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The Labyrinth	By : Capitalist Category: +. to F > Card Captor Sakura Views: 10493 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura, nor any of the characters from it, nor do I own Labyrinth. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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The white bird was alone in the sky. Every other living thing was still in the placid afternoon; no creature moved. The bird swooped and soared, weaving expertly through the leafy branches of the park before finally settling on one low hanging limb to preen its wings. One loose feather came off and drifted downward, lazily wafting back and forth before finally settling on the nose of the lanky teenager sprawled on the grass.

Without opening his eyes, Touya batted the annoyance away and shifted his position a little, trying to keep the sunlight on his face. It was the first warm flush of spring and he’d come here seeking the fresh air and peace that the children’s park promised. In his headphones, Metallica flared and he turned up the volume. Master of Puppets surely contained the most soulful guitar solo of any rock song ever, and was the perfect music for a carefree nap under the trees.

Eyes closed in bliss, he didn’t see the bird or the threatening clouds building overhead, slowly robbing the earth of sunlight, until the guitar solo was interrupted by high and discordant bells. He scowled and sat up, eyes automatically searching out the great clock tower in town, absentmindedly listening for the individual chimes. One, two, three…
Six o’clock! Abruptly he jumped to his feet, all his peace shattered. It was six already, and he was going to be furious.

Touya had long legs and could run fast and hard, but the clouds burst open with their contents before he was even halfway home. He was soaked in seconds, and spent the rest of the way trying to run as fast as he could and still protect his discman under his shirt. His shoes were squelching by the time he plodded up the porch steps of his house, and wearily he kicked them off before slamming the door shut behind him.

“Onii-chan is late! Onii-chan’s in trouble! Onii-chan is wet!” his sister sang from the living room, bouncing on the couch and grinning merrily.
“Shut it, kaijou,” Touya snapped, wringing the excess water out of his shirt and trying to see if the discman still worked. Sakura hated it when he called her that, and bit her lip.
“Onii-chan!”
But someone else had heard her singing too, and appeared in the doorway that moment with a frown. “Touya-kun,” he addressed in an altogether different tone. “Where have you been? You said you’d be back half an hour ago!”
“I lost track of time, okay? I’m here now, so don’t let me stop you from going.” Fujitaka pressed his lips together at Touya’s curt tone, and his eyes traveled to the soaked clothes and defunct discman.
“I told you it looked like rain, didn’t I? Maybe next time you won’t be in such a hurry to rush off.” Irritably Touya slammed the discman on the coffee table and stomped toward the stairs.
“Well, excuse me for wanting a break from baby sitting the little monster. I just wanted some time to myself.”
“Touya-kun,” he said again, his voice low-pitched in warning. “You know how much pressure I’m under at work about this conference, and how important it is for me. I don’t ask you for a lot -”
“I have to do everything in this house! I cook, I do the laundry, I watch Sakura… I’m practically a slave. You never let me out of this house.” Touya stood midway up the stairs, pointing accusingly down at his father, whose shoulders slumped tiredly.
“Touya-kun, that’s not true and you know it. I just have to be able to plan ahead, that’s all. I wouldn’t mind if you went out on dates on the weekend, I’d be happy if you did. You’re a seventeen year old boy, you should be going out.”
Touya rolled his eyes. “Unbelievable. I can never get it right, can I? Either I’m disappearing, or I’m a hermit.”
“I didn’t mean that, Touya-kun, I just meant -”
“Could we forget it, please?” Touya said in a strained tone. “I thought you had some big conference to go plan, if you can tear yourself away from criticizing me for a few minutes.”
Fujitaka closed his eyes briefly and gave up. “Right. I’ll be at the office then, you know where the number is. There’s some leftovers in the fridge for dinner, so eat whenever you’re hungry.” He turned away and shrugged into his coat, hanging by the front hall, and grabbed his briefcase. “Sakura, sweetie, I’ve got to go to work for a little while. Bedtime’s at eight thirty.”
“-kay!” she yipped from the couch. He pulled an umbrella out of the stand and left, closing and locking the door behind him. Predictably, Sakura lasted a full three seconds before skipping out of the living room and up the stairs after Touya. “Hey, Onii-chan, wanna play a game?”
“No.”
“Pleeease? I’m all done with my homework and I’m bo-ored.”
“Tough. I’m not done with my homework, and I want to get it done. You’re just going to have to take care of yourself for once.” Touya slammed his bedroom door shut in her face, stopping her short out in the hallway.
“But what about dinner?” she shouted through the door.
“Eat it now, if you want. I want to get this done first.” Touya knew his sister well enough to know that she was probably pouting on the other side, but even she knew when to back off and leave him alone. Sometimes.
Touya peeled off his soaked shirt and breathed a sigh of relief. Peace and quiet at last.

The quiet didn’t last long. Outside, the spring storm raged gleefully as it grew darker, occasionally illuminating the wet dusk with a flash of lightning, followed by a crack of thunder. In almost no time Sakura was at his door again, knocking plaintively.

“Onii-chan? Can you come out of your room now? Please?”
“I told you, I’m busy doing homework. Go away.”
“Please?” she whimpered. “It’s lightning and thundering out there, and the house is so dark and scary.”
Touya rapped his pencil irritably against his science homework. “It’s not scary, it’s just a storm. You’re ten years old for crying out loud, you’re too old to be scared by stuff like this, Sakura.”
“You’re mean,” she sniffled, and began to cry, quietly but loud enough for him to hear on the far side of the door. Touya managed to endure for maybe a minute before he heaved an exasperated sigh and got up to open the door. She was crumpled against it, hiding from the dark and scary monsters in her imagination, and fell over at his feet with a squeal.
“Stop being such a crybaby, it’s really annoying.”
“I am not a crybaby,” she whined, unconvincingly. “It’s just scary, that’s all.”
“Everything’s scary for you.” As if to punctuate his words, the thunder crashed outside, rattling the windows. She shrieked and covered her head with her arms. Touya blew his bangs out his eyes. “You are pathetic.”
“Will you fix me dinner?”
“It’s just leftovers. You know how to heat them up.”
“But it’s dark and scary downstairs, I don’t wanna go down there alone. Pleeease?”
“No.”
“Pleeease?”
The clock was ticking, and his lab report wasn’t getting done. Ten long years of experience had taught him that sometimes it was simply faster to do it and get it over with than argue about it. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the frame of his doorway.
“Fine.”
“Yay!”
It was how she got him to do everything, eventually. And that’s why he shuffled downstairs, Sakura clutching at his shirt like a monster was going to attack them between the staircase and the kitchen, and why he heated up a simple plate of noodles and poured her a drink. He had a taste, but Touya was a late eater and would fix a plate after he finished his homework.
She pestered him into staying in the kitchen while she ate, and got him to promise to stand guard outside the bathroom while she bathed, talking to him to make sure he was still there. Anxiously he watched the minute hand tick inexorably forward. She was dawdling over her food and bath as much as she could, but at long last it was eight-thirty.
“Bedtime,” he announced with relief, when she emerged from brushing her teeth. “Time to hit the sheets.”
Sakura’s green eyes went wide with terror and she shook her head rapidly. “No! Please? Can’t I just stay up a little longer? I could sit on your bed while you do homework and I’ll be really quiet I swear -”
“Sakura,” Touya said firmly. “You have never been quiet for more than five minutes in your entire lifetime. I want to get this lab report done so I can eat, and for that to happen you are going to bed. Come on.” She tried to duck out of reach, but wearily he gripped each shoulder firmly and half-bullied, half-carried her up the stairs and into her room, throwing her gently on the bed. “There. Now get to sleep, it’s almost nine.”
“Onii-chan, no,” she sobbed, and crawled to the edge of her bed to grab his shirt, curling her fingers into the material like she was going to drown without it. “Please? I’m scared! I don’t want to stay in my room all alone, it’s thundering out there! Please, please, please stay with me!”
“Can’t you do anything without me?” Touya snapped, his voice sharp with exasperation. She shrunk away from his harsh tone and lowered her eyes, but she still wouldn’t let go of his shirt.
“Can I have a story?” she asked in a very small voice.
“Will you go to sleep afterwards?”
“Yes! Yes, I promise.”
“Fine,” he muttered, just to get her to let go of his shirt. He motioned for her to get under the covers and she obeyed, pulling the blanket right up to her chin and watching him expectantly. “Once upon a time in a castle there lived a short princess. She was the littlest and disgustingly cute, so she always got whatever she wanted and cried whenever she didn’t get her way.”
Sakura frowned. “I don’t like this story.”
“I’m making it up as I go along, okay?” He scowled and fidgeted near the foot of her bed, anxious to get back to his homework. “Since the king was never around to take care of her, it always fell to the prince to watch her. And the prince never had any time to himself, never had any time to listen to music or study, because she was always around, always pestering him to take care of her. She was helpless and couldn’t do anything on her own. It drove the prince crazy.”
Sakura stuck her tongue out at Touya from her end of the bed. A wicked smile spread across his face.
“But the prince had his secrets, you know. Ever since he was little, he could always see things in the palace. Ghosts. Spirits. Mysterious things that normal people couldn’t see.” Sakura’s face lost its haughty expression in a second, gone as effectively as if he’d wiped it off with a cloth. She squeaked and pulled the blanket up to her nose, eyes big and round with fear. “There was a king from another world, with long white wings and eyes like diamonds. He was so cold and so powerful, he could take anything he wanted, whenever he pleased. No one in the palace knew about him or his mysterious kingdom. But the prince saw him, you know. When he was still a boy, at nights, he would wake up and see him watching over him.”
Touya crawled over the foot of her bed, assuming a menacing expression. Sakura’s skin was absolutely white now, her eyes big as teacups.
“B-but the prince can’t really see things,” she stammered hopefully. “Cuz the king said the prince just sees it in his head, and it’s not real, and that’s what the doctor said too. I remember.”
“That’s what the princess thought too. She didn’t think anyone would try to hurt her because she was so popular, but the prince was so tired of always taking care of her and just wanted to live his own life for once.” Touya’s voice was rising in pitch, the words tumbling out after one another, almost of their own accord. “And after one night, when he’d been caught in a storm and had to do his studies and still had to put the princess to bed, he lost all his patience and called out to the Angel King to take her -”
He stopped to take a breath and finally noticed how his little sister was shivering uncontrollably under the covers, her eyes welling up with fresh tears. “To take her favorite dress away,” he concluded. “And after that she never bothered the prince again. The end.”
Another round of thunder crashed outside and she burst into tears. “Onii-chan, is it real? Is there an Angel King that watches us when we sleep?” Touya rocked back to sit on the edge of her bed and stared at the rain-lashed window. The storm was really going crazy outside; he could see the trees tossing in the wind with every flash of lightning.
“The psychiatrist says that the things I saw were only figments of a hyperimagination. It was just elaborate hallucination.” It wasn’t exactly an answer and she continued to cry.
“That was a scary story! I don’t want to go to sleep now, Onii-chan, I don’t want to stay in this room alone. Can I sleep in your bed?”
“Of course not.” Touya shook off that queasiness that always asserted itself when he remembered his childhood visions, and stood up. “I told you, I’ve got homework to do. You’ll be fine in here, there’s nothing that’s going to hurt you.”
“But Onii-chan -”
“It was just a story, Sakura,” he said impatiently, and paused at the door threshold. “I’ll be right down the hall.”
“Please don’t turn out the light,” she begged. He flicked the switch, plunging the room into darkness.
“I mean it, Sakura. Go to sleep.”
She was still crying when he shut the door behind him, and he leaned his head back against the wood with a groan. All that time just to put her to bed, and he still had most of his lab report to do, plus he hadn’t eaten yet. And the next morning, his father wouldn’t even thank him. It was so unfair!
“I wish the Angel King really would take you away,” he said softly to the dark hallway. “Forever.”

He’d only taken one step away when, on the other side of the door, Sakura abruptly stopped crying. The silence should have been a welcome change, but it was so quick and sudden, as if her voice had been snatched away in the darkness.

Touya’s heart thumped a little more rapidly, and his skin prickled with unease. Outside the house the thunder still raged and the rain pounded against the walls, but the noise seemed distant and unreal beyond the eerie new silence.
“Sakura?” he tried, in a low voice but loud enough for her to hear if she was awake. Surely she couldn’t have fallen asleep that quickly, not with that petrified look in her eyes. There was no answer but he was sure he heard a soft thump in the room and took a step back to the door. Slowly, very slowly, he gripped the handle and turned it, pushing the door in just enough to see the blackness beyond. Some light filtered in from the window, but it was faint, not enough to see the bed very well. He flicked the switch up again but there was no response from the lights, and tried it a couple more times before giving up.
The power’s out, he told himself. That’s all, happens all the time in storms like these. I’ll have to go down to the basement and check the fuse box.
He told himself that but still he pushed open the door and entered the room. Her pink bedcovers were rumpled and it was so hard to see, but he felt the need to just check, just to make sure…
“Sakura?” he said again, a little louder, not caring if he woke her up all over again, just as long as she was all right. His heart was pounding hard when he leaned over to grasp the bedcovers.
Just pull them back, Touya. The scary thing always disappears when you open the closet door, it’s just Sakura sleeping and she’s fine and everything’s okay. Just pull back the covers.
White lightning lit up the room, brilliant as midday, and Touya ripped the blanket back.
There was no one there.
His heart jolted in his chest and he took a step back, then whirled around when he heard another soft thud.
“Sakura?” This time his voice sounded almost plaintive in the darkness. It was a small room, nowhere for her to hide even if she had reason to. Her closet door was wide open, with nothing in it but her hanging clothes. But even as he looked he thought he saw something small and furry scuttle across her dresser. He took a step back toward the bed and definitely saw something creep over her pillows.
Touya backed into the middle of the open floor, trying to see the whole room at once, listening to his shallow breathing become more and more panicky and all the while that rain was pounding at her windows, it was so loud it sounded like it was trying to get in and it was just so dark and where was Sakura?
The lightning flashed again, so pure and white that Touya flinched, his dilated pupils unprepared, and he went momentarily blind. A cold breeze smelling of rain whisked his bangs off his face – the hell? Sakura’s window had come open somehow. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision, and saw the lonely white feather drifting past his nose. It hovered for a moment and then wafted gently to the floor, unhurried.
He was here.

Mouth dry, Touya raised his eyes and saw him standing there, before the open window and watching him. The Angel King wore only robes of shimmering white, bright and pure as the moonlight, almost painful to the eyes. His vast wingspan nearly stretched across the room, his silver hair so long it brushed the floor. But Touya only saw the eyes, could not look away from the glittering feline eyes. Like brilliant gems of violet and crystal, they reflected and shone with a cold light, secure in their power. They were eyes that missed nothing, saw everything, saw every part of him. They were the eyes he remembered.

“You- you’re him,” Touya finally managed, and swallowed. “The king.”
“My name is Yue.” His voice was flat and emotionless, like cold water running over stones.
“Please,” Touya tried, his voice cracking. “Where’s my sister?”
Yue raised one thin silver eyebrow. “You know the answer to that, Toya. You offered her to me; I have taken her.” Something else small and dark scurried across his peripheral vision, and Touya’s stomach knotted up in fear. Surely this couldn’t be happening, surely it couldn’t be real… “It is very real,” Yue said smoothly. “You always knew it was real, you who have seen me before. You offered her, knowing. She belongs to me now.”
“I changed my mind,” Touya whispered. “I want to keep her, here.”
Yue shook his head minutely. “It’s too late for that, Toya, she’s already gone. You know you can’t break a promise. I’ve lifted the burden you asked me to, you’re free. Go back to your homework and music and forget this, live the carefree life that you dream about. You’ll never see her again.”
“But I want to see her again,” Touya pleaded, nerving himself to take a step closer. “I didn’t mean the words I said. I’ll do anything to get her back.”
There was a gleam of interest in Yue’s crystal eyes. “Anything?”
Some deep rooted instinct frantically blared a warning, but this might be his only chance at rescuing Sakura. “Yes,” he said carefully. “Anything. Tell me where she is.” Yue cocked his eyebrow again at the command, but stepped aside and pointed. The storm and tossing trees outside the window were gone, in their place stood a proud castle, its tallest tower reaching high into the placid twilight sky. Packed in densely around it was a maze of complicated stone walls and hedges, bending and twisting in a design that promised real challenge. It was literally a scene from another world, and Touya stared at it numbly.
“Your sister is there, in my castle. Waiting for me.”
Fear clutched his heart and Touya inhaled sharply. “What are you going to do with her?”
“She is mine. I will do whatever I wish.”
The fear smoldered into near panic and Touya clenched his fists, ignoring the glint of amusement in Yue’s eyes. “You’d better not touch her,” he snarled.
Yue smiled, a thin, cruel smile that chilled Touya’s blood, and something soft brushed against his arm. They stood so close that Yue’s vast wings arched to either side of him, feathers tickling him. He flinched at the unexpected touch but stood fast, his chin held high.
“I take what I please and always have, Toya. You will learn this.” There was something odd about the way the king pronounced his name, a barely noticeable clipping of the first vowel. That detached thought fled his mind as Yue’s wings folded around him, forcing him closer and enclosing the two of them in a separate world.
“She is mine, but if you want her so very much I will allow you to try and win her back. Solve my labyrinth and collect her from my castle, and she returns to you safely. Fail,” he continued, just a breath away, his words tickling Touya’s lips, “and you both belong to me.”
No! Touya’s heart pounded hard in his chest, every instinct screaming to refuse. But to abandon Sakura was unthinkable.
“Last chance to turn back,” Yue murmured.
“I won’t.”
“You agree to the terms?”
Don’t do this, Touya. “I do.”
Triumph flashed across those diamond eyes and Yue took a few measured steps back, his wings slipping away from around Touya, releasing him. Sakura’s bedroom and the house were completely gone now, the two of them stood on a grassy hillside overlooking the maze. A gentle breeze teased the feathers, whisking a couple loose. He extended an arm, palm up, to display a faint glowing sphere that gradually resolved into the image of a ticking clock.
“Thirteen hours, then. You have until then to rescue your sister, or you will be mine forever.”
He lingered just long enough to see the stricken look on Touya’s face and smile, before he swept his wings around him like a feathered cloak and disappeared.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters

Yeah, this is kind of a weird project. But stick with me, I promise original material is forthcoming. This is not a mindless movie plagiarism. It’s just the handiwork of a bored author who had writer’s block for her other stories and lay awake wondering one night what would happen if the CCS characters took over The Labyrinth.

Yue was quick to inform me that he does not dance, and no amount of money could ever persuade him to sing ‘magic pants’. But all that aside, I think it works. Give it a chance, I think you’ll like it.
For those of you, and I suspect you are many, that are here because you read Pleasure Slave, try to read this remembering that I actually wrote Labyrinth a year and a half before I ever started PS. I was quite startled to discover how totally hot the chemistry between Touya and Yue can be, and the eventual seeds for Pleasure Slave were sown.
So yes, you will see some themes and character development that seem very familiar, if not quite in the fully fleshed form that you know them. My apologies. Feel free to compare and contrast, but remember which story came first.
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The Labyrinth