Well, hello! And Welcome to My Little World of Weirdness!

I state for the record that, despite the fact I really, really wish I did, I don't own any of the characters that will grace this story; it's all CLAMP's! Always has been, always will be!

Also I don't pretend to have any Mastery over the language of Japanese or any clue as to correct grammatical structure. I put it in and hope it gets across the point I'm trying to make!

Also, I've only ever seen the American dub, the first 3 and the 5th DVDs of the sub. Everything else about the whole Sakura-Eriol-Yue arch I've gleaned from the Internet. Sorry if they are all OOC or I slip up and start calling Syaoran, simply Li. Someone? Do tell me if I do that! And before I get any complaints, consider them all to be in their mid-teens, the time when everybody starts making dirty little jokes!!



"Speaking"

*Stress/emphasis*

//Thinking//



The Magical, Mythical, Mischievous Master Clow.

By Dr Megalomania.

For a small city called Tomoeda, of the lovely isle of Japan, the week began like any other. For four magical guardians, the week began hellishly with the activation of an ancient curse, bestowed upon them a long, long time ago . . .



Part nine: Saturday - Doyoobi . . . again . . .

[Caution: this chapter comes with high info-dump and sap content . . . therefore the author advises readers of a diabetic nature to get their insulin ready!!]

If Eriol expected to wake up to the beautiful sight of Tomoyo dozing beside him, he was sadly mistaken. If he expected to have rolled over during the night and see his charming little descendent curled up, blissfully unaware of the early morning prank that was just about to befall him, then Eriol was once again disappointed. Hiirawagizawa Eriol awoke and saw the upside down grins of his two guardians.

"You're AWAKE!!" the two cried energetically. "Make us breakfast!!"

Eriol rolled over and buried his face into his pillow, "Damned, stupid spell!! What the *hell* was I thinking?!"

Sakura woke to Kero's inverted fuzzy features grinning manically, "Oh, goody! You're awake now. I want breakfast."

"Yue! Get off the Mistress!" Kero snapped as he entered the room, "She can't make us breakfast!"

Sakura was about to say 'thank you' to him when he continued, "Syaoran is the better cook! We'll make him do it!"

"Bloody will not!" Syaoran swore from inside his sleeping bag.

Ruby and Yue exchange one glance and flew into the sleeping bag.

Tomoyo finally woke up to see Eriol and Sakura being accosted by Spinel and Kero, while Syaoran's sleeping bag squirmed and heaved with the bodies of one human and two full formed cat guardians.

She sighed, //One more day . . .//



As it proved, the guardians felt no ill effects from the night before. Not a headache, not an upset stomach, nothing. Unlike their Masters and friends who, after much pestering, made a small breakfast.

"Why aren't any of you sick?" grumbled Touya, as he gulped down some aspirin for his headache.

"Well, we are magic y'know!" said Ruby as she wolfed another slice of toast down.

"There are some things that even magic can't cure," groused Eriol as he sipped at his tea, hoping it would sooth his rolling stomach. It hadn't quite recovered from Spinel's 'unfortunate' accident in the hallway. Now he knew why Spinel never eat that much. Spinel had followed Keroberos' example and had hurled all over the hallway.

"In any case, we're beings of pure magic!" Chirped Yue cheerfully as he tucked into his third helping of ice cream.

Sakura raised her tired head to peer at her erstwhile 'I don't eat . . . anything . . . period.' Moon guardian, "Why are you eating ice cream for breakfast?" She asked as he scooped out another helping of vanilla ice cream from the bucket.

He paused long enough from shovelling another creamy ball twice the size of his head, to reply: "Ice cream is sooo yummy!!"

Kero raised an eyebrow, before sipping his tea; "I get very bad cold headaches when I eat too much ice cream." He smiled knowingly at Sakura, "Fair warning."

He chuckled quietly as she whipped the ice cream scoop out of Yue's paws. She knew how Kero was when he had an ice headache, and she didn't particularly want to see or hear Yue clutching his head and wailing at her for the next two or three hours.

In an action he was going to regret, Eriol whipped his head around to look at the hallway, "What is it?" Tomoyo whispered; her throat was raw from trying to organise the guardians when they all decided they needed to use the bathroom all at once.

"Fujitaka's just got off the bus!!" He cried and leapt to his feet, snatching up Ruby's sixth piece of toast, jammed it in her mouth and plucked her up by Spinel's long blue curly tail. "HEY!!" came the indignant yelp.

"Why couldn't you have told us sooner?" Syaoran yanked the cereal bowl out of Spinel's hand and tossed it into the sink, then started to clear the table. The others quickly followed suit.

They had only a matter of minutes before Kinotomo Fujitaka would enter the house!!



Meanwhile . . .

//Ah, such a beautiful day! // Thought Fujitaka, unaware that his household was in a furry of motion while he ambled down the street. While he was enjoying the bright autumn day, his children, their friends, several Sakura cards and four magical guardians were hastily cleaning the halls, the bathroom, the sitting room, the bedrooms, and the kitchen in a desperate attempt to erase any and all debris from the 'Night of Kawaii Drunken Revelations of Happy Guardians!' as Tomoyo put it. As Fujitaka stopped briefly and fumbled around in his pockets to extract his keys, he was blissfully unaware that two tiny plush toy guardians were hurriedly thrown up the stairs by Touya and Syaoran, or the other two guardians who were dragged up the stairs by their Master and Mistress and left there with strict instructions to remain on the second floor.

"Tadaima!"

Fujitaka smiled as he saw his daughter descended the stairs with one of her friends, Eriol. He loved having guests, the more, the merrier, as he always liked to see it. He also liked it when his children did a wonderful job, the house never looked so clean and fresh. He followed Sakura and Eriol into the kitchen as two more of Sakura's school friends, Tomoyo and Syaoran set out the table, Touya swallowed a large yawn and nodded his greeting. //From the smell of it, // Fujitaka smelt the air, //He must be making-//



"Pancakes!!" Yue stared at the door, "They're making Pancakes! I love pancakes! Will they save some pancakes for me?"

"Stay here Yue!" Kero called to him.

"But they're making pancakes!!"

Ruby sat up, and sniffed the air, "They *are* making pancakes!"

"That's what I just said!" Yue boinked her on the head.

"Why aren't we getting any pancakes?!"

"I don't know," Yue practically started to wail, "all I know is that I'm here and the pancakes are down there!!"

Spinel cocked his head and stared at Yue. "How is it--?" He paused.

"How is what?" Asked Kero distractedly, he was combing Yue's hair again. On the way up, it had come loose at the bottom rung of the ponytail.

Spinel looked at the sobbing Yue then at the sobbing Ruby. "How is it that Ruby and I have remained virtually the same and you and Yue haven't?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm still 'me' me inside Ruby's body and Ruby's still 'Ruby' Ruby in my body, but Yue's become a sort of 'Keroberos' Yue in your body and you've become a sort of 'Yue' Keroberos in Yue's body."

Kero paused in his combing, put the brush down slowly and tie the ribbon back in to the ponytail. Spinel looked at him, waiting for an answer. Kero turned and put his hands on his knees and looked at Spinel quite seriously. "Evidently you haven't quite taken into account that I'm Keroberos still, I'll say it again; what do you mean? This time; speak slowly, and preferably using flash cards and/or finger puppets." Kero smiled and wiggled his fingers to demonstrate what he meant.

Spinel sniggered, "I mean, how come Yue's acting . . . acting . . ." Spinel stopped and looked at Yue, the guardian was now engrossed in his videogame, and was now explaining the nuances to Ruby.

"No! No! You want to go right! No! Right!"

"I am going right!"

"Well, not that 'right'! The other right!"

"The other right?! What the hell do you mean the *other* right?!"

"*That* other right!"

"Well, why didn't you say so?!"

Kero raised an eyebrow, "I don't know why we're all experiencing some sort of change, maybe it's because of the spell."

"We?"

"Yeah, we! As in you and Ruby, me and Yue!"

"How'd you come to that conclusion? I'm not acting *anything* like Ruby."

"So. . . you regularly go out into the park on festival day and putt golf balls at old women and little children?"

"The child was unforgivably cute! Something had to be done to readdress the balance!" Spinel defended himself.

"Heh, heh, heh," Kero chuckled quietly.

Yue sniffed, "They're having Pancakes!!" he reminded the group.

"Yeah, why are we up anyway?" Ruby pouted, "Ol' Fujitaka's gonna find out about us sometime!"

"I agree," added Spinel, "Why not now?"

Yue got up and padded over to the video console, he carefully saved his position and switched the machine off, and he muttered something.

Kero frowned "What was that, Yue?"

Yue looked up at his younger siblings, and a small smirk spread over Kero's tiny feature. It may have been hundred of years since any of them had seen this smirk, but Kero, Spinel and Ruby instinctually shuddered. It was the 'I have a brilliantly evil idea!' look, then one that had disappeared along with his sense of fun, and his appetite after Master Clow had died.

"I said, 'you know what? It's a good idea'!"

"What is?" asked Spinel cautiously, if his memory was right, the phrase 'it's a good idea' was often followed by some sugar related attack.

Yue's devious side had returned with full force and it glinted in his, well, Kero's beady little eyes. "We *should* tell Fujitaka, shouldn't we?"

Ruby looked at him trying to figure out what he had in mind, "But our Masters said we can't go downstairs . . ."

"Oh," Yue grinned slyly, "We won't have to."

He started to rub Kero's little paws together slowly; for once the target of his latest prank was not to be any of his siblings. //Indeed// he thought with a smile and an evil chuckle, // Ah, fresh pastures, new blood, clean slate//

His younger siblings watched as Yue fluttered on to the windowsill and looked out the open window. Yue squinted at the brightness of the day, //So many pranks to play . . . // he mused with a sigh, // . . .One immortal life to live. . .//

Yue beamed cunningly, "We won't have to at all."



Touya looked at Sakura.

Sakura looked at Syaoran.

Syaoran looked at Eriol.

Eriol looked at Tomoyo.

Tomoyo looked at Touya.

Fujitaka looked at his plate stacked high with pancakes. "Mmmm they look delicious!" He said, blissfully unaware of the nervous glances the people in front of him were exchanging. "Well-done Touya!"

"Uh, arigato." Touya eyed the cupboard under the sink, he'd stashed the bucket of ice cream under there, and he hoped it wouldn't melt.

Fujitaka took no notice of the children's strange behaviour; he was very content to sit with this meal and his family and their guest. //Perhaps, I should cook a feast tonight . . .// he thought, it was only Saturday, but maybe the children would enjoy . . .

A soft squealing noise caught his attention, it sounded like train, the noise you hear before the train passes you, you can hear for ages before it-

The noise got clearer, and louder. He could just make out what the noise was; it was:

"fffffffffffffFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu--" [DrM: in case that's unreadable it's 'FUUU-'] the sound faded away, as if it had just swooped past the window.

Fujitaka stared at his children and their guests; they were staring at something behind him. He turned to see if there was anything out the window he should see. He frowned slightly; it was a beautiful day, in fact the sky was very, very blue.

While Fujitaka was staring out the window, Tomoyo cursed herself for not setting up her camera to tape the breakfast, it would have been interesting to see if the quick blue blur was indeed Ruby in Spinel's form, being swung outside the window. Eriol, on the other hand, looked up at the ceiling and wondered which of the guardians had come up with this little pearl of a prank; he reached back into his foggy memories. //Of course, // he thought as a name floated to the surface, //It's probably Yue again//. Syaroan slapped his forehead, and wondered how long it was going to take to explain everything to Sakura's father. Sakura emitted a soft, "Hoe!" and Touya, well; Touya entertained numerous murderous thoughts about Ruby.

When Fujitaka turned around to ask his children what was going on, another guardian swung past the window, it was Spinel in Ruby's full garish form. Upside down, and evidently being held up by the legs.

"-- jjjjjjjjjjJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiii-" [DrM: Spinel said, '--JIIIII-'] Spinel yelled as he whooshed past the window, and swung just out of sight, as Fujitaka turned to see where the noise was coming from.

//Again,// thought Fujitaka, //Nothing out of the ordinary// he turned and peered thru his glasses at his two children and their guests, "Is there, perhaps, some kind of prank being played upon me?" He smiled to let them know he was amused by it.

Sakura gulped nervously, "No!" She squeaked, then giggled half heartedly, "Why would there be? Would you like some more tea?"

As breakfast was resumed, another squeal started. As Fujitaka supped at his tea, the group looked up to see which guardian would be next . . .

It was Yue, in Keroberos' full form. He stuck his tongue out and wiggled his paws behind his ears, as he added his bit to the yell.

"-- tttttttttttTTTTTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaa-- -" [DrM: Yue said, 'Taaaa-']

Before Fujitaka could turn to see the unusually long lion's tail whip out of sight, Touya distracted him with more toast. Fujitaka became a little concerned at the false smiles and the nervous glares at the ceiling, but the breakfast was so nice he didn't dwell on the fact for too long. In fact he reached over the table to grab himself another few pancakes.

The rest of the group assembled waited nervously for Keroberos to put in his appearance. While the others were (relatively) okay; Keroberos in Yue's true form had a ridiculously long ponytail. It would take too long for them to distract Fujitaka enough to give the tremendous length of hair enough time to get out of sight.

The yell began quietly, "---kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-" then built up until, Kero in Yue's full, longhaired, form swung by the window. His eyes flashed with some great amusement as he yelled, "-KA KA KA KA KA KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"

Kero grinned and gave them double thumbs up as he swung past the window.

Touya looked at Sakura, who covered her ears.

Sakura looked at Syaoran, who covered his mouth.

Syaoran looked at Eriol, who grinned in a way that said, 'I'm going to kill 'em'.

Eriol looked at Tomoyo, who covered her eyes.

Touya slapped his head at the truthfulness at the metaphor that Tomoyo, Syaoran and his sister were re-enacting.



Spinel and Ruby helped Kero back onto the roof.

"Bwha ha ha ha!!" Kero started, "You should have seen their faces!"

"Yeah! That'll teach 'em for leaving us out on the pancakes!" Ruby cheered.

Yue swung Kero's stubby legs over the roof edge, "Oh, it's not over yet!"

Spinel turned excitedly to Yue, "You have another plan?"

"Nah! Just an extension of 'Operation Fujitaka'!"

He motioned them closer and he divulged the rest of his plan.



"Mmmm!" Fujitaka sat back, "That was delicious! Don't worry about the dishes, I'll do them!"

Syaoran suddenly stood and grabbed the plates out of Fujitaka's hands. "No we'll do them; I mean, you must be very busy!!"

Fujitaka looked quizzically at him, as he turned to say to Sakura, "Isn't he?" Syaoran continued.

Sakura looked blankly at him, "Hoe? Is there something wrong with your head?" She asked as Syaoran jerked his head rather violently.

Eriol was slightly less dense than Sakura, he looked out the window. His eyes narrowed, and he stood and gathered some plates of his own, "Yes, I quite agree, we'll do them, Kinotomo-san."

And with that, Eriol waved a hand over Fujitaka, who blinked. "Are you sure?"

Eriol waved again, "Yes, we are."

Fujitaka smiled bemusedly, "Are you very sure?"

Eriol's smile took on a slightly forced edge, as he waved again, ". . .Absolutely."

Fujitaka readjusted his glasses again, "Is this some kind of British custom?"

Eriol started to look a little frustrated. He waved his hand over Fujitaka again, "We *will* do the dishes."

"Oh no, I don't mean that, in fact I *do* have a lot of work to do," Fujitaka explained, "I was just wondering . . . why are you waving at me?"

Eriol stopped in mid-wave, he froze and smile falsely, "Yes," he said woodenly, "It *is* a British custom!"

"Oh," said Fujitaka interestedly, "Why?"

Eriol smiled with a hint of sarcasm. "I never asked."

Tomoyo stood and helped Eriol out of the hole he had dug himself into, "Well, these dishes need doing!"

Fujitaka stood as well, "Thank you for the brilliant breakfast, the least I could do I clear the table."

Eriol waved his hand to cause a plate to leap off the table. As Fujitaka bent down to pick up the suicidal dish, Tomoyo pointed at the window to draw Touya's and Sakura's attention to what Syaoran had unsuccessfully tried to get them to look at.

Sakura' mouth fell open, Ruby, Spinel, Keroberos, and Yue hung upside down outside the window, clutching some big white cards.

Ruby grinned, and turned over the white card she held in Spinel's big blue paws. It read: "WE"

She looked at Spinel who nodded and turned over his card, which read: "WANT"

He turned to nod at Kero, whose card read: "PANCAKES"

Kero shared a smile with Yue, who revealed his card, his word was bolder than the others and underlined: "NOW!!"

Yue raised a suggestive eyebrow, as the four quickly scribbled something else on the back of the cards.

Ruby turned hers over: "OR"

She smiled, as did Spinel, whose scribbled card read: "WE"

Kero grinned as he revealed the next part of the threat: "START"

Yue pressed his card against the window to emphasis the last part of the threat: "SINGING!!"

They held the cards in one hand as they gestured with the other the 'music' coming out of their mouths.

Sakura paled as her father started to stand from the cleared plate, she rushed around that table, "Don't worry father, we'll take care of everything!! Go, go, go!" She exclaimed breathlessly as she pushed him out of the kitchen, carefully trying to avoid him spotting the four magical beings hanging outside his window.

She slammed the door and slid down it in relief. Then she looked up to see the guardians' mouth, "Awwwww!" sarcastically at her. Their cards now read, "WE WERE ENJOYING THAT!!"

Touya leapt over to the window to grab them. When he swung open the window, they fluttered out of his straining hands. They laughed mischievously as they settled back on the roof.

Touya turned away from the window, and sighed sharply.

Yue fluttered thru the window, in Kero's tiny form, "We still want our pancakes," he giggled mischievously. He ducked and manoeuvred past the various attempt to grab him as he dived towards the table. "Can't catch me! Or maybe I should ask FUJITAKA!!" He yelled, this not only served to throw the pursuers of him, but also acted like a codeword for Ruby to come join him on the raid.

"FUJITAKA!!" They yelled, as they zipped, zigged and zagged. "FUJITAKA!! WE'RE IN HERE!!"

They giggled as they hauled the platter of pancakes out the window.



Outside the kitchen, Fujitaka stopped and listen. //What strange noises are coming--------//

Clow Reed gently put Fujitaka to sleep, as he inhabited his eldest reincarnation. He smiled and pushed his hand lightly against the door. His guardians were having fun. A hint of sadness tinted his smile. This was the one thing he regretted about dying, his death had caused the rift between the four guardians to widen, to the point where they rarely could stand to be around each other; his death had caused Yue to retreat from the fun loving, practical joker Clow had originally created him to be. He shook his head to get rid of these melancholy thoughts, to shake off the feeling of being left out of his guardians' mania.

Despite the irritation of the new Masters of his guardians, Clow had enjoyed the revival of his guardians. The week had been more like an old family reunion, than a curse, and he had loved every moment. He sighed and started to chant the spell's closing mechanism. When he had first cast the spell, he had left the spell open, so it could, in theory, remain permanent. He had stated a week, but he wasn't sure that his guardians would learn the lesson by then. Yue's laughter rang out, and Clow smiled; now he was even surer that they had learned. Clow patted the door one more time, " . . .Let the bells toll out, upon the witching hour. Spell, thy work is done. Return my guardians to the forms they were meant to be." Clow retreated down the steps of Fujitaka's study, "Return Yue to Yue, Keroberos to Keroberos, Ruby Moon to Ruby Moon, Spinel Sun to Spinel Sun."

He paused in the middle of the study and looked up the stairs, "Spell . . ." he sighed, he missed his creations, "Release!"



Eriol froze, in the middle of the room.

//---To Ruby Moon, Spinel Sun to Spinel Sun. Spell, Release! //

"Yue!" he suddenly called.

As Ruby escaped with the plate of treats, Yue ceased his flight immediately. He wondered briefly is he had pushed it a little too far, and if Clow was now here to reprimand him.

Eriol held out his hands slowly, his face completely gentle. "Yue . . . come here please."

Yue suddenly found a lump in his throat that had nothing to do with the sugar cubes that he had been stuffing down both his and Ruby's throat. He floated over gingerly, and sat hesitantly in Eriol's outstretched palms. What was unnerving him was the fact Eriol's expression and tone of voice was the same as when Clow used to tell Yue that he loved him.

While Yue was mesmerised by this, Touya started forward. Now was an excellent time to grab Yue. He stopped when Eriol looked at him. "No." He said simply.

Eriol turned his attention back to Yue. He smiled tenderly, as he balanced Kero's tiny form in one hand and raised the other to softly stroke the top of his head. Eriol walked over to the open window. "Welcome back, Yue" he whispered. "I missed you."

Yue blinked in surprised and blushed as he stood up in Eriol's hand. Standing on the very tiptoes of Kero's tiny paws, he put a tiny kiss on the tip of Eriol's nose. "Thank you Master." He smiled.

Eriol's eyes twinkled with centuries old warmth, "Now, go . . ." Clow murmured, before Eriol returned, and grinned wickedly, "Before I really do kill you!"

Yue grinned and instantly zipped away.



The day past uneventfully, as the guardians had flown back to Eriol's house to play, and the gang stayed at Sakura's. Sakura, and Touya agreed that it would be all right if the others stayed one more night. Mostly because the others were curious about what would happen the next morning, but also because Sakura couldn't bear the idea that if Clow's spell didn't dissipate, she would have to take care of the guardians the next morning.

"Just as well for them," said Syaoran, "I'm going to kill them once I get my hands on them."

"Not if I get there first, Gaki," retorted Touya. They were all resting in the living room. Fujitaka was safely tucked away in his study so the group could openly talk about their predicament.

"Well . . . you have to admit it's been kinda fun," proposed Eriol, which immediately earned him heated glares from Syaoran and Touya. "What I mean is it's been enlightening, hasn't it?"

"What do you mean?" asked Tomoyo, her beautiful voice was returning.

"I think I know what he means . . ." said Sakura, sitting up, "Well, who'd have known that Yue had had such a . . . spirited personality?"

"I would have." Said Eriol, "But then I am Clow Reed's reincarnation."

Eriol ducked as Syaoran threw a pillow at him. Sakura ignored them and mused aloud, "But what was Clow's intention behind this? Why cast a spell that would make them swap bodies?"

Touya sat up, much as he loved watching Syaoran and Eriol fight, (it often ended with one of them trying to kill the other, a double plus for Touya!) he had to explain what he had realised on Friday. "Think about it kaijuu . . ."

She glared at him, for the insult then her expression turned thoughtful. Touya shook his head after a few moments, it was clear she wasn't going to get it. "Yue is in Keroberos' body, for the first time in his life . . ." Touya paused to think about how he was going to phrase it in the simplest terms, "For the first time in his existence, he doesn't have to worry about what his other form is doing, he can be himself *all* the time and not share his existence with someone else. He isn't being compared to Yukito *all* the time, he's just Yue. Also, he doesn't have to restrain himself from doing what he wants; he doesn't have to constantly watch out his hair or his clothes, he can get as messy as he wants. The spell must be to make him realise what it's like to be Keroberos."

"But how is this teaching him anything?" Sakura said.

Touya sighed, "there's also a downside to it. This spell is teaching Yue what it's like to be Keroberos, there are simple things that Keroberos can't do, and it has to be very frustrating to Yue. Things that Keroberos can't do, but Yue can. Things like being Yuki and going to school, learning, meeting other people, living a different life other than being hidden away from the world. You heard him moaning about being bored, he can't move around very much in Kero's large form, also he's more easy to attack in his plush toy form. It must make him realise that sometimes it's harder for Keroberos; Keroberos isn't as smart as Yue because he can't read or write very well, and it has to be difficult having Yue lose his temper when Keroberos doesn't understand. The spell makes him realise there are things Keroberos relies on, and how Keroberos relies on Yue to make things clear for him, to protect him, to be his elder brother." Touya smiled slightly at his sister who frowned slightly as she took this all in. He suddenly realise he could identify a little more with Yue now; they were both big brothers with slightly dense younger siblings.

"Oh I get it!" Tomoyo exclaimed, "it's the opposite for Kero-chan, he's learning to be more responsible with his behaviour, and for him he's learning what it's like to be Yue. He has to pretend to be some one else sometimes, even when he doesn't feel like it. The constant cleaning up, the responsibility of caring for his smaller brother, he's learning how it feels to be Yue."

"That explains why he was so upset on Monday!" It finally clicked for Sakura, then a sad look passed over her features. On Monday, Kero had caught her tickling Yue, but if it had been reversed, if Yue was still in his body would she ever try to tickle him? Kero was upset because she was playing with Yue, and he knew that while he was in Yue's body there was no way she'd ever play with him. Eriol's hand on her shoulder brought her out of her guilty inner musings. "It's okay;" he said gently, "If you had known Yue during Clow's lifetime you would know that Yue likes playing. Now though . . ." he trailed off, and sighed, "I have always felt a bit of guilt when it comes to Yue, seeing him so serious, so . . . repressed all the time." He looked at her again. "You would never have known that Yue was once the most mischievous practical joker out of the four of them."

Syaoran snorted, "Yue? A practical joker? A little hard to imagine!"

Eriol smiled, "I guess you could say the same for Ruby, she wasn't so self- conscious during Clow's lifetime, in fact she was quite a messy little tyke. She's learning the same lessons from Spinel's body as well, maybe I'll be hearing less of Spinel's drunkenness . . . and maybe she'll start to appreciate how it feels to be swung around by the tail every morning. As for Spinel . . ." he added, "Perhaps he'll lighten up, and understand the things Ruby does; she does because she likes him. Maybe that's what they'll all realise, that they really do love each other a lot, and maybe Yue will go back to being what he was and a little more affectionate. Spinel will try to be more patient with Ruby's mental shortcomings, and Kero a little more respectful towards Yue and Ruby will calm down a bit . . ." Eriol trailed off his musings and looked out the window. It was getting dark.

The group pondered this for a few moments before Syaoran sat up, "Yeah and plush toys might fly."

"Funny you should mention that," Eriol threw over his shoulder.

***Blatt!***

Yue and Ruby flew straight into the living room window. Spinel and Yue pulled up just short off the glass and sniggered at their siblings' lack of distance estimation.

Eriol opened the window to let the four in.

"We're back!!" Yelled Yue loudly, and flew straight to Sakura, he thrust some sort of pebble in her direction, "Look what I found!!" When she glanced up quizzically at the others, Yue flew straight into her face, "NO!! Lookit! Lookit!"

Kero chuckled lightly and gathered Yue into his arms, "Yue, give the Mistress some peace."

Yue struggled in Kero's embrace, "But I want her to look at it!! Lemme go!"

Kero rolled his eyes and smiled fondly at Sakura, "Good evening Mistress," he nodded quietly, and he took the pretty stone out of Yue's paws and placed it on the table near Sakura.

"Good evening Keroberos," her mind still resounded with the evening's talk, she looked at Kero and Yue, as Yue gave up his struggle and just lay contentedly in Keroberos' arms and Kero sat in armchair. They didn't seem aware of anything else anymore as Kero petted Yue, and they talked quietly.

She looked over at Ruby and Spinel. Ruby had turned into Spinel's larger form and padded over to the armchair to lie at Kero's feet. Spinel closed the window, nodded once politely to Eriol and joined his elder siblings.

They all looked very tired. Ruby yawned widely and dropped her head down on Spinel's lap. Spinel had perched himself on the armchair's armrest and lay a hand on the top of Ruby's head. He smiled at Keroberos, who was just starting to nod off himself. Yue's snores could be heard quite plainly.

"Spinel?" Eriol questioned quietly, Spinel looked up from his family.

"Hm?"

"Why are all of you so tired?" Eriol sank to the floor, to sit crossed legged next to Tomoyo.

Spinel yawned before giving his answer, he smiled sleepily, "We played . . . all day . . ." and with that Spinel slid close to Kero, to rest his head on top of Kero's. The four were now sound asleep.



The Float card, the Through card and the Move card all proved very useful later that evening, as Sakura, Touya, Tomoyo, Syaoran and Eriol found out that they couldn't wake the sleeping guardians.

Once they were all safely upstairs, the guardians began to wake slightly.

"Whasss going on?" Asked Keroberos groggily.

"Shh!" Said Sakura as she instructed the Float card to lower him to the floor. "It's time for bed."

Kero sat up, and looked around. Eriol was just instructing the Move card to get Spinel into the sleeping bag, Sakura walked out the door and a few moments later the Through card helped the Float lift the large form of Spinel Sun, through the ceiling. Ruby didn't stir much as she past through the floor.

Kero blinked, and struggled to keep his eyes open. "Where's Yue?" He asked Touya. Touya turned to reveal Yue snoring softly in his arms. Kero smiled and held out his arms, "Give him here please."

Touya nodded and put Yue into Kero's out stretched hands. Yue murmured slightly at the change of position. Kero crawled over to his drawer and pulled it open. Sitting back on his heels, he lowered Yue slowly into the tiny bed. Touya stepped over and knelt next to Kero.

Kero was smiling and stroking the top of Yue's head lightly.

"You two really do care about each other don't you?" Touya questioned carefully, he wanted to know if Clow's spell had worked.

Kero snorted quietly, "you could say something like that . . . we've been together for centuries."

"Does he help you? You know, when you have . . ."

"Trouble reaching for things? Yeah." Kero looked at Touya, "when we were younger, he'd read to me, bedtime stories, history books, signs, the cards, he taught me to read."

"What did you teach him?"

Kero smiled knowingly then chuckled quietly, "how to take off and land without tripping up." He continued at Touya shocked expression. "Clow added Yue's wings *after* he had created me, Yue was a month or so older than me, about. . . two, three years in human time, he'd grown used to being on the ground. He found straight-flying perfectly easy, it was just getting into the air and getting out of it that he found difficult."

"You said *straight* flying, what's the difference between that and normal flight?"

"Complex manoeuvres." Kero chuckled at a memory of Yue flying straight into a tree, "He found turning a little hard to cope with. That's why Yue preferred to fly in straight lines, and even then only when he had to."

Touya smiled. "Did you have fun today?"

Kero yawned, "Oh yeah . . . we did lots of stuff."

Before Touya could ask what kind of stuff they had done, Kero fell back asleep.

As Touya put Kero back to bed . . .

"Master?" Ruby had turned back to Spinel smaller plush toy form.

"Yes Ruby?"

"Where are we?"

"Mistress Sakura's bedroom."

"Oh." Ruby shivered slightly. Spinel woke up too, and looked at her tiredly.

"Are you cold?" He asked gently. She nodded. Spinel sat up and looked around him. There wasn't much he could use to keep her warm with. Then he had an idea.

"Can you turn into my larger form?"

Eriol shuffled back a bit as Ruby was enveloped in a deep purple magic. When it had dispersed, Ruby looked questionably at her brother.

He smiled; "do you remember what we did at the meadow?"

Ruby smiled fondly, "yes." She stood and padded over to Spinel. She lay down, and allowed Spinel to curl himself around her. When Sakura re-entered the room, she found Spinel and Ruby curled around each other in a Yin-Yang position, Kero sound asleep in a sleeping bag near his open drawer, and Yue placed on top of the blanket. He shivered slightly. Sakura bent down and knelt by the open drawer, to pull the tiny handmade blanket over Yue. He woke up and blinked at her sleepily.

"Mistress?"

"Go back to sleep Yue, it's late" she yawned to emphasis her point.

He nodded and went to lie back down. He sat up again "Where's Kero?"

Sakura looked over her shoulder, Kero was curled up as close to the drawer as he could get. "He's right here," she answered.

Yue stood and fluttered up to look out of the drawer. He smiled slightly, and climbed out of the box. He landed softly near Kero. He looked at his brother's sleeping features for a few moments, before turning into the large lion.

"Yue? What are you---" Yue silenced her with a wingtip to her mouth. He padded silently over his brother and gathered his hair into his mouth. He pulled it up and around, and then piled it near Kero's head. Lifting Kero's head in one paw, he nudged to the pile of hair under. Once he had set Kero's head back down, he turned back to the tiny plush toy and slid under the blanket.

"Goodnight Mistress." He murmured and curled up tightly under the blanket.



Sakura closed the door quietly and padded down the stairs.

"Are they asleep?" Asked Syaoran as he handed her a cup of cocoa.

"Yeah, all tucked up and sleeping as if I had used the Sleep card." She sipped and winced slightly at the heat. Syaoran shook his head slightly, and took the cup from her. He poured some cold milk into the cup and stirred it. "There, better?" He said teasingly.

"Hey!" Said Sakura, "not everyone was born with tonsils of steel!!"

Tomoyo stirred her own cocoa, and added a few marshmallows. "Just five more hours to go till midnight. And then it'll be all over."

"Kami-sama! I'll be glad. Everything will be back to . . ." Touya paused and looked at Eriol, then Syaoran then his sister, "Back to something resembling normality, considering this is all your," he pointed at Eriol, "Past life's, your," he pointed at Syaoran, "Distant relative's, and your," he pointed at Sakura, "Creepy cards and guardians' former Master's fault." Touya looked at Tomoyo "and if I could figure out how this could be your fault as well I would."

"I can," said Eriol, he looked at Tomoyo, "This is your mother's cousin's husband's half reincarnation of a past life's fault."

The group laughed quietly. They were all exhausted, and were so tired that even Syaoran didn't have the energy to throw something at Eriol for his smart arse-ness. The week had taken its toll on them too.



Two hours later, everyone in the Kinotomo household was asleep. Fujitaka had fallen asleep at his desk, Touya had flopped into his bed without bothering to pull back the sheets, Eriol had manfully sacrificed his sleeping bag to his guardians and therefore, (as he had worked it out) had no other choice but to share with Tomoyo. Syaoran had been less blatant with his excuse, having given up his bag to Kero, and offered to sleep on the floor. He didn't put up too much of fight when Sakura insisted that he couldn't sleep on the floor, and so they were now curled up happily together.

The Sakura cards huddled together, and argued who should be the top card for the cool night. Windy dead blanked refused, stating she'd been the top card for damn near thirty years and she was not going to stand for it for another night. Firey ended up being top card, but warned the others if her firehair went out, people, or rather, cards would die.

Kero sat up, and looked out the window. The night was clear. The Moon was once again full. He had woken up, and now was preparing to wake the others. They had agreed that they wanted to be awake for the Swap Back. He crawled over to Spinel and Ruby and shook them awake. He motioned them to be quiet as he moved back to wake Yue. The four guardians cast one look over the sleeping humans before slipping out the door.



"So what time is it?" Asked Kero, they were on the roof again.

Yue looked at the Moon, "It's within the eleventh hour." He answered.

"Eleven thirty to be precise." Said Spinel.

Yue looked over at his youngest sibling, to see he was reading the Tomoeda school clock.

"So we have thirty more minutes of . . ." Ruby paused to find the right words, she gave up. "This."

"Yep," said Kero, he looked out across the sleeping city. "Then it's no more hard school work, or combing hair again . . ."

". . .or being thrown about the place!" Ruby and Yue laughed quietly as they said the same thing at the same time.

"Back to my peace and quiet, to my library and all it's wonders." Said Spinel.

"Back to my clothes," sighed Ruby.

"Back to pudding!" said Kero "And eating as much as I want, without having to clean my hair and/or clothes afterwards."

Everyone turned to look at Yue who hadn't added his piece.

"What will you enjoy going back to Yue?" Asked Ruby.

"I'm looking forward to having Yukito back." He said simply, "it will be a pleasure to stop having to be around all the time, and going to school, and being with---" he broke off and blushed a bit.

"Be with whom?" Ask Spinel.

Yue looked down as he muttered, "Touya."

The other three smiled slightly and looked at the distant clock. Ruby and Yue turned into Kero' and Spinel's full forms, Kero made some last minute checks that his hair and clothes were pristine, Spinel tighten a few hairpins, and hoped that the hairstyle he had done by himself would stay put.

"You know what?" Said Yue.

"What?" Asked Kero.

"It's been fun." Yue smiled.

Kero smiled back, "Yeah, it has."

"Kero?"

"Hm?"

"The mousetrap wasn't me."

"Then who--?"

Yue cast a look past Kero, "Ruby." He explained.

Kero turned to look at Ruby, "Bitch!"

She glared at him, "Hey! You shouldn't have ripped my painting!"

"Sorry Yue! I should have guessed it was her all along!"

"Since it's a sort of confessions time," Spinel Sun added, "Yue, much as it pains me, you were right. It was a Rembrandt after all."

"It would be petty of me to say I knew I told you so . . . but since I'm in Kero's body . . . I told you so!"

The group laughed, as the clock stole closer to the new day. They looked over the city together.

"You know what I think?" Spinel broke the silence; "I think the whole point of this was to get us to admit to each other that we really do love each other . . ."

Yue sighed, "I agree . . . unfortunately, there isn't a way in Hell that will ever get me to say that you may be the only siblings I have, but you're the finest I know."

"Yue's right, there's not enough pudding in the universe to get me to tell him or either of you that I missed all of you terribly and that maybe we should try to spend more time together." Said Keroberos.

"It's a stupid idea in the first place," Ruby added, "It's ludicrous to think that I'd ever turn to any of you and thank you for being my terrific brothers."

"Or me to say you lot have made my life so wonderful." Confirmed Spinel.

Yue nodded once sharply, "Preposterous!"

"Absurd!" Said Ruby

"Outrageous!" stated Spinel.

"Ridiculous!" exclaimed Kero.

"Exactly" Yue nodded sharply again. He turned to the others and shared a small smile.







In the distance, the large hand of the Tomoeda school clock reached it's zenith.







It was finally . . .





-----------------

And now it's time for LEAVE IT TO DOCTOR MEGALOMANIA!!

DrM: Konnichiwa!! And here's the penultimate chapter!! Woo-hoo!! And it's a merry Christmas to everyone!!

Santa: ho, ho, ho!!

DrM: Santa?!

Santa: yes?

DrM: never mind . . . anyway, I'm going to take a nice holiday, and celebrate Christmas, and my birthday! Yay me!!

Santa: so have you been a good little girl?

Yue: NO!! She won't leave me alone!!

DrM: as if I'd want to!! [glomps Yue] all I want for Christmas is Yue. . .

Yue: Bad punning, so much mush . . . and did you see that info dump up there?! Worthy of the dubbers at Nelvana!!

DrM: oh, now there's no call for name-calling!! Just for that, Santa, I want Clow reed, Touya, Syaoran, Eriol, Yamazaki, and Fujitaka for Christmas as well!!

Santa: I'll see what I can do. . .

DrM: well that's it for this year, minna chan, merry Christmas and a happy new orbit of our solar source!! Come back for the concluding part of The Magical, Mythical, Mischievous Master Clow.

Santa: and don't forget to R&R or I won't be paying a visit to your house this year!!