DISCLAIMER: All CCS characters are the property of CLAMP. Characters, events, quotations from the manga, and quotations from the anime are all used without permission.

Author's note: This is was my first chapter fic, and this is a revision… . I made a mistake with the title the first time around, because I misremembered the archaic term "blackthorn winter" (a winter that lasts longer than it should) as "hawthorn". (The term "Indian summer" means a summer of extended length.)

-Indian Summer, Blackthorn Winter-

1 Indian Summer

As always, he woke slowly, leaving his dreams reluctantly. Dreams were a playland, where he could act without compunction or guilt; he could act without consequences. He left it reluctantly, even when he awoke to a warm companion in his bed, to the soft, deep bed itself, to being who he was, the foremost sorcerer in the world. For a moment upon waking, Clow Reed was aware of Yue's presence, and of Yue's hair on his pillow. Then a vision roiled over him like a sirocco and his awareness became --

Two beings, glowing lighter and lighter, at first like hearth flames, but silver and gold. Their light became thinner and less corporeal, like light underwater, refracted until it was… until they were… nothing… completely without substance… dispersed like a residue of ink when a calligrapher rinses his brush in a dish of water.

The vision overwhelmed him, and then the vision passed. Clow felt his weight on the mattress; he felt the heavy silk tangling his feet; he felt the needs of his body. The light of early morning flowed past the bed curtains, glowing on Yue's silver mantle and on the curves of his sleeping form. Clow let his eyes rest on the still image of his beloved; he listened to Yue's breathing and to his own, grasping to the reality around him, until needs became demands and his human nature forced him up. Quietly, not to disturb the angelic creature and wake his attention, Clow slipped out of the bed and lightly made his way to the washroom.

He filled the sink and took his time washing his hands in the basin, which reminded him of centuries of habit, before the modern world improved on pitcher-and-bowl. He soaked a cloth and held it to his face until he felt calmed, at least calmed enough to smile and not to frighten Yue. For a moment longer, the kanji of Yue's name and the calligraphy for Keroberos flared in the magician's mind. He suppressed his understanding, pushing the memory of his precognition out of his mind, and stepped back into his bedroom.

Clow thought Yue still slumbered, but as the sorcerer sat down upon the covers, the lips of his glorious creation plumped into a smile, and Yue's eyes slowly opened. A laugh, soft and breathy, escaped him as he stretched.

"Good morning."

"Good morning, Yue," said Clow.

"Will you make breakfast?" asked the pale beauty as he sat upright. His wings spread wide, whispering against the silk bedcovers. "I dreamed about brandied pears."

Clow reached out and caressed the feathers. The crisp whisper under his fingertips lent him comfort. "Let's see what Keroberos dreamed about."

"He will still be dreaming about it, Clow." Yue pushed errant platinum strands out of his face and rubbed his eyes. "He is still sleeping."

"So he is," chuckled the Master, after he opened his mind and found the third member of their household, on a chaise lounge downstairs. Clow's two grandest creations had, by their nature, a bond; they had a balanced sensitivity to each other. "Nevertheless, I think that his stomach will be waking him soon." The sorcerer, roaming his eyes over Yue's disheveled state, smiled broadly. "Come, you lazy creature, and help me dress," Clow teased.

With seriousness that was feigned, Yue shoved the man off of the bed, and laughed loudly when Clow pulled him after. Heavy bedcovers and a tome from the side table followed, almost to the lovers' peril.

"Of what were your dreams?" Yue asked, winding his fingers through Clow's long hair . He was tending the silky weight with a playful slowness, brushing and styling it in creative ways, though he knew that his Master would wear it simply, tied with a ribbon and carelessly slipped over a shoulder. It gave the magician the distracted look that was true to his nature.

"I dreamed," Clow hesitated only a moment before replying, "that I was swimming deep in the ocean, somewhere tropical, like Belize – do you remember how the water was? The sunlight was far and thin above me. All around me were marvelous sights: fishes big and small, long or flat, in an ocean garden." His eyes met his creation's eyes, reflected in the mirror before him. "There were eels, the color of your hair, swimming all around me."

"Apologies. I'll tie it back when I sleep, next time."

Clow turned in his chair. With gentle firmness, he caught the other's wrists with his hands.

"Yue, I'm definitely not going to wear ringlets."

"I know, Master." Yue released his unintrusive magic and let the curls relax into silky black folds. He sighed. "I wish that I could have dreamed that with you."

"You dislike swimming."

The winged man acquiesced with a nod. "But it would be a dream of swimming," Yue corrected. He exhaled with along sigh. "Maybe I could have kept you dreaming."

"What do you mean?" asked Clow.

Gathering Clow's hair simply – at last – with a wine-colored strip of weaving, Yue explained, "maybe that vision would not have disturbed you." His eyes, silvery-violet and serious, met Clow's in the mirror. "What did you See?"

As Yue spoke, the bedroom door crept open, allowing in the golden form of a young lion, winged like Yue. His sleep-cloudy eyes cleared as he heard his sibling's words. "Clow!" gruffed Keroberos. "Did you have a bad vision? What did you See?"

Their Master shrugged off the repeated question. "I don't yet understand it," he lied, smiling. "It may not be important." He rose from the chair and stretched as if relaxed. "Come, let's have breakfast," he urged.

The big cat did not need convincing. "Buckwheat pancakes! Buckwheat pancakes! BUCKWHEAT PANCAKES!" cried Keroberos.

Breakfast preparation took very little time, but Clow immersed himself in the details of poaching fruit and finding the perfect density of the pancake batter. He could hear Yue and Keroberos arguing amiably in the other room, Yue's velvety, even-toned voice provoking emphatic responses from his counterpart. Clow felt the vision skirting around the periphery of his eyes. He burned a griddle's worth of pancakes.

"I love you, Clow," said Keroberos, after stuffing himself with a final round of aromatic buckwheat discs. Contentedly, he lapped syrup from his impressive claws.

"I love you more, Master," stated Yue. Though he had said the same words before in sincerity, this time, they carried a sarcastic teasing.

"Not possible," countered the lion.

"Now," interrupted their Master before the old argument, playful though it was, could begin again, "you are only saying that because your bellies are full of pancakes and pears, and I've already cleaned up the dishes." But Yue had his hand, under the table, on Clow Reed's thigh, and Keroberos had his paw on Reed's hem. "I want to spend the afternoon in my study, but first, I think that we should take a walk." He slipped his hand briefly on top of Yue's before standing up.

The gardens surrounding the Reed mansion were immense, encompassing most of a hillside, and reaching to the outskirts of a small town beyond. A combination of its size and common protection spells protected the estate from unwanted visitors, and -- more importantly -- unwanted attention. Inside the gates, the magician used no more magic than was strictly necessary to keep up the gardens; where he did not prune and cultivate, weeds and wildflowers freely became meadows. Windfall apples were plentiful in the orchard. Clow collected an armful of the recent ones during the companions' amble through the trees, as well as ripe persimmons, pears, and figs. Although the time of year was officially past the equinox, the air was warm and the trees still bore dark green foliage.

The sorcerer Reed leaned against one of the bigger trees to watch Keroberos, who was alternating between loping across the deep grass and springing into the cloudless sky to display his aerobatic skill. The uneasiness of the morning would not entirely leave the magician. Here in his gardens, he could feel the currents of power flowing like underground streams, yet he was unable now to take anything from them. For more than a year he had known that he was failing; his magic renewed more and more slowly over time. If the currents of magic were like underground rivers, then he was like a spring going dry.

Until this morning, he had been able to put the thought of dying out of his mind. In visions he had seen that, one day, all of his creations – Keroberos, Yue, and the Clow Cards – would choose to be with another, a powerful sorceress who would kind, caring, and wise. In the time between, the Estate would sustain them. Yue could pass for human in the outside world, Keroberos was very adaptable, and the two of them, he knew, would look out for the Cards and each other.

"How could I have not realized…" he murmured to himself.

Yue, sitting at his feet with his head resting lightly against the sorcerer's leg, caught the soft musing. "What did you not realize, mauschen?" he asked, rising to his feet to whisper the question into the magician's ear. Lightly, with a languid contentment, the winged man rested his arms in a circle around Clow's waist.

The endearment caused the sorcerer to smile. "Little mouse, indeed, he thought with amusement. His breath caught as Yue's lips followed Yue's words. "…what a constant distraction you would be to me," answered Clow.

Yue dragged his lips and long fingers along the magician's neck. "I am as you made me," he murmured.

"Sometimes I wonder about that." He caught his lover's mouth with his own, and savored a kiss that was long, deep, and slow. Then Yue pulled tauntingly away from him.

"No hurry," he said, slyly smiling.

"No," Clow lied in agreement.

Clow removed his reading lenses and rubbed moisture back into his eyes. Despite reading in a well-lit study, he had developed an ache behind his eyes from the hours of roaming words. The creation of his companions had been an effort of months and mountains of filled pages. He was very sorry now that his handwriting was so sloppy; deciphering his own notations had been slow going. It had been fruitless, as well. He had not forgotten any of the details of their making.

Keroberos entered the study through the open door, carrying a covered basket in his powerful jaws. Clow remained unaware of him until the lion shoved the basket into Clow's lap. "Time to eat!" he announced.

Clow looked out the window into the darkness of night. The sun had set some time ago, yet it was late in October now, so dark fell at an early hour. He had no idea of the time. "Have I missed dinner?"

"And lunch, Clow. We decided that if we didn't bring food to you, you might skip tomorrow's breakfast, too." The winged lion eyed his Master accusingly. "I had to eat Yue's cooking," he grumped.

"Yue's still downstairs?"

"My Rock beat his Scissors. I get you all to myself. Oh, that Bundt is good – I had the rest of the ring. I don't know about that sandwich though. Yue put some kind of olive relish thing in it and it smells pretty bad." He shook a speck of tapanade off of his claw. "He has a funny idea about what you like."

"It's a good thing that I have you, Keroberos, to set him straight." The red pepper sandwich was delicious, perfect with the strong flavor of kalamata olive tapanade. Clow's stomach growled as it woke. Yue, who had no imperative to eat for sustenance, only cooked for Clow, delicate things with exotic flavors that took meticulous preparation. Although Clow himself was a superior cook, only Yue knew the uses for some of the spices in the Reed cupboards.

"You don't have to eat it just to make him happy. I can bury it out where that skunk cabbage grows."

Clow answered with a wink, "I think I'll survive it." He and Keroberos transferred themselves to the hearthside, and Clow lit a fire. Since he was surrendering reading for the rest of the evening, the magician dismissed the extra light in the room. Even that small magical gesture left him with a disquieting feeling of being pulled, or pulling, as when one's clothing snags on a twig. Illuminating the room was partially responsible for his fatigue. He sighed.

"Are you okay, Clow?" asked Keroberos.

"Today wasn't as successful as I had hoped," Clow admitted.

The lion stretched out on his back, pawing playfully at the shadows from the fire. "You'll get it tomorrow," he said with confidence.

"That is my hope," sighed Clow. He finished the meal prepared for him by one of his loved ones, and admired the effect of firelight on the other. The jewel in the lion's headpiece glowed less vividly than did the lion's eyes or the honey-gold flowing across the cat's powerful muscles. The being that Clow had made surpassed any lion on the veldt. Clow could not imagine this vital creature dying with him. "I was selfish, when I made you."

"You're a pretty selfish guy," replied Keroberos, kicking the magician gently with one foot, to soften the insult.