By Syf
Chapter OneCome on Yue!
No.
Please?What part of no don't you understand?
We just want you to join in.
Well I don't want to join in.
No wonder Keroberus called you a party pooper.
That's Kero's problem not mine.
[Please Yue.]
You just had to involve the mistress in it didn't you?
Sorry.
[It's not that much of a challenge is it?]
Yes it is.
[If you won't come out voluntarily then I'll have to force you out.]
You wouldn't.
[Try me.]
Fine. I'll come out.
Thanks Yue.
[You won't regret it.]
I'm already regretting it.
In the physical world silvery light covered the blindfolded Yukito from head to toe. Snowy wings came out to cover the snow bunny from view. When they fell back they revealed an entirely new person, although he was still blindfolded. The blindfold came off to reveal Yue's irritated amethyst eyes.
Yue glared around him with cold lilac eyes. He surmised that he was in the Kinomoto's backyard from the flowers and plants around him. In the middle of the garden was a table with several objects on them. The group of humans standing in front of the table stopped him from seeing what those objects were. "Why am I even here?" he asked coldly. The humans and guardian in front of him shared a look. They elected Sakura to be the spokesperson. She stepped forward still making sure that Yue couldn't seen anything.
"We just wanted to say...happy birthday," she said biting her lips. Yue continued to stare with unnerving cats-eyes. "Oh and here're your present," she said with a smile. The group of humans stepped aside to reveal the table. Arrange on the table were several brightly wrapped packages. Yue's eyebrow lifted. Sakura waited patiently. The moon guardian stepped forward. A pale hand stretched out to poke a package.
Yue looked at the packages as if he had never seen one like it before. "What are they?" he asked disinterestedly. Kero rolled his eyes with exasperation.
"You're supposed to open them," he told Yue. The moon guardian looked at his counterpart witheringly.
"Obviously," he said adding a touch of sarcasm of his otherwise bland voice.
"Then open them," Kero prompted. Yue looked from the stuffed toy to Sakura to Tomoyo to Touya.
With a silent sigh he opened the first package efficiently. A small card told him that it was from Sakura. Pale slender fingers worked to reveal the present to the receiver. When the wrapping was finally gone Yue stood staring.
"Well?" Tomoyo prompted looking out from behind her camera.
The present was a book. The front cover was silver and covered with magical symbols. He flipped it over and saw that Sakura's symbol took up the back of the book.
"What is it?" he asked flicking through it.
"It's a journal. I had help from some of the Cards to make it," Sakura piped up. Yue's glanced at her.
"Why do I need a journal?"
"Everyone needs to write things down sometimes, whether it's something major or minor."
In the brief silence before Yue spoke, it was evident that Sakura was suffering a moment of regret. "Thank you Sakura," Yue said softly. Joy flooded the girl's face as she realised that he had called her by name. She smiled brightly at her guardian. Yue nodded and turned to the other presents. He scanned thtm with critical eyes.
"Open mine," Kero begged. So of course Yue opened Tomoyo's. It was a costume much like his usual uniform. However it was black and silver with purple linings. The costume was basically a shirt and long pants with a robe over the top. The shirt was black with long sleeves and buttoned up to the wearer's neck. The pants were black like the shirt and designed to cling loosely to the legs. The sleeveless robe was black and lined with silver. A dark amethyst cloth was supposed to be wrapped around the waist once then fall over the right shoulder to trail on the floor. Black leather gloves and boots accompanied the costume. Yue looked at Tomoyo.
"You've been wearing the same thing for hundreds of years it's time for you to get a new wardrobe," the girl explained. Sakura giggled at the nonplussed look in Yue's eyes.
"Oh yeah and I have one more thing for you," Tomoyo said digging into her purse. She pulled out a jewelry case. Yue accepted it and opened it to reveal an earring. It was a silver ring with a small ball of obsidian attached to it.
"Thank you," Yue said with a nod. Tomoyo grinned already seeing in her mind Yue in the costume.
"Yu-ayyyyyyyy," Kero whined. The other guardian rolled his eyes.
"Fine," he snapped.
"YAY!!" Kero yelled doing somersaults in the air.
Yue sighed at the sun guardian's antics and opened his present. For a moment he could only stare. It was a huge box of chocolates.
"I don't eat," he told Kero. The toy drooped and sighed with exasperation. Trust Yue to be so boring.
"Come on Yue just one taste," Kero begged.
"Hmm let me think...no."
"Pleeeeeeeease," Kero begged.
"You can have them," Yue offered. Kero hesitated torn between making Yue taste it and getting it all for himself.
"As long as you eat one," he bargained. A look was all he got in return.
"I don't eat," Yue repeated.
"We can have this discussion later," Touya cut in thrusting another present into Yue's hands. It was a pale blue envelope, unmarked.
"It's from Yukito," Touya explained when Yue gave him a quizzical look.
The present turned out to be a card. On the front was an angel sitting on top of a tower and staring at the silver moon. Yue turned the cover over. His cold eyes softened as he read what was written inside. It said:
Dear Yue,
I've never seen you before so I don't know what you look like but from what everyone said, you look like the angel on the front. I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday. Thank you for protecting Sakura and Touya and sorry if I've caused you any inconvenience. One day I hope I can see you properly.
Love
Yukito
Yue mentally smiled. It was him who should be thanking the snow bunny for giving him a chance to see life. And it was also him who should be apologizing for causing any inconvenience. With a last look he put aside the card. The next present had no name on it or card but Yue already knew who it was from. There was only one person left after all.
The wrapping yielded another book. It was a book of poems by several famous poets from all over the world in their natural languages and a translation in Japanese beside them. Yue looked up at Touya who looked away. "I heard you mention once that you like poetry," he murmured. Yue lips twitched slightly at Touya's uncomfortable expression and nodded.
"Thank you," he murmured caressing the front of the book. Touya shrugged and looked away his face slightly pink at the gratitude shown by Yue. Sakura and Tomoyo shared a look before collapsing into giggles. When Touya and Yue looked at them they smiled innocently not fooling either one of them.
"There's a present from all of us," Sakura said pointing at the last package that Yue hadn't seen until she had pointed it out. Yue eyebrow rose but unwrapped it anyway. This was also another book.
This book was much like the book that Sakura gave him. But the cover was gold and there was a small
mirror on the front. Yue opened it with curiosity and let out an involuntary
gasp.
"Don't you like it?" Kero asked. Yue shook his head slowly. The book was in fact a photo album. In it were pictures of everyone ranging from Sakura to Meiling to Eriol. Most of them were group pictures. There were also pictures of Yukito and Touya sometimes with Nakuru in the middle. The irate expression that Touya had whenever Nakuru was present made Yue smile. At the last page Yue paused. It was a picture of all of them together on the day that Eriol left the country. Yukito was there instead of him but when Yue looked closely he could see the purple eyes in place of the normally hazel eyes.
"The mirror was from Eriol. He said that you could look at particular scenes from your life using it," Sakura told him breaking the moon guardian out of his reverie. Yue looked surprised but nodded. He turned back to the front and stared hard at the mirror. The book glowed gold for a moment then faded.
The reflective surface rippled as if someone had thrown a stone into it. The ripples grew stronger and stronger as each second passed. When the mirror stabilized again it showed a young man with silver hair sitting at the base of a tree reading a book. Yue smiled as he recognized the younger version of himself.
From the trees in the background and the red leaves on the ground, Yue surmised that it was autumn. A tiger cub pounced on the young man making him fall on the ground. The young Yue glared at Kero who only grinned back unabashedly.
The much older and wiser Yue smiled wistfully as he remembered other scenes much like the one before him. He would always be all alone reading or practicing his magic and then Kero would jump in and mess it all up. Those times always resulted in Kero getting drenched with icy cold water.
"Yue?"
The question made the guardian look up. Sakura, Tomoyo, Kero and Touya were looking at him with varying expressions of worry on their faces. Yue let a small smile grace his lips before answering. "I'm fine just...remembering," he said putting the book down. He caressed the cover tenderly as he looked up to the group of people and animal that surrounded him.
"Thank you very much," he said softly unused to the feeling of those words in his mouth.
Sakura and Tomoyo grinned and said, "No worries". Kero just grinned and looked happy. Touya looked aside and muttered something. Of them all Yue found Touya's reaction the most interesting. Touya was usually very glib but today he seemed to be very silent. And it seemed that he wasn't the only one to notice since Sakura was looking at her brother strangely.
"Something wrong Touya?" the Card Mistress asked tilting her head slightly to the left. The older boy looked around with confused eyes. He looked from Sakura to Yue for some reason then back again.
"Nothing, nothing's wrong," he finally answered with a slight twist of his lips that was meant to pass for a smile. Sakura didn't look convinced and frowned.
"If you say so," she said concerned for her older brother. Kero however didn't care about his mistress' brother. Instead he was sniffing the air tentatively.
"Come on people the food is calling us!!" Kero cried zooming around like a pigeon on steroids. That loud cry was sufficient enough to distract Sakura. But not Yue. The moon guardian stared hard at the young man with flinty amethyst eyes.
"What?" Touya demanded glaring back. He sounded very defensive.
"Something is wrong," Yue declared. Inside of him Yukito stirred knowing something was going on but unable to interfere. Touya looked away and began to walk towards the house not answering the question in Yue's voice. Yue didn't stop him this time. He was too busy examining his reaction to Touya's actions.
He felt strange. He examined the emotions that he was feeling with an analytical mind. It was very…strange. He felt annoyed, slightly angry, and yet slightly amused. He never felt amused. Kero felt amused but not him. But the strangest thing was yet to come. As he continued to analyse his feelings he realized with sudden clarity that he also felt concerned. For Touya.
Yue stopped. Lucky that no one was around to see him since they would have witnessed the moon guardian lose his composure. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.
/What the…?/
/Why do I care? He's just a human who looks like Clow. It shouldn't matter to me that he's unhappy./
It shouldn't but for some reason it did. And this worried and confused him. He wasn't supposed to feel concern. Yukito was the one who was supposed to be emotional, not him.
"Yue!!" Kero's loud yell broke his concentration. Yue determinedly locked those emotions away to be examined later. Perhaps when he had had time to think he would better understand his reaction. If not, they could be easily suppressed. He had had plenty of experiences at that.