Yue darted through the sky. He had been late to perceive the awakening of a Sakura Card and was now straining to reach where his new master was, before it was too late.
When he reached the spot, The Shot Card was just a millisecond away from firing at Touya. He dived in and enclosed the two boys in a protective embrace of his wings. He took the blow. The pain seared through him and he ground his teeth. Once the firing paused, he stretched his wings and flapped them vigorously, producing a strong wind that sent The Shot wheeling backwards. His wings stung, but he ignored it. He'd recover.
"Yue," Touya sighed, "nice timing. Are you all right?"
"Hm"
"Yue?" the boy beside Touya asked.
His eyes fell on the bespectacled boy. There was a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach as he realized this was the reincarnation of his other half.
Touya noticed the direction of Yue's gaze. "This is an accident," he said apologetically, and then he added to the silver-haired boy, "Yukito, how about I explain everything later?"
Yukito nodded.
"But I don't understand one thing," Touya said, turning to Yue, "You said that my predecessor was able to use the Cards while collecting them. Why can't I activate Shield then?"
Yue would have answered if not for The Shot Card approaching them again.
"Let's get out of here first," Touya said, motioning towards the instruments.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000
"You weren't able to activate The Shield because the card is still fed by the power of the stars whereas your staff is the power of the sun and the moon," Yue said as they ran through the street, narrowly evading Shot's fire bolts. Yue was flying above them, absorbing the fires that they weren't able to avoid. "She had to collect the cards first, and then transform them. But in your case, apparently, you will have to go on transforming as you capture them."
"Magic changes with time," he heard Touya mutter under his breath.
"All right, then." Touya came to a halt. "Card sustained by the power of Stars, discard your old form and be reborn, under the power of The Sun and Moon. Shield Card! Fend off Shot's fires."
As Touya touched the hilt of his staff to the Card, a blinding light shot forth from the card and it morphed into a gigantic wing. It shielded them from The Shot Card. But it was only temporary.
He then bid Windy to change her form and enclose The Shot Card's elfin form in a bubble. He touched the staff on her head and repeated the chant, sealing her into a card—a Sakura Card.
It flew into his hand, "Should I transform this one as well?"
Yue was mildly surprised that Touya was already capable of transforming two cards at once, but he knew that one more would be too much. He shook his head. "You've already exhausted a lot of your magic, even if you can't feel it yet."
He nodded.
"Touya," Yukito spoke up for the first time, "Can you explain….what it….everything that just happened?"
He is yet to become accustomed to the strangeness of what has transpired, Yue observed.
Touya, on his part, was extremely awkward and clueless as to how to explain, "Um…..would you mind if we locked the garage first?"
Yukito was momentarily rattled; it was evident that he'd forgotten about the unlocked garage.
"N-no," he stammered, "of course not. Those instruments were almost burned down today. You're right, we should make sure they're safe first." He started walking, but Touya just stood there.
After a few steps, Yukito noticed that neither of them was following him. He turned around and eyed Touya and then Yue. "You two might want to talk," he said. Yue could tell that Yukito was still uncomfortable with his presence, but he continued, "You can give me the key, I'll lock the garage."
Touya nodded and dropped the key into his outstretched palm.
Once Yukito had covered a considerable distance, Touya began walking at a slower pace. Yue followed suit.
"Damn," Touya said, "it won't do good if he tells everyone about the Cards, will it?"
Yue shook his head.
"How do I explain everything to him and convince him to keep quiet?"
"Can you not convince him?"
"I can try. Isn't there some magic that can make him forget this incident?"
Yue was more than a little surprised at that. It took him a moment longer than it should have to answer, "There is The Erase Card. But you are yet to capture it."
Touya nodded, "Ok, I'll manage him till we get The Erase Card." He then walked faster so that he could catch up with Yukito.
Yue contemplated. This was so unlike the Touya he remembered, so doubtful of Yukito. The Touya he had known would have trusted Yukito with his life—he even had. But that was another time, another life, Yue reminded himself.
Touya was dragging a disfigured bike while Yukito walked beside him silently. When they'd reached the garage, they found that one of Shot's rampaging bouts of light-bolts had hit Touya's bike. The metallic exterior had melted and fused with the seat, and one of the wheels had come off. It resembled nothing less than trash now. But he was adamant that it could still be repaired.
Yue had parted from them at the garage after asking if they needed to be carried, to which Touya refused—he had a feeling that explaining to Yukito would be easier without the overwhelming presence of a winged creature. Yue flew away without transforming into his bird form—perhaps so as not to shock Yukito anymore. It was past midnight, and there was no hope of finding a cab.
Touya broke the silence. "About what happened….how do I start…." He paused for a moment, "Do you believe in magic?" he felt like an idiot, asking the question.
"My grandfather used to," he replied slowly, "and after today, I guess I know grandfather's beliefs had some truth in it."
"Well, honestly, even I didn't believe until it happened."
For a while, Yukito didn't reply. "When did 'it' happen?"
"A week ago."
"You seemed to be a pro," he said, smirking slightly.
Even though Yukito was joking, he still avoided meeting Touya's eyes.
"So…..these are cards that you have to collect?" he asked.
"Yeah, they're capsulated forms of magical entities, each having a specific kind of ability," he repeated Yue's exact words. "They'd been created by a certain powerful magician, Clow Reed. After his death, the cards were sealed along with their guardians—the winged creature that you saw, Yue. Then a new mistress came, a girl name Sakura. And now….. well you saw what happened out there."
Yukito was quiet as he—Touya assumed—chewed on the information. "Why didn't these cards pass onto the descendants?"
Touya frowned; this was something he had a very limited idea about. Yue had mentioned that Clow never had any children, only distant relatives. And he'd been very vague about Sakura's children. "As far as I know, none of them had any direct descendants."
They heard the sound of bikes approaching them. Turning around, Touya saw that there were five bikes, each of whose drivers was clad in black leather jacket and boots, the outline of pistols hanging from their belts. Muggers—one of the drawbacks of staying out late in the Tokyo streets.
He wondered why everything had to happen in one day. "Can you cover for me?"
Yukito nodded.
He ran to a darker corner of the street, Yukito positioning himself in front of him so that Touya was partially hidden from view.
"Windy!" he whispered, "create a gust, blind them, so that we can escape."
Windy herself was invisible as she created winds in all the wrong directions, confusing the bikers. Touya and Yukito took the opportunity to run. Behind him, Touya heard one of the bikers crashing into the other. A pandemonium ensued there and soon, they lost them.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000000000
"How long will it take for your bike to be repaired?" Yukito asked once they'd reached his house.
"A week, two weeks….I really can't say." Touya despaired a bit.
"We'll share a bus ride then," Yukito said, meeting Touya's eyes for the first time since the episode with The Shot, "until you're bike's fixed. If that's alright with you" he added hastily.
"Yeah, of course," he replied, surprised and relieved that the revelation hadn't affected their friendship.
"Ok." He smiled—a small smile, but a genuine one.
He opened his door and was about to enter it when he turned to face him "Oh, and your secret's safe with me."
Touya watched as Yukito opened the door to let Sakura in. These days, it was Yukito who did most of the work around the house. No, he did all the work, including taking care of him.
She handed him a box, which she said contained an apple pie. Thanking her, he went into the kitchen to prepare some smacks for them. Touya motioned for his sister to come and sit beside him on the sofa. Though the siblings were only seven years apart, owing to Sakura's magic, they looked more like father and daughter. Sakura's appearance was that of one in her early thirties, while Touya had enough grey hair and wrinkles to show his age.
Touya noticed that the cheerful demeanor of his sister was missing. She asked commonplace questions like how they were doing and if he needed her to do something for him. She also seemed to be telling him "thank you for all you've done" in many roundabout ways, often inserting vague words in between sentences. He figured.
"So, I'm about to die soon. Is that what the monster has predicted?"
Touya watched as, for the first time, Sakura did not retort back. Instead, she hung her head low, eyes watering.
He reached out and patted her head. "I love you, you know that."
Sakura nodded.
Touya sighed and drew his hand back, "Well, I've looked out for you while I could. But I guess you've grown quite a bit," he smiled, "I'm proud of you."
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000
The following day, the breeze carried the fragrance of cherry blossoms to a terrace where two men drifted off to sleep, their fingers interlaced and breathing in unison. The older of the two drew his last breath, stirred a bit in his sleep, and then let it go.
Somewhere far off, a shrine bell chimed.
The silver-haired man disappeared, leaving in his place a pile of clothes and a very confused winged creature. Time seemed to move slowly as the pale, magical creature checked the man beside him, confirming he was dead, and then looked at the articles of clothing. The surrounding air warped and time stopped altogether. From afar, a certain magician of the name Kinomoto Sakura activated The Return Card.
Yue was shown a flashback of the last few hours of Touya and Yukito's lives. Sakura's voice in the background explained that since Yukito had been bound to Touya through time and space, the part of Yue's soul containing Yukito's personality and emotions had split and drifted into space. The frown on Yue's brow cleared and he tipped his head to look at Touya's lifeless face. Perhaps he mourned, but there was no proof of that as his gaze remained impassive and detached.
Once the effect of magic had worn off, time resumed its natural flow. The cherry blossom petals that had stilled mid-air continued their descent towards the ground, and the wind picked up a mild pace. The Moon Guardian soared up in the sky and flew towards his mistress. Twilight befell as the sun dipped beneath the horizon, taking away another day and another pair of bound lives.
AN: I know this only explains why Yukito and Yue became two different entities, but not how Yue's false form became a phoenix-dove cross bird. I already have reason in my mind, but I haven't exactly decided how to incorporate the scenes in the story. I guess you guys will just have to wait for upcoming chapters.
One more thing. I know that I portrayed Tokyo as a city that's basically unsafe; especially in the night (both in this chapter as well as that scene about the aftermath of a bar fight). This is not to make a negative impression of the city. It's just that I wanted to show a grim scenario of the future. It's the reason Sakura had said "Times might seem hopeless."
Thanks for reading...and review :-)