Mirror Image
Li left five years ago. For five years, the cherry blossoms had
fallen, for five years the leaves had changed from deep green to deep orange.
For five years this had happened. The moon risen from beyond the
horizon countless times. This had happen in five years. The
world remained the same, however, changes took place. Seedlings grew
into trees, and children day by day grew up. There was no difference
for Sakura. She had bloomed in these five years, she had turned into
a graceful and beauteous young maiden. Her childhood ignorance
and fallen off her petals like some dried up old bloom. Now she radiated
with beauty, and wisdom, and yet she held in her palm the innocence which
caused the wind to sigh for her.
Things had grown and changed, yes, slowly and unnoticeable things had
happened. Love grew and died. Sakura's love for Li had not died,
but had momentarily been blown out like a flickering candle. It perhaps
might be ignited once again, but if that was to happen that was yet to
be seen, for her future lay ahead of her in many roads that could possibly
be taken... the pathway for many people was hidden in the fog...
The knock on the door. A gentle sort of tapping knock. Sakura
knew the sound well, this was only the knock of Yukito. He was not
like other men, he was different, quiet, and beautiful. It was strange
that Sakura had come to learn Yukito's knock, but it was so different that
she could not help but remember it. Quickly she hurried to the door,
carefully unlocked it, and opened it. The fresh afternoon sun came
streaming in through the door, the portal, and there stood Yukito basked
in the glorious shade of yellow. His hair seemed to reflect the rays,
giving him an almost angelic look. He smiled a bit, and said quietly,
but happily, "I hope I am not late."
Sakura found herself uncontrollably smiling. It was not that
she still felt the way she had five years ago, but the site of Yukito made
anyone want to smile. "No, Yukito, you are not late. Come in."
He abided by her wishes, and then walked into the entry way, as he carefully
took off his shoes, and lovingly placed them beside Touya's, who always
kept a pair for when he was over. It seemed strange, even though
she was used to it by now, but never the less it was strange that Yukito
and Touya were a couple. She had no problem with that, for when she
looked back on her life when she was young, she realized that the two had
loved each other all along. It did not seem strange at all now that
they should live together, and share the same bed. It was not strange
at all. Just...different. But, so many things were different
now.
He stepped in, smiling, and walked into the living room. Tomoyo
was setting up the camera, and Kero was busy sucking up all the food in
site. Kero looked up, his mouth full of cake. He flew up to
Yukito, still busily chewing, but he managed to get a "Yo!" out.
Yukito smiled a bit, then said friendly, "Good afternoon. How are
you?" Kero could not exactly talk at the moment, but what it sounded
like, or what everyone thought he was saying was, "The cake is really good!"
Kero flew out to the kitchen where he desperately needed a glass of
milk before the picture. When he returned he sat on the ground for
a moment, and then in the ever so familiar blinding flash of light, he
changed into his true form. The golden like wings sprouted from his
back as he was wrapped his body. When he emerged he smiled a bit,
trying not to look at the remaining food on the plate.
Sakura looked up at Yukito, noticing how little he had changed in the
past years, and asked him gently, "Yukito, may I see Yue?" Yukito
nodded, and said quietly, "Of course." The silver light of the moon
engulfed his body and he glowed with the heavenly light. He wings
of millions and millions of feathers engulfed his body and wrapped and
hid him from the world. He appeared in a wash of silver and white,
the color of the glorious moon in the heavens above. He was still
beautiful and calm, emotionless and expressionless, but one could tell
he was tortured by unsaid and unheard of elements that only he knew.
His silvery hair splashed over his broad shoulders, flowing like an endless
waterfall to the ground. His garments shone and glistened with the
reflections of the silver watery world. He looked down at Sakura,
his eyes cold and gray, however, strangely warm. His eye brows
raised a quarter of an inch, questioning the reason for which he had been
summoned. Sakura smiled, one might call it a mischievous smile, and
one might call it an innocent smile. Quickly she pushed Yue over
to the window to where Cerberus sat still, waiting for the whole event
to take place. As she gently urged him forward, she explained, "Tomoyo
wants us to take a picture today. Because exactly five years ago
today was when I became a capture of the cards- so we all decided to take
a picture. We knew you would not like to do it, so we kept it a secret.
I hope you are not mad."
Yue shook his head a bit, causing the smell of his hair to be set free,
"No. I am fine."
The three stood by each other, the gigantic golden beast on the floor,
smiling serenely, Sakura in the middle, a look of happiness mixed with
comfort etched on to her face, and behind her stood the ever tall, proud,
and serene Yue. His silver eyes flicked over to Sakura. The smell
of her body wafted in the air, the smell of something sweet and beautiful.
His eyes were drawn to her, quite against his will. The back of her
head, where her honey colored hair draped over over her broad shoulders.
It indeed had been quite a while since his eyes had fallen onto Sakura.
Life was quiet, and normal. No more magic, no more adventures, and
for Yue; no more Sakura. He did not admit, even to himself, that
he was fond of Sakura. He did not admit that he adored her laughter,
which was refreshing as a spring day, or her smile which caused the room
to glow with happiness, or her kind personality which always, without any
questions, trusted in him. Yue knew though, that to love Sakura
would be wrong, and that it was something he could not possibly do.
He suppressed these feelings, buried, and hid them deep in his soul, for
only he could contemplate and digest these emotions.
Tomoyo looked up from behind the camera, her eyes focused on Yue's
look, which was a slightly resembled some sort of trance. She followed
his gaze, which led down to Sakura. The corners of her lips formed a small,
barely noticeable smile, but never the less the spark of wisdom was beginning
a fire. So that was it. Tomoyo thought to herself, silently
promising to have a talk with Yue soon.
His eyes hazed over, the smell of her body intoxicating.
But he could not, he must not loose control. He was a guardian, and
it was his duty to protect her. As he stood there, waiting for the
shutter to snap to catch them all in this moment of time, his mind danced
over his memories. Without even realizing it he found himself remembering
one rainy day five years ago. The day Li had left. This day
had perhaps become the most wonderful of his life so far.
Slowly he allowed himself to become emerged in this dream, this wonderful
but melancholy memory.
.........
She had called out to him that day. Perhaps Sakura was not aware
of this cry, but Yue felt her suffering. The day had started out
gloriously sunny, the heart warming rays steaming into the windows of Touya's
apartment. But slowly, ever slowly, gray clouds formed in the east,
which were met by mid day in the west, and by the time the late afternoon
rolled around, the world was engulfed in these gray masses which threatened
the world with rain minute by minute. The sound of thunder cracked,
and then the rain began, pouring down in continuos streams. humongous
drops splattered against the pavement. In that first drop which had
fallen from the sky, he had felt her sorrow. In the second, he felt
her pain, and then as the millions of drops came down, her pain was nearly
screaming in his ears. He knew he would have to find her, and so
he set out, the wind his guide. As he neared her the crying turned
from hysteric, to sorrowful. Her sorrow nearly drowned him, nearly
killed him that day, but he had managed to reach her, and managed to be
near her.
It turned out that day Li had left for China. Li, the ignorant
obnoxious boy, had left her. Yue knew it would happen, for Li like
so many other young men was afraid of love. Quietly, he knelt down
beside her, and looked up at her. Her eyes were as deep and as hard
to read as water, but he knew within these eyes was strength, strength
that would cause he to over come this obstacle. The tears, like the
rain, one by one fell down her face. There was no need for words,
for it was understood her sorrow. Quietly, he had wrapped his strong
arms around her, and quietly, softly held her, letting the two drown together.
The world had stopped in that moment, and only the rain had continued to
fall. He felt her warmth that day, he felt her kindness, and he let
himself bathe in it, and greedily drink it. But the world was forever
tinted with her sorrow that day, and from that day forward Sakura would
forever be changed. Slowly she healed, but she had matured more than
she should have in that day, she had grown up to much from that experience,
and Yue only wished he could have done something. But, that of course
would have been impossible, but secretly he had wished...secretly...
..........
He emerged suddenly, as if he had been long been under the water and
emerged gasping for air. Quickly, he looked around, his translucent
silver eyes searching around the room. These silver eyes, flicked
with sparks of diamonds and the glow of the moon, looked over the scene.
It appeared he had been standing in the same position for some minutes
now. The picture had been taken and Kero had returned to his smaller
more 'convenient' form. He was now back at the dish of snacks stuffing
some cake into his mouth. His eyes wandered over to Tomoyo who was
absently videotaping Kero, for her 'Five Year Anniversary Picture' part
of her saga of never ending Sakura-ness. But yes, where was
Sakura? Quickly his eyes scanned the room in search of her. She was
entering the room from the kitchen, her hands filled with a tray of tea.
She looked up at Yue and smiled a bit, a bit of color coming to her cheeks.
Yue supposed it was just the steam from the boiling water which had caused
the color. She set the tray down softly on the table, and passed
out the warm cups of smooth tea. She selected a cup, and roused herself
from the floor, where she was sitting, to walk across the room to Yue.
She offered him the cup, and he took it readily. His hand momentarily
brushed against hers, but this was not enough to cause anything so terribly
embarrassing. The cup was smooth, its pale surface white as freshly
laid snow, and on this cup was a scene of a cloudless night, and a full
moon. Momentarily he could hear the whisper, but then it shattered
and the world came back to normal. He was Yue, the guardian, and
that was no more to his role in life. Nothing at all.
The day continued on, until the light turned from golden to gray, and from gray to blue. The world gray dark, and soon it was time to return to Yukito. And yet, he did not want to, he wanted to continue being Yue, just for a little while longer. It was dark there, and it was terrible having no control, having to look out to the world through his eyes, through his heart. He wanted to spread his wings and fly off into the night, to feel the cool spring air against his cheek, to know the feeling of freedom. It had been years since he had done this, and now his body ached as if it he had been sitting in one position to long. Kero was upstairs sleeping off the sugar, and Tomoyo and Sakura were chatting about high school, and how exciting it was them being seniors. He decided that he would for once indulge himself and allow himself freedom. Carefully he took Yukito's shoes and placed them outside the door. When he was ready to return to Yukito's world he would return here. He explained to Sakura that he would turn into Yukito soon, but first he had some unfinished business. She did not question, and yet he could have sworn he noticed something different in her eyes. A different sort of sheen, perhaps.
Once the door had closed, he quickly set off into the night air. The air felt good between his wings and for a while he just randomly flew higher and higher above the world. But then, that was foolish, he could too easily be caught. And so, he decided, calmly to settle himself down on top of him ever familiar bell tower. He sat, hunched over, and looked over at the town, its small twinkling lights that almost mirrored the night sky. He shifted his piercing gaze to the moon, which was now only a sliver, but day by day it was growing. He sat, and looked at it longingly. The moon, his source of power, his maker almost. It was a beauteous thing indeed, the color and how it seemed to give off the most beautiful light that the world had ever seen, a silver almost transparent light. He let himself sink deeper and deeper into the night sky.
His calm moment was destroyed when he found himself sweating heavily.
He touched his brow, and then the world around him faded and a blinding
red light over took him. He looked, startled, at the image that lay
in front of him. It was the full moon, humongous and glowing, its
beauty radiating off it. And yet, in front of the moon stood a winged
figure. He could not make out the face, or the body, but from what
he could tell, it strangely resembled him. The scene bleed with the
color red, and then the white light blinded him once again. He was
beginning to find it rather hard to breathe, he felt something dark surrounding
his being, and his heart. It was not cold, but strangely burning
hot. The image once again flashed in front of his mind. A pair
of eyes was revealed. They were not yet open, however, thick deep
eyelashes of the darkest black were laden upon the eyes. It was such
a contrast to the nearly white skin which this creature beheld. Slowly,
he saw the eyes open, their depths the color of the weakest green tea,
translucent with specks of gold swimming through them. Once again,
a flash of light, and he was back in reality. The darkness was still
there, he could feel it surrounding him. He fell back against the
roof, and calmed his quickly beating heart while he allowed himself a chance
to cool off from the sweat which had been pouring down his brow due to
this vision. What was it, exactly? This was a vision to be
sure, but of what, or who? That was the question.
The darkness began to wear off, and the world looked as it much had, quiet,
and peaceful. The stars now twinkled above his head, and the lights
of the city waved back at him. But this was not his care, his
care right now was the questions that raced through his mind like a flooded
stream. He must get back to Sakura, he had to see if she was safe.
It was all that seemed to matter right now. Quickly, he flew
off into the cold bright night.
He looked in through her window. Her room was dark, but due to the weak moonlight he could see her face, serene, sleeping contentedly. He sighed in relief, but this feeling of approaching darkness could not be shaken off as easily as he thought. He studied her face, her large eyes cloaked in long eye lashes, he pale skin, and her honey like hair which cascaded over her brow. How much she had changed it five years, how much she had blossomed. She was no longer a child, but a women. He could hear her breathing in his heart. He felt a weird sort of feeling creeping and crawling over his body. He felt something begin to rush into his body, a sort of feeling he had never felt before. How easy it would be to open the window and climb into her room. How easy...his mind whispered to himself. No. No. That was not possible. That would- and could never happen. He must never love Sakura more than anything but a master- he would have to train himself not to have this feeling. He buried this deep down in his heart. He stole one more glance, and as he did so, he felt something in his self become weak. His power seemed to drain from him in a matter of second, and he found himself falling sharply down to the ground. Why was he so weak? What was this darkness? The world was falling around him, and it took all of his strength to use his wings to push against the air and save himself before he fell hard to the ground. He was panting, sweat pouring down his face, as he slowly lowered himself to the ground.
He walked to the front step, grasping his frame. It was too soon
to talk about to Cerberus about all this, but this feeling of darkness
within himself frightened him for the first time in years. Gratefully,
his wings wrapped around him, and in a matter of minutes Yukito walked
down the steps to the Kinomoto residence. As he looked through his
eyes as he walked down the street he found himself drowsy, and the world
blacked out as he fell into a dreamless sleep.
AN: Okay. So there is chapter one of mirror image. Basically,
this is a romance/adventure, but more romance based on the fact that all
these things come about due to his love. Anyways, it is a dark beginning,
but it has a happy ending, don't worry. ^_^; Anyways, next chapter,
Yue talks to Kero about this darkness that he feels, and Sakura notices
a change in Yue and Yukito. Any ways, hope you are enjoying it.
Hope it isn't too dark.
e-mail me at:
furinkoto_neko@yahoo.com