Chapter 20 - Lost
"Are you feeling alright?" Touya asked.
"I am fine," Yukito lied.
"I can take you to the hospital ward," he offered.
"No, I just need to use the washroom," he insisted. When Touya didn't look convinced, he leaned closer, "I think I may be constipated."
Touya didn't know why Yukito was lying to him, but the sincerity of his voice made him look the other way. "Call me if anything happens."
"I will be back soon," Yukito promised.
Touya put his hand on his shoulder. "If anything happens."
Over the last few weeks, Touya couldn't shake the feeling that Yukito was hiding something from him.
Yukito left with a small wave.
…
Yukito walked into the nearest handicapped bathroom.
"I just need the body temporarily. I sense the presence of someone that should no longer exist."
In their six years of conscious co-ownership of the body, Yue only asked to come out when Sakura needed him to.
Midway through their morning lecture, Yukito had felt Yue react. In respect for one another, they tried not to intrude on each other thoughts. Whatever Yue discovered, made him emotional, and Yukito was unable to drown it out.
Yukito let Yue take over the body.
Seconds later, Yue exited the bathroom.
"Cool outfit," a girl with round glasses said, "who are you supposed to be?"
Before Yue walked around her, Yukito interrupted, "say this is an original character."
Yue conceded and said what Yukito wanted him too.
Without waiting for the girl to reply, he walked around her.
Yukito couldn't push aside his conscious as Yue left the campus.
Yue remained oblivious to the stares he received. I need to find it, find what is emitting Clow's aura.
Yue knew better than to hope it was Clow Reed. Ruby Moon and Spinnel Sun emitted a similar aura, but he was positive that this wasn't either of them.
Who are you?
The aura led him to park, just blocks from the campus.
"Mommy, what is that?" a young girl asked.
Her question caught his attention.
"I don't know what it is, don't touch it," the mother replied.
Yue could see a white-ball that was half-buried in the sand.
Yue looked around the park; surely it wasn't that.
"Mommy!" The girl cried, "it moved."
Yue ran over to where they were.
As he got closer, the mother grabbed a hold of her daughter.
"Is it some sort of animal?" the girl asked.
"Shh, we are leaving now," the mother replied.
"But-,"
The daughter was dragged out of sight.
As he neared the white ball, he could feel it's aura faintly emitting.
This is the work of Clow Reed.
He touched the white ball tentatively with one finger. His finger sunk into the ball.
The ball twitched, and he retrieved his finger.
"Princess?" he could faintly hear from the ground.
"There is a group of approaching children," Yukito pointed out, "you should leave."
Yue wasn't good with children; without hesitation, he plucked the white ball from the sand.
When it began to cough, he turned it over in his hand.
"Yue?" It asked.
…
Light seeped through the cracks of the door.
This was the second time it happened today. Too curious to ignore it, Yue knocked twice before opening the door.
"Did I startle you?" Clow Reed apologized.
Yue ignored the question.
"What are they?" he asked, nodding to the white and black round creatures with long ears, perched on the table.
"This is Mokona. Although they have different bodies they share the same soul," Clow Reed explained. "No matter how far they are apart, they will be able to contact each other."
"Who are they for?" Yue asked. "Are you planning to leave again?"
"They will stay with Yuuko," he replied, "until the time comes when they must be separated."
"Yuuko? I thought you said she was gone!"
"She is gone," Clow insisted, "she is not a part of our world anymore."
...
"Mokona," he said, brushing the dust off her body.
"They are coming towards you," Yukito warned.
Yue ran into a close forested area, and when he was sure that no one could see him, he returned control of the body back to Yukito.
"We cannot just leave him like this," Yukito mumbled.
He pulled out his cellphone and dialled Touya.
"Hello?" Touya answered on this first ring. "Are you alright?"
"Something came up, I will not be able to attend our afternoon lectures. I will see you tomorrow," Yukito said and then hung up.
"Are you alright?" Yukito asked Mokona.
Mokona groaned, "hungry and tired," she responded.
"What do I do with it?" Yukito asked Yue.
"We need to get in-contact with Sakura or Eriol," he replied.
Yukito dialled Sakura's number, she hadn't called or messaged him since she left, so he assumed it didn't work, but he could think of no alternative way to contact her. He couldn't ask anyone how to get in contact with her, as he was the only person who remembered her.
"The number you have reached, cannot be answered-," Yukito hung up.
"We will have to go to that store," Yue said. "That boy Watanuki, he should be able to get in contact her."
"Do you know where the store is?" Yukito asked Mokona.
"No, but if I'm close to it, I'm sure I will be able to feel Mokona," she replied.
"Do you know where it is?" he asked Yue.
"Sakura only mentioned that it was in-between two large buildings in Tokyo," Yue replied.
That could be anywhere!
"If I had more energy," Mokona said, closing her eyes, "I might be able to lead us there."
Yukito dug into his pocket. It had been a long-standing habit to always carry emergency fuel. He pulled out a CalorieMate block and began to feed it to Mokona.
After a couple of bites of the biscuit, she opened her eyes.
"Feeling any better?"
"A little," she replied.
Mokona opened her eyes wide and her ears stuck up straight.
"Head south," she said, returning to normal.
Ted whipped his eyes. "That was the saddest, most inspiring story I've ever heard."
Kurogane rolled his eyes.
During their half-hour drive into town, Fai had fabricated a story about their dramatic shipwreck.
His magic has become stronger, Syaoran thought, they have no shred of doubt.
Over their non-stop travelling in the last five years, Fai had become an expert at embedding hypnotic magic into the words he spoke. It was second nature to him now, and if Syaoran wasn't paying attention, he would fall in danger of believing the wild tales he told.
"To have gone through all that," Ed said, voice cracking, "and still continue to move forward…"
"We are trying to live as normally as possible," Fai explained.
"You must stay at my place tonight, I'm sure my wife will understand, she will be delighted to have such strong-willed, no, heroes stay with us," Ed insisted.
"We couldn't-,"
"No please, I insist."
As they entered the outskirts of town, the conversation died down.
Syaoran cleared his throat. "I was just wondering; do you know where the country of Japan is?"
"On the other side of the world," Ted replied.
"Is there a Princess Tomoyo?" Kurogane asked,
Ted shrugged, "wouldn't know, don't keep up with royalty."
Mokona had told him to go south, so Yukito went down the next subway entrance.
"Do you know how far south?" he whispered.
Mokona shook her head.
They went through the gates and Yukito choose the closet platform that was southbound.
We will go a couple of stops and see what happens.
Traffic was almost non-existent, and he was able to find a seat.
It's not yet rush hour.
Yukito rested Mokona on his lap.
"Na-,"
"Nat,"
"Natsu!" whined two children sitting across from him on the train.
"What is it?" he replied, exasperated.
"Is that a Youkai?" the girl asked.
Yukito stiffened. Most people would assume that Mokona was a doll.
"That thing on his lap, it's alive," the boy said.
"Shh," hushed the man.
"Do you think he can see it? You said most people don't," the girl continued
Yukito stared intently at the advertisements playing above them, pretending that he didn't hear anything.
One of Mokona's ears stood up.
There couldn't be a worse time…
"Wait, doesn't that look like Mokona?" the boy asked.
Mokona's other ear lifted up.
"That is Mokona!" The girl insisted, "what happened to him?"
Yukito looked directly at them.
The boy, girl and the man named Natsu, were already staring at him.
"Did you steal Mokona from the shop?" Katie accused, pointing her finger at him.
Natsume quickly lowered her arm, but the damage was already done.
The young man stood up and came towards them.
"I am-," Natsume began to apologize.
The young man leaned down.
"Sorry!"
The young man looked startled. "Do you know where the shop is?"
Natsume was grateful that there was only a handful of people in their cart, who were either plugged into their phones or sleeping.
"Is that really Mokona?" Natsume couldn't help himself from asking.
The young man nodded. "My name is Tsukishiro Yukito."
"Natsume Takashi," he introduced himself, "these are my twins, Katie and Will."
"Why does Mokona look like that?" Will asked.
Yukito leaned down. "There are two Mokona," he explained. "They are twins, just like you."
The twins looked at each other and smiled.
"What's wrong with her?" Katie asked.
"She's a little tired," Yukito replied, "I need to get in contact with the store owner."
Natsume didn't know who he was, but he didn't seem to distrust worthy, so he offered to show him the way.
…
Yukito paid close attention to where they were going.
This might not be the only time we need to come here.
Like Sakura had said, the shop was in-between two large buildings.
When he passed through the gate, without warning, Yue took over the body.
"I didn't mean to," Yue tried to explain.
"Who are you?" Will asked.
"I'm Yue."
Natsume had the feeling this was more than a split personality.
Moro and Maru retrieved them at the door. Mokona jumped passed them and hopped over to
Yue.
"Mokona, Yue!" he cried.
"Is Syaoran here?" Watanuki asked, coming outside himself.
Watanuki never had the chance to meet Yue himself, but from his power, he knew who he was.
"You must be Yue, I've heard a lot about you from Sakura."
Yue nodded.
"Come inside."
Yue stiffened when he entered the house.
Ruby.
He walked cautiously behind Watanuki, prepared to be attacked from any side. His anticipation rose as they neared the living room.
Yue walked stiffly through the door.
At the table, head leaned back bowl covering her face, was Ruby.
She made a loud gulping sound. "Yue," she called fondly. "Long time no see."
Yue didn't reply, waiting for her to attack at any moment.
She didn't move from the table. "I now know why you eat so much."
Yue looked at her for an explanation.
"We'll talk about it later," she replied.
Watanuki cleared his throat.
Yue turned to him. Sakura had told him that he shared the same soul with Syaoran from the other world, but he couldn't see the resemblance.
"If anything, he looks like Eriol," Yukito commented.
Yue was grateful that Yukito wasn't putting up a fuss.
"I don't mind,", "Although, it would be nice if you could ask about Sakura at some point."
"Did you see Syaoran, Mr. Fai or Mr. Kurogane?" Watanuki asked.
"No."
"I used the rest of my energy to bring us here," the White Mokona whispered.
"Are they in Japan?" Watanuki asked. Syaoran once told him that they were often split up during their world to world travel.
The black Mokona jumped up to Yue's shoulder.
"She needs to rest," Mokona insisted.
Maru and Moro carefully collected the white Mokona from his hands and with the Black Mokona following, they left the room.
Watanuki looked at Ruby then back at Yue.
"You would be able to tell us if they were here, right?" Watanuki asked.
"I haven't met them before," Yue replied.
"We have the same soul, you just need to find his. They should be together."
Yue didn't remember the last time Sakura had asked for his help. "I can try," he agreed.
Yue closed his eyes. He could feel himself beginning to levitate. He crossed his legs and began to meditate.
Yue could feel the additional power the store gave him.
He searched around Tokyo, nothing. He expanded his search throughout the main island, still nothing. He forceful broadened his scope to cover the remaining islands.
Yue straightened his feet and when he returned to the ground, Yukito had control over the body.
"They are not in Japan," Yukito said.
"Mokona was sure they were in this world, where could they be?"
"I'm sorry that we only have one guest room," Ed apologized.
His wife Margret passed them with an armful of blankets.
"Ed, honey, we have an air mattress and a cot downstairs."
Fai had managed to make her even more sympathetic than her husband.
"Look at the dark circles under your eyes, come downstairs and have a bit to eat," she insisted.
Kurogane was the first to follow.
Syaoran caught up to Ed and helped him bring up their bedding.
"Thank you again," Syaoran said as they left the guest room to back to the kitchen.
"This is the least I can do," Ed replied, "come, have a bit to eat then get some rest. Lord knows you need it."
Eating and sleeping was the last thing he should be doing, but he couldn't find the perseverance to abstain from the comfort he had robbed of that last half year.
When they got to the table, Kurogane was eating in silence as Fai continued to tell stories of their 'adventure.'
Ed opened the fridge and took out a pack of 6.
He cracked the white can open, "want a drink?" he asked.
"I've been waiting for someone to ask me that," Kurogane replied.
Ed walked over and handed him the beer.
"I also have some red wine," Margrett offered.
"That would be lovely," Fai said.
"How about you, young man?" Ed asked Syaoran.
Syaoran blushed, "Just water please."
Someone had to be sober.
"I don't want you to leave the school's boundaries," Watanuki replied, "we will have to find another way."
"How are you enjoying school?" Yukito asked, changing the subject.
Distance truly made the heart grow fonder. Sakura had always been like a family member, but Yukito didn't realize how much it affected him, and Yue, when she was gone.
"It's-," Sakura trailed off.
"What is wrong?"
"Nothing," Sakura insisted, "I just wish you were here."
Iris put down her tea.
It was getting late, who would come to visit at this hour?
Mei was on the other side of the door, finger on the doorbell.
"Good evening, Mei," Iris moved aside to let her in. "Have you had dinner?"
"I have already eaten, thank you."
"Is there something wrong? You rarely visit at this time."
"Nothing is wrong, I just came to tell you that I will be away for a couple of days. I am going on an exchange trip to America," Mei explained.
"America?" Iris said taken aback. Mei had never mentioned any interest in going abroad.
Mei gave her a sheepish smile, "it has been in the works for some time now, I did not want to say anything until it was certain."
"It will be a good experience for you. I've never been to America myself, but I hear good things. Will you be going on a tour?"
"We are only staying for a week, so we will be staying in the state of California," Mei replied.
"Ah, California dreaming. When will you be going, in the next couple of weeks?"
"Tomorrow morning actually."
"That's sudden."
"I just wanted to see you before I left."
"That's sweet of you. Take lots of photos for me."
Mei gave her a quick hug.
"I will be back soon."
"Enjoy yourself," Iris called, watching her retreating letter.
The Gryffindor common room was now the remainder of a battlefield.
Hermione had thought she done everything in her power to prevent what had just occurred. She blamed herself; if I hadn't been so preoccupied with being a prefect, I would have been able to stop this.
Things had come to a climax when Angelina Johnson announced the results of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Ron had begged Hermione to let him wait for the announcement, but she had forceful dragged him with her to start rounds.
Harry was present to hear that Ron had been chosen as this year's Keeper. Seamus made a snide remark about the decision loud enough for the whole room to hear.
Without any hesitation, Harry looking him in the eye pulled back his right hand and punched in the face.
Seamus retaliated, and not a moment later they were brawling on the ground.
Angelina tried to get them to stop, but her pleas were drowned out by the encouragement of the other students.
"Fight! Fight!"
The fight remained undisturbed until Alice returned from the library. She took out her wand and forced them apart. Harry and Seamus were sent flying in opposite directions of the room.
Hermione and Ron walked through the portrait.
The cheering died out and other students scattered out of the common room.
"Hey-," Ron said, looking around. "what's going on?"
"They ran away from this crock pot," Seamus replied, whipping the blood off his face.
"What happened?" Hermione cried.
Harry stood up and dusted himself off.
"Anything else you want to say?" Harry asked.
"Actually, there are a few things I want to say," Seamus replied.
Pre-emptively ready to stop a second-round, Alice held up her wand.
"What happened?" Hermione now demanded.
"He attacked me, ask anyone. I was only trying to defend myself," Seamus said.
Hermione looked at Harry, who looked like he was ready to pounce.
She knew probably better than anyone else, that Harry was hot-tempered. On one hand Seamus must have egged him on, but on the other hand, with his frequent outbursts, Seamus might not be lying.
"Are you alright?" she asked them.
Harry spoke out first, "I'm fine."
He turned to Seamus, the words he had been holding back, came flooding out.
"I don't care what you or your stupid mother thinks about me!"
"Don't you talk about my mother that way," Seamus said raising his wand.
"Expellamus!" Hermione cried.
Seamus wand flew out of his hands, and Ron quickly picked it up.
"I'm not going to hide from you any longer. I have just as much right to sleep in my own bed as you do. If you have a problem with our room assignment, you can take it up with McGonagall!"
I was right, Ron thought, he really was sleeping somewhere else.
"I don't know what you are referring to, but Harry is right. It is his room as much as it is yours."
"Your bias towards him because he is your friend," Seamus spat. "He attacked me, you aren't going to do anything about that."
"He used to be your friend," Hermione couldn't stop herself from saying.
They both glared at her.
"What is it that you would like me to Seamus? Shall I call for McGonagall? I'm sure she would love to hear all about your less than civil treatment towards Harry."
Seamus tsked loudly.
Hermione wanted to leave it at that, but she couldn't ignore the blood on his face.
"Let's clean you up," Hermione said, lifting her wand.
Seamus slapped her hand away. "It's fine, just keep that physio away from me."
As he stomped by Ron, he snatched his wand back and continued his way up to their room.
"What did he do?" Ron asked once Seamus was out of sight.
Harry could hear him speak, but he couldn't hear him. He had landed on a few decent punches on Seamus, but that had done nothing to subdue the rage.
"I'm sure that he deserved it, but you shouldn't have hit him, Harry," Hermione said.
Her words went in one ear and out the other.
"We are lucky that Seamus didn't want to get the professors involved. If Umbridge ever found out about this… who knows what she would do to you."
Harry knew that she was right, Hermione was always right, but her words couldn't reach him.
With every breath he took in, he could feel his temperature rising.
He was mad, but was he this mad?
His breath became jagged as he tried to calm down.
"Harry?" Ron called.
"What?" He yelled so loud that Ron stumbled back.
He wanted to apologize but he was losing control.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione asked, "I know that you are-,"
"Shut up!" he demanded.
His mouth was moving on it's on.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up."
His eyes were wide open, but he could feel his consciousness slipping away.
What's happening to me?
"What is it my lord?" Wormtail asked for the tenth time.
Voldemort had stopped moving an hour ago.
Wormtail knew better than to disturb him, but also knew that Voldemort didn't like telling him what to do, he expected that he just did. And Wormtail had no idea what to do.
Was there something wrong with him? An unexpected side effect of being reborn into a new body?
He debated calling in reinforcement. Maybe Bellatrix or Lucius would know what to do.
Voldemort jittered and Wormtail squealed.
"My lord?"
"We will head south," he announced.
"Yes, Milord, I will make the appropriate arrangements immediately."
"You said this happened before?" Hermione asked, looking at the unconscious Harry.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"I wanted to, but Harry was really against you knowing," Alice replied. "He refused to go to the hospital wing, I had to stun him for Draco to carry him down there."
"He was in the hospital wing?" Hermione asked, frowning.
"Draco took him there!" Ron cried, not believing what he had heard.
"He didn't want to, believe me, I really had to nag at him. But he did. You know, I don't think he is as bad as I thought."
Hermione looked at Ron.
"So," Ron said raising his hands, "you're telling me that Draco Malfoy, Harry's sworn nemesis right after you-know-who, carried him to the hospital wing without trying to throw him over the stairs?"
"Well, he did threaten to," Alice admitted.
"You've must have imagined it," Ron insisted, "there is no way a Malfoy would go out of their way to help out another person. You could count on a Malfoy to find some way to stab you in the back, but nothing more than that."
"I don't know," Alice replied, "he seemed pretty concerned about Eriol yesterday, and I think he was worried about Harry, even if he didn't show it."
"Hermione talk some sense into her, she is unknowingly being converted to the dark side," Ron begged.
Alice rolled her eyes.
"Draco isn't nice," Hermione argued, distracted.
Hermione had her eyes glued to Harry's scar. Without thought, she traced it with the tip of her finger.
Alice found herself blushing. Is this an intimate moment, like the many I've read about?
"Does he have a fever?" Ron asked.
"No," Hermione replied, retracting her hand.
Hermione began to pace around the room, starting and stopping incoherent sentences.
"What is wrong with you?" Ron demanded.
"It's on the tip of my tongue," she said, ignoring him.
"What is?"
"I know it," she muttered, still pacing around.
"Something, scar, who…"
"Hermione!" Ron called, putting both hands on her shoulders. "What is it?"
"Ugh," she moaned, "this is going to drive me mad!"
"You are already driving me crazy!" Ron cried.
Hermione looked at Ron, he flinched and moved back.
"The library!"
"We were there this afternoon," he protested, "besides we can't just leave Harry here by himself, and we can't bring him along either."
Lavender Brown came through the portrait. Hermione couldn't overlook her perfectly curled hair. Ever since the Yule Ball, most girls, excluding Hermione, had been ingesting potions and using magic to enhance their natural beauty.
"I heard you made the Gryffindor team this year, congratulations Ron," Lavender said with a big smile.
Ron's ear turned pink, 'thanks."
Lavender spotted Harry on the couch.
"What's wrong with him?" she asked.
"He's, uh, sleeping," Ron poorly lied.
"Oh, well I'll be cheering you at the next game," Lavender said, before going up into the girl's dormitory.
Ron watched her retreating figure.
"I haven't even played and I already I have fans," Ron muttered to himself, pleased.
Hermione scoffed.
Harry groaned before Ron had the chance to tell her off.
Harry grabbed onto his head.
Did I get hit in the head? He wondered.
"Are you alright?" he could hear Hermione ask.
Harry bit his lower lip in response. He was in siring pain.
"Harry?"
When his ears began to ring, he lost consciousness once more.
"How long as he been like this?"
The voice seemed far away.
"Not for over an hour," someone explained, "he exploded before he passed out."
"It looked like he was in pain," another person commented.
"Harry?" Dumbledore called.
His voice was like a life raft, pulling him out of the abyss.
"Professor?" He said.
The pain had vanished, and he could feel himself returning.
"Are you feeling any better?" Dumbledore asked.
"I feel… good," Harry replied truthfully, "better than I've been in a while."
Sure, Harry was relieved to see Dumbledore, but it was more than that.
I'm not angry, anymore.
Over the summer months, there were times, when even he noticed that he was more irritable than usual. He told himself it was because of Cedric, but even thinking about what happened during the third trial could get his blood boiling. Harry was feeling low, he been down at other points in his life, but it was never like this. It was like his emotions and feelings were somehow disconnected.
Dumbledore had the rest of his visitors leave the hospital wing.
"Miss Green told me this has happened before," Dumbledore said.
Harry shrugged.
"Have you been feeling alright?" He continued.
Harry had a lot of things he wanted to say, but he was afraid Dumbledore would leave so he replied, "I've been fine."
Dumbledore believed him as much as he believed himself.
"Has anything else happened?"
Harry's memories went straight to the voices he had heard when he was going to Umbridge's office.
Wormtail!
Harry had tried to ignore what had happened, but his voice rang clearly through his mind.
"Nothing," Harry lied, firm with his response.
"You can always talk to me," Dumbledore reassured him, "if anything happens."
If you're around, Harry thought bitterly.
"Of course," Harry replied civilly.
"Well there doesn't seem to be anything else, you can return to the Gryffindor common room."
Harry sat up and got out of the bed. He placed his shoes back on, Dumbledore waiting for him.
Dumbledore walked him out of the hospital wing, to the staircase.
"Harry," he called, as he started ascending.
Harry turned around.
"I know it is hard when you are young and hot-blooded, but be patient, things turn around… as well as people."
How does he always know?