A/N: I thought I was never going to write a CCS story again…I guess I lied. The other stories are pretty discontinued unless the writer's blocks lift, but this one has floated around my head for a while. I'm attempting to keep it short so that I actually finish it before I get tired of it XD, which is why the narrative might be a bit different from my other works.

Blood and Duty

Chapter One

At first it was alright. The girl was there, with her friend, Kero was delighted, and Syaoran congratulated her, they did a strange spinning dance around the empty park and laughed, and Yue did not have to face him. Mizuki Kaho stood to the side, smiling serenely as the children celebrated, and there was a lot of excited chatter, about how life might go back to normal but will never be the same again. Optimism. Hope.

But then the others left, Kero with them, and it was just him and Syaoran.

There was a particular numbness in the boy's posture that did not quite reflect disappointment. Apathy, more like, and something between them shifted, altered, balancing on a precarious precipice that was never there before. He looked the boy over discreetly as they went home, wondering if the blasted child was hiding injuries and if there were ones even deeper than that. Syaoran was good, but he was not strong, and he did not have as many cards as Sakura did, and Yue wondered if he had been too hard on him.

He was the judge though. Judges had to be fair. The trial with Syaoran was fair.

The trial with Sakura wasn't.

They said nothing on the way back, though on Syaoran's part, the boy seemed comfortable with the silence. He stared straight ahead, and when they came to the front door he took out his keys and unlocked it before Yue had a chance to. Slip in, turn on the lights, close the blinds, and Yue hesitated as the boy went to the sink to wash his hands. Everything normal, routine. They had done this every time they came home together in the evening. Then they would cook dinner together, or one of them would while the other did something else. Syaoran was taking off his robes as he went upstairs. Normal.

No, this wasn't normal. They needed to talk. They should have talked on the way here, but perhaps they could talk now.

It was Syaoran who broke the silence first. He came down in a t-shirt and shorts and halted on the steps.

"Daijoubu desu ka, Yue?"

Still "Yue", not "Yue-san". Things had not drifted so far apart that Syaoran felt the need to attach an honorific. Unsurprisingly, despite how he mentally grabbed at this detail, Yue did not feel relieved.

"Are you?" He asked instead.

Syaoran glanced down at the cut on his knee, and Yue felt the beginnings of a flush blooming on his face. He had not even seen the cut, but the boy assumed he had been asking about that.

"It'll keep," The boy shrugged. "I didn't even notice it was there until I changed."

"Oh," Yue said softly.

The child regarded him for a moment, and Yue was reminded painfully of that day, five years ago, the same eyes on a smaller face regarding him, just as intense but filled with wariness, distrust, defiance. Now the defiance remained, but beyond that…he could not really see what Syaoran was thinking.

"She'll be good," Said the boy. "She's a kind girl. And she gets along with that stuffed toy."

"You would too, if you stop calling him a stuffed toy," Yue frowned a little. "You don't even try."

"And now I won't have to!" Syaoran laughed, turning away just in time to miss the sharp pang that resonated from deep within the guardian's heart. He watched the child disappear into the kitchen.

"Not that I didn't try, mind you," He heard the boy go on as he took out the rice to wash them, "Annoying Kero for the rest of my life has its own appeal."

Yue swallowed something that tasted like bile, or probably tasted like bile if he ever had any. "Sumimasen."

"For what?"

Stop avoiding this. "I wanted you to be the master. I really did."

"I know," Said Syaoran, and the water turned on. "But Clow Reed had other ideas hm?"

Yue stood for a while near the doorway as Syaoran finished washing the rice.

"I had no idea," He said at last. "I didn't know anything about the bell."

Syaoran could not hear him over the water, however. He listened to the bustle as the boy dumped the rice in the rice cooker and set it up. He came out of the kitchen and looked at Yue again with those unfathomable eyes.

"Daijoubu desu ka?" He asked again. "You went through two trials. I only went through one."

Stop avoiding this. "We should talk about this."

"…About…?" Syaoran gave him a look of incredulity. "What's there to talk about? I lost, she won. That's…pretty much it."

"She had help. You…you're not upset at all about this?" It was Yue's turn to be incredulous.

"Well, I'm not ecstatic, but I think I always kind of knew. The way the cards always gravitate to her." Syaoran blinked. Something in him seemed to sink, even though there was no change in his posture or expression. "I guess it's not as shocking to me as it is to you. Well, the cheating was, but the end result, I think I saw that one coming for a while."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Yue found himself getting angry as horror filled him. His mind stretched to the past year, wondering if there had been any signs he had missed. "Why didn't you tell me you felt this way before?"

"What was I going to say? Besides, saying it out loud made it seem more real. It's not like I preferred this." Syaoran folded his arms. "So, what happens now?"

Yue blinked, caught off-guard by the question—it seemed so strange since Syaoran had behaved as if nothing had changed, that he was confident nothing will change—

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to move in with her, like Kero?" Syaoran asked. "Or get her to move in with you? She has a family so that might be a bit inconvenient."

Yue felt like Syaoran had just overturned a bucket full of water over him. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, she's the Card Mistress now," The boy said, and proving that he did know the significance of the Final Judgment, went on to elaborate, "You're loyalty is strictly to her now. It would be easier to protect her if you live closer."

"What about you?" Yue asked, and then felt ridiculous. Shouldn't this be a question Syaoran was asking?

"I don't know. I'll figure something out."

"Matte," Yue gathered his thoughts together—Syaoran was leading the conversation in a direction he simply could not condone. It was his turn to direct the topic. "Are you saying you're leaving?" Just because this ten-year-old child once survived as a five-year-old did not mean that it was any less ludicrous. "Where would you go?"

"I don't know…" Syaoran scowled, "I'll figure something out. Did before. Besides," He went on before Yue could protest, "You're the one who's leaving, not me."

"Since when was I leaving?"

"…Ano…aren't you? I mean, Kinomoto is the Card Mistress now."

That bitterness in his mouth was definitely bile. Yue swept across the room and knelt in front of the boy. Kami-sama, the child was small, average for his age but so small, like the girl, but so alone. He grabbed Syaoran by the upper arms and wished he could will his thoughts and feelings through the contact into the boy so he would not have to say it; he always had a hard time articulating his feelings out loud, and never did he hate this flaw more than he did now.

"I promised I would take care of you," He said, looking deep into those amber eyes. Five years ago, Syaoran had been a small waif, all skin and bones and terror and courage, wary of sorcery and anything to do with magic because of what it had done to his family. Yue never told the boy, but he still studied the scar the child gave him sometimes, marveling at how Fate worked to bring together the cold-hearted guardian and the fiery youngster with more spirit than any sorcerer could crush.

"You have," Said Syaoran, blinking at him. "I never said you didn't."

"I promised I would take care of you," Yue repeated, "And I will. I'm not leaving you. Not over…not over this."

"I'm not the Card Master—and it's obvious that Clow Reed didn't design the cards to be passed down through the bloodline."

"I don't care!" Yue shook the boy a little, "It was never your blood that mattered to me!"

For the first time, the child looked genuinely surprised, as if he had believed this…all along—Yue suppressed the urge to shake the boy again for being so stupid and so—

"Then what mattered to you?" Syaoran exclaimed, blatant confusion shining in his eyes. "Why did you save me?"

Save him…Yue wanted to laugh. Save Syaoran? It was more like Syaoran had saved him.

The phone suddenly rang, breaking the delicate moment. Syaoran shrugged from his grip and went to get it.

"Oh, konbonwa, Yamazaki-san! Oh no, this isn't a bad time. Nani? Of course." His voice grew fainter as he went upstairs.

Yue stood straight and stared down at his hands before bringing them up to cover his face.