Nadesico's Daughter:

.:Interlude: Touya:.

A Card-Captor Sakura Fanfiction by Kit Spooner





The alarm screamed in my ear. Despite my natural inclination, I silenced it and lurched out of bed. Turning, I tucked the blanket back around Yukito, and was immediately tempted to rejoin him in bed. Yuki always looked so irresistible when he was asleep, with his features relaxed, his hair in a disheveled tumble around his face, his fingers gently clasping the sheets. Then again, he was also pretty irresistible when he was awake.

I showered and dressed in what had become my daily uniform: slacks, white dress shirt, tie, jacket. I still can't believe that I actually wear a suit to work every day. For someone who spent his adolescence holding down a half-dozen part-time jobs everywhere from the local cafe to the zoo, it's pretty eery to have ended up at a relatively ordinary company like the Daidouji Entertainment Corporation. It's true that Tomoyo's mother, Sonomi, was the one who gave me my first job there, but at least I can honestly say that I've earned my current position. I still find it strange, though, that I've managed to become . . . well . . . normal.

Or rather, my life has become as 'normal' as possible, if anyone could actually call it such. Not only am I the psychic older brother of a teenage superheroine, but I live with -- and am thoroughly besotted with -- a powerful, ancient, and certainly non-human being. At least I don't see spirits like I used to. One can only grow so accustomed to the thousands of lingering ghosts that litter the world. When I was seventeen I gave up my power to save Yue from oblivion, and saved my Yuki as well. It was worth it, since I couldn't imagine my life without my snow-bunny, but I also kind of miss my own powers. Not that I could really do much with them other than watch ghosts and build psychic shields to keep the ghosts out.

I suddenly wondered how Yue felt about all of this. I'd never really talked to him much and I wondered how much of the real world he could sense while he was lying dormant, deep in Yukito's being. Was he watching now, trapped inside of Yukito now that he didn't have the power to manifest? I felt sorry for Yue for a moment, then remembered myself and roundly cursed him. He was part of the source of Sakura's troubles. I had managed, in the rush, to forget to press Yue for details about Sakura's shielding before it was too late.

On the night that it happened, I was home studying, and was certainly surprised when Sakura and her odd assortment of friends showed up on my doorstep. Or rather, her friends showed up with Sakura. I almost killed the Brat right then and there when I saw him with Sakura, unconscious and bloody, in his arms. Fortunately, Yue was there as well, and I managed to curb my impulses long enough to wring an explanation out of the group, and long enough to realize that the Brat was already half-dead.

I think that was probably the first time I ever caught a glimpse of the boy my sister loved, the boy hidden inside that snarly Chinese kid. He'd always been the Brat, in my mind, but after watching him slump wearily next to Sakura on the floor (they were both too bloody to be allowed spots on the couch), I began to comprehend what Sakura saw in him. He was really torn up; there was a long gash down one leg, the bleeding stanched by a makeshift tourniquet, and the side of his face was beginning to swell. It looked like someone had first beaten him with a baseball bat, then taken after him with a knife, then threw him head-first into a brick wall. I would later learn that it had been some sort of monster that had bludgeoned and slashed him, and it had been a tree that he'd been tossed into, but my initial assessment had been surprisingly accurate. Despite his injuries, the Chinese boy was struggling manfully to carry my limp little sister into the living room, his expression one of ineffable loss. He didn't even notice me enough to return my glare.

Had Li been more aware of his surroundings, and less intent on staring soulfully into Sakura's unconscious face, he would have been rather surprised by how well I took the news that my little sister was some sort of magical, evil-fighting heroine. Yue was certainly startled by how calm I remained. The truth was that I already knew something was up. I'm a lot more perceptive than people generally give me credit for, even if they already know about my own psychic gifts. I already knew that while Sakura hadn't inherited the same powers that I had, she'd been gifted with something different and uniquely hers.

Sakura had been acting strange for close to a year, at this point, and I knew that she'd ended up in a situation where she was using her power, but I'd assumed that it was fairly safe. If I'd known, at the time, exactly what she'd been up to with the Clow Cards, I would never have let it go on for so long. As I've mentioned before, I knew that Yukito wasn't human from the moment I first saw him, and I also knew that he was in some way related to whatever my sister was mixed up with. It was intuition, but strong. I even knew that there was something fishy about that ridiculous yellow stuffed toy Sakura always carried around with her. I did not, however, expect the little toy to turn into an huge, winged lion. Yue's true form was almost as surprising.

I still took it all in stride. They each took turns explaining what had happened, and what they had done to my sister. Kerberos was giving me the strangest looks, as though he expected me to burst into flames at any moment. It was certainly strange to be faced with an enormous, magical creature that spoke with a strong Osaka accent. It was even stranger for the creature to be so obviously terrified of me. I wondered, in the back of my mind, what Sakura would have thought. Li was silent for the most part, interjecting comments and corrections only when he deemed it necessary. He was still sitting on the floor, back to the wall, with Sakura gathered into his lap. Yue's expression was a bizarre mixture of respect and amusement. He apparently had no idea that his Mistress' older brother was a bit of a sorcerer himself, and was put off guard a bit when I admitted that I knew he was Yukito. He also seemed to think it was funny that I cared so much about his false form.

Maybe now would be a good time to admit that I'm a little scared of Yue. Yes, yes, I know that he's Yukito, and that Yukito's Yue, but they're so different. I think it was his amusement that night that irritated me the most. How someone could be amused by anything when my baby sister was lying unconscious on the floor was beyond my comprehension. Yue was so . . . detached from the situation, despite the fact that his well-being, his very existence was imperiled by Sakura's incapacitation. I'm still afraid of Yue, even if he is currently out of the picture. In a way, his existence threatens almost everything I hold dear: my family, namely Sakura and Yukito. Yue not only has the power to put my little sister in danger, but he can also take away the man I love quite easily.

I walked back over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it to put my socks and shoes on. Yukito was still sound asleep, and would probably stay sound asleep until his alarm clock went off. I'm still in awe of the way he can sleep through almost anything. He's generally awake by the time I leave, though, so I didn't feel the need to linger too long at his bedside. He'd managed to land a job as a teacher at Tomoeda Elementary school, a job which suited him perfectly, I might add. Yuki's absolutely wonderful with his students and they simply adored him. He'd also been dropping subtle hints about just how much he liked kids. I suspected it wouldn't be more than a few years before we ended up adopting one of our own. Or maybe more.

Whatever the future held for Yuki and I, it would no doubt have to be put on hold until this whole mess with Sakura was cleaned up. As far as I could tell, and according to the brief reports Li gave me, the shields on Sakura remained exactly as they had been, and showed no signs of weakening or disintegration. This was both worrisome and a relief. I was certainly surprised that Yue and Kerberos' shields had lasted that long. Sakura's power is not something to be trifled with, and to simply contain it for so long is nothing short of amazing. I know that it hurt Tomoyo and the brat that Sakura didn't remember the Clow, and Sakura also seemed a bit distracted some of the time. It would be nice to have the old Sakura back. Yet when Sakura's shields fall, Yue will return. I hadn't seen or even communicated with Yue in five years, and much had changed. Five years ago, Yukito and I were still in high school, and despite our close friendship, were certainly not a couple. What would happen if Yue returned and decided that he didn't want to stay with me?

I pushed the thought away. I didn't need to fret over it now. It wasn't like I hadn't already worried enough for the both of us. With a sigh, I concluded that I should probably go and talk to the brat soon, to see if there were any changes in Sakura. I grabbed my coat and headed out to the kitchen. Breakfast would help me clear my head and get me ready for work.

I felt it when I neared the threshold of the kitchen area: a gentle, but insistent tingling at the base of my skull, very familiar, and rapidly increasing in intensity. I was thoroughly confused until I actually entered the kitchen and saw my mother calmly seated at my kitchen table, toying with the arrangement of flowers on the table. I hadn't seen my mother in nearly five years, not since I gave up my power.

No matter how much I loved my mother, it was certainly startling to be greeted by her ghost so early in the morning. She was passing her insubstantial fingers back and forth through a large chrysanthemum. When I entered the kitchen, she glanced up and smiled at me. It was the same smile that had drawn my father to her, and it warmed me to the core. But I was still more than a little disturbed by her presence.

"Mother?!" I said, my voice hoarse and choked.

"Good morning, Touya, dear," she replied, her words echoing slightly. She was just as beautiful as I remembered, just as she was in her photographs. I was a bit surprised by how much Sakura resembled her now. Both mother and daughter shared the same facial structure, even if the hair and eye color differed. "It's lovely to see you again, dearest," she added. Her voice was so musical it sounded like she was singing.

I finally managed to regain my composure enough to ask, "What are you doing here?!"

"I'm here quite often, Touya. I always like to keep an eye on you, Sakura-chan and my Fujitaka," she said, a little reproachfully. "The only change is that now you can see me again." Her gaze shifted to the refrigerator. "You need to eat more green vegetables."

Once more I was reduced to gaping stupidly at her. She simply smiled back at me. I cleared my throat and gathered my thoughts. "Uh, sure thing. I'll be sure to add some to the shopping list." Deciding that I needed to get some sort of breakfast together, I walked over to the fridge and sorted through leftovers. I also tried to act as normal as I possibly could, despite the reappearance of my dead mother.

I finally found some rice, miso and a few leftover vegetables and assembled myself a meal. As I sat down at the table across from my mother, I caught her gaze and asked, as calmly as I could manage, "So why is it that I can see you again?"

"That's actually what I need to talk to you about, dear," she replied, her expression growing uncharacteristically serious. "The reason you can see and hear me again is quite simple: Yue no longer needs your power to exist. So he returned it." She fell silent, watching me as her words sank in.

It didn't take long. I knew what she was talking about. Shortly after Yue and Kerberos sealed Sakura's power away, I came home from work one day to find Yuki sprawled on the floor of our old kitchen, unconscious. Fortunately, Kero-chan showed up right after I did, and together we figured out what was going on. Just as Kerberos derives most of his energy from the sun, Yue gains strength from the moon. But while the sun merely rises and sets daily, the moon also waxes and wanes. It turns out that while Sakura was unsealed, she was supporting Yue during the times when the moon was dark. Now that Sakura's power was effectively taken away from Yue, he was slowly starving. In essence, Yue was dying.

I'm pretty sure that when Yue offered, in his roundabout way, to seal Sakura, he knew that it would likely be lethal for him. He's too intelligent to have forgotten such a detail. What struck me, though, was how he didn't even bat an eye. Despite his cold nature, he cared enough about Sakura to endanger himself for her. I don't think that the possibility even occurred Kerberos.

While I was never terribly close to Yue, I was rather fond of his false form, and I wasn't keen on losing him. Kero and I finally worked out a solution: I would offer up my power, in lieu of Sakura's, to feed Yue enough energy to keep him alive. Unfortunately, I don't have nearly the power at my command that Sakura does. I'm like a candle compared to her forest fire. So while Sakura was able to support Yue's existence and activities with a mere fraction of her magic, it would take all of mine to simply keep him alive as Yukito. Yue would be forced to remain dormant until Sakura broke through her shields. I simply don't have the power to fuel Yue's manifestations.

It was strange, that night, to transfer my gift to Yukito. When Yuki awoke, I told him that he'd fainted when he came over to my house, and he accepted my words at face value. He always seems to trust me implicitly, but I think he suspects more than he lets on. I felt kind of drained, after Kero linked the two of us, but it was also the first time in my life when I couldn't see my mother. I found that while I didn't miss seeing all the ghosts that seem to flock to a psychic like me, I did miss Mother. I missed her a lot.

And now she was back. And this meant that my power was back. And that meant that Yue was getting the energy he needed from another source. As far as I knew, there was only one possibility: The shields on Sakura's power were beginning to degrade.

"Oh, shit," I whispered reflexively.

"Watch your language, young man," my mother said sternly, or as sternly as she could manage. She'd never been terribly good with discipline.

"Sorry, Mom," I mumbled, too distracted by her news. Sakura's shields would be falling soon. "How long does she have?" I asked shortly.

"If nothing happens to change the balance of power, the shields could last as long as a week." Her glorious eyes were solemn. "If anything happens, though, the shields could dissolve in an instant."

"That soon . . ." I murmured, troubled by the prospect.

"I'm afraid that it may still be too soon, Touya," she continued. "She's matured and can most likely handle the power of the Clow Cards. But at this point, she still hasn't come into her full inheritance yet. Not even close. I . . . am worried."

The expression on her face was almost painful to watch, and I wished, for the thousandth time, that I could touch her. I wanted to hug her so much. "Don't worry, Mom," I said softly. "I'll keep an eye on her. I won't let anything happen to her. I promise I'll keep her safe." I smiled slightly. "And besides, don't underestimate the Brat. He's got some pretty powerful magic at his disposal. He also adores Sakura and would walk through fire for her. He's almost as pitiful as I am, sometimes."

The last comment brought a small smile to her face, transforming her once more into the stunningly beautiful woman that she had been in life. "Yes, that boy certainly does love your sister. I know it irritates you, but I think it's simply adorable." She sighed and cradled her chin in her hands. "But, yes, I know you'll watch over Sakura-chan. You always have. I just can't help but worry about her. There's so much that she doesn't know yet, so much that Kerberos and Yue can't help her with."

I watched her curiously, the detached, logical portion of my mind wondering how she knew so much about the guardians of Clow. She almost seemed to be rambling now.

"She'll have to figure things out for herself, and that's so dangerous for someone of her potential. I wish I could have taught her . . . There's just no one left with the right knowledge." An odd expression came over her face. "It's a shame Sonomi showed no interest in learning. She would have been perfect to teach Sakura-chan."

I was thoroughly confused now, and she sensed it almost immediately, ceasing her worried chatter. "Sorry, Touya," she said, reaching out with one slender, ethereal hand to run her fingers along my cheek. "All mothers worry about their children, and generally it takes more than mere death to keep a woman from her children."

"If you say so, Mom," I replied weakly, still trying to puzzle through her earlier statements. What did Tomoyo's mother have to do with all of this?

"I suppose I ought to leave you to your breakfast." Her faintly-glowing form drifted gently up out of her chair, until she could lean over the table and press a kiss against my forehead. I could almost feel it. "I wouldn't want my wonderful son to be late for work."

"Mom . . ."

"Just remember to help Sakura-chan out if you possibly can. She'll need you more than ever over the next few days." Her expression softened and she smiled. "And say hello to Yuki for me. He's such a dear boy. Be sure you take good care of him as well. Sakura's magic affects everyone, you know. Yue will be hit hard." She began to fade from view. "And remember to get more greens when you go the grocery store!" And Kinomoto Nadesico was gone once more.

I groaned and let my head drop down onto the tabletop. "Damn, this really sucks." I was most certainly not in the best frame of mind to head to work. "I swear, she must get a thrill out of confusing me." I paused, realizing that I was now talking to an empty kitchen.

Not completely empty. Yuki's cat, Kinu, was watching me in her usual disdainful manner from her perch atop the refrigerator. It was odd. Kinu was normally excessively friendly towards Yukito, but over the past few days, she'd refused to even be in the same room as him. I suddenly wondered whether it had anything to do with Yue. I know that cats generally avoid spirits and the like. In all likelihood, Kinu had been throwing me signals for almost a week and I'd been too dense to notice.

I sighed. Great, so now I've been shown up by a cat, I thought dejectedly. I also wondered if I would have noticed the changes in the shield if I'd never given my power to Yue.

And how on earth does Mom know about all of this?!

Kinu continued to stare complacently at me, and I decided that I'd ignore her right back. I finished my rice in peace, doing my best to ignore the questions that my mother's visit had sent roiling through my head.