AN As usual I don't own a thing except plot (I think I'm gonna cry). Was going to hold off on posting this, except that it was done so what was the point in waiting. Yeah I have issues...not the only one since I write what I write. hehe. Anyhow. This is for those who have started to read Season's Change and was like...wait, how did Yue and Yukito separate and where is Syaoran? If you did, this is for you and if you didn't...well, wrote it anyway. (sticks tongue out then blushes-oh...kay been concentrating too long, long day) bye k

Torn Apart

"It's Yue isn't it?"

Sakura looked away when the light blush made it impossible to deny. "Syaoran, this has nothing to do with Yue. We're different people now and we've grown apart."

"I'm sorry I couldn't stay in Japan for you, Sakura." Syaoran placed his hand over hers and squeezed it. "The clan needs me to make a decision and I want to marry you."

Tears shimmered in emerald eyes when they met his again. "That's exactly what I mean, Li-kun. You're willing to marry young to appease the elders while I…I'm just not ready. There is so much more to life to experience. Besides there is another that holds your heart, you're just too stubborn to admit it."

Brown eyes widened. "Nani?"

Sakura chuckled at his bewildered expression. "I'm not the naïve little girl you remember, Li-kun, and I notice things now. Like the way you look at Meiling when you think neither one of us is looking. It's…different than the way you used to look at me, more like Yukito when he sees Touya after a long day."

"Demo. I don't love her, Sakura. I love you." Li insisted with a certain desperation.

"I know. Just as I love you and Meiling. You'll always be one of my dearest friends, Li-kun. My only hope is that you find your true love like I hope to find mine."

Li swallowed hard then hugged her tight before he whispered, "I think we both have."

Then the two friends walked their separate ways as the last Sakura blossom fell. The time of turning leaves would be soon and the cooling air caused her to shiver lightly. Sakura shook her head at the melancholy thought or perhaps a premonition. Li caught the last bloom and inhaled the fading fragrance until he let it fall from his hand into the water below as he crossed over the footbridge. It may have been a trick of the light, but a shadow seemed to pass over the scene for only a moment. Li hesitated as he thought he had felt something…dark until he shook his head to clear it.

Meiling always said he looked for the bad in things. Her favorite word for him was pessimistic or anything else that came to mind. Meiling… Li smiled as he thought about his fiery cousin and the way her crimson eyes always held their inner fire. He also remembered the way they had saddened when he said he had to go to Japan and how they had lost their light when she saw the ring. A pang hit his heart, the force of it caused him to catch his breath. Just then his cell rang and he answered it. "Li Syaoran."

"Xao Lang, have you completed your mission?"

His shoulder sagged a bit more. "Not in the way I had planned, Mother. Sakura helped me realize something I believe you knew all along."

"Hearts change, my son. It is time you returned home. Meiling needs you."

Her further words froze him for a moment before Li shook his head against the sudden dizziness. "I will be there as soon as I can."

Unbeknownst to Li, a ripple of magic shimmered around him then an image seemed to separate from him when he ran off. Crimson eyes glittered under messy dark brown hair of the teen that emerged from the shadows. A dark smirk touched his lips as he watched his other self leave those he cared about behind. This should be fun. He walked back across the bridge in the direction Sakura had previously left in. A haunting whistle carried across the cooling breeze. One of the children playing shivered then sang softly along with the whistle. "Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket save it for a rainy day…"

--

"Has Sakura returned home yet?" Yue asked Kero, who was engrossed in his video games.

The small guardian rubbed his eyes as he put down the controller with a yawn. "Iie. She's probably still with that brat somewhere."

A pang hit the moon guardian's heart as he looked out the window with worry in his silver eyes. "It is nearly dark. She should have been home by now."

"Is that why you transformed, Yue?" Kero asked as a tiny frown formed on his forehead. "You didn't pull Yukito away from anything important, did you?"

"I felt a dark presence, but I couldn't tell from where it came. Yukito was only grading papers and I was bored anyway." He answered with a shrug.

"And you wanted to be here for Sakura since Tomoyo is in Europe for the summer." Kero chuckled at the surprise in his brother's eyes and the blush that dusted his pale cheeks.

"Whatever. I'm going to find Sakura, she should be home by now."

--

Sakura groaned when she awoke to find herself dangling by her wrists over a river. "Hoe! Nani?"

"Sakura, don't move so much."

"Touya?" She asked as she glanced to her right and saw Touya in the same predicament as herself.

"I would listen to your brother if I were you, Sakura-chan. After all, I am not sure how long that rope will hold both your weights before it starts to fray. Those support beams looks sharp in a few places."

Tears fell from emerald eyes when she recognized the dark figure. "Li-kun! Why are you doing this?"

"If you can't figure it out, why should I explain something so simple as motive?" The darker haired teen laughed. Especially since I'm not exactly Xao Lang. In fact he's already running back home to Hong Kong. Something about his pathetic little cousin needing him. Maybe it was an accident or something just a gruesome."

"Meiling." Sakura whimpered.

"You monster, let us go!" Touya yelled angrily.

"Hmmm not quite yet. You see, in order to prove my theory and complete my little game, I need one more to make it interesting. Yue, guardian of Clow, I summon thee!"

"Sakura!" Yue exclaimed once he materialized then took in the scene before him. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Retribution, my dear moon guardian. I have always wondered just how much you care for your little mistress. Or is Touya-san more important to Yukito? You can't save them both since they are linked by the same rope."

'Touya.' Yukito mourned from within their shared body. Usually he was asleep in times like these, but more and more lately he had been aware when Yue was in control. At first Sakura had believed that Yue and Yukito were merging except their hearts still beat for two different people. Right now with such a difficult choice it felt like they were being torn apart by their very separate desires. He was brought back to the situation with a nervous cry from Sakura then dark Li's taunt. "Better make your decision soon, Yue, because I truly don't know how long that rope is going to last."

At that moment the rope snapped and both siblings plunged toward the rushing water beneath. "Sakura!"

"Touya! No!" A different voice cried when a white light surrounded them. Dark Li screamed as the bright light blinded him before he did a creepy rendition of the wicked witch of the west that no one noticed. Within the light two figures rushed to the one they loved.

"Yue!" Sakura gasped through her tears when her moon guardian caught her before she could fall into the icy water. She buried her face in his chest when the horror of the situation hit her and she sobbed. "Touya!"

"I'm sorry, Sakura, but I just couldn't let you go." Yue whispered with a heavy heart. "I'll find him…"

"Sakura, thank Kami you're okay!"

"Touya?" She whispered in confusion when she looked up to see a drenched Yukito holding onto an equally wet Touya as they limped toward them. "How is this possible?"

Yukito smiled wearily at them then explained before Yue had a chance. "I'm not sure except that I couldn't bear to live without Touya and Yue didn't want to lose another one he cares about. I guess that the decision Yue had to make and my own desires literally tore us apart."

"Sounds good enough to me. Think that someone can untie me now?" Touya asked then hugged his sister when he was free. "I just didn't want to worry you more than I had to."

"I was so afraid that I had lost you, Touya." Sakura cried.

"Me too." He sighed then smiled at the moon guardian gratefully. "Arigato, Yue, for saving her."

Yue nodded then accepted his shivering mistress back into his arms. "We should go. Cerberus must be worried."

"And how do you suggest that we do that with only one set of wings, Yue?" Yukito teased his former other self.

Sakura held up the move card then called forth her star staff. "This should help and give those wings a rest."

--

"Interesting. I wouldn't of imagined that such a thing would occur." Eriol said sagely when he stopped in to visit Sakura a couple days later.

"So what would you say happened then, Eriol?" Kero asked.

"Actually, I believe that Tsukishiro said it best. From what I can surmise, Yukito is now supported by Touya's power, but doesn't have any magic of his own, while Yue is fully supported by Sakura's star power." Eriol said with a smile then turned to his friend. "Congratulations, Sakura. Not only are you stronger now in your powers, but if this incident hadn't occurred I have no doubt that you would have been able to separate them on your own."

She grinned then leaned back against her guardian on the couch. "I am just glad that everything turned out alright. Not only does Yue have a false form that doesn't change who he is, but Meiling is alright. Thankfully the reason she needed Syaoran was not some horrid accident, but rather a need for support after a bad relationship. Not that is good or anything about the bad relationship, but…"

"We understand, Sakura." Yue smiled softly at his mistress which brought a blush to her cheeks.

'Kawaii.' Maybe there was hope for them yet. Eriol smiled knowingly at his friends. 'Yes indeed for seasons change.'