Author's Notes: To all of my wonderful readers of A Series of Smiles, this is not meant to be a companion piece. This was written at a different time, for a different purpose. This story is provisionally dedicated to Lady Blood Dove, who pointed out that Yue gets very little character development in A Series of Smiles. She's right – there's a little more in this story (Incidentally, I'm sorry for the delay in the epilogue of ASoS. I wrote something, but I decided to axe the beginning because I didn't like the flow. It'll be up in the next two or three days, promise).
The main characters of this story are really Yukito, Yue, and Kero. Touya and Yukito don't get their five minutes of relationship development until the very end. But, I figured I'd better put this in the Yuki/Touya category just in case. Enjoy!
After Sakura defeated Eriol and divided Clow's powers, returning peace and stability to the cosmic balance, there were still a few loose ends to tie up. The most obvious, to the Kinomoto's, was Yukito's empty house.
Both Kinomoto siblings could tell that he hated it. It was a constant, obvious reminder that he wasn't who he thought he was. That he had been created, not born, as a convenient place-holder for an entity that Yukito didn't know, didn't want, and couldn't compete with. That he was just the by-product of forces that everyone that he loved understood more clearly than he did.
But neither Sakura nor Touya had broached the subject with the boy. Touya had tried, more than once, but Yukito always either changed the subject or muttered some vague nothing and shut the boy out. He didn't have to say out loud that selling the house would become messy when the realtor found out that the signatures on the homeowner's documents belonged to a couple that had never existed.
Touya had considered forcingYukito to give up the house by the simple expedient of asking Sakura to order Yukito to move in with them, but had instantly dismissed it as a bad idea. Yukito was already sensitive enough about his inhumanity; Touya didn't have to rub it in by flaunting one of the many magical contracts that defined the boy's existence.
Instead, Touya merely found as many excuses as possible for Yukito to sleep over – most weeks, Yukito stayed as the Kinomoto's guest as many as four nights out of the week. The rest of the time, he was encouraged to at least eat dinner with Touya's family, whether Touya was there or not. It was only a temporary solution, and everyone knew it.
Everyone except Fujitaka of course, who, in spite of having gained significant magical powers, remained relatively oblivious to the extraordinary magical antics that were going on right under her nose.
Which was why it was a bit of a surprise to everyone involved that it was Fujitaka who, quietly and simply, solved the problem.
Fujitaka came home from work later than usual one October evening, to find that he had missed dinner. He watched, a troubled expression on his face, as his two children and his son's – friend? Lover? He hadn't had the opportunity to ask Touya about it yet – happily did the dishes. Finally, after several long moments, he asked to speak to Yukito in his study.
"Privately," he added, as Touya moved to follow Yukito up the stairs. Touya and Sakura traded mystified glances, but Touya shrugged and remained in the kitchen.
In the study, Fujitaka found Yukito nervously straightening the knickknacks on the shelves. He jumped when he heard the door open, and hurriedly muttered an apology for disrupting the professor's keepsakes.
Fujitaka smiled calmly and waited for Yukito to collect himself. Once Yukito looked relaxed enough to carry on an intelligent conversation, Fujitaka perched against his desk and motioned for the boy to take his chair.
"Don't worry," Fujitaka reassured him. "You're not in trouble. I just didn't want Touya to overhear this conversation"
"W-what?" Yukito stammered, a worried flush creeping up his neck. He had been dreading a conversation like this between Fujitaka and himself, concerning the nature of his relationship with Touya, for some time now. He didn't know what was more mortifying, the fact that it had finally happened, or the fact that it had come about before either boy had acted upon his emotions.
"Yes," Fujitaka continued firmly. "I didn't want you to feel pressured by his presence. Now, I understand that your grandparents passed away recently?"
"Ehm," Yukito managed, rather intelligently. He couldn't exactly tell Touya's father that his grandparents had just been a figment of his imagination.
"I understand," Fujitaka's voice was sympathetic. "I read it in the paper a few weeks ago. Normally, I would never bring it up with you before you were ready to talk about it, but they were your only living relatives, am I correct?"
Yuki stood there with his mouth hanging open for a full three seconds before his brain caught up with the situation. "Yes," he said carefully, "they were." He wasn't sure if some last vestige of the complicated spell that had brought Tsukishiro Yukito into existence, complete with home, bank account, and school enrollment forms, had arranged for a death announcement to be sent to the newspapers once Clow's powers were divided, or if the division itself had planted a piece of false information in Fujitaka's mind, but Yukito certainly wasn't going to argue with such a convenient explanation for his grandparents' inexistence.
Fujitaka nodded, ever compassionate. "I noticed that you'd been spending a lot of time over here. I want you to know that I'd be more than happy to take over your guardianship for the rest of the year. It might be easier than having a legal guardian assigned by the state or going through the process of being formally emancipated. Also, I understand that your home probably has tremendous sentimental value to you, having belonged to your grandparents, but…"
"This house has always been more of a home to me, and you all more of a family," Yukito interrupted him quietly. Fujitaka turned his head sharply to the side and then stood up briskly, as if something had been decided.
"Touya told me that your grandparents frequently left you alone," he said sadly, almost to himself. "If it weren't speaking ill of the dead…" Fujitaka seemed to pull himself together. "In any event, I'll bring the car around tonight so that we can begin moving your things into the spare bedroom. It will probably be easier to maintain possession of the house until you turn eighteen. If the property tax is a problem, I can pay it for you this year."
"N-no," Yukito stammered, although things were moving so quickly that he was no longer sure what he was disagreeing with.
"Ah, your grandparents left you some money?" Fujitaka continued imperturbably. "All the better then. Oh, and Yukito," Fujitaka paused near the door, and turned a tender, sympathetic smile on the younger boy. "Unless I'm very much mistaken, you and Touya are at a delicate point in your relationship. If living together on top of everything else becomes a strain, please let me know. I want to see you two happy together for many years to come."
It took Yukito much longer than three seconds to pull himself together after that.
I'm not entirely satisfied with the way this part of the story hangs… if you have any suggestions, please REVIEW and let me know.