[Heading? See Ch. 1]

8. In Which Memories are Changed and the Beginning Begins


The Book of Clow was quite confused. She momentarily counted the cards that had
been sealed within her. Yes. Exactly the right amount. Then, she counted the
guardians. She pondered the result of within her pages and then looked confused
for a second. With a slight shrug, she completed the seal and locked it, placing
the key deep inside her pages.

Now. The memories.

The Book stared at the sleeping guardians within her cover and back bindings and
thought for a moment. All was right with the sun guardian... she quickly altered
the memories as Clow had instructed. No more soft chair. No more window. No more
cherry tree. No more Ruby. No more Spinner. Keep the memories of the cards,
those are fine. No more hearing Clow and Yue make love- Yue wants to keep those
to himself. Mostly memories of Bubbles and pudding.

Next, the Moon Guardian. Something was terribly wrong. Within the back pages,
two figures slept. The book tapped the cheek of one and then the other. No. She
was wrong. It was one figure. No two...

No it must be one. Only one aura. A little crackly, but only one aura. But,
there are TWO figures.

Twenty years passed and the Book of Clow still had not made up her mind. She
shrugged and sighed. If Clow-sama wished for his Moon Guardian to be two people,
then who was she to argue? With a tap to Yue’s forehead she altered his
memories. No more groundskeeper. Simple enough. He hadn’t liked the man anyway.
Good-bye Ruby Moon. Yue liked her even less. Farewell, Spinner Sun. No more
memories of pain- at all. Only memories of love. Think your heart is frozen
because you miss Clow more than anything. Think that. Much simpler, isn’t it?

In his sleep, Yue twitched and the Book of Clow brushed a few strands of
baby-fine hair from his forehead.

No more memories of life before Yukito. You always had an Earthly Form! Think
that! Much better. In fact- no memories of ever being one person. Always broken;
always split; always with the snow bunny. Think him your false form, your mask.
Safer. Simpler. No more kissing Clow upon that silly chair. Clow wants to keep
that for his reincarnation. You were standing up... Clow never kissed you on a
chair. Remember?

The Book’s soothing voice lulled the memories into the minds of the Moon
Guardian’s celestial form and then stared at Yukito with a puzzled smile. She
placed her hands on her hips and tisked. How could Yue do that? Disobey Clow...
heresy. The Book shrugged. She preferred Keroberos anyway- he was on her cover.

Then, the book stepped closer to the sleeping form of Yukito and touched him
softly. Pain. Confusion. The boy had no memories. None. None to alter- except
the one with Keroberos. She nipped the memory of Keroberos and silenced it
easily. Now, good memories. Hmm... parents gone, but he has loving Grandparents
who travel often. They even call him every night to say how much they love him.
He moved to Tomoeda the first year of highschool, we’ll say that. Lots of
friends. No pain. No confusion. Easy enough!

The Book of Clow stepped back to admire her work as the Moon Guardian hiccuped
in a dream and then bounded off. Keroberos would wake up soon to guard the cards
and he was much more fun to play with than Yue!

And, nearly a century passed.

-`-

I watched as Clow stepped into the study and glanced down at him from the
position where I hovered, my knees crossed, reading a book. I returned my eyes
to the pages and listened to him change out of his convention uniform and back
into the more comfortable one he wore when working at home.

“How was the meeting?” I asked suddenly and hid a laugh with my hand as I
watched him jump out of his skin.

“Horrible and satisfactory at the same time,” Clow replied, catching his breath
as he stared up at me. I finished the page of the book that focused mostly on
ancient magicians and their horrible mistakes before easing it back into its
slot in Clow’s bookcase and eased down to the floor, listening to the whicking
noise my sandles made against the hardwood.

Clow had slumped into his chair and was leaning slightly forward, so as I always
did- I eased to his side and began massaging his shoulders. The position was
awkward because of the size of the chair, but Clow let out an appreciative moan
nonetheless.

“What were they jabbering about this time?” I asked.

“The other magicians or their ridiculously stupid guardians?” he replied and I
watched a quirky smile alight on his face.

“Both,” I said.

“You,” Clow said. I stopped my motions and Clow groaned until I went back to
what I was doing, slowly easing the pain from the sore muscles. “They’re still
angry that I have a guardian that’s practically human.”

I blew a strand of hair out of my face and rolled my eyes, “You only have to
look at me to see that I’m not human. Why would they care, anyway?” I pointed
out.

“They just do, Yue. Their guardians are jealous and the council in all honesty
thinks I’m using you.”

“Isn’t that the point of having a Guardian?” I asked dumbly as I moved to his
other side, kicking my hair away from my feet.

“No. Using you in a different way, Yue. Not just using you for magic.”

“I don’t understand,” I said. I knelt in front of him and looked at him. He
looked bothered and genuinely worried.

“They worry that I use you for my own needs. Understand now?” Clow asked softly.

“No,” I replied. I wasn’t going to make this easy for him. And, I had no idea
what he was talking about.

“They worry that I use you for sex,” he blurted out, looking at me darkly.

“What’s that?” I questioned.

“Look it up,” he said as he left the room- leaving me hurt and bewildered. I
didn’t understand... not for a moment. I looked the word up and it simply made
me even more confused. So, I looked the words within the definition up and
slowly it dawned on me.

I wasn’t usually hasty, but I ran then and slammed open the door to the bedroom
that we shared but that was more technically Clow’s than mine. My Master sat on
the bed and I watched as a tear glistened and fell from his eyes as he held his
head in his hands. He tilted his head as he looked at me and I almost stepped
back. Clow looked like a scared child.

I wasn’t used to having to play the part of the strong one.

“Yue?” he asked and I nodded slowly, still unsure of what to say. “I need to
know...”

I paused, “What do you need to know?”

“I order you to break that mirror,” he whispered instead as if it pained him to
say the words.

Instantly, without hesitation, I turned- feeling magic well up in my chest. My
fist pummeled the glass easily and I felt the shards spark against my face and
dig into my hands. The silver blood of an immortal dropped from my fingers as I
slowly moved to pull a shard of glass from them. I wrapped my hand in a part of
my robe and turned to him. A million questions ran through my mind, but the soft
part of my being settled them. An order was an order. Guardians are meant to
serve the Master.

Why would he do this to me?
[He needed it done.]
Why would he hurt me?
[You serve him. He wanted you to break the mirror.]
He loves me.
[No. Silly, Yue. You’re his slave.]

“I order you to jump out of the window,” Clow said and instantly I felt my whole
body leap out to follow his command. My bleeding hand reached out and undid the
latch at the same moment I summoned my wings. I jumped out of the window and
hovered in the air, peeking my head back inside.

“Clow?” I asked softly. He was staring at me in disbelief. Or was it disgust?

“You do everything I say, don’t you? Everything,” he said slowly.

“No,” I whispered. “I love you! You didn’t tell me to do that!”

“Yue. The council knows what I did to you. They’ve demanded that I unmake you,”
he said quietly. He hugged his knees to his chest and I could see where the
weariness came from.

He looked up at me sadly for a second and I felt him move towards me and draw me
into a hug, “I can’t let you go. No matter what they say. But, I must know...
Yue, I order you to...” he took my injured hand and pressed it to his crotch.
“...make love with your mouth.”

I bent down for a moment, the magic controlling my thoughts and then my own
anger bubbled to the surface as I stood. I moved like a snake, grabbing his
crotch tightly and making him gasp. Then, I reached up with my other hand and I
grabbed his key from his neck easily, yanking the chain until it broke, and
threw it out of the room. It landed in the hallway. He moved for the cards, but
I snatched the deck and threw them out, too. Then, I selected one card.

“How dare you think that because I am your creation I am something who you can
play with to fix your own insecurities?” I roared. “I, Yue, command the card
under my protection- LOCK!” I hollared. The power of my anger rendered the room
secure as I held his key to my chest and collapsed in a sobbing wreck on the
floor. Slowly, my hand shut the wooden door so that he couldn’t see the betrayal
on my face.

-`-

Tsukishiro Yukito was walking to school.

I should have said that “I” was walking to school, but for some reason that
didn’t sit right after the dream that had just burst into my subconscious. It
had been strange and unnerving as I almost felt a real tear creep down my face
as the end of the movie-like dream played in my mind.

I watched as a few pink leaves from the cherry trees that lined the drive
dislodged themselves and fell, landing against my face as I sat down on a bench
and thought for a moment.

“You look sad,” a voice said softly and I looked up to see a taller boy tossing
an apple from palm to palm as he sat on the branch of the tree.

“No,” I said smiling. “More like terrified.”

“First day of school?” the boy asked with a laugh as he hopped down to sit next
to me on the bench.

“How’d you know?” I asked, dumbfounded as I glanced at him. The boy had almost
ebony eyes and hair the color of dark-chocolate. As he stared at me, I shivered
slightly as if he was looking through me at someone else. I smiled helpfully and
waited.

“Well, for one- you’ve got your pin on the wrong side of your coat. For two-
your tie isn’t right,” he said, taking a bite out of the apple.

“Oh!” I said, adjusting the pin and fiddling with the tie.

The boy laughed and moved over to adjust it for me, deft hands fixing it easily
as I held still- barely breathing.

“I’m Kinomoto Touya,” he said after a moment, smiling widely. “Want some apple?”

“Tsukishiro Yukito,” I replied, taking the apple and finishing it off for him,
getting juice everywhere in the process. “Thanks.”

“Not a prob-”

“HOOEEE! Watch out! Coming through!” a small voice yelled and I jumped back
quickly, landing on top of the bench as a whirl of brown hair and red
rollarskates came whizzing past.

“Kaijuu! Slow down!” Touya yelled at the disappearing form and the little girl
almost crashed into a pole as she turned the corner.

“Sister,” Touya replied with a blush and an apolojectic shrug.

“I hope she’ll be okay,” I said, smiling brightly. Then, he started walking and
I jogged to keep up with him. “I’m glad you talked to me. It’s strange being in
a new place. I don’t know anyone.”

“Yes you do,” Touya said and for a minute, I looked confused until he pointed to
himself. “I have a feeling we’ll be best friends, Yuki.”

I laughed, “Where’d that come from?”

“Best friends get nicknames,” Touya said, wiping a speck of apple from the side
of my mouth as I walked besides him. “It’s a rule.”

“Fine,” I said, touching my chin as I thought for a minute. “Then, you’ll be
To-ya!”

“Okay by me,” he said as he pointed up ahead. “That’s the elementary school. Our
school is right there, can I see your classes?”

I offered him the slip of paper from my pocket and he grinned as he looked at
it, “We have the same homeroom!”

“Really?” I asked and compared his paper with mine.

“Really,” he intoned solemnly. “And, I don’t have a locker-mate yet. Wanna share
lockers?”

“Sure,” I said happily as the cherry blossoms fell. I had my first friend.
“Maybe we could even hang out afterschool if you have nothing to do.”

“I have to babysit the monster. Want to help?” he asked hopefully. “It’ll be
less annoying with you there.”

“Sure thing, To-ya.”
-End Ch. 8-