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The Labyrinth	By : Capitalist Category: +. to F > Card Captor Sakura Views: 10491 -:- 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
- 7
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- 9
Chapter 8
‘reflection’

The going did gradually become easier, whether because the slope was slowly gentling or because Yukito really did know every convenient foothold and ledge, he wasn’t sure. Touya hoped Li was making out all right on his own path, but it was pointless to worry and there was no doubt the kid could look after himself.
Yukito’s company was far more pleasant than Li’s anyway. He was easygoing and amiable, and never impatient if Touya took an extra moment before jumping. A perpetual smile clung to his face in spite of the hazardous surroundings, and he moved across the cliff with the ease Touya would cross his own bedroom. Something about that slim and agile form drew Touya’s gaze again and again, and restlessly he shook his head to clear it. In this place it wasn’t a good idea to get distracted.
Yuki sprang easily onto a boulder and then turned and crouched, his hand outstretched.
“It’s a tricky jump. You better give me your hand so I can help you up.”
Ordinarily Touya would have bristled at such a slight on his physical capabilities, but he only nodded and did as he was told. The second his hand clasped Yukito’s, though, his heart beat a little faster and his blood tingled, making him uncomfortably warm. It flustered him and he knew it showed. When Yuki pulled him to his feet he ran a critical eye over Touya’s stained cheeks and unsteady breathing.
“Are you all right? You look a bit hot.”
“Fine,” Touya lied. Yuki was still holding his hand, for some reason, and reluctantly he tugged it away. “Just a little tired, I guess. I’ve been struggling through one layer or another of this cursed labyrinth all night. I think it hates me.”
Yuki laughed. “I doubt that. It just takes a little getting used to. You’re not from here, are you?”
“No.”
“That’s what I thought. But you will learn.” He turned and started across the cliff face again, leaving Touya slightly disconcerted. Something about the way he’d said that… A half-memory tugged at his mind before it skittered away, and he decided it couldn’t be that important. Yuki was getting ahead of him and he hurried to catch up, picking his way carefully over the rocks.
“Well this is definitely the worst place so far,” he grumbled. “I don’t even see why it’s here, what was he thinking when he created it?”
“Who?”
“Yue,” Touya replied, surprised that it wasn’t obvious. Yuki looked over his shoulder with an equally surprised expression.
“Yue didn’t create the labyrinth. It’s much older than he is.”
“Really? I didn’t know that.” He noticed wryly how much he sounded like Sakura when he said that, but he couldn’t help himself. Even after everything that had happened that night, he knew almost nothing about the labyrinth’s king and was morbidly curious.
“Sure. He only rules it, his magic is intertwined with it. It comes from the moon, you know, he’s strongest when it’s full. It’s not a good idea to cross him during that time.” He nodded briefly upwards, and Touya followed his gaze up to the night sky. Directly overhead in the narrow strip of sky he could see the full moon drifting like a silver bubble amongst the stars.
“Great,” he muttered under his breath. “How do you know all this, anyway? Li never told me any of this.” Yuki shrugged self-deprecatingly.
“Well, I guess I don’t know, exactly. It’s forbidden to talk about him, but everyone does behind closed doors. There’s lots of stories; I’m sure they’re all wrong.” He laughed again, but the laughter was shorter-lived this time and he dropped his eyes.
“There is one rumor that I believe, I think. They say… he had a great love once, many lifetimes ago, who died and left him the labyrinth to rule. They say he’s lonely, and been searching for true love again ever since.”
Yuki’s voice dropped to a soft murmur as he spoke, and Touya found himself leaning in, captivated by the other’s low hypnotic tone.
“Wow,” he breathed.
Yuki inhaled deeply and lifted his chin, dazzling smile fixed in place once again. For just a heartbeat Touya thought he saw a trace of pain in his eyes, but then it was gone and perhaps just his imagination anyway.
“It’s just a rumor. Like I said, who knows?” He shrugged again and flitted to the next ledge, leaving Touya to trail after.
His thoughts and emotions were in a whirl, desperately trying to piece together the most difficult puzzle in the labyrinth – the puzzle with piercing diamond eyes and magnificent white wings. Heartless dictator, abuser, kidnapper, grieving lover? What kind of man was all those things? And if Yuki’s and Li’s words were true, then why him? Touya was just a moody teenager in high school that fought with his classmates and picked arguments with his father, he wasn’t anything special. And did Yue kidnap his sister just to get him here?
Could have just asked for my number, Touya thought darkly.
So preoccupied, he bumped into Yuki before he realized the other had stopped walking.
“Oh! Sorry.” Automatically he moved to steady him, and Yuki’s hands came up to grasp his shirt in the fleeting moment of imbalance. His pale fingers brushed over Touya’s chest just a shade longer than was necessary, and then he took a step back, retreating to a more proper distance. Touya barely had time to catch his breath, and wonder why he was catching his breath, before Yuki bathed him in another sunny smile.
“It’s no problem. I was just going to tell you that we made it, we’re here.”
“We what? We did?” Touya’s vague confusion scattered when his eyes followed the direction Yuki was pointing.
“Well, mostly here anyway,” his fair-haired guide amended. The river was no more, they’d reached the smallish placid lake that was its source. From under their feet, a beautifully smooth and flat path wound around its edge and under an elaborate arch before it curved out of sight. He hadn’t even noticed the gradual decline of the cliffs, lost in thought like he was. “This path leads out of the Ripariat and back up to the surface of the labyrinth. All you have to do is follow it; it’s easy.”
And just like that, he had a chance again. “We made it,” he restated, awed.
“Yep.” Yuki edged around a small boulder that blocked some of the path and started walking alongside the lake’s edge. “I told you it was easy if you knew the right way.”
“We actually made it! This is amazing – I don’t know how to thank you. I still might be able to make it in time!”
“Hmm?” Yuki paused and turned to look at him quizzically. “Make what in time?”
Touya shook his head distractedly, not wanting to get bogged down in the explanation again. “It’s a long story. Just believe me when I tell you that it’s important. You have no idea how grateful I am.”
“I believe you,” Yuki replied sincerely. “And I hope that whatever it is, it works itself out. I’m just glad I could help.”
Touya still didn’t know how much distance lay between him and the castle, but this victory thrilled him and in a rush of optimism he could practically feel Sakura in his arms again. In spite of Li’s warnings, he leaned against the small boulder and squinted carefully, trying to calculate how far it was to that arch.
Then he straightened and his eyes fell to the water, and he forgot all about the exit.
The surface was absolutely calm and still, reflecting faithfully as a mirror. He could see his own face, he could see the stars and the full moon directly overhead without even a ripple to disturb them. And he could very clearly see the huge folded wings and long silver hair, just brushing over the rocky ground. They swished slightly when Yuki turned a little, patiently waiting for him to follow.
“Toya? Something wrong?”
Toya.
Somehow he wrenched his gaze away from the water and met Yukito’s innocent, questioning eyes. “Toya?”
“Why do you call me that?” he asked stiffly. Yukito blinked, and the friendly sparkle shifted to a more predatory gleam. He smiled, in a rather deliberate and un-Yuki manner.
“I like having my own special name for you. But I was careless with it, wasn’t I?” He was suddenly very close to Touya without having taken any steps. Touya tried to back away but froze when Yukito – Yue – clamped a slender hand over his throat in silent direction to stand still.
The grip was not painful but he could sense the sheer force behind it, the terrifying strength, and unwillingly he swallowed. Yue gently rippled his fingers and caressed Touya’s neck, not squeezing, not needing to, merely demonstrating his dominance. And still Touya didn’t try to break free, even when Yue closed the distance between their bodies and leaned in close, his lips brushing over Touya’s ear.
“You should be more careful, Toya,” he whispered. “You should have learned by now that in the labyrinth, nothing is what it seems.”
A warm wetness sent a jolt through Touya and he jerked, held in place by Yue’s unyielding grasp. Oh-oh god, he was licking his skin now, he was tracing his tongue along the edge of his ear. This was wrong and he should fight it but his hands didn’t move, clenched helplessly at his sides. And still Yue’s tongue trailed unhurriedly over his flesh, searing him, enticing his body to respond and it throbbed with pleasure.
Unconsciously he tipped his chin up, allowing greater access to his vulnerable neck, tiny whimpers ripped from his throat as he fought for breath under the tumult of sensation.
After an age Yue withdrew his tongue and, without speaking, released his hold. Like a puppet abandoned by its master Touya collapsed to his knees, gasping for air. Fresh oxygen cleared his lungs and his mind and he bowed his head, hating himself. His face burned with shame.
Why are you doing this to me? he wanted to cry. But Yue was gone.

Li slid awkwardly down the last pebbly slope and hit the level ground with a sigh of relief. Already he could see the lake and Touya kneeling on its bank, and closed the distance with quick strides, dusting off his palms.
“There you are. Those cliffs were absolute hell, weren’t they? I sure hope you had as hard a time as I did. The sooner we get out of here the better.”
Touya didn’t even twitch when he spoke, still staring vacantly in front of him.
“Ah, hello? You alive?”
“I’m not going to make it.” The words were spoken so softly Li was sure he’d misheard, and leaned in a little.
“What?”
“The whole time,” Touya murmured, eyes fixed on the moon’s reflection in the lake. “The whole time and I didn’t know, didn’t even guess. You were right, he’s too powerful, he won’t let me win if he doesn’t want it. I’m not going to make it.”
The gaunt hopelessness in his black eyes was a chilling replacement for the gritty stubbornness Li had become accustomed to. Without thinking Li dropped to one knee in front of him and offered his hand. Touya blinked and focused on him, surprised.
“Maybe, maybe not. But at least you challenge him. It’s more than anyone here’s ever done…” He glanced up briefly through his bangs and then looked away. “I respect that.”
Li wasn’t given to sympathetic or kind words, he’d never had occasion to use them. But something in his stiffly muttered compliment seemed to reach Touya. He blinked again, and he was back.
“Y-you’re right. Can’t give up. I have to, for Sakura.” He took Li’s hand and pulled himself to a standing position. “Thanks,” he added, and meant it.
Li mumbled something and looked away, and with a resigned sigh the older boy set off again. The moonlight bounced off the still water of the lake, temptingly. Almost before he realized it, Li’s fingers were fumbling at the drawstrings of his pouch and he tipped the peach into one hand, ready to throw it in.
I wouldn’t do that if I were you.
Li cringed at Yue’s voice in his head, and reflexively he gripped the fruit tighter. The king said nothing more, but the edge of menace in his casual warning was more than enough to remind Li of his place. Disobedience was impossible.
“Li! You coming or what?”
“Coming.” Shakily he returned the fruit to his pouch, and hurried to catch up.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters

Oh, poor Vix. (laughs) It was pretty funny to read your review, because I had to blink and doublecheck myself to make sure I hadn’t made some kind of mistake. That was a first! It’s alright, we all misread something now and then. But no, Yukito wouldn’t make much of a disguise if he had Yue’s wings poking out the back.
Touya: If you’re ‘Yuki’, then what are those?
Yukito: What, this? Just my, um, lucky feather cloak. I’m not Yue, I swear!
Touya: Yeah, right. I’m filing a restraining order.

(giggles gleefully) Overall, I think the inherent possibilities of Yukito as a sinister disguise for Yue were put to much better use in Labyrinth than PS. Because the stakes were so much higher, I guess – Yue could have led him straight back to the beginning if he’d wanted, but instead he made it obvious to Touya that he’s just been playing with him all along. Whereas in PS it was simply yet another pathetic attempt to apologize and make up. Sinister Yue is a hell of a lot more fun than Whiny Yue, of that I have no doubt.
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The Labyrinth