Author's Note: Hola! Gracias, mi amigos! Arigatou! Thank you! (Sorry, struck by a mood....)

Kazune Kikenshi, don't worry, there's plenty more story to come. Kira, thank you. I'm glad you appreciate my take on Ruby Moon. Shadow, I aim to please. I'm so glad you added this to your favorites, thank you! Peacewish, I was hoping to write her return here at the same time as I would write it in Shades of Discovery, but I got a little impatient. They'll be close though I think. I'm trying! ~grins~ L-chan, yes, you may know that there will be some Touya in this story. Or...did you want to be surprised? ~giggles~ Dragonbane, I do understand why E+T is popular, but it's that popularity that rubs me the wrong way and makes me want to stick Eriol with others. What I don't understand is why so many people hate Kaho so much and try to write her as an enemy. Jealous maybe? I don't know. I mean, I like to mix up 'ships, but I won't make Syaoran hate Sakura or the other way around just 'cause I want to put him with, say, Meilin. (Example only! I swear!)

I'm very sorry I took so long to update this story. I found myself at the end of Silent Eyes and set everything else aside to get that one out of the way. I'm writing the others again, I swear! And, of course, I was writing Shades all along...please don't kill me! I hope this chapter can make up for some of that. (And I hope it's good...I'm not so confident with it, but I'm posting anyway. ~sigh~)

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Moon's Dance and Shadow

A Kaho and Eriol story

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Chapter Six

The Return

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I've noticed that in life we seek out those things that will balance us. We're drawn to our missing halves, those things that make us feel complete. It isn't a hard and fast rule of who will end up with who, but I found it fascinating to look at couples and see in what ways they complemented each other.

It was obvious to me that Sakura had a crush on the boy that was helping us clean. I was happily accepting their company and their help, but I was also observing them. They didn't strike me as the type to be exactly drawn to each other, but Sakura couldn't keep her eyes off of him. Then again, she was looking at me the same way, which I found rather amusing.

There was more to this than the eye could see.

I had recovered mostly from having my magic drained, but I was still being very conservative about using it. The blinding headaches had subsided for the most part, but after last night I'd woken up feeling more drained than I should have. Thus, I was extremely grateful for the help this morning.

Stop procrastinating, Kaho. I shook my head and looked, really looked at the boy, who was helping this morning. Sakura had called out his name, Yukito. Indeed, he was different. Like Ruby Moon--no, like Nakuru. The false form.

Is this...is this...Could this be Yue?

It must be.

I wished suddenly that I had asked more questions. I wanted to know more of the story. Yukito and Sakura seemed very similar in so many ways that it made me wonder if Yue was different. Did he complete her?

My mind wandered as we worked our way further and further inward, sweeping. I just couldn't see this Yukito as being the one who would complete Sakura. Not the way she was now. So, what about Yue? Would they fill in the missing spaces in each other? What was his personality like?

The more I thought about it, the more I was sure that Sakura would find someone else. Yukito did not look at Sakura with the same love, but...he looked at her as I imagine I would have looked at her if Touya and I had still been together. A family love, but not one that had grown up together.

And she looked at us both with that happy, silly smile that spoke of girlish crushes and warm fuzzy feelings.

It must be the moon influence. The magic. I smiled, realizing that she was just discovering this pull, and would learn soon why she felt it. She would never be as suspicious of it as her friend, Li-kun, but she'd still learn not to mistake the feeling for love.

"Can I toss this out over there?"

"Yes, thank you," I replied, pulled out of my reverie.

Sakura was glowing with delight again, since our voices had brought her out of her own thoughts. It was so adorable to see. "I'm glad I woke up early," she said with a smile. Then she paused, looking thoughtful. I wondered what she was thinking of with such a serious expression. It didn't seem like her.

Then she noticed I was watching her and blushed, smiling again.

Yes, it must be the moon energy, the magic that makes her smile as if everything was right in the world.

I looked over at Yukito again. It just didn't seem like he would fit with Sakura. He would complete Touya much more than Sakura.

He would?

I wondered where that thought came from. It seemed strange to me to be thinking that way. Yet, thinking again of balance made me think that maybe...just maybe...maybe I had been right. About Touya falling in love. I didn't want to jump to any conclusions, but this was worth further observation.

Did Touya know about Yukito-san and Yue-san?

Oh yes, further observation indeed.

As we finished up I wondered what, if anything, I should say to Sakura.

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In the end I didn't say a word. What could I tell her? Some things just need to be found out in their own time, and I wasn't sure she was ready for something like that. It wasn't my place to say something anyway.

I stared up at the full, rising moon that night as I finished the evening chores. I felt my own energy being renewed as the moon reached apex, and I realized that I was nearly whole again. Just a minor drain of energy. Nothing permanent, nothing damaging, nothing to worry about.

I finally let my awareness spread out again freely. The air was charged with energy and I felt something, a certain expectation, hanging around me. No, it was the tree. Another card lurking here?

I smiled, wondering what this one would do. Tendrils of energy snaked out, pulling me back, back, back....

I didn't fight. I could feel that I was safe, this card meant no harm, it was only showing its power so the Card Captor herself would come. It pulled me to another time, a time it was familiar with and would mean something to it.

I found myself standing in the private library of an old home. It was lit by candles and magic, leading me to think that it must have been a long time ago indeed.

"What sweeps you ashore on the sands of time at my humble abode, young lady?"

The voice was amused, soft, teasing, familiar--

I whirled around, wondering how it could be possible.

Was it really? Him? Could it be?

I bowed low, trying to hide my shock. "Watashi wa Mizuki Kaho desu," I said automatically before realizing he had spoken to me in English. "I mean, that is to day, I am--"

"Oh, I understood you. I'm afraid I'm only barely learning Japanese right now, but I understood your introduction well enough. My name is--"

"Clow Reed," I interjected.

An eyebrow quirked and his smile grew. "You have heard of me? Or, perhaps in the future you have met me?"

"Yes, and no," I said, confused about how to explain something like that.

"You have been brought here by the power of one of my own cards, from the future, so I imagine the explanation is a bit complex. I, myself, have just finished the Return card. It takes a great deal of magical energy, so you must have a purpose for being here."

I blushed. "No, not really. I think it's safe to say I am here by accident."

He said something that could have been, "fortuitous accident," but his voice was low and his smile didn't reveal a thing. "It's a very powerful card to have been used by accident. Would you care to fill me in on the details?"

"Wouldn't that cause a paradox or something?"

He smiled gently. "Miss Mizuki, when you have visions they don't cause a paradox even though they tell you of events in the future, right?"

I almost asked how he knew I had visions. Almost.

Then I laughed at myself for that. Of course he would know. He'd be able to tell.

"Yes, this is true. Though, not all visions of the future come to pass the way you think they will."

"Exactly. If you tell me things that are meant to be, I was meant to know. There is no coincidence in this world, only the inevitable. I'm either meant to know, or I won't know. It's that simple."

"I'm not sure where to begin. I'm from a long time in the future, and the cards have gotten free. A little girl is working to bring them back under control, but--"

"Ah yes, Sakura."

"You know her?"

"I have visions of my own, Miss Mizuki."

"Then how much do you already know?"

His smile grew, becoming the smile I was already familiar with. He began filling me in on things I already knew, then on things I didn't, and I told him my own story. It was hesitant and slow at first, but in the end I remembered how close we had become in the landscape of my dreams and I wound up telling him everything.

Including those dreams.

His smile finally became sad, wistful. "Maybe there are some things about the future I should not know, but I am glad you told me. So, let me tell you one more thing. When I see you, I see the image of the wife I once loved more than anything else in the world. It was to bring her back that I started making the cards."

I felt a chill. "So, you--"

"I think, if I did not love another right now, that I would do everything I could to keep you here."

So, Eriol wanted to meet me...because of this? Because I was the image of Clow's dead wife?

"Maybe...."

"Maybe the reincarnation of myself wanted to meet you more because I have met you now."

I smiled, realizing that he could easily have read my thoughts there. "I think I may be falling in love with him."

"Then fall in love with him, not me."

I nodded.

"I should release you now, to return you to your home."

"That might be a good idea," I agreed softly, but without much feeling.

He walked over to me, placing a hand on my shoulder gently. "I don't want you to leave either, but the longer you stay the harder it will be. I look forward to meeting you in my next incarnation, but it could not be now."

He was a true gentleman.

He gently took my hand, bending over to grace that hand with a soft kiss, and suddenly I was standing at home again under the bright light of the full moon.

I wondered how long I would be wearing this smile.