Disclaimer: I do not own any of the CCS characters... They all belong to CLAMP... Now off to the story we go...

Back to the Way It Should Be

Chapter 3: "I care about you"

"Oh come on Yue… please don't ignore us," whined the group of girls surrounding Yue, Touya, and Yukito. They've been doing everything they can for the past 10 minutes to get Yue's attention but nothing seemed to be working.

The girls were about to do something to make Yue look at them when Yue abruptly stood up from his seat, eyes wide in alarm.

"Yue-san? What's wrong?" asked Touya.

Yue looked at Touya and replied hurriedly, "Mistress….." Without even waiting to see the older Kinomoto's reaction, Yue pushed through the girls around him and frantically ran out of the classroom.

"Greatly distressed" couldn't even properly describe what Yue was feeling from his mistress. He had never sensed such a strong whirlwind of pained emotions from Sakura ever since she became his mistress… What could have happened?

Yue ran out of the school building and into the streets, trying to feel for his mistress' aura. However, he couldn't properly pinpoint it. Sakura's magic seemed to be coming from everywhere.

"Chikusho!" Yue cursed. Sakura was feeling more and more pained every second that passed. Yue could feel it, and it was making his heart constrict. He couldn't even imagine his mistress' expression right now. He needed to get to Sakura quick!

Yue looked around and found an alley where he could transform. He spread his wings in the narrow alley and took off to the skies without any second thoughts. He could care less if people were to see a winged person with ankle-length silver-white hair soar from a dark alley. He flew up high enough so as people won't be able to see him on the sky.

His eyes carefully scanned Tomoeda as he flew over it, trying to find his mistress. As he looked around, he saw something strange coming from the clock tower of Tomeoda Elementary School. He ignored it though. His mistress was far more important. He focused once more and tried once again to pinpoint Sakura's aura. This time he succeeded. He flew off at top speed to the forest near Penguin Park.

"Mistress…. Sakura…. I'm coming….."

Sakura was about to drift off to unconsciousness and cry herself to sleep when a familiar presence washed over her. The ever calming and gentle silver aura of her Moon Guardian that used to intimidate her when she was younger.

"Yue….." she whispered his name softly, acknowledging his presence.

Yue's eyes widened at Sakura's state. She was covered in flour, mixed with the dirt from the ground. Her hair was messier than bed head, with some leaves on it. His eyes then noticed her swollen ankle. He ran to her side and gently sat her up on his lap, with one arm around her waist, and the other hand wiping away the stains on her face.

"Mistress… what happened?" asked Yue, his face and voice showing genuine worry.

Sakura was shocked by Yue's sudden display of emotions but it quickly evaporated into happiness at the knowledge that he truly cared for her, even if he was just worried over her because of his duty as his guardian. Not only that, it was relieving that someone was there who she knew would listen to her and who she knew understands what she was going through right now.

"Yu- Yue-san… Everything was just so messed up in school… Tomoyo.. Tomoyo.. she.. she…" Sakura was unable to continue and instead, broke into more sobs.

"Daidoji…. did this?" asked Yue, catching up to what was happening.

Sakura nodded, more tears spilling out from her eyes and her breaths coming out in mere gasps. She then buried her face in her Moon Guardian's face, desperately needing someone to cry on.

Yue felt his heart pang with hurt at his mistress' plight. Granted, they were in what seemed to be an alternate world where the personalities of the people they knew were the total opposite. Even so, Yue hadn't expected this much cruelty, much less from Sakura's best friend and cousin! Nobody deserved to be treated like this. Especially not his kind, sweet and cheerful mistress…. Yue stroked Sakura's hair gently and softly whispered into her ear, "Shhh… It's okay.. It's okay…. I'm here.."

Sakura froze for a moment. It was weird for Yue to openly display emotions. It was weirder for him to say such sweet, gentle and caring words, and to comfort her in this manner. Nonetheless, she relaxed, closed her eyes, and leaned more on Yue, noticing that her tears were coming to a stop.

"Tha- Thank you Yue-san…" Sakura said, finally finding her voice.

"You don't need to thank me Mistress," replied Yue, tightening his arm around her waist and continuously stroking her head.

"Because it's your duty?" asked Sakura, removing her face from Yue's chest to face him. The Card Mistress didn't know why she asked the question. Of course Yue would just be doing this because it's his duty as her Moon Guardian to do so. She knew that. However, she just felt like she had to ask it, even if she already knew the answer….. Or so she thought.

Yue's eyes widened at the sudden question, but then he regained his composure. Yes, it was natural for his mistress to assume that he was just doing this because of his duty- that he's being force to do this just because he's her Moon Guardian and because of his promise to her older brother. His attitude towards her so far has always implied that things were that way. And normally, during the times she would ask this question, he would always answer "Yes"- in efforts to hide his feelings for his mistress and, in a way, to convince himself that he really IS just doing his duty and not because he cared for her.

However, their current situation was different from normal. And instead of his usual answer, another answer went out of his mouth before his mind could even dictate his lips to say "Yes."

"No…. I'm doing this because I care about you and not because of duty…" the words tumbled out of Yue's lips.

Sakura's eyes widened, and in her chest, she felt it. She felt her heart flutter in the same way as it did whenever Syaoran said "I love you." But Yue wasn't Syaoran…. Words left Sakura's mouth and all she could do was gaze into Yue's silvery pale blue eyes as his words rang over and over inside her head. A light and warm feeling enveloped Sakura's heart, erasing away all the pain, loneliness, and hurt that she felt earlier. HE cares about her. YUE cares about HER.

For a while, none of the two spoke. They just looked into each other's eyes, searching for answers in the other's orbs.

"Hontoni, Yue-san? You… You really care about me not just because of your duty? Not just because of your promise?" Sakura's voice rang out, breaking the moment's silence but not the moment's spell. Sakura's eyes glistened with hope and happiness and an emotion that Yue cannot name.

And at that moment, Yue could care less of risking his mistress finding about his true feelings for her. He couldn't lie to her now. His eyes would betray him otherwise. The hand that was stroking Sakura's hair moved to gently hold one of Sakura's cheeks.

"Yes…. I do… I do care about you Sakura…" replied Yue, his eyes the softest Sakura has ever seen; his voice the most emotion-filled Sakura has ever heard.

It was the first time Yue ever called Sakura by her name…. The way Yue said her name sounded so different from others… The way he sad it seemed so special… so right…Sakura's heart, this time, hammered madly against her chest. She never felt this way before with Syaoran just saying her name or even telling her that he loves her…

Her mind blanking out at the loud sound of her heart thumping, Sakura's body started moving on its own. She found herself slowly leaning in.

"I care about you too Yue…" the words flew from Sakura's lips.

It was the first time Sakura has ever dropped the honorific when saying his name, and it made Yue's heart race. His name sounded so perfect, smooth, and musical when it rolled off Sakura's lips… Yue's mind blanked out too, and his heart took control of his body. He leaned in too, the gap between his and his mistress' lips slowly disappearing….

Just when the 1 millimeter gap between Sakura's and Yue's lips was about to be gone, a familiar voice broke the moment's spell on the Card Mistress and her Moon Guardian.

"Sakura! Yue-san!"

A/N: I'm sorry.. I'm sorry... I'm sorry I'm awfully like a snail in updating and this chapter sucks! I'm so sorry... I haven't had any motivation to write lately... It's a common problem of mine when I write... I easily lose interest in continuing stories... And I'm not so in to writing this story anymore... Hope you enjoyed reading and thank you for taking the time to read this...