"Gaki, stay with Sakura," Touya barked as he and Yukito broke for the tumbled wall, the royal guards hard at their heels and the archeologists following only slightly slower. Everything had gone frighteningly quiet, except for the soft sounds of settling rubble.

"Yuui, Kurogane," Yukito called as loudly as he could.

There was no answer at all, but Yukito realized that he could sense something odd.

"Magic, there is a source of magic, here," he called, pointing to an area of the collapsed wall.

"Yuui?" Touya questioned softly.

"I think so, I hope so. More to the point, I hope they're together," Yukito replied as they all started to quickly, but carefully; shift the rubble away from the area Yukito had pointed out.

Syaoran pulled a struggling, sobbing Sakura over to the shade of the palms, and made her sit down in the sand.

"We should help," she sobbed, trying to get up again.

"We should stay out of their way Sakura, they'll get to the boys," he told her.

"But…"

"Sakura, we will be in the way. Just stay here like your brother said, please," he insisted.

She gave in, and slumped against him, hiding her face in his shoulder as she cried.

Touya threw a rock aside to reveal a swirling wall of blue under it.

"Yukito, what the hell is this?" he asked.

"A barrier, it's a barrier spell. Move the rocks away from the barrier faster, I'm not sure how much longer a he can hold it, and if it goes, they'll be crushed," Yukito told the others.

"Can you reinforce it?" Touya asked.

"I wouldn't dare try, I don't know enough about Yuui-chan's magic yet, and I could end up simply forcing his barrier down before I could get my own up," Yukito told him, shaking his head.

There were enough of them working on it that it only took them another twenty minutes to clear enough of the rubble away from the swirling, shifting, opaque barrier that the occupants wouldn't be injured when the spell broke.

Yukito ran his hand over the surface to assess it, and a slight frown creased his brow as he tried to figure out how to bring it down without hurting the caster of the barrier spell.

"Try the obvious first," Touya said quietly, stroking his own hand across the barrier.

"Yuui-chan, let it go now Yuui, we're here now," Touya called out.

The barrier flared brighter, and then faded away to show a pale and trembling Yuui standing over Kurogane, his hands outstretched as he panted hard. Touya caught the boy as he collapsed, cradling him against his chest as he passed out, leaving Yukito to hurry over and check on Kurogane, who was still lying unmoving on the sand.

"It looks like he was clipped by a falling stone before Yuui got the barrier up, he's got a nasty lump on his head, but I don't think there are any fractures. We need to get both of them back to the palace, get them to the healers, as fast as we can," Yukito said.

"Here, you take this one," Touya said, gently transferring Yuui into Yukito's arms, and scooping up Kurogane carefully, the dark head coming to rest on his broad shoulder.

"Let's get moving," he called, striding for the wagon they had all come out to the dig on.

/x/

Kurogane knelt on the floor of the café, cradling the unconscious mage to his chest tightly. The blond had gone down with no warning at all some time previously, his always pale skin now almost ghostly, and a vague, frightening air of insubstantiality hung around him.

"Don't vanish on me Yuui, please don't vanish," he said intensely, holding him tighter, and rising with the slender form in his arms.

He carried him up the stairs, into the room that the two of them still shared, despite there being no-one else here in this dream world. Setting him down on the futon, Kurogane lay down beside him, holding him protectively in his arms, hoping to anchor him here. He didn't have a clue what was going on, but he was no more anxious to be left alone here than the mage was.

"Come on idiot, stay with me," he ordered the still figure, resting his chin on top of the blond head.

/x/

Kurogane moaned quietly as consciousness filtered back, leaving him with an unbelievable headache. He raised a hand toward his head, only to have his wrist caught by a gentle hand.

"You'll only make it hurt worse if you poke at it," a soft, soothing voice told him.

Forcing his unwilling eyes open, Kurogane looked up blankly at Sakura, who was sitting perched on the side of the bed where he lay.

"What happened?" he asked in confusion.

"Don't you remember? There was a ground quake, while we were visiting the dig. You got a bump on the head, but you're going to be fine," she assured him.

"I…I remember Yuui, I think…" he frowned, stopping when it made his head hurt worse.

"Did he…did he yell my name?" he asked in confusion.

"Yes, he did. You're very lucky he was with you, you know," she told him.

"What? He wasn't with me, he was on the other side of the space we were in," Kurogane told her.

"Not when onii-sama and the others got to you he wasn't, he was standing over you. He probably saved your life," she told him.

"I don't understand," he complained.

"The ground quake made the wall you were by collapse, Yuui-chan protected you with a barrier spell until they could get to the two of you," she told him.

"Yuui protected me?" he asked, surprised, and then he sat up sharply, his eyes wide as he ignored the spike of pain, and the nausea that the movement caused.

"Where is he, is he hurt?" he demanded.

"Settle down, he isn't hurt, but he used a lot of magic to keep the barrier up as long as he did. He's asleep, there," she told him, gesturing to another bed beside the one where he lay, gauzy white curtains protecting the occupant from the light of the sun while still allowing the faint, gentle breeze through.

Kurogane threw the sheet covering him back, and stumbled unsteadily over to the other bed, ducking around the curtain. Yuui was pale, and perfectly still aside from the soft rise and fall of his chest. Yukito sat on the edge of the bed, his own eyes closed as his palm rested lightly on the child's forehead. Having seen his mother at work often enough to know better to interrupt the priest, Kurogane contented himself with letting his eyes check over everywhere he could see on the younger boy, making sure there wasn't a mark on him.

Sakura stepped up beside him and put a hand on his shoulder, trying to guide him back to his own bed.

"Come on, you should get back in bed, you shouldn't be up yet," she told him.

Kurogane shook her hand off, sitting slowly on the foot of the bed so as not to bounce it around, and crossed his legs under him, watching quietly until Yukito opened his eyes and lifted his hand away from Yuui's forehead.

"Is he all right?" he demanded.

Yukito glanced over his shoulder at the red eyed boy, and nodded.

"He's drained his magic quite severely, he'll probably sleep for a couple of days, but he isn't harmed," he assured him, rising smoothly.

"You should get back in bed," he told him.

"But I…"

"Go on, you're supposed to be resting, he's not going anywhere, and as soon as the sun goes down a little more, the healers will move the curtains, so you'll be able to see him too."

Reluctantly, Kurogane allowed the two adults to chivvy him back to bed, and suffered Sakura tucking the sheet around him in silence.

"Behave for the healers, and you should be allowed to get up in the morning," Yukito told him.

"Wait…um…his kitten…" Kurogane said, blushing to admit concern over a walking fluff ball.

"Don't worry, we'll make sure Spirit-chan is all right," Sakura promised him as she and Yukito left the boys to the mercy of the healers.

/x/

Touya looked up as Yukito came into the throne room, smiling faintly as he pulled him down to sit on the cushions beside him.

"How are they?" he asked.

"Kurogane-kun woke up, he's worried about Yuui-chan, but he's fine. Yuui is drained, he'll sleep for a day or two, but he's going to be fine too," Yukito told him quietly.

"Then what's bothering you?"

"I might have known you'd pick that up," he snorted softly.

"So…" Touya prodded gently.

"The magic barrier that Yuui had up, it should have been beyond him, barrier magic is quite a complex spell, and…when I touched the barrier, it felt…"

"Felt what?"

"Adult, it felt like there was an adult consciousness controlling the magic."

"So what are you saying? That you think Fai somehow took control of Yuui, to stop him and Kurogane being crushed?" Touya asked.

"I don't know. I've checked Yuui over magically, and there is no sense of that adult consciousness now. Unless it happens again, I suppose we'll just have to wonder," Yukito sighed.

"As long as it hasn't hurt him, and it isn't a threat, I wouldn't worry too much about it. It will sort itself out," Touya said with certainty.

Their conversation was interrupted by the advisors arriving in the throne room, the four elderly men looking scandalized to see Yukito sitting with the king the way he was. Touya eyed them narrowly, and held Yukito in place when he tried to get up.

"You summoned us, your majesty?" the head advisor queried as the four of them bowed in front of him.

"Yes, I did. I feel it is time for me to bring a consort to the throne," he said, his grip tightening on Yukito fractionally as he tensed at the pleased look on the four wrinkled faces.

"Yes your majesty, would you have us arrange a ball, or did you already have a bride in mind?"

"There will be no ball, and my chosen consort is your high priest, Yukito," he told them with his usual bluntness.

The four looked stunned, and the head opened and closed his mouth silently, trying to force words out.

"But…your majesty…the succession…you need an heir," he finally stuttered.

"I will have an heir. Sakura-hime will seek permission to marry her damn archeologist within the year, whether I like him personally or not, I will grant that permission, because she loves the brat. Their firstborn child will be a son, and he will be my heir," Touya said flatly.

"All due respect, your majesty, but you cannot know for sure…"

"Touya-ou can know for sure, while the future is always fluid, always in motion, Sakura-hime and Syaoran-kun's future is set in stone, they are soul mates, and nothing will part them," Yukito interrupted firmly.

The four men looked at one another, and Touya realized that they were trying to silently muster further objections to him taking Yukito as his consort.

"This is not a subject for discussion; you were simply informed so that you could make all the necessary arrangements to make it happen. Yukito will be the royal consort," he told them in a tone that brooked no further argument.

"Yes, your majesty. Did you have a time frame in mind?"

"You can make the announcement to the people at the end of the week. You will then have the three months to arrange the ceremony and send out the invitations to the neighboring kingdoms."

"We will get to work at once then, you majesty. Is there anything further you require?"

"No, you may go," Touya said.

"Well, they took that well," Yukito said uncertainly, slumping against him once they were alone.

"They were just surprised, they'll get used to it," Touya told him, wrapping a reassuring arm around him.

Yukito settled his head on Touya's shoulder, content to rest against him for the time being.

/x/

Kurogane felt the mage stir against him, the other man finally feeling substantial in his arms again.

"Yuui?"

"What happened Kuro-puppy? I feel strange," he whispered.

"You keeled over. What do you mean, you feel strange?"

"I feel all floaty and weak."

"Do you have any idea why you collapsed?"

"No, but it was odd. Did anything happen here, while I was passed out?"

"No, why?"

"It felt like I was using my magic, but I have no idea what for. Maybe it was a dream," he sighed.

"Can you get sick in a dream world?" Kurogane asked, pressing one hand to the other man's forehead to make sure that he didn't have a fever.

"I hope we're not going to find out," Yuui told him, snuggling in closer as Kurogane didn't seem to be objecting to having him close.

"I thought you were going to disappear on me, you didn't feel real while you were unconscious. Don't do that to me again."

"I'll try not to," he promised, no hint of teasing in his tone.

"Good," Kurogane grunted.

/x/

"What happens if Fai-san wakes up without doing what you want him to do?" Watanuki asked as the mirror misted over again.

"He won't. That was an extreme circumstance, little Yuui will have no idea when he wakes up how he managed to save Kurogane, he has no idea he has an adult consciousness to call on," she said, leaning back in her chair.

"Don't you think it's a little unkind to mess about with them, after everything they've been through already?"

"I'm not messing with them Watanuki. When Fai…Yuui…is ready to wake up, he and Kurogane will be taken to where I need them to go, and then they will wake, no more no less. I am not keeping them in the dream world, and I am not manipulating the dream. Everything in there is up to them," she told the youth.

"What if they never wake up then?"

"They will, Kurogane is very close now, to giving Yuui what he needs. He will get up the courage sooner or later."

"I still think that Kurogane-san is going to kill you," Watanuki sighed, leaving the room.

"It isn't Kurogane I'm worried about," she muttered when she was alone, making the mirror switch to another location, and watching Touya-ou, reclining on his cushions with Yukito snuggled against him.

tbc