storypaint | Bolt (Eriol/Kaho)

Fandom: Cardcaptor Sakura
Title: Bolt
Author: rhap_chan
Theme(s): 9. Rush; Thrill; Exhilaration
Pairing/Characters: Hiiragizawa Eriol/Mizuki Kaho
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to CLAMP.
Summary: Eriol and Kaho watch a storm together, but Eriol knows where each lightning bolt will strike. It's not very much fun, he thinks.

When Kaho came upon him directing the storm, she thought she'd never seen a more thrilling sight. There he stood, in the big bay window facing north, with the curtains spread wide and somehow fluttering in a nonexistent breeze.

Eriol's hands were raised toward the heavens and the charcoal-colored clouds that hovered thereof; he paused for a moment and then pointed and the lightning struck.

She said nothing, but after a moment the thunder rumbled through the mansion and he turned to look at her. His smile was disarming. I'm just a little kid playing a game. She shook her head. She knew better.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Throwing lightning bolts," he said casually. "Just passing the time."

He concentrated a moment and pointed west without turning back around to face the storm. Ten seconds later another bolt sizzled into the countryside. Her mouth dropped open. Yes, she knew he was a powerful magician, and that his predecessor had been the strongest of them all. Yet, the power to control the weather...

"Beautiful, isn't it? The unbridled fury of nature, before which every human being is helpless. Uncontrollable," he said. She could tell that his heart thrilled at the thought. He loved things that he couldn't control.

She wondered if the manipulations he was planning were starting to bother him. Sure, it was completely necessary, and understandable in the context, but he couldn't tell the girl what he was doing. He'd explained his reasoning to Kaho several times (enough times that she thought he was trying to convince himself). If she knew, she wouldn't fight as hard.

It would be strange for him to meet his other self's daughter, and be both a friend and an enemy. It bothered Kaho, honestly, to think of it. The year she'd spent teaching Sakura had been a wonderful year. She'd written Eriol letters upon letters about Sakura's skills, ambitions, and personality.

Eriol pointed again and again the lightning fell. "No human can control the weather," he said, "but I can tell where every lightning bolt will fall." His face was sad, almost desperate. He looked strange without his glasses. She'd just then noticed that he'd taken them off and tossed them onto the bureau. He only took them off when the visions were bad, when he couldn't see the real world past his inner eye. What was the point of seeing when one couldn't tell the past from the future from the present?

She said nothing in reply, simply came forward and wrapped him in a hug, letting him rest his head against her stomach, wrapping his arms around her waist, like a young child with his mother. She was not his mother, but he'd never had one. She didn't mind being a comforter once in a while.

After a moment, she got down onto her knees and kissed his cheek. He hugged her again, lost in thought.

"When I come back from Japan, I won't see visions anymore," he said into her ear. "I won't know where the lightning bolts are going to fall or to stock up on flour because Nakuru's next big cooking experiment is going to fail. Speaking of which, don't buy eggs today. The refrigerator is going to go out after the storm."

That was her Eriol, a mixture of magic and domesticity. She leaned back onto her heels and smiled.

"Tell me where the next one is going to strike," she said. After a moment, Eriol pointed. The bolt hit.

She leaned forward and tipped him into her lap, and they sat and watched the storm. After a while, she began to "predict" too, and when one of her joking gestures was right, they laughed and rose and went away from the window, hand in hand.

Kaho was so good at distracting Eriol from his sorrow that he didn't even wonder if Clow had ever stood at the window and done the same. (The answer was yes. He and Yuuko had had accuracy contests.) The next week Eriol went to Japan. When he came back, he and Kaho watched another storm together.

None of them could guess the lightning correctly then, not even Nakuru and Spinelsun when they joined the game, and the eggs went bad when the power went out, but it was the best afternoon they'd ever spent.