DISCLAIMER: I don't own any CCS characters, they belong to CLAMP or (very unfortunately) Nelvana, so don't sue me.




The Key of Love and the Static cling that won't go away



The night was much cooler than the afternoon, making the evening much more enjoyable. Rika had been meaning to ask Inanna about the key, but she had forgotten. There had been some qualms about wearing the clothes Inanna had for them, especially with Yue, but after that issue was settled, they had to admit, they were much more comfortable.

Inanna had spent the evening trying to get Yue's attention. He fascinated her. When she thought no one was looking, he eyes hung all over him like a dog greeting his master. Rika noticed though. She was sitting to Inanna's left and sometimes would try to speak to her and would find her gazing at Yue. In truth, Inanna was attracted to him. He was quite different than everyone else in the group and this intrigued her.

She flirted unmercifully with him. Yue had no idea what was going on, except that Inanna kept trying to get his attention and he was uncomfortable with it.

Nakuru, being Nakuru, noticed as well and part of her wanted to help Inanna out, but her more serious side decided that helping Yue would help her out in the long run. So when Inanna had Yue in an awkward spot, she snuck up behind them and glomped Yue.

He wanted to protest, but then realized how this would get Inanna off his back, figuatively. "Yue!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been looking all over for you!!!!!!" she yelled.

"Ruby....Moon.....you're....choking....me.....again...." Yue coughed, trying to pry her arms from his neck.

"Oh...ehehehehe....sorry." She let go of him.

Inanna watched, surprised. She had been under the impression that Yue was unattatched, but then again, this could just be the way those two were around each other.
"Ruby Moon, why is-"

"Oh, Yue, daaaaaah-ling. I missed you." Nakuru was clinging to his arm now.

Yue knew what she was doing now. He owed her. "Nakuru, you just saw me ten minutes ago. What are you talking about?"

"Yes, but I was desolate each of those ten minutes!"

Yue sighed, Nakuru certainly was putting on an excellent performance. He bowed to the queen and excused the two of them. Inanna sighed. Well, there'd be other fish in the sea.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Early the next morning, Inanna woke Rika up and brought in breakfast for her. "I know why you're here."

Rika knew Inanna knew. "Yes."

Inanna took the medalion from around her neck. A pink flower was carved on one side and the written symbol for love on the other. She put it in Rika's hand. "I'm glad to finally be rid of it."

The fervent tone in which Inanna declared her state of mind caught Rika by surprise. "You're glad to get rid of it?"

"I'll bet you're wondering why too." Rika nodded. "Well, when I first inherited the throne, that medalion you're holding in your hands was one of the things that had been in my family for generations. I remember when my father inherited it, a man came and offered my father an alliance. I didn't know then why the man came, but after I became queen, the man came again. He wanted to form an alliance to fend against the Child of Light and the Child of Dark. That's you."

"But you didn't take the offer. Why?"

She leanded back against some coushins and closed her eyes. "He had a bubble of darkness that was always around him. I distrusted him and it almost seemed like the bubble controled him. I didn't want my people and my planet to turn into something like him."

Rika nodded again. She fingered the talisman. "I was half expecting that I'd need to make a speech or write something formal to ask for this."

"And in some places, you will. In some places, you will. You'll want to be careful where you make your presence known. I don't know how many more of those things there are, but I'm sure he's allied himself with a few of them."

"Do you know anything about these?"

Inanna shook her head. "It's just been in my family for generations. The universe is a dangerous place," she added before getting up to leave.

Rika wanted to stop Inanna from leaving, she wanted Inanna to answer her questions. How did they know who she was? Why did they call her Tiriki? Why did she answer to Tiriki? She had never heard that name in her life until yesterday. Then she remembered something more important: what was the name of the dark man?

Life used to be so simple and she had thought it complex. What folly! Rika examined the medalion and chain. The chain could not be unclasped, but the whole necklace could not possibly fit into the box. There was a silver ring around the grey talisman. Rika discovered that the frame was hinged and could be taken apart, and the key could be taken out.

She had brought the box with her. It was in the pants pocket of her old clothes. Taking that out as well as her key, she opened the box and placed the Key of Love in it. She was half expecting something spectacular to happen, but nothing out of the ordinary occured. The box snapped shut with a soft click. She looked at the box again, on the outside, the flower symbolizing Love was sparkling and glowing while the others were dull and subdued. So, she thought to herself, the symbol on the outside will start glowing when I have the right key.

Rika used to want some adventure in life; she'd had her share of adventure now, except, she was unable to turn away until she had finished gathering the keys. One down, five more to go. Hopefully, they would all be as easy as the Key of Love.

To Rika, this box was her past present and future. It was this box that would bring back her world, her life, Tereda....

She wondered how Eriol was handling the loss of Tomoyo. The only thing that kept her from sitting down and giving up was that bringing this box back to Earth with the six keys was her key to living.

Rowan's explination of the earth situation made her life seem almost trivial. Almost. Because she was the keeper of the keys, her life was not trivial. She was born with a purpose. Everyone was born with a purpose. That was what she had grwn up believing. She had questioned her purpose though, until graduation night, when everything changed.

It hurt so much to think that she might never see Yoshiyuki again. Sometimes at night, she could almost feel his arms around her shoulders or her waist, a phantom kiss against her lips or cheek. Even though they had been gone for less than a week, she missed him more than ever and wondered how she had lived without him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

For the rest of their stay on Ishtar, Ruby Moon left Spinel Sun alone, clinging to Yue, to keep him from Inanna. Suppi wanted to know why Yue was suddenly her favorite thing in the world, but was afraid that by asking, he would bring attention to himself and therefore become the object of her "affections" again. Kero, too, noticed the change and said, "Nakuru's hanging onto Yue a lot isn't she?"

Suppi just smiled, basking in the warmth of freedom, "Lucky Yue."

Nakuru clung to Yue all the way up to when they were about to leave. Rika was the last one to board the ship. Inanna kissed both her cheeks and whispered. "Beware of the lizard-man named Sobek." She looked at Yue one last time and then turned away.

After the doors closed, Nakuru heaved a sigh and pushed Yue away. Yue, too was relieved to be relieved of Nakuru. "I hope, I really, truly, dearly hope, that never, ever happens again," Yue sighed. "That was two and a half days I don't want to repeat ever again."

"You owe me, Yue," Nakuru retorted with mock bitterness.

Sakura watched in amusement. "So, either of the two of you want to enlighten us on what was happening?"

"I wish I had a camera. The way Nakuru was hanging on to you was absolutely hilarious," Syaoran commented.

"I'm going to have to agree with you on that one," Eriol said.
"I thought maybe Ruby Moon had contracted some sort of tropical disease," Suppi added, daring to venture close to her.

"I though Yue had gone insane from the heat and embarassment of wearing almost nothing," Kero said.

"Did it have to do with Inanna?" asked Rika.

"It did actually," Nakuru started. There was a jolt as the space ship cleared the atmosphere.

"Then I think I understand..." Rika smiled.

"I still have no clue what's going on," Sakura blinked.

"Inanna was attracted to Yue. I don't know if any of you noticed, but she would look at him like...like...oh, I can't describe it," Rika explained.

"Like a piece of meat she'd like to taste," Yue said miserably.

"And then I saw and I heroically decided to save Yue," Nakuru proclaimed, "although, I'd be lying if I said it was my first choice. I was sorely tempted to encourage the queen, but I decided that if I did, Yue would hate me for the rest of my life."

"It was fine at first, but Ruby Moon, you did get way to clingy near the end."

"Ahhh, yes, the static cling that won't go away," Suppi sagely exlaimed.

Nakuru glared, "I just know you were absolutely desolate without me Suppi dearest," she said snatching the dark-colored guardian from the air. She jumped up and marched to the kitchen. "So, to celebate, I'm going to make all kinds of yummy foods just for you. Isn't that wonderful?"

"No, no, I assure you, Ruby Moon, I'm quite full." Suppi was trying to get out of Nakuru's fist.

"No you aren't."

"Yes I am."

"No you aren't."

Kero flew to Yue and looked at him with puppy eyes. "Make me food too."

"Yue doesn't cook," he coldly said. Yue was obviously back to his old self.

"Don't worry, Kero, there'll be more than enough for you and Suppi!" Nakuru called over her shoulder.

"Noooooooooooooo," was Suppi's faint moan.

After those three were in the kitchen and everyone else was back in normal clothes, Eriol asked Rika, "What was it that Inanna told you?"

"She said 'Beware of the Lizard man named Sobek.' I'm assuming he's the one who tried to make an alliance with her against me."

Sobek. Even his name sounded twisted. "Well the key and the box are safe right?" Syaoran asked.

Rika nodded. "Why don't we not worry about him too much until we have to then?"

"Right. Who knows, we may find out more about him as time goes on."




a/n: Sobek was an Egyptian god with an aligator head. The Egyptians believed he was essentially evil and sacrificed to him a lot. He was also one of the judges of the afterlife. I swear, I made up this character but I couldn't think of a name so I looked in a mythology book and BOOM there it was.