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It had taken years before they decided to ‘let Touya in’ on the Cards, and his response had been a vaguely insulting ‘what did you do that I need to be told about?’. When they’d pointed out it was just because they wanted to be honest with him, he had just snorted and gone back to the dishes.
Yukito had been at least slightly nicer about explaining he’d known for years, and thanked them for trusting him with their secret. Sakura’s father had been the most satisfying, though it made Sakura feel bad for him to worry the way he did.
Since then, Kero had taken to lounging around the house in both forms, out in the open, often looking like a very big cat. This, they quickly discovered, suited Touya very well, because he’d taken to using Kero as a heat pack in his small form, and a foot warmer in the larger one. Not that either of them ever admitted as much. It just wasn’t that unusual—when Touya was home from school—to find him reading in the living room with Kero asleep over his feet.
So it was really no surprise for them to be together—with Yukito leaning back against Touya’s shoulder, ensconced in his own book—when Sakura came home in a horrendous mood and slammed the door shut behind her.
All three exchanged glances at the atypically furious mutterings. To their knowledge, she’d been intending to spend the whole day with Syaoran. For her to be home so early, let alone in anything but an ecstatic mood, was incredibly unusual.
From the sound of it, she literally threw her shoes at the wall and then stomped down the hall. They only made out her grumblings as she walked past the door.
“…talking about propriety! Like it wouldn’t be proper! Sixteen. Everyone else…!”
They watched her stalk further down the hall and around into the kitchen.
“…been together for four years! Okay, so two of them… stupid… Yamazaki-kun…!”
The fridge door slammed shut hard enough for the magnets to drop, and Sakura yelled in frustration before throwing down whatever she’d gotten out to start picking them up.
“…even his sisters have been expecting… every letter from Eriol-kun… wasn’t lying, I don’t see why…”
Slowly, Yukito got up from the couch and made his way over to peer into the kitchen. But he flinched back when Sakura looked up at him. She blinked for a second, apparently not sure whether to smile at him or continue her furious mutterings. Eventually she decided to include him.
“You two have! I don’t see why we shouldn’t, right?”
“What?” he asked, but her only response was to gasp and then glare even more.
“Big Brother!”
“What?” Yukito asked again, before Sakura shoved her way past him to savagely point at her brother’s face.
“What did you do? What did you say to Syaoran?”
All three males stared at her blankly. Normally, Touya and Kero’s immediate response to Syaoran’s name was to assume he’d done something they wouldn’t like. But if Sakura was unhappy about it, and it didn’t sound like they’d broken up (ha!), chances were it was something they would like.
“Well, whatever it is, you need to go over there and take it back right now!” she snapped, stomping her foot. “I know you’re just trying to look out for me, but this is not the way to do it!”
“What are you talking about?”
Her only response was to yell at them wordlessly and stomp away, ignoring whatever she’d gotten out of the kitchen to just head straight upstairs, where she stalked so loudly the whole house shook.
They stared after her for a second, until Yukito coughed. “Um… I think I’m going to call Li-kun.”
“Yeah,” Touya grunted.
“Do you think I should…?” Kero trailed off, clearly not wanting to go upstairs and comfort his mistress when she was in this kind of a mood.
“I’ll call Li-kun first,” Yukito assured him.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t much help either, because when Syaoran answered the phone, he sounded weary, not upset, until Yukito mentioned Sakura had come home angry. Then Syaoran started to sound downright distraught.
“I tried to apologise, I just… I – I – she’s not really upset is she?”
“What happened?”
Syaoran’s stuttering got so bad that Yukito eventually took pity on him. “It’s okay, I’m sure we’ll find out eventually. You don’t… Li-kun? Are you alright?” he asked, when the only noise on the other end was a kind of strangled squeak. Yukito frowned, tilting his head as if that would allow him to see through the phone. “How about this? Can you just tell me this has nothing to do with magic?”
The safer side of the topic seemed to calm Syaoran. “Absolutely nothing.”
“So this is something between you and Sakura-chan?”
“Yes.”
“Alright.” He paused, an idea coming to mind. “Do you need someone to talk to?”
“No!” he yelped, then stopped. Yukito could almost hear the mental war going on in his head, which meant he really did want someone to talk to but either couldn’t bring himself to ask for help or would be just too humiliated to explain the situation. Or a combination of both, Yukito realised, as Syaoran added, “No, it’s nothing I can’t handle. I’ll come over and apologise.”
Which was his default and didn’t really mean he’d done anything wrong. But Yukito kept his sigh internal and just said he would see him soon.
“I think Sakura-chan might be pressuring Li-kun into something,” he told Touya, who frowned.
“Like what?”
“Like the same thing most sixteen year olds pressure each other into doing.”
Touya continued to stare at him blankly. When realisation dawned, he shut it down almost immediately. “Couldn’t be.”
“Definitely not!” Kero yelled, shooting to his feet. “If anything, that brat must be…! I’ll tear out his throat, you watch me!”
“Listening to her earlier, do you really think she was being pressured into anything?” Yukito asked sensibly, but the other two just glowered at him for intruding on their right to hate Syaoran for everything.
They continued to argue with him, however half-hearted his answers, mostly because they suspected he was right and refused to admit it. The argument lasted all the way until Syaoran showed up at the door, looking helpless and hopeless behind his luminescent blush. He was carrying flowers.
“She’s… she’s not crying, is she?” he asked weakly, and Yukito fought the urge to hug the poor kid. Things were probably only going to get worse from here.
He directed Syaoran up the stairs, but could only hold Touya and Kero back long enough for Sakura to safely shut the door behind Syaoran before they both crushed their ears to the wood, listening intently.
Amused, Yukito joined them.
It started as they expected – Syaoran apologising, Sakura apologising for him feeling like he needed to apologise and gushing over the flowers and then immediately asking if this meant he’d changed his mind.
Syaoran’s quiet response brought an end to that pretty picture.
“Why not?!”
“S-Sakura…!”
“I thought you loved me, Syaoran!”
“I – it’s not – you know –”
“We’ve been dating for years, it’s not like we’re not ready! Some people do it the night they meet!”
“S-S-S-Sa-”
“Don’t you want me? Am I not good enough?”
“That’s –”
“I know I’m not as pretty as Mei Lin-chan or Tomoyo, but –”
“That’s not true!”
“You think I’m plain, don’t you?”
“No! Sakura!”
“Then what’s wrong with me?”
“I – you – it’s not –”
“I really don’t know which side I’m on,” Kero murmured, and Touya grunted his agreement.
“Gyah…! D-don’t cry! S-Sakura, it’s not – please don’t cry!”
“Syaoran!”
Yukito sighed as it all dissolved into muffled sobbing. Granted, his own teenage years had been a little more complicated, between being both a magical moon spirit and in love with his best friend who happened to be his mistress’ elder brother, but he could very much remember the rushing emotions. The constant angst. Always feeling like you weren’t good enough.
He wondered if it was easier or harder for Sakura and Syaoran. They’d been in love before they really knew that meant more than holding hands. And it wasn’t silly puppy love, it was the type of love where they would go to the ends of the earth for each other and knew it. It was wonderful, because they were always there for each other, but at the same time, it meant they’d never had their hearts broken by horrible people. So the wonderful things they did for one another weren’t really seen as special, just… normal.
Touya, Kero and Yukito all pulled away from the door, Kero and Touya debating how they should feel about this development. On the one hand, Syaoran was being honourable (as if he was capable of being anything else, Yukito thought to himself), but on the other hand, he was making Sakura cry. Sakura was crying because Syaoran wasn’t making her feel wanted, but he was doing that by not wanting to sleep with her.
Oh, the woes of overprotective people.
“S-Sakura!”
The sudden yelp caught their attention again, along with a thump that shook the door. There was some more muffled discussion, quickly rising in volume that ended with an unmistakable wave of magic.
“H-hey, th-that –” The door was yanked open and Syaoran practically fell out, scrambling to get to his feet.
“Rain!”
Syaoran was fast, but the magic was faster, and the three voyeurs had to jump back against the walls to avoid getting hit by the sudden storm over Syaoran’s head. Sakura stalked out just far enough to glare at him.
“That’s what you get for being such a cold fish!” she announced, and then retreated again, slamming the door behind her.
Touya, Yukito and Kero all looked around at Syaoran in sympathetic silence, who just sighed and let the Rain finish soaking him through.
“You should talk to him.”
“No, I shouldn’t.”
Yukito smiled, looking at Touya sideways. It should have been a non-sequitor. It had been days since Sakura and Syaoran’s fight, and they were in the middle of walking to the store. To most people, there should have been no reason to mention Syaoran at all.
But Yue could sense familiar, powerful magic, and for all that Touya had given up, he was slowly regaining some abilities, like being able to sense where people were. For example, he was probably acutely aware that Syaoran was sitting in a tree over the lake.
“You know they’re destined for each other.”
“That doesn’t mean I have to like it. Or him,” Touya added grumpily.
“But you do. You know he’s a good kid.”
“He is not,” Touya grouched.
Yukito just grinned, because the only person Touya still fooled was Syaoran himself. “He’s going through a tough time. He needs someone to talk to.”
“He’s got friends!”
“To’ya.”
He growled, rolled his eyes, and began walking over to the tree. Sure enough, Syaoran was sitting in a branch that stuck out over the water, his nose buried in a book. The kanji didn’t quite make sense, meaning it was probably in Chinese, but it seemed to be something about warfare.
“Hey! Brat!”
True to form, Syaoran didn’t flinch, or seem remotely surprised, but instead glared down at them without moving his head. “What.”
“I just want you to know,” Touya said bluntly, “for once, you’re right. Keep up the good work.”
That made Syaoran stare, and Yukito slapped a hand to his head. Now that would have seemed a non-sequitor. Also, coming from a self-proclaimed enemy, straight out weird.
“About Sakura,” Touya clarified. Syaoran immediately blushed, lifting his book like a guard, and Touya nodded. “Yes. Just like that. Good luck.”
“To’ya!” Yukito admonished, and then sighed and looked up at Syaoran. “If you want to talk about it, you know we’re here for you, right?”
Syaoran’s blush, if anything, intensified. Touya smirked. “Oh, that’s a great idea. You, his first ever crush, should talk to him about his girlfriend, who was originally his rival over you and is still my little sister, and therefore kind of your in-law.”
Syaoran made that odd ‘ka’ noise he was so good at, and had to grab the branch beneath himself for balance. Yukito grimaced apologetically. “It was more complicated than that and you know it! Stop teasing him, To’ya.”
“He deserves it.”
Finally, Syaoran managed to stop blushing by instead going back to glaring at Touya before nodding to Yukito. “Thank you, but I’m fine.” That said, he went back to his book. When they didn’t immediately leave, he lifted it and his knees a little higher, as if trying to hide from their stares.
“Li-kun…” Yukito hesitated, then nodded to himself and pushed Touya’s shoulder. “You go ahead. I’ll meet you back at home.”
Touya rolled his eyes but left without a word, and Yukito looked back up to where Syaoran was now watching him warily. He tried a smile, but that just made Syaoran’s eyes narrow even further.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said firmly.
“That’s fine.” He glanced around, trying to figure out how Syaoran had gotten up there. There were no low-hanging branches, so he must have used those ridiculous jumping skills he had. So instead of joining him the way he normally would have preferred, Yukito walked over to take a seat on a bridge post, where he could look up at him comfortably. “So how are you doing these days? I haven’t seen you much.”
Syaoran just looked at him, his shoulders hunching again. “Yue has.”
Which was true. Sakura had been exercising the cards recently, which Syaoran had been helping her with. Yue usually came along to keep an eye on things, and the moon spirit respected Syaoran’s combat abilities, which had led to an odd kind of friendship. Sometimes they would spar, bow and against sword, and often stood on the sidelines together, trading dry comments about Kero and the cards’ silliness.
“Yes, but he doesn’t do much small talk,” Yukito pointed out. “Your guardian went home this year, didn’t he? Wei-san?”
Syaoran nodded. “One of my sisters got married. Mother wanted someone to keep an eye on her husband.”
“She doesn’t trust him?”
“Mother doesn’t trust my sister not to spend all his money,” he said with a quiet smirk.
Yukito chuckled, leaning forward and peering up from under his hair. “How are you finding it, living on your own?”
“Fine. I like to cook.”
“Oh, that’s right. You’re good at that, aren’t you?”
He blushed a little, lowering his eyes back to his book. “I guess.”
“Do you cook for Sakura-chan much?”
“Sometimes. I usually make us lunch. I have more time.”
“You know she’s not really mad at you, don’t you?”
He hesitated, then huffed out a breath and swung his leg over the branch to drop down. “Can I show you something? At my place?”
“Sure,” he said, and tried his best not to get up too eagerly. This felt like a success.
They walked mostly in silence, Yukito watching Syaoran’s expression from the corner of his eye the whole way. Syaoran tried very hard to be a blank slate at all times, stoic and stand-offish, but he was just that little bit too honest. It was figuring out what he felt guilty about that was the hard part, particularly when he kept lifting his book to glance at.
“What are you reading?” Yukito asked finally, as they reached Syaoran’s apartment building. “It’s in Chinese, right?”
“Warfare of the Masters,” he said. “It’s about how to play chess.”
“Oh, you wanted to learn?”
He almost shook his head, but stopped himself at the last moment to shrug instead. “I know the basics. But Eriol wants to play via letters.”
“Why don’t you just tell him you don’t know how to play?” he asked, but Syaoran just looked at him as if he’d said something odd. He hid his smile – of course, that would be admitting defeat, and no Li admitted defeat easily. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you? It seems like the sort of game your mother would play.”
“We played Go and Mahjong.”
“Ah.”
They continued up to Syaoran’s apartment, put off having tea for the moment, and Syaoran led him through to an office which, oddly for Syaoran, had several boxes scattered around. He pointed them out one by one. “Mei Lin sent me those. That’s from Takashi. My sisters. And Daidouji,” he added with a final grimace, pointing to the only unopened box.
Yukito raised his eyebrows, surprised, but walked over to Mei Lin’s box and picked up one of the books inside. Again, it was in Chinese, but the image on the cover said it all. He picked up another and bit back a grin to realise that the box was probably filled with those trashy romance novels women read. Takashi—Li’s best male friend, from all reports—had given him porn, in both videos and magazines. His sisters seemed to have gone the DVD route. Honestly, Yukito wasn’t surprised Syaoran hadn’t opened Tomoyo’s box, knowing her… interests.
He looked back at Syaoran, who was blushing at the ceiling. “They thought I might just not know what to do.”
“Oh, Li-kun…” he said, struggling to hold back a laugh.
“It’s not that I don’t!” he said loudly, then grimaced and went back to the ceiling. “But I read some anyway, to learn, like with this,” he added, waving his chess book. “But those things…”
“It’s not the same,” Yukito finished for him, and Syaoran sighed, his eyes dropping to his feet instead.
“It’s not like with anything else. You can’t practice. And anyway…” His eyes shifted off to the side, his blush intensifying. “In those things… the guys…”
Yukito tilted his head, looking at him curiously. “So, what you’re saying is, it’s not that you don’t want to explore this with Sakura-chan – you’re just worried you won’t be good at it?”
If Syaoran could have melted through the floor, Yukito was pretty sure he would have. “It’s bad enough that Sakura’s brother will kill me. I should at least make sure he’s killing me for something worthwhile.”
Despite all his attempts to be sympathetic, Yukito had to laugh at that, even though it immediately made Syaoran glare at him. He couldn’t help it – Syaoran just seemed so… earnest about it all. And of all things to be worried about…
He moved back to stand in front of Syaoran, then reached out to hold his shoulders with both hands. The touch made Syaoran stiffen and pull back, but Yukito just offered the kindest smile he could.
“I could tell you that it wouldn’t matter how good or bad you are, because Sakura-chan will love you anyway. I could also point out that this is Sakura-chan’s first time too, so you’ll both be learning and trying new things,” he said softly, but just held tighter when Syaoran’s blush intensified again and he tried to pull away. “But the truth is, Li-kun, that I don’t think you have anything to worry about. When someone loves their partner as much as you love Sakura-chan, there is absolutely no way you could possibly do anything but make her feel the best she’s ever felt.”
Syaoran just stared at him for a long few seconds, then looked down at the floor, shoulders hunching.
But he was smiling just a little.
Once again, when he got back to the house, it was to find Touya on the couch, his feet up on Kero’s back. He looked up over his book as Yukito walked in.
“So did you convince the kid he could take advantage of my little sister?”
Rolling his eyes, Yukito nodded once.
“I knew that was what he was after! And now, because you’ve told him it’s okay, he’ll be able to walk around like –”
“To’ya,” Yukito interrupted, giving him a blunt look. “I’ve spent the afternoon with an insecure, emotionally stunted, sexually frustrated sixteen year old. And found him a lot more mature than you’re being.”
Touya balked, and at his feet, Kero—who had been pretending to be asleep—snickered. Yukito gave him a look too. “But at least To’ya will admit to Sakura-chan why he’s being so stupid.”
Kero stopped snickering and lifted his head to pout instead, but Yukito ignored him, walking over to sink down beside Touya.
“You really should try to get along with Li-kun, Touya. He’s a good kid, and he really loves Sakura-chan.”
“That’s why I don’t like him,” Touya muttered, and Yukito nudged his shoulder.
“Sakura-chan encouraged me to talk to you. You should be as supportive as her, Big Brother.”
“Shut up.”
Over a week later, when Sakura still wasn’t home at eleven, Touya went out to the yard and started glaring up and down the street. Yukito sat on the porch and watched him, amused.
“You know she might have just gotten held back at club.”
“She doesn’t have club today.”
“Then she might have been helping with someone else. She’s not that late.”
“She’s with that brat, I just – ah!”
At his startled shout, Yukito jumped up too, but immediately relaxed when he saw it really was just that Sakura and Syaoran were walking up the street together, Sakura wrapped tightly around Syaoran’s arm. He frowned again as they came into the light, and they saw the bandages on Syaoran’s face and neck.
“Li-kun!” he cried, vaulting the fence, and the couple stopped, looking up in surprise. He hurried over, Touya close behind. “Li-kun, what happened? Are you alright?”
“What? Me?” he asked, pointing at himself.
“Your face!”
“My… oh!” He waved his hand dismissively. “There was some magic building up in the school’s basement that we had to take care of. I was careless.”
“You were not!” Sakura insisted, and leaned forward to meet Yukito’s gaze properly. “He was really brave! One of the heating units burst and he pushed me out of the way! He saved me!”
“I should have used a different ward,” he said. “I stopped the heat, but not the metal. That’s all.”
“No wonder you were late,” Yukito murmured, leaning close to see better. “Did you go to a doctor?”
Syaoran’s face immediately heated, so he pulled back, only to raise an eyebrow when he noticed Sakura was blushing too, a silly smile on her face.
“N-no, we um…” She giggled, pressing closer to Syaoran’s side.
He coughed. “S-Sakura patched me up.”
“Really? Well, that’s good,” he said, and glanced at Touya, whose eyes had narrowed dangerously.
“What were you two doing at the school so late? In the basement, you wouldn’t have had to wait around that long for no one to see you.”
“Um, we didn’t,” Sakura said awkwardly. “We did it at sundown.”
Yukito noticed Syaoran’s shoulders rising again, chin lifting and hands clenching defiantly. He met Touya’s gaze dead-on. Realisation began to dawn.
Yukito almost laughed. It was so typical of these two. They would dance around each other endlessly, throwing each other adoring glances and confessing their feelings at the slightest provocation, but it always took one of them being in danger, scared or hurt for them to progress to new levels. He could just see it now. Sakura had probably started crying after fixing Syaoran up, he’d comforted her, and things just went from there.
“So, aside from getting hurt, you had a good night?” he asked, and Syaoran blinked as his attention was drawn away from exchanging death glares with Touya.
Sakura blushed and swung against Syaoran’s side again. “Mm! Aside from that, it was wonderful! Perfect!”
“Well, that’s good, right, Li-kun?”
He just blushed and smiled softly, nodding once. “Y-yeah.”
“You little brat!” Touya shouted, and the others all flinched, before Syaoran pulled away from Sakura and raised his fists.
“You wanna fight?”
“Damn straight I do!”
“Big Brother!”
“To’ya!”
But even as they had to pull the two young men apart, Yukito had to smile. Judging from the couple’s happy smiles, at least it had been something worth fighting over.