There was a rainstorm coming; Yue could feel it, even before the deep plumb and violet and grya clouds began to gather on the horizon. Water was his element, and rain, cyclic in nature, so a summer storm was a source of wonderful magical energy for him. He inhaled deeply, wanting to catch the first scent of rain, but yet smelled only grass and earth, comforting scents in their own right.
After their dessert, Kero had dragged the four outside to enjoy the July evening, arguing that he'd promised to make Sakura practice her new cheerleading routine, which may have been true, but Yue also had the suspicion he didn't want Yue to send himself back to sleep yet. He'd noticed the entire evening that, though Kerberos still fluttered about like he had a fidgeting issue as ever, he seemed to be considering Yue his home base, and kept floating back to him to sit on his shoulder, his head, poke his cheek, just...touch him. Yue couldn't say he hated his efforts, even. Perhaps he was the only one who felt awkward over what had happened the night before, with his sobbing fit. His elder brother seemed fine as ever, just more affectionate. And by affectionate he meant obnoxious, but it was all the same for Kerberos.
So, they had made themselves comfortable in the back garden, the air cooling but the grass beneath them still sun-warmed as Sakura nervously began to show off a new twirling routine.
"They're giving you more advanced ways to knock yourself in the head," was Touyas idea of a compliment as he reclined back on his elbows, and Kero had to dive sideways to avoid Sakuras poorly aimed baton retalliation. He smirked, reaching over to toss it back to her, which she managed to catch with barely a glance as she continued to shout her tyrade at Touya.
Yue was impressed; not so much with her routine, as he wasn't sure he understood what it was suppose to look like and htus couldn't form a true opinion, but at how quickly his little Mistress could go from clumsy, awkward 11 year old to a young sorceress with glimmers of true intuition and reflexes. She was fast, athletic, and would grow into her roll as Mistress of the Clow the same way she would grow into an adult, a priviledge even Clow did not have.
Another deep breath, searching for the first tinge of water in the air, ears pricked for thunder, but his senses were again dissapointed. Still, he couldn't say the evening was...unplesant. He had again changed his clothes as they went outside, just a quick shimmer and he wore a pale green robe, light, gauzy cotton with silver stitching around the throat. Another foreign design, Touya had noticed, wondering if a summer yukata may have been cooler, but knowing better than to suggest. Yue, in the few times he had seen him in anything but his formal white and armor, had yet to wear anything modern or Japanese, seeming to prefer what was familiar. Yue, he supposed, like anyone else far from home, wanting a connection to his heritage...especially now.
It was quiet right now, down this small street, which Yue again appreciated. Clow had died in an era well past cars, electricity, airplanes and the like, but their home had been country living still; they always lived far from the cities when they could help it, and such conveniences had not been nearly as widespread 40 years ago in the outskirts of Tomoeda. Yue liked it most when the city quieted at night, families home, radios down. It felt more like what he knew and, like that night in the window seat, he could almost pretend he was home...England would suit this garden more fully, or Wales. While Yukitos house was traditional, Sakuras was Western, and Yue could daze out here, it seemed...
)o(
Kerberos, this game isn't fair in the summer! Yue complained moodily as his twin cried out "FOUND YOU!" and pounced upon the yonger, hiding behind a shrub of bridal wreaths. He had hopes their spilling bundles of white blossoms would provide the best camoflauge for his silver hair and liht clothes, but his brothers sharp eyes couldn't be fooled so easily.
"Yeah, so what?" Kero laughed, sitting back o his haunches and twitching his tale merrily. "its not fair for me in winter, so it's all even, aint it?"
Yue scowled, brushing the dirt from his loose, linen trousers and tossing his braid haughtily back over his shoulder. Kerberos noted he had taken to wearing it more elaborately than his usual, half loose to his waist and then braided to the floor. No, lately, he had risen early to twist braids or loops or gathered bunch up around his face, or to coil it several times near his neck, securing it with laquered pins or silk ribbons. The effect seemed too time consuming for Kero, but rather pretty, he had to admit. Whatever kept it off the ground so they could play was just as good for Kerberos, honestly, though he was starting to have small suspisions he didn't know if he ought to voice...
"Hmph," Yue scowled, folding his arms as though in a sulk. "Its too nice out to be squabbleing over a game anyway; we should do something we BOTH want to do." Which was Yue-speak for, I am a sore loser and don't want to play this game anymore.
"You're just canky cause Clows been gone for 3 days," Kerberos threw back even though he knew it was a low blow. It was a full moon just a few days ago, so Yue's magic wasn't faltering with the absense of their maker, but it still made him moody. Clow often said themoonlight wove a basket for Yue each month, a chalice inside him to fill with Clows magic, and the more moonlight, the more power he could hold. But with Clow off in town for bussiness, the space between them allowed magic to "spill," leaving Yue feeling as strong as he needed to be, but in a way, spiritually hungry. Clow was the foundation to which Yue put his orbit. The further he was, the fainter the pull, leabing Yue feeling spacey, ungrounded and, if one listened to Kerberos, pissy. He needed Clow nearby to feel the full benefits of his magic.
Fine, whatever. Kero had a belly full of supper and a warm evening to play, he didn't care what.
"Fine, race you up the oak tree!" Kero cried, and began bounding up the great sweeping fiel in front of them, Yue right at his tail with his hair swaying behind him. Though the property was littered with oaks, and spruce, cottonwoods and willows, they both knew which he was talking about; a massive, gnarled thing by the pond, its trunk massive, high branches as thick around as Kerberos's full belly, and perfect for climbing.
Kerberos was faster than Yue, with four paws and a lower center of gravity, but his stocky build made manuevering a slower ordeal, which is where lithe Yue had the advantage as they cut through the orchard. While Kero lumbered about, trying to quickly shift his beastly forms weight, Yue slipped between the trees light smoke, his muscles coiling to spring in anticippation of eachturn and swerve; this is how he came out ahead from the apple trees, sprinting easily across the wild grass to the large, clear pond and reaching the base of the great, spiraling tree first.
Kerberos was again at an advantage, though, his ddagger-like claws digging into the brk ferociously, allowing himto haul his previously detrimental weight skyward. They both knew where to head for; the highest branch that they could both reach; Yue, being lighter, could go further, but Kero could reach only a limb about 40 feet off the ground, forked to allow him a place to lay and dangling over the crisp water of the pond.
"You're doing this on purpose!" Yue cried, as Kero leapt onto the branch he knelt on with more force than was necessary, causing the bough to sway and Yue to grap onto it precasriously.
"No duh!" Kerberos called back behind him, a flurry of bark flying behind his massive paws. Kerberos Won their game easily, which Yue pretended to be angry about, as they two shared the beant seat of a branch to catch their breaths, and for Yue to let the breeze dry the sweat from his bangs.
"If you guard me with the ferocity you use against one another, I sleep easy knowing I'm in safe hands"
Both guardians looked down immediately to the sound of their Masters voice, calling up to them from the edge of the pond.
"Clow!" Yue breathed back instantly, and slipping forward from the bough, calling his wings as he cleared the heavier branches to drift gently to the ground. "I thought you weren't due back until tomorrow?"
Clow hadn't yet changed from his traveling clothes, though he'd stripped off his outter jacket in the heat. "I wasn't," he said, with a hint of grouchiness in his voice. "But the man I went to see about the roots I ordered left town, apparently realizing his new customer was indeed Chinese and knew when he was trying to pass off dried grass as foreign herbs" He shook his head, and took his glasses off to polish absently. "And so, I am home early, and glad for it."
"Were glad too!" Kerberos called up from high in his perch. "Yue tried making pastries again last night and nearly set the kitchen aflame!"
Yue drew his hand back in an instant, a glowing ball of crystaline light forming in his palm as he glowered up at his twin. Before he could strike though, Clow took his wrist gently in his hand.
"No, Yue, just let him be," his Master said with a warm smile, and Yue could tell he was trying not to laugh. As the energy receded from Yue's hand, Clow replaced it with his own, with his touch, taking Yue's hand between both of him.
From his perch, Kerberos couldn't see Closes face, but he could see Yue's, glowing brightly pink against the green backdrop of grass as Clow took his hand. Even from here, through their link, he could feel Yue's heart begin to beat faster, and if Clow couldn't as well, he was an ignorant, inattentive fool. Kero sat up a little taller, back straighter, and his tail stilled but for the longfurred tip, twitchting silently beneath him. Hm. Thats exactly where his suspisions had been heading, yes.
"Yue, you know Kerberos doesn't stand a chance against you in a temper," Clow said, still laughing beneath his words. "You're a fine cook; baking is harder. You're only 14; I couldn't put a dinner together till I was 23."
"But you were born as an infant and I as an adult!" Yue argued, still lickng the wounds of his hurt pride. He watched Clows blue eyes crnkle even further, saw the laughter bubbleing behind them, and felt his own chest tighten.
Clow wasn't so sure about that. While his creations had indeed been born into adult bodies, able to converse, walk, run, tend themselves, they'd both posessed a wonderfully agravating blend of adult knowledge and childish temperment. It took only a few lessons to teach Yue good habbits to wash himself well, but another year before they stopped trying to drown one another in the bath. Kero whined often, tattled daily, while Yue could still be prone to childish fits of temper when things didn't go his way. Grown, yes, but hardly adults. Clow would never have trusted them alone in the house like this when they were first born. Gods, they're 14 and 15, sutely grown NOW, and he still expected to come home to holes in the wall!
But Clow said none of this to his younger creation. He only squeezed his hand, promised another lesson, and pressed a welcoming kiss to his brown, up into his hair, and left to go have a long, weary soak.
Once again, Kero could only see Clows back, but he could see Yue's face, filled with adoration, with hope, as he watched Clow walk back up to their manor.
Through the trees, the blowing wind continued to cool, and they caught scent of a brewing moisture in the air; there was rain coming.
)o(
"Theres rain coming," Yue said softly, seeing the first glimmer of lightning, softened greatly in the dense fluff of stormcloud.
Rain was cyclic. It fell, it brought life and lushness to the ground, it broiled in the sun to return to the clouds, again to fall. Sometimes gently in small spatters, sometimes with a dangerous force, but it was always the same.
Yue had to wonder, as he was the lat to rise to head inside for shelter,if this storm brought with it any waters from home.