[Heading in Ch. 1]
13. In Which a Meeting Takes Place

Somewhere in the realm between waking and dreaming, Touya tossed and turned. The
sheets caressed his cheek softly, and I leaned over the soft frame of his body.
Such a sensual being trapped up in gruff phrases and silent jokes that only few
are privelieged to hear. I touched his face softly and felt his eyelids gently
stroke my finger as they fluttered in sleep and paused back to once again admire
the figure.

The Clow Book sat on the desk where it had been moved and I dimly contemplated
whether this was “against the rules or not.” Was it against the rules to admire
sleeping mortals as they dreamed? Probably so. I was caught in his net, however,
and there was no way I could leave. Just as it was with Clow, I could feel the
pulse of life in his body and watch it in his face. He was young, yes, but
mortal still. I turned away and in the mirror that hung above his desk admired
my unchanging reflection and turned away from it bitterly.

Inside me, Yukito was sleeping and I could feel his dreams echo from a portion
of my soul, filling me with happy, silly ideas and notions of love.

Love. A ridiculous concept that is held by the over-romantic. I brushed a strand
of loose white hair from my eyes, amethyst orbs peeking out from a cascade of
grey lashes that softly beat against my cheek like spiderwebs as I closed my
eyes. Love dies. Love leaves you. Love hurts you. Love changes nothing. All you
love falls like dying leaves in autumn.

“I loved you Clow... more than anything. Yet, here I stand, and where are you?”
I laughed bitterly once again and jerked as Touya stirred in sleep, my eyes
going wide with fear.

“You see, Touya, you may think that you love Yukito- but he’s a child! Don’t you
see! You love a child who knows no pain! How can there be love without pain?” I
whispered as my wingless form crawled into the small bed without even knowing
what it was doing. “They say, peach arrow, that people can understand what they
hear even in dreams. Is that true? Part of me hopes it is and that you’ll
remember me and love me as well as Yukito (my other half), but most of me hopes
that I can simply unburden my soul to you and leave as silently as I came.”

I paused and tilted a finger against the side of my cheek as I sighed and shook
my head, “ I was so happy with him Touya. He was Master and he could do no
wrong. I would forgive anything of him. He was just and he was wise, though
slightly confused of his path in the beginning. I suppose that he grew, like an
old oak, into the Master that we envisioned. In the beginning, there was pain
and what we thought was love. In the middle, there was love- pure and
unabridged. In the end...” I gestured futilely in front of me, my hand almost
touching Touya’s chest. “Death.”

The mortal shivered slightly and to my surprise leaned against my chest. He
wrapped his arms around me and I held so still that for a moment I forgot to
breathe. Then, he opened his eyes for a moment- seeing nothing in his haze of
dreams.

“Yuki...” he whispered and then fell back into sleep and I relaxed, taking a
breath into myself as I licked dry lips.

“Am I that like him?” I laughed softly, full of pain that my centuries-long
sleep had not managed to heal. “I miss Clow even more now that destiny is
underway. The book cries out that it wants the child who found it- that I,
perhaps, intervened. I hate this. Master, why could I not have passed into
darkness with you?” I felt a sob choke in my throat and banished it with a wave
of resentful anguish that was palely echoed by my sorrow, though similar. “You
think I am him? He isn’t me. He’s a broken half that fell from me. Something I
never needed. What use is there for a heart that feels when it is only broken in
the end?”

I stood up quickly and started pacing the room, “My false form can keep it. I
have no need for love. I am Yue. I will fulfill Clow’s wishes and then sleep. I
have no need for love.”

Staring at the boy as he turned softly in his sleep at my loud words, I shook
slightly. Did I love him? If my other form loved him, did it mean that I had to
as well? I felt a keening wish to hand the book to him, against all odds. Did I
wish to call him Master? I stared and bent, picking up a leaf from the floor.
Then, I crushed it in my hand. “I don’t need love. Keep your snow bunny, he’s
the broken half of my heart that Clow took away with his death. I am sick of
riddles! Do you hear my Clow? Just because I want you, doesn’t mean I need you!”


Touya was waking and I watched as the clock ticked closer to the time that it
had been set for. Touya would be going to work soon and Yukito had homework to
do. This world right now had no place for me. I stepped closer to the desk and
grabbed the book, stepping down the hallway until my hands touched the door of a
room I had only seen through the eyes of another. I opened it and set the book
down gently, hearing her soft squeal of happiness in my mind as I closed the
door and fell into oblivion.

-`-


Kinomoto Sakura woke up to the screaming of her alarm and hit it hard, pressing
the sleep button as she covered her head with a pillow and whacked the alarm
away. A moment later the radio came blaring from the machine, but by then it was
out of whacking distance and Sakura pulled herself from bed.

“Its too early,” she mumbled quietly moving towards her closet and grabbing
Toemeda’s trademark uniform from it. She slipped it on, tugging the shirt over
her head and then moved to make her bed-

TRIP! Sakura hit the floor hard and rubbed her head as she winced and turned
around, looking for the object that had gotten in her way and-

“No way!” she laughed happily as she picked up the strange book her brother had
taken away from her and touched it’s red and gold cover. Sakura fiddled with the
latch and jumped as it fell open. The left side was covered with words in some
strange language, but the right side had a small bed in which lay a set of
cards.

“I knew this was an awesome book!” Sakura said as she picked up the deck and
sorted through it, trying to read the characters as she looked at the beautiful
illustrations with a smile.

“The Windy...”

   -End Ch. 13-