"Yue!!" Sakura yelled to get the boy's attention. Beside her Syaoron rolled his eyes at the girl's enthusiasm. Tomoyo nudged her boyfriend in the rib and gave him a warning glare. Not seeing the exchange the cheerful girl left her friends behind and ran to catch up to the silver haired boy who waited patiently for her.

"Hello Sakura," Yue greeted when she reached him. The girl in question smiled and waved brightly. The older boy smiled politely at Tomoyo and Syaoron. The former smiled back just as politely and the latter scowled.

"Ohayo Yue. How's it going?" Sakura returned the greeting cheerfully ignoring the way her friends were acting.

"Tired," Yue said with a wry grin. He held up his chemistry textbook. "I had to stay up to study for the exam," he continued with a woebegone sigh. Sakura nodded in sympathy. Her exams were coming up also and she wasn't looking forward to them either.

Meanwhile Tomoyo and Syaoron had walked ahead, leaving her to walk alone with Yue. They could see the couple but the two did not intrude, which was a very tactful way of saying they trusted Yue to a certain degree. Then again the glare Syaoron had directed at Yue over his shoulder also said that he wouldn't hesitate to tear the Star Guardian to shreds if he hurt Sakura again.

The two walked in comfortable silence. Neither of them needed speech to fill up the quiet. Both were of a peaceful nature. Yue was by nature quite and watchful. And no matter how loud Sakura was there was a side to her that craved tranquility. Yue would have described the moment as peaceful. Akuma wasn't around to annoy them, Eriol wasn't around to tease them, and neither Touya nor Kero were around to either verbally or physically attack Yue. Thinking about the two protectors of Sakura's virtues reminded Yue of what happened last night.

"What happened with your family after I left?" Yue asked tentatively. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. Sakura let out a half-laugh, half-sigh. She grimaced comically as she looked up at Yue with mischievous eyes.

"I was put to the third degree. I swear Touya and Kero were CIA interrogators in their past lives. I never knew they could be so...so...scary," Sakura finished with a dramatic shudder. Yue smiled at the girl's over dramatization.

"What was their verdict regarding me?" he questioned. Yue might not show it but he was very curious as to what Touya decided. And it would also be convenient if the Card Mistress' brother and Guardians would actually stop abusing him every time they saw him.

"They decided that, and I quote, 'even if Yue is the slimy, perverted, and dishonest progeny of the Devil, Satan, Hades and Lucifer rolled into one, they would trust me to be able to look after myself', end quote," Sakura said with laughter in her eyes. Yue's eyebrows went way up at that.

"Aren't the Devil, Satan and Lucifer one person?" he asked laughing.

"Yes but I didn't think arguing with them was a good idea at the time," she replied with a shrug.

"Probably not," Yue agreed. He and Sakura looked at each other then burst out laughing.

"Aww this is so sweet, you'll have to excuse me while I throw up." Yue tensed and turned around with a stiff smile. To Sakura his smiles were genuine, but this one was full of hidden threats. Akuma stood behind them in all of her evil glory. She wore her school uniform and was smiling but the way she was standing told them all they needed to know. Akuma was not a happy girl. The way she had reverted to her other form, without the skimpy costume, wasn't a good sign either.

"Ohayo gozaimasu," Sakura greeted very courteously. Her hands slowly shifted upwards to grasp her key. Akuma's red eyes narrowed as they focused on the girl. She seemed to be searching for something then a smirk appeared on her face.

"Don't you remember our little deal?" Even though she was looking at Sakura it was obvious the question was addressed to Yue.

"What deal? What's she talking about Yue?" Sakura asked not daring to turn to the Star Guardian who shook his head distractedly. He was glaring at the woman with undisguised hatred.

"Never mind," he said through gritted teeth. He didn't want to answer but he knew that if Sakura persisted he would have no other choice available to him.

"Come on Yue why don't you tell your Mistress why you've been avoiding her for the last couple of days?" Akuma taunted. Yue's lips thinned and his eyes narrowed. At his sides his hands were clenched into tight fists.

"Yue?" Sakura said the name softly but Yue knew what she was asking. He didn't answer, and he wasn't going to until it was absolutely necessary. Akuma rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically.

"Such trust in this relationship," the sarcasm was thick enough to cut with a blunt knife. When Yue only continued to glare she snickered delightedly. She turned to Sakura who was looking from one to the other with confusion on her face.

"You're boyfriend here – " Akuma glanced at Yue before turning back with a smirk.

"Don't you dare Akuma," Yue barked. His form was glowing white, although he didn't dare to change in public. Akuma smiled at him pleasantly and continued.

" – And I made a little deal that I would leave you alone if he did so as well. And of course he couldn't keep away from you for more than a week," she finished disgustedly with a grimace. Sakura's eyes narrowed as well.

"Was she telling the truth?" she asked tersely. Yue squirmed slightly evidently not wanting to answer the question. Sakura waited patiently. Finally he sighed and looked at Sakura with bland eyes. He nodded once in answer to her question. For some reason Sakura looked extremely angry. Akuma smiled slyly.

"Chaos, panic, and disorder...my job here is done," she sighed happily. Sakura turned to her with anger in her eyes. Akuma smiled at her and blew a kiss at the two before disappearing.

Yue snarled under his breath. Sakura turned to him with quite a lot of anger in her eyes.

"So you avoided me for over a week because she said she would hurt me if you didn't, is that right?" she asked quietly. If one could only hear her voice they would have thought she was quite calm and collected. However if one saw her eyes, they told a different story all together. She was as mad as hell and ready to burst into flames.

"Yes, it was my duty," Yue answered her coldly, indifferently some might have said. He had had centuries of practice at covering his emotions up and he used those skills to his advantage. He was not sorry that he had been able to protect his charge and if she was angry so be it. Better angry than dead.

"In other words you think I'm some sort of Princess in a castle who needs to be protected at all times. You think I don't have the skills to protect myself," she hissed. Her emerald eyes were glowing with her fury. If Yue had been anyone else he would have been scared. But Yue was Yue and he was going to stand his ground.

"I know you can protect yourself against any magician or sorceress that challenges you but Akuma is a different matter altogether," Yue insisted.

"Why does everyone think I'm still a child!!!" Sakura nearly yelled with frustration.

"When you act like that you are a child," Yue snapped his eyes glowing with fury. "I know you can look after yourself, all of us knows that. We know you have the ability," he continued moderating his voice.

"..."

"But Akuma doesn't attack physically. She uses trickery to get what she wants," Yue said desperately. At this Sakura's eyes narrowed into thin slits.

"Does this mean you think I'd be stupid enough to fall for her tricks? You think I can't figure out for myself if she's lying to me or not?" she hissed.

"NO!"

"Then what are you trying to say!!!"

"I'm trying to say that Akuma has had centuries of practice at lying, she knows exactly what to say to make you believe her. I just don't think you're old enough to see through her lies!!" he shouted.

"Fine then, if you think I'm not old enough or smart enough, I should probably just leave," Sakura said tersely. Her eyes were stinging with angry tears but she wouldn't let a drop pass.

/I won't cry, I won't cry, iwontcryiwontcryiwontcry!!/

Her fists clenched tightly in an effort to hold back her tears. She couldn't let Yue see her cry. Tears were a sign of weakness and he already that she was weak, she wouldn't make the situation any wore by crying.

"Sakura I didn't mean it like that," Yue said sounding desperate.

"Really, what did you mean then?" Sakura asked sarcastically. Yue blinked at the tone of her voice.

"I – I meant – I mean..." Yue stammered not knowing what to say because in a way she was right. They didn't think she could look after herself, because she was too trusting. No matter what the person had done before she would forgive them. So far she had been lucky, all the people she had trusted had proven themselves worthy of her trust, but her luck was sure to run out. And Yue was sure that Akuma would be that failed charity case. He didn't want to see her hurt.

And for the first time he admitted that it wasn't because of The Angel. For the first time since he met her he protected her because he genuinely wanted to. Unfortunately he didn't have the time to muse on that thought any longer. Sakura was not a happy Card Mistress.

"I guess I was right after all," she said bitterly turning away. Yue would have called her back if he could have found the words to make her feel better. But he didn't so all he could do was watch as she walked away from him.

Just when he thought that they had gotten over one hurdle ten more appeared in its place. It was more than annoying, it was extremely frustrating.

There was only one thing that Yue could think of to help with the situation. Talk to his brothers and sisters. He wasn't looking forward to it but it was necessary. He had never been a chicken before and he wasn't going to be one now.

Hallelujah!!! And Praise the Lord!! You have no idea how long I've been angsting over what to write. I had a writer's block for so bloody long!! I was ready to tear my hair out.

And it wasn't just writer's block. Our computer conveniently decided to contract a virus. And it wasn't even doing any major damage, it was just being really, really annoying.

But thank you for all of your support. A very nice person emailed me and asked if they could archive this story. I was very happy to say yes. So now you can find my fic at [find website] too. That was the first time anyone has ever asked to archive my story so I can genuinely say that I'm on top of the world. Ta ta till next chappie.