Lasting Feelings

It was night time and the Mokonas should be sleeping already, but they were still making a lot of questions about the latest book they had read that afternoon. Clow and Yuuko were patient with them, explaining them everything so they could understand, but their quick and curious minds just kept finding more questions to make, until the adults (because we have to remember that Mokona Modoki are small children, born not a long time ago) ordered them to bed. This was one of those days in which you had to give the order for them to go, and it wasn't easy.

"But does that kind of love exist?" Larg asks.

"Yes, there are all kinds of love. There's love that's expressed openly, others that don't need to be expressed. There's the love of a mother for her children, brotherly love, the romantic love of a couple. There exists also love that's not from a couple, the purely intellectual love, the spiritual love. There are as many forms of expressing love as people in the world." Yuuko explained patiently.

"And you can also die for love?" Soel was mentioning what they had read in the book that day, Romeo and Juliet.

"And why would anyone have to choose to die for that love?" Larg was just as interested in the subject. His interest came mostly from his own love for Soel and how he'd also feel he might die if she disappeared from his side.

"There are times when you love someone so deeply that you feel you can't live if the other person doesn't exist any longer. The most painful thing is to move on when your most important person has disappeared. Shakespeare was a genius in portraying the human condition, and in Romeo and Juliet, his greatest work, he portrayed the human spirit of love most accurately. Sometimes the link between two people is so strong that not even death can separate them."

Clow was talking directly to them but his eyes were darkened and he wasn't looking at them anymore, but to something far from them, something which was both sweet and painful. Yuuko was watching him sideways with an inscrutable look. Clow turned back to them after a few instants.

Soel and Larg were silent, thinking over what they had told them. They both understood the concept of a love larger than life, something that would last even after death. But they still couldn't understand the concept of death directly. They'd never experienced the complete separation it caused. That was what was worrying and intriguing them.

"We understand the concept of love, and that being apart from the person we love is very painful. If I was taken away from Larg forever, it'd hurt a lot, so much that I'd feel my heart break and I could die of the pain."

"Me too. If I was taken away from Soel forever, I don't think I could bear it and I could die of the pain."

"Is that why Romeo and Juliet died?"

"Was it because they couldn't live without the person they loved?"

"That's right. They chose to die rather than continue without that important person. Theirs was a difficult path. But it's even harder to keep on living when that special person is no longer with us to have fun, to comfort, to laugh and to cry with us." Yuuko explained.

"So they died to be with the person they loved?"

"Yes and no. They died because they couldn't face life alone, and they thought that they could be together in death. But from death, once you go into it, you never return."

"So if you die, you can't live with the people you love any more?" Soel's tone was sad when she said that.

"That's right. There's no return from the death," Yuuko was trying to explain to them in the kindest way. "In this life, you can't meet each other again. But perhaps you can meet each other in another life."

"Does that mean that death isn't the end?" Larg was a little more cheerful by this concept. "Can you see the people you love again?"

"It's possible, but not in this life. Everything you had in this life ends when you die. But it's possible to meet the people you love again in another life." Clow was looking at them with a very kind smile. Clow always smiled kindly, but now he was smiling even more kindly.

"Then, if I can meet again with the people I love, I don't mind dying that much, although it will be hard to wait so long to meet them again." Soel was cheered by this possibility.

"If I can meet again the people I love, I think I can wait for another life, too." Larg was also more relaxed.

Clow and Yuuko smiled kindly at them. Soel and Larg were thoughtful again for a moment.

"Clow, Yuuko, do you know anyone who died?" Larg asked.

"Yes, many people." Yuuko answered.

"And do you miss them?" Soel wanted to know.

"Yes, sometimes a lot, sometimes less, but they're always present in my heart." Clow smiled kindly and his eyes had a milder look than usual.

"Really? They're always present?"

"Yes, because while we remember them, they'll always be present for us in our hearts, as if they never left us."

"Really? Then we'll never forget anyone, so they'll always be with us!"

"We'll always remember everyone we love so they remain with us!"

"Ok, enough questions for today already, you two have to go to sleep now, and so do we, so to bed now!" Yuuko ordered them softly.

Soel and Larg realized just then how tired they were. They had been studying and playing all day and they were really tired.

"You were going to sleep with Clow today, right?"

"No, Clow moves a lot and talks in his sleep. We prefer to sleep with Kerberos and Yue." Larg answers.

"Hahahahahahahaha! Do I really do that?" Clow laughs with fun.

"Yes, he moves a lot and always wants something." Soel says.

"Oh, really?" Yuuko looks mischievously and smiles. "And what does Clow want?"

"He wants sweets."

"He wants sake."

He wants Yuuko."

Yuuko opens her mouth as if about to say something, but nothing comes out of it, she just stares at both Mokona Modoki. Clow is a little farther away, his face is averted.

"Hahahahahahahahaha! Really? I must stop eating at night or I'll keep getting those nightmares." Clow is laughing a lot.

Yuuko closes her mouth and smiles dangerously, a vein pops in her forehead. Clow smiles but he looks worried.

"Alright then, go to sleep with Kerberos and Yue."

"Good night, Yuuko, good night, Clow."

"Good night, Soel, good night, Larg."

The Mokonas went to bed and Clow and Yuuko remained alone. They sat to drink some tea before going to bed. The hearth at Clow's house was cosy and they liked to have tea there at the end of the day.

"The moment is getting near."

"That's right. I wish the dream can end and turn into reality at last."

Yuuko nods and sips a little tea. They remain in silence for some minutes.

"I hope you weren't bothered by Soel and Larg's jokes." Clow said while he left his cup.

"Oh, no. Of course not. I know that my presence only brings you nightmares." She shot him a penetrating look and smiled.

"That's not true. Your presence is always a breath of fresh air and life that brings joy to this house and me." Clow smiles at her.

"I bet you say that to every other of your conquests." Yuuko also smiles at him.

"Not to everyone, only to those who enter this house." Clow continues to smile and look placidly at her.

"Is that so? And how many have come here to receive your flattering words?" Yuuko also continues to smiles, only differently, more markedly and tense.

"Only you." He answers as he rises from his chair and goes to sleep. "Good night."

Yuuko remains alone in the room. She also rises and goes to sleep. Even today, Yuuko remembers that conversation, the things that were not said at the time and afterwards. She remembers Clow from time to time and their conversations of that kind. And she especially remembers how annoying he was in them.