Author's Note: Merry Christmas! Sorry for leaving the ending so ambiguous, but I was kinda hoping it would generate more replies. It will all be resolved and explained now. Please, don't lynch me!

L-chan, if I can keep a clever author like you guessing, I feel fulfilled. I'm not doing this to pick on you, I swear, but your confusion is music to my eyes. Er. Yeah. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Kira, thank you for being my most loyal fan and reviewing everything but my original fics. Kurotenshi, please tell me if the end is just as good as the rest of it. The liar...well, I would say I won't name any names, but it would be obvious after reading this fic if you know him. I won't point fingers though. ~looks innocent~ Askani Blue...thank you for your patience and for listening to my mad rambles in IM. You may now open your Christmas present.

Merry Christmas to all, Happy New Year, and thank you all very much.

Silent Eyes

Epilogue

Midnight:

How many important conversations had they had on this roof over the years? Touya didn't try to count them. It had always been a comfortable spot to relax and enjoy the night sky in peace, and there was an unwritten rule that one or the other could come up there to sort their thoughts and whoever got up there first had freedom to break the silence only when they were ready. Touya wasn't sure he was quite ready when Yue suddenly appeared beside him. He just let the silence hang in the air for a while, staring at the distant full moon while trying to figure out what to do about the moon beside him.

He finally reached over and grabbed a fallen twig resting on the roof and threw it, releasing some of the tension that had sat squarely between his shoulders for the last few hours.

"The operation was a success, but the patient died."

"Excuse me?"

Touya shook his head. "Never mind, just a saying I heard a while ago."

Yue looked thoughtful at that, sitting carefully beside Touya. When Yue didn't say anything, didn't give any hint of his thoughts away by motion or expression, Touya turned back to gazing at the moon.

~~~~~@~~~~~

Earlier:

He approached cloaked in silence. He glided on the gentle midnight breeze along the path of a glowing moonbeam. The barest whisper of sound was all that escaped as he withdrew his wings and allowed the magic to take them away again. His feet didn't even touch the ground as he floated up to the young woman standing under a huge cherry tree. Her eyes glinted in the light of the full moon as she scanned the world around her for signs of the moon guardian that had just slipped behind her.

Sakura bit her lower lip and began to turn slowly. No sooner had she began to turn than she let out a yelp of surprise. "Yue, why do you always sneak up on me like that?"

"Déjà vu," he replied with a small smile. "Of course, this time I did it on purpose." The smile grew for a moment before concern shoved it aside. "You should be in bed, asleep."

She shook her head, weary but wide awake. "I woke up. I needed to know, I needed to check for myself."

~~~~~@~~~~~

On the roof:

"Did the patient die?" Touya's voice wavered, no longer under his control as his emotions battled within him.

"To-ya," Yue began, pain showing clearly in his eyes.

"No, that wasn't a fair question. Forget I asked it. Sorry."

"To-ya, I don't know if I could handle it if you look at me like I'm some sort of ghost."

"I know." He stared out into the night, watching as real ghosts wandered the landscape illuminated by a cool glow from the bright orb overhead. He didn't know what to think of his regained ability. It had been returned when Sakura cast her spell. "Will you be okay now? I mean, will everything--"

"I know what you mean. I'll be fine. I promise. I just want to make sure you will be."

~~~~~@~~~~~

Under the tree:

"It's going to take some adjusting. I feel so strange, and I don't know how to describe it."

Sakura nodded wisely. "Like an over-full feeling, but it somehow feels exactly right?"

Yue looked startled, then nodded. "Exactly. How did you know?"

"I feel the same way. That's what woke me up even though I'm still tired."

~~~~~@~~~~~

On the roof:

Touya just shrugged. "It's a lot to live with. So much happened, and now it's all over. I feel like life should get back to normal now, but how can it?"

The sigh Yue released spoke volumes, hinting at the experience he had. "That's part of life. Things go along in a routine, then something changes. We scramble to adjust and build a new routine, then something changes again. Over and over. That is normal."

Touya nodded, still frowning. A few more minutes passed, then the question burst forth finally. He had tried to keep it in since the spell, and it finally couldn't be contained. "What's it like?"

Touya wasn't quite expecting the smile that transformed Yue's face.

~~~~~@~~~~~

"Go back to bed, Sakura-chan. We can talk about everything in the morning."

"When I passed out I didn't know if I had succeeded. I had to see for myself. I could feel my strength had started returning when I woke up, and part of me knew, but I still needed to see you."

Yue moved closer, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It worked. You will live, and I am whole."

She suddenly had him in a bear hug, squeezing as tight as she could. "I was so worried about you, before I knew what was happening to me. And then, I stopped caring. About everything. I couldn't bring myself to care, and I didn't know why, and I thought I was such a horrible person. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything. If I had been stronger, if I had been able to see more than just a vague warning, if I had somehow known--"

"Sakura, it's not your fault. None of this is."

The tears wouldn't stop. "I've ruined everything. I'm the Card Mistress, I should have been able to do more, but I didn't. I failed everybody, especially you."

"No." He pulled her face up to look at him, gently wiping the tears from her eyes. "No one could have imagined something like this, no one could have expected it, especially someone as pure and sweet as you. Sometimes bad things happen, and you can beat yourself up over how obvious it was in retrospect, how easily you could have stopped it if only...but you'll only drive yourself insane if you can't let it go."

She sighed, thinking about it. "Maybe you're right."

"Clow told me that long ago. Even he couldn't fix everything all the time, and sometimes he made things worse when he tried to make them better. He finally had to accept that he couldn't fix everything. No one expects you to be perfect either."

"Thank you, Yue."

"One more thing. You did not fail me. You did not fail Yukito. He's not dead any more than I am. He's still here, as a part of me."

She wrapped him up in another hug. "I'm so glad."

Then Sakura went to bed, leaving Yue to go home. He wondered what he would find there. He wondered what Touya would think. He flew away into the night, unsurprised to find his love on the roof outside their home, lost in thought. He silently stood by Touya's side, waiting.

~~~~~@~~~~~

On the roof:

"It's not as strange as you might think. I still have a false form, though it's not autonomous. I feel complete. I'm still me, and that means both of me. I was so scared of this, but I'm happy. I haven't lost anything, I've just gained a world full of memories and a different perspective to see the world through."

Touya found himself smiling as well. "I didn't want to tell you how scared I was. You had enough to worry about. I wanted to be confident, but when things started happening tonight and I realized I hadn't been given the time to think it all out and spend every moment I could with both of you I was terrified that I had missed out on something special. I was terrified that my Yuki had been stolen from me forever."

"I'm still here, To-ya."

"I know."

"And I love you just as much as ever. Maybe more now. Not less. Never less. I love you with all my heart now, with no doubts, no disguises, and no divisions. Just me, just you, just us...."

That's when Touya knew it had to be true. Yue would never have talked like that before, would never have rambled and gotten so sappy. That was all Yuki, despite appearances.

And the best way...the only way...to get him to stop was to kiss him.

So he did.

~~~~~end~~~~~

...and that's all there is, and there isn't any more...