Disclaimer: Don’t own ‘em.

The rain splashed across the window and the wind-shield wipers fought them.

Tomoyo sneezed and sighed.

"Are you okay, child?" the auburn-haired man asked as he looked away from the car’s window.

He anxiously wondered whether she would yell at him but she had grown a lot quieter since they dragged her in.

"I think so," she looked out her window in a despondent mood.

"Well, it’s a long way to go," he sighed. "You can take rest."

His warm smile made her wander if he cared. She didn’t really care, everything was hollow and empty.

She looked to the window and was partly fascinated by the rain.

They came again. The salty, warm liquid slowly slid down her smooth skin.

"Are you crying?" He asked in surprise.

"No," she swallowed.

"I have a daughter and son. Sakura and Touya. They’re your cousins." The man was struggling to make an interesting conversation with her.

She laid her head on the head of the seat.

A part of her really hated this. She was frustrated as a 12 year old could be. She could remember the screams and the sound of glass breaking. She could also hear pathetic sobs. She’d love to die. She closed her eyes and was reminded of her days with him. Damn memories.

The man looked at the child’s hand and saw a few used tissue papers. He let out a sigh. She certainly wasn’t her mother. But he knew better than to underestimate her strength.

"They’ve started it again," she kicked the ground beneath her as a few brown leaves swirled. It was an autumn day and the brown leaves on the ground along with the soft rays of the sun gave the day a rather comforting look.

"Again?" the 16 year old asked. The wind played with his properly combed blue hair unfortunately.

"Yeah," she gulped. They exchanged glances for a while.

"Do you want them to separate then?" His foot kicked a leaf nearby.

"No, not really." She admitted staring at her feet. "But I guess, they’re staying together for me only. They’re going through all this for me."

"It’s okay." He smiled.

"No it isn’t. You wouldn’t know what it’s like to hear your parents argue every night before you go to bed." She was disappointed by his words.

"You’re right, that’s unfeeling of me. Can you ever forgive me?" He made puppy-eyes at her.

"You!" She laughed punching his arm lightly.

They laughed. Things were so simple; you could easily say they enjoyed each other’s company.

"Okay, one, two, three, go!" They kicked the ground swiftly as they swung up and down.

"Whee!" They both said cheerfully like children.

Tomoyo was afraid of heights but Eriol made her feel safe. For a while, she could be care-free before things screwed up again.

"Why do they have to do this to me?" She asked softly.

The wind blew through her raven hair. The heavens were now gray instead of blue. It was rather depressing. She softly kicked her heels at the light brown ground’s dust.

"They’re just trying to see that you should go to the best of people." He swallowed as he kicked the ground beneath them.

"Oh do they?"

Eriol wasn’t surprised by her lack of courtesy. He believed she should get things of her chest. His heart broke seeing the left side of her mouth twist into a defiant frown. Her chin quivered and her eyes were filled with tears again.

"They don’t have any right to," she furiously kicked the ground as he swung with her. "I can stay with whomever I want to. They should leave me alone! I just lost my friggin’ parents."

Her voice broke into pathetic sobs and he prayed for them to sob. He put his arm around her and his chin on her head. He tried so hard to keep this from happening but it wasn’t in his power and his parents absolutely refused to do anything about it. He always tried to protect her and see that the few companies she was with weren’t bad. He’d grown to love her. More than just some protective brother. He would never really gather the courage to tell or at least he thought so.

"We can" she paused between the sobs. "Do something . . . about it, can’t we?"

"Let’s see."

She was mature enough to understand that adults only said that it’ll be okay to hide the real truth.

It would have been wrong to say that he didn’t care and that he was happy she didn’t have to hog his life anymore. Or would it be?

Tomoyo let out a heaving sigh. And slammed her head into the head of the seat and sniffed.

‘What is he doing anyway?’ She thought to herself. ‘Is he enjoying the rain or is he actually depressed by the dark clouds?’

Tokyo was 16 miles away or so from Tomoeda. Perhaps it would take her a lot of time to get back to Tokyo. Would she slide out of the car, rolling into the streets like the movie or something?

‘You can’t still be thinking of going back. Can you? Not after what they did.’

But the truth remained, she would still happily walk a thousand miles for him.

"How much longer?" She asked.

"There’s no need to run out of patience," he chuckled. "Not much longer."

"I’m not running out of patience," she quipped. She was shocked by her attitude.

"I’m very sorry," she apologized.

"It’s okay."

"No! No!" She screamed as they tugged onto her shirt. "Please no, Mrs. Hiragizawa! Please don’t let them do this to me!"

"Come now," she murmured quietly. "You’re only going to a relative’s."

"No! No!"

"We’re not going to kill you," one of the women confessed patiently. The kid wasn’t exactly easy to pull away.

"Eriol! Eriol!" She screamed at the teen who looked helplessly at her. He looked sorry. "Please!"

She sobbed and pleaded but they were so cold.

Eriol’s pink lips made a quiet ‘take care’. He swallowed the tears and sniffed.

She cried at his reaction. He wasn’t doing anything, he was just standing there.

Something gave the feeling that she would resist no more.

Eriol looked down the ground and adjusted his glasses.

Author’s notes: My first attempt at an E/T fic so constructive criticism would be much appreciated. I welcome flames with open arms and reviews with warmth. There might be spelling mistakes and if anyone can be my beta-reader, I would appreciate it. I’ll make things less blurry (tee hee) for you. Take care!