Date Finished: September 6th, 2003
Classification: Romance, Angst
Pairing: Touya/Yuki
Rating: NC-17
Note: Response to the `Stranger In Our House' challenge at
AdoptAPlotBunny: (http://lists.squidge.org/wws/info/adoptaplotbunny ;
http://www.squidge.org/~peja/behindthescenes/plotbunnies.htm)
Other notes: First of all, I'd like to apologize for the appearance of an
extremely dorky plot in this story (which begins in this part). I'm
the first to admit that I suck at plots; I write about people and I
write about romance, and I tend to try to sidestep any plot outside
of putting people *into* romances, but in this case, the plot was
necessary...it's there to attempt to hint to the readers what's going
on, in case you were wondering. <g>
Second, if you watch closely you'll notice that I was extremely lazy
when it came to naming the 'rival magician' mentioned in this part.
Brownie points go out to the first person who speaks up and says
where I took his name from.
Love Is...
By Elsewhere
<[email protected]>
All other information in Part One.
Part Three:
Glossary:
aa - yeah
arigatou - thank you
arigatou gozaimasu - thank you very much
demo - but
desu - the way I've used it here, it means, "This is Sakura." (on the
phone)
doushita no? - what's wrong?
gomen - sorry
gomen nasai - I'm so sorry
hai - yes; okay
hoe - this doesn't mean anything in particular...it's just something
that Sakura says/exclaims in any situation where she's surprised
iie - no
iko - let's go
kaijuu - monster---Touya's affectionate nickname for Sakura
moshi moshi - hello (on the phone)
nani? - what?
ohayo - good morning
ohayo gozaimasu - good morning (formal)
onegai - please
onii - older brother
sumimasen - I'm sorry; excuse me
To-ya - an alternate romanization and pronunciation of Touya's name---
Yuki's affectionate nickname for Touya
wakaranai - I don't know; I don't understand
yokatta - I'm glad; thank goodness, etc.
*****
And yet you are
Cleverly not laughing in front of me
Even if it's struck by the unending rain
It won't disappear
My melody to you
*****
That morning when Yuki woke up and rolled over to find the other side
of the bed empty, he thought nothing of it at first, assuming that
Touya must've gotten up early again to make breakfast. Today,
although the blinds had again been left slightly open, no warm cocoon
of sunshine tempted Yuki to stay in bed. Instead he got up and
dressed quickly, his eyes on the mottled grey sky visible through the
slats of the blinds. He felt strangely solemn, and whenever he felt
some pang of emotion that seemed foreign, he assumed that it belonged
not to him, but to Yue. His eyes, not entirely of their own volition,
searched the sky, and after a second, Yuki realized that Yue was
looking for the moon.
"It's clouded over," Yuki said quietly, his voice seeming to echo
strangely in the empty room. "Doushita no?"
For several long moments Yue was entirely silent, so long that Yuki
eventually closed his hands over his arms, surprised at the slight
shiver that moved through his body. It was amazing, he reflected, how
much he had come to rely on Yue's presence...without him, now, he felt
alone...
<I saw this in a dream,> Yue said eventually, his usually stern
monotone softened by a touch of concern. <This day.>
"What happened in the dream?" Yuki asked, and again Yue paused, and
Yuki felt his frustration mounting. After all this time, he trusted
Yue with even the most private of his own thoughts; why was Yue still
so resistant towards the idea of sharing his with Yuki?
<It isn't you that I don't trust,> Yue murmured, and Yuki's
frustration melted into surprise when he realized that Yue sounded
mildly chastened. <It's myself. In the past, dreams that I have
believed to be precognizant...the events in them didn't come to pass.>
"You think you might have dreamed something that will actually
happen?" Yuki asked, eyebrows raising slightly, more because he was
startled than because he was reluctant to believe. Through his
relationship with Touya, and more recently with Yue, he had learned
of and experienced a number of events that others might
call `impossible'. It wasn't a word he tended to use carelessly.
<Wakaranai,> Yue said simply, and then he subsided into a thoughtful
silence, as Yuki continued to stand at the window, one hand pressed
to the pane, feeling the chill seep into the bones of his hand as his
eyes moved back and forth across the mass of grey clouds gathered
over the city.
"What did you dream?" Yuki asked again, softer this time. He felt Yue
tense.
<I dreamed...that we would face our greatest challenge yet,> Yue said
quietly. He sounded distracted, as though his thoughts were on
something else, but Yuki's perception was limited only to a vague
sense of Yue's unease as, through Yuki's eyes, he watched the storm
clouds gather.
"When you say `we'...do you mean Sakura-chan and you, or do you mean
you and me?" Yuki asked after a moment, swallowing back his
hesitance. Despite the level of comfort he had come to feel with
Yue's presence in his mind, in his thoughts...the fact that Yue
continued to remain secretive about so many things meant that Yuki
still found it difficult to directly confront Yue about such things.
Yue paused, but this time he seemed reflective rather than reluctant
to disclose his thoughts.
<Perhaps both,> he murmured after a moment, and Yuki opened his mouth
to ask something further, but closed it quickly again when Yue's
voice continued. <Where is To-ya?>
"Probably in the kitchen," Yuki said, deciding to follow Yue's cue
and drop the conversation, for the moment. With a quick movement of
his hand, Yuki shut the blinds.
"Ohayo, To..." he began as he made his way down the hallway into the
kitchen, but his voice stopped short when he saw that the kitchen was
empty, the lights off. "Hm."
After a moment of looking around, Yuki finally spotted the note
pasted on the bulletin board for him.
`Yuki,
Had to go to work early again. Breakfast's in the fridge...just heat it
up. I'll be home early.
- Touya'
Before Yuki could think or say anything himself, he felt the force of
Yue's sudden alarm slam into him like a freight train, making him
bring up his hand to his heart, trying to calm the instant wave of
worry that swept through him in response.
"Yue..."
<Call him at work,> Yue said quietly, but in a tone of authority that
he very rarely used on Yuki.
"Demo..."
<Call him at work,> Yue repeated, with a harder edge.
"H...hai."
Yuki's hand shook slightly, confusion and concern making him dizzy,
as he dialed the phone. He sat down at the table as he listened to it
ring. After two rings, a female voice responded on the other end.
"Ah, Tsukishiro-san," the woman responded cheerfully enough when he
stated his name and asked if he could speak to Touya. "Kinomoto-san
hasn't come in yet today. Maybe if you try back in a half hour or so?
Should I tell him you called?"
"Iie...that's fine. Arigatou gozaimasu."
After he'd hung up the phone, he sat in silence for a moment,
watching the way his hand still shook against the top of the table.
"Yue...nani...?"
<He lied again,> Yue said quietly, sounding as he might if he were
gritting his teeth.
"Yue!" Yuki exclaimed, instantly frowning. "He probably just hasn't
gotten there yet...he's probably on his way. Why are you...?"
<He didn't just leave,> Yue interjected firmly. <Look around.>
Frowning deeply with frustration, Yuki got to his feet and wandered
around the kitchen, until his eyes finally came to rest on the coffee
pot, sitting placidly in the coffee maker. By instinct, or perhaps
because of some discreet mental nudge, Yuki walked over and grabbed a
mug from the cupboard, then poured himself a cup. Yue waited
patiently as Yuki stared absently at the coffee for a moment, then
finally, hesitantly, dipped his finger into it, bringing it back up
quickly.
"It's cold," he said aloud. "It's been cold for...probably for an hour
or more."
Yue said nothing.
Slowly, Yuki placed the coffee cup down on the counter and turned to
lean back against it, folding his arms as he considered.
<How can you explain this?> Yue asked after several moments of tense
silence.
"He probably ended up going to breakfast with his co-workers," Yuki
said quietly, but that odd feeling was back in his stomach. Something
wasn't right about this. It felt suspiciously like...
Like a lie. Just like Yue said...it felt like Touya must have lied.
*****
That morning as he wandered through the park, glancing idly at the
sky and wondering whether it would rain before he could make it to
work, he was distracted again, unable to eat his lunch, and unable to
think of much beyond the feeling that had been gnawing at his insides
all day. The fact that Yue had once again shut himself almost
entirely away wasn't helping; it only made Yuki feel worse. It made
his confusion feel like loneliness.
He was so withdrawn, so preoccupied by his own thoughts, that he
almost didn't hear it when his name was being called. But the part of
him that had always been Yue had always responded readily to his
mistress' call, regardless of the state of his other self's mind.
Yuki stopped and turned, and spotted two familiar faces just a few
metres behind him.
"Yukito-san!" Sakura called with a warm grin, waving her hand
ecstatically in the air.
On her left, Tomoyo lifted her hand in a more restrained version of
Sakura's wave and offered him a considerably gentler smile.
Despite the fact that he didn't really feel in the mood for it, Yuki
smiled slightly in response and waved, waiting until the two women
caught up to him.
"Ohayo, Yukito-san," Sakura said, stopping in front of him.
"Ohayo gozaimasu, Tsukishiro-san," Tomoyo said politely, inclining
her head.
"Ohayo, Tomoyo-chan, Sakura-chan," Yuki said, bowing slightly to each.
"You seem awfully early this morning, Yukito-san," Sakura
commented. "Do you need to go early?"
"Iie...I just wanted to walk," he answered truthfully, though the
lightness of his tone didn't reveal the melancholy behind his
words. "How about you? I thought your classes didn't start until the
afternoon?"
"I've been trying to get a textbook for class, and I can't find it. I
thought I'd try the stores downtown," Sakura answered, and then her
face lit up with another brilliant smile. "Would you like to come
with us, Yukito-san?"
Yuki nodded, and fell into step with the two girls. For several
minutes none of them said anything, but eventually, Sakura must have
sensed Yuki's continued maudlin contemplation, because she started to
chatter cheerfully and entirely inanely about a number of subjects,
ranging from her school subjects to the chocolate cake recipe she was
trying to perfect that she would certainly want Yuki to try, and
finally to questions about how Touya's project was going.
Yuki tensed slightly before answering that as far as he knew, Touya's
project was going fine, and he winced inwardly when he realized that
both Sakura and Tomoyo, each of whom had hawk-like eyes, had surely
noticed his hesitation. Sakura was oddly quiet from then on, only
speaking up every few minutes until they finally reached the store.
"Hold on please...I'm just going to go ask if they have it," Sakura
said to Tomoyo and Yuki, who both nodded and watched silently as she
quickly made her way to the back of the store towards the clerk.
"You seem troubled today, Tsukishiro-san," Tomoyo commented a moment
later. He glanced at her and couldn't help a slight smile. Tomoyo had
a keen sense of insight, keener than she often let on. Tomoyo
returned the smile without hesitation, but a hint of concern lurked
in her dark grey eyes.
"My mind is occupied by something," he agreed, dropping his eyes. "A
secret, you might say."
"Somebody else's secret?" Tomoyo said, with only the slightest hint
of a question in her voice. "A secret that troubles you? Something
you want to know?"
"Aa," he said eventually, closing his eyes.
Before he opened his eyes, he sensed the gentleness of her smile.
"Sometimes," she said softly, evenly, looking him directly in the
eyes, "the people we love keep something from us because they don't
want us to know. Sometimes they keep it from us because they don't
understand it themselves. And sometimes they keep something from us
because it's not their secret to tell. Which do you suppose this is?"
`Yuki...maybe sometime I'll tell you about it, but right now everything
feels so...busy and confused...I don't want to talk about it yet.'
Yuki closed his eyes again, listening to the memory of Touya's voice
echoing in his mind. Despite the returning sense of discomfort he
felt coming from Yue, he nodded to himself, deciding to take Tomoyo's
words at face value. If Touya was keeping something from Yuki, he
must have his reasons, and he would tell Yuki when he was ready. Yuki
held enough trust in his lover that he was willing to wait.
"Arigatou, Tomoyo-chan," he said quietly as he opened his eyes, and
Tomoyo closed her eyes and inclined her head slightly as she smiled.
"I'm done!"
Both of them turned as Sakura came back, clutching an enormous book
against her chest.
"They had it! Now I have all the textbooks I need," Sakura said with
a smile, and then she seemed to sense the serious mood that had now
overtaken both of her friends, because her smile faded slightly. "A...
ano...should we go and get some lunch?"
"Sounds good to me," Yuki answered, and this time his smile was
genuine. Tomoyo nodded her agreement, and they made their way out of
the book shop and across the street. They were halfway down the block
towards the nearest deli when Sakura paused suddenly, her neck
abruptly going rigid. After years of experience, at least one of her
two companions recognized this reaction.
"Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo asked, her face clenching with slight concern
as she touched her friend's shoulder. Sakura's head had turned and
she was staring into the used book shop she'd stopped next to, her
eyes narrowed slightly.
"Is something wrong?" Yuki asked, making his way back to Sakura's
side.
"We came here last week, and you felt something then too," Tomoyo
said to Sakura, who nodded, still silent.
"There's something in there," she said quietly after a moment, and
she glanced up at them. "I'm going to go take a look. You can wait
out here if you want."
"I'm going with you," Tomoyo and Yuki both said at the same time, and
they glanced at each other and smiled before looking back to Sakura,
who looked bashful for a second before she shook her head and pushed
open the door.
Yuki and Tomoyo followed Sakura as she walked up to the clerk and
asked him the most immediately prudent question: whether he had
received any new shipments in the last week or so. The only thing
that might explain Sakura's reaction to a shop that had never
bothered her before would be that something about the shop had
changed...perhaps that some magical artifact was there now that hadn't
been before.
"They got a new shipment a week and a half ago," Sakura said briefly
to Tomoyo and Yuki, who both nodded and followed her to the back of
the shop. As soon as they were out of the sight of the clerk, hidden
safely behind several bookshelves, Sakura lifted a hand and closed
her eyes, focusing on following the sensation. Within moments, she
had zeroed in on a particular bookshelf in a back corner of the shop,
enclosed by two other bookshelves creating a sheltered alcove. A
moment after that, she knelt on one knee and reached out her palm,
finally brushing against one particular fair-sized volume in the
middle of the shelf.
She caught her breath at the feeling that rippled through her when
her skin touched the spine of the book, and bit her lip in
concentration as she pulled the book out of the shelf and turned it
over, placing it on her knees and staring down at the cover. It
seemed simple enough---the cover was a pleasing light blue color with
a green design woven into it. It was unfamiliar to her, as was the
sense of magic she got from it. Instantly, her eyes flew back towards
the others, focusing on Yuki, who straightened under her gaze.
"Yukito-san," she said quietly, her eyes expressing a slight sense of
urgency. Yuki didn't even bother to respond verbally. After a simple
nod, he closed his eyes, and felt brilliant warmth encompass him for
a moment before he found himself within a body not his own.
"Nani?" Yue asked, even as he flared his wings once and then enfolded
them within himself, unwilling to risk being caught. Without them he
looked at least somewhat human, if he managed to avoid anyone looking
him directly in the eyes. He knelt beside his mistress, meeting her
gaze.
"Yue-san," she said, turning her eyes down towards the book, moving
her hand from where it had come to rest over the cover. "Do you
recognize this book?"
The way he abruptly caught his breath was answer enough.
"Aa," he answered, brushing his own fingers once along the edge of
the front cover. "This book belonged to a rival magician named
Shindou Hiroshi. He often attempted to draw the Master into fights
with him, claiming that the area of Japan where Clow Read was living
at the time was his territory. But Clow knew that, in reality,
Hiroshi wanted a way to take Clow's greatest power, a power he
envied."
"The Clow Cards?" Sakura asked, frowning slightly.
"Aa," he said again with a quick nod. "One day, he claimed that he
had found the perfect way to finally force Clow Read to withdraw from
Japan. To find out what he meant, Clow allowed him to capture one of
the Clow Cards, and he used his connection to the magic of the card
to watch what Hiroshi would do with it. He stored the card in a book...
*this* book. The book was powerful, more powerful than Hiroshi...he
probably stole it, just as he had stolen so many other things. It was
powerful enough to contain the power of the card, so that it could
not be called back to its master."
Sakura let out a soft gasp.
"What did Clow Read do?" she asked. As usual, she pronounced the
former card master's name with awe.
"The book was not strong enough to withstand Clow's magic directly...he
took the card back easily enough, and saw that the book was removed
from Hiroshi's possession," Yue answered, turning to again meet his
mistress' eyes. "The book is more powerful now than it was then,
Sakura."
Sakura's eyes widened briefly, and then she glanced back down at the
book and frowned with determination.
"Iko," she said quietly, and she turned to start to get up, and then
screeched a quiet "Hoe!" when she realized that they weren't alone.
A second before, Yue had felt the presence of another and turned, but
he quickly dropped his eyes before the shop owner could look at them
too closely.
"You scared us!" Tomoyo exclaimed, a hand on her chest.
"Gomen nasai," the shop owner said, but he sounded distracted. Sakura
followed the line of his eyes to where Yue knelt on the floor, his
head down-turned. She almost smiled when she realized what the
shopkeeper was looking at. Not only was Yue dressed in his usual
flowing white robes, and not only was he as barefoot as ever, which
any shopkeeper would likely find unusual in a public place, but also,
when he was kneeling, his hair seemed even more impossibly long than
usual, coiled on the floor behind him like an immense, shimmering
white snake.
"It's impolite to stare," Tomoyo said softly after a moment, a
distinct trace of humor in her voice.
"G...Gomen," the shopkeeper said again, and when Sakura touched his
shoulder, Yue got smoothly to his feet, keeping his head down.
"We'll take this one," Sakura said quickly, before the clerk could
make any comments along the lines of `No shoes, no service.' She
clasped the book to her chest as she made her way to the front,
forcing the shopkeeper to follow her. He glanced back curiously
twice, then finally gave up.
Yue lifted his head to make sure he was no longer being watched, then
sighed softly and closed his eyes. Tomoyo continued to keep watch as
a flash of white light filled the alcove and Yuki stood where Yue had
been. After adjusting his glasses, Yuki nodded to Tomoyo and they
walked back to the front of the shop. The shopkeeper obviously noted
that the most unusual member of their small party was missing, but he
was too polite to say anything.
As soon as they got out of the shop, Sakura let out a quick laugh.
"That poor man," she said, chuckling warmly. "I thought his eyes were
going to pop out of his head when he saw your..."
She turned, realized abruptly that she was speaking to the wrong
person---for it was Yuki walking placidly beside her, not Yue---and
hurriedly cut herself off with a brief "Hoe!"
"Daijoubu, Sakura-chan," Yuki said with a soft smile. "I'm not
offended. Apart from a few ruffled feathers, neither is Yue."
<Ruffled feathers!?> Yue got out, before he quickly stopped himself.
After a pause, he continued in a quieter voice, <No one has ever
looked at me that oddly before...>
As though Sakura had heard him speak that aloud, without turning
around to face Yuki, Sakura said, "You don't look like anyone else,
Yue-san. Some people are surprised by---and sometimes afraid of---
anything that's different."
Yue contemplated this in silence, and for the first time that day,
his thoughts were entirely open to Yuki, almost as though he was
taking solace in the familiarity and acceptance of Yuki's mind.
Perhaps, Yuki thought to himself, aware that Yue would hear it...
perhaps, sometimes, Yue felt lonely too.
*****
Yuki didn't see Touya at work all day, and when he asked around, he
learned that Touya had had to go somewhere to deal with something to
do with his project. After work he walked home alone, feeling a vague
sense of unease the closer he came. By the time he was walking up the
stairs to the third floor and down the hallway towards their
apartment, his heart was pounding oddly. He knew that part of his
nervousness came of the fact that Yue had once again almost entirely
closed himself off from Yuki's mind...in fact, Yue seemed to have
withdrawn so thoroughly that he either wasn't aware of, or didn't
care about, Yuki's distress.
Yuki tried to calm himself as he searched his key ring for the
apartment key, his fingers fumbling slightly.
/Why am I so nervous?/ he asked himself, but truthfully, he didn't
want to consider the answer.
He swung open the door, and blinked in surprise when he spotted a
familiar lanky form seated at the dining room table, bent over a
scattered mess of paperwork.
"To-ya!" he exclaimed, frozen in place with his hand on the doorknob.
Touya glanced up, smiling slightly and arching an eyebrow.
"Yo," he said in his usual deliberate near-monotone. "Why so shocked?"
"You haven't been home this early in over a week," Yuki said, finally
turning to close and lock the door before he made his way over to the
table, depositing his briefcase on the way.
"I can leave again and come back later, if you want," Touya said, his
tone turning lightly teasing. He seemed to sense the tension in Yuki,
and the way his manner so nimbly shifted to a gentle teasing was
obviously an attempt to lighten Yuki's mood.
It worked. Almost instantly, the slight frown that had furrowed
Yuki's forehead despite himself faded away, and his usual smile, only
slightly less bright than normal, appeared in place of it.
"Of course not," Yuki said, walking around the table, encouraged by
the way Touya smiled gently and lifted a hand. A slight flush colored
Yuki's cheeks almost instantly when Touya took his hand and, getting
to his feet, bent to brush a gentle kiss across Yuki's lips. Yuki
almost sighed with relief when Touya's arms enfolded him into a tight
hug which he returned with all his strength, pressing himself as
close to the taller man as he could.
"Daijoubu ka?" Touya asked, rubbing a hand over Yuki's tense
shoulders. Slowly, under Touya's caring touch, Yuki relaxed, becoming
pliant, his weight supported almost entirely by Touya's careful grip.
"Hai...I just missed you," Yuki replied, finally pulling back with some
reluctance and granting Touya a much more genuine smile. If Touya
noticed the way Yuki's eyes guarded the slight worry that remained,
he didn't say so, his eyes focused on Yuki's smiling face as he
reached up to cup Yuki's cheek.
"I missed you too," Touya said softly, and then he smiled, stroked
Yuki's cheek once more, and turned away, sitting back down and facing
his work, though he glanced up several times to watch as Yuki made
his way around the table to sit across from him.
It wasn't until he'd sat down and let out a deep breath, relaxing
himself further, that Yuki realized that Yue's attention had finally
returned to him, although the guardian merely waited in patient
silence, seemingly intent on listening to whatever Yuki would choose
to say to Touya next. Yuki knew full well that only one question
would satisfy Yue, and he was annoyed with himself for the vague
apprehension he felt as he contemplated asking it.
"To-ya..." he began, and Touya glanced up over the lip of his coffee
cup, putting down the paper he was holding when he saw the slight
concern lingering in Yuki's eyes. Yuki flushed again under Touya's
scrutiny, wondering if he would sound silly. "Why did you leave so
early this morning? Were you at work?"
The worry that had started to cross Touya's face on seeing Yuki's
returned tension quickly melted away, and Touya smiled, but Yuki was
still aware of something, some emotion quickly guarded behind Touya's
dark eyes.
"I had to meet someone for breakfast," Touya said simply. "Remember,
they told me that a project like this would likely involve a lot of
time outside of regular working hours. I did leave a note."
Touya's words seemed sincere, but that lingering, hidden emotion
hooded by Touya's smile was still enough to jar Yuki so that he
couldn't feel any real relief. But it wasn't enough that he felt he
should demand an explanation...he couldn't. He had no reason to ask, no
reason to believe that Touya had done anything wrong...did he?
Carefully schooling his features into some semblance of a smile, he
nodded.
"I wondered if that was it," Yuki said, and then he pushed back his
chair and got to his feet, moving into the kitchen, seeking a cup of
coffee and possibly a snack. "Thank you for the note."
Silence greeted him from the other room, and he frowned slightly,
wondering if Touya had seen through his facade. Clutching the coffee
cup tightly, he quickly rounded the corner back into the dining area,
but relaxed when he saw that Touya only seemed to have fallen into
deep thought, his chin resting on his hand and eyes focused on the
paper held in his other hand.
"To-ya?"
"Mm?" Touya responded, slowly tearing his eyes away from the paper
and looking up at Yuki questioningly.
"Do you mind having leftovers?" Yuki asked, smiling warmly as he
reached out to brush several thick strands of dark brown hair away
from Touya's eyes.
"Iie...that's fine," Touya answered, briefly returning the smile before
he turned back to his work.
Yuki was just making his way back into the kitchen when the phone
rang, and he stopped to pick it up.
"Hai, moshi moshi."
"Moshi moshi, Yukito-san...Sakura desu," a familiar feminine voice
responded, only slightly lower-pitched and less perpetually-excited
than when the voice's owner had been a little girl.
"Ah, Sakura-chan! What can I do for you?" he asked, and he noticed
the way Touya glanced up curiously at the sound of his sister's name.
"Actually, Yukito-san...it's kind of embarrassing to ask, but I..."
"Ah...say no more," he said, smiling slightly at her hesitation. "Just
a moment, I'm just going to go to the other room."
"Hai," she chirped readily, and Yuki let the phone drop to his side
as he started for the bedroom.
"Where are you going?"
Yuki stopped, surprise making him turn quickly to face Touya, who had
scraped his chair back and was leaning against it casually, his eyes
on Yuki.
"Why do you have to go to the other room?" Touya asked, lifting an
eyebrow. "You shouldn't have to hide anything from me, Yuki...or did
the little kaijuu ask you to leave the room?"
"Onii-chan!!" came the faint screech from the phone, and Yuki jumped
with surprise, his eyes falling away from Touya's as he struggled to
keep his grip on the phone. This was quickly followed by a
quieter, "Ack! Gomen nasai, Yukito-san!"
Yuki didn't respond to this, instead turning his attention back up to
Touya, whose lips held a faint, almost smug smile, his eyes similarly
dancing with humor. Yuki opened his mouth to respond that no, he had
nothing to hide, but before he could even get that far, he felt his
body freeze for a moment, enveloped in warmth, and in the next
moment, he was again experiencing the rare, odd feeling of being
trapped within another's body and mind, a state he knew Yue spent
most of his life in.
As the light faded away, Yue stretched and then folded his wings
slightly, letting himself settle slowly to stand on the ground, his
hair coiling on the floor around his feet. Yuki almost laughed at the
way Yue briefly narrowed his eyes at Touya before dismissing him
entirely, instead turning his full attention to the phone, which he
lifted to his ear somewhat awkwardly. It seemed he would never
entirely get the hang of modern appliances.
"Sakura?" he asked gruffly, and Yuki felt a strange swell of pleasure
at the smooth, low sound of Yue's voice. The first time he had
experienced what it was like to be a part of Yue, rather than the
other way around, he had been stunned at how impressive Yue was in
every aspect. His looks, exotic as they were, inspired in his other
form a sense of awe, and his voice---so deep as to be almost entirely
foreign from Yuki's own pleasant, high-pitched tones---had taken Yuki
completely by surprise, he found it so compelling.
"Yue-san," Sakura answered, her own voice quieted by her permanent
sense of almost fearful awe towards her second guardian. She had
never quite been able to relax around him, and Yue made no effort to
get her to relax; he was fine with being left alone, unless he was
needed. "Yokatta...I wasn't sure if you'd be able to talk to me now.
Arigatou. I had a few questions about that book."
Yue stood perfectly still in the middle of the kitchen as he
patiently listened to Sakura's questions and answered her calmly, as
best he could. He had never been privy to all the details of Clow
Read's life, or the lives of his enemies. It was Clow's nature to be
somewhat private, a tendency that had been passed on to his second
guardian. When she was finally satisfied with the history Yue
provided, she thanked him profusely and said goodbye, and he lowered
the phone, staring at it for a moment, eyes narrowing as he tried to
determine by what magic it functioned.
<It's not magic...it's battery powered,> Yuki said, sounding amused,
which annoyed Yue slightly. <Just push the button on the top left.>
Yue nodded distractedly as he pushed the button; even as Yuki had
uttered the words, Yue had been busy reading the characters on the
instrument, trying to determine if there might be some sort of switch
to turn it off.
By the time he finally accomplished the task of turning it off and
glanced up, he had to keep himself from jumping slightly when he
noticed how close Touya was standing to him. Surprise blossomed
through him as he wondered how Touya had managed to sneak up on him
without him noticing, and when he heard the light chuckle in Yuki's
mind, he was forced to conclude, with an annoyed sigh, that contact
with Yuki had made him complacent where Touya was concerned.
"I'll take that," Touya said with a slight smile, holding out his
hand. Yue placed the phone into Touya's open palm, narrowed eyes
never leaving Touya's face, although his eyes did widen fractionally
when he felt the tips of Touya's fingers brush his hand as he took
the phone.
"So Sakura's gotten herself into a situation again, has she?" Touya
asked with a trace of fondness as he placed the phone back on its
cradle and turned back, gesturing for Yue to sit at the table. Yue
responded to this invitation by folding his arms over his chest and
narrowing his eyes further, and a slight flash of annoyance crossed
his eerie silver eyes when his behavior only made Touya's smile
widen.
"I take it it's nothing serious?" Touya asked, in the same curious,
conversational tone.
For several moments, so long that Touya's smile slowly faded, Yue
simply continued to stand, arms crossed over his chest and eyes
closed. He had never cared much for the conventions of human society,
and didn't seem to think it rude to entirely ignore someone talking
to him. Eventually, Touya gave up, resting an elbow against the table
and turning his eyes away, succumbing to the awkward silence.
"Do you have something to say to me?"
Touya started slightly at the sound of Yue's low voice breaking the
stillness, and his eyes widened as he realized that the tone of Yue's
voice bordered on suspicious. When he looked up, he felt himself
freeze with shock when he saw the anger that lingered deep within
Yue's usually impassive gaze.
"Iie...I was just curious," Touya said, for once not guarding his
emotions, letting his confusion show in the hope that Yue might offer
some explanation. But Yue's expression didn't change in the slightest.
Yue continued to peer at him in silence for a moment, the cat-like
slits of his pupils feeling like hot needle-points as they bored into
Touya's skull.
"You have no need for concern," Yue said finally, turning and closing
his eyes. "I will take care of Sakura. Now, if you have nothing else
to say, I..."
"Why do you always leave so quickly?" Touya asked suddenly, surprise
and annoyance at Yue's manner making him brusque. He got quickly to
his feet, watching as Yue turned back, obviously surprised at Touya's
question. "Aren't you ever curious? Don't you want to talk to me? You
must know...I know you're aware whenever Yuki is...don't you want to know
more about the person Yuki spends his time with?"
Touya's voice cut off sharply as he watched the way Yue's eyes
narrowed almost menacingly.
"I know what I need to know," Yue said coldly, and Touya fought to
catch his breath, fought to hold Yue's eyes, not to turn away.
"Yue..." Touya swallowed slowly, gathering his wits, frowning deeply as
he took a step back towards the guardian, watching the way Yue
tensed. "I think it's safe to say that you're the one who needs to
say something. Please...feel free."
His voice held a slight challenge, and given the force of Yue's
personality, he couldn't imagine that Yue wouldn't rise to accept it.
But to his surprise, the look in Yue's eyes briefly turned to
defiance before a sudden warmth and light enveloped his body. Touya
watched as the pale form was enfolded entirely within the span of
Yue's bright white wings, the light spilling out from between the
feathers in a dazzling pattern for only an instant before the wings
faded away and Yuki stood where Yue had been, looking somewhat dazed,
a hand at his forehead as though he was trying to resist a headache.
Touya bit off the sound of protest that had automatically risen to
his lips---his annoyance wasn't meant for Yuki, after all---and
instead focused on Yuki, not entirely surprised by how shell-shocked
Yuki looked. Obviously Yuki didn't know what Yue was talking about
either, and he looked even more disturbed by Yue's behavior than
Touya felt.
Touya opened his mouth to say something, but was again interrupted,
this time by Yuki, who was obviously too dazed to even be aware of
what Touya was doing.
"Su...sumimasen..." Yuki murmured, his eyes glazed over, and he quickly
turned away and made his way towards the bedroom, shutting the door
behind himself. Despite his urge to hurry after him, Touya remained
where he was, aware that it was probably more important at the moment
for Yuki to have a chance to talk quietly to Yue than for Touya to
ask whether Yuki knew what was wrong.
*****
END PART THREE