Disclaimer: I don't own CCS.  It belongs to CLAMP.  I doubt that they're trolling the internet for people to sue, but if anybody from CLAMP is reading this; please don't sue me!

Author's Note: One of the 'Third Arc' series.  Takes place about six years after the events in 'Kitaku'.

Dedicated: To my Chelle-sama.  Apparently 'Tomoeda' translates as 'Capeside'.  How very odd.

Sumasu

Tell him, Yukito.

"Forget it, Yue.  The answer is 'no'."  Yukito muttered, glaring furiously into the soup pot. 

He needs to know.  He deserves that much.  We need to tell him.  Today.

"There's nothing to tell him; no matter what you say," he stirred with rather more force than was strictly necessary.

So.  He'll just find out when he comes home to find you with your bags packed?

Yukito threw the spoon into the sink and poured oil into a pan.  "I'm not packing any bags. I'm not going anywhere," his voice was calm.  "You may do as you like."

Ah, then he will just have to figure this out on his own when he comes home to find your corpse.  If we even leave a corpse, that is.

"Shut-up, Yue; I've stopped listening."

Tell him.  Yukito, tell him.

Yue, Yukito thought bitterly, was relentless.  "There is nothing to tell.  I've been telling you for three days, there is nothing to tell because nothing is happening.  I'm not leaving and I don't care what you want.  You couldn't make me go."

I could.  Possibly.  Our time is running out, Yukito, no matter what you say.  Sakura-san finishes her degree in a month's time.  Li Xiao-Lang has offered his proposal.  She's accepted him.

"Not that it matters," Yukito sighed, "and it doesn't because I don't care what you want in this matter, but Sakura-san has hardly set a date by now.  They might not marry for years yet."  Internally he could her Yue snort in derision.

Li Xiao-Lang has been here for seven years.  The Clan won't wait for him another.  He can take his Master's courses and even a doctoral in China.  Sakura-san and Tomoyo-san's manga can be done at a distance—that's technology's gift, Yukito.    And despite everything, the Li Clan is very, very modern.  It's soon.  Touya deserves to know.

"Quit bringing him into this," Yukito snarled, banging pots and pans as he cooked, hoping to drown out his other self's voice.  "This doesn't involve him."

Oh?

"It doesn't involve him," Yukito hissed, "because I am not going to China."

Yes we are.  We are going.

"Damn it, Yue!" he was reduced to this, to shouting at his other self.  "I don't care what Sakura-san's plans are.  I will go to China if I want to go." 

"China, Yuki?"  Touya was leaning in the door to kitchen.  He was still in his street shoes and there was a small, wry smile on his face.  "I didn't know I was in that bad a mood," he straightened and moved back toward the entryway to remove his shoes.  "In fact, I thought I handled the Monster and the Ghoul's announcement very well."

"To-ya, no, that's not it."  Yukito could have screamed in frustration.  "I don't want to go to China.  This has nothing to do with Sakura-san and her wedding."

Oh yes it does.

"I'm ignoring you."  Yukito announced and saw Touya frown briefly before it smoothed into a smile.  The smile faded quickly.

"Yue wants to go to China?"  He asked softly.

I need to go to China.  Tell him.  We have to go.

"Who cares what Yue wants?"  Yukito sighed and leaned over to wrap his arms around Touya.  "I'm sorry you had to find us fighting.  I was trying to make dinner."  He pointed into the kitchen.  "I was rudely interrupted."  

"It's always an interesting sight to see you and Yue talking to each other."  Touya agreed.  He didn't sound as amused as he normally did and Yukito blamed Yue for it.

"Well," Yukito smiled brightly.  "You can set the table."

If you won't tell him, I will.

"No."  He said it quietly, but Touya raised an eyebrow anyway. 

Yukito…

He gritted his teeth. "No, Yue, now shut up."

"What does he want, Yuki?"  Touya's voice was soft and Yukito shook his head to say that it was meaningless, nothing at all, but Touya persisted.  "Yuki?"  Gentle hands cupped his face and Yukito sighed quietly as much in pleasure as in sudden, resigned sadness.

"China," he whispered.  "He wants to go to China. It's nothing, To-ya."

It's not that, Yukito.  It's not that at all.

Yukito had a sudden image of Clow Reed, a woman in a long dress with water in her hands, of cherry blossoms too early in the season and falling snow; holding Touya, being held, while long white hair drifted between them.    Joy and sorrow and inane hope mingled in his heart.

Let me talk to him.  Please.

And Touya, who'd lost his powers, could still see into his very soul.  His thumbs stroked along his cheeks and he smiled sweetly.  "Oh, Yuki," he shook his head.  "Let me talk to him." 

Yukito closed his eyes and gave in to the change.

"Yukito and I are going to China.  To live."  Yue felt it best to be blunt.

Yue!

"Don't interrupt, Yukito."  He turned his attention back to the man standing in front of him, the man who was not smiling but still cradling his face.  He stepped back. 

Touya stepped forward and folded his arms.  "You want to live in China."

It wasn't true, but it was accurate.  Yue nodded.

Tell him it doesn't matter what you want.  Tell him that I'm not going.

He ignored Yukito with ease and waited for Touya to speak.  There was a long, long silence during which Yue wanted to, for the first time he could recall, fidget.

"Is it because I'm not him?  It's too much to be here with me and Yuki when I'm not like him—the one that you loved?"

 "No.  You're very much like Clow." 

Then quit with the nonsense about China.  Shut up, stay here and let me and Touya have a normal life. 

"But I'm not him."  Touya shrugged one shoulder and turned suddenly to set the table.  "I'm sorry, Yue."  He said quietly.  "I…if you wanted to not live here, with me, I'm very sorry."  A quick glance and Yue felt himself take another step back.  "But I love Yukito.  I love you, too."

"It isn't that," his own voice sounded remarkably normal, very unaffected.  "It has little to do with Clow or my…"  He paused and frowned very slightly.

Love?

"Love?"  Touya shrugged again.  "It's alright to say that you still love him.  I only wish that you could like me enough to not want to go to China.  You wouldn't have to love me."

He wanted to lie.  Wished he could, but couldn't.  "I…" He began.  "I find that I am already...I do feel that way."  It was as close as he could come to confessing his feelings.  Even with Clow Reed he hadn't gotten so close to saying out the way that he felt in his heart.

Touya beamed and Yue turned away from it, the brilliance of it, and went to put Yukito and Touya's dinner into serving bowls. "Not living in China is not an option."  He said.  He could nearly feel Touya's smile fall away.

"Not living in China is the only option."  Yue stopped as Touya put out an arm and barred him from the table.  "My little sisters are here.  My father and Sonomi-san are here.  My career is here."

He pushed past Touya.  "Sakura-san will be in China.  I am her Guardian.  I promised to protect her."  He was rather surprised to hear Touya laugh softly and turned to look quizzically at him.

"So, I'm not the only one who's guessed."  Touya cocked his head.  "Why would Hiiragizawa and Li be giving her so many lessons, making sure that her Cantonese was as good as it could possibly be unless she'd need for it to be really good?"  He sat himself at the table and Yue joined him.  "Can you eat?"  He asked out of the blue, gesturing to Yukito's full plate.  "The plushie eats all the time."

Yue blinked.  "I could if I wanted to." 

Don't you dare eat my dinner.

Yue picked up Yukito's spoon and started on the soup.  It was rather spicier than he was accustomed to; although that could be because he hadn't eaten in several hundred years.  "It's very tasty."  He said just to see Touya smile.

"I made it a few days ago."  Touya grinned and then paused.  "Sakura can take care of herself.    The Ghoul would die before he'd let her be hurt.  The plushie will go with them, you know.  He'll be there and it's not like Sakura wouldn't call on you if she needed you.  And the Clan home is practically a compound; the promising ones get trained in fighting and magic.  I wouldn't be so good about her going if I didn't think she would be okay." 

"Cerberus will take excellent care of her."  Yue agreed.  "But that isn't at issue.  I promised that I would protect her."

"She will be protected.  And you can go to her if you need to…it isn't that far to Hong Kong."  Touya protested.  "If your feelings aren't an issue, and Sakura's well being isn't, and we've agreed that they aren't, then you and Yukito can stay."

"If Yukito could stay, on his own, than he could stay."  How to explain, Yue wondered.  "I was created out of magic.  I need magic to sustain me and normally that power comes from my Master or Mistress."  He began.

Touya cut him off.  "But you don't need Sakura to supply you with magic.  I gave you mine.  I gave you all my strength.  Was it not enough?  I've been regaining my powers, you know.  You can have more, you can have all of it if you…"

"Touya."  Rather than talking over him or waiting for him to quit talking, Yue lifted his hand to erect a very simple cone of silence around Touya.  "May I finish?"  He asked politely, smiling inside at the look of amazement Touya wore.

We can do that?  We can do magic?

"I can.  You haven't studied magic," Yue sighed.  "And if you try you'll probably manage to kill us both."  Touya's mouth moved in a question but the spell prevented any sound.  "Yukito didn't know either."  He hazarded. 

Touya made a face and then gestured for him to continue speaking.

"Normally my Master or Mistress would supply my power and with hope, when he or she died, leave enough power for me to sleep until a new Master arrived.  Cerberus can generate his own powers, so long as he or our Master is in possession of his Element cards.  I'm not that fortunate."  Yue sighed.  "Sakura-san wasn't strong enough to support the Cards and me and she needed the Cards.  And that's when you gave your magic to us.  You made me promise to watch over Sakura for you, to protect her.  It was all you wanted in exchange for your powers."

"But she will be protected!" Touya protested again as the walls of silence came down.  "And I didn't mean it like that.  So you can…" He trailed off as Yue lifted his hand again.

"I am from magic and I live by magic.  In magic every gift carries expectations; they all require a response; even if it's only so much as a smile.  The bigger the gift is, the greater the bond to be honored.  You gave me life."

Touya dropped his head into his hands.  "So, you owe it to me to go to China, is that right?  Because I made you promise to watch out for Sakura?  If I hadn't said 'promise me to protect her' if I'd said 'always stay with me' you wouldn't have to go now, right?"

"Essentially, yes."  He, Touya and even Yukito laughed without any mirth at all.  Yue had never, ever heard himself make such a dry, bitter sound.

"What happens if you don't go?  If you just stay here with me, what would happen?  The magic police would come and haul you off to China?"

"We'd die, Yukito and I."  Yue watched the color drain from Touya's face and stood abruptly.  "If the contract is broken then you would reclaim what you'd given."  He shrugged.  "Not going to China is not an option for us.  And as you said, not going is the only option for you."  Yue remained very, very still as Touya shoved away from the table and stormed out the front door, pausing only long enough to change his house slippers for his street shoes.

You stupid, stupid, bastard, Yue.  "How could you say those things to To-ya?"

I don't feel like listening to it Yukito.  Especially since everything I said was true.

"What if I don't care?  What if I said that I'd rather die than leave Touya behind?  What if I just don't care?" 

I'd say that if it weren't for Sakura-san, I might not either. 

"What?"  Yukito said faintly.  "I don't believe you."

My, aren't we charming today, Yukito.  I said 'I might not care either' if it weren't for Sakura-san.  However, as before, I have a duty to fulfill and I mean to do so; regardless of what else I might like to be doing.  You may hate me if you like, Yukito.  You may even remain within for the rest of time if you'd like. 

"Sakura-san would be sad."  Yukito sighed and began to clear the table.  "I don't hate you, Yue.  I just don't like you very much right now.  You've ruined my appetite."  He dumped the dishes into the sink and gripped the edge.  "I'll go the China."

If it helps you at all, Yuki, I don't want to go either.

"I know."  Yukito washed dishes and wondered where Touya had gone.  He'd never known him to be so angry or emotional.  He wandered their apartment, straightening Touya's lesson plans, watering plants and trying not to worry or to think.  Sakura-san hadn't set a date; there could be plenty of time yet.  And perhaps they would stay in Japan.  It was always possible.

Somebody is at the door, Yukito.

Nobody had knocked but it was probably true.  Yue and Touya seemed to act as motion sensors.

Sakura-san.  She seems to be waffling a bit; she's been there for some time.

Yukito went to open the door. "Hello, Sakura-san.  What brings you by so late?"  He said pulling it open before the upraised fist landed against the wood. 

Sakura flushed slightly.  "Yue-san knew I was here?  Or Oniichan?" 

"Yue.  Touya went out."  He invited her in.  "I'm not sure when he'll be back, but you're always welcome to wait.  I think we have cookies if you'd like and I was about to make tea."  He ushered her to the sofa.

Tell her.

"What is it with you?"  Yukito demanded.  Sakura looked stunned for a moment before realization dawned. 

"What does Yue-san say?"  She asked.

You might as well tell her; Touya is upset and it involves her wedding, her move to Hong Kong and her safety.  We might as well explain things to her now.

"This is to do with magic, isn't it?  It's another one of those things, right?  Always tell the truth, gifts are bonds, that sort of thing.  You could try to explain these rules to me sometime."  Yukito muttered in irritation. 

You were the one who refused to listen when I said going to China was a life or death situation, Yukito.

"Quit being reasonable, Yue; we both know that you're overemotional and overdramatic." 

Ha.

"What does Yue-san want, Yukito-san?"  Sakura was looking puzzled and apparently trying valiantly to keep up with Yukito's end of the conversation.

Yukito sat next to her on the sofa and took both of her hands into his.  "Sakura-san, Yue and I don't want you to feel badly, but the fact of the matter is that Touya left tonight and he was very upset with us.  There was some bad news and I think he needed to go for a walk and clear his head.  But he might be very angry for a while.  Yue felt you had a right to know because it concerns your wedding."

"He knows that we're going to be living in Hong Kong, doesn't he?  Or is it that he found out that Syaoran-san and I set a date?  I know two months is really soon to arrange everything and get everybody ready for things.  Tomoyo-chan had a lot to say about it, especially when I asked her to design my dress because I know she has almost a million designs for it already but she's been feeling sick lately and I haven't had the heart to tell her that's she's…well."  Sakura skidded to a sudden halt.  "Well, that's for Tomoyo-chan to say," she winced.  "Which one upset Oniichan; the part about China, or the two months. or Syaoran-san, or Tomoyo-chan, if he knows about that?"

"China.  He's most upset about China."  Yukito released her hands and went to make tea.  When he came back to the living room Sakura was chewing thoughtfully on her lower lip, she looked like she was almost about to cry.  "Here, Sakura-san.  Don't worry," He handed her the tea and added, "Touya will get used to you living in China.  You'll come back to visit everybody, right?"

Don't worry, Sakura-san.  It'll be okay for sure.

"It'll be okay, Sakura-san.  For sure."  Yukito murmured Yue's words with a smile.

Sakura's eyes glistened for a moment as she looked at him and then she reached out and grasped both of his hands suddenly.  "Yukito-san, Oniichan is going to be even more upset later.  I have something to ask Yue-san that will only upset him more, but it's important, okay?"

"Sakura-san?"

Sakura-san?

"Is he listening?  Yue-san can hear me, right?"  She seemed very determined and Yukito wondered briefly if he should turn the body over before he felt the familiar change begin.

"I'm here, Sakura-san.  What is it?"  Yue watched her blinking, even after ten years the change still seemed to unnerve her. 

She pressed his hands between hers.  "Yue-san, I know how much you love Oniichan and that you promised him that you would always look out for me and keep me safe.  I know that we're friends and that friends don't have the right to make each other do things; even if I am the Mistress of the Cards.  But I want you to stay here in Tomoeda."

What??

"I promised Touya that I would protect you, Sakura-san.  I must go to Hong Kong with you."  Yue felt, for the second time that night, a sharp regret at the thought of returning to a place he had once loved.

"I know.  I was listening at the door when Oniichan gave you his magic and you promised him to protect me.  And I know he will remember making you promise and I'm sure he knows that you'd never go back on a promise."  Her face was earnest as she squeezed his hands again.  "The thing is; I won't be here to protect Oniichan or Daddy or Sonomi-keibo or Tomoyo-chan or Chiyochohoshi.  And Eriol-san's magic isn't as strong as mine is and Ruby Moon-san and Spinel-san aren't as strong as you and Kero-chan."  She dashed briefly at her eyes.  "And Kero-chan already said he's coming to Hong Kong, he's the Guardian of the Cards and they help give him strength and he's not really comfortable living with Sonomi-keibo.  But how can I go if I'm leaving everybody alone?  And Syaoran-san has to go back home!  And I need to be with him." She sniffled, wiping at her eyes again.

"So you want for me to stay here?"  Yue felt very stupid as he asked.

"Yes.  Oh, Oniichan is going to be furious when he finds out I asked you to stay!  Probably the only reason he hasn't blown up by now is because he knows that you and Kero-chan will be there and Syaoran-san wouldn't let anything bad happen if he could help it," she stood suddenly and planted her hands on her hips.  "He still thinks I'm a little girl!" she huffed. 

"I'm not sure I can do that, Sakura-san."

Shut up, Yue!  She said to stay!  That's got to count for something!

"Oh, Yue-san, you have to!  Please?  You promised Touya you'd look out for everybody, not just me.  And I need you to look after all of them for me, even if it means missing you and Yukito-san as much as I miss everybody else."

"I promised to protect everybody?"  Yue racked his brain, and yes, there it was--Touya's request and his own acquiescence.  'Protect her…protect them all' 'that's all you want for your magic'.  "I did.  I could stay here, to watch them."

"Yue-san, thank you!"  Sakura must have taken his last statement for agreement rather than astonishment.  "I knew you'd see it my way!  I knew you wouldn't go back on your promise!" she smiled radiantly.  "And I just know that you and Yukito-san will be able to make Oniichan see that this is the best way.  I'm sure he'll calm down once he gets used to the idea of me being an adult and married and living in Hong Kong with Syaoran-san." she made a sudden face, still smiling widely.  "He's had forever to get used to the idea.  I'm sure things will work out." 

Yue, I swear I will do something to you if you try to screw this up!  Sakura said 'stay'.  And you did promise To-ya to watch everybody.  You can't break that promise and it won't mess up the first promise if we can go to her when she needs us.    Right? 

"Yes, of course."  Yue murmured.  Sakura beamed again.  Internally, Yukito beamed as well.

"I'm so glad!  And now I have to go.  I promised Tomoyo-chan that I'd look at her first designs for my dress; otherwise I'd stay and help you talk sense into Oniichan.  Sometimes brandishing the Star Staff gets great results."  She practically skipped out of the door and Yue belatedly realized that Yukito had taken back the body and shut the door.

"Well."  Yukito mused with a cheerful smile.  "I told you I wasn't going to China, didn't I?"

Jiendo

Sumasu: To get something over with, to be done with something
Keibo: Stepmother (can also be used to mean 'affection')
Oniichan: People, if you don't know by now…
Ghoul?  ^.^ One of the translations for 'Gaki', which is what Touya calls dear Syaoran.  Gaki also translates as 'Brat' and 'Kid'.  I picked 'ghoul' because I thought it was funny.
Monster?  Dear ones, it's Kaijuu, his pet name for sweet Sakura-chan.

Yue's bit of wisdom: 'It'll be okay, for sure' is Sakura's unbeatable spell. ^.^ and as for his little discourse on magic…yeah, it's true.  To lie decreases a person's power, all words carry weight and meaning which could have very great magic side-effects, if one isn't careful.