Author's Note: As promised another weekly update. :) This one is a bit shorter than the last chapter. It continues Yue's reawakening and continues the crossover with xxxHolic, which means you get more Yuko, some answers, and more mystery. ;)

Gemini21: haha. I hadn't realized it resembled a fairytale. Actually, Yue might have woken up if Watanuki had been forced to as well, which was the point. It partially had something to do with the amount of power both Touya and Watanuki have, that would have been enough to break Yue's seal. Of course Yukito's attachment to Touya made it all the more likely, and it did happen much quicker than it would have otherwise. ;) Thanks. I hope you enjoy this next bit.

Aristana: Oh, Yue is most definitely not happy about what's going on. He isn't one of Yuko's biggest fans regardless. So things will get interesting. Though I wouldn't count Yukito out just yet. Or Touya.

James Birdsong: Why thank you. I'm glad you returned to read and review more. I hope you enjoy what this chapter has in store. :)

SecondtoNon: Well, here it is. With a few twists along the way. ;)

PuppetPrince: Hey, a new review! Sweet. ;) You're welcome. We're onto weekly updates now, so new chapters will be a regular occurrence from here on in. :)

Enjoy!

We aren't going to hurt you Yukito said from inside Yue's mind.

This caused the angelic guardian to jerk suddenly.

Who are you? Yue asked, bewildered.

I'm Yukito. I think I'm your other self or so it seems. Yukito said sounding slightly confused. I didn't know about you until I kissed Touya just now.

Yue snorted.

Clow's magic, he answered huffily, apparently he thought he could seal me in the book and everything would work out just fine. The nerve of that man!

I'm sorry that happened to you. Yukito said apologetically. I take it this means I'm really...you.

Yue sighed.

You should not be apologizing...Yu-ki-to. The guardian said in exasperation. You've clearly suffered as much as I.

So does this mean...my grandparents... the teen stated rather mournfully. It sounded to Yue that he was about to cry.

I'm afraid it does, Yue answered closing his eyes. I have no comfort to give you. Only that you are someone truly kind to have gained a friend like yours, if your memories serve me correctly. Your grandparents are not real, neither is your identity. However...your name is still yours.

I...I understand. Yukito said softly, though his heart was breaking. He didn't feel like a real person anymore. It was as if he'd been lied to about everything and was now left to pick up the pieces of his broken existence alone. How could something so wonderful as Touya having feelings for him be followed by such a heartbreaking revelation as this one?

You have a family. Yue said. Your grandparents were never truly around even when you thought they were real, however the Kinomoto's took you under their wing and treated you as one of their own.

I know...that's why it feels like I've lied to them, especially Touya. Yukito replied sadly. How can he except me like this. I'm sure you are a very kind person, but there are two of me and I don't think he will-

He just told me that he hopes you are alright and that...that it is nice to meet me. Yue interrupted sounding befuddled. He has agreed to help me confront the man who did this, your Touya. The one who did this to us.

I...would like to hear the reason why. Yukito answered finally.

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"You will agree to help me confront this man?" Yue asked one final time.

"If it will help you and Yuki find some type of closure then yes" Touya agreed. "Is he really alright? This can't be easy for him."

"It isn't" Yue replied. "He's talking to me. He's...afraid. It would be best if you took him home after I transform again. I do not think he is in any state to do so himself."

"I told Clow he shouldn't have messed with things" Yuko said in a serious tone.

Touya whipped around to look at her. The witch had suddenly lost her whimsical attitude and it was slightly jarring.

"Don't look so surprised" she said exasperatedly. "Clow Reed decided he wanted to choose when he died. The problem was he decided against sealing his spirit in with his beloved Clow Cards. Now they're lost without him...or at least they were."

"What does she mean by that?" Yue inquired with a rustle of his feathers.

Touya took a deep breath and slipped one of the Clow cards out of his pocket. It was Windy, the first card he'd managed to capture, before he switched to asking them to join his deck.

Yue eyed the card, it was one of his own subordinates. He saw the neatly scrawled letters spelling out "the Touya" on the back and immediately understood.

"You-you changed her." Yue said. "I was supposed to judge your progress and then decide whether or not to deem you worthy of being the master, but it seems you are one step ahead of me. My roll was over before it began."

"I didn't realize" Touya stated. "I did what the little fuzzball said and started locating the cards. It was my fault though. My sister Sakura should have rightfully been your master."

"I am not...angry" Yue practically whispered. "I just feel like I've...like I'm not needed here."

"I opened the book by accident and this flying cat told me to find the cards before the world ended. I didn't really have much of a choice" Touya explained. "If you want me to stop...if you think the danger doesn't exist...then tell me and I'll stop."

"That would not be a sensible course of action." Yue warned. "You need to locate the rest of the cards or there will be dire magical consequences."

Tomoyo stood in a corner going over what Touya had said in her mind. That Sakura should have been the person to collect all of these cards, a hardship for one so young and certainly an impossible task for an ailing person directly out of the hospital. She found herself slightly glad that the accident had taken place, because without it Sakura would have had this pressing on her as well as her reintegration into school after returning from the hospital. Sakura didn't need something that might set her back, no matter how great it was. Had her best friend not fallen ill Tomoyo would have gladly helped her in her quest to recover these magical cards, however this was not to be. She knew that Touya would in all likelihood tell Sakura about this later, but right now there was an impending crisis. Yukito, Sakura's crush, was not only in love with her brother, but apparently had magical powers too and was a whole other person. This would certainly take some getting used to.

"There was a coercion spell" Yue commented. "I can feel it fading away. Apparently Clow felt the need to force me to love another in his stead." Touya thought the guardian was near tears as he made the revelation. "Had you not turned the cards as you have, I would have been coerced into having feelings for my true master that were not mine once I was summoned to pass the Final Judgment."

Touya's chestnut brown eyes widened significantly, then narrowed.

"Feelings that were not yours..." he responded. "Are you telling me that this wizard wanted you to be involved with my sister against both of your wills?"

"Sakura has a crush on Yukito" Tomoyo put in.

"What?!" Yue and Touya exclaimed in unison.

"I don't think she would have wanted Yukito to like her because he was forced to" Tomoyo reasoned. "She's an elementary school student with a crush. It happens to everyone. She wouldn't have accepted something like that. I think she would like you two, you and Yukito together, if she knew. Sakura is a very kind person."

Touya put a hand to his head. This was almost too much to deal with.

"I'm going to accept the fact that you aren't into my sister and move on" he said finally. "It wouldn't have been your doing anyway."

"I wouldn't have had a choice" Yue agreed. "Unless I found a method of fighting it. Spells can be broken and if I truly felt differently, there would be a way to absolve the situation."

"God I hope so" Touya said shaking his head. "I know you're telling the truth. I can feel it. I'm just not sure how I feel about this Clow person now."

"Clow was my master and my...lover" Yue said primly, turning his head away so that he didn't have to look at anyone.

"You forget, I dated him for nearly twenty years before you showed up" Yuko cut in. "He wouldn't have thought of it as a game, Yue. He was just misinformed. Clow liked playing matchmaker as much as the next person. So he thought it only natural that you stay within your comfort zone and seek out the affections of your master."

"Witch-"

"I'm not saying that he was correct in his assumptions, Touya. Only that they were what they were." Yuko finished.

"I think we should go" Touya said. "I've seen enough. Yue, Yukito, let's go home. C'mon Tomoyo."

"Just a second. You said that if they paid the price they'd receive protection from Li like you promised" Tomoyo reminded the witch. "A deal's a deal."

Yuko grinned slightly.

"I hadn't forgotten. The protection's are in place. Syaoran Li cannot harm either Touya, Yukito, or Yue either magically or physically ever. It's been a pleasure doing business with you." Yuko said waving as the teen and the guardian moved toward the door. "By the way, here's the address of Clow's reincarnation. It's a big mansion, you can't miss it."

"Why are you helping us?" Yue asked speculatively. "You don't like me."

"Now Yue I never said that. Bygones and all that. I did find someone else after all...eventually." Yuko said cheerfully. "And now I get the chance to give Clow a little payback. His reincarnation's name is Eriol. He's very good friends with your old school teacher, Touya."

The brunette jerked visibly.

"Kaho."He uttered in a tone that spelled betrayal.

"It's going to be a long night" Tomoyo whispered almost to herself.

"Don't worry about the price for it, it's already been paid." Yuko explained. "Well, our business is done for now. Ta ta!"

Touya, Tomoyo and Yue bowed politely before scrambling out of the shop. Tomoyo made sure to grab the scrap of paper with Clow's address on the way out. She handed it to Touya after reached the bus stop.

"I'll call a car" Tomoyo told him. "We need to get you two home as soon as possible. Yue looks like he's about to have a breakdown."

"I'll stay the night with him" Touya said gesturing to angelic guardian currently seated on the bench at the stop. "Can you change back?"

Yue nodded and did so, leaving a half-conscious Yukito in his wake. Yukito's eyes were filled with tears, a sight that made the inside of Touya's chest ache.

"I'm glad we went on a weekend" Tomoyo commented. "It'll be easier to hide this way."

Touya nodded absentmindedly as he took out a handful of quarters and headed for the payphone. She hadn't taken her cell phone because it was cumbersome and held a tracking device on it for her safety. Her mother couldn't know about this little adventure and she knew a particular cabbie who would take everyone home without telling anyone.

"We drop you off first" Touya insisted. He didn't like the idea of his younger cousin, much less any young girl riding in a taxi alone. "Then I'll pay him for me and Yukito."

"Oh it's no trouble. He owes my family" Tomoyo said with a smile. "My house is closer though and my mother will begin to wonder where I've run off to. Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"Yes." He said sitting beside Yukito and putting an arm around him to steady him. "We'll have to be."

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The taxi driver took them to Yuki's house after letting Tomoyo off at her residence. Touya tried to pay the man, but was waved off with a refusal. He managed to drag Yukito inside the house, taking note of the fact that the sun was beginning to set, before calling his father and telling him he was staying over. Something Fujitaka wasn't likely to question. They couldn't tell his father any of this right now. Maybe later on when he explained everything to Sakura, Touya could tell his father about everything, Yue and the Clow Cards, but not right now. Now Yukito needed him more than ever.

That night Touya slept beside Yukito on his friend's insistence. Neither Yukito or Yue wanted to be left alone it seemed, so he obliged. Touya and Yukito, and Yue somewhere inside, curled up together and tried to sleep peacefully despite the disturbing revelations of their visit to the witch's shop had brought about.

The next morning revolved around a long conversation between Yue, Yukito, and Touya about what had gone on during the past few months, how many cards had been located, and what they were going to do about Clow's reincarnation. Yukito understood Touya's reluctance to confront the wizard without a plan, because of Kaho's seeming involvement with him. Yue agree once he heard Touya's story about his former girlfriend. In fact the two were able to bond over having been jilted by two, much older people, for, apparently, one another.

While it was true that Clow had died, and yes they checked just to be sure about it, it had been about fourteen years after he sealed the cards. Yuko had left a little note on the back of Clow's address stating that he had spent his remaining time fixing a problem of his making in another dimension. Something Yue was able to add credence to when he explained about Clow's messing magic and encouraging several of his cousins to learn the art and pass it on to their descendents. This caused some difficulties down the line and forced Clow to step into the role of king in another dimension and time period to make up for his mistake. A few of his distant cousins down the line had become somewhat of a nuisance to other practicing the art, particularly the Li clan, a prime example of which was Syaoran Li. Even if Yuko's protections didn't allow him anywhere near Touya or Yukito's houses anymore. Yue had discovered this during a practice flight when he discovered the boy milling about the neighborhood and continuously crashing into an invisible wall whenever he got within twenty feet of Yukito's house.

Yue was furious that Clow's reincarnation hadn't come straight to him regardless of what form he was in. Yukito and Touya were forced to agree. Clow's new self hadn't approached them at all or offered his former love any comfort or explanation for his actions.

"He's probably not even Clow anymore" Touya reasoned. "He could have died and come back a completely different person. Kaho was different too, when I finally saw her again. She came back from England as almost a different person, yet in some ways she was the same." He sighed. "She acted like our time together was just a whim and that I should have gotten over it by now."

"Did you?" Yue asked tentatively.

"Yes, but it took me years before I could trust anyone that way again. Before Yukito, I only trusted my family with anything I knew or felt." Touya admitted. "I don't hate her, I could never hate her. I just don't know why she didn't make things more clear. Why couldn't she have told me the truth?"

"I suspect it's the same reason Clow decided to withhold things from me" Yue remarked. "Because the truth can hurt. It would have hurt Clow and Kaho both to have heard such truths, so they assumed we could not handle them. Then they moved on without us. They thought it would be would be quick and painless, though I suspect that may not be the case with either of them as well. Such emotions are not so easily cut away."

"You understand more than you let on" Touya commented. "I think I understand things a bit better now. Thank you."

"I believe I owed you one" Yue said as he sat back his chair in Yukito's living room. "You've already moved on. I'll need to as well eventually."

"I'll help you as best I can. It doesn't matter whether or not you're one of my guardians" Touya promised.

"After we talk to Clow, I'll hold you to that."