Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Wish Unbroken, Dream Unspoken ❯ Chapter 7

Sakura ran up the stairs, holding a plate of food carefully for Kero-chan. She had thought about telling him he could go down for breakfast with her, but he was sleeping so peacefully that she didn't want to bother him. He was always cranky when woken up unless it was with offerings of pudding. Still, now that her father knew, it wasn't necessary to sneak food for her sun guardian.

She was positively beaming when she rushed into her room and set the food down. She was about to knock softly on the drawer Kero used as his own bedroom when she saw that it was already open--and empty. "Kero-chan?"

She looked around the room, but it was completely empty. She frowned, wondering where he could be. She left the food on her desk, walking down the hall slowly while she wondered where her diminutive guardian could have disappeared to. She heard voices in her brother's room as she got closer, and decided to see if Kero could have gone in there--though she couldn't imagine a reason he might.

Sakura was raising her hand to knock on the door when she heard someone say, "Keroberus, thank you for helping us. You should tell Sakura what is going on."

Some instinct told her that it was Yue, but she couldn't imagine why he would be in her brother's room first thing in the morning. Touya hadn't even gotten out of bed yet as far as she knew. The door flew suddenly open, and she clearly saw Yukito, sitting with a weary expression, holding his glasses in his hands and staring at them. Kero had paused in front of the open door, looking startled. Touya was buttoning the last button of his shirt, frowning as he looked at his best friend.

"So tell me, what is going on?"

Kero was just getting over his surprise when Yukito and Touya looked up with shocked expressions of their own. Two voices gasped, "Sakura!" One said, "Mistress!"

Sakura couldn't believe her eyes--or her ears. "No, this isn't right." She frowned in concentration, eyes almost slipping closed as she tried to shake off the confusion. Her eyes were telling her that Yukito sat there, but her heart was telling her another story. "Onii-chan, what's going on? Kero?"

They both began to speak at once, but their words only confirmed the truth she knew as soon as Yue met her eyes.

"I did not do this," she frowned, cutting off the explanations.

Kero nodded. "There's only one who could have, besides you."

"But he's in England!" she protested automatically. Again she felt something that went beyond herself, something she couldn't have understood before the cards had entered her life. As soon as the words were out she knew that Eriol had returned to Tomoeda. So, why? Why would he do this?

"Sakura, can't you just switch them back?" Touya was asking.

She didn't answer. If Eriol truly was the only other person who could do this, and if he had indeed done it, she knew him well enough by now to know he wouldn't have done it without a good reason. Instead, she backed out of the doorway, racing back to her room quickly. A moment later she called into the still open door, "I have things to do. I'll be back later!"

The three heard her call out a hurried goodbye before the door slammed. After that there was only a stunned silence.

Yue blinked, shocked by the Mistress' abrupt departure. He noticed Kero looking at her warily, as if he suspected something, but the room remained silent. Eventually Touya began gathering the clothes he would wear, and then headed off to take a shower. Kero and Yue stared at each other for a while in silence.

"So, what are you gonna do now?" Kero hovered closer, looking purely concerned for his fellow guardian.

"I'll wait."

Kero frowned. "That's it? You're just gonna sit here and wait?"

Yue leveled an even gaze upon him, turning Yukito's friendly face into something stern and cold. "What would you suggest I do?"

"Well, if it were me, I'd fly over to that creep's house and--oh."

"Precisely. I can't exactly fly anywhere in this form, Keroberus."

The sun guardian looked properly abashed. "Well, you could still walk over there and--"

"And get lost?" Yue interrupted with wry grin. "I never paid attention to the tedious details of getting from one place to another around here. Besides, I'm sure that Sakura is going there right now to get this straightened out."

"What if he won't?"

Yue just smiled. It was the first genuine smile Kero had seen Yue produce in a century or so. He blinked in confusion before shaking his head and flying off in search of breakfast.

"Yes, I did it," Eriol said calmly. He sat in his favorite chair, staring placidly at Sakura as she stood, stammering.

"But, but, but...why?"

"Are you sure you won't have a seat on the couch? It would be much more comfortable." He gestured for the second time toward the nearby couch, smiling warmly.

She opened and closed her mouth a few times, finally deciding to sit. "Tell me," she demanded stubbornly, once she was seated.

Eriol nodded, steepling his fingers, trying to think of the best way to explain his reasoning to the young mistress of the cards. She was a worthy heir, but she was still only a child and didn't have the experience or knowledge he had obtained over the years. "Have you ever wondered why Clow made the Change card?"

"I never really thought about it," she admitted with a small pout.

Eriol smiled patiently. "I'll wait while you do."

She nodded and began to puzzle it out slowly, speaking as she thought. "Well, it switches personalities. When Syaoran-kun and Kero-chan got switched they were nicer to each other for a little while, but not much. But, Kero-chan said something about understanding why Syaoran-kun was so grouchy all the time because he had to listen to Meiling-chan screeching at him all night. Maybe the card was made so people could see things differently?"

"There is an old saying, 'You never truly understand a person until you walk a mile in their shoes.' After the disaster with the sorceress in Hong Kong, after she disappeared, it bothered him that he couldn't figure out why she hated him enough to try to kill him for so long. It was after that when he created that card."

"To understand why people do the things you wouldn't understand any other way!"

"Exactly." He nodded; proud of her for grasping the concept so readily.

"That's why you switched Yue-san and Yukito-san?"

"Yes. I'm hoping that if they understand each other better, they'll be able to resolve their doubts and insecurities about each other and learn to coexist."

Sakura's face fell, tragedy washing over her features. "I-I- I didn't know something was wrong...."

Eriol smiled reassuringly, leaning forward slightly. "It's okay. No one expected you to notice. They've probably gone to great lengths to keep you from realizing anything actually."

"A little. I guess. I mean, I knew that something was going on with Onii-chan and Yukito-san, but I didn't know--"

"It's okay, Sakura-chan."

She nodded, trying to just accept what he said. In the background a grandfather clock measured the seconds with a soft tick-tock and dust motes chased each other in the light streaming in from the window. Eriol waited for her to accept what he had said, sitting back and watching her expression as the worry and guilt slowly melted away. She finally smiled a bit and looked him in the eye again.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Now Eriol smiled in earnest. This was the point of the conversation he had been waiting for since she had arrived. He waited a moment while Nakuru brought in some tea and snacks, then began to fill Sakura in on the entire plan.

Touya walked back into his room from the shower, casually ruffling his friend's hair as he entered. He immediately froze, remembering himself. "I'm sorry," he said, ducking his head. "I forgot that--"

"It's okay Touya, I don't mind." Yue smiled, somehow presenting the smile in a different way than Yukito would, but it was a kinder smile than Touya expected from the moon guardian.

"You look like the weight of the world was taken from you," Touya said softly, searching Yue's now amber eyes. It was strange to see Yue's expressions on Yukito's face. Maybe that accounted for the difference.

"Do I?" The smile stayed in place, soft and caring and a little hopeful as he met Touya's eyes.

Touya noticed another difference. "Maybe it's because you haven't put the glasses back on. Don't you need them?"

"No," he said, breaking eye contact. "I never needed them really. It was a trick I used on Yukito to make him think he needed the glasses." A flash of guilt crossed his face.

"Why would you do that?"

"As different as this form is from my true for, there are still similarities I wanted to disguise. I wanted to soften the angular features of Yue, the Judgment Maker so that I would be more kind. I wanted to draw attention from the pale skin and the light hair. It worked for Superman...." He trailed off with a shrug, laughing slightly.

"I suppose it worked," Touya said carefully. He was careful not to mention that no one would have recognized him anyway. Yue must have his reasons for being that way.

Yue sighed. "Actually though, the real reason is because Clow wore glasses. He also smiled a lot and was very kind. I--there are many similarities shared between Yukito and our creator."

It was a fascinating insight into how Yue's mind worked. Touya smiled and filed the information away for later contemplation. He had other things on his mind now.

"How do you feel? Are you adjusting to this okay?"

"I think I'm adjusting well enough, but this situation is rather disconcerting. I don't know how this is working. I suspect that Yukito now sees the world the way I did, but I can't know for certain. If he can read the thoughts I think the strongest the way I could, I've been teaching him to use his magic, but I might be wrong. It worries me."

"It's a lot to deal with all at once," Touya said kindly, placing a hand on Yue's shoulder. "It will take time, I'm sure."

"It's also very strange to know that I'm the one who has no privacy now. I never thought about how strange it was to watch someone's every move and be at least passingly aware of their every thought until I realized I was the one being watched. There are things I think of that I don't want to share, and now I can't help it."

"Yuki is very kind, forgiving, and understanding. I'm sure it will be okay. That's why I love him after all. He's a good person."

Yue shook his head. "It's not him that I'm worried about," he said softly, soft enough that Touya wasn't sure he heard it.

"Yue?"

"It's nothing, Touya." The frown on his face betrayed the denial, but something told Touya that now was not the time to press the issue. Yue looked back up into Touya's eyes and smiled again. Everything was suddenly right with the world as far as Touya was concerned. If Yue could smile, everything was perfect. "It is a bit of a relief to be in this form though. I don't have to worry about the same things now. I don't have to constantly be on guard. I can relax."

Touya just chuckled and shook his head. "It sounds like a very stressful existence," he teased.

"It was," Yue replied impassively. "I plan on treating this like a vacation."

Touya raised an eyebrow inquiringly.

"Starting with this," Yue said softly, then pulled Touya down for a kiss. As their lips brushed against each other, Yue whispered, "I've been craving this since the last kiss we shared."

Touya put an end to anything else Yue would have whispered. Those lips moving like that against his own had tickled, so he increased the pressure. They lost control of the kiss, opening to each other with increasing passion and craving. Touya's heart felt cold though. This kiss terrified him. He was too aware of Yukito being a participant in this kiss as well, and he couldn't stop wondering how this would affect his best friend.

He wouldn't have to wait long to find out.