damned_institute | Night 46: M31-40 Hallway

"Ha!" Touya just barely managed to stay seated. He had always known there was something weird about that stuffed animal Sakura always kept around her. Like how stiff it was, and how nervous it looked. Who designed a toy that always looked nervous? Seemed like the stuffed animal guy got the short end of the stick, though. Yue's 'false form' was a bit more... inconspicuous than a nervous-looking stuffed animal. Touya didn't really see it until he looked, and he had a feeling that people who weren't like him wouldn't see it at all.

He cleared his throat a little and relaxed. "I thought there was something weird about that toy Sakura carried around all the time.

"Anyway," Touya said, moving away from his own excitement at confirming Sakura's stuffed animal was no stuffed animal. "Clow created Yue and the stuffed animal and these... magical beings." He thought for a moment. "And Sakura is involved with them somehow?"

The sudden exclamation startled Yukito a little, and he blinked at Touya for a moment, then gave a muffled laugh and shook his head a little. Of course Touya would've suspected something strange about Cerberus, if he'd realized the truth about the two of them. Yukito just hadn't quite expected so much enthusiasm about his suspicions being confirmed.

"Ah, well...they were called 'Clow Cards' before, but...." He paused, then shook his head again, trying to find his train of thought. "Clow-san lived for a long time, but he knew he would eventually die, and decided to make arrangements for someone to take care of those he had created, once that time came." Once more he paused, this time distracted because Yue was trying to draw back even farther, and tried to send a wordless reassurance to his other self before continuing.

"When it did, he went to his guardians and told them he would die that day, and explained the plans he had made." He blinked once, hand tightening slightly at Yue's memories involuntarily called up at that, but kept his voice even as he kept talking. "Cerberus, he said, was to choose who he wanted to be their next master, and then Yue would judge the candidate to see if they were worthy. And...and then he sealed both guardians and the Cards in a book, to sleep until someone with magical ability woke them."

"Which was Sakura," Touya inferred. 'Cerberus' was probably the stuffed animal, given that Yuki had identified the stuffed animal as one of the guardians and Yue was the other. Considering Cerberus was normally hanging out of Sakura's hood, backpack, bag, whatever, he'd chosen Sakura to be the next master of these Clow Card things. Which meant Yue had judged her or was going to judge her at some point. He wasn't extremely concerned with that point right now, though--he had a million other things he wanted to ask.

"Why Sakura, though?" he asked, frowning a little. "I mean... I had some kind of power that meshed with Yue at least." Not like he wanted to be master of these magical beings, but he was older and Sakura seemed to get into a lot of trouble because of this Clow Card thing. "And why did she keep it a secret?"

"The Book apparently ended up in your father's study," Yukito began, tilting his head to one side with a thoughtful expression, "so I suppose that you might have run into it, too. But...I think Clow-san specifically chose Sakura-chan, for whatever reason." Everything seemed designed for a young girl, from the key-wand to the guardians' false forms, plus the bell Clow had left behind to make certain Sakura succeeded in the Final Judgment.

He shrugged lightly, glancing down and tracing an idle pattern on the back of Touya's hand with one finger as he thought. "Sakura-chan opened the Book, and all of the Cards but one fled. At Cerberus' instruction she had to collect them all again, using the ones she already had to seal those she found. It both taught her about the Cards and how to work with them, and encouraged her own abilities to grow, but...the Cards caused a lot of trouble in the meantime, and I don't think she wanted to worry anyone."

"Caused a lot of trouble, hm...?" Touya thought back to being led off a cliff by something that was impersonating Sakura. He hadn't known what was going on at that point, but it made a bit more sense now--why it came to him, why it looked like Sakura, and why Sakura had apologized to Touya after the incident.

"So... when that being that looked like Sakura led me off that cliff, and when you pulled Sakura out of the lake... those things were caused by her trying to seal these cards?

"I can see why she'd keep it a secret, then," Touya said, sounding slightly annoyed. Not because he was hurt in the fall, but because if Yuki hadn't been there to pull her out of that lake--

"...that was Yue, wasn't it?" he said, dawning realization coming over him. "She was drowning and he knew."

Yukito paused at that, looking briefly puzzled. Lake? He didn't remember any incidents with a lake. There was that time at the aquarium when the tank broke and the room flooded while Sakura was trapped - maybe that was what Touya was talking about? He shrugged it off after a moment, deciding it wasn't that important, and nodded. "They'd been sealed for so long, and some of them didn't want a new master." Like, say, Yue himself.

"I think several times I ended up helping Sakura-chan without knowing it, because of Yue-san." Yukito quirked a small smile and lifted one shoulder in an abbreviated shrug. "He left the Book before she opened it, so he could watch her, but didn't reveal his presence until she had captured all of the scattered Cards."

Well, that made him feel a little better, at least. He couldn't imagine a stuffed animal being very helpful in the sort of situation where Sakura was (for example) drowning, but Yue was definitely better suited to it. He had thumbs, for one.

Maybe his request that Yue protect Sakura had been a little superfluous after all. Yue really did care about Sakura, despite his insistence that he didn't care about anybody. If he hadn't, then he wouldn't have taken control and saved Sakura.

"So... he'd revealed himself before I met him finally, right?" Touya said, trying to work the timeline out. He literally had no clue what had transpired, and he found himself having more questions than ever before. "But he mentioned that you weren't aware of him, when I told you I knew you weren't human." And how awkward was it to realize that now? He'd just told Yuki he wasn't human and then he'd what, blacked out? "And he said that his current master couldn't sustain him--was that Sakura? When did he reveal himself to you? Before you got here?"

"To Sakura-chan, yes. Not to me." Yukito's smile turned a little rueful for a moment. The barrage of questions wasn't surprising, but he was having trouble keeping up with the list. "We're getting ahead of the story, though. Let me go back a little and try to explain it, and that might help.

"She didn't open the Book until...it would've been around the time she started fourth grade, I think. And then she found the last Card a bit over a year later." He frowned slightly in thought, trying to reconcile what Yue remembered with the blank spots in his own memory. "The same day as the archery competition, so that would've been June. When she sealed it, Yue-san emerged for the first time, because that was when he had to judge whether she was worthy to be their master."

The rest of that particular event he rather thought could be skipped over. It had been over a year ago and Yue's attitude toward Sakura had certainly changed over that time, and it wouldn't do any good to describe what had happened to an admittedly overprotective brother. A short summary was probably best. "And she finally persuaded him to accept.

"Up until that point the Cards and Yue-san had been living off what power had been left to them by Clow-san, but once Sakura-chan became their master for real, she had to support them all. Strange things started happening, and she had to change the Clow Cards to Sakura Cards in order to keep them alive, and it all drained her power enough that she couldn't do it all. That's when...I started getting tired all the time." And hungry, and with periods of time he couldn't remember, and worried because he couldn't figure out what was going on. Again, nothing he wanted to bring up.

Edited 2010-01-19 03:49 (UTC)

"Yeah, sorry," Touya muttered. He probably was getting a little ahead of himself. Asking so many questions of Yuki wasn't the way to figure things out--he'd just listen and form his questions in his head and ask once Yuki's train of thought was done.

He nodded. "And then I gave you my power so you wouldn't disappear," he provided, though he just kept it at that.

Yukito glanced up at Touya again and nodded once. "Yes," he agreed, with a smile. "You did. And that's when I realized, and Yue spoke to me for the first time. I suppose I didn't...want to know before then."

He fell silent for a moment, apparently lost in thought, before he shook his head and forced his smile to widen a little. "That was months ago, though. It was early August when I left." And the last time he'd seen Touya before waking up here was as he'd disappeared in the Void's blackness. Apparently things had worked out in the end, according to Sakura, but he still had been greatly relieved to see Touya again.

Touya nodded. 'Months' he thought he could overcome, so perhaps the outlook wasn't so bleak. Still, August? That was nearly a year.

"Did... anything happen I should know about?" he asked. This was the part that he had been slightly afraid of. Knowing about his future and what would happen to Yue, Yuki, and Sakura. What he wouldn't be able to stop because he didn't know what was going on. Yue was probably hesitating because of something Touya didn't know, something that would happen. Or was this one of those gradual things? He'd somehow changed?

"I don't want you to feel like I'm not the person you know," Touya said, taking Yuki's hand. "I want to be who I was when you left. I don't..." He sighed, looking at his dresser. Even if it was a few months, he still felt like Yuki had somehow surpassed him while he himself was standing still.

"Ah. Well...." Yukito blinked once, then quickly shook his head with a quiet laugh. He didn't see any reason to tell Touya about what had happened with the Void, if everything turned out all right in the end. What if knowing the future made him try to change it, and things ended up becoming worse? Wasn't that how it usually happened in the stories? "We went to school? Had some more part-time jobs? The rabbit costume was adorable, by the way."

He leaned in a little closer, lifting his free hand to rest his fingertips on Touya's cheek, a gentle encouragement to look back at him. "Touya, you're you. You're always Touya to me, no matter if you think you've known me for two weeks or two years. I wouldn't care about you any less." His hand tightened slightly on Touya's, as though trying to prove his sincerity. "Yue-san just...well, he has his reasons. But I, I...love you. No matter what."

"Rabbit costume...?" Touya started--though that train of though was quickly derailed when Yuki pulled his gaze away from the dresser and back to Yuki's eyes. He couldn't really think of much past what Yuki was saying at that moment--his concerns just seemed to fall away, reassured by a few words. He wished briefly that he had whatever power Yuki had that made everything fine. Yuki turned Touya from a stalker into a loving friend, and from an ignorant high school student into a lover unaffected by time. How did he do that?

He also had the ability to render Touya unable to say anything that would match what Yuki said. Maybe there was one thing that Touya could thank this place for: it had pushed Touya to act on what he felt instead of waste time thinking of how to hide it or what to say. And right now, he felt like he was ready for this.

It only took a moment to decide, but once he had he wasn't backing down. He leaned down, cradling the back of Yuki's head in his free hand, and responded with a long, close-lipped kiss.

For a moment his heart seemed to skip to a halt, his thoughts frozen in place. This was no semi-accidental kiss, teasingly stolen; it was real, deliberate and sincere, a wordless agreement with the words Yukito had spoken, and for that instant it was overwhelming. And then the frozen second passed, and his hand slowly drifted down to rest, fingers curving about the back of Touya's neck with gentle pressure as though to hold him there.

No matter the time in which they existed, they were always the same, and they fit together perfectly, effortlessly, like they always had been there and always would be. It was so simple that Yukito couldn't believe he hadn't realized it before. That he had spent months drifting ever closer to Touya before shying back at the last second, and never spoken a word of how he felt.

He finally allowed the kiss to end, but only drew back enough to touch his forehead against Touya's, opening eyes that he hadn't realized had closed. No words immediately came to mind, but that was all right; he didn't think he needed to put anything into words. The warmth in his smile and the affection obvious in his eyes as he met Touya's should be sufficient to say all that needed to be said.

Okay, that was... incredible.

It was an understatement to say that he'd been completely ready for that. It was an understatement to say that it had come a little late--he'd wanted to do that for a while now. The fact that he'd initiated it, and Yuki had responded so warmly, and he'd been ready was only icing on the cake. He somehow felt like a better boyfriend already: ready to show his affection for Yuki instead of making Yuki steal kisses from him.

Their eyes met, and Touya was able to hold out for about two seconds before Yuki's large, warm, honest brown eyes just yanked him back. He felt himself being overcome with passion--or hormones--but he wasn't sure which, and to be honest he wasn't thinking about it much. Touya just wanted another kiss, less chaste than the last. He loved Yuki, Yuki loved him, and who knew when they'd get another chance? At that moment, those were the only things running through his mind.

For a moment Yukito's smile widened with faint, affectionate amusement as Touya leaned in again, and he tilted his head slightly to welcome the kiss. But if the feelings elicited by the first one had been enough to freeze Yukito's thoughts for an instant, the second, more intense kiss threatened to make him stop thinking entirely. The gentle press of his fingertips against the back of Touya's neck grew firmer, encouraging him closer still, and this time he showed no sign of allowing it to end so quickly.

The world had abruptly narrowed down to this one tiny island of peace in a chaotic world; nothing existed but him, Touya, and the faint chill breath of Yue's presence, the latter so still it was difficult to tell he was even there at all. Tomorrow he would have to go back out and deal with reality. Tomorrow he would have to think about the events in the coliseum and what they were going to do next.

Tomorrow was far away. Right now his entire focus was on this moment, the kiss, and Touya's warm presence.

All of the things he would do, all of the things he'd thought of to say during this moment were completely gone from his mind. Maybe he'd remember them later--maybe. He thought he'd remembered one, but then Yuki's fingers tightened their grip on his neck and whatever it had been was lost to some part of his mind he couldn't find right now.

Not that he minded. Yuki's mouth and hands were warm against him, even though it felt like there was a fire starting in his chest. And everything was perfect without the fantasies he'd created when he was bored out of his mind in class and had found his eyes wandering to the back of Yuki's head. Sure they weren't under a full moon, or walking hand-in-hand, but he'd take the reality over his fantasy any day. The reality was soft and warm and here.

He broke this kiss sooner than the last one, but followed it with another, and another. They kept getting more heated, but part of him at least was functioning well enough to tell him to keep his tongue and teeth out of things for now. He migrated to the corner of Yuki's mouth, then his cheek, his temple, his jaw... Touya wanted Yuki to know how much he loved and cared about him. To know that he was loved and adorable and beautiful--so he kept on kissing every inch of Yuki he could find, still unable to find any words for what was happening.

I wonder if this is what it felt like to be drunk, Yukito thought, with what vague semblance of coherence remained to him. He couldn't recall ever drinking enough to become intoxicated and thus have something with which to compare, but then his memories were always a little suspect. All he knew was that everything felt simultaneously more and less real, his thoughts seemed to drift off before taking solid form, and he himself seemed as light as Yue could be, as if he would float away if not for the solid reality of Touya's hands holding him in place.

He loves you, Yue whispered, in a tone touched with wistfulness and a hint of sorrow, and for an instant it broke through the haze and caught Yukito's attention. By the time he sent a wordless query in response, however, his other self had drawn back entirely, barricading himself away as effectively as was possible in their current situation.

The exchange lasted perhaps a fraction of a second, but Yukito could give it any more thought the feel of Touya's lips against his skin instantly recalled him to reality. His breath caught in his throat for an instant before he remembered to breathe, the exhalation almost forming a word but not quite making it to coherence. He had no idea what he would say even if he could manage to speak; this was certainly beyond his experience, but he found that he wouldn't mind drowning in it nonetheless.

"What?" Touya asked, drawing back for a moment at what he thought was Yuki trying to communicate something to him. He hadn't quite caught it, though. Was he going too fast? Was it too much too soon? Was he feeling guilty that Sakura was sitting alone in her room while the two of them were... together?

Under most normal circumstances, Touya could tell what Yuki was thinking about or how he was feeling, but this was new territory for him. He and Kaho had kissed before, but Touya had to admit that it had never been as enticing or passionate as what he was doing with Yuki now. And Kaho had always kept Touya guessing on almost every front--she was mysterious like that. But Yuki, for whatever reason, had always made sense to him. At least, in every other realm besides the romantic one.

He didn't want to be a demanding boyfriend--he wanted to give Yuki exactly what he wanted. Which of course meant that he couldn't just plow on ahead while Yuki tried to get his attention.

Yukito blinked once, a little startled and slightly more disappointed that Touya had stopped; after a second his brain caught up with him and he shook his head slightly, mouth quirking in a smile that still looked a little bit dazed. Maybe he'd noticed that brief distraction when Yue had stirred, but the guardian had shut himself off now and Yukito expected that wouldn't change any time soon.

He wasn't surprised, to be honest, and felt a tiny bit guilty for kissing Touya when he knew Yue couldn't help but be aware of it, but...at the same time, Yue would have only been annoyed at him for using that as a reason not to do it. The guardian was going to be touchy one way or the other in this situation, really. Yukito would just have to talk to him later, when Yue was willing to actually talk.

His only reply out loud was another faint head shake and a quiet, "Nothing." After another second's consideration he drew back a little himself with some reluctance, but only to remove his glasses, fold them, and toss them onto the desk at the end of the bed. Once that was done Yukito lifted a hand that brushed across the front of Touya's shirt before coming to rest on his shoulder, as he leaned in closer again, pausing not quite close enough to touch.

"Where were we?" he asked, smile quirking somewhere between shy and mischievous. He very much wanted to go back to that, but at the same time, didn't want to push Touya into anything he didn't want.

Touya had thought there wasn't anything that could have drawn him Yuki more than he already was. Apparently, he'd been wrong. Watching Yuki pull back, remove his glasses, and then encourage Touya to continue nearly made him jump Yuki right then and show him no mercy at all. Fortunately, though, he was able to keep control of himself to start up again slow.

"You're liable to be eaten, looking at me like that," Touya said softly with a sly sort of smirk. He had to admit, now that he had gotten past the initial foray, he was enjoying himself. It was fun, kissing Yuki.

He started again with a small brush of his lips over Yuki's, then another that lingered longer. His hand ran over Yuki's neck then up to his jaw and through his hair as he continued leaving small kisses on Yuki's lips.

The only response Yukito was able to give was a quiet laugh, a bubble of almost innocent joy, before he was distracted by another kiss. He'd never dared dream of anything like this, not even when he still thought he was entirely human and normal with a bit of a crush on his classmate. The first part had been completely disproven when with one short sentence Touya had changed his entire world, the second in a more gradual process that ended with a quiet confession in the park at Doyleton, and now he was here, with unexpected happiness in the midst of fear and danger.

He wasn't human, but both of them knew that and it seemed to matter to Touya as little as the time difference between them did to him; they were who they were, and they fit together no matter what. What Yukito wanted was for Touya to know just how much he loved him, to demonstrate and not just give voice to the words. In his short existence he'd never experienced anything like this, and was still a little shy and uncertain how to do so, but he wanted to try.

He shivered lightly in unconscious reaction to the brush across his neck, his fingers catching in the fabric of Touya's shirt as he tightened his hold. The brief kisses were almost teasingly short, and finally in apparent impatience he refused to let go, leaning into it as he tried to pull Touya closer at the same time. It was so easy to forget shyness in this moment, when they were sharing warmth and breath in a closeness that was so much easier than he'd ever believed it would be.

Touya made a somewhat startled noise when he felt Yuki insistently grab his shirt and force closer contact between them. Maybe he'd thought for a moment that he was the only one getting excited over this, but Yuki proved him wrong in that moment. Yuki pulling on his shirt, pulling him closer, trying to get closer... feeling wanted felt great.

He answered Yuki's enthusiasm with a deeper, full kiss, running his hand down Yuki's back. He removed the other one from Yuki's hair and slipped it under his knees. Trying not to break their kiss (and ultimately failing, though he reconnected a second later), he moved Yuki into his lap in one movement. Yuki wasn't so heavy, after all--and this way Touya would have to continue to lean over, and they were closer. In the end, everybody won.

"Better?" he asked, a low chuckle pervading the question.

The sudden change in location certainly caught Yukito by surprise, and he gave a soft, inarticulate sound of protest at the movement and brief interruption. When it was done, however, he found himself settled on Touya's lap, and couldn't help the brief laugh that escaped him, almost in echo of Touya's own. Hopefully it wasn't too uncomfortable for Touya, but he liked the closeness of it; he could settle against Touya's chest, feeling his warmth and heartbeat (which seemed a little fast, or maybe he was imagining it), and it was...quite pleasant.

"Mmhm. Definitely." He slid both arms around Touya's neck, lightly brushing fingertips against the skin just inside the collar of his shirt. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he touched his forehead against Touya's. He felt dizzy, out of breath, like he'd just played an entire soccer game in midsummer's heat, only better. So much better and more alive, and he never wanted to move from this closeness ever again.

Night 46: M31-40 Hallway

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