Point of Presence
Chapter 1 : Memories Resurfacing

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The feather-light touches of my lover were the clearest sensations I could feel right then. The feel of soft, moist lips being drawn across my collar, and a heavy breath every now and then. My mind was blanketed in a pleasant haze, the likes of which I'd never known before. It was one in a list of many new marvelous feelings I'd discovered that night: feelings I didn't know I'd had the presence to possess. But this seemed to solidify my mental state, make me believe that I was more than a useless being put here only to be a slave to a master, even if this wasn't really happening. Even if the memory was denied me. Even if he denies it with so many words and actions. It didn't matter. Right then, a god and his creation were equals.

We lay nestled in the aftermath, all previous fears of regret obliterating themselves from my formerly self-destructive mind. My fingers found their way into his dark hair, wound there, rested there. His body was a comfortable weight as he half-covered my form, and I could feel him dropping into unconsciousness. He staved it off for another moment, long enough for him to find my face in order to kiss me again. I savored the taste of him on my tongue, realizing dimly that it was not only him that I tasted there. "Aishiteru," he whispered softly. The first time I had heard those words from him. I felt tears of wonder, joy, or maybe even adoration well up and threaten to spill out and stain my pale cheeks. "Aishiteru, Yue... my angel," he managed before sleep claimed him.

I held him tight to me, fearing he would not be there when I woke. "I love you too, Clow."

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A flash of lightning from the storm raging outside woke me. I could no longer feel the presence of my Master beside me, and looked around frantically for him. I realized sadly that it had been merely another memory returning to me in the form of a dream. I was in Clow's old home, in what was now the Tsukishiro residence, in Yukito's bedroom. Clow had suspended this house outside of time for the sole purpose of housing the guardians when we awoke. Keroberos had no use for it, living, as he was, in the Mistress' house. This was the same home that we'd all lived together in back when Clow was alive. Back when Yuki and I were still separate, I'd coaxed him into taking this room. It'd been my room. I don't think I could've handled sleeping in Clow's bedroom without him, even when Yuki's form was naïve, as it no longer was. It would've brought back too many painful memories. The door to Clow's bedroom was closed and locked: it hadn't been opened since the night he died in my arms.

I rose from my bed, no longer able to sleep. A quick glance at the clock in the room informed me that it was another hour until I needed to start the morning routine. I turned on the lamp and padded silently over to the bookshelves lining the walls. They were directly connected to Clow's huge library, which, even in the event of his death, his ever-lingering spells kept updating. "Heinlein," I said softly to it. The bookshelves responding with a gentle shuffling of pages and leather-bound copies of "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls," and "Stranger in a Strange Land," presented themselves to me. All of Heinlein's other books were already residing on the glass table in front of the loveseat by the windowed West wall. I took the proffered books out, thanking the librarian spell, and sat down on the worn-to-comfort loveseat. I chose "Stranger in a Strange Land," setting the other book down next to the stack that had formed.

This was the third time in a week that I'd been unable to sleep without dreaming of him. "Tramp Royale" and "To Sail Beyond Sunset" could attest this point. They were already in the pile of books that I'd read through. I sighed and started to read.

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