Disclaimer : I don't own CCS.

A/n: Finally… an ET fic… Do enjoy…

Once and Again

.Chapter 1 – Case Unresolved.

"…She never stops whining or complaining. And she practically annoys me every time. It's as if I've never done anything right for –"

"Oh come on! You truly have never done any damn thing for right!"

"See what I meant?"

The 28-year-old Hiiragizawa Eriol stared at the couples' quarrel in front of him. That day's task was to find a marriage solution for the Kitamura couple. Or to find a peacemaker. Or actually, anything would be good as long as they would stop sending killing signals to each other.

"Mrs. Kitamura, it would be best if you let your husband finish his words. I can give extra 5 minutes from our counseling session for you to spill it all out… later," Eriol said. Not the most professional solution, yes, but he just needed to stop hearing her voice for that moment.

"Mr. Hiiragizawa, at this point, 5 minutes won't ever be enough for me to ever let all my nerves for this dear husband of mine subside," Saki Kitamura spoke calmly to the marriage consultant. Yet the same dangerous aura could be sensed in each word.

Eriol cleared his throat and then turned to the Kitamura man and told him to continue.

Ryuutaro Kitamura's confession started once more. And that time it took only 2 ½ minutes before Saki Kitamura took place in the conversation again. This time, Eriol didn't try to bring peace between the two. Hearing the never-ending screeches of the marriage problem case number #5: The demanding wife, the unreliable husband, Eriol truly felt regret of accepting the case. And even if the Kitamura wanted their money back, he would gladly give it –just as long as he could escape his office. Certainly he wasn't in the mood for work at then.

For the umpteenth time ever since he took this marriages consultant career, he wondered why he had ever agreed to take the job. Sure, being the owner of the country's top consulting firm and the praised marriage consultant himself, money flowed into his account easily. But it wasn't like he ever needed more money. He guessed it was just simply because he always had this strange attraction to problems. Be it his problems, or other peoples' ones. Oh yes, and he always had loved to other peoples' affair, hadn't he? Since all those old card capturing days and such, he was such the problem' meddlers.

The Kitamuras were still arguing at each other. Again, the Clow's incarnation let them spent more minutes of that 2 hours session.

Yes, he knew he didn't give his 100 performances for this couple's case, but it wasn't as if he was signed to handle this problem at first. It was actually his colleague's case, but the Kitamura –those damned couple, yes – personally asked and demanded, that their consultant must be the best all throughout the company. Well, costumers werw the real bosses, so Eriol gave the unlikely luxury for them.

"Aaargh! You damn son of a BCH! Why did I ever agree to marry you!" the roar of the Kitamura woman got him back to situation.

Eriol sighed as he glanced at his watch.

The session wouldn't end until the next nice 97 minutes.

I hate this job, he grunted mentally.

----------

"These are all?" Tomoyo said put down the box on the ground outside.

A young man with dark brown hair followed her action and replied, "For today. I shall take care of the rest tomorrow. Geez, never thought that moving out would be this complicated,"

"Duh, sure it would. London is across the continents and definitely this won't be like moving out to your apartment's upper level," the raven haired beauty commented before she took another gulp of her sodas.

"I hate this moving-out thing," grunted the man –Kaze. "I hate these troublesome things."

"Well, surely it won't be troublesome once you're there. Geez… I always love London,"

"… Then you should just come and move in with me,"

Tomoyo sighed. "Don't bring that subject again, Kaze."

"What? You're the one who bring it up first," he defended as sitting up on the ground beside her. No one spoke for some minutes, until Kaze broke it. "It's still a 'no', then?"

The heiress stared at this guy, Araide Kaze. He was a young man in his late twenties, an attractive one indeed –with his tall figure, stylishly-cut dark brown hair, and clear jade eyes. A guy with the best sarcasm humor Tomoyo had ever encountered and the same moody guy who could turn into the world's sweetest guy in an action. He was her mentor, her motivator, her best guy friend…

Her love.

"…Ne, Tomoyo?"

She blinked. "Huh? Sorry, what was it again?"

Kaze rolled his eyes, definitely not pleased having to repeat his words again. "Will you go and stay with me in London?"

His gaze was stern and demanding, but she still could see beneath those emerald gems eyes, that there was still the expectation and childish hope. It was the expression that she just hated to disappoint the most.

She sighed, clearly didn't like the idea of having this same question that he had asked her for the past few months. "I can't Kaze. I have obligations here in Japan. What about my job? And the Daidouji company?"

"Tomoyo… don't lie to yourself. You hate your job. And about the Daidouji company… you still can run in even when you're in England. Besides, just how many job opportunities you've been offered? International multibillion-asset companies were practically begging you to join them, and you, you damn woman, just declined them as if they were mere rubbish. Believe me, dear friend. In London, Los Angles, even in Namibia, companies will fall in line and pleading you to be their part,"

She blushed a little at his praise. "Well…my friends –"

"Sakura and Syaoran are in Hongkong, and you're not really close to Chiharu and the others too. You don't have anyone to lose,"

He was right, she thought a rather pissed out. He was her only friends ever since college.

"But I still have… him," she smiled bitterly.

This was when Kaze's face darkened. "…Don't tell me you're actually considering that guy?"

"W-well, he's my –"

"Husband, yes, sadly. One that never does care about his own wife."

"I-It's not always like that. You make him sounds like a mean g –"
He unconsciously cut her sentences. "I… won't ever hurt you like what he did, Tomoyo. I'll make you happy, I'll cherish, and love you, and…"

Her heart wrenched at this.

"Well, what are you suggesting me to do? Getting a divorce from him and marry you?"

His green eyes pierced her purple ones. "…He doesn't love you. And truly, Tomoyo, you've been wasting your time for someone who doesn't even deserve an inch of your consideration! I bet that even now when we're discussing him, he is actually with that damn whor –"

"Kaze, don't talk about her or him that way,"

"Tch. Why defend him? You don't even love him."

"I don't," she stated. "But he's my husband, and I hope you can respect him more." The Araide guy snorted and was probably aiming for other insults to his best friend's husband, when the best friend herself spoke again, "Then again… it's not about love. It's never about it."

Kaze looked up at the now stoic friend.

"Both of you've realized it and yet still… God, I don't know why you two keep torturing yourselves,"

Her smile then was a sarcastic one. "Stupid, isn't it?"

"Aa… stupid it is,"

-----------

"You're late,"

"Sorry Kaho. Works. Damn ones," replied Eriol as he kissed the red-haired woman. "How was your trip?"

"Well… so-so. But you won't believe this! I've found this Fendi bag with a very reasonable price! Gorgeous, isn't it?" Mizuki Kaho exclaimed as she showed him her new bag.

"Of course," he murmured as he kissed her again. "I miss you,"

"Don't worry," she said in low seductive tone as she pulled him down. "You're not the only one,"

---------

The mansion was dimly-lit when he returned back home later that night. He guessed it wasn't unexpected, the clock had showed the time of nearing 2 AM though. Sighing, Eriol then put his brief case on the nearest chair and started to head his way to his bedroom.

He was about to open the door, but the sobs he heard coming from inside prevented him to. The need to see and check up what was happening was almost pointless. Eriol knew that it was Tomoyo who was crying, and it didn't take him his ability to read minds to know the clause.

No, it was not because of him. He had hurt her for way too long that her tears must have dried up. And besides, he would never deserve her crying for him. Not in a million years, not forever.

But someone did deserve it, as it seemed.

Someone, Eriol knew, who was dear in her heart. Had been and perhaps always would have:

Araide Kaze.

And though being her lawfully husband, he didn't really gave the damn or even had the rights to decide whom his wife should truly loved. The same went for Tomoyo to Eriol. The unspoken rules to never mind your marriage's partner problem.

And the routine had gone for 4 years now.

The Hiiragizawa couple, married at the young age of 24. And though they weren't blessed with kids yet, people always looked up at them as the image of the ever perfect pair. Loving, caring, respecting each other well…or at least that was what people would see and/or expect from such a couple.

Her sobs soon faded, and he guessed that she must have cried herself to sleep. After quickly debating himself whether to go and check her or not, he settled for the first option and slowly opened the door.

He was right. She did fell asleep on her sitting position on the floor.

Eriol approached her, and took the notice of this woman with tangled hair and left tears' strain on her cheeks. She was still in her working suit –and being the stylish magazine's editor-in-chief, monotonous colors were rarely found on her daily outfits. But then again, the bright dress she wore couldn't help to bring out the sadness over herself. Tomoyo was on one of her worst condition ever to be seen.

Bending down beside her, gently she shook her. "You may catch the cold if you sleep on the floor, Tomoyo. Get up and sleep on your bed." She didn't move. Overly exhausted, he reasoned. Working on a fast-growing magazine and keep maintaining her inherited toy company must have made her reached her limit. Eriol just wondered why she hadn't hit it any time sooner. Sighing, tenderly he picked her up and tucked her inside the warm blanket on the bed.

She was quite a sleeper –one that couldn't sleep still on the same spot at times like this, he concluded as fixing bigger pillows by her side to prevent her from falling to the floor. Tomoyo turned back on her sleep again, before finally stopping and just slept in static manner.

Sitting on her bed, he watched at his wife with the ever same expression that he felt most often towards her: guilt –always guilt. And then he muttered the thing that could kind of considered as a customary then.

"…I'm sorry,"

He was disgusted with himself. He had said those words repeatedly every night, yet, the very next day, he would act as if they were never a couple and enjoyed his affair instead.

True, their marriage was never one based on love, or even the slightest crush. The marriage itself was there because of the pleading ask of the dying Sonomi Daidouji, who wanted to make sure her sole daughter married to the right man and be safe by his side.

The choice had fallen into the Hiiragizawa bachelor, back then.

Wrong choice, he decided as getting up and walked to his dressers and changed for his t-shirt and boxers. And as he took the place on the bed beside Tomoyo, his thoughts somehow went to his job… and felt the irony in it. He was titled as the no.1 consultant all over the country, had won many awards for his job as the marriage consultant –so many that he, for real, had his own cabinet to keep all the trophies and award certificates –, had been trusted to be the consultant of uncountable mount of important peoples, and many other great things.

But then again, the best doctor didn't mean that he was free from all illnesses; the best teacher didn't mean he knew all things in this world.

And thus, being the best marriage consultant didn't mean he was free from any kind of marriage problems.

His own 4-year-old marriage was the case that he had never been able to solve, though.

TBC…

A/n: This is my honest confession: Really, I've worked on this story even when I'm still writing 'Chameleon'. It's been a long time ago, yet somehow I always change and change the versions. There was this version with Tomoyo and Eriol with total opposite personalities, or that they were always arguing at each other, or another one with a son, or one that they were sent back to their highschool (and even in that highschool arc. That there are still many many different versions), about the different version of Kaze, and so on… yadayada. I don't know why the choice finally fall into this version.

Anyway, sorry for the kinda gloomy chapter, yes, I need it to explain some few backgrounds. But the next following chapters will have more grooves and twists, it's when Time and Magic play their roles…