Kinomoto Touya was a very adaptable person. When he saw his first ghost he didn't scream in fright, he just backed away slowly. When he found out his sister was a sorceress of enormous power he didn't suddenly start to treat her as a goddess. And when his fiancée turned out to be a moon priestess with an unsettling ability to see the future he just shrugged and went on with his life with no perceptible change in attitude. It was very hard to make Touya unravel. But everyone has their limits and Touya's limit was reached when he opened the front door of his house in answer to repeated knocking and saw a wet and battered looking Yue standing outside carrying an unconscious Sakura in his arms. The young man's mouth dropped open. "Wha – " he began but was forced to stop when Yue rudely brushed past him without a word. "Hey!" he called out irritably. Yue didn't turn around.
"I would like to make sure your sister is fine before having to answer your questions if that's all right with you?" Yue's brittle voice broke through Touya's shock. The brother to the Cardmistress snapped to attention. Direction Yue to the large sofa in the living room Touya watched as Yue placed Sakura carefully on the sofa. Unconscious and pale Sakura didn't look like the card mistress, one of the most powerful magic users in the world. She looked like a young girl who was far too innocent to bear the burden of Clow Reed's legacy.
"Now that she's fine and dandy," the sarcasm in Touya's voice could cut glass, "What the hell happened?"
Yue spent a moment gazing at the brother of the Cardmistress. He knew very well that this young man would have some sort of power. One did not get to be a child of the reincarnated form of Clow Reed and the brother of the Cardmistress without having some tricks of his own. So perhaps he had felt something. "Did you feel something a little…strange today? A change in energy pattern or something similar." Judging by the shocked feeling on Touya's face, Yue had hit the nail on the head.
The dark haired young man glared. "I knew you had something to do with it," Touya accused, "And it wasn't just 'a little', it was the biggest migraine I've ever experienced in my entire life. It was twice the one I got when that freak decided to attack my sister for some test. What is going on?"
Yue closed his mouth. Well, at least he had been right. "It seems that Akuma is far stronger than I had approximated. That pain you experienced is proof of it."
"And I suppose the pain the others experienced is also proof of it," Touya muttered, running a hand through his hair.
"The others?" Yue repeated.
"Aa, I got a call from the freak, the gaki, and Kaho asking whether I had felt what they had. Apparently the experience was painful enough for them to be feeling echoes of it minutes afterwards. And when I went upstairs the stuffed toy and Tsuki were feeling less than healthy. Actually, they looked like hell." Yue paled. If this had affected all of them so strongly how much power had Akuma pulled from the environment? This was looking worse and worse as he heard each word.
"K'so," he hissed in frustration.
Touya arched an eyebrow. "Something tells me that is not good news."
Yue shook his head, occupied with wondering how the hell he was going to get out of this mess. And whether he should even try. It all seemed so hopeless, no matter what he did, he failed. Life was looking less and less predictable.
"Of course it's not good news, especially when someone like Akuma is involved," a familiar voice spoke up. Yue looked up and saw Eriol standing in the doorway. Not just Eriol, it was also Kaho, Suppi, Nakuru, Syaoron, Tomoyo, and Meiling. In other words, every single one of Sakura's magical friends were there, making Yue feel very outnumbered. "Should we have a group meeting?" Eriol suggested with a bright smile.
Yue took a deep breath and reminded himself that Sakura would not appreciate it if he killed her guardians, neither would the Angel come to think about it. Stuck between Tsuki and Keroberus, Yue was feeling more than a bit anxious. The two had glared at him when he had asked if they were feeling better. Kero had almost attacked him screaming something similar to 'you traitorous psychotic moron'. Luckily Touya grabbed Kero mid-flight, telling him that they could kill Yue after they extracted the necessary information from him. Needless to say Yue was hoping that Sakura would wake up and soon. If the girl did not wake up Yue would not be held responsible for his actions. Or for his dead body, which was the far more likely option.
"As I was saying before to Touya, we seem to have a bit of a problem on our hands. Namely Akuma," Eriol said, calmly pouring tea into a cup. The others watched with total amazement as Eriol added milk and sugar calmly. Eriol continued to talk, "Obviously she bears us no good will. However, apart from the single attack at the party she has done nothing to Sakura. She has taunted, hurt us, riddled, but nothing else. Would anyone like to put forth a theory to explain that?"
"She seems to be waiting for something." Kaho smiled when everyone turned to her. "That's my guess." Guesses were as good as done when a moon priestess bothered to put them forward. The moon saw everything, and if she did not, the sun told her.
Meiling nodded slowly. "That seems to be the case but what's she waiting for? A blue moon?"
Yue coughed, trying not to squirm when he gained everyone's attention. "I might have an answer to that."
Even Eriol's smile turned razor sharp when they heard that. "Ah yes, my Hoshi no Tenshi, I do believe you are one of our main players in this little play. Do tell us what is going on so we can be prepared."
Yue sighed. "It was something that Clow Reed told me when I was younger. 'The powers of Heaven and Hell are not meant to co-exist. When they do, it is inevitable that they will fight for dominance. They will cancel each other out and life will be as it was meant to be, a montage of grey.' I asked him what he meant by that but he only told me to wait for the light of the purple moon."
Rubbing his temple with a tired sigh, Touya spoke up, "Let me take a wild stab in the dark. The Angel would be the power of Heaven and Akuma the power of Hell. And they're going to fight. So the only question left is, what the hell is the light of the purple moon?"
Tsuki, who had been staring quizzically at her older brother ever since he had started to speak, bit her lips. "The star can become the moon…" she said in a quiet voice that had her brothers and creator looking shrewdly at her. Her face was slack and her eyes glowed with magic. "A purple star can become a purple moon when the time is right…" There was a tense silence where she smiled serenely, before her eyes focused in the present again. She blinked in confusion when she noticed the stares coming her way. "Eto, doushite?"
Smiling comfortingly, Eriol shook his head, reaching across to pat her hand. "Betsuni, Tsu-chan, betsuni." The others who knew something had happened, even if they didn't know what, realised that Eriol wanted them to keep their mouths shut. That was fine with them. When the true reincarnation of Clow did something, you followed because it was a bad idea not to. A lot of pain and death involved if you didn't listen.
Suddenly taking control of the situation Yue spoke up, "Has anyone been feeling slightly abnormal lately?" The strangeness of the question prompted everyone to look quizzically at the Star Guardian.
"Abnormal how?" Touya's voice had a hint of 'what else haven't you told us'.
Yue shrugged. "Just wondering whether those little red balls that Akuma attacked you with had any affects."
The sudden smile on Eriol's face told Yue that he had just done something his ex-master would hope he would do. Yue hated being predictable. "Thank you Yue-kun." The guardian winced at the affectionate name. "You've just reminded me of something. I wanted to scan all of you in case those red balls did something."
"Scan?" Syaoron's voice held quite a lot of suspicion. Yue couldn't blame him. Clow was…eccentric and it was likely that his reincarnation had inherited the same trait.
"Just a little spell that'll make sure you're all in your peak condition."
"Promise?" Meiling asked, apprehensive of the smile on Eriol's face.
The magician held up his hand, palm outward. "Cross my heart and hope to die," he swore with a straight face. His friends just gave him a 'look'.
Kero sighed and rolled onto his feet. "Hurry up then Reed-sama."
Standing patiently before Eriol, Tomoyo tried not to flinch when a pale gold light came out from his staff to surround her. She had always been a little wary of magic. She was around it enough not to let it worry her but being able to ignore it and accepting it wholeheartedly were two different things. "So," she began nervously, "How am I?"
Eriol retracted the light and smiled at Tomoyo. "Absolutely fine my dear. Nothing wrong at all." The girl sighed in relief and moved out of the way for Meiling, who stepped forward confidently.
When at last, everyone, including Yue had gone through the test Eriol put away his staff. "It seems nothing is wrong, which makes me worried."
Nakuru looked up. "Worried?"
Eriol nodded. "Yes. What was the purpose of that red light if not to hurt us physically or magically? I'm sure everyone agrees that Akuma is unlikely to do something unless it is in her favour. So therefore there must be a reason behind this. But I can't figure out why."
Yue could have told the magician to sit back, relax, and wait for the future but he didn't. For one thing they were upset with him already, and for another, he too was worried. The Akuma he knew had a reason for everything. She did not waste her energy for nothing. And knowing Akuma, the spell was aimed at making things difficult for Sakura. What he wouldn't give to get drunk right now. Of course, there was the problem of Guardians not being able to get drunk. Being a magical construct had its disadvantages.
"So what do we do then?" The question, not surprisingly, came from Syaoron. The boy was well known for his…forthright manners.
In Yue's opinion, Eriol's answering smile was not comforting in the least. "What we do best. Wait for the worst to happen."
A pin dropping on carpet could be heard in the silence that followed. It was Touya who finally found his voice.
"You're telling me to just sit back and watch my sister get hurt?" A pause, then, "Are you insane!!!" Well, if that wasn't loud enough to wake Sakura Yue didn't know what was.
" 'Niisan, what's going on?"
…And indeed that would be Sakura, who had walked down the stairs just in time to see her brother lose it. Touya seemed to lose all of that anger when he saw Sakura. Yue was somewhat amazed by the phenomenon. He was under the impression that it would take more than innocent eyes to make Kinomoto Touya back down. Sister complex. Yue smirked. He'd heard Yukito tease Touya about that once.
Sakura glanced around, trying to find something or someone that would signal to her what was going on. Tomoyo, her best friend, was at her side immediately. "Are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?"
The blank look Sakura gave her was indicative of the honey-haired girl's state of mind. "I'm not hurt at all. Why would I be?" Nearly everyone froze. Eriol just studied Sakura as if she were an experiment. At the response her words inspired, Sakura shrank back. "What's going on?"
Seeing as how so many people seemed shocked into speechlessness, Yue took it upon himself to explain. "You are possessed by the spirit of the Angel, much as Keori is by Akuma I suspect. The Angel took over for a while and your body couldn't handle the stress of it. You fainted, I carried you home, and here you are." He did not see the need to hide behind a lie. Sakura, from what he had witnessed, was a strong girl who thrived in the truth. It was about time people stopped treating her as a child. Not, Yue thought to himself with a small grimace, that Kero or Touya would agree with him.
Yue was amused to note that as soon as the words left his mouth Kero rounded on him with a snarl. His next words however made the smile on Yue's face fade away. "Shut up Yue! This is as much your fault as it is Akuma's. You and the Angel. If you hadn't – "
That was, as they say, the last straw. "If I hadn't what? Fallen for a Card? Chased after the only one who saw past the Judge? Found a mind of my own, away from our Creator? Become independent? What exactly are you blaming me for Kero? You were the one who played lapdog to a man who only acknowledged us when he wanted to test out one of his theories. And beside, my absence hardly disturbed his plans. He created a new pet didn't he? How easily I am replaced. None of you bothered to help me, perhaps if you had, if we had found the Angel quicker, then this might not have happened. Have you thought of that, brother dearest?" Eventually Yue ran out of steam and he was left breathing harshly, barely able to contain his bitter anger.
"Yue?"
The timid voice startled the pale guardian out of his reverie. Oh hell, Yue swore silently. He had forgotten about Sakura. The girl, if Yue was correct, would probably be wondering if this was her fault. Not that it was. Not that Yue could convince her of it. Yue sometimes wished that the girl would be selfish, just once.
Keeping Sakura's giving personality in mind Yue summoned a small smile. "Forgive me Kero, I was just…feeling a little out of sorts. Please ignore everything I just said." Kero gave him a strange look but Yue kept that smile on for everyone's sake.
Not surprisingly Eriol stepped up to take control of the situation. "We understand Yue. Perhaps you should go home and have a rest. Don't worry about Sakura, we'll take care of her." Even though Eriol sounded calm, there was no denying that the tension between he and his creation existed. Whether the tension was there before Yue's word was another matter completely.
Taking the chance that he had been given, Yue graciously backed out of the situation that he had created. "Certainly. I'll talk to you later Sakura." Not even waiting for the girl to respond he nearly ran out of the house.
"Hmph," Kero mumbled, "Good riddance." Unwittingly he had voiced the feeling of nearly everyone in the room.
I hated this chapter. This stupid, short, pointless chapter. I'm also feeling sick (bloody stuffed nose) due to staying up till one and waking up at six for practically a whole week. I wasn't made for such things. I don't know whether it's me feeling sick or whatever, but I couldn't stand to look at this chapter. I don't care whether there's a mistake in it, I don't care whether I've contradicted myself. I don't plan to re-read this chapter until…I don't know when.
Frickin' headache. Feel free to R&R, even if its unlikely I'll be up to writing another chapter till later. Sorry it's so short and I'm being so whiney.