"The Universe is Resting in My Arms"

*All characters are the property of CLAMP. "Tonight and the Rest of My Life" is the property of Nina Gordon.*

The Universe is Resting in My Arms

Down to the earth I fell, with dripping wings. Keroberos was laughing in his big-bellied way, but it was Watery who'd doused me – a Card under my own moon! Like me, she was usually serious, but now, dancing on the cresting waves, she wasn't hiding her smirk.

"Yue-san!" Sakura cried out, laughing as well and looking sheepish about it. "Are you alright, Yue-san?"

I collected my dignity, pushed the wet hair out of my eyes, and launched myself at Watery. Or tried to. These heavy things won't fly! I thought to myself as I tumbled out of the air, back on my knees in the sand again. Immediately my Mistress was beside me, concerned and lifting me up.

"Are you alright, Yue-san?" she repeated.

"Hmph. Soaking wet," I replied, trying not to sound too crabby. I pointed threateningly at my magical sibling, who was now huddled conspiratorially with his "teammates". "Prepare to be annihilated, Keroberos."

"Maybe we should take a break," offered Sakura. "It's going to get cold when the sun goes down."

"Aww," complained Kero, "but we were winning this time!"

Watery and Dash nodded in agreement. Illusion must have realized that there was no point in arguing with our Mistress, because she had hovered over to Mirror and the rest of my team, who were already collecting snacks. The smell of Firey and the Twins co-operatively toasting marshmallows, however, was enough to distract Keroberos. "Ooh! S'Mores!" He raced Dash up the beach to the lunch basket.

Sakura handed me her beach towel, a little sandy but deliciously sun-warmed, and was using a second towel to gently pat dry my feathers. I would have just put them "away", but our challenge this afternoon was not to change form, and even though that was still especially tiring, both magically and emotionally, for me, I hated to show it. Besides, our Mistress had been very conscientious about planning the day, acquiring assurance from Yukito that he wouldn't be inconvenienced by the lost time, and picking this secluded bit of shore after the end the tourist season. She even had to get special permission to miss the second half of the school day. It had taken a few hours to set up Silent, Sleep, and Windy as perimeter guards and to train those three to be subtle about keeping interlopers away. After all her efforts, I was not going to spoil anything because of a little discomfort.

That discomfort was rapidly turning into a floaty pleasure from Sakura's ministrations. The gentle little dry-towel pats and her intent frown were a kind of attention that I had been without for a long time. When she caught me watching her, she turned on her warm smile.

"Is that better, Yue-san?" she asked sweetly. "If you sit up where the sand is warm, your clothes should finish drying pretty quickly."

I stood up to obey her. "Thank you, Mistress," I told her, sincerely.

"Thank you, Yue-san."

I looked at her questioningly.

"For being a good sport," she clarified. "I know that you don't really need this training, but I really want everyone to learn to work together. And I think that it's important for us to have some fun, to be… more… more of a family."

Even though I am selective of when I speak, she always managed to say things that left me speechless. She waited until I had settled in on the towel before she walked away to the others. "Everyone, thank you for doing your best today," she called to them as she went. "Okay, those of you who are ready for a rest: return to the form you were destined to be!" As most of our group returned to Card form, our Mistress collected them gently into her hands. She wrapped them up tenderly and put them in her pocket.

She walked up to Kero, affectionately putting her hands into his golden mane. Keroberos was watching the sun set, his stance intent, his tail swishing.

As if the sky had caught on fire, burning bands of orange light reflected and twisted on the ocean surface. The molten sun, like the axis of the world, burning, colored the wide horizon vermillion and carmine. The moon, which had been out, but unseen, began to reveal itself.

Keroberos padded back with Sakura once the fiery orb completed its roll under the horizon. He was periodically rubbing his big head against her legs, which was making her stumble and giggle. She had gathered the lunch things and was carrying them over to where I sat.

"If you keep frowning like that," Keroberos said to me, "your face is going to stick that way."

"Hmph," was my answer.

My Mistress sat close to me on the beach towel and sorted a snack for herself. She used her two feet to brace a ramune soda so that she could open the tricky seal, concentrating on pressing in the marble without splashing the drink everywhere.

"Sakura, open a ramune for me too," wheedle Kero. She gave him the fizzing bottle that she had opened for herself and grabbed a second one.

"I would like one too, please," I said, before I realized what I was saying. Our Mistress and Keroberos both looked at me in surprise. I was surprised, too.

"Since when do you eat anything?" accused Kero, guarding his soda pop possessively.

"I can eat if I choose to," I retorted coolly. I pretended not to notice my Mistress's stunned interest as I took the ramune that she offered, and took a drink.

"Hoee!" she yelped. Keroberos goggled.

It was strange. I had not eaten anything since that last meal by Clow's hands, a meal that sat like a rock as he told us that he was dying. I had never wanted to eat anything again. And now my mouth was full of the taste of citrusy, fizzy jealousy because I wanted what Keroberos had, with Sakura, myMistress, who I never called her by her first name, the way he did. It burned when I swallowed.

Keroberos had already lost interest in my little attention-getting stunt. He was holding a chocolate bar in one paw, chewing while he gluttonously looked through the basket for yet more food to stuff into his face. "It's too dark to see anything," he whined. "Can we go home now?"

"Oni-chan is going to pick us up when he gets done with work. It won't be too much longer. Anyway, I like it out here at night," explained Sakura.

I prefer a sunless sky, I thought. The moon was just a thin crescent; it didn't add much light. The darkness hid the glittering and stinging in my eyes. I blinked, and looked out at the ocean, and the moon's reflection, just a thin strand gleaming in the dark sea.

And then I felt her touch on my arm, my Mistress's hand as light as air, floating there like breath across the top of my sleeve. She placed her palm softly on my shoulder. It was warm. It dissolved the space between us the way a bad dream dissolves upon waking.

"Are you cold?" I asked her quietly. She nodded, so I moved myself to sit behind her, and opened my wings like a shield around her. I was startled when I felt Kero's heavy warm body against my back. I shut my eyes. The three of us at quietly that way for a while. My mistress leaned into my chest with a sigh. I rested my cheek on her hair.

I opened up my eyes, and realized that the ocean lay before me without boundaries. The sky and the water met and blended. Everything was shoreless sea. Everything was waves, and stars.

I feel so light.

"This feels nice," said my Mistress in a quiet, but not sleepy, voice. "Are you okay with this for a little longer, tonight?"

I touched my lips to the top of my Mistress's head. She smelled like a little girl, and like magic and starlight. Boldly, I reached my arms protectively around her, and I hugged her a little closer to me. Tonight, and the rest of my life.

s.k.y.

(sakura)(kero-chan)(yue)

Author's note: Nearly 7 years later, I finally fix the spelling and formatting errors on my very first (public) fanfic. I still think this is a sweet scene.

Nina Gordon's song can currently be found on You Tube. It was used in the soundtrack for The Notebook, which has helped its longevity. It would make me ecstatic if it was ever covered professionally by a male vocalist!