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Pleasure Slave	By : Capitalist Category: +. to F > Card Captor Sakura Views: 84321 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 35
- 36
- 37
Chapter 36
‘harbinger’

Sakura spotted it when he was leaning forward over his plate the next night.
“Ooh, Onii-chan, what a pretty necklace! Is it real silver? Can I see?” Without waiting for an answer she threw herself half into his lap and tugged the thing forward. Reflexively he flinched and swallowed. “Wow… not even Tomoyo has something as beautiful as this. Where did it come from?”
“Yue gave it to me.”
“Ooh,” Sakura repeated, eyes getting all shimmery. “How romantic!”
“It’s not.” Touya twisted away, shoveling her none-too-gently back onto the couch cushions. “Don’t even say that word, it’s nothing like that.”
“If a man gave jewelry to me, I’d think it was romantic.”
“Well it’s different for me and Yue. This is…” Idly he played with the links between fingertips. “A power play.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind.”
“Well, I’m still jealous. I wish Master Yue gave me pretty things too.”
“Sakura, I would happily give this to you if I could.”
“You mean you don’t want it?”
“NO.”
“Then why not just take it off?”
The crucial question. Again his fingers curled around the chain, holding it away from his neck. He’d asked himself that question a hundred times already, but still he had no answer. What he wanted most was to hurl the thing off a balcony and never see it again, but he could only imagine what Yue’s reaction would be to such an act. He could take it off and put it on again before Yue returned in the evening, except then he’d have to keep putting it back on. Just standing there compliantly while Yue put it on him was bad enough.
“I… have to wear it.”
“Why?”
The world will know you are mine… “Because,” Touya answered stiffly, “taking it off wouldn’t change anything.”

Jewelry, as it turned out, was on the mind of more than just Touya in this castle. Li was raking fresh hay into the stalls when his ‘darling’ cousin came trotting through the doorway, and they traded haughty looks.
“Meilin.”
“Syaoran.”
“Back so soon?”
“Sakura didn’t get a lesson last time I visited. Something tells me today she’ll be more in the mood.” She smirked and slid off her saddle. “You’ve healed.”
“So have you.”
“I didn’t exactly mean physically.” Three long strides forward and she tossed him something; he caught the tiny black velvet pouch out of sheer reflex. “Here. Call it a celebration, or my way of making up, or whatever.”
Well, it was too small to be anything dangerous. Eyes still a little narrowed, Li braced the rake against the stall and tipped the pouch over onto his palm. Out fell a ring.
“What is this?”
“An engagement ring, stupid. Tomoyo told me all about how you proposed to Sakura. Amazingly romantic story, considering it’s you.”
“Is there anything that goes on between me and Sakura that the two of you don’t know about?”
Meilin mulled that over, finger tapping against chin. “No… don’t think so. No, I’m sure we’ve managed to keep the two of you pretty well supervised.” Exasperated, Li rolled his eyes and huffed; Meilin beamed. “Lucky for you that one of my biggest fans is a jeweler. He gave me a very reasonable discount. Suits her, don’t you think?”
It did, in a way that heartrendingly obvious even to Li. A simple silver band wrapped itself artfully around the stone, an iridescent white opal that glittered even in this dim stable. A real ring, the kind someone of the Lis ought to be giving, would be gold and diamonds. Sakura, however, grew up in the country and loved flowers more than gems – she had no use for an elaborately cut diamond on her finger. This was just right.
“Beautiful,” he grunted. “How much?”
“It’s a gift, idiot.”
“Meilin, I can’t -”
“Yes you can, and I’m not giving you any choice in the matter. It’s my contribution to the fund. You need to save every cent if you’re going to buy Sakura before you both die of old age.”
She was just so impossibly stubborn, no matter what the argument. Chin propped in her hand as she leaned against the stall barrier, still a hint of a smirk lurking around her lips but eyes deadly serious, Li looked at her and knew he’d never win this one. With a sigh he closed his fist around the ring and wondered how steep that discount was or, for that matter, how she’d earned it.
“You know you didn’t have to.”
“Given your taste, I think we all know I did.” Her voice dropped a notch, becoming serious as it only rarely did. “Besides, it is the least I could do for my dear cousin, and old training partner. You don’t deserve anything less than the best.”
“Neither do you.”
He crossed the short distance between them and pulled her close in a one-armed hug, and kissed her on the cheek. “Go on, go teach your student. I’ll take care of your horse.”
“I knew you’d say that – why do you think I didn’t bother to unsaddle her?”
“Go on, I said.”
“Right-o. And don’t forget to make sure I’ll have a room for tonight!” All breezy grins again, Meilin waved and skipped out. Leaving him alone in a grimy stable full of sweaty horses, with one very incongruous engagement ring in his hand. What should he do with it?
He wanted to show it to Sakura, just because he knew how her face would light up, but she would not be able to wear it and that would make her sad. Hiding it in his room was risky; the women cleaned all of their rooms regularly and were not above snooping. In the end he untied the cord that carried his other valuable possession, his sword amulet, and strung the ring onto it. No one would see it beneath his shirt. And here he would keep it, until the day Sakura was free and he could show the world that they were together.

Limp and exhausted after a full day of dancing lessons with Meilin, Sakura was plodding along in Ralen’s shadow on the way back from her bath when they met someone unexpected in the corridor.
“Onii-chan? What are you doing down here?”
She could swear he’d just come from the throne room, and for some reason he was buttoning up his shirt.
“Uh, hi Sakura! Enjoy your time with your guest?”
“I’ve been with my dance teacher in the ballroom, practicing,” Sakura answered, confused. “Why are you here?”
“Came to meet you, of course. We can go to dinner together.”
“But it’s not time yet -”
“So we’ll go for a walk first. Come on.” He draped his arm around her shoulders and steered her away.
“Hey!” Ralen objected, then shut up when Yue appeared – also coming just out of the throne room. “My lord!”
Sakura dropped into a hasty curtsy, to which Yue gravely nodded.
“Ralen, have the servants change the sheets in her cage before she returns from dinner. She is free to do as she likes until then.”
Ralen stared at Yue until Sakura thought his eyes were going to fall right out of his head, which Yue did not seem to notice. He only turned and left, and then Touya was herding her up the nearest staircase, but not before Ralen muttered something that made Sakura frown with confusion.
“Onii-chan, what does it mean that you and Master Yue are ‘going at it like rabbits’?”
“It means… we like to eat carrots together.”
“Really?”
“Sure.”
“Is that what you were doing in the throne room?”
“More or less.”
“But why there?”
“Because Yue wanted to show me something.”
“Oh, what?”
“Mm, nothing you need to see.”
“Onii-chan.”
“Done talking about this. Why don’t I practice a little piano and you can show me what you learned today?”
“Oh – okay!”
And even though Sakura was fairly certain she was missing something here, she shrugged it off and skipped with delighted anticipation. It couldn’t be anything bad, after all – Onii-chan looked happy enough!

The sunshine on the clearing was warm and gentle, but Yue was shivering under the touch of cool metal. Touya had dipped just low enough to let the chain trail over his bare chest, and he crawled up Yue’s body with agonizing slowness.
“It was good today, wasn’t it?” he murmured into his neck, “fucking inside your cage like the animals we are. You were so hot and excited, weren’t you?”
Yue closed his eyes, tipping his chin up a little more when he could feel the silver dangling onto his neck.
“You liked it too. You moaned and begged me to go harder.”
“Won’t deny that. But pleasures of the flesh is what you’re best at, we both know it. Clow taught you well. Didn’t the two of you have some naughty sex in that cage too?”
“So what if we did?”
“And you have me read to you at nights, and play his piano, and now you insist I wear his things. Really, Yue, why don’t you just dress me in his robe and call me Master? Perhaps in bed I should play Clow’s dominant role.” He glided a suggestive hand between Yue’s legs, and reflexively Yue shoved him off.
“Stop it,” he snarled, and pushed himself to sit upright. “You are not him. I do not wish you to be him.”
He was not disturbed by Yue’s flash of assertion. Lazily Touya propped himself up by one arm and traced a finger over the silver links around his neck. “Why did you put me in this, then? To make me Clow, or to make me yours? I wonder if even you know. Which one of us holds a bigger piece of your heart?”
“I love only Clow,” Yue swore, to which Touya shrugged.
“Then that makes you what? Slave to a mere animal?” He rolled away from Yue, settling himself comfortably amongst the tree roots. “It happened right here, didn’t it?”
Yue’s throat went dry. “I do not know what you mean.”
“Oh I think you do. Why did you think we were here, in this clearing? Coincidence?”
“Slave, you will get away from -”
A cold and foul wind swept the clearing, the trees shuddering in its wake. Yue froze, and felt his fists tighten.
“They’re here.”

Yue’s eyes snapped open and he rolled out of bed, his clothing called to him by mental will as adrenaline flowed through his bloodstream. Two strides from his bed, however, and he was stopped short by an unexpectedly painful tug at his head.
“Did you really think I would just let you sneak out?”
Touya was wide awake when he whipped around, the ends of his long silver hair tangled in Touya’s grip.
“Slave, let go now! How dare you?”
“You can’t keep flying off without explanation, Yue, it’s not fair.”
“I told you before that life isn’t meant to be fair. Let go at once.”
“We’ve already been through so much,” Touya pressed, getting up onto his knees. “Why can’t you just tell me this too?”
“Slave, I don’t have time to argue!”
He could not hide the urgency in his voice. Touya faced him directly now, and helplessly he watched understanding filter into his eyes.
“Oh my god… you’re scared. You’re fighting something, aren’t you? What is it?”
“Obviously, I’m fighting with you.” Impatiently Yue squeezed Touya’s wrist, exerting his inhuman strength just hard enough to make sure he would not break any bones. Touya had no choice but to open his hand and release him. “I will punish you for this insolence when I return. Now go back to sleep, and that’s an order.”
He whisked toward the balcony, his wings already sprouting before he was all the way outside. He did not need to look to know that his ever-disobedient slave had followed him, but once Yue tumbled off the edge the flapping of his wings obscured whatever it was that Touya shouted at him.

Li was just returning to his quarters after morning watch when Jen appeared in the doorway, looking uncomfortable.
“Hey, cap?”
“Yeah?”
“There’s a… small problem with the slave.”
“What?” Li tensed. “What’s happened to her?”
“Huh? Oh, not her, the other one.”
“What’s the problem?”
Jen scratched his scruffy haystack of hair. “It’s not easy to explain. You should probably come and see.”
Li hadn’t been in the same room with Kinomoto since that moment their hands touched, with such undesirable results, but he could hardly refuse to go. Warily Li followed and, much to his surprise, Jen did not lead him up the stairs into the main part of the castle. Instead he took him outside, into courtyard behind the kitchen where a good deal of menial labor was performed by the servants. Men took their turns chopping wood for the ovens, but today they were all standing and staring while Kinomoto hacked away at the logs, his axe biting deep into the wood with every swing.
“What the hell?”
“Right, cap. That’s what we said. And he’s… sort of growled at anyone that comes close, so we thought maybe you could talk to him.”
The glory of leadership. Li did his best not to make a face and approached Kinomoto from the side, albeit cautiously. He was muttering to himself, too indistinctly for Li to make out the words. Thank goodness for small favors.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m chopping wood. I thought even a toddler knew what that looked like.”
Li bit back a snarl. “Slaves are not supposed to be doing any chores.” No reply, except another thunk of the axe. “You’re not even supposed to be out here.” Still no answer. Li huffed in exasperation.
“You know I don’t want to, but should I call Yue down here?”
“He’s not here.”
“What?” Kinomoto’s voice was so low and dark with menace that Li could barely hear him.
“He’s not here,” he repeated. “He’s gone, again. Left without explanation, again. All I want is a hint, at least, which you would think is reasonable but no. I get nothing but punished for asking questions. And he just expects me to sit there in his room while he’s gone? Do I look like a pet to you?”
Kinomoto paused in his frantic railsplitting to glower at Li, who wisely did not answer. The slave curled his fingers around a silver chain that Li hadn’t noticed and tensed, as if he wanted to yank it off in disgust. After a moment of indecision, he dropped his hand and went back to chopping.
“Yue doesn’t tell me where he goes either. He doesn’t tell anyone.”
“He doesn’t dish out jewelry to anyone else either. I’m wearing the goddamn collar and I’m sleeping in his goddamn bed and I deserve to know!”
“And I would really like it if you would stop talking and just give me the axe now.”
“No! I’m not done!”
His muscles flexed and he brought the blade down on another log, cleaving it perfectly down the middle with one sure stroke. The peasant was good at this chore… maybe Li should just let him finish this stack. Then he noticed he wasn’t even wearing shoes, stupidity if he ever saw it. If Yue came back to a slave minus one foot, Li would catch hell for it.
“Give me the axe, Kinomoto.”
“Like I’m going to follow your orders, when I don’t even follow his?” Kinomoto spared him a particularly withering glare. “Especially since it’s you, you and your damn blood.”
“Huh?”
“You don’t even know, do you? Well I’m not going to tell. Why should I be the only one explaining anything?”
Another vicious stroke bisected a log, and Li gave up trying to be reasonable. Just when Touya had paused, the axe immobile in his hands, Li grabbed at the handle.
“Give it to me.”
“No!”
“Give it!”
“No!”
“Onii-chan?”
Both their heads whipped around and they found Sakura, standing at the edge with all the rest of their audience, the only one who looked perplexed instead of entertained. Ralen was actually grinning.
“Sakura,” both of them chorused, and Kinomoto’s head snapped back around to glare suspiciously at Li. Hastily Li looked away.
“Onii-chan, what are you doing out here?”
“Chopping wood,” he answered nonchalantly, as if it were something he did every day here. “What are you doing out here?”
“It’s… time for my morning walk. Um, the captain is usually responsible for me when I go out.”
“Really?” Kinomoto cocked his head slightly and narrowed his gaze, and it was a struggle for Li not to swallow. “Well, not today.”
He buried the axe half into the stump used as a chopping base, and grabbed the shirt left lying on a woodpile. “I’ll take you on your walk.”
Son of a –
Li’s mouth fell open, but he couldn’t protest – too risky. Ralen did it for him.
“Slave, that isn’t -”
“Allowed. Add it all up, then, and tell Yue when he comes back. As for right now, I’ll be in the gardens with my sister.”
Li couldn’t see his face, since he was walking away, but going by the expression on Ralen’s it was plenty intimidating. He backed away from Sakura and Kinomoto draped an arm around her, then shot a dark look in the crowd’s general direction.
“Get back to work!”
Everyone scattered. Sakura peeked over her shoulder at him and shrugged helplessly, and all Li could do was fume. Yue had better return soon.
“Um, cap? What are you doing?”
“What’s it look like I’m doing?” Li yanked the axe out of the stump and brought it down, almost violently, on a hapless chunk of log. “I’m chopping wood.”

“Poor Onii-chan.” Dripping with sympathy, Sakura fixed him with a pitying smile before she turned her attention back to the flowerbeds. “No wonder you’re in such a grouchy mood. You’re sad because you miss Master Yue.”
“I am not sad, nor do I miss anyone. I’m mad that he won’t tell me where he goes.”
“If you don’t miss him, then why are you mad?”
“Because he should tell me what he’s doing, and not hide it.”
“Why?”
“Because I have a right to know. We – we’re…”
“In a relationship?”
“Not that.” Touya made a face from where he lay sprawled on a gazebo bench, head hanging off the end with the result that Sakura and the garden were upside down. “We share a room, anyway.”
Sakura dangled her fingers above a cluster of asters, finally plucking one to affix in her braid. “I don’t know if these flowers are really getting proper care – it’s just one more thing the servants have to do. Do you think if I asked Master Yue, he would let me do some gardening in here?”
“Between the two of us, you’re the one that gets everything she asks for.”
“Oh… I suppose that’s true. Well, I don’t want to be greedy. Maybe I’ll ask him sometime. Onii-chan?”
“What?”
“Do you remember when we first came here, and you lied to me about what you were doing for Master Yue?”
Touya scowled. “What’s your point?”
“Maybe it’s like that. You didn’t tell me because you were trying to protect me – maybe Yue’s secret is like he’s trying to protect you. Or all of us.”
“I don’t need any protection.”
“I guess Master Yue would probably think differently. Anyway, I don’t think you should be so angry at him. It’s only because you miss him, and that’s a silly reason to fight.”
“I told you, I don’t miss him.”
“Okay, Onii-chan, whatever you say. Just please don’t be so mean and snappish to everyone else, will you? It’s so embarrassing.”
“I was not being mean and snappish.”
To that Sakura, his infantile sister, could only shake her head and turn away. “You are so hopeless.”
Snappish, mean, hopeless, and unaccountably lonely. That night Touya fell asleep staring at Yue’s empty pillow.

Yue returned to his castle the next night, alighting upon his balcony with a final flap of the wings before they glowed and disappeared. He had not taken more than a step into his room when a book came flying through the air, and would have hit him squarely on the nose if he hadn’t raised a hand and stopped it mid-flight.
“Really, slave, how childish.”
“I’m not your slave.” Touya flopped over the high back of his chair, though he should not have been sitting in that, and glared furiously. “Back within two days, that was fast. Afraid I’d chew a leg off the furniture?”
Yue lowered his hand, and the book dropped harmlessly to the floorboards. “It seems you were not far from it. I’ve just had a chat on the castle wall with my captain. He claims your behavior was a little on the troublesome side.”
“I’m not going to sit with my hands folded while I wait for your return, Yue. You should have figured that out by now.” His slave was closing the distance between them, a little more collected now but eyes still sparking with anger. “Punish me if you like but I still want an explanation – I deserve an explanation. I’ve told you everything you ever wanted to know about me, haven’t held anything back. Why can’t you do the same for me? Why can’t you just… trust me?”
The last two words were spoken almost pleadingly, and the anger was swept from his expression by hurt. Yue softened immediately.
“Oh, Toya.” Tenderly he held the boy’s face between his open palms, relishing Touya’s obvious loneliness for his master. “I trust you with all my heart. But this, I cannot tell you. It was a promise I made a long, long time ago.”
“Promise to who? Oh, never mind.” Touya looked away before he could even answer. “You promised Clow.”
“Do not be jealous, slave.” Touya was backing away and Yue pulled him close again, scooping him into his lap as he sat on the bed’s edge. “Consider your mother, whom you loved so much. Did you ever make her a promise, an oath so important that to break it would dishonor her memory?”
“I promised her I would take care of Sakura.”
“I thought as much.” Yue held him close and sighed. “So can you understand? It is the same; I cannot break my vow to him.”
Touya shifted restlessly, and Yue knew he wasn’t happy. But he was, book-throwing and axe-swinging aside, mature enough to accept it.
“That was sneaky, bringing my mother into it.”
“I will do whatever I have to.”
“Just tell me this one thing. Is it dangerous?”
“Not very.” For me, he silently amended. His answer had the desired effect of relaxing Touya, and his slave wrapped his arms around Yue’s neck.
“Well I didn’t miss you, but it’s nice to have you back.”
“Shall I have you bathe me now?”
“Yes… I think I’d like that.” Touya kissed him lightly on the cheek. “I’ll go draw one.”
“I will be spanking you later.”
“Never doubted it for a moment.”

“Yue’s back,” Li announced, the moment they were alone the next morning. “Thank God. Not a moment too soon, if you ask me.”
“Is he? Oh good, now Onii-chan won’t be sad anymore.”
“Sad? That was sad?”
Sakura giggled at his expression. “I guess you have to know him to understand how he shows his feelings. It’s funny, though, he always acted that way when I was late getting home and I thought it was because he was so protective. He is, actually, but I know he doesn’t think Master Yue is weak. Onii-chan just doesn’t like to be separated from the ones he loves.”
Li raised an eyebrow. “Loves? Him – Yue?”
“Yes, didn’t you think it was obvious? He missed Master Yue so terribly.”
“I think I nearly had to fight your brother off with an axe.”
“He’s so silly, isn’t he?”
“And then he horned in on my time outside with you.”
“I told you, he doesn’t like for me to be around other men when he can help it. He’s so possessive. For me and Master Yue, now. It must take a lot of energy.”
She was going through the motions of her warming up, preparing to practice whatever new dance Meilin was teaching her. Li let Spirit loose and settled at the base of a tree.
“Any chance he might back off about you and concentrate more on Yue?”
“Mm… no, probably not. Onii-chan is awfully stubborn.”
“Great.” Li gave up on conversation and slumped against the trunk, just enjoying the dance for now. She was only getting better, even he could see that, and brother or no brother he felt a glow of pride watching her and knowing that one day she would be his wife.
Her skirt fluttered around her in a final pirouette, and hair the color of honey after all their hours outside did the same. It was much longer now, he noticed belatedly; when she first came to this castle it didn’t touch her shoulders but now it fell just past them.
“Your hair is growing,” he pointed out, when she plopped down in the shade for a rest. A stupid thing to say, but she dimpled and bounced the ends in her palm.
“It is, isn’t it? I suppose the servants are letting it grow out between trimmings; Tomoyo told me that most of the women in the valley like their hair to be long. I don’t mind, I only kept my hair so short in the mountains because it was practical. But Onii-chan tells me that my mother had hair so long, it came almost to her knees. Supposedly she was the most beautiful woman in our village. It would be nice to see if my hair could be like hers.”
“I’d like that.” Li’s mother had hair down to her waist, as did his sisters. It was more traditional, and secretly he’d wished Sakura’s hair was like that too.
Sakura blushed. “Why are you smiling at me like that?”
“No reason. Just thinking about how you’ll look.” Long, silky soft hair flowing down her back, something he could run his fingers through when he kissed her – he could hardly wait. In fact, he really couldn’t wait at all. With the idea of kissing her, Li leaned across the distance between them. She did the same, but before their lips met her stomach interrupted with an unexpected and loud gurgle.
“Oh!” She blushed tomato red and clapped a hand over her waist, as if that could stop it, and Li chuckled.
“I’m glad to know I matter so much to you.”
“Sorry, Syaoran! It’s just that sometimes I get so hungry in the middle of the day.”
“You do? Really?”
Shamefaced, she nodded. “We get a really big breakfast and dinner, and that was always fine. But when I started dancing, and then practicing kung fu with you, I think I started to use up more energy than I should. I’ve been losing weight, too.”
“Well we can’t have you going hungry. Wanna go raid the kitchen?”
“Ooh, can we?”
“Sure.” He scratched his chin. “The women take turns in the kitchen, and someone’s in charge of leaving out food for the midday meal. The men just come in and make their own sandwich when they’re off-duty, but I don’t think anyone will be in there yet. We can sneak in there and get you some lunch, no problem.”
“Oh thank you!” She pecked him enthusiastically on the cheek, which made him grin. They returned Spirit to her stall and crept into the servants’ wing like a couple of fugitives, Li scanning every corridor before they turned each corner. They managed to reach the double doors of the kitchen without being spotted, fortunately, and Li pushed her forward.
“You go on first. I’ll just stand watch to make sure you don’t get interrupted.”
“Okay!” Looking flushed with the excitement of their ‘mission’, Sakura creaked open one of the doors and slipped inside.
Approximately two seconds later, she hurtled back out into the hall with a shriek and almost knocked him over.
“There’s a LION in there!” she screamed, somehow managing to hide behind him and yank him back from the doors at the same time. “A LION with TEETH and it’s EATING THINGS!”
“Oof! Huh, what- oh no.” Li closed his eyes and groaned, then pried off Sakura. “He’s back.”

Who? Syaoran offered no explanation to the terrified girl, but strode right into the kitchen, pushing the doors wide open with a kind of overexaggerated bravado she didn’t see in him often. The creature was still sprawling half-across the marble counter, a large ham caught between its massive paws while it tore at the meat with sharp fangs. It looked as though it could shred a human to the bone in seconds. Syaoran, however, did not seem to notice the danger.
“If it isn’t the flying stomach,” he announced, every word dripping with disdain. “Finally ran out of babies to eat in the mountains?”
The monster looked up – Sakura could swear it grinned – and swallowed a mouthful of meat in one gulp. “Kid! You’re still here? I thought Yue would’ve sacked you by now.”
“I’ll have you know he promoted me. I’m captain now.”
“Hah! A little tyke like you?”
“Go stuff your face, furball. There’s not a man in this castle that can best me in combat, and you know it.”
“Not a man, maybe, but as for me -” The monster broke off when he spotted Sakura, nervously peeping over Syaoran’s shoulder. “Hello, who’s this? Don’t tell me the scruffy kid got himself a girl?”
Syaoran’s cheeks colored slightly. “Moron. This is Yue’s pleasure slave, her name’s Sakura. Sakura, meet the younger and much more annoying brother of the pair, Keroberos.”
“B-brother of who?”
“Who else? Yue.”
Sakura squeaked. This lion was Yue’s brother? But how? Then again, she’d always known Yue was not human. This creature could talk, and it wore gold armor studded with rubies. Now that she was looking, she could see a jewelled clasp on his ear that was identical to a clasp Yue wore, except in color.
“Pleased to meet ya,” Keroberos was saying through a mouthful of food. He’d demolished the last of the ham. “I might be younger, but I’m much more handsome, don’t you think?”
His teeth were very sharp. Sakura nodded quickly.
“Stop it, Sakura, you’ll give him a bigger ego than he already has. And there’s barely any room for him in the castle as it is.”
“You watch your mouth, kid! I’ll roast you to a crisp!”
“You’d have to take a break from eating,” Syaoran responded dryly. “I’m not worried.”
“Brat kid.”
“Overgrown kitty cat.”
Yes, the lion was definitely grinning. Sakura could feel her heartrate slowing, even in spite of all those fangs; he might be a fearsome beast but it didn’t seem as if he meant harm.
“I’m still hungry,” he was complaining. “I flew all night to get here and you people can’t even leave enough food on the table for me? Hey, open this pantry!” It would have been an impossible task without hands, and mournfully he bumped his muzzle against the wooden doors. Syaoran didn’t move from his place, leaning against a counter with arms crossed, so Sakura scurried across the room, and opened the doors for him.
“Please, Master Keroberos, I can find you some food. What would you like to eat?”
“You’ll be sorry,” Syaoran warned.
The cat’s eyes lit up. “Ooh, I like her! She knows how to be helpful.”
“You say that like it’s my job to shovel food into that bottomless pit you call a stomach. I am captain now, you barn cat, I’m in charge of the entire guard.”
“You mean, the guard that was standing around in the shade and chatting when I flew overhead? That guard?”
Syaoran’s pride collapsed around him like a fallen tent, and he slapped a hand against his face in disgust.
“They’re… trying to make me lose my job, aren’t they? Idiots.” He turned toward the doors.
“Syaoran?”
“Sorry, Sakura, but I have to go crack some skulls. You’ll be fine, the cat’ll look after you. Ralen’s afraid of him.” He winked and left the kitchen, leaving her alone with a giant lion.
“Ooh, apples!” he exclaimed, upon peeking inside the basket she held. “I’ll take one.”
He opened a cavernous maw and she delicately tossed an apple into it; he splintered it effortlessly when he closed his jaws. “What else, what else?”
“Um…” Sakura had never been in the castle kitchen, but she’d eaten many meals here and knew what must be lurking on the shelves. Dry foods were stacked everywhere, and towards the back she knew would be the meat and cheeses, wrapped and stored on marble to keep cool. “Here’s some cold chicken, if that pleases you. I can make a tasty spread to go on it with some of this fresh bread.”
“Alright!” He sounded overjoyed, and Sakura giggled. Why couldn’t her own brother sound half as excited about her cooking? Eagerly she poured curdled milk into a bowl and mixed in terragon and parsley, stirring until it was even. The bread had been baked fresh and she sliced two small loaves in half, spreading on her mixture and adding slices of the cold roast chicken. Keroberos was hopping with impatience by the time she finished, and too late she realized she’d made a lunch for someone with hands.
“Oh – I’m sorry. How will you eat this?”
“No problem.” It was a sizeable sandwich, but his enormous mouth snatched it off the counter with little trouble. He’d just consumed the meal in one bite.
“Wow.”
“Heh, pretty impressive, huh? I’m so strong and scary, everything is afraid of me!” He lifted his head high and proud, and a fascinated Sakura could not stop staring. His eyes were exactly like Yue’s, she realized, right down to their feline shape and otherworldly sheen. Whereas the color of Yue’s eyes reminded her of moonlight shining through icicles, though, this color was more like copper coins glinting in sunlight. His fur was just as golden.
“Can I… touch you?”
“I like to be scratched behind the ears.” Sakura reached for the base of a twitching feline ear, just as she’d done for so many stray cats over the years, and began to scratch. A deep purr welled out Keroberos’ throat, and he closed his eyes in pleasure.
“Why don’t you live here in the castle, if you’re Master Yue’s brother?”
“I’m a free spirit… the open sky is my home. I don’t like to stay within walls, but I sure like the food! I come home to visit whenever I get hungry for some good cooking.”
“But I’ve been here since spring and I’ve never seen you.”
“Yeah, it’s been a while.” He squinted curiously at her collar, but only for a moment. “Yue’s such a perfect bore, and he doesn’t even eat. Coming home isn’t my favorite thing to do.”
“That’s too bad. I’d like it if you came to visit more often.”
“Aw…” The volume of his purring swelled. “Aren’t you a charmer? No wonder the kid fell for you.”
“Huh?” Sakura flinched and jerked her hand away, a shot of fear racing through her bloodstream, but Keroberos didn’t blink.
“Never tell him I said this, but the kid’s my favorite. Only human in the place that can look me straight in the eye, you know. Anyway, he’s been here a while and I’ve never noticed a girl calling him by his first name. Or for that matter, noticed a girl talking to him at all.”
“B-but we’re – we’re not…”
“Yeah, sure.”
“We could get in terrible trouble, Master Keroberos. Are you going to tell?”
“Of course not! I told you, the kid’s the only one I like. Except now I like you better than him, cuz you made me lunch. I wouldn’t get such a sweet girl in trouble.”
Sakura exhaled in relief. “Thank you.”
“I always love keeping stuff from my brother anyway, helps me stay smug. Hey, you finished? I want to go outside again, been in here too long. Wanna come up to the roof with me?”
“I don’t know – maybe I’m not allowed.”
“Who cares, you’re with me! Let’s go!”
Sakura swallowed the last of her sandwich and watched him trot to the back entrance, where the kitchen opened into the vegetable gardens, a little dubious. Ralen would be furious when he couldn’t find her, but Syaoran did tell her Ralen was afraid of Keroberos. She didn’t doubt it for a minute. Besides, it would probably be fun.
“Get on my back,” he directed, when they were outside. Clumsily Sakura clambered on, hoping she wasn’t too heavy though Keroberos was the size of a small pony and probably a lot stronger. Right before her eyes a pair of giant white wings sprouted from his withers, and flapped.
“You have wings!”
“How else could I fly? Now hang on.” The wings flapped again and they lurched into the air; hastily Sakura grabbed at his armor. It was a little rough at first, especially on a full stomach, but eventually their rhythm evened out and as gracefully as a hawk they spiraled upward. By the time Keroberos landed gently on a rooftop, Sakura had never had been so high in her life.
“Wow!” Dazed, she tumbled off his back. “To think that I flew! That was amazing, oh thank you!” She squeezed his ruffed neck in a hug, and he purred again.
“It was nuthin’. Just felt like breathing fresh air again. Some view, huh?”
It certainly was. Sakura had seen it many times from the tea room balcony, but it was pleasant to be up here on the roof and so high above the world. The summer sunshine was hot, but there was a brisk wind to cool them off and the sky was a dazzling blue. Even the distant mountains were vivid and clear.
“Look, Keroberos, that’s where I come from.” She pointed. “I was born in a village almost to the peak, a little one called Eagle’s Path.”
“No kiddin? How’d you come to be all the way over here?”
“I was kidnapped,” she answered, her face falling a little. “They sold me into slavery and Master Yue bought me.”
He growled. “Those bastard traders! I knew they’d been up to something rotten lately, there’s been a lot more sneaky looking types in the villages than there used to be.”
“You mean you’ve been in country villages?”
“Well, not exactly in, but at least flew over. I’ve poked my nose around just about every town from here to the mountains and to the sea and back.”
“Amazing.” Again Sakura wondered if she would ever see this fabled ocean, and sighed. Then she giggled. “My friend saw you once, you know.”
“Huh?”
“At least I think he did. He came back to the village that day raving about a mountain lion with wings, flying over the trees.”
“Yup, that was me!”
“Nobody believed him, though. He was always making up stories and spinning tall tales – it used to drive his sweetheart crazy. She would hit him and tell him to stop telling lies, but it was his favorite thing to do. They were going to get married this summer… I suppose they already have.”
Wistfully Sakura folded her arms on the stone wall and propped her chin on them. “It feels funny, thinking about my home village now. It’s been so long, they must think we’re dead. Someone’s probably moved into my father’s cabin by now; I hope they didn’t throw away his books.” Talking about it brought a lump to Sakura’s throat, and in a moment of blurred vision the peaks didn’t seem so distant anymore. “How long does it take you, to fly up there? Could you take me with you?”
Keroberos rumbled unhappily. “Nice try, Sakura, but my brother would have my hide for that. I’d take you if I could.”
“Oh- I know.” Impatiently she blinked away the tears. “It’s alright, really. I’ve come to like this place, and the friends that I’ve made here. Especially Syaoran. There isn’t anyone like him within a hundred miles of my home village.”
“I should hope not,” he snorted, and she laughed.
“We’re going to get married, you know.”
“What! Oh, you poor thing. I must carry you away right now to save you!” He made a show of pulling at her skirt with his teeth, and she shrieked with more laughter.
“Don’t, don’t! You’ll rip it!”
“A small price to pay for avoiding a horrible fate.”
“It’s not!”
“The only girl who ever made me lunch, married off to the brat kid!” He uttered some kind of mournful howl, which was such a perfectly awful noise that now she couldn’t stop laughing if she wanted to. When she collapsed to the flagstones, his rough cat tongue almost licked off half her face.
Sakura had made a new friend.

The afternoon was waning. Touya looked up from his mathematics and decided it was time to get going, and began to clear away the quills and paper. Fascinating thing, calculus, and it was such a challenge trying to figure it out all on his own. He marked his place and left the library, covering the distance back to Yue’s suite at a leisurely pace. He’d just rounded the final corner when something too fast to see knocked him flat back on the floor. Claws curled into his chest and the biggest, sharpest teeth he’d ever seen came within an inch of his nose.
“GOT YOU!” crowed the creature, still a blur of gold and red behind all those teeth. Too shocked to even yell, Touya stared frozen up into the carnivore’s gullet and did not move.
“Hey, you’re not Yue!” The talking lion pushed a giant muzzle under Touya’s chin and snuffed. “You smell like him, though. What’s the big idea, tricking me like that?”
“I’m over here, Keroberos,” Yue announced dryly, standing in his doorway. “Now kindly get off my slave. You’ll damage him.”
The lion obeyed, bounding off Touya in a way that dug all its weight right back into his chest and made him wheeze for air he really didn’t have. Struggling for breath, Touya pushed himself upright and tried to process what just happened. Talking lion?
“Yue, long time no see! Been having fun without me? Of course you haven’t!”
Yue was helping him up, looking concerned. “Toya, are you injured? Keroberos is an animal that attacks first and thinks later, if at all. I apologize on his behalf.”
“I heard that!”
“Fine,” Touya panted, and let Yue support him by one arm while leading him into the bedroom. The lion had already made himself comfortable, stretching across Yue’s blue satin sheets like a sphynx.
“Keroberos, get off my bed. I do not want cat hair on it.”
“Stuffy sourpuss.” He yawned, displaying his teeth again. “And after all these months I’ve spent sleeping in barns! Thanks for the welcome.”
“What,” Touya finally managed, “is that?”
“What?” the lion repeated indignantly. “What? I am not a what, I am a who. I am the mighty and handsome Keroberos! Who are you?”
“He is my slave, and I want you to stop harassing him now. I also want you to get off my bed, and get to the point of why you’re here. Unless it’s just to empty my kitchen again.”
“Not your slave,” Touya mumbled.
“What do you care?” Keroberos pouted. “As if you even know what food tastes like. What a waste. I had the most delicious chicken sandwich -”
“The point, Keroberos.”
“Fine! About night before last -”
“Wait.” Yue held up a hand and shot Touya a wary look; instantly Touya pricked up his ears.
“What about night before last?”
“Like I was saying -”
“Wait, Keroberos,” Yue pressed, his voice sharper. “We will speak outside.”
“Whatever.” He padded out onto the balcony and Yue followed him, shutting the glass doors firmly behind them. Touya perched on the edge of the bed to watch, not even bothering to pretend otherwise, but it was impossible to hear anything through the thick glass. It looked like they were arguing. More than once they looked his way. Finally, Keroberos sprouted wings identical to Yue’s and flew off in a huff.

“So~ohh,” began the cat, smug gleam in his eye. Yue gritted his teeth. “That’s your latest slave? Funny, because I could have sworn that cutie with the green eyes downstairs was your slave.”
“The girl is his sister. It’s a… special arrangement.”
“I’ll bet. Didn’t I hear him say he wasn’t your slave?”
“He is not in charge. Can we leave aside my personal business and discuss why you’re here?”
“You know why I’m here.” Keroberos sat, fixing Yue with an uncharacteristically serious gaze. “This last time, it was a close call, wasn’t it?”
Yue crossed his arms. “I handled it.”
“Barely. I felt it halfway to the ocean; what, did they catch you sleeping or something?”
“I said I handled it!”
“There’s been more in the mountains, Yue. I’ve caught five in the last month and a half.”
“Well that’s your job, isn’t it?”
“I shouldn’t be finding that many. Have you been Searching every day?”
How many days of meditation had he missed, lately? How many days had it just been too tempting to lie in bed with his slave and dismiss the world? Involuntarily he glanced at Touya, watching them intently from the bed, and Keroberos saw the look.
“Maybe you’ve been letting yourself be distracted?”
“I caught them in time and so did you. It isn’t a disaster.”
“But it worries me. You’ve never let so many slip past you before. If you’re not going to take the job seriously then -”
“I know the importance of the task Clow entrusted to us,” Yue snapped, his tone turning overtly hostile. “I have not failed in it yet. Will you accuse me of it now, after so many faithful years of work?”
Keroberos had tensed, his ears pricked straight up and eyes wide with surprise. “You said ‘Clow’. You haven’t said his name in years.”
Blast that cat! Keroberos was an extraordinarily thick-witted creature, except for the rare moments when he decided not to be. Now he was the one looking at Touya, an eyebrow raised thoughtfully.
“Sakura told me she’s been here since spring. He’s been here that long too?”
“What of it?” Yue asked coolly, feeling exposed under his brother’s calculating stare.
“That’s a long time for you.”
“I happen to like him a little more than the others. He has not interfered in my duties.”
“Says you.”
“Is my word no longer good enough for you, Keroberos?”
The lion growled. “Don’t you start taking that tone with me, brother. I’m the one cleaning up what you’ve missed, out in the wilderness. If you’re too busy playing with your toy to keep an eye on your prey, at least have the courtesy to warn me.”
“I will not have that from a lazy feline that spends more time stealing food from villages than protecting them!”
“You don’t know anything about what I do!”
“And the same goes for you.”
“I think I’ve had enough of your company for another few months,” Keroberos huffed. Wings sprouting, he turned toward the rail. “Just think about what I said, would you? I don’t have anyone to replace you with, much as I’d like to.”
“Be gone, then. Try to refrain from gaining as much weight this time around.”
A snarl was his only reply before Keroberos leapt off the edge of his balcony and caught the breeze, his wings stretching to glide away from the castle. Yue did not look away until the cat was little more than a distant speck above the trees, and breathed a sigh of relief upon doing so.
Unfortunately, there was still his slave to be dealt with. He re-entered his bedroom, and braced himself.
“Go on. I know you’ll explode if you don’t.”
Touya looked a mixture of fascination, curiosity, and irritation. When he fixed his gaze on Yue, his eyes were narrowed.
“So. When you told me everything there was to tell about Clow, you actually… didn’t. Did you?”
“I might have forgotten to mention some parts,” Yue allowed.
“Forgot to mention your own brother?” Yue shot him a surprised look, but Touya just rolled his eyes. “Please, Yue. I’ve been one long enough to know what it looks like. Besides, you have the same wings, and the same eyes. I should have guessed there was another – sun and moon. Clow created both of you.”
“Yes, he did. Part of me still hasn’t quite forgiven him for it.”
Feeling unaccountably weary, as he always did after a confrontation with his irritating little brother, Yue crawled onto the bed alongside his slave.
“But you said Clow created you because he was lonely.”
“He was, for a lover. Many years after my birth, however, he turned his magic to playing god once more. This time he chose the sun. It was his mission, once I was sharing his bed, to create someone that could be a friend. He told me that the new addition was meant to be my friend too, but even Clow could be wrong about these things. Keroberos and I barely tolerate one another.”
Touya snorted. “You were jealous, weren’t you? I remember that feeling when my sister was born.”
“Clow always loved me the most,” Yue informed him haughtily.
“Why doesn’t he live here too?”
“He and I find one another’s presence quite suffocating,” came the answer, after a second of hesitation. “It’s more agreeable to both of us that he wander free and only visit occasionally.”
“And what were you fighting about?”
“You, mostly.”
“Me? Why?”
“It’s too complicated to explain.” Yue hugged his slave to his chest, wishing away the details of the argument from his mind. He did not want to contemplate the possibility that Keroberos could be right. “It isn’t your problem to worry over. Just know that you are mine, and I will keep you safe always.”

Touya was not altogether sure whether those words comforted him. Did Yue mean keep you safe always or just keep you always? And keep him safe from what?
It was well into the night and he was still awake, thoughts about Yue and Clow and Keroberos circling through his head, hand restlessly playing with the silver chain around his neck.
“Toya,” Yue sighed, “go to sleep. Your fidgeting is keeping me awake.”
“I can’t.”
“All humans need sleep. Even I need sleep. Come here.” He clasped Touya in his arms and rolled him closer, so Touya’s head was resting on his chest. “Listen to my heartbeat, let it lull you to sleep.”
Except it wasn’t a heart in there, was it? Not really, not like a human’s. Clow had fashioned Yue out of something else entirely, he was a creature of magic and moonlight.
“It’s strange,” he mumbled. “You turn the air cold when you get angry, but your body is so warm.”
“Something like blood – the energy of magic, I suppose – runs through my veins. That is the source of my life, and my warmth.”
“And you renew your energy from the moonlight?”
“Mm.”
“You’ll never grow old, will you?”
“Magic does not age.”
“But can you die?” The arms resting loosely around his chest squeezed him, very briefly, in a light embrace.
“All living things can.”

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Disclaimer: I do not own these characters

Wai! Fun to finally bring Kero-chan in, even if he has a very small role (small role, big mouth). The beauty of Kero is that he effortlessly brings comic relief to any story, no matter how grim and dark the rest of the plot is. Always nice to have a laugh.

I’ve lifted the ban on anonymous reviews again. Hopefully by now the Viagra salesmen have moved on. And I’m really eager to hear what you thought about Kero’s big entrance! Last chapter only got ten reviews… sheesh, hope I’m not losing my touch.

But, I will still give a reward for Best Review. I shall bestow it upon Vix111, because she has an amusing bet going with herself on whether Yue or Touya is going to crack first and say ‘I love you’. I’m not telling. But you’re welcome to lay your bets with the Capitalist bookie anytime.
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Pleasure Slave