AN: I'm exhausted. Was out of town all weekend for my sister's birthday, I speed proofread my novel all night, rush to post something on the internet for one of classes three minutes before it was due online and instead of postponing this, I decided to go ahead and post it. Glad you enjoyed the last chapter. I enjoyed your reviews. I understand the issue of school preventing you from reviewing. It's easy to read on the go, but reviewing is a little harder. That doesn't mean I won't enjoy then later. Anyway,

Read, enjoy, and review!

Chapter Twenty-six
Kiss of Death

Death couldn't stand her sister, not when she was like this anyway. As a spirit, she wasn't supposed to feel much of anything. She was just the personification of death. She was supposed to do her job to temper her sister's mood swings and save mortals from it when it became too much or when she know it would be too much. Death didn't discriminate. Young and old, good and evil. Every life she took was somehow for the greater good of humanity or to stop Life's disturbing game.

Death had been waiting for a chance to take Marie for a long time. But sorceresses not only had a greater resistance against her sister, but also against Death herself. It was hard to simply take a person with magic like she could a mortal with no physical reason at all except that they just didn't wake up. It took some act of stupidity, the loss of the will to live to, or outright murder for Death to get the chance to swoop in when it came to people with powerful magic. Unfortunately, Marie had been neither stupid, lacking in the area of will to live, nor dumb enough to let anyone kill her. But even someone so obsessed with immortality as Marie couldn't fully comprehend the subtleties of life and death and what it took to control them. She had planned on using the card mistress to fight her battles and didn't count on it backfiring against her. To Life, Marie had been a conspirator in the plot to subdue her, so she was just as guilty.

And Life had perfectly packaged the woman, egged her on just enough for Marie to make one fatal mistake and give Death the opportunity she had been seeking for centuries…

But every now and then a person came along and gained Death's favor. Instead of saving the person from her sister, Death would try her best to help them win Life's cruel game. The card mistress was one of those people. She rarely came across someone with such pure hearted intent and goodness, a few every hundred years or so perhaps. But these people sometimes had the tendency to be naïve, and one good tragedy or so, allowing Life to have her fun every now and then on those people tempered them out.

Death should have taken the moon guardian days ago and the only reason she hadn't was because the card mistresses very will to keep him alive kept her from doing so. But never would she have thought the girl would have had enough guts to personify her in this form to save him. How could a child be so bold? She hadn't quite seen such determination coupled with fearlessness of the unknown consequences like that in a while. That alone had been enough to garner Death on her side, to aid her. But then Life had to go and trick her into scaring the girl.

Needless to say, Death was not pleased, and so she planned to play by her rules, bend them just a little, consequences be damned. She'd show her sister just how alike they were. Two could play this manipulative game.

"I shouldn't be doing this," she mused to no one as she stared out the window at the waning crescent moon, hardly a crescent really, just a thin silver of light remained from it. "I'm not supposed to be actively trying to help. But my sister always wins, since the beginning. It's time she loses just once."

Death had been trying to justify it ever since the thought had come to mind, a way to take her sister by surprise. Sure she risked enraging her sister more, but… It was better to enrage her sister a little more and give that girl a chance than to let this play out for the worse. All the possible things that could go wrong if she just let this play out… For one, Life's damage wouldn't be undone. It would also leave that stupid council free to get their hands on the power of those troublesome cards or worse, unleash the things on the planet (Life would have a field day), or if the card mistress managed to survive… Well, that child's destiny could go either way, but the last thing humanity needed was another dark sorceress. Death had dealt with enough of those.

But if this didn't work, or at least help, she really, really, really risked Life's rage going on forever. It had happened before. Life had cursed Europe with more than a few plagues because of some sorcerer or another trying and failing to conquer her.

"I do hope this helps. Otherwise, there will be hell to pay," she finally said sighing.

Death turned away from the window and to the bed where Yue lay, almost lifeless and so pale.

"Some would say I have this angel in my cold grip. But my grip, my touch isn't so cold," Death said placing her hand on his cheek. "My sister on the other hand can have a cold touch, and she's certainly dealt you a cold hand before. But she's not all that bad. I promise."

Death lowered her face to hover just centimeters above Yue's. "You humans talk like my kiss is a bad thing. Sometimes it is. But other times..."

Death pressed her lips gently against Yue's, in a light chaste kiss. Then she pulled back, her work done, and waited. The result would not be instantaneous, but quick enough, and so she waited near the window, watching the outside. Her sister had calmed down for the moment, no doubt part of the woman's torturous game against the card mistress. This was only the eye of Life's storm. It was too perfect. Death could change the tide while her sister's guard was down.

She sensed him coming to consciousness long before he actually fully awoke, but only stood there to let him let his bearings.

"Why do I feel like I've be run over by a thousand Cerberuses?"

Death turned around and drifted back over to the bed at that point, lying a hand on Yue's chest to stop him from moving before saying, "Now I'll I have none of that yet. Rest while you can. I came very close to putting you out your misery."

In hindsight, Death probably shouldn't have said it like that, even though it was the truth, for Yue immediately narrowed his eyes.

"Who are you?"

"Death."

Yue was silent and for a while, Death wondered if he were so shocked that he couldn't talk. When she carefully observed him though, Death realized he was only trying to figure out how to respond. Finally he sighed, closing his eyes, an exasperated looking crossing his features.

"What did she do?"

It was such strange weather, a wonder the power hadn't gone out really. But this wasn't normal. That much Yukito knew. This was some type of magical disturbance. Whatever it had been seemed to have calmed down now, at least enough so that Yukito was willing to try to phone Toya again. He had lost his cell phone again, and so headed for the house phone. As he passed the front door, he stopped. Something outside it was compelling him to open it.

He shook his head, trying to shake the feeling off as he went to the phone and then rolled his shoulders as the feeling persisted. Yukito sighed and went back to the door, this time swinging it open to find Sakura sitting in front of it, leaning on the railing of the stairs, and soaking wet.

"Sakura!" he said surprised.

She only looked up, and if Yukito didn't know any better, he'd think she wasn't even aware she was there.

"Hey," she said.

"What are you doing?" Yukito asked confused. "And why are you soaking wet? Have you been out in the storm?"

Sakura sighed leaning her head back and closing her eyes. "It couldn't be helped."

Sakura then opened her eyes and asked, "Can I come in?"

Of course Yukito wouldn't deny her. She didn't even have to ask. He stood aside, and Sakura stood up starting to go inside. She stopped just outside the doorway saying, "WINDY!"

The wind blew around Sakura, and when it was gone, she was mostly dry, although still a little damp. Then she went into the house and made herself comfortable on the couch. Yukito bypassed the phone going to the kitchen.

"Want some tea?" he asked.

"Have any hot chocolate?" Sakura replied. "I'm in the mood for hot chocolate."

Yukito nodded, keeping an eye on Sakura. He rarely saw her like this, so utterly stressed out. Sure that last few weeks had been hard on her, but she was always optimistic about the situation. But now she seemed to have lost hope, seemed broken somehow, and it had nothing to do with Yue, even though she had been acting weird since then too.

He sat her hot chocolate in front of her, but Sakura didn't reach for it, only continued to stare at her lap. For a while he let her, not sure what to say. It seemed like one misplaced word could cheer her up or send her deeper into her despair.

Finally he said, "Sakura."

Sakura jumped, almost like she had forgotten he was there.

"Oh… Sorry Yukito," she said and reached for her chocolate. She rested her hand on the cup only, not picking it up.

"What's going on?" he asked and then when she didn't answer he said, "Does it have anything to do with this weird storm?"

Sakura looked at him and then back down at her drink, her hand still resting on the cup. She pulled it away a little, and that was when Yukito noticed it was trembling. Slowly, she pulled her hand back, and unable to compose herself any longer, no longer able to keep up her brave mask, a sob escaped the girl.

Yukito had to say, he was taken by surprise at first. She had seemed kind of indifferent at first, not really seeming to be feeling anything besides numb, and now all of a sudden she was crying. Regardless of his surprise though, Yukito was certain that she needed comfort and so he went over and sat next to Sakura pulling her to his chest.

"It's all my fault. Everything's a mess because of me," Sakura choked through her sobs.

"Sakura… What?"

At that point, everything else she was lost on Yukito though he was sure he heard something about Marie, life and death, and some disaster she would cause if she didn't fix what she had messed up. After her tirade, she sighed, no longer crying, but still seeming to feel lousy.

After a while she said, "This isn't fair. What did I do to deserve all this? I must have messed up big time in a past life or something."

Finally, Yukito thought to himself. Something he understood and could actually answer.

"It's nothing you've done Sakura," he said to her. "None of this is because of anything you've done."

"That's easy for you to say," Sakura grumbled.

Yukito sighed and pushed Sakura away so they could face each other.

"No it's not Sakura. Life," Yukito began noticing Sakura flinch a little at the word but ignoring it, "isn't easy for anyone and sometimes things just happen."

"But why? Why do bad things have to happen to good people?"

Yukito answered as though it was the simplest things in the world. "Because it makes us want to keep living."

Sakura tilted her head in confusion at that. And seeing this, Yukito continued, "Well, I don't think we'd appreciate the good times as much if it weren't for the bad times that accompany it, don't you think?"

Sakura shrugged. "I don't know… I used to I guess. But nothing this bad has ever happened."

Yukito wasn't even sure exactly what had happened, although he had a feeling he'd find out in the next coming days one way or another.

"Sakura, things happen sometimes, and we just have to accept it you know."

"Ignore it you mean?"

"No," Yukito said with a smile. "You can't ignore when bad things happen and sometimes you can't fix them. But the thing is to learn to accept it. You can't stop life from happening Sakura. And even with all the magic in the world can't fight it."

"Hm," Sakura said. "Maybe. But if you can't fight life with magic, what can you fight it with? How does anyone defeat life…?"

Yukito frowned. "Sakura…"

Sakura blinked and gave a tired smile. "It's nothing Yukito… Just-"

Thunder cracked in the sky, shaking the apartment and causing the lights to blink. Yukito looked out the window.

"Looks like the storm is back huh Sakura?"

Sakura nodded, narrowing her eyes at it, and then tightened her fist. "Yeah… I guess it is."

Out of nowhere, Sakura bolted out her seat and ran for the door.

"Sakura. Where are you going? You can't go back out in that?"

"I'll explain later. I promise. Thanks for helping… and for the hot chocolate."

"Wait a minute-"

"It's a magic thing Yukito," was the last thing Sakura said before Yukito heard the door slam shut again.

He stared in the direction he had gone in confusion for a moment and then smiled as he took up her untouched cup of hot chocolate.

"Never down for long, that Sakura," he muttered. Whatever she was dealing with, he was sure she'd be just fine.

Yue found himself with a horrible headache coming on. He would sometimes joke to Sakura when she was trying to get him to stop being so protective and watchful of her that if he left her alone for too long, she'd end up causing disaster. He had never really meant it. It had been a joke. Even she, as reckless and curious as she was, couldn't unwittingly cause that much damage.

He had been wrong.

"So you're Death," Yue began just to make sure he got the gist of the spirit's story.

"The personification of it anyway," Death said.

"And your sister Life is wreaking havoc outside because Sakura summoned her in a bold attempt to try and conquer her. In the chaos you killed Marie."

"No. I just did my job."

"And now Sakura's disappeared because you scared her when you killed Marie."

"I told you. I didn't kill her. It's-"

Yue lifted a hand to cut Death off.

"Well I suppose something good came out of all this. Marie's dead. That's one less problem."

"I'm glad you see it my way. Can you explain that to your mistress for me?"

Yue sighed. "She'll see it eventually. It's wasted breath trying to convince her. Now why are you here?"

Death groaned. "Just because I think Marie was better off dead doesn't mean I like the way Life tricked me into it. She always wins, and the only thing I'm usually allowed to do is try to temper her personality or get people out of the way. I wasn't supposed to…"

Death trailed off, but Yue got the point.

"You brought me back."

Death didn't answer only turned to the window where the two could see the clear skies slowly darkening again.

"Life's going to royally pissed when she finds out what I did, which means that Sakura has no choice but to seal us now," she said. "And she has to do it before the magic that's temporarily grounding us here runs out."

"When is that?"

"Not long… A few more hours. I can feel it. But I have a feeling this fight will end way before that, at least I hope."

Yue didn't say anything, not sure what to make of the spirit. She was certainly benevolent, at least more benevolent than her sister it appeared, but he wasn't sure what to make of her. Despite her kindness, she didn't betray much of anything. If he could understand the spirit a little more, maybe…

"Pondering isn't going to help you figure it out. So if you have something you want to know from me, just ask."

Death thought she may have to pry it out of him, but she guessed she underestimated his curiosity about all this.

"If you knew you were going to risk angering you sister more, why didn't you just let me die?"

Death hadn't met a person quite like the moon guardian either she realized. She had just brought him from the brink of death, practically admitted in her earlier explanation that she almost took him away from this world and here he was acting like nothing had happened. Death couldn't help it. She had to ask.

"This doesn't bother you at all."

"What doesn't?"

"The fact that I was about a second away from deciding to take you, wanted to do it days ago if it weren't for your mistress, and decided to bring you back anyway."

Her tone could have been called sarcastic, but Yue wasn't sure.

"I'm serious moon child," Death said ignoring the way Yue's eyebrow twitched when she called him a child.

"There are some things worse than death," Yue said a sad smile playing his lips as he looked outside where Life's storm was beginning to brew again. "And apparently, you aren't as bad as people think. I used to wish for it a long time ago…"

Death huffed. "It's that Clow Reed isn't it? Something he did is worse than me," she said and not expecting Yue to answer she continued. "I've got to hand it to him. He was a brilliant man. Played my sister's game well, but the guy had a lot of issues. He wasn't as bad as Marie, but I wasn't that fond of him either. Good thing he let me take him when he did, though I have to say, I hardly agreed with the way he did it, the way he did a lot of things."

Death then added, "But it wasn't just that girl keeping you alive. You fought it to. Both of you kept me away. You live for her, don't you? Not just to protect her, but to love her."

"Yes."

The answer was simple, but said a lot to Death, made her more certain of the risky decision she had made.

"Now will you answer my question?"

Death didn't say anything for a while, and Yue took it that she was trying to carefully choose her words. Finally she said, "I was supposed to, take you I mean. People as pure-hearted as the card mistress are few and far in between, but they all have the same problem. They're naïve. Don't tell her this, but I should have let you die, I was going to let you die. It was supposed to be a reality check. Everything will not be alright. Someone always loses and someone always wins. That's just how life plays her game.

"But people like that are also dangerous to mess with. Sure she probably would have defeated my sister but then I would have been left with a disillusioned powerful sorceress and well… I don't need my sister to have her field day with that one. So I guess you could say reviving you was a win-win situation," Death added then said, "You and that girl are like two sides of a coin. You complement each other, take up for each other's weaknesses and so I figured that she doesn't need a tragedy or a dose of a reality check. You do just fine… Or at least that's how I'm justifying all this. The truth is I can't bear the thought of hurting someone like her. I'm fonder of her than I should be," Death admitted.

"She has that kind of effect on people."

"You should know, shouldn't you?" Death asked and then headed back towards the window, eyes narrowing as thunder boomed in the again dark sky.

"Your sister?" Yue asked.

Death nodded. "Sorry about rushing this all on you, but we don't have a lot of time. We need to go."

Yue sighed. "So who are we going to find? Your sister or Sakura…"

Death laughed lightly, and Yue guessed it was because of the tone in which he'd said Sakura's name. He wasn't even going to try to hide his displeasure and exasperation with her at the moment.

"Doesn't matter. Where we find one, we'll definitely find the other," Death said.

AN: This chapter actually didn't turn out the way I originally planned. Originally, Syaoran found Sakura and talked some sense into her, but then I changed it on the fly. Also, that kiss of death thing was a last minute inclusion as I wrote this, and I just wrote this maybe two and a half weeks ago… Yeah, it's pretty fresh. In any case, Yue's back and I can relax for a minute before my class this afternoon since my early one was cancelled.

Hope you enjoyed! Review Please!