so much!

"Now just concentrate on washing. And don't touch me right now, okay? It drives me crazy when you touch me."

As they were rinsing themselves, Sakura made a suggestion. "We don't really have to get in the hot tub do we? Why don't we just go straight back to your room?" The way Sakura had said it made Tomoyo grin and quiver all over.

"It's our room now. And no, we don't need to soak now, but do take time to dry yourself properly." Tomoyo finished, grinning at how fast Sakura was using her towel. In less than a minute Sakura was dragging her back to their room. "This feels so wonderful I can hardly stand it!" And once again Tomoyo's face was streaked with tears of joy.

End of Part 2

xxxx

Continued in "Tomoyo's World -Part 3- Beyond Their Wildest Dreams

AUTHORS NOTE: Someone pointed out that the above title implied that part 4 was about the girls having sex. This is not the case. Tomoyo and Sakura's intimate moments will remain private. After all, how would you like strangers watching you have sex... Okay, -some- of you would like it but... Anyway, no peeking in this series.