A/N: HELLOOO whatever shattered pieces that may remain of a broken fandom! I know you didn't click this fic to read a long a wordy author's note, so I'll make this brief. I haven't been on fanfiction for a few years now but recently found a bunch of abandoned stories while cleaning out my old documents…and some of them were very long and with better plots than I remembered…this one I already have over 50,000 words written for that I didn't remember but I'd like to try my hand at the Tsubasa stories, so I'll be re-writing or editing the story and posting chapters as I go.

A FEW IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE BEFORE READING: This story takes place after ALL events of the anime AND manga. Personally, I felt the ending of the anime was a little (or VERY) lacking and therefore I'd like to warn in advance that anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to read the manga may find this story lacking quite a bit of background information. If you would like to read anyone, please be my guest and any questions you have I will be happy to answer via private message (I love giving spoilers but only if you are okay with it).

I really can't stress how much I love the Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, even after a few years, so I hope to meet a few fellow fans through this story. I will spend a little more time on personal notes like this later perhaps, but for now, I'm sure you're all ready to read! Last few things, however:

Rating specifics: This fic is rated T for teen due to some very occasional inappropriate language, implications, and adult scenes. If I could rate it T+ I would, because in later chapters there will be some quite mature moments, but not quite worthy of an M rating. No lemons, I swear, but that's about all I can promise you. You have been warned, haha.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tsubasa Chronicles or any of its characters and am in no way affiliated with CLAMP other than a deep love for their stories. I do, however, own this idea, since it came from my head, and hope that you will enjoy my story with respect for its integrity.

Happy reading!

I was rather fond of travelling. The past few years' equivalent had been composed of nothing but; anything else was far from natural. Of course, that wasn't constant movement. We could stay in one place for a few weeks, even a month or so, at a time now, seeing as how there was no deadline or quest to fulfill awaiting us. It was easier to relax now.

Of course, there were a still few...problems. Not every world we came across, as could be expected, was exactly perfect. We were not always welcomed guests; didn't always find a realm of perfect peace; sometimes even had to run away before something truly terrible could occur due to our presence. But that was all just part of the adventure.

Some worlds...some worlds were bad in different way. An emotionally painful place...that kind of thing was also inevitable. This was going to be one of those worlds...I could tell from the moment we arrived.

"Well, here we are," Mokona announced as we emerged from the magic circle that enabled our transportation. No sooner than that, however, I felt invaded by an unwelcome presence. One that I could've easily identified, had it not practically knocked the wind out of me, causing me to crumble to my knees with the sudden headaching wave.

"Oh wow, it must be autumn here or something; look at all the colors on the trees," Syaoran said brightly, always the first to observe our surroundings thoroughly. It made me smile, despite the sudden discomfort. In fact, I almost hoped they wouldn't turn around and notice me; that might ruin the mood.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Kurogane asked. Of course, no bliss could last.

"There's..." I trailed off, trying to fight this presence all around me but nowhere in sight; it threatened to swallow up my consciousness if I didn't hang on tight enough.

Mokona must have noticed, as it jumped to my shoulder with a valid explanation. "There's something strange about this world. It's a presence similar to Fai's; I'm afraid it's making him feel bad."

I couldn't have explained better myself.

"Should we leave now, then? Before something bad happens?" Syaoran suggested.

"Mokona doesn't think that's a good idea," Mokona said in slight dismay.

"Why not?" Kurogane asked, just as impatient as ever.

"No, Mokona's right," I said, struggling slightly back to my feet. I took a deep breath and tried to acquisition myself to the feeling. "There's some sort of life form or power here similar to my own. It caught me off guard and weakened me slightly just now, so I apologize if I scared you. Normally the best choice would be to move along before getting into something like this, but if we tried that right now, at least without even finding out what caused this, I might-"

I broke off, noticing a pedestrian frozen in their tracks not but a few feet away. Of course this was a common reaction when strangers appeared out of nowhere into someone's town. The peculiar part was, however, that she did not stare at us...rather than just me. Just me, and practically right into my soul.

"Y...Yui," she said, tears already filling her eyes.

"W...but I..." confusion hit me fast and hard. Who was this woman and why did she recognize me? More importantly, though...how did I recognize her?

"My…what are you," she gasped the slightest bit, closing her eyes as the tears spilled out. She dropped the basket of vegetables she was holding and rushed over to me. To ME! Her arms went around me and I caught her before we both fell over in such a natural way I wondered where the muscle memory had come from. "Welcome back."

"No...I..." I fell to my knees on the ground again and she dropped with me, arms latched around me so tightly...so lovingly. But why did none of it seem...out of place?

This is wrong. You don't belong here. You have to get out. Now!

...But how could I? I didn't want to get out, so why should I have to? Besides...I wasn't lonely here. Why wasn't I lonely? Shouldn't I be? It was so dark; so empty. I hadn't even found the world my mind was falling into yet. I was still falling. Cold and dark and...not lonely.

I felt warmth though. Through the cold I felt a warmth; someone grabbing my hand. And I looked through the dark and saw a light. It was him; holding my hand right there beside me. That's why I wasn't alone. It was...

Fai.

My heart began pounding. I couldn't catch my breath; the excitement and ecstasy was too great! I wanted to call out to him; to pull him closer and hold him and never let his body slip away from me again! My other half; a part of me I had long since lost...and never thought I'd see again. He was here with me. I was here with him. And I didn't ever want to leave him again.

"I'm sorry," I couldn't speak aloud, but the words echoed in my head. I knew that he could hear them too. "This time I promise that I will protect you."

He smiled. I tightened my grip on his hand; this time I wasn't letting go. But then...something cold. Colder than the darkness around me...just one drop of the cold directly on my left eye lid. No significant amount or weight...but it was. So. Cold! And the next thing I knew, I couldn't focus on any feeling other than that cold. It took me over...and I lost Fai's hand in the dark. I was jerked far too brutally and abruptly back into my living bodily vessel.

"Huh?" I opened my eyes and sat up quickly, not even having noticed I had gone unconscious. It had been such a natural thing, closing my eyes and relaxing into the familiarly foreign arms of a not so alien stranger…and that relaxation just took over and…I let my guard down and allowed in the strange presence around me.

I looked around quickly and saw the others- Kurogane, Syaoran, and Mokona- all sitting around me in a small room. My vision quickly homed in and found the source of the cold that had dragged me out of my long awaited state of bliss. An eye dropper in Kurogane's hand with just a few drops of a brilliant blue liquid. I lost control in that moment of panic and fell against the dark ninja holding the offending tool.

"What were you thinking?! Why would you do that?!" I demanded, clutching his shirt just for something to occupy my now all too empty hands. "I DIDN'T WANT TO-"

I was cut off as one of his strong hands clamped around my shoulder and jolted me back to look him in the face. "You didn't want to wake up? Because if we hadn't intervened there, you wouldn't have."

I took a rather sharp breath, eyes wide, and let his cold words sink in. "You mean..." I sighed. "It was a dream." I felt the panic draining from me, replaced by a lack of all emotion in general and my head fell into my hands, as if they could block out this constant droning headache that the world itself seemed to be producing.

"Yui," it was the woman again- apparently I had failed to notice her behind me- who kneeled on the floor and put a hand on my shoulder. "No, I'm sorry. You're not the Yui. I thought you were at first but...I couldn't bare to lose you too."

"It was a...dream," I repeated, still trying to comprehend that one part of the situation.

"You passed out when we first got here when Miss Valerie hugged you," Mokona said. "She let us bring you here to her home, but then Kuro-kun said you weren't breathing anymore. Miss Valerie helped us wake you up so you wouldn't die and here we are now!"

"Thanks you...Miss Valerie I presume?" I addressed the woman behind me. She gave a strained smile and nodded. Looking at her face was so peculiar; so much about her was familiar even though it shouldn't have been. She had the same pail white skin as myself but white dark brown, almost black, hair that contrasted her face entirely. Her eyes, however, were almost terrifying to me. They were a stunning blue, not quite like the color of the magic formerly held in my own eyes…but closer than any I'd seen.

"Yes. And please don't feel indebted to me; if I hadn't been able to help...well, I'm just very glad that I was," her smile fell slightly. "Your friends explained to me that you're travelers who just came to this world...and that I've probably never met you before. But the Yui I know from this world...he has your same essence. That's why I was confused at first, but..."

"No, I understand entirely. Please don't feel bad," I assured her. There was something about this woman that seemed far too familiar to me. It was almost uncomfortable, considering I hadn't met her before. I couldn't have, could I?

"Well now that Fai's awake, we can decide what we'll do next. Mokona doesn't think it's safe to leave yet; if Fai's still weak he won't be able to properly leave this world and something could go wrong. But if Fai is ready to leave now, we can go."

"No," Kurogane answered for me. "If there's something about this world that we need to stay and find out about, then that's what we'll have to do," he turned to me. "Am I right, wizard?"

"Kuro..." I trailed off, realizing this decision was my call...not that I was really given a call if my mental and physical state was like this. "I'm sorry...but I think we'll have to stay here for some time."

"Don't be sorry. None of us mind, especially if that's what needs to be done," Syaoran said reassuringly.

"And you're all much more than welcome to stay here," Valerie offered quickly. "Please; I've been living alone here for some time now and have plenty of extra space. I'd feel awful if I let you all go with no place to stay, plus...I'd really like to know more about what's going on with Yui-oh, I mean..."

Her face seemed so dismayed as she thought over the name she'd heard my group address me by; I couldn't stand that face. I lifted her chin so that she could look me in the eyes and hear the sincerity in my voice. "Please...I would love it if you would call me Yui."

"I...thank you," and instantly that bright smile of hers returned. How could it seem so familiar? Admittedly, she had a face and size similar to Chi's, but her hair wasn't quite as long and much darker of course…and the eyes.

"Now if one of you wouldn't mind," I turned to my three traveling companions. "How long exactly was I asleep?"

"Not too long; don't worry," Syaoran said. "It was yesterday around midday and right now it's only early evening. Valerie has explained her situation to Kurogane-san and I and we've told her about us, so now all that's really left is for you to catch up a little I suppose."

"Excellant," I smiled, finally making a recovery from my previous disorientation and trying to act more like myself.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry!" Valerie gasped slightly. "What a terrible host I'm being! Here, would any of you like anything? I could show you around the house now if you're up to it, Yui?"

I smiled brightly, hopefully concealing any discomfort I felt as I stood up. I was still a little dizzy from the throbbing in my head, but it was nothing that could keep me incapacitated any longer now. "I would love that."

Valerie smiled again, a gesture that I was sure it would take some getting used to before I could completely skip over the urge to laugh or just hug her for being so cute,- which was odd of course- but nodded as she got to her feet as well.

"Well now that F-or, Yui I suppose is awake, is there anything Kurogane-san and I could do for you ma'am? We could run to the market or something if you'd like?" Syaoran offered politely.

"Oh there's only a few things, but I wouldn't want to send you out of your way to get them right now," she said thoughtfully.

"It's no trouble," Kurogane smiled. "It'd give us something to do for a while anyway."

"Okay then," she smiled. "If you boys will follow me to the kitchen I'll give you a list and some shopping money."

Syaoran fell into step behind her into the hall, but Kurogane stopped me before either of us exited the room, his always firm grip around my arm. "I assume you'll keep me updated on the inner happenings in this world," he said, no question in his tone.

It was alright; I didn't purposefully try to keep things from anyone anymore. In fact, it was almost comforting to know that I wasn't alone in that sense; not with Kuro-pu around anyway. "Can we talk tonight?"

"Fine by me," he said, releasing me and then leading the way out into the rather small and dimly lit hallway, which led into a snug kitchen.

The room itself was a fair size, but with all the cabinets, long table, and counter tops there really wasn't much unoccupied space. It was comforting in a way though; like the kitchen itself was too full to show any signs of neglect. Personally, I couldn't stand an empty kitchen; there were less possibilities to create.

"Alright, you remember the way to town, right? It's pretty straight forward from the main road, but any of the neighbors could give you directions if you need them. Unfortunately, I'm a terrible navigator and I probably wouldn't be doing you much good by word of mouth."

"That's quite alright; I'm sure we'll find it," Syaoran said.

"Okay. Here's a list and some money, but if you can't find everything on here don't worry about it; nothing here is really urgent."

"Thank you; we'll do our best and be back soon," Syaoran said, taking the list and folding it into a pocket in his pants.

That was the first I noticed of their new garments, apparently to match the style of this world. Both of them wore rather plain looking jeans and a black and light blue shirt respectively. Valerie wore jeans as well and a similarly plain light purple shirt that hung like a short dress. I assumed the fashion of this world was really nothing particularly fancy or outrageous; honestly this was among one of the most common trends we had encountered among dimensions.

I was still in my original clothing, which was all the better for me, considering I had been passed out, but knew that wouldn't last for long unless I wanted to stick out like a sore thumb here...not that I thought I'd be off and exploring anytime soon.

Syaoran, Kurogane and Mokona departed so Valerie and I were the only ones left in the fairly sized house. It was a wonder she didn't get too lonely here, what with all the empty rooms I'd seen...but there was always the aforementioned occupation in the kitchen.

"Would you like anything? A cup of tea or coffee or something to eat perhaps?" Valerie offered hospitably.

"Actually, I'd love some coffee if it's not any trouble."

"No, none at all. Would you like to sit outside and talk or in here?"

"It looks quite nice outside, but what would you prefer? I don't want to be a trouble."

"Oh no! I love this time of year and I was actually hoping you wouldn't mind sitting out on the porch with me," she laughed a little. "You can go out right there and make yourself comfortable; I'll be right out with some coffee. How do you take yours?"

"Just a half teaspoon of sugar is all for me please."

"Huh. Okay then, I'll be right there."

"Thank you so much," I smiled and followed her directions out to the porch where there was a little lawn table and a cushioned bench. It really was nice out; the sun shone down and warmed the chilly, breezy world below and the smells of dirt and leaves drifted around. From what I'd encountered on journeys, this was the basic concept of autumn, though I hadn't seen much of it altogether so far.

"Here you are," she said, setting two coffee mugs on the table. "Tell me if it's not sweet enough or too sweet."

I tried a sip and smiled in approval. "Perfect. Thank you."

She smiled back but her eyes didn't quite match the gesture, falling to gaze into her own cup. "Please forgive me but...you're just so much like him. So much like Yui was."

"Might I ask...who he..." I didn't want to bring up painful memories for her, but I'm sure I'd be doing the same things for her sake to give a response soon.

"No, it's fine. He was my brother, you see. We all lived here when I was younger...Mom and Dad, my two other sisters, and our younger twin brothers. Yui and Fai," she explained.

That was it. I felt my breath catch involuntarily but tried not to react too much; I didn't want to distract from this story, as I knew it was already going to be a hard one for her to tell.

"Our dad...he never approved. Of anything, really, but especially the twins. Fai and Yui were always rather distant like they were in their own world; just them there together. He said it wasn't natural; that twins shouldn't be two halves of one whole and that they should be more individualistic. But not them...there were always together. All the way until the end.

"Things started to get bad when our mother died," she continued after a slow sip of her own coffee. "Dad was gone on business most of the time so it was just my sisters and I taking care of things for the most part anyway, but without Mom here anymore...I think that was just the excuse he needed to make them change.

"Dad tried to seperate them; he thought that then they would act differently but...it really only made things worse. On his next business trip, Fai went with him...and Yui stayed here. He became distant, like part of him was gone.

"Soon enough, my other sisters started to get married and move away. It was just Yui and I for awhile until..." she broke off, tears filling her eyes. "He left. Yui had seemed so empty for so long, but one day he just...disappeared completely. There was no more life left in his eyes and by the next morning...he had left all together. My brother...his soul was gone. He was no longer breathing and...he was dead."

"How did..." I let this sink in. It is said that a body can exist without a soul, but it is a pointless existence. The body has no desire to be alive, and yet no real purpose in dying. It is just a hollow shell of a human being. If it remains this hollow for long enough...I suppose even the person's own heartbeat would grow tired and just...give up eventually.

"My father and Fai returned soon after. Fai was devastated...he couldn't bare it. He said that Yui's soul had left his body in search of the 'other half' which would have been him, and that it had just gotten lost along the way. He set off again, this time on his own, saying that he would find his brother's true self out there someday...and it's been just me and my dog Snoops alone here since."

"How long?" I asked, somewhat devoid of emotions, though unintentionally.

"Almost fifteen years now; Yui died when he was only 18. Fai has passed through from time to time to check in on me and of course our sisters still keep in touch, but our father has moved away all together...and none of us can really stay together for very long at a time now."

"I see. And when you saw me yesterday..."

"I thought you were Yui's soul, having finally wandered back home. I know it's irrational of me to jump to such conclusions, but...I really felt like it was Yui's presence."

"I understand," I said in the most comforting voice I could. "The Yui you knew and myself are actually very similar. Even if we are from different worlds and have different lives and souls and memories, we have something in common."

"You have the same essence."

"Exactly. Originally I was called Yui as well and had a twin brother named Fai, who would have the same essence as your brother Fai here. Unfortunately," I swallowed the lump in my throat and took a deep breath, "my twin brother is dead as well. For a long time I tried everything I could to do the impossible; to bring Fai back, even at the cost of my own life. To lose someone you are close to is always a hard sacrifice, but as a twin...it was like losing a part of myself.

"In his honor, I adopted Fai's name as my own, which is why my traveling companions call me Fai. I know now that I will never be able to restore a life that has been lost, which is why I originally began this journey. But still...it's a pain that will never heal and a void that will never fill."

"I'm so sorry," she said, now looking very downcast.

"Don't be," I told her. "Everything happens for a reason. I would give almost anything to have Fai back...but I wouldn't give up the reality that has already occurred in order to live out an alternate one. I have learned to accept things as they are and live my life as fully as I can without Fai. After all...I doubt he would've wanted me to only accept myself as a lost half of an incomplete soul."

"That's..." she looked me in the eyes and then threw her arms around my neck. "Yui. You really are the same as him."

Again, my arms moved to embrace her as if it was a gesture that my body itself remembered from somewhere. But it was so natural! How could I have not done this before? I...I knew her. I was supposed to and...

Tears slowly slipped out of my eyes. Why was I so attached to this woman I had just met?

Yui. You belong here right now. Just give into it; this is alright.

"Yes," I whispered, too quietly for even her close ears to hear. "This is alright."

A/N: Alright, going to keep it short and sweet here, just saying that I'd love to get some feedback on this first chapter. I know this probably isn't one of the craziest fandoms around, but maybe there's some of you out there reading this?...Somewhere…I feel so alone…

But I wouldn't if you'd drop me a review! Just something short if you like, just to prove to me that I'm not the only one who still loves Tsubasa Chronicles. I'd really like to hear from any of you, but until next time for now!