Well, Hello and welcome to my little world of Weirdness . . . and in this fic, indescribable cute, fluffy-ness!!

Who Loves Short-Shorts? We Love Short Sort! Who Owns CCS? CLAMP owns CCS!!

Ahem. . . I also have to admit, I'm drawing from some of my own life experiences . . . and yes, I really did step on a rose thorn one time and scream at my mother, "Mummy! If you loved me you wouldn't do this to me!! Leave the thorn in!!" [Folds arms] Hey, gimme credit, my mother pulled 'em out with needles. . . and I was only five!!

And amazingly, this is semi-ExS. . . that's as in Sakura there. . . yup, this is my first tentative steps into the great unknown. . .

~TimeShift~

Dream

//thinking//

"speaking"

*stress/emphasis*

The Something Under The Bed.

By Dr Megalomania . . . You can't prove anything by that!!

[Doctor Lousion is one of mine, he comes from Tainted Soul, I'm using him here because I have a really limited imagination, and because he didn't do very much in Tainted Soul . . . Ahhh . . . time to add a lil angst into the mix . . . ]

One last game . . .

"Yue . . . Be a dear and fetch my spectacles . . ."

Keroberos frowned as he looked around, Yue was off with Ruby picking apples from the orchard. Clow was beaming at him, from under their favourite tree, his book open in his lap, "Uh . . . Clow?" Keroberos frowned deeper as Clow's smile widened, "I'm Keroberos . . . Yue's in the orchard . . ."

"All the more reason to fetch my glasses then, isn't it then?"

Keroberos grumbled darkly as he flew off. Clow sighed and sat back, he had only just started to wear glasses a few months ago and his eyesight wasn't really that bad. His father explaining happily, as he made up his favourite tea, that all Reed men needed glasses, his mother raised an eyebrow and asked if all Reed men needed to have so much sugar in their tea . . . his father's answer, as always as he tipped his fourth spoonful of sugar in, "Of course, my dear . . . of course . . ."

Spinel landed nearby, and looked around, "Where's Keroberos?"

"Fetching my glasses . . ."

"Why aren't you getting them?" Spinel cocked his head quizzically.

"What was that, Ruby?" Clow sniggered as Spinel shook his head at the bad joke, he glanced towards the orchard, Yue was just stretching out of the tree to hand Ruby his armful of apples. Their relationship of precisely ten months, three weeks and four . . . or five days, depending on who was right about when Clow stepped into Yue's room . . . was still as passionate and loving as ever, getting more so every time Clow spent the night with the angel, amazingly they had been able to keep it a secret from Yue's brothers and sister, but Clow some how doubted his parents didn't sense anything even if they hadn't said anything. Now nineteen, Clow had started to think about how he could approach his angel about a certain subject . . . he sighed as Yue disappeared from view again; a rustle of green leaves once more. Keroberos landed, and spat Clow's glasses into the young mage's lap, "Happy now?"

//No . . . // Clow sighed in his mind, "Yes, thank you, Yue . . ." The lion growled as Clow balanced his spectacles on his nose, "Oh!" Clow feigned surprise, "You're not Yue!!"

Spinel pushed his head against Keroberos' side and forced the growling lion away, leaving Clow to gaze at the orchard again. Tonight . . . he decided, tonight he'd talk to Yue about it . . .

Clow smiled as he pushed open the door, "Yue?"

"Hmm?" The angel looked up from his book, he was lying on his front, legs swishing back and forth as he read, "Another nightmare, Clow?"

"But of course . . ." Clow murmured as he walked in, he ran a hand from the back of Yue's thigh to play along his neck, "And there might be monsters under my bed . . ." Yue rolled onto his front as Clow sank down, "Mind if I sleep with you . . .?"

Yue pouted sweetly, "Can't have that now, can we . . .?" He looked very sincere and innocent as he sighed, "And since I was created to be your guardian . . . I should really do all in my power to protect you . . ."

"No . . . we can't . . ." Clow snickered quietly; he smiled as they moved into their favourite positions, "Yue?"

The angel had closed his eyes, "Hmm?"

The nineteen year old bit on his lip, "About our relationship . . ." Yue's eyes slid open and he propped himself up to lean over Clow, the blue eyed boy swallowed as Yue gazed at him worriedly, "I love you . . ." he quickly assured and the worry disappeared, "I . . ." he lifted his hand and brushed Yue's fringe back, "I want . . ."

He trailed off as Yue's hand slipped down.

"I want . . . want . . ."

Yue suddenly didn't look as innocent as he usually did, a small sweet smile pulled at his pale lips.

"I . . ."

The angel leant down and kissed him deeply, Clow felt his stomach tense quickly.

"My . . . angel . . . I want you . . ."

Next morning. . .

"Hey . . ."

Keroberos looked up from his pudding/breakfast as Spinel stumbled in tiredly, "Do you know what that awful racket was last night?"

"Racket?" Ruby asked as she bounced in with her usual energy, she grinned, "You mean Clow's nightmare?"

"Clow had a nightmare?" Kero questioned perplexed, he'd slept fine . . .

"You wouldn't notice anything if it wasn't covered in pudding!" Spinel growled as he helped himself to some toast. He looked up as Papa and Mamma entered from their usual morning meditation, Papa smiled as Ruby got up instantly to fetch some breakfast for the two. He glanced at Spinel, "You look like you didn't sleep well . . ."

Spinel nodded as Mamma looked around, "Where is Clow? He missed this morning's mediation . . ."

"He had a nightmare last night . . ." Keroberos cheerfully enthused, "Or at least that's what Suppi says . . ."

"My name's not Suppi!"

"Morning all . . ." Clow yawned as he rolled his neck, he leant over his mother, and kissed her gently on the cheek, "Good morning Mamma . . ." he bobbed a bow to his father, "Papa . . ." the dark haired magician drifted into the kitchen only to be set upon by Ruby moon. As she squealed her very enthusiastic good morning, Yue drifted into the breakfast room, a faint smile playing over his lips as he fiddled with his collar. He paused in the doorway, "Good morning Mamma, Papa . . ." he bowed to both of them. The two smiled back, Papa smiled broad and knowingly, Mamma smiled small and faintly amused. Both were getting older, streaks of white spilling in their hair. Mamma wore her white swirls with pride, while Papa complained none stop about them. Ruby bounced into the room again, just as Yue slid into his seat, "Hey Yue!"

Yue winced slightly, "Please don't wake the dead, Ruby . . ."

"Huh?!" She frowned and shook her head, "Anyway, did *you* hear Clow's nightmare last night?" He glanced at the kitchen door, Clow's humming floating out, and shook his head, Ruby grinned, "Really? Because he was dreaming about you!" She wrinkled her nose, "'least . . . I think so . . ."

"Me?" Yue looked up, as he poured a cup of tea for himself, he spoke cautiously as he questioned, "What did you hear?"

Clow stepped in as Ruby began to giggle, "Clow must have been really scared because he yelled . . ." she closed her eyes and enthused, mimicking as best she could, "My angel! Oh, my angel!!"

Yue looked at her evenly, "I heard that . . ." he set the pot down easily, "In fact he was nightmareing in my bed . . ."

"Really?" Ruby leant forward, as Clow climbed onto the bench to get past her, he sat between her and Keroberos and grabbed a few slices of toast. She turned to the young magician, "You're nineteen . . . and you still sleep in Yue's bed at night?"

"Yes . . ." Clow blushed slightly, but not for the reason Ruby thought he was, "But only when I have a nightmare. . ." he licked his dry lips, and motioned for Spinel to pass the butter, "Yue doesn't mind . . ."

"Doesn't it wake you up?" Ruby looked at Yue quizzically, "It would wake me up if Clow started to shout out my name in my ear every night . . ."

"Oh . . ." Yue's lilac eyes flicked up, an amused sparkle twinkled slyly, "I don't mind if Clow comes to me every night . . ."

Clow's blue eyes narrowed as he glared at his angel over his spectacles. Papa smiled broadly, and tapped his knife against his tea cup, "One, nil . . ." he muttered quietly.

Keroberos, Spinel and Ruby blinked as they looked at Mamma as she snapped quietly under her breathe, "Eriol!"

Papa shrugged and looked at Clow, "Son . . . are you going to take that lying down?"

"Don't worry . . ." Clow smiled slightly, he glanced from his father to Yue, "I could take Yue lying down anytime . . ."

Another tap of Papa's knife on the teacup, a mutter of ". . . one all . . ." and Mamma shaking her head disapprovingly, "Eriol!"

"I'm not sure you could . . ." Yue got into the game too, his brothers and sister perplexed, "I'm not sure you could get me to go down on you . . ."

::Tink::

"Two one . . ."

"Eriol!"

Clow nodded, he leant forward and rested his chin on his knuckles, "But Yue . . . when there are monsters under my bed, you've got to get down on your hands and knees . . ." he nodded and sat back, "You're so good at it, I always have to come to you. . ."

::Tink::

"Two all . . ."

"Eriol! Stop encouraging them!"

"You're right there . . ." Yue sighed, he leant back, "Maybe I should get some nightmares . . . and then I could come to you . . ."

::Tink::

"Three Two . . . time please gentlemen . . ."

"Eh-ri-ol!" Mamma glared at him, "Stop it!"

"I am, my dear . . ." Papa chuckled quietly, "Last shots gentlemen . . . a battleship must be sunk . . ."

"Are we playing battleships?" Spinel looked between the four, "What game are you playing?"

Clow smiled smugly, "Just a simple game of control . . ." he shrugged and smiled at Yue as the angel sipped at his tea, timing his comment perfectly, "At which Yue sucks, and he's throwing off my concentration . . ."

The angel made a small choking noise, and his teacup joggled in his hands. Mamma glared her son, as his father chuckled, lifting his knife. Yue set down his teacup gently, and made a small motion with his hand, Papa nodded and waited for Yue's comment. The angel was utterly calm as he lifted the teapot, and stood. He smiled slightly as he felt all eyes turn on him, waiting for this last shot. He walked around the bench as if walking to the kitchen before he paused and leant between Clow and Ruby, murmuring into Clow's ear silkily, "Maybe I should do it harder . . . make you lose the game . . ."

That did it.

Clow's mouth fell open, his blue eyes widen with surprise and the tip of his ears went a flaming beetroot red.

::Tink::::Tink::

"Final call," Papa chuckled, "Yue four . . . Clow three . . ."

"Eriol!" Mamma slapped the back of his hand lightly, "To encourage such behaviour . . ."

Yue straightened and swept out of the room gracefully. Clow sat there for a moment, his blush spreading to his cheeks as his three other creations turned their quizzically gaze on him. Keroberos was squinting, he didn't get it at all . . . Ruby was looking like she didn't know either but was determined to find out and Spinel . . . Clow winced, Spinel looked like he got it but didn't believe it . . .

"I'm going to get more toast!" Clow jumped up, then muttered under his breathe, "And Yue . . ."

Clow sighed, as he checked his robes again. "Are you sure it looks all right?"

"You look like you have no arms, but yes . . ." Yue demurred as he brushed Clow's hair, he leant over and peered into the magician's eyes through the mirror, "You look very handsome . . ."

The magician chuckled, as Yue bent over and nibbled at his ear. Even after six years of this, their love and passion for each other had never died. Clow had grown in to a very handsome man, and towered over all his creations and his mother, he was only slightly shorter than his father, and had taken to wearing his reading spectacles all the time. Yue had only grown a little, retaining a very youthful appearance, and Clow loved him a lot. His brothers and sister had also grown a little, Keroberos had put on a bit of weight, Spinel had had a bit of a growth spurt, standing a little taller than the lion. Ruby had taken to caring a lot for her hair, grown long beautiful legs, and maintained herself very well. Clow swivelled in his seat, and smiled up, sharing a deep kiss, "I love you, my angel . . ."

"I love you too . . . Klo!"

Clow growled playfully, "I'll get you for that later . . ." He stood, and grabbed his favourite tie and knotting it quickly around his long black hair. He leant over and checked it in the mirror, he chuckled as he caught Yue's expression, "What?"

"You always do that!" Yue put down the hairbrush and moved to the window to open it, "You always make it look like I don't even brush your hair for you . . ."

The young magician chuckled slightly as Yue started to frown as he gazed out the window, Clow turned away and picked up his key of magic, slipping it into his pocket as he explained, "I like my hair like—"

"Clow!!" Keroberos burst into the room, the lion was panting, "Come quickly!! It's Papa!!"

Clow glanced at Yue, the angel was climbing out the window, Clow ran over as Yue leapt out and flew down quickly. His mother's voice was plain as she screamed, Clow looked down. His father was lying beside the coach, Clow's creations surrounding him. Clow's eyes widened with fear as he span and ran out the room.

"Papa!!"

"It's his heart . . ."

Doctor Louison murmured as he stepped out the room, he closed the door, and glanced at Clow and his mother. "He . . ." Louison sighed, and tried to break it too them gently. Papa was dying, he said, his old heart had given out, and despite and medication, magical or Muggle, Papa wouldn't live for very long. Clow held his mother's shoulder as she swooned against him. She shook her head, turned away from the doctor and buried her face into Clow's new robes. She wept quietly as Clow asked how long.

Not long.

"Not long?" Keroberos asked as he sat in Yue's room, he looked at Spinel, "How long's that?"

The blue cat sighed, "I don't know . . . he's dying . . ." He shook his head, "I can't believe it . . ." He hopped on to Yue's bed where Ruby was sobbing her eyes out. She had buried her face into a pillow in Yue's lap and was crying hard, as the angel explained in quiet tones, that Papa was leaving them.

Clow sat beside his father.

He clasped his hands in his lap, and looked around his parents' room. It was filled with Papa's western ornaments and Mamma's eastern charms, and with the hundreds of books they had collected over their years together, his father confiding that that was how they met, in a bookshop searching for the same book. Their large four poster bed took precedence, and Clow could remember almost every time he had come screaming into this room after a nightmare . . . before his creations had come into his life, after that, he didn't seem to have any nightmares.

His Papa's breathing was loud and raspy, breaking him out of his inner musings.

"Papa . . .?" Clow murmured, he looked at his father, his deep blue eyes closed, his almost white hair making his skin look pallid. "I know you can hear me . . ." he sighed, "I'm going to miss you . . . and I know Mamma will too . . . we all will . . ."

"Ashes to ashes . . ."

Mamma closed her eyes, and dipped her head. The father's voice faded from her hearing. She bit her lip and closed her eyes, swaying slightly as the funeral continued.

". . . dust to dust . . ."

Papa, Eriol Clow Reed, had died upon a fine winter morning, with all his family around and his loving wife holding his hand. His son was the one who arranged his funeral, and had taken his place in the household. His son had been the one who had comforted his wife, his son's creations the ones who comforted his son in the dark hours. Clow didn't want his Mamma to feel any more burdened, so tried to keep a strong disposition up for her.

Lady Junnifer Marianna Reed, GrandMamma, who attended the funeral of her own son with the gentle care of her daughter, lived for another four years, before passing away in her sleep, a ripe old age of ninety-six. Auntie Antoinette, Lady Antoinette Marianna Reed came to live with Clow and his family, and died unmarried, without children, she played with Ruby moon everyday, always giving her fantastical hair arrangements. She would plait Ruby's hair, and did so the night she died, and the butterfly girl mourned her death deeply. She undid every plait, except one and never removed it.

Mah-Sung-Lin Li-Reed, Mamma, died some ten years after her husband. She died, quite fittingly, sleeping under Clow's favourite cherry tree, her head resting on Yue's shoulder as he read aloud for her. The angel finished the book, closed it, and sat still with her. He gazed at the moon as he cried silently for an hour, then carried her back to the mansion. Clow and his four guardians buried her with her husband, then travelled to Japan. Clow used one of his last creations to shrink the cherry tree. It was the only thing he took with him, aside from his clothes, his mother and father's prized library and guardians from the mansion. He never returned to England, and only once travelled to China. He settled in Japan, in a small mansion away from the major towns. He planted the cherry tree, and returned it to it's proper sized, again using his one of his last creations. The Mage, his Angel, his two winged cats and his Butterfly Girl lived in the house, alone, rarely travelling to the towns, spending their days, weeks, months, years tending to mansions' vast gardens.

Clow Reed, like his Auntie Antoinette, died unmarried and without child. His guardians buried him alone, in a pretty place, with no gravestone. They couldn't bring themselves to accept their creator's death so, instead each cut a lock of hair, took their most favourite of his possessions . . . Yue's was Clow's Hairbrush, Keroberos chose the first book Clow ever read to him, Spinel's was Clow's favourite tea cup and saucer and Ruby chose a bag of each guardian's favourite flavoured jellybean, knowing Clow loved them all . . . and buried them with the old mage. The reed name died with him, and his last creation, a set of cards sealed in a book. A month after his death, Doctor Lousion received notice from Clow's creations, with a small sum of money as payment, stating that it was Clow's last wish that Lousion care for the Clow book, until death. It also stated that there would be another book and a board compass beside the Clow, and that Lousion was to deliver the book to one of Clow's father's old associates, a Mister Benthan Hiirawagizawa or his closest living relatives and send the Compass to the Li Family of China, but to give them nothing else. Finally it stated that the four Guardians would not be there to await his arrival, simply that they were ready to sleep without Clow.

It was signed by Yue with his name as a single Chinese character, the letter had been written by the angel, his neat handwriting only slightly illegible on the final line. His brother, Keroberos signed with an inky 'Kerbers', Spinel managed an inky double 'S' and Ruby Moon was merely 'Ruby'.

Doctor Lousion set off the day after he received the letter. He arrived at the mansion, finding it as if the occupants had only just finished what they were doing. Dishes lay dried and stacked ready to be put away, there were footprints and paw prints in the flowerbeds, and all the bedrooms were locked. Clow's study's door was wide open, the two books and the strange looking compass lying on his desk as stated in the letter.

One book, The Clow, held Keroberos on the front, and a simple winged crescent moon on the back. It was locked, and there was no key in sight. He placed this book in his bag carefully, as he picked up the other. This book was tied with Clow's deep purple hair tie, a letter addressed to Mister Benthan Hiirawagizawa carefully put on top. This book was also locked, the letter no doubt containing instructions how to open it.

The good doctor did as he was told, never once yielding the all powerful Li family as they demanded possession of Clow Reed's last creations. He kept the Clow locked in a drawer in his study and the book containing the two guardians, Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun, was handed down the Hiirawagizawa family, with every child instructed to hold it, and ask for the guardians to wake up and help them. The book never opened, and it was handed to the next generation, after two centuries, the guardians became a good luck charm, and the questioning became a family tradition and never taken very seriously.

The Clow book was stolen three generations after the good doctor died, and was traced to the black market in Germany by the Li's, once there the Li's lost the book. It was never recovered, after it was discovered that it could not be open, and that the gold on it's cover couldn't be removed, the book was sold in France, then taken to Egypt, stolen again and found itself smuggled to Osaka, Japan for a few decades, it's very existence passing into folklore and myth.

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And Now It's Time To Leave It To Doctor Mega---

Clow: [strangling DrM homer-style] WHY YOU LITTLE--!!!!

DrM: [choking] GACK!!

Clow: [irate] WHY DO YOU HAVE THIS BLOODY FIXATION ON KILLING ME?! DAMN YOU!! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!!

DrM: [going blue] ACK!! Please –GACK- Readers. . . must. . . –ACCK- . . . R&R. . . Two More chapters. . . left . . .

Clow: [crazy] I kill you, see how you like it!!