Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Wish Unbroken, Dream Unspoken ❯ Chapter 6

The next morning the rain was back. The air was thick with the heat and humidity in Touya's room and he was surprised he had been able to sleep at all. The t-shirt and shorts he wore to bed were soaked with sweat, clinging to his body like a second skin. He frowned, pulling the t-shirt off slowly, lost in thought as he sat at the edge of his bed.

When he had finally let Yukito walk home last night, it had been with serious misgivings. Nothing had been resolved, and they had finally just given in to the absolute silence by saying goodnight. It had killed him to watch his best friend walk away like that, but it was beyond him what else he could try at that point. He had confessed his most secret feelings--and had been rejected. Oh, it wasn't an all out "no", but it might as well have been. Maybe a simple no would have been less painful.

"It's all my fault," he growled, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "I can't do anything right anymore."

He casually tossed his sweat-soaked t-shirt into the hamper, and then walked over to his dresser to grab a fresh one. He stopped in his tracks though when he caught movement outside his window. There was a flash of white among the branches of the tree, and the leaves were dancing around like someone was trying to climb it. He moved closer, curious, and when he was right at the edge of the window something large--human sized--jumped at him suddenly.

"WHAT THE--"

Yue was clinging to Touya's windowsill, looking sheepish and a little worried. Touya threw the window open quickly, curiosity and confusion rendering him speechless as Yue dangled.

"Help me?" he asked with wide eyes and silly grin.

Touya stared, unable to believe his eyes. Why wasn't Yue just floating in? Why was he dangling from his window in the rain? He was clearly soaked to the bone and all that hair had to be weighing him down, but he just clung there as if he would fall if he let go. The strangest of all was the grin. Yue never looked like this.

"Touya? Please? I can't hang on much longer. It's too slippery out here."

It was the same voice, but he sounded to kind, too happy. He sounded like--

"Yuki?"

He barely managed a nod before he started actually slipping. "I don't want to fall here, so please help me in."

Touya grabbed Yukito quickly, pulling him gracelessly into the room. When they finally managed it, both collapsed in a pile on the floor, Yukito sprawled on top of his friend.

And yet...he looked like Yue. He smiled like Yukito, he spoke like Yukito, but the body was clearly Yue.

Touya just lay back on the floor, staring at the ceiling. "I'm dreaming, right?"

Yukito shook his head, trying to stand but getting tangled in the long hair and the layers of formal robes Yue always wore. "How does he do it?" he mused aloud as he finally stood. He then held a hand out to help Touya stand. "Anyway, it's not a dream, and I have no idea what happened." He was looking more serious again.

Touya stood slowly, waving off assistance. "Okay, tell me what you do know, and we'll try to figure something out from there."

"I don't know. I woke up, saw myself in the mirror, and didn't know what to think. You were the first person I thought of, and I tried to stay out of sight."

Yukito was pacing now, his old mannerisms seeming out of character in Yue's form. He had reached for glasses that weren't there at least three times since he climbed into the room, and Touya was struggling to hold in the smile that threatened to emerge. Amusement still tinted his look when he reached out and grabbed Yukito's rain soaked shoulder. "You could have used the front door."

Yukito shook his head, frowning slightly. That expression fit the face more, Touya thought with a touch of sadness. "I didn't want to worry Sakura-chan," he admitted softly.

Now Touya chuckled. He couldn't help it. "Sakura is the sorceress, and the only one that could do something around here. So what do you do? You come to me, the one who can't do a thing, and the one you turned away just last night."

Yukito looked flustered and upset, shaking his head almost violently. "Touya, I--"

Touya just ruffled his hair fondly, taking great pleasure doing that to this form. "Yuki, relax. I'm not upset; you shouldn't be either."

He looked deflated suddenly, sitting on the edge of Touya's bed with a heavy sigh. "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Make me feel better when I really don't want to."

"Do I really?"

"Yeah."

Silence reigned in the room for a time, only interrupted by the rustle of bed sheets and the creak of the bed when Touya sat down next to his conflicted friend. He reached a hand out to touch Yukito's shoulder lightly, offering what comfort and support he could, but Yukito flinched away ever so slightly. Touya dropped his hand with a sigh, understanding that he had not yet been forgiven.

"Have you tried changing?"

"I'm not sure how to do it," Yukito said slowly, frowning. "I've never initiated it, and I'm scared I'd mess it up."

Touya nodded, pondering. An idea hit him suddenly, and he snapped his fingers with a smile. "I have an idea. Wait here, okay?"

He dashed out of the room before Yukito could do more than blink and wonder what his friend meant.

Keroberus, Guardian Beast of the Seal and Appointer of the Card Captor was doing what he did best. Sleeping. Sakura had already gone downstairs for breakfast, so he expected at least half an hour of good snoozing in before she brought him something to eat too. That was his morning routine unless he had a good videogame waiting on him. Today he just slept, enjoying peaceful dreams of pudding and cake and--

"Oi, stuffed toy." The fact that it was a male voice roused Kero from his sleep enough to try to puzzle out who it was. It took him a moment, and he cracked an eyelid just to double-check. Yes, it was Sakura's big brother, looming over the drawer that was his own private bedroom.

"Go away, I'm sleeping." Kero rolled back over, pulling his little blanket over his head.

He didn't go away. Instead, he spoke again. "Wake up, I need your help."

"Waking me up and calling me a stuffed toy is not the way to get my help. I have a name you know. Now, go away before I return to my true form and toast you." Kero spoke into his pillow, hoping that the mean big brother would get the hint, or at least the point of the threat.

No suck luck. "Yue needs your help."

"I'm up, I'm up--what?" Since when did Yue need his help for anything, and why was the big brother telling him this? It had to be serious. "Where is he?"

"He's in my room," Touya began, but as soon as the words were out, Kero was gone. Touya chased after him, but he zipped down the hall too fast to stop.

"Yue! What's the matter? What's wrong?" Kero saw Yue sitting on the edge of Touya's bed, an open expression on his face that he hadn't seen since Clow's time. "Yue?"

"I'm not Yue," he said, sounding younger than he had in centuries. Kero could tell the difference, but he couldn't believe it.

"What'dya mean, you're not Yue? What's going on?"

That's when Touya caught up, glowering in the doorway. "You couldn't wait for an explanation, plushie? Yuki is stuck in Yue's form. I was going to ask if you could teach him to change so we can see if they've been switched, or...or something else."

Kero peered closely at Touya, catching the hesitation. So, they didn't even know if his brother was still there. The Guardian Beast frowned, folding his short arms and contemplating the boy in front of him. He could faintly see traces of magic that was not his own floating around the edges of his aura. He couldn't tell directly who it was, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out. Only two people could have done this, and one of them wouldn't know she could. Not only that, but Sakura wouldn't have done it.

He set the thought aside for further pondering later. He would ask Sakura. He couldn't come to any conclusions without talking to her first, since the only other person who could have done this was supposed to be half way around the world right now.

"Yes, yes, I can teach him. It should come naturally to him anyway. It's a matter of will," he turned to the snow rabbit with the air of a teacher. "You need to picture it happening, and the magic will follow. Just don't fight it." Kero smiled kindly, and waited.

Yukito stood, nervous but willing to follow the advice of Sakura's other guardian. He looked over at Touya with a grin, feeling something akin to stage fright. That's when he really noticed what his friend was wearing--or not wearing. His eyes widened slightly, and he turned away to hide a slight smile. "Hold on a minute."

With deliberate steps Yukito walked over to Touya's closet and pulled out a shirt. He tossed it to Touya, and then began to will himself into his usual form. Immediately he felt a sensation like electrified ice water flowing through him, tingling, burning, and freezing all at once. He could feel the wings forming on his back before they closed around him and his eyes slid involuntarily closed. Within his mind he saw, like a glowing brand, a magic circle with intricate inscriptions, but its exact appearance was swept away in an instant as something inside himself was awoken. He now felt strangely displaced as his eyes began to slide open and the wings pulled back. Everything was out of focus at first, but it was more of a blurring of the mind rather than a visual effect. He checked, and noticed the familiar frame of glasses at the edge of his vision, so constant that he usually didn't notice.

The magic faded and everything snapped into focus. "What's going on?" he heard himself demand with a hard edge to his voice. He felt a rising edge of panic, but maintained tight control over his reactions.

Touya was just buttoning his shirt when he looked up with a grin. "That answers that question," he said, looking at Kero. "Welcome back, Yue. You might want to sit down for this."

Yukito watched as Yue moved to the bed and sat, feeling the stunned confusion as he looked down at himself. "This isn't right," he muttered under his breath as he held his hands in front of him and looked at the short fingernails and slightly darker skin. He stared at the mundane clothes with a growing horror as he searched for Yukito's presence in his mind and came up lacking.

Like a one way mirror, Yukito thought to himself. He could feel Yue, but now Yue could not feel him. This must be how Yue usually views the world. It's finally my turn to watch him. Now he can feel what it's like to be the false form.

He realized though, that things wouldn't exactly work like that. If this was how Yue usually saw the world, he already knew to some degree what it was to be Yukito. So, I'll get to see what it's like to be the true form, he realized.

"What happened to Yukito? Is he safe, is he okay?" Panic put even more of an edge to his voice, and Yukito was shocked by the concern Yue was showing. "Why am I here like this? Why can't I feel him?"

Touya nodded calmly, holding him gently by the shoulders and looking him in the eyes. "It seems that you've switched circumstances somehow. I don't know how, but--"

Yue laughed mirthlessly, the sense of irony nearly overwhelming. "I'm now the false form." He pulled away from Touya, shaking his head and pulling off his glasses wearily. "Keroberus, thank you for helping us. You should tell Sakura what is going on."

Even if I can't hear you, you can hear me Yukito. I don't know why this happened, but it is now your duty to protect the Mistress.

For some reason, hearing Yue say that made him want to shiver.