Nakuru stretched the next morning, rubbing her eyes. It was another sweet dreams of chocolates and snow bunnies for her last night, and she was feeling particularly cheerful.
"Maybe I should ask Yukito to go out and skate with me!" She clapped her hands. "Yes, that would be super!"
She grabbed the doorknob, but to her shock, it wouldn't budge. She paused, then tried again. It still remained unmoving.
She tried again and again, but it looked like it was locked.
She bit her lip, wondering what to do next.
"It was mean of you to lock Nakuru into her room," Nadeshiko scolded as she looked at the Lock card JR was holding.
He grinned. "It was one of the few cards that I can ask from Kero-chan that isn't under Yue's powers. I had to make do of it."
"But do you know how to reverse the spell?" she asked worriedly.
He grinned some more. "Of course…NOT."
"WHAT?!" Her eyes bulged. "You mean to say we're going to lock Nakuru in there forever?!!"
"Not if Yue can't help it." JR found Yukito cooking a fresh batch of pancakes. "Now, you do your part. Go tell Yukito that Nakuru was locked in her room. Do what you do best."
She frowned.
He smirked. "Cry."
Her cheeks burned. She clenched her fist and slammed it on his head. "IDIOT!"
Yukito's eyes turned to them. "Oh no, don't tell me you're fighting again."
JR stepped on her foot, and it was her cue to cry. "Yukito!!!" She rushed into his arms, sobbing.
"There, there…you guys shouldn't get physical when fighting," sighed the snow hare, smoothing her hair.
JR rolled his eyes. He told her to cry, not to act clingy. "It's not my fault!"
"It is!" sobbed Nadeshiko. "He's gone…w-way too much with his teasings!"
"Wait a minute-" This was not part of the plan!
Yukito's forehead creased. "I thought you're already used to it, Nadeshiko."
She paused, then sobbed again. "A little girl like me can only bear so much….oh, Yukito, hold me close!" The man obliged awkwardly.
That's it! JR's eyes burned. "NAKURU'SLOCKEDINTHEREANDIFYOUDON'TRESCUEHERSHE'SGOINGTOSUFFOCATE!!!" he yelled.
Yukito gaped at him. "Huh?"
Nadeshiko subtly glared at her cousin for taking Yukito's attention away from her. "He said that Nakuru is locked in there…in her room…and if you don't rescue her, she's going to suffocate."
Yukito let go of the girl suddenly. "Nakuru is what?!"
"Locked," said Nadeshiko. "Anyway, where were we? I think you were hugging me close and—"
"I think I have my spare keys in the ref top." He released her and tiptoed towards the appliance. Nadeshiko scowled as JR smirked at her.
"Found it!" Yuki turned to the stairs and hurried towards the guestroom where he knew she was sleeping. When he tried to insert the key in the knob however, he sensed something supernatural about the door. He stood there, not knowing what to do.
Nadeshiko and JR arrived in the hallway, looking at him expectantly.
He sighed. "You guys…this is the work of a Clow card, am I right?"
JR nodded. "We were just playing around with it a bit…"
"Yeah, it's not like we used it deliberately," said Nadeshiko, nodding seriously.
Yukito groaned. These kids' attitudes were reminiscent of the couple that used to manipulate him and Nakuru not too long ago. "So how do we open the door?" he asked. "I reckon that my room keys can't be used."
"Yue!" chorused the kids.
"No," said the man flatly.
The two blinked.
"I'm going to get Nakuru-san out of there without his help." Yukito walked down the stairs as the two followed him out of the house, looking at each other, as if saying 'Now what?'.
Minutes later, Yukito was placing a bamboo ladder underneath the window of the guestroom.
"You're going to climb up there…as in all the way up there?!" said JR, stunned.
"But what if you fall?" asked Nadeshiko worriedly.
"Then you should have thought of that earlier before you guys used the Clow cards," he reasoned.
"How were we supposed to know that you won't call Yue?" asked JR back.
"It seems to me that you guys locked Nakuru-san in there for the sole purpose of calling Yue. Why do you need him?" asked Yukito, looking serious.
The two looked at each other before Nadeshiko burst out her explanation. Soon, Yukito was nodding.
"You should have just asked me," said Yukito. "You don't have to do that to Nakuru-san.."
"I thought you won't want us to mess with the cards," admitted JR.
"Alright, once I get Nakuru-san out of there, I will get Yue." With that, he began climbing up the ladder.
"Will he be fine?" asked Nadeshiko worriedly. "I mean, the second floor is a bit too high…"
JR groaned. "We climbed trees taller than that, remember?"
"But still…"
"How come I don't hear you worry about me that way?" he yelled, silencing them both.
"Sorry," he muttered, not meeting her gaze.
"Tell me, JR," she said softly. "Give me a reason why I should worry about you."
He exhaled sharply. "Well, how come you don't run out of reasons when it comes to Yukito?"
"Because you and Yukito are so different," she explained. "I know you are capable of yourself, and I mustn't worry…or am I wrong to trust you?"
He paused, then sighed. "That's silly. Of course you need not worry about me."
She smiled, then turned her eyes back at Yukito.
"But still…" he said in his mind, echoing her words awhile ago.
His thoughts were interrupted when he saw Yukito lose his step, and in slow motion, fall down from the ladder.
"Yukito!!!" cried the two.
Just in time, his wings flapped, and he transformed into Yue. He landed on the ground gracefully on his feet, then cast his eyes on the room.
"Am I supposed to rescue Ruby Moon?" he asked, groaning.
"I think so," said Nadeshiko. "I-If you like, that is."
"I don't," he retorted. "But I must." He flapped his wings and flew up. He was about to enter the window when he felt a shield on the window. He looked down and saw JR using the Shield card, smiling.
"Deal me," the boy said simply.
Yue frowned.
"I'll remove the Shield, that is, if you promise to lend us the Return card," he said.
Yue frowned some more.
"Well?" prompted the junior.
"You're not in the position to bargain," said the guardian coolly. "I don't have to save Ruby Moon…"
"You said 'you must'," said the boy, undaunted by the evident toughness of the lunar guardian. "The nakoudo card is still affecting you madly, if I'm not wrong."
Yue clenched his fists.
"And if you don't see her within this very moment, you know that you are bound to do something nasty, right?" asked JR again.
"Alright! The Return card!" He tossed them the said Clow card, then frowned. "Now take that shield card off."
"Sure, sure." JR took his Clow key out and summoned the Lock card and the Shield card back.
Nakuru giggled as she looked at Yue, who couldn't transform back to his Yukito identity.
"I guess I'm not yet an expert with the Clow cards," said JR, giving him a lopsided grin. While summoning the shield card back, it rebounded and penetrated Yue instead.
"Don't worry," said Nadeshiko, smiling reassuringly. "The effect will wear off eventually…or you can ask Uncle Eriol."
"Hmp!" Yue grimaced as he tried hard not to look at his lunar counterpart.
"We'll be back," said JR, pulling his cousin with him. He held out the Return card.
"Hey, you guys…why are you so intent on going back in time anyway?" asked Nakuru, who wasn't informed about the reason for JR and Nadeshiko's idea.
Yue interrupted them. "It's time. I will hold the portal open for thirty minutes, then you guys have to be back by hook or by crook, do you understand? I can't risk you two getting stuck there in time."
"Hai!" said the two.
With that, JR summoned the Return card. It opened a portal, and in there he hurriedly pulled Nadeshiko with him.
"Remember, thirty minutes," cautioned Yue again.
"Come on, kaijuu, hurry up! We're going to be late!" snapped seventeen-year-old Kinomoto Touya, glaring at his roller-skating sister, ten-year-old Kinomoto Sakura.
"I said I'm not a monster!" she screeched. "Onii-chan, you're so mean!" She instantly quieted down when they turned in the corner.
Underneath the cherryblossom tree stood seventeen-year-old Tsukishiro Yukito, waving with a smile on his face.
"T-That's my mom!" said Nadeshiko as she watched the trio hurry to school. And Uncle Touya and Yukito! Oh wow, Yukito didn't look much different from what he used to be when he was still in high school."
JR whistled. "So this is the Return Card. We did make it back on time."
Nadeshiko pulled his arm. "I want to see my mom. I want to see my father!"
"Right, right." They both walked towards the Tomoeda Elementary school.
"Is that our school?" asked Nadeshiko, eyes wide. "It looks…so…new."
He nodded, then snapped his fingers. "I wonder if Kaho-sensei is here. I wonder what she used to look like when Dad was still young."
When the arrived in the campus, they found a boy snapping at Sakura.
"Give me the Clow cards!" he ordered, but the latter shook her head.
JR looked puzzled. "How come someone else knows about the cards?"
Nadeshiko frowned. "It's not someone else…it's otoosan!"
Just then, Touya jumped down from the fence to protect his sister. The two children sweatdropped.
"So that's how Uncle Touya and Uncle Li began to dislike each other," said JR, somewhat enlightened.
"I can't believe that otoosan used to be mean to Okaasan!" said Nadeshiko.
Her cousin shrugged. "Kero-chan told me that your dad was basically a jerk…he called Kero-chan a stuffed toy."
"So that was how they met…it wasn't love at first sight." She smiled. "I can't wait to see how they developed their feelings for each other."
JR groaned. "We only have thirty minutes. I hope it's enough for your dose of romance."
"Stop looking at me!" barked Yue, who was concentrating all his powers on the Return card.
Nakuru smiled. "Sorry. It's just that I can't get over the fact that you agreed to JR's bargain just to save me."
"I didn't save you. Tsukishiro asked me to do that," he said grumpily.
"Yuki-chan?" Her eyes lit up. "I told you once, and I'll tell you again: you cant keep me out of your heart forever!"
"It was Tsukishiro and not me!" he snapped.
"You are Yukito, in one way or another."
"Well, I'm not him when it comes to the heart."
"Silly. You and Yukito are one person, and I believe that." She smiled at him fondly, "At first glance, you two are so different…and yet, I just realized that you both carry the same shy heart…but kind, all the same."
"Kind?" he laughed humorlessly. "You're not just idiotic, you're a liar too."
She laughed. "While you, on the other hand, are fishing for compliments. You are underestimating yourself just so I would praise you more."
"What gave you such a ridiculous idea?" he snapped, finally looking at her in the eye.
Her eyes were twinkling. "Your little bird told me."
He released a series of profanities until finally, he satiated his desire to speak such. "How many times do I have to say it's 'A little bird' not 'your'?"
She laughed. "I guess I'm stubborn as you are."
"Talk to my hand!" he said, shoving his palm to her face exasperatedly. This only caused her to laugh some more.
tsuzuku