Denouement

Sakura's smile was heartfelt and lovely. "Thank you."

Yukito closed the door quietly as he left Sakura to her sewing. She had to finish her teddy in a hurry, it seemed. Her friend must be going to go away very soon.

He found, as he carried the empty dishes to the kitchen, that he was still thinking about that terrible 'if' he had spoken to Sakura of.

If I could never see you and... Touya. again...

And now, even though his problem was solved, Touya had given his power to Yue, and Yue and Yukito were no longer in danger of disappearing, a vague worry still nagged at him.

Maybe it's Sakura-chan. Because the person she loves is going away... I'm feeling sad for her?

He wasn't convinced. He climbed the stairs on his way to Touya's room in a daze, and sat down on the floor near the bed without saying anything.

He did notice that Touya was lying on his bed, flipping through a magazine--and had looked up when Yukito came in. But Touya didn't say anything either.

Yukito wrapped his arms around his folded legs and stared at the rear wall of Touya's room, thinking. Really, everything was okay now--or should be...

"Yuki."

"...If that monster is making you worry now, she's going to be sorry."

"Touya." Yukito laughed quietly and leaned his head against the edge of Touya's bed. "It's not Sakura-chan's fault."

"Hn. So what are you worrying about now?" Touya asked, sounding vaguely annoyed and somewhat tired. He began to stroke Yukito's hair gently.

"Oh, nothing, really." Yukito turned his head so he could look at Touya properly. "You sound tired. Do you want me to go home so you can go to bed?"

Something in Touya's eyes changed. Yukito couldn't tell exactly what. "No. Idiot. I want you to stay here."

And then Touya grabbed his arm and pulled... and the next thing Yukito knew for sure that was that he was lying on top of his friend, looking down at him, surprised. He noticed that Touya was looking rather surprised as well.

"I think I want to go to sleep now," Touya said, looking rather sly as he did so. He wrapped his arms around Yukito, in a hug that was warm and perfect in a way that made Yukito's heart swell and flutter and generally behave oddly.

Yukito took off his glasses, and let them fall from his hand to the floor. They made no sound as they hit the carpet.

Yukito slid his hand along Touya's jaw and cheek and into his hair. He closed his eyes and kissed him.

His first kiss. It was odd at first--the way the touch of lips and lips was soft as no other touch he'd ever known. But then Touya's mouth moved against his--warmly--and Touya's tongue flicked against his lower lip... Yukito shivered and gave up trying to catalogue the sensations.

Yukito came up out of the kiss with his head swimming. He buried his face into Touya's chest for a moment...

"I love you..."

"Shut up." And Touya pulled Yukito's head up to his and kissed him again.

"Oi, Yuki."

"...Mm... what?"

"Wake up."

Did he have to? He'd been having a really nice dream. He and To-ya had gone on a picnic with Sakura-chan and her friends Tomoyo-chan and Li. And they were eating a very nice chocolate cake.

Wait a minute--Li. Maybe he was the one Sakura-chan loved... Uh-oh. Touya would not be happy about that... but wait... come to think about it... Touya had hinted at something like that before. It must be true--which would explain why Touya was so hostile to Li.

"Yuki." Eh? Now someone was shaking him. He opened his eyes and blinked sleepily as the light hit his eyes.

Touya was lounging next to him with a smirk on his face. "I'm going to cook breakfast. It would be good to not be asleep if you want to eat some... which of course you will."

"Oh, okay..." Yukito sat up and looked around, muttering, "glasses... now, where did I..."

"Here." Touya had them already. He placed them in Yukito's hand.

"Thank you." He put them on and smiled at Touya, who looked away, embarrased.

"Come on, then."

Yukito yawned, leaning on the kitchen counter, watching Touya cook.

He'd tried to help, but he was still so groggy that Touya had finally pushed him out of his way and told him to stay out of it. Touya didn't need any sleepy idiots ruining his cooking, apparently.

Yukito smiled. He might be tired, but not for want of sleep. And he'd certainly never slept more comfortably than he had the night before, cuddled in an impossibly tangled embrace with his best friend--his number one person.

Although he probably should have changed before falling asleep. His clothes were all rumpled. Not that it mattered.

Touya caught Yukito's eye as he turned around, and sighed audibly. Of course he was embarrased seeing Yukito so obviously happy after what had happened the night before. It made Yukito want to poke him. It was so cute.

"Pass me the milk, will you?"

Yukito fetched the milk and handed it over wordlessly. Touya gave him a strange look as he took the milk.

"Why are you looking at me like that? If you keep doing it I'm going to throw you out of here."

Yukito blinked. "Like what?"

"Like you're watching kittens play or something." Okay. Touya knew full well why Yukito was looking at him like that and now he was giving Yukito a Don't You Dare Say It scowl.

"Why are you so grumpy in the mornings?" Yukito asked with small, not unhappy sigh.

Touya protested immediately. "I'm not grumpy!"

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Touya looked back in the direction the sound was coming from. "It's the monster."

"She sounds like she's in a hurry..." Uh-oh, Yukito thought. He started towards the door.

Yukito stood still listening to the sound of Touya's motorcycle speed away down the road. He hoped Sakura got to the airport bus stop before her friend departed... and then wondered if he should finish Touya's cooking so it would be ready when they got back...

"Is something burning?" Fujitaka wondered aloud, sniffing the air.

"The breakfast--!" Yukito exclaimed. "Oh, no..."

The breakfast was already ruined by the time Yukito and Fujitaka got to it. Fujitaka threw it out and began anew, and, with Yukito's help, had an edible breakfast ready by the time Touya and Sakura returned.

Sakura had been extremely pensive all through the meal, although she did remember to eat, at least... but not enough for Touya's liking.

"Oi, monster. Why don't you eat instead of staring at your plate like that?"

"I'm not very hungry." She said, quietly and added after a brief pause, "And I'm not a monster."

After breakfast, Fujitaka had gone out somewhere, and Sakura had wandered robot-like, upstairs to her room.

Touya and Yukito were clearing away the breakfast dishes when Touya remarked, "you were smiling wider than ever before I left. What happened?"

"I feel bad for Sakura-chan, " he responded. "It must be very hard to watch the person you care about most go away."

Watching Touya's eyes, Yukito thought Touya might get angry and make some disparaging comments about Li, but he only said. "He'll be back. He'd better be. If he makes my sister cry..."

Yukito smiled.

"That's better," Touya said. "I know everything's all right when you smile like that." He came and put his arms around Yukito, brushing lips against his temple.

"'Everything will definitely be all right'..." Yukito murmured, returning the embrace.

"That's what Sakura always says."

"Oh. I wondered where I'd heard that, but I didn't know Sakura-chan said it."

Touya tensed a little. "Yue."

"Oh, of course. It's... hard to get used to it..."

"You will. And if you need help, I'll be here."