Author's Note: This chapter, actually, hasn't been changed at all except for typos, grammar and conventions. It's one of the more recent ones, so I didn't think it needs a lot of fixing.
-------------------------Roku-ban: Bania Toka
Shaoran shrugged, taking a sip of his tea. "I went to deliver it while you were at Daidoji's," the brown-eyed boy looked trouble as he explained, his brow furrowed, "but no one would answer the door."
"You left it on the porch, right?" Sakura inquired. The heir to the Li family nodded and the girl sighed, turquoise eyes distant. "That's fine, I guess…" She chewed her bottom lip nervously, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I wonder why no one answered?"
"They're probably sleeping," Tomoyo replied. When her friends inquired as to why they would be doing such a thing, she replied only with an enigmatic smile that reminded them both distinctly of Eriol.
Sakura narrowed her turquoise eyes slihgtly. "Tomoyo…"
The other girl shook her head and rose to her feet, gathering up the three now-empty teacups populating the table. "Not telling," she said with a grin, walking out. From the kitchen, her high voice repeated her resolve. "Nope, not telling!"
Shaoran blinked, giving Sakura a bewildered glance. "Did that mean anything to you?"
She shook her head, clearly just as bewildered as her would-be fiancé, but silent in her befuddlement. Neither youth spoke for several seconds, the only sound being the soft humming of Tomoyo and the high song of running water, both of which wafted in from the kitchen.
After several seconds, all of them confused and variably silent, Tomoyo returned. She still wore the same all-knowing smile, and when she sit down she—rather cryptically—replied with, "Yue-san, Touya-san, and Yukito-san should be left alone. They all have a lot to figure out right now."
"Such as?" Shaoran prompted.
Tomoyo closed her sky-colored eyes and shook her head once. "Not telling!"
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Bree-deep! Bree-deep! Bree-deep!
A dark hand drew the cell phone from within the briefcase, flipped it open, and pressed the button marked 'Talk.' "Moshi-moshi, Kinomoto Fujitaka desu."
"Hi, dad!"
The auburn-haired man's smile broadened, he pushed up his glasses. "Sakura-san!" he exclaimed. "Hi, sweetheart! What is it?"
A pause. "Anou…Touya is sleeping over at Yukito's house again tonight."
Fujitaka blinked, curious. Yukito and Touya were…he let the thought trail off. It was his son's business who he chose as a—what was the word Nadeshiko has used?—cuddle-buddy. It was a very European-sounding word, and he still wondered where she had learned it.
He shook his head to clear it of the tangent thoughts, and completed his decision to leave Touya to his own business. "All right," he said at last. "I'll give him a quick call before I head home toni—"
"No!" several voices rang out. Distantly he noted that Sakura had set her line to speakerphone, but that thought was brushed aside as the voices registered in his memory. Daidoji Tomoyo, Li Shaoran, Sakura, and…
He blinked, ever-present smile fading as his brow furrowed. "Sakura-san, why is Cerberus against my contacting Touya-kun?"
A nervous laugh was the only reply.
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It was vaguely unsettling, Sakura found, to have her father speak so casually in regards to her Guardian. True, he knew about her exploits as a sorceress—he was the reincarnation of Clow Reed's lighter half, after all—but Kero was careful to stay out of sight when he was home. It was more out of habit than necessity nowadays, just as Yue spent most of his time hiding within Yukito when Fujitaka was present.
Sakura reminded herself that Yue hid in Yukito most of the time, regardless of who was present, so that was a bad example.
"But it was still strange for her father to sound so nonchalant, especially with the knowledge the a giant winged lion was living in his daughter's desk drawer. But then, he also knew that that same lion spent most of his time as a small, yellow plush toy.
And that wasn't exactly intimidating.
"Sakura-san?" he prompted. "What's wrong?"
She wondered if she should explain what had happened to Touya and Yue, but could make no judgement for it. If she didn't tell him, he'd find out eventually; if she did, then he'd worry needlessly. Perhaps needlessly…who knew if she, or anyone for that matter, could fix this? It could turn out to be permanent.
"Fujitaka-san," Kero said into the speaker, "there's some trouble with Yue."
There was a long moment of silence, and when the man did speak, it was with a tone so familiar that the Guardian could actually picture Clow speaking on the other line. "Yue…" he breathed, voice holding a note that Kero had not heard in years. "In trouble? How? Is he hurt?"
"It's nothing serious, Kinomoto-san," Tomoyo assured him. "Just a bit of a misfire on the CHANGE Card's part."
"CHANGE…" He paused. Sakura knew that he was leaning forward, elbows on his desk, one hand entangled in his hair with his eyes closed in deep thought. Finally, after several moments of concentration, the memory of that Card's purpose came back to him. The memories were still foggy, after all—Eriol had not given him a complete recollection of their former life when he had Sakura split his magic—but apparently he had been able to find that much. "Who?"
No one spoke for an instant, then Shaoran stepped forward. "Kinomoto-san," he said simply, "we'll explain it all when you get home."
"I'll leave early, I'll be right th—""No, please take a normal day, sir," Shaoran urged. "It's going to take a while for Yue, Touya…" he paused, seeming nervous about speaking of the older boy by given name, "…and Tsukishiro to get here. Take your time."
Fujitaka let out a sigh and assured them—albeit reluctantly—that he would not leave early. "But I'm not going to be able to get anything done…!" With that, and a quick farewell, he hung up.
Sakura sighed. "Shaoran-kun, what are we going to tell my dad?"
Kero was the one to reply. "The truth."
Shaoran nodded in agreement. "It's all we can do…"
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"Yue, come here." It was not a command, but the fairly young construct treated it as such. He treated anything his master said in that manner.
The moon-haired angel rose to his feet, his steps so light that he almost seemed to glide to his master's side. He waited several seconds while the mage gathered his words.
"Yue, I want you to learn a song," he said at last. Yue cocked his head to one side, confusion clouding his amethyst eyes. A song? How important could a song possibly be?
The dark-haired man pushed up his glasses, cleared his throat, rising to his full height—a few inches taller than Yue—and ran a dark hand over his robes to straighten them. "It is called," he said softly, leaning forward so far that Yue caught his autumn air-and-cinnamon scent, "the Nightbird's Lament."
Yue was not familiar with the title. "Clow, my lord," the angel breathed, eyes narrowing slightly in confusion, "what song is so important that you draw me away from my studies? Studies you instructed me to carry out."
Clow gave an enigmatic smile, though his golden eyes held a hint of sorrow. He gently took one of the Guardian's hands in both of his own, lifting it up to his face, and closed his eyes as he pressed it against his lips in a fleeting kiss. "It is a lesson, my angel," he replied, moving one hand from cradling Yue's and placing against the moon angels' cheek, brushing back a lock of starlight hair. "It is a lesson," he repeated. "One that you must learn…before the end."
He sighed once and averted his eyes, letting Yue's hand drop. The Guardian stopped the fall, however, by pressing it against the tall mage's chest.
"Clow?" he breathed.
The mage nodded. All right, Yue; listen very closely." There was no longer merely a hint of sorrow in his voice, but it was awash with it. Yue felt a pang of worry.
Clow began to sing.
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He awoke slowly, realizing that the room was rather dark, giving the clock on Yukito's bedside table a quick glance. His view was obscured by the slender, moon-pale figure that was Touya. Running a dark hand through his short, coal-colored hair, Yue felt a twinge of confusion. Was Touya really so tired? He debated whether or not to wake the angel, deciding against it after several seconds.
Yue stifled a yawn as he rose to his feet, walking over to the window and drawing back the curtains. The chill autumn air assaulted even his dull human senses, for which the Guardian was vaguely surprised. He wondered fleetingly why the window was open, then decided that that Touya must have done it; it did not occur to him the wonder why. Instead he took a deep breath, letting the cold sharpen his senses, and closed his eyes.
In a quiet voice, so quiet he hoped he would sound almost like himself, Yue sang. "…For nightbirds love moonlight, and songbirds the sun's heat," he paused, brow furrowing as he held a hand to his throat. He opened his eyes, which grew distant and lost sight of the intense azure of the aging sunset. He sounded…not like Touya…like Clow. Apparently Touya had inherited his father's singing voice—or, rather, the voice of his father's previous incarnation. There was no difference between Clow's singing and Touya's, except perhaps the deceased mage's accent. Yue took another deep breath. "No matter how the two may care, their love will never meet."
A loud ringing startled the former angel from his song. He turned, glancing past Touya—how long had he been there? How long had they been resting side-by-side?—to the doorway.
Another ring.
It took an instant more for Yue to realize that the telephone was ringing, and he rushed to answer it. Footsteps swift—though louder and heavier than he was accustomed to—Yue reached with the phone before the third ring, picking it up. He was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say, then decided to mimic Yukito's usual greeting. "Hello," he said, "Tsukishiro residence."
"You sound like you're adjusting pretty well," his mistress replied. "Good for you." He was silent, not certain of how he was to reply. "Yue?" Sakura said after several seconds.
"Yes, Mistress?"
A sigh. "You, Touya and Yukito need to head down here—to my house—as soon as you can, okay?"
"To-ya is sleeping," the Guardian replied simply, swiftly lapsing into silence.
Sakura paused. "Bring Yukito, then. I think Touya needs his sleep…" Yue waited several long moments while Sakura murmured something to her companions. He could hear Miss Daidoji and the Li boy speak in turn, and noted detachedly that Cerberus said nothing.
That was odd—usually he would be filled with chatter, but Yue could not hear a word from him. Almost as if he wasn't there. Finally, after several more seconds, the former angel voiced a quiet, "Mistress?"
The girl seemed suddenly to realize she was still on the phone. "Oh! Yue, bring the package with you."
He blinked, raising one eyebrow. "Package?"
From the other end of the line came the Li boy's voice, distant and muffled. "It might still be on the doorstep."
"Right," Sakura replied. "Did you hear that?" The Guardian replied affirmatively, running and hand through his hair. Why did he keep doing that? It wasn't as if Touya's short hair could possibly be in the way; the motion felt almost…habitual.
And that made no sense at all.
Sakura gave a swift farewell and hung up, leaving her Guardian very confused. Before they had parted ways earlier, Sakura had instructed Yue to stay inside until she could 'work something out,' and he had done exactly that. Now she seemed to be completely reversing her earlier command.
He, Yukito, and Touya were to go to the Kinomotos', and Yue could not understand why. Fujitaka would be home soon, wouldn't he? If that was so, they would need to explain everything, and that could not possibly bode well.
Or could it? Fujitaka was a piece of Clow Reed, just as Eriol was, and had been endowed with a portion of the mage's magic and memories a few months ago; perhaps, somehow, he could help.
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Kero bolted away as he heard someone stir within the room. Blast it! He thought angrily. He had been so close to making it inside—after going to all the trouble of lifting the window, even. He watched with narrowed eyes as Yue drew the curtains aside and leaned out the window. Sitting in the branches of a nearby tree—blending in perfectly with the autumnal gold of its foliage—the Sun Guardian watched his brother intently. There was something strange about his expression, though the lion could not place exactly what it was.
A motion, a mannerism, a glint in his eye, was off. The longer Kero looked, the more concrete his thought became. Something startled Yue, breaking his reverie—he had been singing a song Kero found vaguely familiar, but couldn't quite recall—and he turned. He waited a moment, listening, then rushed away.
He was right, he had to be. There was something strange about this…something odd.
This was not the work of the CHANGE Card.
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Yue reentered Yukito's bedroom, holding in his hands a large, brown-wrapped parcel. He had been about to set it on the bed, but froze when he reached the doorway, growing quiet and still. Even his breathing grew shallow.
Touya was still sleeping; eyes closed, face relaxed, fingers bent slightly inward. His mouth was ever so slightly open, barely revealing his perfect teeth, and his even breathing caused the pale strands of hair that had fallen over his face—his starlight mane still unbound—to take momentary flight. It was…beautiful. Yue's heart ached.
The Guardian let out a sigh, closing his eyes, and letting the box—extremely light in spite of its size—fall from his grasp. He held both hands to his—Touya's—face, feeling the contours and furrows; the curve of Touya's cheeks; the differentiation between muscle and bone…
His eyes were clenched tightly shut, his breath coming in uneven gasps. Touya, Touya, he thought, I could wake you up right now and tell you everything. Now, while I have the courage. Now, when you would be looking into your own eyes.
The Guardian shook his head. "But no…I wouldn't be able to do it. Never even said it to Clow, you know. Not even once…"
Touya stirred, letting out a low murmur, and Yue took a step back into the doorway. He let his hands drop to his sides; breathing heavily, he tried to regain his composure. He hadn't had a fit like that in…in…
He shook his head.
The Guardian was certain there was some other term that could be used, something less childish, but Cerberus had always called them simply 'fits,' which suited the surges of emotional instability well enough for Yue to keep the title.
It had been so long since he had one that he had thought, perchance, he was finally past them. "Apparently not," he thought aloud. Yue wondered why one had come over him so suddenly—a rush of pain and longing so deep it reminded him of the day Clow died—and traced back the line of his memory, searching for his previous fit.
Before Yukito was made…the day before. But that had been so long ago—
He realized then why it had happened, why the scales of his heart were tipping to one side, then the other, leaving him teetering on the edge of a breakdown.
Yukito was gone from his mind.
Without the silvery-haired youth to keep the former angel's emotions in check, to siphon of the confusion and longing into his own half of the soul, Yue was lost. Yue wondered how long his sanity would last, his mind drifting back to earlier days, to the time before his soul—literally—broke in two.
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Translation Notes:
Roku-ban: If you haven't figured this out by now I pity you. Roku is six, making this Number Six. That's it.
Bania Toka: This is as close as I could figure to "Tipping the Scales," and it really means something exttremelty different. Same basic feeling though, so we'll keep it.
Moshi-moshi: A greeting, usually translated as "Hello," that is usually used only when answering the phone. In this chapter, Fujitaka says "Moshi-moshi, Kinomoto Fujitaka desu," which translates (roughly) to "Hello, this is Fujitaka Kinomoto." The desu means, pretty much, "it is," but it's attached at the end of a greeting like this, after whatever it is you're introducing. (e.g. "Konnichiwa! Watashi no koneko desu—kawaii, desu ne?" Meaning, "Hi! This is my kitten—isn't it cute?")