--------------
I woke with the glow of sunrise the next day, groaning lightly with the protests of a still exhausted body and mind. Touya was still deeply asleep on my chest, his long arms curled around me. He was likely as tired as I. He'd had a worse time than I. I decided that I couldn't very well function under such circumstances, let alone do what I needed to help Touya, so sleep it was.
I reached over, pulling the woven rope beside the bed, and the heavy drapes fell shut, making the room pitch again. I resettled carefully, ever mindful of my dozing friend. What would his reaction be when I told him that I wanted to bind us together for the rest of my life as another guardian? I repressed bitter laughter. I had offered Clow the same thing, but either I wasn't strong enough to take us through it, or he simply wished it not to be.
I kissed Touya's forehead, running my slender fingers through his tousled hair, brushing it out of his face. I dozed off again.
A few hours later, I woke again when Touya stirred in his slumber. He was obviously on the blade-edge of sleep, still half in dreams. He rolled over, nuzzling his face into my neck, muttering. I smiled as I felt his breath brushing across my neck. Then my own breath got caught in my throat.
Touya, still asleep, was kissing the sensitive skin between my jawbone and earlobe, gently growling my name. Do I do that? I wondered, ignoring the searing chills that ran through my body. Do I say his name when I sleep?
It hadn't been like this with Clow, I realized. It wasn't that I didn't love him. As Yue, I had loved him more than my own life, and very nearly proved that. I'd never found another that aroused these feelings in me, found none other than Clow and Touya that I adored more. With Clow, it had been a subject's worship and love for his god, whereas with Touya...
"I won't be your only love, Yue. Long after I'm gone, you'll find someone who can give you what I cannot. Eternity. They'll love you like you deserve to be loved. Promise me, Yue. Promise me that you'll let me go when the time comes."
With Touya...
"Welcome to Northwest, Tsukishiro Yukito-San. Please take a seat behind Kinomoto Touya. Kinomoto-San, show Tsukishiro around today. Make sure he's acquainted, ne?
"Hai, Sensei."
With Touya...
"I know you're not human, so you don't have to hide from me anymore."
With Touya, it was different. Clow had been right. He'd kept his promise after all. Clow had given me my freedom when he extracted that promise from me. The promise to trust my feelings to someone else when the time came. He'd made me someone to love.
Thank you, Master. I'm sorry I ever doubted you. I won't let him go without a fight.
I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was past 9:30 by now. Touya breathed my name into my ear again, sending delicious shivers through my smaller frame, centering them somewhere less than pure. I decided that it was time to leave the vicinity before I was driven to doing something pleasurably drastic to my sleeping friend. I slid out from beneath Touya, rolling over, away from the warmth we had created together.
I lay there on my side, covered in cool sheets, my breathing and heart rate much too fast. I may as well have run a marathon. Maybe it hadn't been such an intelligent decision to sleep in the same bed after all...