There was a steady dripping noise that drifted away from what felt like miles…an eternity away, Sakura Kinomoto's half-conscious mind perceived. Part of her so longed to stay here where she was, to roll over and go back to sleep as she had so many times before, staying up so late when she was capturing the cards. Yet, she knew, as every day, that if she did not get herself out of bed soon, she would regret it. Half-heartedly the young girl tried to coax herself into consciousness, but quickly gave up; instead, she went to allow her mind to focus on other things. It was nice and warm here where she lay, though not in any way overwhelmingly hot, it was that state of perfection that she knew well would soon vanish when her mind came to be fully awake. She didn't want the warmth to end, and on this impulse, instinctively drew the thin sheet that covered her ever closer with only the slightest movements of her body (still too far asleep to grab hold of the cloth to pull it tighter). It was so wonderful here, she thought; around her, she could sense a slight swirling breeze, but here where she slumbered, it seemed not to penetrate, as though it existed in another world…another realm from her. As Sakura relished in her comfortable little dome of warmth, she let her growing consciousness drift on further, to other sensations. On the breath of the slightly moving air, she caught wind of a calming, soft scent. At first she couldn't quite identify it…it was certainly floral, and yet, she was sure came to her from no flower.

Lilac.

It seemed to come to her from nowhere: lilac and lilies; that was what this scent was. She relished in this too as another piece of her little dome of perfection that she was sure could only exist as she lay half-asleep. And yet, her mind was now about to ruin that perfect state, as she drifted closer to the surface of the conscious world. She didn't want to leave, and in a subconscious, desperate attempt to remain, she drew herself in towards the source of all her comfort, of her warmth and the sweet scents…of the safety and security…the feeling of being untouchable where she was now. She drew in her body and all of her many scenes in toward this source; perhaps if she just drew herself near enough, if she could become as one with it, then this wonderful feeling would never end! And as she did this, the sleeping Sakura felt new sensations: the warmth now had a texture, something solid with which she could tie it into: something real, and the softness of the sheet all around her seemed now to be able to move and

shift. Also, when she stopped and listened hard enough, there was a sound. It was faint, and so barley distinguishable that at times she wondered if it truly existed. Like stopping and listening to the ticking of a watch, she concluded, when you're sitting across the room from it. There was also another sound, she realized a moment later, a gentle sigh along the wind, and also other noises she began to notice: the dripping of water onto stone,

The rustle of leaves,

The chirping of a bird.

Sakura Kinomoto opened her eyes.

It took a moment for everything to register. She had felt so sure that she was in her bedroom like any other day, but as she turned to look all around her, it was the sight of cold stone that met her gaze, and the greenery of trees beyond. Suddenly, the events of the previous night all came flooding back. The attack…they had been alone and unarmed. 'he saved me…' she thought to herself, her memories streaming back to her like a raging river. Images of the fortnight…a flash of light…the spray of blood—he had been injured—…the cave in which they had sought refuge. The details didn't matter, only that they had hid. Gently, Sakura looked back towards what had moments ago been the source of all her happiness and comfort. Though he had apparently lasted longer than her, (as the dark circles beneath his eyes, so prominent of his fair skin, showed) Yue had also drifted off to sleep sometime before morning had broken. It was hard for her to believe, somehow, that her guardian could have such weaknesses as exhaustion, which she herself had also given in to. Still drawn tightly up against him, she noticed that what she had believed to be her bed sheet was his long white shawl (she hadn't bothered to tear it from his waist when tending to his wounded arm in the adrenaline rush of the previous night) which he had draped over her.

He looked so strangely normal now, without his usual decoration and only the thin fabric of his plain white shirt covering him. He had been hurt by that comet of light that had chased them as he ran to protect her, Sakura recalled; they had removed most of his garments in an attempt to stall the bleeding from his wound. Sakura's eyes fell upon his right arm, where a thin purple ribbon was wound several times and tied to keep pressure the deep gash in Yue's skin. Almost daring herself to, she turned back into his chest and inhaled his scents.

Lilac…lilac and lilies. So she hadn't imagined it. And here up against her guardian, she felt the same warmth that had comforted her as she slept. None of it was the work of her sleeping mind alone. Sakura thought back to those wandering observations. Everything her sleepy senses had perceived …the sense of safety she had felt… had come from Yue…had come from being in his arms. But… the sound… that meant that the faint sound that she had compared to the steady ticking watch must have been…his heartbeat…?

She hadn't meant that thought to come out so much like a question.

Sakura felt a strange, sudden heat rise to her face, and she was certain that she was now a brilliant shade of crimson. It was just somehow so strange to imagine her guardian, Yue, who had always seemed to her the very embodiment of her magical life, and so far from anything as normal and tied to the rest of her time, to be so humanly dependant (as she herself was) on something as mortal as a heartbeat. And yet it seemed so silly and childish of her to be surprised! Cautiously (WHY was she suddenly so nervous!) Sakura closed her eyes and leaned in even farther to Yue's body and firmly pressed her ear against his chest where his slightly unbuttoned shirt left his pale skin exposed.

And all the world around her seemed to cease, and the young girl could no longer even remember her embarrassment. Almost to contradict Sakura's guardian's fierce and fighting outside nature (always so willing to put everything on the line to protect her!), inside of him… his heart beat so softly and gently, and she was sure, slightly slower than her own. ...And yet somehow it seemed fitting…

'He's so fragile.' she thought. But he never let it show. Always, he had showed her his strength, even when she had been sad and in tears he had always remained strong, steady…there for her…but deep inside of him, he had held all her same weaknesses… he had hidden his own, very real, humanity.

Sakura turned her mind away from these confusing contemplations, and again pressed her ear firmer against Yue's chest. Carefully she listened once more to the sounds of his beating heart. It was so strange to see him like this, so odd to imagine that after all she had seen him face, and all the magical troubles she had watched him barely withstand, that in the end if this soft rhythm ever ceased, that her ever so surreal guardian would die as easily and as humanly as she would. After everything he had taken a few years ago when his magic had been fading and yet he had barley hung on to his life, it was beyond the young girl's usual level of comprehension that if in this moment his heart were to stop, that in a moment he would be gone. It was so obvious...how could she never have stopped to realize …that her seemingly illusory guardian was really so fragile...so delicate…so—

"So human!"

As her previously unspoken truth rang through the silent morning air, Sakura felt large, rolling tears tear their way from her eyes. She was so foolish—such a child! Now that she thought back on it all he had never said to her otherwise…Yue had never said to her 'I'm not human' or 'I can't be injured' or 'I'm not hurting' it was she who had branded him with all those labels! She knew he could be hurt, all those times before: when he had fallen from the sky, or last night when they had been attacked—she had tended to the cut on his arm herself—but she had never truly registered what it meant! She had been so blind! As she gazed at Yue now, she saw not some untouchable being of magic, but a young man of flesh and blood. She had been so stupid—!

"G—gomen…" she muttered, her tears now becoming a cascade. "Y-Yue, gomen…GOMEN NASAI!" she cried, in her sorrow not even noticing that she'd added no honorific. The second time she would ever do so. And she cried, cried out of her own stupidity against her exhausted guardian—no, her friend's chest.

"I—I'll protect you!" she muttered, as she took his hand in her own.

"Because…

…somebody has to…"

Perhaps it was the heat of the moment over her newly opened eyes, but as she turned to lie back down in his arms, she kissed him, though only ever so lightly across his cheek. The first time she would ever do so. And she lay herself down as she had been as she had been before, her body pressed up against his, and in this way, she let herself drift back into sleep. Feeling now safer than ever beside him…

…the first of many times she would ever do so…

Japanese:

Gomen Nasai-I'm sorry

Gomen- a shorter and more common form of 'gomen nasai'