Aishuu Offers:
The One True Thing
in response to the "shades of scarlet" challenge
A Card Captor Sakura Fic
Disclaimer: CCS is property of CLAMP.
Author's Note: Inspired by a scene in Kouri Arashi's original story "Borderline." Takes place after the Second movie, so this has spoilers for that. Credits to Mehgth for the beta! This is TxY... nothing overt, but those subtle hints that frustrate the hell out of all the fangirls- of which I am not one. Honest.

There was something oddly sad about Yukito's home.

Touya had always felt that aura of sadness about the place, and now he knew the reason why. Yukito's place was much like Yukito himself- warm and friendly on the outside, but a façade for the hidden truth- the secret of Yue. Yukito's grandparents, who supposedly went away on vacation after vacation, didn't exist.

They never had.

It saddened Touya every time he went over there, for the place was too neat, and too new. He would pass the carefully tended flowers, noticing their bright colors. Yukito tended to wear pale colors to keep from appearing washed out, but he surrounded himself with bright colors with a vengeance, almost as though he could make up for it. Brilliant blues, bright yellows, grass greens... even pinks like Sakura adored. Especially when he knew that she was coming over.

As much as Yukito teased Touya about having a sister complex, sometimes Touya wondered if it wasn't Yukito who had the complex for Sakura. After all, he had, in a way, been created for her. At least, that was the understanding he had gotten after the whole Clow Card incident was over.

Perhaps...

Touya studied the flowers thoughtfully for a second, suddenly noticing a remarkable thing. He used to rely on his special abilities to read his surroundings, but even without those skills, he was still remarkably perceptive. Few things in the world were able to surprise him, but he knew there was significance to most things. Life held many subtle meanings.

He pushed the thought to the back of his mind, vowing to contemplate the matter later. Unlike most people, he actually would return to the thought.

Touya went to the door, and raised a hand to knock on it. Before his fist made contact with the wood, though, the door swung open, and Yuki appeared before him, smiling sweetly. If he had been his sister, he would have stammered himself into an embarrassing situation, but Kinomoto Touya was always in control of himself. So instead, he chose to smile slightly. "What's up, Yuki?"

Yuki's eyes flickered for a second, and the pleasant amber seemed to become shadowed momentarily. "I can spend time with my best friend without a reason, can't I?" he teased playfully back.

"True, true," Touya said. He peeked around the corner, surprised that there were no lights on in the house. "Trying to save on electricity?"

Yukito turned to the house, which was cast in shadows. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "Lately..." Then he broke off and flicked on the switch, casting pools of strangely cold light into the house that seemed strangely lacking. There were none of the personal effects that families gathered over the years. Yukito had had only three years to collect them, and his paltry collection of mementos wasn't enough to cover up the emptiness of his home.

Touya smiled as he saw the bear that Sakura had made for Yuki seated next to the rabbit Syaoran had won for him. His eyes narrowed as he noticed another mysterious absence... for some reason, the bear was missing its naming ribbon.

Yukito, as usual, was oblivious to Touya's concern. "Do you want to do dinner? Or we can study for the math test that we're going to have?"

Touya allowed himself to be distracted; deciding that this was another piece of the puzzle for later. "Yuki, that test is in two weeks. And today is a Friday. Fridays are traditionally for goofing off."

Yuki smiled. "I had to offer. Well, how about we go to Kazusa-san's party?" he suggested in an innocent voice.

Touya glared.

"She likes you, To-ya."

"I have no interest in getting drunk in front of a ton of people I don't know," Touya complained, kicking off his shoes and slipping on the pair of slippers Yuki had bought for him, making it clear he had no interested in going anywhere.

Yuki's eternal smile turned mischievous. "Then how about getting drunk in front of someone you do know?" he suggested.

Touya looked at Yuki like he had just sprouted a third head. "Yuki? What are you thinking of?" he demanded.

"I want to play a game!" he said. He darted into the kitchen and returned carrying a huge tray of food, and two chilled sake bottles, along with two very large mugs that made Touya's eyes spin. Sake packed a punch, and Yuki surely didn't mean for them to drink all that sake... Touya wasn't blessed with the hypermetabolism of his friend.

"Yuki..." he began, but his sweet friend cut him off.

"If you play right, you won't have to drink that much," Yuki promised, leading him up to his room, instead of the dining room.

Touya followed, wondering why Yuki had chosen sake. Neither of them were big drinkers, but when they did, they usually preferred a good red Cabernet. It had the slight taste of cherries and plum, and while it tended to be a little expensive, Yukito never seemed to lack for funds. It was probably the one good thing Clow had ever done for him, Touya thought sometimes.

Yuki's bedroom was a place Touya had been uncountable times before. Since Yue had been revealed, the room had chanced to include an amazing number of photos. While Yukito had assured everyone he had recovered from his near disappearance, Touya wondered. The blackouts had scared his friend, and discovering his memories weren't real had been a bitter blow. Yuki seemed to be surrounding himself with his real memories with a vengeance.

Most of the pictures were taken by the camera-happy Tomoyo. Many contained Sakura, with her red hair blowing in the breeze, or smiling happily into the camera with Yuki standing beside her. A few were ones Yuki had taken himself, and they had a more candid quality to them. Sakura racing Li in the field day matches, or tossing the baton, or more recently, dancing on stage as a princess, again with the Chinese brat.

Touya was more camera shy, and it showed. There were fewer pictures of him, but it wasn't for lack of Yukito trying. There was one of him and Youko from the school play (which Yuki claimed to be keeping for blackmail), another of him from one of his numerous part-time jobs, and finally one Touya didn't remember being taken, of him and Yuki in high school, sitting in their tree. He had been staring at Yuki with a contemplative expression, and Yuki was smiling back at him, touching him on the wrist gently. It was another of Tomoyo's works, and she and Sakura had given it copies to both of them, framed in garish red and pink frames splattered with sparkles.

Touya's eyes narrowed when he noticed that the frame was gone. "Yuki? Where's the frame that goes with that picture?" he asked, pointing to it.

Yuki set the tray down on the floor before turning to look at it. "Ah, I managed to break it when I tried to hang it up. Don't tell Sakura, please?"

Touya huffed. "Like I'd tell Sakura that. She thinks you walk on water."

"More like the fires of hell," Yuki murmured to himself, but Touya's quick ears caught it. "I think you should eat, if we're going to be drinking!" Yukito said, once again the cheerful friend Touya was used to.
"What's this game you wanted to play?" Touya asked, kneeling on the floor across from where Yuki was cheerfully piling a plate for himself.

"A friend told me about it. It's called 'The One True Thing.'" Yuki looked up from the onigiri he was selecting for a second. "Basically, we go back and forth and chose a topic and say one true thing about it, what we think. It's kind of a getting-to-know you game, but to make things more interesting, we each have to take a sip of sake after each round."

Touya blinked, wondering what Yuki was thinking. "Yuki, we've been best friends for almost four years."

Yuki gave him the blinding smile that on anyone else would be called false, but Touya recognized as being just Yuki. Yukito's smiles were irresistible. "There's still a lot about each other we don't know about each other... and I want to know everything about you, To-ya."

"That's impossible... no one can never know another person completely."

"But that doesn't mean I should stop trying. Will you play?" Yuki pulled out his secret weapon: his puppy eyes.

Touya sighed. "Sure." He took the cup of sake and sighed. "Do I say any true thing, or just the truest?"

"With strangers, it can be any true thing. But since we're best friends, I think it should be the truest." Yuki popped a piece of sushi in his mouth with chopsticks and swallowed it. "Can I start?" he asked eagerly.

"Your game," Touya said, nibbling on some cheese. He wasn't fond of the rice-y taste of sake, so he wasn't all that thrilled about playing. Most people would assume that Yukito's smaller build would mean he'd be at a serious disadvantage when it came to imbibing, but his hypermetabolism worked on alcohol as well as food. Touya had seen him cheerfully drink seasoned Greeks under the table.

"We'll start with something easy. The one true thing about school," Yukito said.

"I have to answer that?" Touya asked.

Yukito nodded. "You answer, take a sip, then I answer."

"The one true thing about school... it's too easy. No challenge." Touya picked up his sake and took a moderate sized sip.

Yuki smiled at him. "Not that bad. The one true thing about school is that it makes me feel normal," he said, before taking three sips of his own drink.

Touya blinked. "Yuki?" he asked, knowing his friend would know what he meant.

"It's more fair this way- we want things to be even, after all. Your turn."

Touya sighed, knowing that it was pointless to argue. Yuki could be remarkably stubborn about what he considered "fair play." Still, this game did have some possibilities... "The one true thing about Syaoran."

"You sure you want to ask that?"

"Yep." The little Chinese brat had been driving him nuts with first his crush on Yuki, and now his romance with Sakura. He really wanted to know what Yuki thought of him.

"The one true thing about Syaoran is that he has a pure heart and strong beliefs." Yuki took his sip, then stared at Touya.

Touya sighed, knowing he had trapped himself. He considered lying, but he could never lie to Yuki. "The one true thing about Syaoran is that I'm afraid he'll take Sakura away." This time he took a larger, sip, needing the alcohol.

"That would never happen," Yuki said confidently. "Sakura wouldn't let it. You are one of the most important people in her life."

Touya looked troubled. "I wonder, sometimes."

Yuki pressed Touya's hand. "Sakura has a huge heart. The one true thing about Sakura is that she knows how to love." He sipped his sake, making it clear that was his turn.

"The one true thing about Sakura is that she's too precious to me," Touya returned, before thinking of his next question. "The one true thing about me is that I never can say what I feel," Touya said.

Yuki smiled. "The one true thing about Touya is that his eyes speak for him," he said, brushing gentle fingers across his friend's face. Touya blushed. "The one true thing about Nakuru is that she annoys the hell out of me," Yuki said, his eyes sparkling.

Touya laughed. "I thought you'd never admit it. The one true thing about Nakuru is that I completely agree with you. The one true thing about the color pink is that Sakura wears too much of it," he said, changing the subject quickly, before moving onto some fruit.

"The one true thing about pink is that Tomoyo likes dressing Sakura up in weird costumes made of it!" Yuki countered. He was thoughtful. "The one true thing about this game is that I learned it from a shrink," he said, apparently getting a little tipsy.

Touya's eyes widened. He noticed that Yuki had opened the second bottle of sake, and was well into it, and Touya still hadn't started on a second glass. Even Yuki's incredible body couldn't take all that alcohol without suffering the consequences. "A shrink? I didn't know you were seeing a counselor."

"I said that?" Yuki said, and he seemed to shift in his seat.

"Yuki..." Touya said. "The one true thing about the this game is that I'll stop playing if you don't answer me." He looked at his glass, surprised that the sake was exactly the color of Yukito's eyes, golden amber. He wondered why he hadn't noticed. He decided he liked sake after all, since it was so pretty... he could drink it every day-

He decided he was well on his way to getting drunk, too. And from so little alcohol- it was embarrassing.

Yuki sighed a little, running his hands through his hair. "I- I've been confused lately. It's not easy to be the false form of a Guardian of the Clow. I told her I was MPD, so she treats Yue like an alter." He rose and wobbled a little unsteadily to his desk, fumbled through a drawer before producing a file. He came back and handed it to Touya, almost landing in his lap as he stumbled slightly.

He opened the file to be met by an official looking letterhead, printed in maroon ink. He peered at it for a second, trying to decipher the medical jargon. "Um, Yuki? I'm slightly not with it right now... mind giving me a summary?"

Yuki sighed and folded himself up, wrapping his arms around his knees. "Basically, it states that I'm the current core personality- that means that I have control most of the time, and Yue is my main alter. When I stated that reintegration -that's getting both personalities to become one- wasn't possible, she decided to help me and Yue learn to coexist a little more easily. He's started to write me notes when he takes control and leaves me places now. It's a little better, I guess."

"Yuki... couldn't you have just talked to me?"

"Sometimes you need to talk to an impartial person, or a professional. I don't have any real memories of my life before tenth grade- what can you do?" Yuki whispered.

"I can care."

"I know you do." He studied Yuki for a moment. "The one true thing about the color red is that I've noticed that it's missing around you. You seem to remove it whenever you can, or avoid it."

Yuki looked up, stung. "The one true thing about red is that it makes me feel unreal."

"Why?"

"This isn't suppose to be twenty questions, Touya."

Touya gave him a half smile. "You wanted to play this game. You knew that we'd stumble onto these topics, in some way, shape, or form. That means you wanted to talk. So talk."

"Red, it's always been a strong color. It's the color of life- it's so vibrant. It's not associated with the moon or night, and I am. Every time I see it, it reminds me that I'm just the false form of Yue. The psychologist has it wrong- Yue is the core, I'm the alter." He was quiet for a second before turning eyes that lack all good humor and contained something Touya had never seen there.

"The one true thing about Yue is I hate him."

Touya's eyes widened. "What?" he asked, stunned. He had never believed Yuki capable of hatred, but his sun-gold eyes blazed with passion and Touya knew that this was the truest thing Yuki had said all evening.

"It's his fault I'm the way I am! He filled me with these false memories. I hate him! He took my grandparents away! I hate always smiling- sometimes I'd like to have a good sulk, or swear, or scream, just like other people do! I'd like to have bad days, but Yue designed me to always be cheerful, because he never does! And then whenever he feels like it, he swoops in, takes over my life, and leaves me with these blank spaces in my memory!

"I could take that, if he only hurt me! But he hurt you, too! He took your power to save himself! Your power was one of the cores of you, Touya, and every time I see you now, I feel guilty! And because he exists, Sakura and Syaoran couldn't get close to me without being attracted! How can I know if they ever like me for who I am, rather than the moon power they feel from me? Sometimes I wish I had never been created!" he said, finishing his tirade. The words had come out quickly, some of them he had been holding in ever since he had discovered Yue's existence.

"Do you want the one true thing?" Touya growled. His hand snagged out for the sharp knife on the tray that Yukito had brought on.

Yukito's eyes widened, his instincts warning him that his friend had been pushed too far. "What?" he asked, almost breathless with anticipation. Something hung in the balance at that moment; a moment where a life changing decision was about to be made.

Touya shut his eyes, and mentally hoped Yuki would understand what he was about to do. He opened them after a deep breath, knowing Yuki was watching him with fascination. Instead of taking the knife to his friend, like Yuki was expecting, he raised his left hand and took his this thumb and made a deep, horizontal cut across the pad, blood springing forth almost immediately. "Ouch," he hissed.

"To-ya!" Yuki said, forgetting everything else except his friend's pain. "What are you doing?" He moved closer, obviously intent on bandaging Touya's injury.

Touya had been anticipating that. He quickly snagged Yuki's own hand, ignoring his friend's startled gasp as he proceeded to make a similar incision on Yuki's own left thumb. Yuki yelped in pain and betrayal, turning his amber eyes onto Touya. "Why?" he said. "Have you gone mad?"

Touya's blue eyes burned as he threw the knife across the room, sending it skittering across the floor. "This is the one true thing, Yuki. Look at your blood- it's just as red as mine. You're as human as I am."

Yukito stared at the blood running down their hands for a moment before taking Touya's bleeding hand in his own. Their blood mixed and mingled, dripping together onto the floor. It was strangely hypnotizing, and they sat together in silence for over before he sighed. "I wish I could believe you, To-ya."

"It doesn't matter where you came from; it doesn't matter about Yue. You are Tsukishiro Yukito, and that's all you need to know. You're free to hate Yue- it's your feeling, and you're entitled to it. You are not Yue- you never would have performed the Final Judgement on Sakura- you and Yue just happen to be sharing the same body.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be too fond of Yue, either. He comes out of nowhere, gives you blackouts, gets you into a hell of a lot of trouble, and... well, angst. Yue is the poster child for angst. He has his good points, but no one can mope like he can. I think he's been mourning Clow's death for over a century, and there's no sign of him coming out of it."

Yuki cracked a smile. "I wish I knew more about him... I don't even know what he looks like. Sakura describes him as an angel, and... it's intimidating." Yuki stared down at their hands, wondering when the blood would start to clot. Maybe they should go get stitches, but that would lead to some uncomfortable questions. "I'm nothing like that."

"You're much more of an angel then he'll ever be. He may have the look of one, but you're much nicer." Touya looked thoughtful. "I think Tomoyo has an amazing number of videos of Sakura with her Guardians. We can borrow some videos from her tomorrow."

Yuki smiled, feeling a little light-headed. "Thanks, To-ya. I'd like that."

Touya raised Yuki's thumb, and kissed it lightly, ignoring the blood. "I'm sorry I cut you," he whispered.

"Sometimes it takes something like that to make a point with me. I can be rather thick," Yuki said.

Touya smiled back at his friend. "Thick? Never. Oblivious, sometimes, but never thick." He put Yuki's hand down and rose to his feet. "I'll go get the first aid kit."

Yuki's cheeks were slightly flushed from all the alcohol he had consumed. "To-ya, will you spend the night with me tonight?" he asked.

"Yuki, I'll stay as long as you need me."

"Then you'll never leave," Yuki said with contentment.

THE END

Closing notes:

This ended up as the preview for "Alter Egos" which is available under the "aishuu" name.

Shades of Scarlet is a challenge in where we would like you to write a fic (that hopefully make sense) mentioning as many red things as possible. Meaning, for everything that is at least a shade of scarlet, points will be given to that certain fic. Of course slapping down just "cherry, heart, mars, fire" won't just cut it, it must be a complete story that's creative, has a plot, and is in a nice quality.

So, of course, my goal became to be as contrary as possible and try to show the lack of red, for a while, at least. Cause Yukito is a weird cookie.

Contrary to popular opinion, sake is NOT always served warm. In fact, it shouldn't be hot. Warm sake should be around body temperature/

Red things (or lack thereof) in order: flowers, bear's ribbon, red wine, cherries, Sakura's hair, picture frame, fires of hell, Yuki's blush, letterhead, blood, Yuki's cheeks.