Syaoran shifted uncomfortably as the king glared at him when he walked with Sakura behind the two boys into the breakfast room.

"What are you doing here Gaki?" he demanded.

"I invited him," Sakura said, glaring at her older brother.

"It's too early in the day for bickering, you two, and you're going to upset Yuui-chan and Kurogane-kun, they haven't been here long enough to know you don't mean it," Yukito rebuked them gently.

"I also wanted to invite Sakura-hime, and the boys out to the new dig," Syaoran muttered.

"There is no way Sakura or those two children is going anywhere near any dig until Yukito and I have checked it is safe," Touya growled darkly, if he had his way, Sakura at least would never go within a mile of any kind of archeological site ever again.

"Um, this site is nothing like those ruins, there is nothing magical about it at all," Syaoran assured him.

Touya snorted, not even remotely assured by his statement.

"I don't care how safe you think it is, generations of the most powerful high priests and priestesses in this land thought those other ruins were safe."

Yukito looked guilty at that, he had been one of the priests who thought it safe to continue using and exploring the ruins, and Touya sighed softly, resting one hand on Yukito's arm lightly.

"There is nothing for you to feel guilty about, Clow Reed himself thought it was safe," he pointed out.

Yukito smiled weakly, knowing the king was right, but still feeling that he should have known what was going to happen so close to the time when everything kicked off.

"Well, I want to go and see the dig, and I'm sure Kurogane-kun and Yuui-chan would really enjoy it too. You can come with us to check it," Sakura said stubbornly.

"No, I have things I have to do today," Touya said firmly.

"Perhaps as a compromise, we could go and check it out tomorrow. We did promise the children that the princess and I would show them the town today," Yukito interjected, noticing that the two boys were watching the discussion wide eyed.

"Fine, as long as nothing comes up in the meantime," Touya sighed, giving in.

The servants started to bring breakfast in then, and conversation was suspended while everyone got their food and started to eat.

/x/

Sakura and Yukito walked on either side of Kurogane and Yuui as they walked down from the palace to the town. Sakura had tried to take Kurogane's hand, but the boy had scowled at her, tugging his hand away. He didn't mind Yuui clinging to him, the smaller boy needed protection, but he certainly didn't need any adult treating him like a helpless kid.

They reached the market place, which was bustling as people started their shopping before the sun rose too high at midday, forcing everyone indoors until later in the afternoon.

"We should get them some lighter clothing," Yukito said, eyeing the light flush on the pale blonds face.

"Yes," the princess agreed.

They noticed as they walked through the market that people were staring, and whispering, wondering about the two strange boys who were walking with their princess and the high priest.

"Who are these two cute little things, hime?" the elderly woman running the clothing stall asked, laughing lightly at the glare that earned her from red eyes.

"This is Kurogane-kun and Yuui-chan, they only arrived yesterday," Sakura said.

"They're wards of the King," Yukito added to stop any further speculation, knowing that gossip would take the information all over the town by the end of the day.

"Oh dear," the woman said sympathetically, knowing that meant they were orphaned, even if the king himself didn't usually take in waifs and strays.

"We need to get them some suitable clothing, Yuui-chan especially, he isn't used to this heat," Yukito told her.

"Of course, of course, let me see what I have," she nodded enthusiastically as she started to rummage through her wares.

Yuui wandered away, his attention taken by something in a little wicker cage beside the next stall, which was loaded with clayware. He knelt down, poking his fingers through the weave of the cage, giggling as the tiny kitten inside licked his finger with a sandpapery little tongue. It was almost completely black, the solid color only broken by two little white socks on its front paws, and a single splash of white on the very tip of one ear.

"Yuui-chan, come here, we need to see if these will fit you," Sakura called.

Yuui pouted and pulled his fingers out of the cage, going back to the others, glancing back over his shoulder at the little black nose pressed against the cage.

As soon as the princess and the old woman had finished pulling him around trying clothing up against him, and turned their attention to Kurogane, who was glowering at them mutinously, Yuui slipped back over to the cage.

Yukito followed him, wondering what he was up to, and smiled as he poked his fingers back into the cage, stroking the nose of the kitten, totally oblivious to everything else around him.

"High priest-san, what can I do for you?" the young man running the stall asked.

"I'm curious about the kitten," Yukito said.

"Oh, it's the last of the litter my mouser had. It's the runt and no one wants it, undersized and not very steady on its feet," the man shrugged.

"What do you want for it?"

"You can take it, no one else will, and I have no desire at all to…you know," the man told him, showing he was more aware of the presence of the small boy than he had seemed.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am certain," the stallholder nodded, reaching over and opening the cage.

Yuui made a small sound of protest when the kitten was lifted from the cage by the scruff of its neck, his blue eyes following it as it meowed softly. He looked startled when the little bundle was deposited in Yukito's hands.

Yukito lifted the kitten up to check its gender, and smiled at Yuui.

"You have to look after her," he said, lowering the kitten into Yuui's arms.

Yuui bit his lip, his eyes looking a little teary as he nodded quickly, holding her close. The kitten nestled into his arms, her whole body seeming to vibrate as she purred.

"Thank you," Yukito smiled at the stallholder, bowing slightly.

"You're welcome, I'm just pleased that it found a home," he acknowledged, before being called away by a customer.

"Let's get back to the princess and Kurogane-kun, it looks like they have finished with the clothing merchant," Yukito smiled, ruffling Yuui's hair.

"Hello, what have we here?" Sakura asked, seeing the kitten when they came back stroking it between the ears with a smile.

"Yuui here made a friend, and no one else wanted her," Yukito said, watching as Kurogane poked the kitten curiously.

She meowed a protest and took a swipe at his finger with a tiny paw that made him snort with amusement.

"A lot of spirit for such a scrawny little thing, but I think white kittens are better," he grinned, giving Yuui a look that told him what he really meant.

Yuui's eyes lit up, and he bounced on his toes, poking Kurogane and pointing at the cat.

"What?" he asked.

"I think he wants you to name her," Yukito said, making Yuui nod enthusiastically.

"Tch, what do I know about naming kittens?" he snorted, blushing faintly and looking away.

Yuui poked him again, looking at him expectantly, and he looked down at his feet, blushing more.

"Spirit," he mumbled.

Yuui nodded his acceptance of the name, and giggled as she flicked her ears and meowed, stretching one paw out in Kurogane's direction.

"I think she likes it too," Yukito chuckled.

Kurogane snorted again, but reached out and tickled the kitten under the chin for a second.

/x/

They returned to the palace before noon, to avoid the sun during the hottest part of the day, and ran into Touya in one of the corridors, looking frazzled.

"What's that?" he asked, gesturing to the little bundle of black fur Yuui carried.

"It's a kitten," Sakura said in the tone of voice of one speaking to someone particularly dense.

Yukito sensed that the king really wasn't in the mood for sibling teasing right now, and stepped in quickly.

"Yuui-chan rescued her from a fate worse than death, your Majesty. Why don't we go back to the throne room, and you can tell me what your advisors have done to annoy you this time," he suggested, resting one hand lightly on the taller man's bicep.

"What makes you think it was the advisors?" Touya asked, allowing Yukito to lead him away from the younger people.

"Because it can't be Li-kun, he left at the same time we did this morning, and your advisors are the only other people you have seen today," Yukito told him smugly.

"Smart ass," Touya snorted as they vanished around the corner into the throne room.

"Why don't you two go back to your rooms until it's time for dinner, and let Spirit-chan get to know her new home," Sakura suggested.

"Yes, princess," Kurogane said, walking off down the corridor with Yuui bouncing at his side.

Sakura tiptoed to the entrance of the throne room, leaning against the wall beside the opening and pricking up her ears. She knew she really shouldn't eavesdrop, but she wanted to know what the advisors had done this time. Last time they had annoyed Touya this much, they had been trying to convince him that he really did want to marry princess Yumi from the kingdom to the east of theirs.

"So, what have they done this time, To-ya?" Yukito asked.

Touya glanced in the direction of the door, and his eyes narrowed.

"I wanted to send Sakura into seclusion in the temple for a year, to rebalance herself after the incident at the ruins, and they said that the longest she could be secluded for would be six months, for fear of the people thinking she was gone again," Touya said loudly, smirking when Sakura stomped into view, bristling.

"Onii-sama, how could you…?" she started to yell.

"I didn't, but I knew you were there," he smirked.

She huffed, and turned scarlet as she glared at him.

"So what did they really do?" Yukito asked, heading off another explosion.

"Ugh, they insist that now that Sakura is back, we have to have a ball and invite all of the neighboring nobles, so that they can welcome her home," he sneered, his lip curling.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Because the majority of the people they want to invite are the ones who have daughters. They're trying to marry me off again," he growled.

"What's the point of that? Everyone knows you love Yukito-san, and if they don't they must be completely dense," Sakura snorted.

"What?" Touya asked, his cheeks flushing.

"Onii-sama, I knew that you and Yukito-san were really good friends before I left, but it got kind of obvious even to me that there was something special between the two of you when we were on our journey. We kept meeting you on different worlds, over and over again, and on every world where we saw you, you had a Yukito-san with you," she said, knowing she was explaining it badly, but hoping that Yukito at least would understand what she meant.

"Soul mates," Yukito said, nodding.

"So, you don't mind, that Yuki and I are…close?" Touya asked.

"Why should I? At least he stops you being a jerk all the time, if you married one of the airhead princesses from a neighboring kingdom, they would just simper and go along with everything you said," she teased.

"Brat, maybe I should send you into seclusion for that," he growled.

"Maybe you should just announce Yukito-san as your consort already, and see what they do. Oh, and tell them that I don't want a ball, they can make you have one when I announce my engagement to Syaoran and not before," she said brightly, poking her tongue out at her brother and bolting for the door.

She heard her brother's roar of rage get cut off sharply as she ran along the corridor, and wondered briefly what Yukito had done to stop it, then decided she really didn't need to know in that much detail, and kept running.

The chief advisor wasn't so lucky; he hurried to the throne room in response to the sound, and found the high priest sitting across the king's lap, smothering the bellow of rage by the simple expedient of depriving him of oxygen with his tongue. The man stood there spluttering for a long moment, before realizing that they hadn't noticed he was there and making his own escape.

"Has he gone?" Yukito mumbled into the kiss.

"Uh huh,"

"Good, maybe he'll stop trying to get you married off," he snorted, diving back into the kiss.

/x/

Sakura went to check on the boys when she had got her breath back, to make sure they had found their rooms all right in the maze of corridors, and smiled to herself when she found them. The pair of them was lying on the floor in Yuui's room, dozing to escape the heat of the sun, and Spirit was padding unsteadily between them, obviously deciding which one she wanted to snuggle up to, to sleep. She wished she had one of those picture box things they had seen on their travels, cameera or whatever it was called; they looked so cute like this. She backed out quietly, closing the door behind her, she would wake them for dinner if they didn't wake up before then, she decided.

/x/

Kurogane returned to the café as the sun started to set over Oto, finding the mage once more seated at the piano, his fingers brushing lightly over the keys creating what sounded to be a random melody.

"What did you find, Kuro-puppy?" he asked, his voice soft and dreamy.

"Nothing, nothing at all, no people, no Oni, no animals, no insects. There isn't a living thing here, but us," Kurogane sighed in frustration, plunking down on the piano bench next to Fai.

"Did you find anything that would tell us if this is your dream, or mine, or someone else's?"

"No. Maybe you should have come with me, you might have sensed it if there was any magic," Kurogane pointed out.

Fai said nothing, focusing instead on the keys of the piano with new intensity.

"You haven't set foot outside this building since you arrived here, have you?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I…I don't know, I think…I don't think I was here, before you arrived," he said softly.

"You're scared, aren't you, you're afraid that if you go outside, it will all vanish?"

"Yes. I remember sleeping Kurogane, I remember sleeping in places where I felt safe, protected, and something kept pulling me away from them, and I'm afraid this will disappear too, if I go outside, and whatever else this place does or doesn't have, it has you. I'm scared that if it vanishes, I will be alone again," he whispered almost viciously, stabbing hard at a couple of the keys and making a discordant sound.

"Fai…"

"What?"

"I think I remember dreams, where you were in a dead sleep, I think I pulled you out of them,"

"So, maybe this isn't your dream, or mine, but something we're dreaming together, because you were looking for me?"

"It could be, so if we both want to wake up enough, maybe it will happen," Kurogane suggested.

"You think we should just close our eyes and wish it?" Fai asked, a faint hint of amusement coloring his tone.

"Better than just sitting here waiting," Kurogane pointed out.

"Fair enough," the mage acknowledged.

Kurogane felt cold, thin fingers creep into his as he closed his eyes, but didn't pull away; he knew Fai just wanted reassurance that he wasn't going to disappear on him.

He sat there, wishing to go home, until he started to feel very foolish.

"It's not going to happen, is it?" he asked.

"I don't think so, Kurogane," Fai whispered.

Kurogane shivered, something about hearing the mage say his name like that terrifying him, he didn't like it one little bit.

"Don't call me that, mage, don't ever call me that," he growled.

"Oh, I knew Kuro-chu secretly liked my nicknames," Fai squealed in delight, glomping him.

"Get off, idiot," he yelled, trying to prize the wiry arms from around his neck.

/x/

Kurogane woke up to a rough little tongue sweeping over his earlobe.

"Ewww, get off," he squeaked (not that he would ever admit that), jerking his head away from the little black and white kitten.

Spirit started up at him for a moment, before meandering over and trying to scrabble into his lap. Kurogane watched her struggle for a minute, barely feeling the pricking of the miniscule claws through the fabric of his pants, before rolling his eyes and sliding his hand under her rump, shoving her up. Spirit tumbled into his lap, and settled down to sleep.

"You know, fuzzy features, if I was the suspicious type, I would think you woke me up on purpose," he snorted, leaning back against the foot of Yuui's bed, and watching the other boy sleeping, idly petting the cat.

tbc