A/N: I still can't get over the fact I'm the only person who didn't get the "Beauty and the Beast" parallel! And it's my fic! Many people brought it to my attention, and I still feel stupid for not noticing it myself. Well, I would greatly appreciate reviews, e-mails, any form of feedback. This story may seem all happy for now, but later... uh, I'll probably have to up the rating. On with the show, hm? As I said, I'm eternally grateful for reviews, if anyone's actually interested in this story.
DISCLAIMER: I own Nickoli!! MWHAHAHAHA! And I own Nia, and a few other things that come later. Clow Reed, Yue and Keroberos are property of the wonderfully talented ladies of CLAMP.
Chapter 7: Forget Me Not From the Forgotten
The next day, after touring the house, the pair proceeded outside to look at the surrounding gardens and forest. Keroberos was already out there and insisted on pestering the angels the entire way. The day was actually very warm, hot to the point that Kero wished his fur weren't so thick. There usually weren't many days like that around the Reed mansion, so nobody really complained. While walking in the woods, Yue was called back to the house to assist Clow with a small technically difficulty.
"In other words, my Master, culinary artist that he is, doesn't know how to work something in the kitchen." Yue said of the powerful mage, teasing good-naturedly. As Yue quickly flew off, the sun lion was left with the one he had taken to calling crow feathers, because unlike he and his brother, the feathers on Nickoli's wings were black instead of lightly colored. That or he would just address him as "Baka."
Noticing Nickoli distracted, staring at Yue's receding form, and the fact the visiting angel had his back to the pond, Kero took this opportunity to cause a bit of trouble. Launching himself into the air and taking Nickoli completely off guard, he sent the angel falling into the shallow, but clean and still water.
# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^
Returning, Yue heard laughing and shouts. What are they doing? He thought to himself. Where ever Nikki goes, and whoever he's with, he always manages to do something out of the ordinary, doesn't he? When Yue landed by the river once more, he discovered he was standing in front of a sopping wet Guardian Beast.
"What? Where's...." The moon guardian trailed off as he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, catching sight of Nickoli standing with his back to them.
The two guardians heard Clow's telepathic voice in their minds, {Keroberos, come here, I have a new type of food for you to try.} Absently, Yue mumbled, "And he actually did it right." Kero was off without another word. To him, the only thing better than bothering one of the angels, preferably Yue because he didn't fight back so much, was food.
Yue felt rooted to the ground he stood on, gaping at the taller man standing by the tree. Nickoli too was soaking wet, and he had pulled his shirt off to wring some of the moisture out of it. The finely toned muscles beneath the pale skin tensed and released smoothly as Nickoli moved his arms and shoulders to squeeze his shirt free of water. Yue immediately felt an irresistible pull to touch the dark angel, and began walking soundlessly to him.
Surprised at some sudden contact, the other angel turned his head to find Yue, who was wrapping his arms around the other's exposed waist from behind. After kissing Nikki on the cheek, Yue pressed his lips against the back of his love's left shoulder. Nickoli sighed and purred quietly, making the moon guardian laugh slightly. Pulling away, Yue noticed strange marking on the area of skin he was kissing.
"What's this symbol on your shoulder?" He asked softly, referring to the tattoo on the young man's back. It was a crescent moon in the background, two roses crossed in front of it, one white and the other ebony. The white one had silvery leaves and no thorns on the long stem, but the black one had raven leaves and numerous thorns that, upon close examination, were tipped by the smallest bit of red. Around it all was a circular band of navy blue thorns.
"It appeared there when I was around nine," Nickoli's voice dropped a bit, "Nia seems slightly disturbed by the sight of it. I asked her what that pattern on my shoulder meant, and she said it was, 'A forget me not from someone who was forgotten.' Most of my life it's been there though, just as the tattoo around my wrist which showed up at the same time."
"There's one on your wrist?" Yue asked curiously. The bottom portion of Nikki's sleeves remained; the part that only covered his forearm could apparently be separated from the rest of his shirt.
Nickoli smirked, "Yeah, it's a cycle that might be familiar to you..." Yue was puzzled. Cycle? He thought, The only cycle that I have anything to do with is- Nickoli held up his left arm, half sleeve detached and pulled back to reveal the phases of the moon, tattooed in black and silver around the angel's wrist. The new moon phase was on the top of his hand, while the full moon was on the bottom, illustrated right on top of the most important veins running through his arm. Yue pulled the arm back, not painfully, but so it crossed over his love's right shoulder, turning Nickoli's body slightly. He kissed the image of the full orb, running his tongue over it as well. Nickoli turned all the way around, pulling Yue close to his naked chest.
Kissing the silvery angel's neck, he mumbled, "I may not let you go this time..." Yue made a low sound of pleasure as he ran his hands over Nickoli's back. Kissing the other angel's mouth, the moon beauty's hands wandered over Nikki's bare torso, reveling in the feel of the smooth skin. He bit the black haired young man's bottom lip, not too hard, and then began sucking on it gently. Nickoli moaned, running long fingers up Yue's cheek and into the thick mane of fine silver hair.
Yue pulled away hurriedly. "Keroberos is returning."
Nickoli sighed as he pulled his shirt on. "Privacy is a distinct scarcity around these people, damn it!"
"Don't curse!" Yue exclaimed, looking at Nikki with amazed shock on his face.
Nickoli gave a wry grin, "You've never heard anyone swear before, have you?" Yue blushed, "Well then, you might get a bit mad if I say hell, or shit, or bitch, or fu-"
"Cut it out!" Yue yelled, trying hard not to laugh as Nickoli spoke increasingly dirty curse-words. He tried to silence the other, but that resulted in him knocking Nickoli to the ground. In an attempt to stop the taller man from articulating these words around the sun guardian, Yue ended up putting a hand over Nickoli's mouth.
"What are you two doing?" Kero asked, not sure if he wanted an answer.
Though he was moving, Nickoli actually wasn't struggling, but instead had created an increasingly distracting pattern to his motions. Yue stifled another laugh, or at least what the lion mistook for a laugh, and replied to his brother's inquiry, "He's begun swearing, and I want him to stop, but he won't listen-"
"Okay, enough. You, birdbrain, have gone off the deep end. Whatever happened to being all mature and adult? At least I could understand you a little then. But ever since you met up with that guy, crow feathers there, you've been acting like a teenage boy. I think you've both lost your minds, if he ever had one in the first place, and I'm leaving in case it's contagious." With that, Kero flew off in the direction of the house.
Then the moon guardian could turn his attention to Nickoli, who was moving his hips in a slow, sensuous way, biting at Yue's fingers on the hand that covered his mouth. "Mmmnn, Nickoli! Did you have to...? Ahh, mmm... to start doing that when he was here? I thought I was going to..." Whatever else Yue had to say was stolen by the moan that suddenly rose from his throat as Nickoli's movements became more insistent, and then he was silenced with a kiss.
I always seem to be interrupting you two, but dinner's ready and I don't care if you eat regularly or not, I made it myself for once with no magic, and YOU ARE EATING IT. Now come to the house. Nickoli, very reluctantly, pulled himself and Yue off the ground. Both looked very unhappy about leaving, and Yue's eyes kept straying along Nickoli's body, taking everything in ravenously. The taller angel stared back, eyes burning with passion, and it made Yue feel warm inside to think it was all for him. It also made him drop his gaze and blush. Seeing this, Nickoli laughed gently and raised the moon guardian's chin, to kiss him again. After that he pulled his shirt on over his head and reattached the clasps on his sleeves.
Yue's brow suddenly furrowed. "Didn't you say Nia was disturbed by your tattoos?" Nickoli nodded silently. "Why?"
The other angel sighed. "I don't know. I just remember the day they appeared, when she came to wake me up one morning and they were just there. I thought she was having a heart attack, and of course I didn't yet know they had appeared so I didn't know why. She examined them, even tried to rid me of them, but it didn't work. That was strange, the fact her magic couldn't make them fade off. She said the colors changed a bit, and that was a good sign, though I don't know why she'd think so. I don't even recall exactly what the colors originally were, but my Mistress said it doesn't matter. She even made me promise to make sure I always had a shirt on when I was out of my rooms. She didn't want to see it, and she didn't want any guests to spot it either."
"I'm sorry. What do you think they mean?"
Nickoli's eyes narrowed, and he became distant for a moment. "I think it might be... Never mind." He shook his head and tried to forget about his foreboding thoughts. "Let's go. Your Master might turn us into frogs if we don't eat his dinner. By the way, how much of it did you make for him?"
"Actually, he simply forgot the incantation he used to unlock his liquor cabinet, which he uses the Lock Card for to keep Keroberos out." Nikki laughed at the image of the sun lion drunk that rose in his mind. "So come on."
"Damn, I'm going to have to walk around with wet hair," the dark angel complained quietly. Yue smiled, held up his glowing right hand, and ran it over Nickoli's long locks. In a minute, it was completely dry. Nickoli smiled, impressed.
"Now it's dry, so stop whining. We best be going before Clow goes crazy." Yue said, tugging on Nickoli's arm.
Nickoli stayed still and then pulled Yue to him in one smooth gesture. Bewildered, the moon angel stared up at the dark eyed young man. "It would be faster if we flew." Wrapping two strong arms around Yue's waist, he materialized his wings and took off. The moon guardian was surprised by how fast Nickoli was going, how he could carry Yue like it was nothing. The moon angel played with some fluttering strands of the other's waist length hair, and knew how it felt for Clow when he'd carried him once when flying. If only he knew how accurate that thought was, for Clow felt for his guardian what Yue felt for Nickoli, so it was a very similar situation. But Yue had been thinking of the sensation of being held, completely supported by another being at such a speed and height. It took an immense amount of trust, but it was nice to not have to do the work and just enjoy the air rushing past. He stared behind the dark clad shoulder, marveling at the gigantic black wings that for all their darkness were still beautiful. Nikki's wingspan was longer than Keroberos and Yue's, but the other two guardians wings were vertically larger. They landed, but Yue kept his arms tightly around Nickoli.
"Hmm, I've started noticing differences in us, our appearances."
The moon guardian cocked his head to the
side. "What do you mean?"
Nickoli cradled Yue's chin, "Your
nose is smaller," he poked the angel's nose as Yue laughed, "My features aren't
as nice as yours, not as soft-"
"Shut up. Your face is a bit more masculine, sharper and more defined, so at least no one would mistake you for female! Well, maybe if you put your hair up you'd look like a girl-"
"Under no circumstances do I look like a *girl*!"
The amethyst eyed being began laughing at his love's indignant reaction to a comment Yue himself was frequently subjected to. "Don't worry, baka, you're beautiful."
Nickoli seemed slightly uncomfortable at the compliment, which Yue had uttered so bluntly and without warning, and stuttered his reply, "That's a ridiculous thing for someone as comely and attractive as you to say." The darker guardian's fingers brushed Yue's lips.
Clow leaned out the kitchen door, which was the one closest to their location, "Get in here and eat the food! Or I'll turn you both into toads."
Nickoli smirked triumphantly, and Yue walked away, replying, "You said frogs. He said toads." Nickoli caught up and squeezed Yue's hand, smiling at his love.