Author's Note: Thanks to any returning readers, as usual. I hope everyone enjoys this next installment of my angst-filled facet of the CCS fandom!

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Ni-ban: Hakuchu Mu

It was Yue that woke first, finding that his head was pounding in much the same manner it had after the failed change yesterday. He opened his eyes, then immediately clenched them back shut with a groan as the painfully bright sun assaulted his senses. He realized suddenly what the light meant, and gasped.

He had fallen asleep? The shock of that realization was enough to make him sit upright, opening his eyes wide regardless of the day's brightness. He had to change back into Yukito before Touya awoke, keep his intrusion secret—

Something was wrong.

The realization came at first as he found that someone to his right was holding his hand, while Touya had been to his left. The next revelation was that he felt suddenly blind. Things were quiet, the constant hum of the living earth missing from his ears, and Yukito…Yukito was gone. He turned to the figure laying at his right, prepared to question them as to what was wrong, and froze immediately. He felt his heartbeat quicken, then seem to stop.

Laying there, on the floor, was a pale, slender figure Yue made a habit of not looking at. Avoiding mirrors, objects of shimmering metal, even surfaces of water that were too smooth to conceal that inhumanly pale figure had become more necessity than habit, especially of late. Impossibly long hair, pale as moonlight, barely concealing an equally pale, ethereally beautiful face.

A pale hand—the hand of the sleeping figure—was gripped to Yue's, holding it fast, fingers intertwined. Pale against dark, skin as smooth as silk against worn and callused skin.

The hand he felt intertwined with that pale grip was not Yue's own.

Dark, tanned by a thousand suns that Yue had seen only through Yukito's eyes, with callused fingers and a lined palm. He knew this hand… He had known it for so long through his temporary form, and seen it with his own eyes for the first time several months ago. He used his other hand, shaking, to free himself from the pale grip of his companion, and then gave the figure one last glance before turning away.

This couldn't be happening…

Taking a deep breath, closing his eyes, Yue lifted both hands and touched his face, strong fingers running along the contours and furrows, touching his eyes, his mouth, his neck. He worked his way down until he reached his chest, where he froze, wincing slightly as though what he found there pained him. He let out a sigh and opened his eyes, looking at himself. Tightly-muscled arms, broad shoulders, a strong chest covered by a t-shirt so thin and worn out that it left next to nothing up to the imagination.

"To-ya…" he breathed, his voice deep and familiar, though not his own. "How?"

A high, silky voice murmured as though in reply, letting out a faint groan, and Yue turned with concern. Once again, he thought to himself the impossibility of the situation. This couldn't be happening…

Amethyst eyes, slit-pupilled, flickered open as Touya awoke. He let out a breath, then hissed in pain, holding a hand to his head, clearly plagued by the same pounding in his skull as Yue. "Hell…" he whispered. He closed his eyes again and propped himself up on one arm, holding the other to his throat. "What the…?" His eyes opened once more, though it was clear that he saw nothing, and spoke again. "Ah…Aaah…" His brow furrowed, and then his eyes seemed to come into focus at last, landing on Yue.

Yue, in Touya's body.

"Hello, To-ya," he said softly, keeping his voice neutral. "I trust you slept well?"

Touya recognized the tone, and his eyes grew wide. "Y-Yue?" he said softly. "But then—" He cut off, his breath growing shallow. "Then I…" He looked down at his hands, Yue's moonlight pale hands, and shook his head. Impossibly long white hair flew about, seeming almost translucent as the morning sun hit it. "No, no no! It didn't work! Sakura said it didn't work—you said it didn't work…" His eyes were wide and blank, pupils tightened into slits.

Yue closed his eyes—Touya's eyes, rather—the deep sapphires suddenly becoming the Guardian's only means of protection, hiding all the emotions he did not truly want to hold back. Such pain and sorrow, longing and hope and surety…these were not Touya's, but Yue's. He felt ashamed for defiling Touya's eyes with their shadows. "You should call Sakura," he said after several seconds with no sound between them but Touya's breathing. "She needs to know."

"And what do I say, Yue?" It was strange to hear his voice holding so much emotion, feelings he had not shown since Clow's death now surfaced in his voice, through Touya. Yue almost smiled, caught himself, and remained noncommittally stoic.

He turned away. "Tell her what has happened," he said simply. "Tell her that we have changed places in spite of the CHANGE card's supposed failure. Tell her she needs to come over. Tell her something…" He fell silent once more, and they remained this way a long moment. "Yukito is still sleeping, isn't he?" Yue inquired at last. "I-I can't feel him with me," the lack of his other half's presence was painful, making him feel more alone than he had in several long years, "so he must still be there somewhere."

Touya's eyes grew wide. "You mean…"

Yue held up a dark finger, reaching out to touch the side of Touya's head. The moon angel flinched slightly, shying away from the touch just enough for Yue to notice. "Right here, he should be sleeping. Sift through all the other sounds…" Touya closed his eyes. "There is a humming, that is the planet." The angel nodded. "A high singing, that is Sakura's life force." Again, a nod. "A cool sigh, the moon; and a deep content breathing."

Touya probed the split soul he had been forced into, pushing aside one sound and sense after the other, and found a feeling of warmth and contentment. There was a deep breathing, and Touya thought that he could see Yukito for an instant, but the image was gone almost instantly.

"He's sleeping," he replied.

Yue relaxed visibly. "Good. This has not affected him, then." His lips curved, showing the vaguest hint of a smile, though it was gone in a heartbeat. He looked again at Touya, seeming almost sympathetic. "Are you all right?" he asked at last.

The angel nodded slightly, averting his eyes. "I-I guess so. I'm not sure, but I think I'm all right." Now Yue did smile, wearing the rare smile of Touya's that so few had seen, and Touya felt suddenly as though he could fly with or without his wings.

There was something wrong with that, he knew. There was something within his heart that found immense joy in seeing his own face smile, and something else that longed to reach out and touch that smiling face. It was his face, wasn't it? Why should he suddenly feel so light to see himself smile? "Y-Yue…" The Guardian turned to him with level curiosity, and he looked down at his hands swiftly, hiding the blush he was sure had appeared on his cheeks. "N-Never mind. Sorry."

Touya took another deep breath and turned to Yue. "Could I…please…" he glanced meaningfully at the door, then back at Yue.

For a moment the Guardian was still, then he nodded and rose smoothly to his feet. "I will return in a moment, if that is all right." Touya nodded as the dark boy turned away. He paused at the door, turning to look over his shoulder, adding an afterthought to his previous statement. "I will knock first." Then he opened the door and stepped out in swift silence, closing the portal behind him.

Touya was quiet for several seconds, still as death, then hesitantly reached up with both hands to touch his head. Soft pale hair met equally pale fingers, catching slightly as he ran his hands down to his ears, pausing only momentarily to finger the cuff he wore on his left. His forehead, his eyes, his mouth… He stopped there, feeling the sensuous curve of Yue's lips, the soft flesh yielding instantly. He ran his tongue over his teeth as well; he had never noticed it before, but Yue's canines were sharp. He had never opened his mouth wide enough for Touya to see.

His hands ran down—reluctantly leaving his mouth—and he felt his jaw line. So smooth, curved an ethereally beautiful, Touya knew this face well. It had long burned in his eyes when he closed them, flitting in and out of his dreams. His hands traveled downward still, to his slender neck, his chest—he paused again here. Effeminately slender muscles resided here, holding a hidden strength Touya had yet to see, but had faith existed. Yue was slender enough to be a woman, and yet…not.

Neither male nor female, Yue was a Guardian. An angel of the moon, without the need or care of a particular gender, Yue was distantly neutral.

A slender waist and hips, long legs, narrow feet…His hands felt it all, silhouetting his borrowed body with a touch. He stopped suddenly as he began to run his fingers along the opposites side of his ankles, the inner portion of Yue's legs.

He had wished long ago to know the contours of Yue's body, but this was not how he had imagined the learning to be. This, while it did not feel wholly wrong, was not wholly right. It was a violation on Yue's privacy, and Touya did not want that. There was a part of him, yes, that wanted to remove his shirt and see just how wings met Yue's back, how his arms joined to his torso, but that was the piece of him that only wanted Yue for his physical beauty.

Touya forced his more base half back and focused on keeping Yue clean. This was not his body, he had no right to do what he had done. He felt a pang of shame in his heart, and shook his head. No, he would not violate the Guardian further. He knew all he was willing to learn on his own, the rest would be gained through careful permission from Yue himself.

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Yue ran one hand down his arm, feeling every curve of the muscle, bone and sinew…dark skin yielded only slightly to his touch, so strong were the muscles beneath. He let out a sigh, closing his eyes.

So this was what Touya felt like. This was what his body felt, muscle and bone, filled with warmth. These were the arms he had wanted to feel embracing him for so long; this was the chest he had long wanted to lean against while he slept.

This was To-ya…

He shook his head, pulling himself back into reality, took a deep breath and turned to look at the door—two inches of hollowed wood—that separated him from Touya. The newly-winged angel could easily step out at any time, and find Yue intruding on his physical boundaries; Yue couldn't bear to think of that. Touya already looked at him with awe and a little fear, how would the look in his eyes change if he knew what Yue was doing?

Unknowingly, he echoed Touya's thought. This was not his body, he had no right to do what he had done.

Yue was certain that Touya was sitting, forlorn at his current state, in the bedroom. "What must it be like for him?" he wondered aloud, whispering to keep Touya's voice almost unreadable. When he whispered, it sounded almost like his own voice, though a note deeper and more earthly. A human, mortal voice, with a hint of the Guardian's ancient, immortal knowledge. It was painful for him, too, to be in this body; to be as close as he would ever get to holding Touya, yet with such a rigid code of honor that he would do nothing.

But Touya was likely holding back a scream, Yue reminded himself. To wake up as a creation of magic, removed from the world, yet forced to live in it…that was why Yue had created Yukito in the first place, as a shield from his own detachment.

For that, and something else…something Yue still had not come to terms with.

He took another breath, took a moment more to compose himself, and then knocked on the wooden door. "To-ya," he said softly, attempting to conceal the Touya in his voice, "you should call Sakura soon, before she has a chance to go out with the Li boy or Miss Daidoji."

Yue opened the door and stepped back inside to find Touya staring down at his hands, amethyst eyes unreadable. The Guardian wondered if he looked like that—so distant and yet so close, detached and yet completely immersed in the world around him. Bright and shining as a star that had somehow fallen to earth, but still longed to return to the heavens…

He shook his head swiftly. What was that? He wondered. It was his body, so why did it suddenly seem so…so…perfect. That was the word, he was certain, to describe how he saw Touya. That was it—Touya. Because Touya was the one in the body, and everything Touya did seemed so right to the Guardian that it made his heart ache, he thought it was perfect.

Surely that was all.

"To-ya, you should—"

"I know," he said in hasty reply, his voice making Yue's heart skip a beat. There was a feeling in that voice, his voice, that was echoed in his own thoughts. It was not, as Yue had supposed, forlorn and angry, but airy and vaguely content; his eyes widened slightly. "I know, just give me a minute." No, that was just Touya's usual tone, mimicked by his own voice, sounding more foreign than the voice itself. Yue held back a disappointed sigh.

Touya rose to his knees, then took hold of the bedpost and used it to pull himself up. He stood still for a moment, then took a wary step toward the door; he stumbled slightly, clearly unaccustomed to the lightness of the body, overcorrected, and fell.

Without thought as to what he was doing, Yue rushed forward and caught the falling angel, placing his arms around him as the side of his face rested against his chest. He felt the Guardian go stiff and mimicked him involuntarily; he could not have moved any more than that if he had tried. Furthermore, he discovered that he did not want to move. Yue's hands were on his back, one against the shoulder of either wing, having caught him when he fell. He could feel the Guardian's heart beating in his chest, the warmth of his skin through the thinning nightshirt, and Touya found that he enjoyed the sensation such contact gave him. He felt safe. Safe and sound, content simply to be in his arms… He started his eyes growing wide at the feeling, and Yue instantly released, pushing him backward.

I held on too long, Yue thought, wanting then more than ever to be able to hide behind Yukito's smile. Touya was disgusted by him, afraid of him, he never should have touched him—

Touya fell back, his pale head barely missing the foot of the bed; his wings weren't so lucky. He hissed, clenching his eyes shut, as pain burned through limbs he shouldn't have had in the first place.

"I'm sorry!" Yue said swiftly, loudly. His eyes grew wide as Touya's voice—emotion and all—emerged from his mouth. He had said that, so why did it sound like Touya? Just like Touya, with the feelings and emotions Yue had hidden away for so long…He sounded like Touya. "I-I'm sorry…"

The angel gave him a weak—though heartfelt—smile, an expression Yue never thought he would see on his own face again. "It's all right," Touya said softly, sitting up, disentangling his slender limbs from his long moon- like hair. "I'm fine. I-I just don't think I can walk."

It took a mere instant for Yue to understand—his center of balance was different than Touya's due to the added weight of his wings, and Touya did not know how to compensate. He hesitated a moment, then held out one dark hand. Touya stared for a moment, Yue growing vaguely nervous. "Well?" he said at last, trying to sound impatient.

Shakily Touya took the offered hand and let Yue pull him to his feet, feeling oddly content—and vaguely confused—at his need for help. He had always been so self-sufficient, he prided himself on it, so why did this feel so…nice?

"Come on," Yue said with a faint smile. "I'll help you get to the phone."

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Sakura jumped as a loud ringing jolted her back from her book—it wasn't technically a book, considering it wasn't published yet, but Naoko's work was good enough for publishing, so it was only fair to refer to it as such a thing. She sat there, gasping for breath, a hand to her adrenaline-high heart, then turned and picked up the phone. "Hello, Kinomoto residence," she said smoothly.

"Oi, kaijuu," the voice replied on the other end. "You better not have anything planned today."

She noticed immediately that it was not her brother's voice, but most definitely his tone. And yet, for some reason, it reminded her distinctly of Yue. Her brow furrowed. "Touya?" she said confusedly.

"Yeah, I'll explain later. Just get over to Yuki's house, all right?"

"What for?" she inquired, feeling more confused by the minute.

There was a light, airy sigh that sounded exactly like Yue, then her older brother continued. "Listen, just hurry up, all right? It is extremely important." The last part, with its proper grammar and hushed tone, sounded exactly like Yue—this was not Touya, no matter what it sounded like at first.

"Who is this? You aren't Touya," she replied almost angrily.

Another sigh, laced with a growl. "Hey Yue," the voice said distantly, clearly speaking to someone else. "She won't listen to me 'cause I sound like you—you tell her to get the hell over here."

The turquoise-eyed girl's eyes narrowed. Yue? But that voice sounded like Yue, so why—

"Hello, Mistress," a deep voice said, plunging Sakura into a state of utter confusion. That sounded like Yue, too, but it was too deep and masculine to possibly be the genderless moon angel. "This is very important, Sakura, please come over here right away. To-ya and I are in quite a bit of…trouble." There was a moment of silence. "Please." And then he hung up.

Sakura held on to the phone for several seconds, eyes wide and hand shaking, then slammed it down, sprung to her feet and rushed upstairs to get properly dressed. As she grabbed a random shirt and pants her mind raced, moving even faster than her hands. What was going on? The first one sounded like Yue, but called her kaijuu, and the other voice—She stopped the thought short, almost unable to accept it. The other voice, the deeper one…the other voice!

The other voice sounded like Touya, but called her 'mistress.'

Yue and Touya.

Touya and Yue.

She held a hand to her mouth. No, it hadn't worked—she was sure it hadn't worked! So why were they…why…?

Things were about to get very messy.

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Translation Notes:

Ni-ban: Just as Ichi-ban (or ichiban, depending on how you want to spell it) means Number One, this term means Number Two. Ni is two and ban is, basically, number. There's actually a lot more to it than that, but I'm not going to go into it.

Hakuchu Mu: Waking Dream. That's about all I have to say about this one.