Warning: This story contains violence, angst, and various sexual situations, including homosexual sex or, as it is known in anime circles, yaoi. And, for those with more delicate sensibilities, I have to warn you it includes het situations too...sorry, Soku and Dave, but into all lives some het must fall, even if it's only in the moment of creation. I've tried to tone them down for you guys though. ~laughs~

Disclaimer: I do not own this story or the characters contained within. It's a work of fanfiction. I'm messing about in CLAMP's playground, but I'll put their toys back where I found them when I'm finished!

Author's Note: Yes, I said I'd wait to post this 'till after I had *finished* Silent Eyes, but due to a total lack of reviews on the last chapter I'm going back on my word. I don't like starving my public, and I'm almost finished with the first actual chapter of this already. Expect it in a few days. I'll be updating all my other fics soon too, but I'm a little slow right now. I caught a nasty cold. Very sorry, I'll write as fast as I can!

And now, on with the story....

Dark's Burning Light -- prologue

The Valley

"...for God is with thee..."

Her bright auburn hair teased by stray fingers of wind. I longed to plunge my own fingers into those depths again, pulling her closer to me and claiming her sweet lips with mine. She always smelled of almonds and cinnamon. I was powerless under her spell and enchanted by her warm brown eyes. I could never resist her, I never wanted to leave her side, and I would follow her anywhere she led. Almost anywhere.

"And yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..."

I remembered in vivid detail how it felt to hold her down and kiss away her hesitation and fears that first time. She had been so strong that I was unprepared for what an innocent flower she was. I had hurt her in my clumsy ignorance and as I kissed away her tears she simply held me close and told me that it was okay. You can only hurt the ones who love you, she said with her great wisdom. Pain is not the end of the world, it is something to grow from and work past, so if you don't hurry and help me get past this...her words haunted me. I then claimed her fully and tried...oh I tried...to bring her some pleasure despite the pain. Finally, finally, she let me know without words how I was succeeding and I let myself fall into the pleasure as well. Then she reached up to me, reached inside of me, and as her mind touched mine we became the pleasure we had created together. We were lost in the moment more surely than the world that exists around us at any other time. How I wished it could never end....

"...ashes to ashes, dust to dust..."

Someone was placing a shovel in my numb hands, breaking the illusion I had so willingly lost myself in. I can't do this. I'm only twenty. I can't bury my wife.

~~~~~@~~~~~

Somehow I went through the motions of doing what was expected of me. Somehow I went on living. She would have wanted me to survive. Well, she would have wanted me to live, but I hoped that wherever she was she was satisfied to see me survive instead. That was all the world would get from me.

Tabitha Mae Reed. I may be only twenty, but she was only seventeen.

Barely my bride for a year. One year of heaven.

How long would I survive this hell?

That is when I returned to my parents, finally returned with a new determination and demanded, "Teach me all you know."

My mother gave me a sad sort of smile before embracing me in her gentle arms. "Does this mean you've decided who you want to learn from?"

I nodded curtly. "Yes. From both of you. I want to know everything there is about magic, and I don't want to miss a thing no matter where the knowledge comes from." If I skipped something, oriental or occidental, it would surely have the key I so desired. The key that would unlock the doors of death.

"Clow, you won't find what you want this way, but you might find what you need."

I pierced my father with an intense and determined gaze. "Trust me, the two are not mutually exclusive."

"It will be hard and it will take all your concentration."

"Good."