A/N: Greetings! This story has actually been brewing in the scary back-regions of my brain for several years, so it's about time that I actually get around to writing it down. I just figured that there weren't enough Touya/Yukito fics out there, and this is what spawned. Anyway, this is a primarily Touya/Yukito story, but many other characters and pairings will be making appearances. Also, we will be visiting many characters from a multitude of other CLAMP fandoms, and at least one distinctly not-CLAMP fandom if all goes as planned, so expect many unnecessary crossovers and such. XD Plus, when it says AU, it means like... reverse half life graph AU. It'll start off barely noticable, but then slowly grow and grow until it's more like "Oh dear LORD, what IS that thing?? DX"

Also, it'll be a long-ish one, so expect to hear from me hopefully about once a week for a while.

Nadir

n. Opposite to the zenith opposite + as-samt, zenith.

1. That point of the celestial sphere directly opposite to the zenith and directly below the observer.

2. The lowest point.

Kinomoto Touya was not particularly looking forward to the second half of his first year in high school. Of course, his classmates would undoubtedly argue that Kinomoto-kun never really looked forward to anything, so it would not be that surprising that he wasn't thrilled about the rest of the school year. That was naturally absurd because Touya was sure he looked forward to plenty of things; he looked forward to turning eighteen, when his father said he could get his own apartment, looked forward to watching Sakura find what she wanted to do with her life, looked forward to getting rid of that damned stuffed toy she insisted on keeping in her room. Just because he didn't become overly ecstatic about having to waste yet another four months of his life away when he could have been working didn't mean that he did not 'look forward' to things.

When his classmates muttered about him being too defensive in the face of his infallible logic, he usually just huffed at their ignorance and went off to do something more productive with his precious time.

He really wouldn't have expected them to understand, anyway. No one ever did.

And 'something more productive' was exactly what he was doing when his teacher so rudely barged in to start homeroom, nearly six minuets late, he might add. He was almost half-way through reading ahead for his English class (it was his weakest subject, and the 'good morning' speech from the Homeroom teacher was the same every morning), when the usual greeting differed.

"… Which is why it's a good thing none of them were heard from ever again." Talk about tacky. "Anyway, moving on to a lighter note, we're getting a new transfer student today!" his teacher said, glancing to the door. "You can come in now."

The door to the hallway slid open, and for a moment Touya was reduced to staring uncharacteristically dumbly at the boy before his teachers' words brought him back to reality.

"I would like to introduce you all to our new transfer student; he's from overseas and will be in our class for the rest of the year, so I suggest you make a good first impression," she said, turning her attention to the pleasantly smiling 'transfer student'. "Why don't you tell the rest of the class a little more about yourself?"

"Of course," the boy said, turning around to face the class the rest of the way, and Touya had to wonder if it was just the cheap lighting in the school that made the boy's hair silver. "My name is Tsukishiro Yukito," he said with a little smile, his amber golden eyes sparkling with the soft mirth of some private joke as he seemed to briefly scan over his new classmates. "I just moved to Japan from England to live with my grandparents, so please excuse me for any problems I have with words." His eyes finally came to rest of Touya, who unconsciously stiffened just a little under the soft scrutiny of the gaze, and the smile seemed to change slightly. "I am sure we will become very good friends."

In light of the subtle accent and the fact that he had just moved from an entirely different country, no one else ever bothered to question the fact that he had not been referring to the class as a whole.

Touya spent the rest of the morning trying to ignore the soft glow the sun made as it reflected off the new transfer students' moonlight silver hair (which seemed to turn a pure white in the sunlight, not that he was looking, mind you) and the near silent humming that seemed to be originating from the previously unoccupied seat to his right. Damn that teacher of his for having to notice it was the only free seat in the classroom and placing that boy next to him, damn it all. The thing that bothered him the most about the whole ordeal was that no one else (not even the person responsible for the 'disturbance') seemed to notice the sound. He should have been paying more attention to the teacher, granted (History had never been exactly his strongest subject, but he figured he could afford to fake a class once in a while), but most of his focus was spent on making it look as though he wasn't focusing on the newly filled seat to his right rather than the teacher.

Not to say he wasn't failing at it miserably, though.

His pitiful attempt at focus painfully deteriorating once more as his eyes drifted yet again to his right, Touya felt an odd emotion bubbling somewhere in the pit of his stomach as he was greeted by bright amber eyes staring back at him curiously from behind thick, round glasses. Their eyes locked, and Touya was sure he felt an odd energy rush through the air between them, heading straight up his spine, before Tsukishiro sent him a sweet, friendly smile, and though the energy vanished the feeling in his stomach intensified ten fold as he forced his gaze back to the window, wondering why his face felt hot.

Touya had a strict lunchtime ritual he had been following rather religiously since he had first developed it back in the sixth grade. As soon as classed let out, he would go into the cafeteria, pick up his lunch, go back outside with either his homework or a good book and settle down under the campus sakura tree. (Of course, this routine had gotten so much easier now that he was actually in high school and no longer had to sneak onto the high school campus to get to the sakura tree, but that had never stopped him before.) He didn't like people to sit with him, and the people who wouldn't leave when he told them to he ignored until they got the point and left on their own accord. He didn't have any problems with creating awkward silences, so this usually worked pretty well for him.

Yes, his lunches were a time he truly cherished, which is why he was so painfully flustered when his quiet lunchtime custom was so blatantly altered.

First off, he had been too busy attempting to ignore the presence beside him, so he had missed the bell signaling the end of class by almost ten minuets (he wasn't quite sure why the new 'boy' sat so quietly beside him the entire time he was spacing off, giving him that infuriatingly patient smile the entire time, and didn't leave even when Touya came to, so he had to shoo the other away down the hall with an irritated air when he finally did get up to go to get his lunch), so when Touya actually managed to make it to the cafeteria they were out of the lunch he usually got, and he had to settle for a backup meal that consisted mainly of things he deeply hated with all of his being. It was only when he got up to the front of the line to pay for his meal that he realized he had managed to leave all of his things in the classroom, including his wallet, and had to retreat to go get it. After successfully retrieving his things from his desk and returning back to the cafeteria only to find the line for food longer than he could ever recall seeing it before, he finally decided he wasn't all that hungry to begin with and just headed over to his spot under the sakura tree with a frustrated twitch developing under his eye. Then, after he had settled down quite comfortably, he realized that he had been too busy ignoring the world and all that encompasses it to get his homework assignment and he had finished his last book yesterday, which, as you may guess, did absolutely nothing to improve his steadily decreasing mood. Leaning back against the trunk of the tree with an irritated sigh as he crossed his arms over his chest, he unwittingly invited the largest disturbance to his lunch pattern just as if he had left the porch light on and not expected moths to come flocking.

Honestly, if he had known where this was all leading him he might have just stayed in bed.

"Kinomoto-kun? Have you finished eating your lunch already?"

Touya had to admit he was probably left gaping for the better half of two minuets. Tsukishiro was standing in front of him with a pleasant, if not somewhat absent, smile on his too-pale face and a large brown bag balanced awkwardly somewhere between his slightly uncoordinated arms and chin. How he had not noticed the boy before, Touya honestly didn't know, just as he didn't know why he shook his head no, mouth still agape in a classic case of blatant speechlessness. Tsukishiro looked two parts vaguely concerned and one-third slightly disapproving.

"It's not good to skip meals," he chided sweetly.

Touya knew he was being chastised, but couldn't bring himself to be miffed about it, so he just shook his head again, figuring the silent treatment would work it's magic within a minuet or two.

"I'm sure you don't have time to go through that line I saw in the cafeteria, though," the other boy blundered on obliviously, beginning to awkwardly attempt to rumage through the large bag he had somehow carried with him, ignoring both Touya's best befuddled expression and the laws of physics, finally managing to produce what appeared to be a manjuu bun triumphantly.

Touya suddenly had the horrifying impression the entire mountain of a sack was filled with food, and his face must have reflected his terror because Tsukishiro actually had the nerve to laugh at him.

"I have a much, much fast metabolism," he stumbled, reminding Touya once again how very foreign he was with a amiable laugh. "So I bring a lunch to school because it would cost very, very much to buy one here. Does Kinomoto-kun bring a lunch, too?"

Touya honestly couldn't explained why he was at such a loss of words (it had never happened before, after all), so he decided to turn the conversation smoothly away from himself.

"You talk weird," he pointed out tactfully. Maybe some people were never meant to be politicians after all.

"Ah," Tsukishiro commented brightly. "I think I like to talk, though, so I think later I will get better at it. I did not speak any Japanese a week ago at all, but they say I learn quickly." He apparently decided Touya did not like manjuu buns and popped open the wrapping himself with an absent-minded hum before turning his gaze back to the dark-haired boy thoughtfully. "Kinomoto-kun looked lonely by himself, so I thought I would keep him company here. Does he care if I stay?"

Somehow, Touya knew his answer would change something. Somehow, he knew how he responded would change his life drastically, though for better or worse he didn't know.

On one hand, he didn't want any friends, didn't need them, he was sure he didn't have much in common with Tsukishiro, and accepting his offer and letting him stay for lunch would open the floodgates concerning the girls in his class he was always attempting to beat back with sticks (sometimes all too painfully literally).

On the other hand, Tsukishiro was different, with his strange energy and warm eyes and weird way of talking, and Touya wasn't sure his abnormalities stopped with simply being 'different.' Maybe keeping him close by wouldn't be such a bad idea, even if it was just to keep an eye on him, he told himself sternly. And, he had to admit he was hungry, but did he really want to deal with everything accepting the boy's company would bring?

The silent pause in the air as he thought it all over stretched almost till it almost hurt to think about, till most anyone else probably would have grown awkward and left, and yet Tsukishiro didn't falter once, patiently waiting with an unchanging smile of encouragement the entire time. Maybe this was what finally helped Touya to a firm decision.

"No," he said finally.

Tsukishiro tilted his head to the side slightly, as if waiting for him to continue. Touya shook his head slightly in amazement.

"No," he said again, letting out a pained, long suffering sigh of surrender. "I guess I don't really mind."

His new classmates' smile widened visibly, his amber eyes taking on a gleeful glint as he settled down next to Touya at a respectful distance, rummaging through the giant sack he called a lunch. "I am glad. Does Kinomoto-kun like melon buns?" he tried again, offering one out.

"Yeah, sure."

Tsukishiro beamed at him as he took the proffered food, turning his attention back to the manjuu he had opened earlier with a blissful grin. "I have never had this before coming to this place, but I really like them," he explained matter-of-factly, as though this were a very serious subject that everyone needed an opinion on. "Which are Kinomoto-kun's favorite type?"

"Er, sweet bean buns, I guess," he said lamely, not really used to attempting to have to deal with this 'small talk' or 'friendly chatter' that most people seemed to find so entertaining. "I don't really trust the manjuu buns anymore," he concluded with a slight wrinkle of his nose.

"Any reason really?" Why did Tsukishiro so look concerned now? He didn't like that, he decided, and hurriedly stumbled on to explain.

"Nothing, just some weird experiences with crazy people, that's all."

"Oh," Tsukishiro commented, giving the manjuu in question one last questioning look before deeming it Good Enough and turning his attention back to eating with a happy sounding 'itadakimasu!' Touya turned his head to stare at him blankly, causing the boy to flush slightly. "Did I say something badly?" he asked finally.

"No," Touya responded impassively. "Not really."

"Then Kinomoto-kun is staring at something Kinomoto-kun finds strange?"

"You. You're really, really weird."

"Oh." Touya wasn't sure why he found the barely noticeable blush covering Tsukishiro's pale face so endearing, and couldn't entirely push down the twitching his fidgeting caused. "Is that bad for Kinomoto-kun?"

Touya considered this briefly. "I guess not. A lot of people think being original is a good thing," he said, carefully choosing his words much the same way one would choose their footing when traversing through a settlement of land mines.

"Is Kinomoto-kun one of those people?" Tsukishiro asked, looking much too hopeful.

"…" Touya really, really didn't want to answer that, but he couldn't bring himself to crush that overly optimistic expression. It reminded him too much of his sister. "… Iguessit'snotthatbad…" he ground out painfully after a moments' pause, slurring his words together in hope of making them sounds less… soft.

He really didn't know how the previously flustered blush managed to look so happy so suddenly without really changing color, but somehow Tsukishiro managed it. "Thank you very much for those words," he said, bowing over happily. "I knew I would like Kinomoto-kun very, very much."

Touya really didn't know what he was being thanked for, but he could tell it was sincere, so he just tried to focus on squashing down the slightly squishy feeling bubbling up in his stomach, but he wasn't quite sure he managed, so he just nodded.

"I guess you're welcome, then, Tsukishiro."

"Yukito."

"What?"

"My name," Tsukishiro said again, slowly and gently and smiling at him in the same way one would when trying to teach something to an especially slow puppy. " My name is Yukito. If you call me 'Tsukishiro' all the time I will feel much too old."

Touya frowned slightly but nodded anyway. He still felt a bit odd, but he was starting to understand the feeling wasn't completely bad at all. "I'll make you a deal then; you call me 'Touya' and I'll call you 'Yukito.' No more 'Kinomoto-kun,' okay?" That really, really hurt to say, but deep down he thought it was only fair. Equivalent exchange and whatnot.

Tsukishiro Yukito was beaming at him as if he had just announced he had solved world hunger. "That sounds like a very good deal to me, 'To-ya'."

"No, it's 'Touya'," he corrected, frowning slightly. Now Yukito's expression mirrored something if Touya would expect what most people would have thought if he had announced his best friend was a time-traveling flower pot.

"Is that not what I said? 'To-ya'."

"No, it's-" He paused, remembering just how foreign Tsukishiro was and sighed. "We'll work on it later. 'To-ya' is fine for now." Suddenly there was a later now? Oh god, this was worse than he thought.

World hunger must have been solved again, because Yukito was beaming at him once more before rummaging through the huge brown bag yet another time, surfacing with another roll he offered to Touya, despite the fact that he had not yet gotten even half-way through his first (Maybe it was some acceptance thing with this kid? But honestly, where had the first manjuu gone so quickly?), and they spent the rest of the lunch break eating in a companionable silence in the shade of the school sakura tree.

Maybe sometimes rituals need some re-thinking after all.

The rest of the school day went by fairly quickly compared to the snail's pace the morning had passed at. Tsukishiro Yukito turned out to be a fairly decent study partner, even by Touya's standards, though his kanji sometimes randomly transformed into odd-meaning symbols at inconvenient or even awkward moments. He decided they would work on that later, too.

Plus, he had been paying attention during the morning classes and was able to tell Touya about the homework he needed to do, and was also fluent enough in English to help Touya understand what he had missed.

The school day ended fairly normally, though soccer practice ran over a bit and he didn't start heading home until nearly five. Unhitching his bike and getting on with a quiet sigh, most of the thoughts occupying his head were already simply dealing with why he wasn't already the captain of the soccer team rather than what had taken place earlier in the day. It was obviously because he was only a first year, he concluded grimly, because he was (modestly) by far the best player on the team. Almost everyone, not just the soccer team, in the entire school knew it, and so did he. Stupid third years. Burrowing deeper into his brooding thoughts as he peddled down his home street, he really didn't know why he wasn't more surprised when he turned a corner and saw a rapidly-becoming-familiar figure wandering aimlessly at the corner across from him.

He briefly considered just leaving - Tsukishiro hadn't noticed him yet; he seemed to be a bit too preoccupied with staring at the street signs in open bafflement - but solemnly pushed his instincts aside and slid off his bike quietly, padding over to Yukito in much the same way a convicted criminal would approach his executioner.

"Is something wrong?" he asked once he finally rallied his courage, trying to ignore the surprised noise Tsukishiro made as he spun around.

"To-ya-kun?" he squeaked, adjusting his round glasses with an embarrassed air. "What is To-ya-kun doing here?"

"I live on this street," Touya deadpanned. Yukito's face lit up a bit.

"Really? Then could To-ya help find Henkou street? I think going to the store coming back from school made it go missing…"

"It's just a couple blocks over that way," Touya said, gesturing vaguely before frowning at Yukito's suddenly crestfallen expression.

"Ah, okay… thanks very much for To-ya-kun's help," Tsukishiro said, giving him a brief, deeply distracted bow before wandering absently in the exact opposite direction from where Touya had gestured.

Touya frowned, watching his new classmate meander down the road before pausing to stare up at the street sign in hopeless confusion, adjusting his glasses in vain, before continuing on to the next one, the whole time venturing further and further from the street he had been asking about. Finally accepting his fate with a sigh, Touya shifted his bag onto his other shoulder and began walking after Yukito, wondering why the expression on the other boy's face reminded him of his kid sister whenever someone in a movie died.

"Oi, Yukito," he called, watching the other boy spin around, stumbling slightly in his rush.

"Yes?" Yukito asked, barely managing not to look completely hopeful.

"Would you like to stop at my house first for something to eat, since it's right here?" Touya responded, barely managing at keeping his face from pulling into a complete grimace of horror at the idea.

Tsukishiro practically bounded back over to him, looking absolutely overjoyed at the idea, but somehow managed to restrain his enthusiasm enough to remain polite. "Is To-ya-kun sure? I do not want to be a trouble…"

Touya shook his head, not really sure if he was agreeing to Yukito's statement or disapproving of it. "It's fine," he said, leading them back to his own house and up the walkway. "Sakura'll probably be thrilled to meet you; her best friend if out of town right now."

"'Sakura' is the name of To-ya-kun's little sister?"

"Yeah."

Yukito smiled up at him sweetly. Touya took the opportunity to notice how much taller he was to the other boy. Almost a full head-and-a-half. Now he felt better about himself. "That is a very good name," the smaller boy said. "She must be a very good person."

Touya paused with his hand on the doorknob, considering Tsukishiro's judgment with a level stare before deeming it worthy of a nod of approval. "Yeah, she is," he said, opening the door and propping his bike against the wall outside with his foot at the same time. "I think she'll really like you, too."

Yukito hummed softly to himself as he followed Touya inside, leaning against the wall in a slightly awkward attempt at removing his shoes without falling over.

Touya grinned to himself as he quickly stepped out of his own shoes before turning his attention to the staircase across from the door. "Oi, Kaijuu, get down here for a minuet!"

There was a loud thud from the vicinity of his sister's room upstairs, followed by an earsplitting shriek of righteous indignation. "Sakura no kaijuu ja nai yo!"

"Could've fooled me," Touya sneered, scratching at his ear lightly, though he was sure she had heard him by the sound of her door slamming open and the noise of angry stomps heading towards the stairwell. He grinned, glancing back at Yukito to see that the boy looked more confused at his choice of words rather than being startled by his apparent rudeness to his sister.

"Onii-chan!" Sakura screamed, stomping down the stairs as fast as her eight-year-old legs could carry her in her rage. "Onii-chan! Sakura no kaijuu-"

She skidded clumsily to a halt, almost tripping over herself in her hurry to stop, staring at Yukito in open shock. Touya's grin widened even more as he casually shrugged his bag higher up on his shoulder. "See, that's what I've been trying to tell you," he said, stepping past her and into the main part of the house. "Glad you've finally started listening to me"

His enjoyment of the situation only increased as she turned a painfully vibrant red, letting out an embarrassed squeak of, "Hoooooeeeeeee…." Yukito smiled pleasantly, crouching down softly so he was at the same level as her.

"Hello," he grinned. "You must be Sakura-chan? I am Tsukishiro Yukito; I just transferred here to your brother's school today. It is very nice to meet you." Really now, no one should be able to bow while crouched that low and still look graceful, Touya reasoned.

Sakura, however, did not apparently think the same way, because her blush only deepened as her bright green eyes darted over to Touya in a questioning way before she awkwardly returned the bow with an embarrassed peep, stuttering something unintelligible that he assumed was supposed to be a greeting, trying and failing at hiding her burning face behind her peach-brown bangs in what she thought was a stealthy move.

Yukito seemed politely amused.

"Can I enter?" he asked, gently reminding her she was having her mini-meltdown in the doorway. If possible, Sakura's blush turned an even deeper shade of scarlet, and she stumbled back a few clumsy steps.

"O-o-o-of course!" she finally managed.

"Thank you," Yukito said, stepping around her carefully. "Please excuse me for intruding."

"Just get in here," Touya chided gently, heading towards the kitchen and dropping his bag in the living room on the way. "You still hungry?"

"Yes, a bit," came the pleasant answer from the doorway. Apparently Yukito felt like being tidy and was currently organizing the entire families' shoes according to color and size absently.

Sakura was attached to Touya's arm faster than he could keep track of, tugging at his shirt sleeve insistently to pull his head down to her level. "Ask Tsukishiro-san to stay for dinner," she whispered urgently. "Please, Onii-chan?"

He raised an eyebrow at her calmly, causing her to blush until her face could have easily been mistaken for an overly-ripe tomato, but she didn't waver in her pleading conviction. Finally deciding to be nice and not pick on her for once, he nodded, whispering back, "Fine, but you have to help Dad with the dishes, then," before standing straight and turning his attention back to where Tsukishiro had thankfully finished rearranging the shoes. "Yukito, you wanna eat here tonight?"

Yukito's face lit up brilliantly at the suggestion, but he still looked politely reserved. "Is To-ya-kun sure? I do not want to bother…"

Touya was sure he could feel the muscles about his eye twitching at an unhealthy rate. "If I wasn't sure, than I wouldn't have asked," he said firmly. "Now get in here while I call Dad to ask what he was going to make for dinner."

And so it was settled. A gushing Sakura lead a happily chattering Yukito into the living room while Touya headed into the kitchen to start to food. This didn't last too long, however, and soon all three of them had somehow gathered in the kitchen to work together (or not work, as it sometimes happened), and then suddenly Yukito was tugging absently at his sleeve in much the same way his sister did whenever she had a question she deemed urgent.

"To-ya-kun," he whispered gravely as Sakura was retrieving one of her prized cheerleading awards from upstairs for gloating purposes. "What is 'kaijuu'?"

Touya stared at him blankly for a moment before finally registering the question at roughly the same time Sakura was coming back down the stairs. "I'll… explain it to you later, okay?" he said finally.

And later, he actually did. And he honestly didn't mind too much when Yuki laughed and poked at him, either.

And so when Kinomoto Fujitaka-sensei arrived home from a particularly long day of work, he was surprised by the family-like warmth radiating from the scene. But maybe he was just surprised in general; it was, Kinomoto-sensei later mused, the first time Touya had ever brought home a friend. Maybe this was the beginning of a new social streak, and maybe his son had finally started making friends like any normal teenager his age?

But after being introduced to the politely smiling transfer student with the moonlight silver hair and golden eyes, something in Fujitaka's gut told him that no, this was a special occasion.

And, as it usually is with gut feelings, he was right.

All done for now! Ah, and btw, kudos to everyone who can guess where the summary quote came from. XD