A/N: My thanks go out to my beta half Ping who picked me up on how speedy
this chapter was, believe it or not I have tried to slow it down but
without much success.
Btw, 'Lexicon' is the original name for dictionaries.
To Eclipse The Sun and Embrace The Moon. By Clow'd9
DISCLAIMER: Uzume is my own creation. I don't own any of the other characters. . .CLAMP beat me to it.
Chapter 2 - Out Manoeuvred
When Yue awoke Clow was gone and he quickly made the connection that he needed his Master with him in order to sleep. He was perfectly at ease with that conclusion as he stood up on the bed and walked to the edge. It was actually quite a long way down and he was surprised Clow had jumped down without him hearing it. He hopped down and landed a little awkwardly since his sash had unravelled. He frowned at the offending article and after attempting unsuccessfully to rearrange it he set off after his master.
Clow looked up from scratching Kero's stomach when his other Guardian entered the kitchen.
"Good morning Yue." The creation smiled shyly and bowed in the doorway seeming hesitant about entering the unfamiliar room. Eventually he walked forward and held out his fallen sash.
"I couldn't fix it."
The mage stood and took the fabric in his hands. "I'll show you."
Yue concentrated briefly as he was shown how to arrange the material, but his sharp mind picked it up instantly and he began focusing on other things.
He'd never been in this room before although he believed his brother spent quite a lot of his time in it. The air smelled. . .strange.
When Clow stood back to check the robes were immaculate once more he noticed the distracted expression.
"This is the kitchen, it's where we eat."
This time he was perfectly prepared for the curios expression as he said the last word.
"Humans have to eat to stay alive but Guardians can eat for enjoyment."
"Oh?"
Kero's nose twitched and rose indicating that his food was ready. Yue watched his Master bustle industriously around the worktops before returning and placing a bowl of heated contents in front of the Sun Guardian. The angel felt slightly sick as the cub buried his muzzle and ate noisily.
"What is that?"
"Meat."
Pale skin became even paler. "From an animal?"
Clow nodded slowly. "Yes."
Yue swallowed. "Do you eat. . .that?"
"Not very often, my mother raised me on vegetables more than anything, and rice of course."
"What are you eating now?"
"I like fruit in the morning." He walked Yue over to the table and showed him the selection of fruit. "Choose whatever you like, that's a banana, an apple, an orange, a pear, no pineapple I'm afraid and- oh I know what you'd like!" He disappeared for a moment then came back with a small basket of glossy red fruit.
"These are strawberries." He held one out. "Try one."
The Guardian took it and studied it as it rolled on his palm before Clow took the initiative and ate one himself. Yue soon followed his example and bit into the ripe flesh.
He chewed slowly at first and then faster with eyes that became wider and wider with each taste. He didn't even bother biting the remaining piece and instead popped the whole thing in his mouth making Clow very glad he had already removed the stalk.
The mouthful caused a droplet of pink juice to run down his chin before Clow collected it onto his fingertip. He licked it from the digit without thinking about it so intent was he on the Moon Guardians expression. The amethyst eyes were half closed in pleasure.
"Nice?" The mage queried, his voice laden with humour.
"Mmmmm."
"More?"
"Mmmmm."
It pleased Clow to see the Guardian relax, his stance became less rigid, his speech less controlled and by the afternoon he had stopped bowing continually.
When lunchtime came Yue had tried all the other fruits and was quite partial to apples and pears but was now wary of oranges after having his first taste of one and finding it to be a rather sharp and sour example.
He wasn't overly fond of bananas although they appeared to be the one fruit his brother would touch. By now there were no strawberries left and he stated very simply and politely but with the insistence of any newborn that he wanted more strawberries. When Clow had seen a pout emerging he'd conceded and taken them for their first trip outdoors.
"No Kero, leave the butterfly alone." The furred ears twitched back and forth detecting each new sound, from the butterfly to the grasshopper, the tall plant stems to the goldfish in the pond. Yue was equally insatiable as he trailed his fingers across the waters surface jumping slightly when daring pond life darted across the depths. He was sat on the stone edge his toes curling into the springy grass since being assured that it was perfectly safe to let it "stab" his bare feet. When he lifted his hand it was dripping and Clow came forward to dry it off with the dark fabric of his sleeve.
"Thank-you Master."
Clow frowned, partly because he had just realised that soon he would have to teach Yue how to bathe and also because of the formality.
"Why do you call me 'Master'?"
"Because you are, you said so."
"I did?"
"Yes. You said you were the Master of this house."
"Of this building maybe but not of you, not of a person."
"I like it."
"Oh. . ." Clow was a little startled by that. "Don't you think you could call me by my given name?"
The silver head cocked to the side consideringly. "Is that what you would wish?"
The mage hesitated, if he said yes the Guardian would take it as a command, which would defeat the whole object.
"When *you* wish to call me Clow please do so."
The pale mouth lengthened into a broad smile. "I will."
"An kou." Clow blinked he'd been about to say those words but quite obviously that wasn't his voice.
"Kero? Where are you?"
"Are you?" The cub called back to him for once pronouncing the monosyllables correctly and revealing his hidden position to the acute hearing of his brother.
"He's over there." Yue pointed starting to walk forward.
He squinted slightly before spotting a patch of golden fluff. "Yue's going to get you."
"Et tu?" Clow laughed, the cub could barely speak English and now he was unwittingly using French.
"Oui." He replied.
The Moon Guardian beside him looked blank. "We?" The being couldn't help but let his cool blood warm at the sight of his creator laughing so heartily even if he had no idea of the cause.
It took rather a while to collect the strawberries, hours in fact, in which time Clow exhausted his knowledge of games to teach, they started with hide and seek but moved on to a game of chase when Yue found it almost impossible to blend in with his silver hair, white robes and stark aura. At first running also proved a problem because he hair kept snagging on the overgrown vegetation of the garden, one task he found a great talent for was stone skimming and soon surpassed his teacher. Yue basked in the approval and Clow would have had to be blind to miss the radiant smile and contented expression in the exotic eyes as they trudged happily but wearily back to the mansion. Half way back Kero promptly slumped down to sleep and was carried but his brother.
While the sun was setting Clow was in his study mulling over the cards, only about two thirds had faces the rest were incomplete designs. . .Uzume was the artistic one. Strange, thinking about her should bring him pain but instead he felt sadness and regret, sadness naturally that she had died so young and regret that he had not found her or that she had not come to him sooner. . .perhaps that was why the grief was not so over-whelming. He'd truly lost her two years ago and he'd suffered then, he'd cried then, that was when he first began letting go, now he had-.
"Master?"
The mage looked up suddenly, Yue was stealthier than a cat. "Yue" He greeted and motioned for the creation to enter.
"I am sorry to disturb you."
"You're never a disturbance Yue." Well in truth he was a form of *disturbance* but a very pleasant one really. . .a six day old one, he reminded himself.
"I came to get a book or-."
"Two?" Clow guessed.
Yue nodded looking oddly bashful.
"Help yourself."
He watched the slender figure walk to the shelves and return a book, goodness he read fast!
"What is the one you've just read called?"
"The Lexicon."
Clow covered his smile discreetly behind his hand. "That one isn't a reading book Yue."
"No but it taught me a lot, if I had read it before I would have known about sleeping and eating."
"What did you learn about sleep?"
The Guardian stood straighter and recited his 'lesson.' "The verb 'to sleep' meaning to surrender consciousness."
The sorcerer raised an eyebrow. "Do you think that would have been enough to teach you how to sleep?"
"Well. . .no." Yue admitted.
"Books are not everything Yue, people make the best teachers, you need only ask me, anything, and I'll try to explain it to you."
The Guardian bit his lip and Clow waited patiently for whatever question he was inevitably going to ask.fortunately when it came it was nothing difficult.
"Master. . .what made you laugh in the garden earlier today? When Kero said 'get you'?"
"The way he pronounced it was the same as the French for 'and you'."
"Do you speak French?" Yue approached with far less caution than usual his eyes wide with interest.
Clow grimaced self-depreciatingly. "Not perfectly like I do Chinese and Latin."
"Chinese?"
"Yes my mother is Chinese but my father is English so I grew up speaking both."
Again the white teeth appeared to capture the lower lip. "Could you teach me?"
"Which one?"
"All of them."
"I can certainly try Yue."
The being thought for a moment while looking at the library stacks. "I can learn the other languages from books"
Clow restrained a chuckle, this one would probably always retreat to his books. "There are rather a lot of languages in the world Yue."
The pale brow puckered into a frown before smoothing out once more. "Then I will start tonight."
A smile managed to escape as the mage replied. "Well I'm teaching myself Japanese at the moment. . .I'm not quite sure why, fascinating culture, you can make a start on that and here's some Latin poetry you might want to familiarize yourself with before we start lessons okay?"
Both books were close at hand, the poetry volume worn from much use as he passed them to the Guardian.
"Are you going to bed now?"
The lavender eyes showed confusion. "No, I am going to read."
"What I meant was, are you going to read in bed?"
"How can I read when I am asleep?"
The mage smiled inwardly. "You don't have to sleep Yue, a bed is just somewhere you can sleep should you wish to."
"I. . .see."
He was looking back at the dictionary now and it was perfectly obvious he didn't 'see' but Clow wished him a goodnight anyway.
Three hours later he rose a little stiffly from his red leather chair and carrying the flickering taper candle carefully he made his way to his room where, checking once on the sleeping bundle that was his Sun Guardian and thinking more than once of his Moon Guardian he climbed and settled into the large bed and lay staring up at the rather decadent canopy.
Yue frowned at the dark blue ceiling of his bedroom, something was wrong, he couldn't even get his eyes to stay closed because they kept popping back open.perhaps he was defective. He'd being trying for the last hour to sleep and although a slow process he had seemed to be making progress until he heard his Master pad down the hallway and into his own room. Now he was wide-awake and his bed was not half as warm as he remembered it having been last night.
The Master would know what was wrong. With a resolved nod to nobody in particular Yue climbed off the bed and exited his room.
The mage if the house was having difficulty relaxing when his doorway opened to reveal a vision. Uzume? He almost said the name aloud until he recognised the brilliant sight as Yue. . .strangely the expected stab of disappointment never struck as he raised an enquiring eyebrow.
"What is it Yue?"
The room should have been completely dark but the Moon Guardian's presence flooded it with a soft natural light that didn't offend the human's unfocused eyes.
The glowing creation began hesitantly. "My. . .my bed doesn't work without you. Do you think it's broken?"
Clow sat up so suddenly the covers fell to his waist, rather than the embarrassment he had expected Yue's gaze was one of rapt curiosity as he walked towards the bed and climbed upon it.
Amethyst eyes roved across the mages bare chest. "You've changed your robes. . ." Reaching across his fingers stroked the strange fabric enraptured as it seemed to ripple beneath his touch. "This is very nice."
"I-its my skin Yue."
"It is?"
"Yes."
"Are you like that all over?"
"Yes."
"Am I?" The Guardian tugged at his collar as if to look beneath.
"Y-yes."
Yue splayed his hand over his Master's chest noting the contrast between their skin tones. Clow himself was quite pale but the Moon Guardian was unnaturally so, he only managed the look because of his equally light hair color. "No. I am different."
"Yes, but you're like that all over Yue."
"But I want this." He curled his fingers into the defined chest. He meant of course that he wanted darker skin and indeed for the rest of his life he would be most attracted to those with it.
"But fair skin is far more beautiful Yue." A huskier note was creeping in on his voice and anyone other than Yue would have recognised what it indicated.
"Even more beautiful than yours?"
Clow's heart skipped several beats. "Yes."
Yue smiled. "Then I must be very beautiful." He wasn't capable of vanity but the unintentional flattery was extremely endearing.
The mage stroked one perfect cheek. "You are. . ." He whispered and leaned to press a kiss against the smooth forehead. "Incredibly beautiful." He heard a loud purring and assumed Kero must be dreaming about something edible until he leant back and saw the pronounced glow in Yue's eyes, his cat eyes.
"You're purring!"
The being seemed to shiver and smiled delightedly. "I liked that."
"What?"
Yue leaning close and kissed the other mans brow. "That." He declared. "Do you like it?"
"Yes." His Master rasped.
Yue looked pleased and immediately planted a kiss on his cheek. "And that?"
Clow had lost his voice so he nodded instead.
"Will you kiss me there?" Yue pointed to his own cheek and after thinking briefly and deciding there could be no harm in it the mage did as requested.
After he drew back the Guardian gazed at him for a while before concentrating consideringly on Clow's mouth. When he spoke his voice contained a small catch as he pressed his index finger to his lips. "Kiss me here." He instructed and recklessly Clow obliged.
Regaining some control in the last moments the mage managed to keep the kiss as chaste and close-mouthed as it is possible when you have your fantasy in bed with you.
For his part kissing did not come naturally to Yue but then he wasn't a natural being. It took less than an instant to decide that it felt wonderful to have his Master touch him like this but his response was based on experimentation not instinct. Clow tried not to smile as Yue pecked repeatedly at his lips rather than keeping his own in place. This unskilled demonstration however, did not cool his ardor, far from it, but it enabled him to decide there and then to wait. He would accept whatever advances the Guardian made without openly initiating them
Yue rocked back on his heals and sighed, Clow swallowed when he licked his lips. "You taste even nicer than strawberries."
"Thank. . .thank-yo-." His words were muffled when Yue suddenly thrust his head beneath the mages chin, nuzzling persistently and beginning to purr even louder than before. From his cozy basket Kero roused and blinked hazily at the feline sound.
"Et tu." He muttered sleepily and launched himself out of his nest and onto the towering bed. Clow groaned, Yue purred, Kero mewled.
Surprisingly the cub did not start chewing his Master's fingers in the way that meant he was hungry but instead started nuzzling his hand where it lay dwarfing the Guardian Beast on the coverlet. Soon there were two sets of purrs and Clow was able to recognize Yue's action of rubbing himself against his neck as being identical to what Kero was doing to his hand.
Eventually the feline affection ceased as Kero curled into his side and slept while Yue's silver head finally came to rest over the human's heart. The purring slowed, as did the Moon Guardian's breathing. His voice emerged sleepy and content, "Your bed works."
"Excuse me?"
"It's making me sleepy." As if to prove his words the Angel yawned delicately and snuggled closer against the warm chest. He was making himself comfortable for sleep!
"You can't sleep here Yue."
Yue blew his bangs from his eyes and pondered at the goose bumps that rose along Master's smooth skin. "Keroberos sleeps here."
"But you're-."
"You said I was never a disturbance. . ."
Clow sighed, out maneuvered by his own creation and betrayed by his own heart as he drew the lithe figure against him and covered them both with the blanket.
"Very well." He mumbled, the resignation tempered with a smile. Yue snuggled deeper sighing in triumphant satisfaction.
"Thank-you. . .Clow."
* I have a very *slight* fixation with the idea of Yue purring.actually I shiver just to think of it. . .cue convenient shiver See? I like reviews too. . .
To Eclipse The Sun and Embrace The Moon. By Clow'd9
DISCLAIMER: Uzume is my own creation. I don't own any of the other characters. . .CLAMP beat me to it.
Chapter 2 - Out Manoeuvred
When Yue awoke Clow was gone and he quickly made the connection that he needed his Master with him in order to sleep. He was perfectly at ease with that conclusion as he stood up on the bed and walked to the edge. It was actually quite a long way down and he was surprised Clow had jumped down without him hearing it. He hopped down and landed a little awkwardly since his sash had unravelled. He frowned at the offending article and after attempting unsuccessfully to rearrange it he set off after his master.
Clow looked up from scratching Kero's stomach when his other Guardian entered the kitchen.
"Good morning Yue." The creation smiled shyly and bowed in the doorway seeming hesitant about entering the unfamiliar room. Eventually he walked forward and held out his fallen sash.
"I couldn't fix it."
The mage stood and took the fabric in his hands. "I'll show you."
Yue concentrated briefly as he was shown how to arrange the material, but his sharp mind picked it up instantly and he began focusing on other things.
He'd never been in this room before although he believed his brother spent quite a lot of his time in it. The air smelled. . .strange.
When Clow stood back to check the robes were immaculate once more he noticed the distracted expression.
"This is the kitchen, it's where we eat."
This time he was perfectly prepared for the curios expression as he said the last word.
"Humans have to eat to stay alive but Guardians can eat for enjoyment."
"Oh?"
Kero's nose twitched and rose indicating that his food was ready. Yue watched his Master bustle industriously around the worktops before returning and placing a bowl of heated contents in front of the Sun Guardian. The angel felt slightly sick as the cub buried his muzzle and ate noisily.
"What is that?"
"Meat."
Pale skin became even paler. "From an animal?"
Clow nodded slowly. "Yes."
Yue swallowed. "Do you eat. . .that?"
"Not very often, my mother raised me on vegetables more than anything, and rice of course."
"What are you eating now?"
"I like fruit in the morning." He walked Yue over to the table and showed him the selection of fruit. "Choose whatever you like, that's a banana, an apple, an orange, a pear, no pineapple I'm afraid and- oh I know what you'd like!" He disappeared for a moment then came back with a small basket of glossy red fruit.
"These are strawberries." He held one out. "Try one."
The Guardian took it and studied it as it rolled on his palm before Clow took the initiative and ate one himself. Yue soon followed his example and bit into the ripe flesh.
He chewed slowly at first and then faster with eyes that became wider and wider with each taste. He didn't even bother biting the remaining piece and instead popped the whole thing in his mouth making Clow very glad he had already removed the stalk.
The mouthful caused a droplet of pink juice to run down his chin before Clow collected it onto his fingertip. He licked it from the digit without thinking about it so intent was he on the Moon Guardians expression. The amethyst eyes were half closed in pleasure.
"Nice?" The mage queried, his voice laden with humour.
"Mmmmm."
"More?"
"Mmmmm."
It pleased Clow to see the Guardian relax, his stance became less rigid, his speech less controlled and by the afternoon he had stopped bowing continually.
When lunchtime came Yue had tried all the other fruits and was quite partial to apples and pears but was now wary of oranges after having his first taste of one and finding it to be a rather sharp and sour example.
He wasn't overly fond of bananas although they appeared to be the one fruit his brother would touch. By now there were no strawberries left and he stated very simply and politely but with the insistence of any newborn that he wanted more strawberries. When Clow had seen a pout emerging he'd conceded and taken them for their first trip outdoors.
"No Kero, leave the butterfly alone." The furred ears twitched back and forth detecting each new sound, from the butterfly to the grasshopper, the tall plant stems to the goldfish in the pond. Yue was equally insatiable as he trailed his fingers across the waters surface jumping slightly when daring pond life darted across the depths. He was sat on the stone edge his toes curling into the springy grass since being assured that it was perfectly safe to let it "stab" his bare feet. When he lifted his hand it was dripping and Clow came forward to dry it off with the dark fabric of his sleeve.
"Thank-you Master."
Clow frowned, partly because he had just realised that soon he would have to teach Yue how to bathe and also because of the formality.
"Why do you call me 'Master'?"
"Because you are, you said so."
"I did?"
"Yes. You said you were the Master of this house."
"Of this building maybe but not of you, not of a person."
"I like it."
"Oh. . ." Clow was a little startled by that. "Don't you think you could call me by my given name?"
The silver head cocked to the side consideringly. "Is that what you would wish?"
The mage hesitated, if he said yes the Guardian would take it as a command, which would defeat the whole object.
"When *you* wish to call me Clow please do so."
The pale mouth lengthened into a broad smile. "I will."
"An kou." Clow blinked he'd been about to say those words but quite obviously that wasn't his voice.
"Kero? Where are you?"
"Are you?" The cub called back to him for once pronouncing the monosyllables correctly and revealing his hidden position to the acute hearing of his brother.
"He's over there." Yue pointed starting to walk forward.
He squinted slightly before spotting a patch of golden fluff. "Yue's going to get you."
"Et tu?" Clow laughed, the cub could barely speak English and now he was unwittingly using French.
"Oui." He replied.
The Moon Guardian beside him looked blank. "We?" The being couldn't help but let his cool blood warm at the sight of his creator laughing so heartily even if he had no idea of the cause.
It took rather a while to collect the strawberries, hours in fact, in which time Clow exhausted his knowledge of games to teach, they started with hide and seek but moved on to a game of chase when Yue found it almost impossible to blend in with his silver hair, white robes and stark aura. At first running also proved a problem because he hair kept snagging on the overgrown vegetation of the garden, one task he found a great talent for was stone skimming and soon surpassed his teacher. Yue basked in the approval and Clow would have had to be blind to miss the radiant smile and contented expression in the exotic eyes as they trudged happily but wearily back to the mansion. Half way back Kero promptly slumped down to sleep and was carried but his brother.
While the sun was setting Clow was in his study mulling over the cards, only about two thirds had faces the rest were incomplete designs. . .Uzume was the artistic one. Strange, thinking about her should bring him pain but instead he felt sadness and regret, sadness naturally that she had died so young and regret that he had not found her or that she had not come to him sooner. . .perhaps that was why the grief was not so over-whelming. He'd truly lost her two years ago and he'd suffered then, he'd cried then, that was when he first began letting go, now he had-.
"Master?"
The mage looked up suddenly, Yue was stealthier than a cat. "Yue" He greeted and motioned for the creation to enter.
"I am sorry to disturb you."
"You're never a disturbance Yue." Well in truth he was a form of *disturbance* but a very pleasant one really. . .a six day old one, he reminded himself.
"I came to get a book or-."
"Two?" Clow guessed.
Yue nodded looking oddly bashful.
"Help yourself."
He watched the slender figure walk to the shelves and return a book, goodness he read fast!
"What is the one you've just read called?"
"The Lexicon."
Clow covered his smile discreetly behind his hand. "That one isn't a reading book Yue."
"No but it taught me a lot, if I had read it before I would have known about sleeping and eating."
"What did you learn about sleep?"
The Guardian stood straighter and recited his 'lesson.' "The verb 'to sleep' meaning to surrender consciousness."
The sorcerer raised an eyebrow. "Do you think that would have been enough to teach you how to sleep?"
"Well. . .no." Yue admitted.
"Books are not everything Yue, people make the best teachers, you need only ask me, anything, and I'll try to explain it to you."
The Guardian bit his lip and Clow waited patiently for whatever question he was inevitably going to ask.fortunately when it came it was nothing difficult.
"Master. . .what made you laugh in the garden earlier today? When Kero said 'get you'?"
"The way he pronounced it was the same as the French for 'and you'."
"Do you speak French?" Yue approached with far less caution than usual his eyes wide with interest.
Clow grimaced self-depreciatingly. "Not perfectly like I do Chinese and Latin."
"Chinese?"
"Yes my mother is Chinese but my father is English so I grew up speaking both."
Again the white teeth appeared to capture the lower lip. "Could you teach me?"
"Which one?"
"All of them."
"I can certainly try Yue."
The being thought for a moment while looking at the library stacks. "I can learn the other languages from books"
Clow restrained a chuckle, this one would probably always retreat to his books. "There are rather a lot of languages in the world Yue."
The pale brow puckered into a frown before smoothing out once more. "Then I will start tonight."
A smile managed to escape as the mage replied. "Well I'm teaching myself Japanese at the moment. . .I'm not quite sure why, fascinating culture, you can make a start on that and here's some Latin poetry you might want to familiarize yourself with before we start lessons okay?"
Both books were close at hand, the poetry volume worn from much use as he passed them to the Guardian.
"Are you going to bed now?"
The lavender eyes showed confusion. "No, I am going to read."
"What I meant was, are you going to read in bed?"
"How can I read when I am asleep?"
The mage smiled inwardly. "You don't have to sleep Yue, a bed is just somewhere you can sleep should you wish to."
"I. . .see."
He was looking back at the dictionary now and it was perfectly obvious he didn't 'see' but Clow wished him a goodnight anyway.
Three hours later he rose a little stiffly from his red leather chair and carrying the flickering taper candle carefully he made his way to his room where, checking once on the sleeping bundle that was his Sun Guardian and thinking more than once of his Moon Guardian he climbed and settled into the large bed and lay staring up at the rather decadent canopy.
Yue frowned at the dark blue ceiling of his bedroom, something was wrong, he couldn't even get his eyes to stay closed because they kept popping back open.perhaps he was defective. He'd being trying for the last hour to sleep and although a slow process he had seemed to be making progress until he heard his Master pad down the hallway and into his own room. Now he was wide-awake and his bed was not half as warm as he remembered it having been last night.
The Master would know what was wrong. With a resolved nod to nobody in particular Yue climbed off the bed and exited his room.
The mage if the house was having difficulty relaxing when his doorway opened to reveal a vision. Uzume? He almost said the name aloud until he recognised the brilliant sight as Yue. . .strangely the expected stab of disappointment never struck as he raised an enquiring eyebrow.
"What is it Yue?"
The room should have been completely dark but the Moon Guardian's presence flooded it with a soft natural light that didn't offend the human's unfocused eyes.
The glowing creation began hesitantly. "My. . .my bed doesn't work without you. Do you think it's broken?"
Clow sat up so suddenly the covers fell to his waist, rather than the embarrassment he had expected Yue's gaze was one of rapt curiosity as he walked towards the bed and climbed upon it.
Amethyst eyes roved across the mages bare chest. "You've changed your robes. . ." Reaching across his fingers stroked the strange fabric enraptured as it seemed to ripple beneath his touch. "This is very nice."
"I-its my skin Yue."
"It is?"
"Yes."
"Are you like that all over?"
"Yes."
"Am I?" The Guardian tugged at his collar as if to look beneath.
"Y-yes."
Yue splayed his hand over his Master's chest noting the contrast between their skin tones. Clow himself was quite pale but the Moon Guardian was unnaturally so, he only managed the look because of his equally light hair color. "No. I am different."
"Yes, but you're like that all over Yue."
"But I want this." He curled his fingers into the defined chest. He meant of course that he wanted darker skin and indeed for the rest of his life he would be most attracted to those with it.
"But fair skin is far more beautiful Yue." A huskier note was creeping in on his voice and anyone other than Yue would have recognised what it indicated.
"Even more beautiful than yours?"
Clow's heart skipped several beats. "Yes."
Yue smiled. "Then I must be very beautiful." He wasn't capable of vanity but the unintentional flattery was extremely endearing.
The mage stroked one perfect cheek. "You are. . ." He whispered and leaned to press a kiss against the smooth forehead. "Incredibly beautiful." He heard a loud purring and assumed Kero must be dreaming about something edible until he leant back and saw the pronounced glow in Yue's eyes, his cat eyes.
"You're purring!"
The being seemed to shiver and smiled delightedly. "I liked that."
"What?"
Yue leaning close and kissed the other mans brow. "That." He declared. "Do you like it?"
"Yes." His Master rasped.
Yue looked pleased and immediately planted a kiss on his cheek. "And that?"
Clow had lost his voice so he nodded instead.
"Will you kiss me there?" Yue pointed to his own cheek and after thinking briefly and deciding there could be no harm in it the mage did as requested.
After he drew back the Guardian gazed at him for a while before concentrating consideringly on Clow's mouth. When he spoke his voice contained a small catch as he pressed his index finger to his lips. "Kiss me here." He instructed and recklessly Clow obliged.
Regaining some control in the last moments the mage managed to keep the kiss as chaste and close-mouthed as it is possible when you have your fantasy in bed with you.
For his part kissing did not come naturally to Yue but then he wasn't a natural being. It took less than an instant to decide that it felt wonderful to have his Master touch him like this but his response was based on experimentation not instinct. Clow tried not to smile as Yue pecked repeatedly at his lips rather than keeping his own in place. This unskilled demonstration however, did not cool his ardor, far from it, but it enabled him to decide there and then to wait. He would accept whatever advances the Guardian made without openly initiating them
Yue rocked back on his heals and sighed, Clow swallowed when he licked his lips. "You taste even nicer than strawberries."
"Thank. . .thank-yo-." His words were muffled when Yue suddenly thrust his head beneath the mages chin, nuzzling persistently and beginning to purr even louder than before. From his cozy basket Kero roused and blinked hazily at the feline sound.
"Et tu." He muttered sleepily and launched himself out of his nest and onto the towering bed. Clow groaned, Yue purred, Kero mewled.
Surprisingly the cub did not start chewing his Master's fingers in the way that meant he was hungry but instead started nuzzling his hand where it lay dwarfing the Guardian Beast on the coverlet. Soon there were two sets of purrs and Clow was able to recognize Yue's action of rubbing himself against his neck as being identical to what Kero was doing to his hand.
Eventually the feline affection ceased as Kero curled into his side and slept while Yue's silver head finally came to rest over the human's heart. The purring slowed, as did the Moon Guardian's breathing. His voice emerged sleepy and content, "Your bed works."
"Excuse me?"
"It's making me sleepy." As if to prove his words the Angel yawned delicately and snuggled closer against the warm chest. He was making himself comfortable for sleep!
"You can't sleep here Yue."
Yue blew his bangs from his eyes and pondered at the goose bumps that rose along Master's smooth skin. "Keroberos sleeps here."
"But you're-."
"You said I was never a disturbance. . ."
Clow sighed, out maneuvered by his own creation and betrayed by his own heart as he drew the lithe figure against him and covered them both with the blanket.
"Very well." He mumbled, the resignation tempered with a smile. Yue snuggled deeper sighing in triumphant satisfaction.
"Thank-you. . .Clow."
* I have a very *slight* fixation with the idea of Yue purring.actually I shiver just to think of it. . .cue convenient shiver See? I like reviews too. . .