ACT II

Lady Naomi sighed gustily. She brought a fist to her lips, and began biting down on her knuckles in thought. Then, like a light going off, she clapped her hands together and addressed Yuki again.

"What's the significance of the moon, honey?"

At that moment, as Lady Naomi asked her question, something changed in Yukito's face. His features hardened, and his eyes flashed a curious violet. Touya's heart dropped into his stomach as a genuine air of disbelief crept through his body. " No ," thought Touya, " she can't mean …"

He saw that Sakura had now turned to face Yukito with a befuddled look upon her face. Her eyes went from Yuki to Touya and back again; clearly, she was also putting the pieces together in her mind.

If a stranger were to study him, Yukito would look the same as Yue took over his false form's body. Yet Touya, so familiar with his best friend and number one person, immediately knew when the Moon Guardian had taken over: the hardened jaw, the deepened brow line, and the dark fall of Yukito's eyes were the telltale signs of the switch.

Yue, through Yukito's eyes, looked up at Lady Naomi. He was plainly confused, Touya could see that, yet it was Naomi who began asking questions.

"Do you have a brother?" she quipped, but then shook a hand away to dismiss the question. "You have a brother. Two, actually. One is like the sun to your moon. But the other one – I'm getting a peculiar image of you, like you're looking into a mirror and have a twin. You reflect someone else. Does that make sense?"

Yue hesitated, cautiously looking around the room before he answered. He must have noticed the open stares, and realized Yukito was in a dangerous situation because of the absence of family. His voice came out in the lowest of whispers.

"Yes, it makes sense."

Sakura's bag twitched from underneath the table. Touya saw Kero pop his head up, his brow furrowed, and listened to Lady Naomi continue.

"Okay, so this person who is speaking…he's like a father and a mentor, too," Lady Naomi actually stepped back as if to focus her thoughts. "He wants to mention the book. Do you know what book he's talking about?"

Touya thought he heard the plush audibly gasp under the table. Sakura was too shocked to do anything but listen.

Yukito's head nodded, validating Niomi's words. "To me, it seems like he locked something in the book. He locked away something that was yours, like it was hidden in the book. It was lost for a long time, too." The words tumbled out of Naomi, and an impassioned look held in her face. She was speaking so quickly that Touya hardly caught the words. Her eyes bore into Yukito's, and Yue reflected back with the same intensity.

Yukito's head could only nod.

In a moment, the crazed look was gone from Naomi, and underneath bloomed a curtain of sympathy. Naomi held her hands to her chest, and looked at Yukito with genuine kindness. "Your father is sorry for that. For locking it away for so long."

At that moment, Touya noticed how still and silent the room had become. " Of course ," he thought. " Everyone knows Yukito as an only child, raised by grandparents. No one expected to hear from any of his family ."

Lady Naomi dropped her voice low, so that only those nearby could hear. "You really suffered from the loss of him," she spoke. "It's like when he died, your world ended. You were trapped."

Yue's pain reflected on Yukito's face. His darkened eyes crinkled, and the lines of his lips were so stiff that they quivered. "That statement is putting it mildly."

Naomi's eyes were tearing up – Touya was close enough to see a wet plop streak down the woman's heavy mascara. She looked into Yukito's eyes for a moment before embracing the man in a hug. She brought Yukito's body close to her chest, even as her ear's microphone screeched in protest, and closed her eyes tightly. The audience now began to applaud loudly, seemingly impressed by Naomi's ability to read someone in the most peculiar situations.

Touya saw Naomi pull away from Yukito, a humble smile upon her lips. She pulled a handkerchief from somewhere in the folds of her blouse, mopping the wet mascara up with the floral-patterned cloth. She began waving to the rest of the crowd, who was now standing up in recognition of Naomi's performance.

Naomi walked to her original entrance, waving and smiling at the enthusiastic faces. "Thank you, Seijou High School, thank you! Remember – Spirit is with us, and Spirit loves us, and Spirit will always give us what we need! Thank you!" She then plucked the microphone out of her ear, and disappeared into a set of swinging doors.

The crowd jumped up in a rush, buzzing with excitement over the night's turn of events. Touya noticed no one at his own table was saying much – but that didn't stop people from approaching them. He could see Yoko fight her way through the crowd, wearing a charmingly saccharine smile to hide her true curiosity.

"Wow, Touya, just wow!" she started as she closed in on the family. "Your mother came through, how nice! And Yukito!" She all but pushed Touya out of the way to the seated young man. "Yukito! Who knew you had such an interesting past! Who is this mentor Lady Naomi spoke of?"

Touya's protective instincts took over. He began to rise from the table to meet Yoko, ready to tell her to, quite frankly , fuck off , but a smaller voice broke him off.

"Oh, Yoko! Lady Naomi was so great!"

Sakura's sweet, wholesome voice cut through Yoko's oncoming barrage of questions. She, too, got up and stepped between Yuki and the young woman, drawing attention to herself.

"She was amazing!" Sakura gushed. She paused, and held a thoughtful finger to her chin. "But, um, well…I think Lady Naomi exaggerates a bit, Yoko."

Yoko's intended barrage of questions was over before it started. She looked upon Sakura, smile and curiosity soon erasing from her features.

"Yukito doesn't have a twin or a brother or anything like that - right, Yukito?" Sakura's voice was just slightly higher in pitch. Touya prayed that Yukito would catch on to his sister's lead.

Yuki, bless his heart, caught on quickly. "Indeed. Not many people know this, but my father was a traveler, and my grandparents – his mom and dad – always told me he was lost in the depths of the jungle. He died on an expedition." Yukito – truly Yukito this time, for his eyes had returned to their warm amber color – took off his glasses and began polishing them on his shirt. The gesture was so nonchalant that it threw Yoko off, enough to distract her from any more prying questions.

"He did leave me a book, though, and it was locked in a safe for a very long time." Yukito said, returning the glasses to the bridge of his nose, "and inside was a journal. It logged my father's travels." Yukito's web of lies was so convincing that Touya even questioned the story. He continued, "I remember my grandmother reading the entries to me as a child. My favorite was about two brothers he met, called Zhao Yang – for sun – and Yue Shi – for moon. That's why I am Yukito. I am named after Yue Shi's favorite animal – the snow rabbit."

Yukito smiled as he said this, neatly tying up all loose ends of Lady Naomi's reading. Yoko raised an eyebrow at the lame fibs, trying to follow along with Yuki's words. "So when she said you have a twin –"

"It's for Yue Shi!" finished Yukito with a smile. "I reflect him because he inspired my name. He's…like a twin, I guess you can say." At this, he turned to look at Touya, his eyes unusually stony despite the broad grin on his face. "I wish I could have met him. Do you think he liked to eat as much as I do, To-ya?"

"Anyway, I'm pretty hungry too after all this excitement!" Sakura chimed in, successfully finishing the conversation. "Can you show me where the cookies are, Yoko?"

She looped her arm around Yoko's own, and began dragging the curious (and now doubly confused) university student away, chatting about how amazing the evening was. Touya inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. He almost smiled at his sister's sneaky ability to lie so easily.

"Let me help your sister with those snacks," Fujitaka said, clearly understanding that the two young men needed a moment.

Touya watched his little sister misdirect a gaggle of guests with ease. "What do you expect?" piped Yukito, almost as if he could read Touya's mind. "She fooled you for all those years. Or, at least pretended to."

For the upteeth time that evening, Touya shook his head – the night just kept getting weirder and weirder. "And how'd you come up with that line of bull, Shakespeare? Did Yue help?"

"A bit," Yukito answered slyly, clearly pleased with his own string of lies. "He helped me come up with the names of those brothers. But the part about my 'father?'" His eyes crinkled, but this time with mirth. "I saw that story in a cartoon. The American one, about the boy with the football head."

"Ah," said Touya simply, recalling the images on Kero's TV. "Let's hope Yoko isn't into American cartoons."

"Yes, let's hope," agreed Yukito. He rose from his folding chair, grasping Touya's hand as he moved forward. "And let's get out of here too."