Dual Orbit

A/N: well, well. Here we are again after a holiday, no less than three computer crashes and a month of frenetic plot-making. This is the sequel to 'The Moon-Ruled', by the way, so those of you who haven't read it should probably do it now unless you want to be terminally confused by this fic. This story will deal with the Sakura Cards season of CCS and will be canon, as the prequel was, but I have included a few quirks of my own which will be fairly central to the plot. This story will also focus much more tightly on Yue and Yukito. It will be shorter – 25000 words or so – after all, I've only got about half the number of eps to work with.

This chapter is dedicated to the faithful reviewers of The Moon-Ruled: Althea SaDiablo, Didaskaleinophobia, Ethereal Night, Long-Live-Christopher, Musa Rox and YamiTenshi14. Thank you all for your support, and let me know if you're enjoying this!

All right, let us get this straight once and for all. I don't own Yue and Yukito, I don't own Touya, and since I don't own CLAMP I think I can hazard that I don't own the rest of the cast either. And much as I may wish to see the two of them snogging wildly, I know it won't happen except in my (fairly graphic) dreams. So there.

God, what a long author's note. Go read, let me not keep you.

Chapter one: Reflected light

I woke, and I was not alone.

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Wake up, Yue, Yukito said cheerily, and I shivered at the not-quite déjà vu of hearing the same words I had heard on being unsealed repeated by him. It seemed oddly appropriate now, as if today were a beginning, the same way being unsealed had been.

Yukito, I acknowledged, tugging my eyelids open. What's the matter?

Nothing at all, he said cheerfully, and I wondered how he could manage to be quite so happy in the morning when all I wanted to do was curl myself in comfortable darkness and sleep……oh, until the moon peeked out of the east again. It's the first day of school, you know.

Oh, so that was all. I'm going to sleep.

Don't be such a grouch, Yukito said with what I knew now was a smile in his mind-voice.

I'm not, I said honestly. I was truly tired. It was close to the new moon, and the influx of moon power was accordingly low. The meagre energy that my mistress was feeding me was not enough to sustain me, and I was feeling very sleepy these days. I'm just tired.

Oh. Yukito pondered that for a second. All right, then. He withdrew, leaving me alone. As alone as I ever was, anyway. I did the mental equivalent of rolling over and curling up, but sleep evaded me now. Instead, I found myself thinking of Yukito.

Our…relationship…had developed a little in the two months or so since the Final Judgment. Yukito was familiar with my presence now, as I was with his, and transforming went much more smoothly now without the added barrier of his resistance. We had discovered that the link between us could only be opened from Yukito's side; if he didn't want to communicate, I couldn't reach through to him. I couldn't communicate with him at all if I was in my true form. I hadn't spent much time in my true form, though. That used magic, and it tired me out quickly. I had sensed Yukito summoning up the courage to ask me why I was so exhausted, but he never did. It was just another thing that we never spoke of.

There were many of those.

Yukito had never told me what he saw during the Final Judgment. From minute slips of the tongue and the tones of his aura and mind-voice, I knew that he knew much more about my previous life than he would admit. He had told me that he remembered 'everything', but what that meant had not been specified. He tried to keep secrets from me, but if Yukito was devious and subtle, my own directness and perception were more than a match for him. I didn't pursue it too actively, because asking him how he knew would lead back, inevitably, to Clow, and from there to things I didn't want to know. Dangerous truths. I felt the truth of that like a blind man instinctively feeling an abyss before him.

He was dying to know what I had seen while within his mind, how much I knew of what had happened, and I couldn't tell him. Doing so would compromise too many things. For one, I hadn't told him about the reason why Clow had planted the attraction spell in me – in us. If I did, I would have to tell him why, and it wasn't attractive to tell my other self that I had sealed our death sentences (as I almost surely had) so that the Cards would live, and done it without his knowledge, much less his consent. He would have to know about my meeting with Touya, and the memory erase. He would have to know that Touya knew he wasn't human.

This last, I was more afraid of telling him than any other. Yukito had made Touya his lifeline, his anchor in a world suddenly aswirl with magic and magical creations. He didn't really mind the Cards, and he rather liked me as far as I could tell, but the thought that everything in his life was a lie hadn't gone down well. Touya, he felt, was the one unmagical thing that cared for him. I didn't know why that was important, but it was. And right now, he needed that anchor. Someday, when he was ready, I would tell him. After that, one of us would tell Touya.

At this point, I ran into a dead end. I knew I would have to face Touya eventually, but I was not looking forward to it. He saw entirely too much for me to be at ease around him, and there was always a veiled amusement in his dark eyes that made me feel like a child. The one time I had met him, he had taken control of the situation effortlessly. Though it could be said that I won that encounter, since I had wiped his memory, I myself was uncomfortably aware that he had somehow made me do too many things that I had not intended, and had found all the information he had needed and more.

I was even less comfortable with the other things that I felt for him. That day that I had spent in the dream I had cast during the Final Judgment had been shatteringly real. I knew intellectually that the dream had been an illusion created by the spell I had cast. Still, for a day I had known what it was to be loved by Kinomoto Touya. The dream had given me a full set of false memories to complement it, and it had been……unforgettable. But it was too soon. Touya didn't know me at all, he was too young, he was all wrong for me, Yukito loved him, and I loved –

Clow.

Clow Reed. Over the last six months, my feelings towards him had gone through the whole spectrum of emotions – from resigned grief, to bitter sorrow, to raging anger and betrayal, to…… a calmer sort of understanding. I still couldn't accept his reasons for what he did, couldn't agree that his death was necessary on any level. But I thought I was a little closer to accepting that he had made his own choices, and I couldn't blame him for that, although I was (and probably always will be) angry with him for leaving me in the bargain.

Clow had always inspired strong emotion in me. In the beginning it had been admiration, the devotion of a child and a creation; later, it had become the protectiveness of a Guardian, the respect of a student; then the affection of a friend; finally, love. I could look back on that with some serenity now, without either grief or anger clouding my emotions. It had been good. It had been very good. There had been laughter, and jokes, and fights with Keroberos on the rug, and long debates with Windy and Dream while Watery laughed at us from over the edge of one of her romance novels. Those twenty years were something precious to me. But I had accepted now that Clow was gone, and that he wouldn't be back. I had a new life now, and I had to get used to it. I wouldn't be able to hide from everyone forever even if I had done a good job of it so far. I certainly wouldn't be able to hide from her.

Kinomoto Sakura. Cardmistress, master of the Clow. My mistress, until her death or mine. I had fought so long and so hard against accepting her, and had been almost forced to in spite of my wishes. I had to admit that being her Guardian wasn't all that bad. I had had no occasion to meet her since the Final Judgment, but a faint trace of her was with me all the time, like the half-caught scent of a flower, and it was pleasant. Her magic was sustaining me – not very well, but still I was somewhat attuned to her, her moods and her presence. My orbit had shifted, I thought ruefully.

It had occurred to me several times that magic reflected the personality of the person it belonged to. Clow's magic had been thrumming with power, overwhelmingly strong, dark blue in colour and cool as my own magic. Of the Dark, and his magic reflected it, as did his nature – a certain secretiveness, quiet humour, wisdom and manipulation. Sakura's magic was of the Stars, and her aura was young and vibrant, a pale peach-pink in colour, warm and friendly, bright and innocent. How unlike my own silver-white aura, layered and dazzling but cold as the darkness of space it moved in. The Li boy's magic was like Keroberos', elemental, raw, powerful and attack-based, preferring the bold and direct approach rather than my own subtler manipulation of energy. And lastly there was Touya's, which, being inward-directed, was rather different from all of ours. It was strong, but curved away from vision, making it harder for other magic-users to detect it, as deep as his eyes; a shade of green-grey so dark it was almost black. Even the Li brat and Keroberos probably didn't suspect the amount of knowledge he had gathered about my mistress' activities. I would have tell her about that sometime, but Touya and Sakura were both insistent that the other remain ignorant and if they wanted it that way, it was fine by me.

Yukito was moving about now, locking up his house and stepping out into a familiar lane where the Kinomoto siblings would no doubt be waiting for him. I watched, wrenched away from my reverie by the thought of meeting them again.

Isn't it early for school?

I just want to get a bite to eat. This, despite the gigantic dinner he had eaten the previous night, and the early morning bowl of porridge he had made himself. I felt a stab of guilt. His good appetite was a sign of anything but. I was already starting to feel tired, but I had no idea that Yukito was experiencing the effects of my weakening as well. I hadn't noticed his increased hunger. I tended to block myself away from Yukito when he ate, because half the time the number of sweets he effortlessly ate could send anyone into diabetic shock.

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Yukito's steps quickened as he approached the school.

Touya was waiting for him, lurking in a corner of the hall. He had a hunted look on his face. 'Morning, Yuki,' he greeted. Just that, as if they hadn't spent a month apart while Touya was on holiday. Familiar, simple, easy.

'To-ya!' Yukito said excitedly. 'It's so nice to see you again, I'm glad to be back at school, how was your holiday, are we still in the same classes, what time is lunch, how are you?'

Touya's eyebrows climbed. 'Breathe, Yuki,' he said before looking around again. 'And in that order: good, yes, twelve-thirty, and awful.'

'What's the matter, To-ya?'

'There's this new student,' he said. 'A transfer from some other school. She's attached herself to me since before practice and I can't get her away from me.'

'She sounds nice,' Yukito said teasingly, with a wide smile that was pure rubbish. He – and I – were both quite used to the multitude of girls that were after Touya. There had been fewer of them since last year, after he'd told Yoko that he 'liked someone else'; the girl took his defense very seriously, and she and Touya were on fairly good terms now. Most of the school was just waiting for some hint of who the lucky girl was.

I myself had a good idea who Touya liked. If only Yukito weren't so amazingly clueless for someone who was normally very perceptive.

Touya almost shuddered. 'Are you kidding? She has a voice like a banshee and a grip like a sumo wrestler. She's a living nightmare.'

'TOOUUYAAAA!!!!' A girl with long brown hair ran up behind him and glomped him enthusiastically until he turned an interesting shade of blue. 'Where were you? I looked all over!'

'Get off me, Akizuki,' he growled, prying futilely at her arms.

'Na-ku-ru,' she said, as if she were instructing a slow child. Touya looked ready to throw up. Or strangle her. Maybe both. 'Call me Nakuru.'

'Akizuki,' he said, stressing the name, 'Go away.'

'Touuyaa, you're so mean,' she whined. Just then, the bell rang, and we had to go in.

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That wretched girl followed us around all day. She even tracked Touya down at football practice and cheered loudly and obnoxiously from the bleachers, putting him off his game. By the time we left the school grounds, Touya's nerves were shattered and Yukito's smile was growing more and more fixed. She ignored Yukito completely, focusing on Touya to the exclusion of, well, everything.

After school, Touya and Yukito were strolling down a street when they saw my mistress, the Li brat and Tomoyo eating ice-creams. Touya strolled up to them and stole Sakura's ice-cream bar, slurping it with great relish.

'Touya!' she complained, kicking at him. 'You're mean!'

He ignored her.

'To-ya,' Yukito reproved. 'Don't do that.'

'What, you want some too, Yuki?' Touya said lazily around a mouthful of ice-cream, dark eyes fixed on his face with deadly intent.

Oh dear. Was he flirting?

Until now, I hadn't quite understood how people in those ridiculous manga that Yukito read could have spontaneous nosebleeds, but this statement was an excellent indicator that it was, indeed, possible. I nearly had one myself, and he hadn't even directed the comment at me.

Not that Yukito, who had never quite grasped the concept of innuendo, even noticed. He simply shook his head and said, 'I'll buy you another one, okay, Sakura?'

Touya looked around nervously, his Banshee Radar tingling, as was mine. I could feel the girl's approach myself. Maybe she had traces of magic in her blood.

She glomped Touya again, gave Yukito a death glare, stole the ice-cream from Touya, nuzzled Sakura and swung from a lamppost while waving her ice-cream in the air – all in about forty seconds – before screeching her way away through the rain.

She reminded me of nothing more than Keroberos on a sugar-high.

Horrendous. One of him was bad enough. Two was pushing the laws of probability.

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That night, I attempted to broach the topic with Yukito. So, that girl today.

What about her?

What did you think of her?

A sigh. I'm tired, Yue. Do we really have to do this now?

Translation: don't ask. Not that I cared.

She has magic. Not much, but it's there.

I don't care. A pause. She's very pretty. So he was jealous.

I don't think Touya likes her much.

And how would you know? You being the master of social niceties and all. The more Touya pushes someone away, the more he likes them. Look at how he acts around Sakura.

Did he push you away? I asked, unable to help myself.

There was a long silence. No.

I'd say he likes you, though.

Not that way.

Are you sure?

Why are you doing this?

……I just want to know what you think.

I think I want to sleep. But if you want to stay up and talk, that's fine too. And that was the end of that.

I felt a familiar presence wink into the room, and then Mirror's spirit form appeared before me. She was fond of looking as she had when she was a child; she claimed I was a lot more 'cuddly' when she was smaller, and being a shapeshifter really helped. 'Yu!' she said happily before piling onto the bed beside Yukito and curling up.

'Do you really have to do that?' he complained, both to her and to me. Unlike me, Yukito was a little uncomfortable sharing his bed with a Card. Or two, or three, depending on how late the talking lasted. He had grown used to sleeping alone.

Mirror just giggled in delight. 'You're as cuddly as Yu!' she said, digging her nose into his neck. It was cold, and Yukito and I both yelped in surprise.

'Mirror,' Yukito said teasingly. 'You are not supposed to cuddle up to total strangers.'

'Not a stranger,' she said muzzily, falling asleep immediately.

'Oh, you're here already!' said Watery, flicking Mirror on her nose. 'Hey, Yukito. Yue.'

'Watery,' Yukito said with more enthusiasm. He had hit it off very well with her, which was unexpected. They were quite adept at teasing in sync now, and their favourite target was (unfortunately) me.

'Are any more of you turning up tonight?'

'I only came to fetch her. We'll have to leave now – Windy wants us all to be close to the mistress. Sakura's been facing some problems recently.'

'Problems?'

'Yeah.' Watery looked serious. 'There's been some weird stuff going on lately, Yue. You've sensed that rain that's been falling since today, right?'

I nodded. The rain that was pouring down steadily even now was nothing normal. It screamed of magic to everyone who could hear. 'What about it?'

'Well, Sakura and Keroberos went to check it out. They were attacked by something. It was manipulating water. Sakura tried to use magic, but the key wouldn't transform.'

'Is that so,' I said levelly, but I felt Yukito's alarm as my emotions spiked. 'I suppose I should meet Keroberos, then.'

'He wanted to talk to you sometime about this.' Watery hauled the sleeping Mirror out of Yukito's arms, and we both felt a momentary chill at the loss. 'Windy told us all to stay close to Sakura, so if you want to see us you'll have to come home. Well, seeya, then.'

For the nth time, I wondered what Watery's fascination with slang was all about.

After they left, I fell silent, screwing up the courage to touch another potentially explosive topic.

Yukito.

Hmm?

I've been thinking.

That's not good.

It's serious. I think you should tell my mistress that you know.

What do I know, Yue?

Don't play the innocent with me, I snapped. I can't keep secrets from her. It's unethical. You're forcing me to remain silent about something this important. I want a reason why, at least.

I don't want to complicate things.

That's not good enough.

Yue, please! The raw pleading shocked me. Yukito was never this open, always subtle, always understated. Please. I don't want her to know. As long as she thinks that I don't know I'm not human, she'll act normal around me. I need that right now. Please. It's not too much to ask.

You drive me mad, you really do, I grumbled.

Yukito laughed almost silently.

And what about Touya?

The laughter stopped. Nothing about him. He doesn't know. I'm not going to tell him.

What if he suspects? I was treading on dangerous ground here. I knew very well that Touya knew about me, and if I said too much Yukito would guess.

Interfering in this business would be a mistake. This was Touya's problem, and Yukito's. For two years, they'd walked the delicate line between friendship and more. If I intervened, I might throw one or the other off that line, and the consequences were unpredictable.

And besides, it didn't concern me at all. Not at all.

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'What's Sakura doing with that brat?' Touya said, glaring impressively at Syaoran.

You know, I think he hates him even more than you do.

Naturally, I smirked at Yukito. The brat's not after my sister, is he?

'To-ya, you have very good eyes,' Yukito complimented with an insincere gleam in his eyes.

The two children were beneath us, staring at the rain from under the awning of the school. I could guess their conversation. Touya looked away from them and at Yukito, turning serious suddenly.

'Yuki.'

'Hmm?' Yukito said, smiling a little.

Touya stepped a little closer. 'There's something I need to tell you.'

'What?' I was sure I was the only one there who could feel Yukito's heartbeat accelerate.

'You…I…'

There were two possible endings to that sentence. I watched intently, waiting to hear which one it was.

Then Fate intervened in the form of a disturbingly cheerful Akizuki. The girl clamped herself onto his back like a limpet on a rock and chattered away. The mood was broken.

As Touya walked away from us, buried under a huge stack of papers, Akizuki turned to Yukito. There was something disturbingly knowledgeable in her eyes. Something malicious. 'You don't even know, do you?' she said. Yukito didn't respond, unsure what she was getting at. So was I. 'Then I'll take him!' she chirped and left.

Huh? said Yukito.

Inelegantly put, but I had to agree with him.

A/N: it wasn't until I finished writing this chapter that I realised: Yue/Yuki are much, much more peripheral to the plot in season 3 than they are in the previous seasons. They have a real role in only eight episodes out of twenty (or so). Even Touya's sidelined in favour of focus on Eriol and the other kids. Season 3 focuses much more on the characters' relationships than on the Cards themselves; makes it both more interesting and more difficult to write.

And about Nakuru……was I in character? She really gets on my nerves, even if she is acting on orders, and with the whole jealousy thing in place I imagine she would irritate the hell out of Yue. And Yukito doesn't like her much either, I've noticed. But I can't help noticing that she's really smart and sneaky – kind of like Yukito, actually. Maybe it's just Yue's influence that makes Yuki not so, well, sugary.