Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: Born from the thought, what if Sakura didn't choose between the original and the clone? Crack-ish. You've been warned. ...Oh, and there's a high chance for a sequel.

Clow Chaos

As a vaguely magical-looking twirl appeared in the enormous throne room of the country of Clow, a stir immediately arose among the gathered people. Everybody knew the story of their princess who had left to travel between worlds to retrieve her memories. Despite the general excitement, however, there was nobody who was in the inside more thrilled than the apparently absolutely disinterested King Touya.

"Welcome home, your highness," said Yukito happily as soon as the twirls of magic had faded away, indeed revealing the long-awaited princess. "We have been waiting for your return."

Sakura looked at them for a moment, stunned. Then, however, she started to look around franticly. "Where are the others?" she asked, sounding very worried. "They were supposed to arrive here, too! Moko-chan said so!"

"Others?" echoed Touya. "Oh, don't tell me you brought home more people than you left with! I was hoping you would have forgotten the brat along the way instead of picking up even more annoyances…"

"Um, yes, about Syaoran-kun…" Sakura started. However, she never got to finish as new people arrived, this time much faster than she had. Two tall figures landed gracefully on their feet behind her, while two slightly shorter ones landed not-so-gracefully right on top of her.

"So this is Sakura-chan's country, huh?" said one of the tall figures, a blonde man clad almost entirely in white. "Hyuuu. It's even greater than I imagined!"

"You'd expect that, being in a palace," another man said dryly. He was even taller, his clothes as black as his hair, his red eyes darting around like restless flames. "Isn't that right, Sakura-hime?" As there was no response, he repeated, "Sakura-hime?"

"Here, Kurogane-san!" came a slightly muffled response. "Just give me a moment…"

"Ah!" exclaimed one of the figures that had fallen over the princess, at the same moment as the other cried out, "Oh!" Both immediately leapt to their feet, each rushing to be the first one to help the princess up – and to apologize.

"I'm so sorry!" said one.

"No, it was all my fault!" the other claimed. "You aren't hurt, are you, princess?"

"Let me help you up!"

"Oh, please forgive both of us!"

"That's enough!" Sakura announced with a slightly out-of-breath chuckle. "It wasn't either of your faults, and no, I'm not hurt. I'm just glad we're finally here, all of us!" She now turned towards the throne. "Um… Touya-nii-sama?" she asked. "May I request for lodgings in the palace for my friends and fiancés?"

"Sure," Touya replied automatically, unable to deny his sister anything so simple, even less so after her long absence, no matter how much he usually teased her. Then, the words finally registered in his mind. "…Wait a minute. Did you just say 'fiancés'?"

"Yup!" Sakura smiled, taking a hold of one arm of each of the almost identical figures by her sides. "Here are Syaoran and Syaoran. We're engaged to be married!"

"The Syaoran-kuns both love Sakura-chan, and Sakura-chan loves them both," the blonde explained cheerfully. "So, naturally, Syaoran-kuns proposed to her together – and she said yes to both of them!"

"Well, that's certainly a surprise, isn't it, Your Majesty?" Yukito said, smiling. "…Your Majesty?" he then asked, looking at the king questioningly. After another moment of silence, he said loudly to all attending, "Everybody is dismissed for today! Your Highness, if you and your friends would be so kind as to stay here…"

"What's wrong with nii-chan?" asked Sakura once the throne room was empty of anybody but the high priest, the king, and the recently arrived group. "He looks like a statue of some kind…"

"I think it's the shock," Yukito said thoughtfully, examining closely the apparently frozen king. "One Syaoran annoyed him to no end. Two probably made him mute with rage!" The conclusion, delivered with a semi-serious expression, was ended with a brilliant, kind-hearted smile.

"Great," sighed the black-haired man. Turning towards the blonde, he asked, "Are you sure you aren't related?"

"Of course I am!" the blonde replied with exactly the same kind of a smile. "All my family has been dead for ages!"

"But how can we revive His Majesty?" one of the Syaorans asked. "We can't leave him like that!"

"Should we just wait for him to return to normal?" Sakura asked, sounding worried. "I've never seen him like this before…"

"Perhaps another shock would work?" suggested the other Syaoran. "Then again, it might just make it worse…"

"Well, it's worth a try, anyway!" Yukito said happily. Again, a thoughtful look rose onto his face. "Let's see. Shock, shock, shock…" Suddenly he smiled again. "Ah, yes! Your Highness, may I borrow one of your friends for a moment?"

"Eh?" Sakura looked confused. "I guess so, as long as they aren't hurt…"

"Oh, I wouldn't even dream of such a thing!" Still smiling, Yukito walked to the black-haired man. Then, completely ignoring the other's questioning look, he stood on tiptoe and placed a light kiss on the man's lips.

Now, two things happened at the same time. For one thing, the blonde shoved Yukito away, possessively clinging to the black-haired man. For another, King Touya suddenly stood straight, yelling, "Guards! Relieve that man of his head!"

"Now, now, Your Majesty, no need to get so angry," Yukito said, rushing to the king's side to soothe him. "I only did that to shake you back to your usual state! Her Highness was getting worried!"

"Oh." With one last glare at the black-haired man, Touya sat back on his throne. "Now, Sakura, I expect a good, long explanation for all this…"

Quite some time later, Touya and Yukito had heard the story – or at least the main points. As was understandable, a more detailed summary of the past years would have taken a much longer time. Leaning against the back of his seat – for the sake of convenience, they had retired to a sitting room at the palace instead of the throne room – Touya looked at the group.

"So, let me get this straight. This other brat lost his heart and became evil, right? And he ate your eye, ah, Fay-san?" He pointed at the blonde.

"That's right!" the blonde replied happily, pointing at his left eye. "But that was only because he didn't have his heart at the time! Later I managed to regain the eye he stole, but I used the magic in it to give him his heart back. That's why that eye is still blind!"

"You were the court wizard in your old world, right?" Yukito said. "I guess you must have had quite some power. But now that you have lost some of it, just how powerful are you?"

"Powerful enough to pull stupid stunts," grumbled the ninja seated next to Fay. "Like transferring us all into another world and leaving himself behind!"

"Now, now, Kuro-pon, I had no choice!" Fay said happily. "I can only transport somebody to another world once, and we were in danger! I couldn't have very well let you all die, right?"

"Well, you could have just waited until I beat them all!" Kurogane growled. "Or don't you trust my skills, you damn mage?"

"Oh, please excuse Fay-san and Kurogane-san," Sakura said with a sweet smile. "They are always like this, fighting and bickering… But in reality they love each other very much!"

"The Hell we do!" Kurogane spat. "I hate this bastard!"

"Waah, Kuro-rin is so cruel!" Fay wailed. "He's always so mean to me, and then he even kissed another man!" At this, he gave Yukito a glare.

"I didn't kiss him!" roared the ninja. "He kissed me! There's a damn big difference!"

"Please, do not remind me of that," Touya sighed, shaking his head. "I'd rather just forget that sight altogether."

"Oh, but why, Touya-nii-sama?" asked Sakura innocently. "What was so shocking about that?"

"Ah, yes, about that," Yukito said, seeming vaguely embarrassed. "It seems His Majesty has a slight streak of jealousy in his character…"

"Jealousy?" Sakura blinked. "But why would he be jealous of Kurogane-san? They had only just met, after all…"

Again, Touya sighed. "Look, Sakura, I really don't like saying my little sister's being an idiot, but…"

It took quite some explaining before Sakura finally got the point. When she did, for a moment she simply stared at her big brother. "You mean… You and Yukito-san…"

"Are lovers. Yes. And we've been for quite some time – even before you left." Touya rolled his eyes. "You're not stupid, Sakura, but sometimes you sure can be slow…"

"Doesn't that create a problem, though?" a Syaoran asked. "As far as I know, the king's supposed to have an heir…"

"Exactly. The royal council's been at my neck about that for years." Touya smirked in a way that could only be described as evil. "Let them rant, though. Now that Sakura's here again, they can't protest if I name her my sole heir. She's the next in line anyway."

"But wasn't there another regulation, too?" the other Syaoran asked. "I remember hearing about it when I was a child. It's almost forgotten but still legible… Something about royal siblings and marriage…"

"Oh, yes, that. As I'm above her in hierarchy, Sakura can't marry before I do." Now there was definite satisfaction among the evilness. "Too bad for you I'm never going to marry, isn't it?"

"Your Majesty, that's cruel," Yukito chastised, looking a bit embarrassed. "Syaoran-kuns are fine young men! And there is even a regulation that a person of royal blood can have more than one spouse should they wish so. Why do you oppose the marriage so?"

"It's not me, it's the law." Judging by his expression, if such a law hadn't existed already, Touya would have taken deep satisfaction in creating one. "So sorry, Sakura, you'll just have to wait until I'm dead!"

"You planned this all along, didn't you?" a Syaoran said, giving the king a long look. "You always did your best to keep us apart, and if that had failed, you would have brought up that old regulation."

"Naturally. I don't want my little sister to marry a commoner, much less two." Touya grinned, apparently satisfied with the situation for now. "That being said, you can all stay in the palace if it makes Sakura happy. If you want something to do, we'll try to find an occupation for you. Other than that… well, there isn't anything else than that, is there?"

The assembled group seemed to agree. However, disappointment was evident on all their faces in varying degrees.

"Why did you have to do that?" Yukito asked later that night as he was finally alone with the king. "If you didn't bring it up, nobody would think of using that regulation to stop Her Highness from marrying! Everybody loves the princess, even after her lengthy absence. They would love to see her marry the men of her dreams!"

"She can marry as many brats as she wants when I'm not here anymore," Touya replied, refusing to look at the priest in favour of the view available at the balcony. "Until then, she'd better just endure it."

"You are cruel." Walking to the king's side, Yukito looked down into the sleeping city. "Why can't you let her be happy? After all, she's the one person most important to you."

"No, she's not," Touya replied simply. "You are more important."

"Don't say such things." They were now standing side by side, almost touching. "She is the princess, and the only family you have left. Of course she is more important."

Touya didn't say anything. He simply covered Yukito's hand on the railing of the balcony with his own. The priest didn't say anything, either, looking at their joined hands.

"Yukito?" asked Touya after a long while of silence.

"Yes, Touya?" asked the high priest, resting his head on the taller man's shoulder. "What is it?"

"If the council agreed… would you marry me?"

Yukito smiled faintly. "Of course I would," he replied softly. "But as you well know, they will never agree to such a thing."

"Yeah… They never will." Touya sighed. Then, however, he smirked. "And because of that, Sakura will never marry those brats!"

"Really, now…"

"So what's this council do, exactly?" asked Fay. "And how can it order the king around?"

"The royal council consists of the king's advisors," Sakura explained. "Their consent must be gained for any major decisions concerning either the whole country or the king's public image. In the end, the king has the final say, but in reality it's very hard for him to go against the council's will. They hold many important positions, so if they decided not to fulfil their duties, the whole kingdom would soon fall apart."

"Sounds stupid," Kurogane said gruffly. "Wouldn't it be much more useful to just have one ruler and be done with it?"

"Probably, yes," Sakura said. "But that's how things have always been. Nobody's cared enough to change the way they are."

"Aren't you a big fan of tradition and old customs, Kuro-pon?" Fay asked. "Shouldn't you be in favour of keeping things as they are?"

"I'm only in favour of traditions when they make sense," Kurogane said. "What's the point of having a king if he can't do what he wants?"

"What indeed." Fay lowered his eyes, doubtlessly thinking of Ashura-ou. This, of course, didn't go unnoticed by the ninja, who almost panicked.

"Now, why don't we get to the rooms given to us?" he asked, grasping Fay's wrist in a way that clearly indicated he would drag the mage along if he didn't follow on his own. "I think the kids need some sleep already."

"Oh, of course!" Fay said, again smiling as happily as ever. "Good night, Sakura-chan, Syaoran-kuns!"

"Good night, Fay-san, Kurogane-san!" the teens all replied. They then watched as Kurogane half led, half dragged the now seemingly-happy mage out of the room.

"It's sure nice to see how well they get along," Sakura chirped. "It's obvious they love each other so very much!"

Touya tried to hide a yawn. It was his duty to attend all meetings of the royal council, and he would never skip his duties, but that didn't mean he necessarily enjoyed them. Or had an easy time staying awake.

Finally, though, every issue had been more or less cleared – what they needed him for, he sure didn't know – and the council members asked him whether he had anything to add. This was just as much of a habit as the customary bows when he entered the room – nobody ever expected the king to add anything. If the council members hadn't thought of it, it obviously couldn't be important.

Touya, as a matter of fact, would have had something to add. However, he knew very well it would never go through.

Oh, what the hell. It was worth a try.

"Oh, there is indeed one other thing," he said. "I have decided to marry."

Now, that definitely got the council's attention. "What? Who is it?" they asked, too excited to wait for their turn to speak. "Why haven't you told us before, Your Majesty?"

"Because it's none of your business, really." Touya smirked. "I will be marrying the High Priest Yukito."

This announcement caused even more of an uproar. "Impossible!" shouted somebody, while another added, "Outrageous!" Several other comments were added, none of them favourable.

Everybody fell silent, however, as Touya sharply brought his palm down onto the table. "Shut up!" he said. "You know very well I'll never marry one of your 'respectable ladies', so stop trying. It doesn't matter whether you allow me to marry Yukito or not, I'm not going to be with anyone else nevertheless. And besides, according to the oldest laws, you can't stop me. It may make our cooperation quite difficult, but I can marry him without your consent!"

"But, Your Majesty!" a braver-than-normal council member dared to speak up. "Never before has the ruling monarch taken a spouse of the same sex! The public will be in an uproar! Why can't you just continue your… unusual… relationship in secret and at least allow your sister to marry to ensure an heir to the throne?"

"Because that is against the law," Touya replied with a smirk. "I'll let you choose, though. Either you allow me to marry Yukito, or…"

"Or?" came from several mouths simultaneously. Some voices were hopeful; some more experienced ones were worried. It never promised well good when the king was smirking like that.

"Or you accept my letter of resignation and let Sakura ascend to the throne as the legal queen."

He had caused the royal council to fall silent in shock several times before. Never before, however, had he seen any collapsing at their desks.

"You really are evil, Touya," Yukito said, watching the king as he cackled evilly. "You know very well they can't let Sakura take the throne yet. She's far too young."

"Of course I know that!" Touya replied. "Why do you think I gave them that choice? And besides, if by some freak chance they did choose the latter option, it'll be okay nevertheless. If I'm no more the king, the royal council won't have any say in whom I'm going to marry."

"Is it really worth that?" asked Yukito. "Would you truly give up your throne just to be able to marry me?"

"Why, of course." Touya, who had until then been lying on his back, rolled onto his stomach to look at the high priest. "It'd be the best for Sakura, too. That way I'd still be there to advise her. If she only gets the throne after my death, she'll be all alone – and if it happens in the middle of a crisis, like a war, it'll be even worse. If I die in a war, not only will the situation be more difficult than usually, but she also won't have any time to prepare herself for it."

"So it does come back to the princess after all." Yukito nodded. "I knew it, of course."

"Don't say that. I'm thinking about you most here, you, you, you!" Touya pointed a finger at Yukito to make his point clear. "And don't start talking about duties or anything to me. I can't see how anything we do in our bedroom is anybody else's business as long as we do our jobs properly."

With this said, he reached out a hand to grasp on Yukito's wrist, pulling him down onto the bed he was himself already lying on. One hand removing the glasses from the blonde's face, he smirked at Yukito. "Now, it's not job time anymore," he said. "It's bedroom time…"

Yukito hardly could disagree with his king.

"Um... Your Majesty, there seems to be a problem," Yukito said mildly.

"You think so?" Touya asked mildly. "I'd have never guessed." He glanced at the very out-of-breath soldier who had just arrived into the throne room. "So, what's it?"

"A – a monster, your majesty," the man wheezed. "It came from the outer deserts – we can't stop it –" He then collapsed, exhausted and wounded as he was.

"Oh, great." Touya sighed. "I trust you can deal with this problem, High Priest?"

"Of course, Your Majesty." Yukito nodded calmly. "I'll bind the monster right away."

"Ah, please don't do that, Yukito-san!"

Both men turned to look towards the one who had spoken. The blonde man smiled at them from his assigned place at the side of the throne room. As there was nothing for him to do in the court yet, Touya had agreed to let him wander around somewhat freely, the same going for his companions.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Touya asked. "If the palace guard can't stop the monster, then the High Priest is our only option."

"Ah, please let Kuro-rin deal with it!" Fay replied cheerfully. "He's been such a grumpy puppy ever since we got here; I bet some exercise would do good for him!"

The man in question glared at the blonde. When Touya, after a moment of thought, nodded, Kurogane grinned widely, his hand going to the handle of his sword. With a simple nod at the few assembled people – there were only a few officials present – he ran to the nearest window. The monster could be seen even from there, a small figure in the distance relentlessly approaching the city. With a wicked grin, he bounced outside, soon disappearing into the distance.

"Thank you, Touya-sama!" Fay chirped, leaping forward to hug the king. The officials stared in mortification, while Touya simply shoved the blonde away with a mild glare of disapprovance.

"Let's go outside," he said curtly, ignoring both Fay's brilliant smile and the way Yukito was now eyeing the other blonde. "I want to see how he's going to deal with it."

"But, Your Majesty!" Yukito said in protest. "Surely there is no need for your presence! I shall go forth to make sure the monster is bound after it slays Kurogane-san, but you shouldn't –"

"With all due respect, Yukito-san, I'm going," Touya replied. "I want to see for myself a man who thinks he'll alone slay a monster the whole palace guard can't stop."

"Yaaay!" Apparently delighted at this royal decision, Fay made his way to the window Kurogane had used for his exit. Then, even further widening the eyes of the already shocked officials, he jumped out exactly the same way the ninja had, promptly ignoring the several stories of difference between the said window and the ground.

Touya shook his head. "Although I do think I'll use simply the door, myself..."

They arrived in clear sight of the scene only a few moments after Kurogane. The ninja had already ordered the soldiers to back down, they were told by a few battered men who were staring at the battle with something between awe and fear.

The monster was truly fearsome, as the royal group soon discovered. Large and ugly, it was horrible enough for Touya to immediately tell Sakura to stay behind him when he realized his sister, too, had arrived to watch the battle. Yukito and the king himself watched quietly, while Fay seemed to greatly enjoy the show, cheering happily whenever Kurogane did anything noteworthy (and, it seemed, whenever he felt like it). This gained the blonde quite a few odd gazes, but he seemed not to even notice.

Kurogane, they noticed, was enjoying it, too. A broad grin on his face, the ninja jumped and bounced around, slicing the monster whenever he went near enough. Skilfully avoiding the numerous spikes, claws, and fangs, he was still completely unscratched.

"How's that possible?" a soldier asked in awe as Kurogane bounced out of the way just before the monster's fangs crushed his head. "Nobody can be that fast!"

"Kuro-pon can do anything!" Fay announced cheerfully. "He's the best warrior there is!"

Touya didn't say anything. He just watched the on-going battle.

"He can't go on much longer," another soldier commented after quite a while. "It's been far too long. He must be about to collapse!"

As Fay heard this comment, he grinned. "Oi, Kuro-ti!" he shouted at the ninja. "Aren't you getting tired of playing?"

"Feh!" came the response. "Bored is more like it!" Avoiding yet another attack at seemingly the last moment, he then raised his sword. "Hama Ryuuoujin!"

In front of the widened eyes of the spectators, a wave of... something... hit the monster. With a loud roar, it shuddered, then was suddenly torn completely apart.

"He was playing," the first soldier breathed. "All this time, he could have won it with one strike – and he was toying with it!"

"Well, well, well," Touya said calmly, watching as Fay bounced to hug enthusiastically the semi-annoyed ninja. "Looks like I found a new captain for the Royal Guard."

"Royal Guard?" asked Kurogane, sounding a bit suspicious. "What's that?"

"It is similar to the Palace Guard – like their elite forces," Touya explained. "The Royal Guard, however, is not only responsible for protecting the city, but especially for keeping the royal family safe. Your duty, should you accept, would be looking after Sakura."

"That's what Kuro-pon does anyway!" Fay said happily. He was currently clinging to the ninja's arm like a happy little kid. "Right, Kuro-mii?"

"Oh, shut up," the ninja growled. Then he turned towards the king. "I accept," he said. "It can't be worse than hanging around here with nothing to do."

"It's decided, then." Touya then smirked. "And that means, if anything bad happens to Sakura, I'll hold you responsible for it."

"I'll take no responsibility if this idiot here gets her drunk," Kurogane replied dryly, nodding towards Fay. "For some reason his idea of being a good parent involves making the children drunk and then giggling at their antics."

"How dare you –" started Yukito, but was silenced by a short gesture by Touya.

"Excellent," the king said. "Shall I immediately summon a representative of the Guard to introduce you to your new duties?"

"Whatever." Kurogane shrugged. Then, after a moment, he asked, "Where's the princess, anyway? Maybe she could peel this thing off my arm before I'm forced to kick him out of the window."

"Waaah, Kuro-puu is mean to me!" Fay wailed. "Don't you love me, Kuro-tan?"

"No! I hate you!" yelled the ninja. "Now let go of me!"

However interested Touya was in this unusual little interaction, he didn't miss the faintly satisfied smile on Yukito's lips.

Touya watched his companion's back. "Now, what's up with you?" he asked dryly.

"Nothing, Your Majesty," replied Yukito mildly. He didn't turn to look at the king.

"Just drop the 'Majesty'," sighed Touya, walking closer to his lover. "Do you think I'm stupid or something? There's obviously something wrong with you, and you're just underestimating my intelligence if you say there isn't."

"I seem to be overestimating your intelligence if you can't figure it out for yourself."

"For God's sake, Yukito, you're behaving like a cranky woman!" Touya exclaimed. "Come to your senses and tell me what's wrong, why don't you? I'm not going to play guessing games just to humour you!"

"I'd think it's obvious." Finally, Yukito turned around, a glare in his usually gentle eyes. "Or is it just normal for you to have random people hanging all over you?"

"So it's Fay you're cranky about?" Touya raised his eyebrows. "Oh, for goodness' sake, Yukito. You know just as well as I do what that man's character is like. Sakura likes him, so I let him hang around, and you hardly can blame me if he suddenly decides it'd be fun to cling to me. Or did I look like I was enjoying it?"

"Well, I don't know." Though they were now facing each other, Yukito refused to look at Touya. "At least you seemed rather happy to go along with his suggestions."

"So that's what's wrong, then? That I agreed to his suggestion and let Kurogane deal with the monster instead of you?" Touya shook his head. "I thought you were smarter than that. What do you think I'd rather do, endanger you and let the obviously dangerous ninja get even more frustrated, or keep you safe and try to ensure he won't put the whole palace into pieces in his boredom?"

"You don't have to keep me safe. I'm the High Priest, not a child. I can look after myself just fine."

"I know that." Touya took a few steps closer to Yukito. "However, I want to keep you safe."

"As I said, you don't have to." Yukito backed away. "It makes me feel useless rather than appreciated. Between all these friends of Sakura, what exactly do you need me for, anyway?"

"You're anything but useless," Touya replied. Step, step. "None of them could ever replace you."

"Oh, of course not. They are too busy taking care of my duties to play your bed mate." Step back, step back.

"Do you really think that little of me?" There was a hint of disappointment in Touya's eyes. "That I only keep you around for the sex? We were close even before you became the High Priest, before I became the king. Or don't you remember any of it?"

"I do remember," Yukito replied. As the king advanced, he kept walking backwards. "I just wonder whether you do."

"Yukito," Touya said seriously, and then nothing else. As the High Priest finally raised his eyes to look at the king, Touya took a step forward. Yukito tried to back out of the way, but realized that he had been chased to the balcony and could not go any further. Trapping the blonde between his arms and the balcony's railing, Touya then leant forward and kissed his lover.

"You don't seem to understand," Touya said as he broke the kiss, looking seriously at Yukito. "You can not be replaced. You're not just a toy to me, Yukito. You're a friend, a lover – you are the most important person in the world to me. It's because of you that I went against the Royal Council."

Yukito sighed. "I wonder..." he said softly, then trailed off.

Then, however, there were Touya's lips on his own, and the king's arms around him, and he spoke no further.

"Kuro-pipi was so awesome today!" Fay chirped, hugging his ninja. "Everybody was in awe of his skills, yes they were! They didn't believe their eyes when Kuro-ro beat that monster!"

"Sure, sure," Kurogane grumbled. "Now, let go of me." He tried to shake the blonde off himself. "I've things to do."

"Really?" Fay let go, dropping himself onto their rather sizable bed. "What is it, Kuro-pi?"

"Will you stop that?" growled Kurogane. "For your information, apparently the Captain of the Royal Guard's never been assigned a single official uniform, so I'm supposed to choose one out of the options available."

"Ooh, that sounds fun!" Fay said happily. "Can I help Kuro-tan pick one?"

"No, you can't," the ninja replied. "I'll just take whichever one's the easiest to move in. I've seen the things people wear around here, and half of them would be impossible to wear in a battle."

"That's my Kuro-pon, always so practical." Fay grinned. Then he bounced towards some clothes in the other end of the room. "Are these the options? Oh, Kuro-rin would look great in any of these!"

"Your opinion's not needed," Kurogane spat. "Most of these look too damn elaborate to wear for anything but a damned dinner party. Looks like I'm stuck with this." He pointed at one outfit.

"Oh, that's great!" Fay said. "You must immediately try it on!" Despite the ninja's protest, he half-forced Kurogane into changing his clothes – "But you'll look so silly if you don't even know how to wear your uniform, Kuro-puu!" – and then stepped back, admiring the end result. "Oh, Kuro-tan looks great in it!" he exclaimed.

"I guess it's okay," Kurogane said, shrugging. "At least it works well for the climate. It's much warmer here than in Japan."

"Oh, I knoooow! It's so hot around here, I'm practically melting!" After a dramatic wail, Fay then grinned again, clinging to Kurogane's arm. "But as long as I'm with Kuro-piyuu, it's okay!" he announced.

"Oh, drop that," Kurogane sighed. "It's embarrassing."

"But it's true!" Fay said happily. Then he eyed the ninja in what was an almost calculating manner. "You know, Kuro-pon looks really great in this outfit. It leaves so much of him bare!"

"Oy!" Kurogane exclaimed as he noticed Fay's hands ghosting over his half-bare chest. "You'd better not do that in public!"

"Mouu, doesn't Kuro-ki like me?" Fay pouted. "But he's so delicious in his shiny new uniform..." With this, he crouched down, taking a quick lick at the ninja's bare skin.

"Just say it," huffed Kurogane, a hand straying into the blonde's hair as though on its own accord. As Fay gave him an innocent glance, he said, with a fairly good imitation of the other's voice, "'Still, Kuro-pon would be so much more delicious out of it!'"

"Aww, Kuro-run knows me so well!" Fay giggled. With another lick, he let his hands wander onto the other man's waist, fingers slipping under the waistband of his trousers. "Is it my fault if Kuro-chan is so sexy?"

"Is it my fault if you are insatiable?" A hand under Fay's jaw, Kurogane coaxed him to stand up again. Drawing the blonde as close as possible, he then pressed a crushing kiss on the other man's lips.

"Yes, it is," Fay purred, melting against Kurogane like a happy cat. "Because you are the reason I can't get enough!"

"Oh, shut up." After this comment, Kurogane did his best to help Fay accomplish the assigned task by using his own mouth to block any sounds coming from the blonde. Fay, of course, was only too happy to play along.

Whether or not Kurogane had been entirely correct in his guess of Fay's thoughts, they came true soon enough as Fay's nimble fingers started working on the uniform. What had been chosen due to making moving in a battle easy was now discarded as an obstacle to easy access to its wearer's body. At the same time, Kurogane's large hands were working on the tiny fastenings of Fay's clothes just as nimbly as they usually handled a sword.

However much Kurogane had protested against wearing the uniform, he apparently had nothing against taking it off.

"You aren't serious."

"Oh, I'm very much serious." Touya smirked. "It's here, with an official seal and everything. I am no longer the lawful ruler of Clow; instead, my sister is."

"Have you told Sakura yet?" Yukito asked reasonably.

"Well, no." Touya shrugged. "Should I have? She must be aware that she'll become a queen sooner or later. Isn't it better that it's due to my resignation and not my death?"

"That's not the point, To-ya." The High Priest sighed. "You do realize, don't you, that becoming a queen overnight isn't exactly the least stressful of things?"

"You seldom become a queen in any other way, Yuki."

"…Continue that and I'll seriously reconsider my decision to marry you."

In the end, though, the transition happened somewhat calmly. Sakura was somewhat bewildered, but as the Syaorans together told her over and over how great a queen she would be, and Touya hardly left her any choice, she finally settled into her new role as a queen.

Sakura's first action was to make her brother a captain of the Royal Guard – "Another one can't hurt, can it, Kurogane-san, and I know you two can protect me better than anyone!" – despite his protests. Then she very sweetly and innocently asked exactly when the former king was going to marry his dear High Priest; after all, now that he was no more the king, he was no more bound to the will of the royal council.

Touya, naturally, asked simply how fast the arrangements for a royal wedding could be made.

The royal council, like everybody, was absolutely unable to deny their wonderful queen anything. Thus they didn't seem even too averse to the fact that their ruling monarch had currently two fiancés – or that both captains of the Royal Guard were now openly homosexual. Not even when Fay started coaxing Kurogane into getting married, too – only Yukito's carefully veiled protests kept Sakura from immediately arranging a double wedding.

Those who thought everything had calmed down, though, were soon disappointed as Mokona decided it hadn't been getting enough attention lately and painted half of the throne room red.

The country of Clow, like Fay stated as he cheerfully watched most of the Palace Guard trying in vain to catch one bouncy white ball of fluff, may not have been in a state of war, but it definitely wasn't going to know peace for a long time yet.