A blog dedicated to the characters Yuna D. Kaito and Akiho Shinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc ✨
Archive for Akiho x Kaito fics.
Haters please steer clear.
This is @meimi-haneoka 's blog for miscellaneous content about the characters Akiho Shinomoto and Yuna D. Kaito, from Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card.
I'm mainly a fanartist, but one year ago I also started writing fics for this pair, so I quickly realized I needed a place where I could collect and organize them, lest they'd be lost in the sea of posts of my main blog.
For personal reasons I decided I won't post the fics on AO3 yet (I don't even think they're anything special that needs to be posted on such a big fic archive) in the end my friends convinced me to post my fics on AO3 too.
This is a cozy little place, easy to send to friends when they want to read my YunaAki headcanons (I started writing mainly to vent my headcanons, indeed). I don't presume to call myself a "writer" and I don't want to be in competition with anyone.
As I always mention in every intro, English is not my mother tongue, so forgive me if the grammar/phrasing sounds weird sometimes. I try to spellcheck through two different methods but I'll never use AI to improve my writing, so this is what you get.
I've also fixed most of the fics I had previously posted on my main blog. I haven't changed much, just some sentences that are worded differently.
Since I created a new blog specifically for this, I think I will post here other kinds of YunaAki things as well (edits, fanarts, ramblings) so I can keep it fairly active.
Ship haters please steer clear. Block this blog and move on.
Okay, now that the introduction is done, let's see the list of fics!
Older first, newest at the bottom (check the date at the beginning of the post to see the last update). I will also include the rating (same rating system as AO3). Pay attention because there'll be M and E rated fics too, when I'll be brave enough to post them (minors, I'm not your mom. Stay out of them).
Fanfics - collected under the tag #spilled words :
I'm here (ficlet) - T
Somewhere I belong (ficlet) - T
Braids (flashfic) - T
Cosmos (ficlet) - T
Willow (ficlet) - T
Gravitation (ficlet) - G
Halloween Wraps Fear in Innocence (HWFI) (ficlet) - M ⚠️
yunaaki AU where they're both members of their school's theatre club but they never interact... until one day.
introducing Akiho Shinomoto: the theater club's go-to lead role! everyone acknowledges how hardworking she was when she was just a freshman and a new member of the theatre club, hence why the teacher assigned to supervise them had her try out to be the leading role one day...
and then had her try doing another lead... until everyone only knew her as the play's leading role.
and of course, Yuna D. Kaito; the one who works behind the scenes. little info was known about him because he's the type to do the job in silence that you don't even realize he's there.
hence, the two, despite being in the same club, never crossed paths long enough for them to have a conversation.
of course, it would change one day when akiho's male lead had an injury (*googles "injuries that'll last for 6 months"*) and the club needed someone to replace him because the play was coming up soon.
they didn't want to do another rounds of audition because, well, the day of performance is around the corner...
so the teacher did a quick scan on every staff involved— yes, including the ones who manage the play off-screen.
... and happened to lay their eyes on Kaito.
cue everyone's surprise when he got picked because "he looks exactly like the lead i initially envisioned— why wasn't he considered an on-screen roles?"
and cue another wave of surprise when they tested if he memorize the supposed lines of the male lead— and aced it.
nobody even protested when he got picked as the backup lead actor because why would anyone? he can do his job, and they needed a partner for Akiho quick.
little do they know, feelings will develop during that short time, and when they finally act their lines, they might not be acting out their lines anymore...
(kaito actually had been admiring akiho from afar, eversince she got in the club and served as an assistant behind the scenes... meanwhile akiho has recently noticed him and realized that he's been in the club since she joined... bit never knew his name)
actually this came to me when I listened to Cameo Love by tripleS 😅 I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT WHAT PROMPT I COULD SPEW OUW OF THIS SONG SINCE ITS RELEASE 😭
Characters: Yuna D. Kaito, Akiho Shinomoto
Rating: M
Tags: future fic, dream, past trauma, hurt/comfort, angst and romance, comfort sex, mild smut, yeah you've read that tag right, POV alternating, there's lots of love that's why I'm posting this for Valentine's Day, pay attention to a very vulnerable Kaito
Warnings: sexual content (although very mild and just "sketched out")
Summary: What's difficult about a happy ending is not so much getting there. It's maintaining it. And their happy ending is nurtured, maintained, protected everyday. Fighting their demons with tooth and nail. When the nightmares threaten to destroy the peace, there's only one safe haven: eachother's arms.
Word count: 2246
A/N at the end of the ficlet.
English is not my first language; keep that into consideration.
This ficlet on AO3
Excerpt:
“Do you want to talk about it?” I offer, brushing my thumb against his cheekbone.
He closes his eyes and leans in, till his forehead is resting against mine. “No…I would rather not. I just…need to hold you, feel that you're safe.”
I shouldn't be here.
I shouldn't be here, I keep telling myself as my hand grips the half-open door, staring in the pale moonlight at the only thing that I know can mitigate the burning pain in my chest—her peaceful sleeping figure, lying on her side in the comfort of her bed.
Her fair curls are fanned out over her pillow, her ribcage rising and falling softly. I stare firmly at the motion, hoping it will mesmerize me out of this brutal anxiety attack I'm having.
It doesn't.
I thought seeing her would be enough. I was wrong. My chest keeps being stabbed by a sharp pang with every breath I take, yet I'm forced to gasp for air through the pain.
My traitorous brain second-guesses if what I'm seeing is real. I cannot stop myself as my hand opens the door further and my feet guide my body towards her bed, moved by a relentless longing. I need something concrete. I need to touch her, to have the incontrovertible proof she's not a figment of my imagination, that I'm not dreaming of a hopeless illusion, still trapped in that cage.
Now that I'm closer, I can see the profile of her beautiful face, her features relaxed, like the rhythm of her soft breathing. As corny as it sounds, she really looks like an angel.
I'm freezing to the bone, yet the pain is scorching hot in my chest. I shiver as a drop of sweat dribbles down my temple.
Carefully, I lift the quilt and slip underneath, pulling it back over us. I pay attention to cover her fully as I do so, since the quilt was off her shoulders when I arrived. I settle myself behind her, draping an arm over her stomach with slow, cautious movements—as cautious as my agitated state can allow me, anyway. But I don't want to wake her up.
She's gloriously warm, I can feel the heat penetrating my skin and starting to chase the cold away from my bones. With trembling arms, I snuggle up against her under the covers as if my life depended on it. Because it does. I feel like I'll go insane if I don't anchor myself to her, I'll be swallowed whole by the storm of voices screaming dreadful lies in my head. I need to force into my skull that she's here, she's alive, she's breathing, and she's safe in my arms.
I listen to her breath leaving and returning, and the simple act seems to soothe my nerves a little bit. I nuzzle her neck, inhaling deeply her comforting, familiar scent, trying to regain control of my ragged breath. I breath her in again, and again, hoping to get drunk on her scent and numb the pain away. If I can't feel relief, at the very least I hope it makes me feel nothing.
She stirs slightly in my arms, emitting a soft noise. Guilt is seeping into every corner of my aching chest, as what I didn't want to happen ultimately happens. I desperately hope she can forgive my irruption.
As she awakes, she doesn't stiffen, remaining relaxed and soft in my hold. I think her body, by now, recognizes me instinctively.
“Kaito-san?”
Her voice breaks the quiet of her bedroom, groggy, with a hint of puzzlement. She must be so confused, poor thing. She doesn't turn to me, yet.
“I'm sorry,” I rush to apologize with a raspy voice, followed by a shuddering breath.
☆゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜★
It's difficult to understand exactly what's happening, at first.
The semi-darkness, the deep slumber I'm in, and the nice, loving feeling of being snuggled up against him clash with the coldness and stiffness of his body. Every atom of my being knows it's him, yet a voice inside me is screaming something is profoundly wrong, as my brain struggles to focus and rouse the rest of me.
But when I hear his choked apology, it's like a bucket of ice water has been thrown at me. My eyes snap open and I turn my head around, still wrapped in his arms.
My eyes meet his, large and glassy like they never are. He looks…distraught. He's heaving, good god. My confusion turns immediately into concern.
“What happened, my love?” I whisper softly, afraid to startle him, my eyebrows inevitably furrowed with worry.
“I'm sorry, I didn't want to wake you up,” he apologizes again, closing his eyes and shaking his head, nuzzling against my ear while sending an involuntary shiver down my spine.
I turn around completely in his arms, facing him. I cup his left cheek gently as I look up straight into his eyes. A violet storm is reflecting back at me, but my touch seems to slow down his breathing. His arm is wrapped firmly around my lower back, as if he were afraid I might slip away. “Kaito-san…” I try again, “what happened?”
“…A dream,” the reply leaves his lips with a noticeable struggle. “A horrible dream. Memories of the past,” he adds distressingly.
My eyes soften, as I understand painfully well what he's trying to tell me. I have dark dreams about the past too, every now and then. Truth to be told, they've been sparing me since a couple of years, but they used to startle me awake at night.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I offer, brushing my thumb against his cheekbone.
He closes his eyes and leans in, till his forehead is resting against mine. “No…I would rather not. I just…need to hold you, feel that you're safe.”
I nod and let him do so, for an indefinite time. Thanks to this, his muscles seem to relax a little and his breathing slows down even further. We're so close we could see our souls into each other's eyes, but when he opens them again, all I can find is a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. My heart squeezes painfully with an overwhelming desire to comfort him.
His cold hand moves to my temple and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear—I realize in that moment that he's trembling.
“It was a reverse dream, my love. I'm here,” I whisper, watching him lower his intense gaze till it lingers over my lips, which are mere inches away from his quivering ones. I feel his hand returning to hold my hip, this time with a tighter grip, probably in a desperate attempt to stop the trembling.
In the strained silence that follows, I can feel him hesitating. I can feel him holding back.
So I close the distance between us, brushing my lips softly against his. I'm extremely gentle, gauging his reaction for any sign of discomfort. He returns my kiss, timidly at first, then I hear him inhaling deeply and it's like…something desperate takes a hold of him. He cradles my face as his kisses get more and more passionate, encouraging me to do the same.
My hand travels to his chest, gliding across the shirt of his pajamas before clutching the fabric and tugging weakly towards me, hoping he gets the hint. Slowly, he moves on top of me, a forearm sinking into the pillow on each side of my head, and his lips dance all over my face, neck and collarbone. One hand slips under my nightshirt, stroking and gently fondling all over my body, not leaving a single spot untouched.
I realize, with a lump in my throat, that he's not merely kissing me. He's imprinting how I taste in his taste buds, he's memorizing how every inch of me feels under his touch, he's saturating his nostrils with my scent. He's sculpting into his brain my facial features, every beauty spot, every curve of my body, in the hope that the feeling persists, vivid enough to ward the fear off his dreams forever.
“I'm here with you…I'm not going anywhere,” I sigh as I rake my fingers through his silky hair and stroke his back, feeling my body igniting and pulsating, responding so naturally to the loving attention it's getting from him.
☆゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜★
“The girl's soul might not be able to bear so much magic written into her. When she reaches that limit, her soul might be destroyed, but nothing of importance would be lost.”
Their sinister voices sounded so crisp in my dream, even after all these years. I tear off my mouth from her skin just long enough to peer into her eyes, her beautiful shade of blue glimmering in the soft moonlight. I search frantically and there it is, I can see her soul reflected in the deep topaz blue. Vibrant, lively, unfettered. She's safe. She's alive.
“Let's cast the spell onto the girl. So that we can carve all the spellbooks we've ever laid eyes upon into her body. As if she were a blank book.”
My hand glides again over her body, her sacred body that no one should've ever profaned with the taint of dark magic. I caress every inch of her exposed skin with the reverence she deserves, slower than before, feeling her goosebumps arising in the wake of my fingers. She watches me with hooded eyes, her breath slightly accelerated. I lean down again, enticed by her luscious, parted lips.
I feel a jolt of electricity coursing through me as my tongue dances around hers. It is in that moment that I'm truly reminded of how baffling the human body could be, how it possesses a will of its own. How it can completely ignore the chaos playing havoc with my head. Or maybe it's just that…it knows exactly what I need right now to quell my fears. “I'm sorry,” I whisper bashfully as I tear my mouth off hers. She knows very well what I'm apologizing for, but she doesn't seem to be bothered at all.
“You don't need to apologize for this,” she says sweetly, brushing her nose against mine, pressing herself harder against me as encouragement.
“I'm just her butler. I cannot be anything else. Once this is over, I will never see her again. I need to stop losing control of myself.”
My intrusive memories try to tear the moment apart, they try to destroy the healing she's carefully stitching into my tattered heart. But she's stronger. She's always been.
“Let me take care of you,” she breaths out feverishly as she's unbuttoning her nightshirt, baring herself to me. I feel my aching heart swelling, that beautiful sheepish smile melting the last remnant of cold inside me. No matter what side of her she shows to me, she radiates life, love, passion—she's everything good in this world, and every particle of me responds to the sight of her, buzzing warmly under my skin. The tremendous rush of love I feel for her chokes me up, rendering me unable to breathe a word.
I need her. I need her desperately.
The memory of my permanence in the cage hurt the most. In my dream, I could relive the pressure, the pounding in my head, the excruciating pain I felt while carrying the artifact inside of me, with the boundaries of my being stretched into the appearance of a huge dragon. I felt the cold, the paralyzing loneliness. And the neverending agony for what I believed would be my reality from there on out. “She's happy without me. And I'll never see her again.”
As the mournful words from my dream reverberate through me, I slide into her, releasing a shaky breath into the crook of her neck.
Everything just stops. The memories, the voices, the pain lingering in my chest. The only thing I can feel is her. She's warm, welcoming, she hugs me whole in a healing embrace.
☆゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜★
“I’m here…I love you,” I repeat like a mantra against his ear.
I hold him tight, fire against fire, till there isn't a single gap left between us.
Through the warm haze, I perceive the desperation in his movements waning, till it quietly abandons his body. Only desire is left.
☆゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜★
“I love you too,” I echo her, feeling every part of me melting into her, till I can no longer discern where she ends and where I begin.
Till the pleasure replaces completely the pain, the dread, and I'm anchored to reality once again.
Till my heart is overflowing with gratitude for this reality, where I can still live the miracle of holding her in my arms.
“You can sleep here,” I say quietly as I caress his head, which is resting peacefully on my chest.
“Thank you,” his reply comes out raspy, a bit groggy—I think the aftermath of everything that happened tonight is hitting him all at once, leaving him completely worn out. He's probably sore too.
“I mean forever,” I clarify. He tilts his head up to look at me, stunned. “This is the master bedroom of the mansion, hence the biggest one. There's enough space for both of our belongings and wardrobes. I wouldn't mind you moving here,” I say, smiling at him. We hadn't really changed our sleeping habits after we became intimate, for no particular reason, but honestly, it would be so much better for both of us. “Ah, if you can put up with the plethora of books, of course,” I hasten to add, chuckling.
“…I'll fight my way through them,” his reply comes with a weak chortle, holding me tighter under the covers.
Author's Note:
And I know many will say “but he brought this upon himself” and here I say “yes and no”.
Who writes an angsty ficlet for Valentine's Day? Me of course!! Cause I can't do anything normal. 😒
Oh well, I love that sweet spot between angst and romance, and I hope I could hit it right, with this one.
I experimented with the double POV and I have to say I liked it very much.
The title, and what Akiho is referencing too, comes from a scene of volume 5 of Clear Card, where Kaito tries to comfort Akiho after a nightmare, telling her about reverse dreams.
To give a bit more context to Akiho and Kaito's relationship at this point of the ficlet, they've been intimate for more than a year.
Apparently, experiencing arousal right after an anxiety attack is not uncommon at all. I can't really relate, but I made a bit of research about this because I thought it would be interesting (and bittersweet) to feature this aspect. Although the sexual part wasn't the focus at all.
I don't want this A/N to turn even longer than the ficlet, but I just wanted to explore and show how Kaito and Akiho's happiness will be a long journey they will have to fight tooth and nail for. Trauma can resurface unexpectedly, particularly in dreams, and we all know what a burden Kaito had to bear all that time. I wanted to delve into the emotions and the fears we could never see explicated during canon, because he averted his eyes so badly from all of that. The fear of Akiho's soul dying, the agony of losing her in exchange for her safety and happiness.
Because everything started when he was still a teenager, one who had never experienced love, never understood human connections, and made that decision that would seal his destiny away completely oblivious to all the factors that would intervene later. Even if he realized that his heart had changed along the way, he could never stop or change the ending: because he had agreed to the seal of D., and no matter what happened, once Akiho's artifact had been removed from her, it would inexorably activate on him. Meaning that he would need to separate from her, in all the versions of the ending he could envision in his head.
That is not to say that what he did to Akiho is justified, especially cause the last spurt of stubborness inside the fake moon was a conscious choice (dictated by his gargantuan guilt, but still a choice). We have to grapple with the fact that yes, he hurt her. Broken people can hurt others, even their loved ones.
But I will never dismiss Kaito's pain just because he hurt Akiho. The two things can coexist and be both valid at once.
Akiho understands this too, and she'll always be there to quell his fears, in every way that she knows. ❤️
Ps. Canonically, Kaito is not supposed to remember about those words from the Association/Clan. They are straight up taken from the panels of the manga, but he wasn't present the day they performed the ritual on Akiho and turned her into an artifact. For the sake of fiction and angst, imagine he inexplicably could hear them in his dreams.
yunaaki soulmate au but telepathic connection to be specific
- connection is based on each person's distance; if they're very far from each other they can only hear the other's thoughts about them (ex; "i wonder if my soulmate [insert soulmate daydreaming activity here])
- the closer they are, the more thoughts they hear... to help them figure out which one's their soulmate
- the catch is that the voices they hear in the telepathic connection are their own, so no clues via their voice (like they're reading their soulmate's diary inside their head)
- another catch: multiple ways to identify their soulmate are known, and telepathic connection between soulmates are rare, so majority of the population doesn't know much about it.
- additional rule: no way to cheat the system like trying to tell each other their names or other confidential information about them... just for the sake of upping the difficulty
the yunaaki aspect is when kaito, the ceo of a known plushie making company (has momo as their mascot, of course) hired akiho as his new secretary and to his surprise he can hear someone's thoughts (doesn't know it's akiho's bc the times they're in close proximity is when they're with other people).
...versus akiho who immediately figured out what the hell is going on (tbf it wasn't that hard to figure out because of the thoughts she was hearing) and is struggling to keep herself together (aka the reason why kaito can only hear his soulmate's thoughts bc she's avoiding times when they're alone together to not reveal the secret)
there were a lot of close calls but the reveal doesn't happen until one day when kaito found a notebook around his office... and discovered that it was 1. akiho's diary, and 2. that she is his soulmate.
so, i was thinking... how about yunaaki famous x non-famous au~
well... that, mixed with celebrity x fan and uh since this is the era of internet make it content creator x follower 😁😁 (and a little surprise as well)
disclaimer: this idea was a mix of shower thoughts, as well as details from my dreams i wanted to add (because it fits 😅) if the plot sounds similar to already released media and I didn't mention it, it means i wasn't aware of its existence 😅
to no one's surprise, Akiho is the famous one (no offense, Kaito, you're a pretty boy and all but uh... canon you... is... suspicious, to put it in the nicest way) with her channel recently gaining traction over playing a game that she found somewhere on the game browsing app (do I call it Steam if it's not even based on irl? idfk 🤷🏻♀️)
Kaito found her via the app's algorithm (the app suggested her channel to him) before her channel blew out but completely forgot about his channel binging because he did not subscribe to her channel.
He then found her again during her "peak era" via the reuploaded clips being spread out on every sns (social networking site) and got reminded of the day when he binged someone's channel and has been finding it on the list of channels he subscribed to, but to no luck.
He managed to find it via his watch history... of course he did not forget to subscribe this time. Oh, and remember the day he binged some of her videos on a day? He did it again but this time to all her videos whoch lasted a span of 1½ weeks.
It was then he realized that good grief, he is hooked on this creator's content — hell, she could watch a paint dry and he'll watch the entirety of it...
which, is not impossible, btw. i personally did that to a creator once 🧍🏻♀️
Fast forward to when there's a convention near Kaito's place and he was tasked to be the venue's overseer (boy works at a catering service— it's actually common in the Philippines but idk if it's known in other countries lol), specifically in the creator banquet in their VIP area
keep in mind that in the convention, content creators get to have their own booths for meet and greet, or own places to have their small talk with some of their virtual audiences but in person [tldr: this is like vid/twitchcon], meaning people will easily recognize these creators.
he tried his best entertaining all guests— well, until he sees someone slowly getting cornered near the room's door. it was a bit rowdy at the place since there's a lot of people inside it but it looked like the one being cornered needed someone's help...
and he decided to be that someone to help the girl because at the end of the day, she's still human, and it really looked like she was asking someone around her to save her.
only for him to discover that he saved akiho the moment he approached the scene.
after causing a bit of a ruckus, he pulled the girl (now aware that her videos were his most recent obsession) so she could protect her image as well as take a breather.
akiho offered her ever sincere gratitude and stupid guy (affectionate) just had to have a slip of a tongue and reply something referencing her channel. (ah, yes, the usual composed but socially awkward yunakaito character interpretation)
which surprised akiho... and made her quite anxious the moment she regained her bearings. ("what if someone from the staff orchestrated it with that person who approached me?")
kaito apologizes for the slip of the tongue and admitted that he's her viewer, but also defended himself by stating that he didn't see who was getting harrassed... his defensive tone brought a hearty laugh out of the blonde and said that he's interesting... and slipped him a business card.
she says it's a thank you from her for treating her and the other creators in the room like humans, and not someone their viewers have put on a pedestal.
they first interacted via text message (kaito being formal as hell sending a message to akiho only for her to save his number), then it evolved to calls and eventually the two of them giving away their personal social medias so they can freely interact with each other there.
then came a time when akiho was to attend a game tournament and her supposed partner had an emergency at the last minute...
reread that one Tumblr post about tropes and my brain had the idea:
yunaaki being pulled into a session of an afterschool spin the bottle and then getting dared to go on a date with each other.
would only work if they're strangers in the same class (woohoo same age AU!) and if their section contains the entire Cardcaptor Sakura roster (Eriol might be in there idk)
to kaito's surprise (because he was about to open his mouth in protest and declining it), akiho readily accepts.
currently cackling at the idea of yunaaki body swap AU atm 😭
like... their universe literally has magic and logically it would be possible for some mischievous magician coughs Eriol coughs to cast that "on accident"...
and you know what would make this all the more hilarious? if they haven't met yet pre-body swap so they'll be like "who the hell is this??? and then they try so hard to do their "routine" then stumble upon each other a few days later 😭
WHY HAVEN'T I THOUGHT OF THIS CONCEPT FOR THEM YET???
well... maybe because its hard for me to psychoanalyze how my two cuties will react?
yunaaki au where they are in a world where soulmates can only see colors when they meet each other in the eye.
Introducing Yuna D. Kaito, a new resident of the city. A guy who easily got popular because of his looks but is still a boy full of mystery—only a few would dare to approach him as people sees him as intimidating— since no one even knew his name.
Though people can easily recognize him by face, and there were 2 common information about this guy, namely;
1. He is very charismatic, to the point that he somehow manages to attract people (that tails him sometimes) wherever he goes, and,
2. He usually stays in the city's library... which people found counter-productive for the poor guy "if he wants to avoid everyone"... (Though he goes there at different times so if someone wants to see him in person, they might have to wait in the library all day.)
Cue Akiho Shinomoto, the assistant librarian of said library in their city. One who was also confused about the sudden influx of people visiting their usually barren place, only to discover that it was because they're there for someone who frequents their library.
How did she know? Well, all the ladies that borrow romance books seem to talk about someone who "looks good even in a world full of black and white". They also whisper questions about his identity, his job, why does thos guy stay in the library all the time, and teases each other that whoever the guy's soulmate is is lucky because "she'll get to see how he looks like in colors".
Naturally, this made Akiho thankful (and curious) because this person they're talking about made her beloved place lively again.
She figured she wanted to meet this mystery guy to at least thank him for reviving their library... She's in the place he frequently goes to, so it wouldn't be hard for her... right?
Wrong.
Because everytime she thinks she'll be able to, something happens preventing her to meet him...
Until one fateful day that she finally managed to meet this guy: she was on the library's reception desk and he placed the Alice in Wonderland book on the desk so he can borrow it.
The moment their eyes met, she froze.
Because she can see the guy in front of him in colors.
He was her soulmate.
And boy, she'd lie if she'll say she did not find him absolutely captivating; rumors about him that he heard were now completely justified to her.
But here comes a dilemma... She heard about cases where a person was your soulmate but you weren't theirs— her late mother was unfortunately one of those cases she heard...
She's quite curious (and terrified) if she'll be part of that statistics of the unfortunate ones...
So, to everyone's surprise, she pulled the guy outside the library to interrogate him about what just happened.
Only for the guy to say that he still sees the world in black and white.
... And for some reason Akiho does not believe that statement at all.
So she tried to extract as much information as she could using her job, and became persistent about getting to know her soulmate who is apparently named Yuna D. Kaito.
Yuna D. Kaito on the other hand was feeling guilty of the white lie he said. He blurted it on the spot as he was not ready to change the routine—even if he finds said routine as soulless— because someone is saying you're her soulmate.
He then started doing the complete opposite by unconsciously entertaining Akiho's attempts to get to know him, not realizing that he was starting to break the walls he put around himself.
How would these two knuckleheads (affectionately) navigate their feelings so they can finally stop playing ring around the rosie around their hearts and just be happy?
Well... i give you this prompt to give them a proper tribute :)
~•~••~•••~••~•~
This prompt is inspired by a discord message:
[i didn't include their username bc idk if they wanted it to be out in public 😅]
Specifically; "...One so powerful the world seemed dull to him."
My mind sang ViViD by Heejin (from LOONA) and went and pointed out that Soulmate AUs exist and one variation is the soulmates seeing the world in colors once they meet... so I went ahead and used it xd
this is the second time im typing this tumblr PLEASE COOPERATEEEE 😭😭
Yesterday I found a comment of someone (in jp) who was suddenly reminiscing about Kaito in Clear Card and getting "mad" at him all over again. He's that kind of character, after all, he elicits annoyance until you make the actual effort to understand him.
One of the complaints was something like "you jerk! don't use the Tsuki Ga Kirei way to convey your feelings! Say them clearly! Don't leave it up to the girl how to interpret it!" 😅
While clearly forgetting that Akiho used that exact same phrase to confess first 🙄and Kaito used it specifically for that reason.
I found it added twice the meaningfulness. One year after they re-started their journey together, after a path of emotional healing and reconnection, it's like he's saying "I understand what you meant back then, we're on the same page, our feelings are mutual". The choice to say it on a shiny bright morning, then, is even more "there's no way you're going to misinterpret this".
A meaningfulness that would be very easy to get if only one made the effort to go back and re-read...instead of getting "mad" for nothing. 🙃
Along the years I found that many people forgot about this; Akiho's scene is a pretty important turning point in the story, yet I've seen many people thinking that Kaito came out of nowhere with the famous "tsuki ga kirei" love declaration. 😐
Yeah, Akiho seems confused at first, but just for a moment, then she understands immediately. 😌 After all, almost 2 years passed since she said it first, and they're even living elsewhere, immersed in another culture where that phrase doesn't mean that, so it's normal that she'd feel disoriented at first.
And to be totally honest, Akiho didn't choose an eloquent way to confess her feelings to begin with (she even said it at night, even more confusing) so she brought this on herself. 🤣
Characters: Akiho Shinomoto, Yuna D. Kaito, Sakura Kinomoto, Syaoran Li, Fujitaka Kinomoto
Rating: T
Warnings: none
Tags: more adoptive family bonding, Fujitaka/Kaito talk!!!, a little surprise for SyaoSaku too, and a final scene that still makes my eyes all watery
Summary: Four years later, Kaito and Akiho are back in Tomoeda for a short while, on Syaoran's request: he's finally going to learn time magic! What Akiho doesn't imagine, however, is that this visit will trigger one of the biggest turning points in her relationship with Kaito.
Word count: 5.513
A/N at the end of the chapter.
English is not my first language; keep that into consideration.
This chapter on AO3
Excerpt:
After so much waiting, after so many struggles, after holding back for so long…she was almost tempted to pinch herself to check if this was another one of those romance-filled dreams she sometimes had of him.
The next day, Kinomoto home.
“Oh gosh…is that what he said?”
Sakura carefully placed the tray with the tea set on the coffee table in front of the couch, looking at Syaoran with a sad frown. In the quiet of her living room, the clang of the teaware resulted almost too loud.
“Yeah…I had no idea he was going through that.” For a moment, Syaoran didn't return her stare, but simply kept his eyes glued to the ground, bits and pieces of his conversation with Kaito playing back in his head. “I'm not sure anything of what I told him yesterday was truly effective, but I tried.”
“He's going to break Akiho-chan's heart again like that,” Sakura sighed as she moved a cup in front of him, “I get it, he's worried and he's thinking about her future. But Akiho-chan is so strong, he has no idea of the mountains that girl would move for him. They need to talk so, so badly, I'm sure that would solve most of their problems.”
“That's what I told him too,” Syaoran paused to sip on his tea, “she has the right to express her say in this. He can't just…give it all up before he even hears what she truly wants.”
“Besides,” she sat down next to him, taking her own cup from the table, “I have faith this situation won't go on for long. I can't explain it, but that's what my intuition tells me.”
Syaoran smiled at her. By now, Sakura had learned not to dismiss the intuitions and warnings of her special sixth sense, and was starting to grasp how to “decode” them, especially when they came up in foretelling dreams. She had become a much more self-aware magician, and he was conscious of that, even though it was basically impossible to ask him to stop worrying about her.
He put his cup down, as his expression rapidly became more serious, almost solemn. He reached for her free hand, gentlemanly holding it over the palm of his own. “Sakura…”
The girl put her own tea cup down on the table and immediately turned her puzzled eyes to him—the simple gesture and the tone of his voice had been enough to convey the sudden shift of mood in her boyfriend.
“Listen…my conversation with Kaito made me think about a whole lot of things. Although he's been too hasty about it, I understand his doubts and fears and I can't hide I would've been in front of a terrible dilemma too, if I were in his situation. He and I are very similar in that aspect.”
Sakura's eyebrows slightly furrowed. “Not because we are afraid of commitment,” he continued, shaking his head, “but because we are afraid of what that commitment might entail…for our most important person. We would never do something that could bring misery to you.”
His thumb started stroking Sakura's fingers, still resting on his palm. “But at the same time…it reminded me I'm incredibly happy I get to be by your side…and be…your boyfriend,” his cheeks slightly colored now—even after all these years it was still a bit embarrassing for him to say it aloud. “So happy that I could scream it to the world. And that's when I realized there's a part of my life that doesn't know much of this happiness I'm experiencing every day.”
Sakura felt her breath catching in her throat, eyes widening. His fingers closed over hers, holding her hand tight.
“Sakura…come with me to Hong Kong, this summer. I want to introduce you to the Li Clan.”
“E-eh?”
He heard her gasp in shock. His face was tomato red, just like hers, but he strove to hold her stare, as he felt that if he weren't at least brave enough to look her in the eyes as he uttered those words, he didn't deserve to ask her something like that to begin with.
Sakura brought a hand over her mouth, as if she wanted to prevent a storm of emotions from flowing out of her lips and eyes at any moment. Her eyes were still glistening, though, trying to defy her attempt. It wasn't like he asked her the big question, but inevitably she knew what meeting his extended family would mean in the long run.
Syaoran raised his free hand. “I know I have to ask your father if he's ok with this, and I know it's still too soon to get officially engaged, there's so much we have to finish up first…I'm painfully aware of all of this, that's why that will have to wait. But…I want to be very clear with my clan about who I'm introducing to them, when I'll bring you over. I want them to get to know you. I want them to know one day you're going to be part of the family too…if you want to, of course.”
Sakura's vision slightly blurred, she literally felt like something inside her could burst at any moment. Meeting his family, his sisters, in particular his mother (whom she had just seen in video-calls, till now) had always been a wish of hers. She leaped enthusiastically forward and hugged Syaoran on the couch, a muffled “yes, of course I do” emerging from the space where her face pressed against his chest.
Syaoran instinctively held her and chuckled, still impossibly red in the face. After a moment, though, his common sense regained a hold of him and he embarrassedly whispered “Sakura…your father is in the kitchen,” which prompted the girl to jump away from him, slightly out of breath. She laughed sheepishly, before the doorbell intruded loudly on the awkward moment.
She thanked Akiho in her head a million times. “Oh, they're here!!” she exclaimed a little too loudly, then stood up and rushed towards the kitchen, peeking in. “Dad, Akiho-chan and Kaito-san are here!”
Outside the door, Sakura greeted warmly the two guests, followed by Syaoran. Akiho, in particular, realized her best friend was holding her hands a bit too tightly, as if she were barely containing some kind of excitement. The girl didn't understand exactly why, but the warm welcome made her feel all giddy inside nevertheless.
Fujitaka appeared at the doorstep, and as soon as Akiho saw him, she suddenly felt an outrageous amount of nervousness hitting her all at once. Her body tensed, reacting instinctively before her brain could even register why she was feeling that way. But as she heard herself speak, a part of her mind quickly understood the reason why.
“Fujitaka-san…” she started, her voice slightly strained as her hand gestured nervously towards the young man standing beside her, “this is Kaito-san. He's been my travel companion for long time. And…”
Her voice fizzled out like a burned sparkler, crimson red hue spreading over her face and neck. She felt like her throat was being squeezed by invisible hands, but she still strived to finish her sentence. “And he is…my…”
She panicked. Her throat couldn't emit any more sounds, sabotaged by the uncertainty of whether she could really say what she wanted to say. What if what happened the night before was all just a dream? After all, he had behaved like usual that morning, and none of them really went back to the subject. What if he had changed his mind? Maybe she could go for the safer route and define him her “most important person”? Anxiety was definitely messing with her head, and as she glanced around in distress, she became aware of Sakura's worried eyes on her.
But before her friend could ask her if she was okay, Akiho perceived Kaito next to her taking one step forward with a secure, elegant movement.
“It's a pleasure to meet you, Kinomoto-sensei. I'm Yuna D. Kaito,” he said with that smooth, enchanting quality of his voice that she knew could instantly charm people, “I'm Akiho-san's boyfriend.”
A sudden gasp of shock escaped Sakura's lips, which she tried to reign in by holding her hand over her mouth, but everyone—except an equally surprised Syaoran—chose to ignore her, as to not worsen the already pretty awkward situation.
Akiho's eyes widened as she released the breath she was unwittingly holding and turned to stare at Kaito. He was smiling placidly, not a single trace of nervousness or uncertainty in his demeanor. The word had rolled off his tongue so naturally that she almost wondered if he had been secretly practicing it—something that, she immediately reasoned with herself, would've been more typical of her and not him.
It all felt so surreal. Being with him really was like riding roller coasters, sometimes. One day she was crying frustratedly at the prospect of separating from him and the next he introduced himself as her boyfriend as if it were the most mundane, normal thing of this world. Which evidently confirmed his resolve and the vows he made the night before. She felt like she wanted to cry out of relief, but for the sake of avoiding any further embarrassment she managed to keep her composure. Her eyes shifted to Sakura again, whom was now staring at her with a “you need to tell me everything!!” look, which contributed to worsen the burning feeling on her cheeks.
“The pleasure of meeting you is all mine, I'm Fujitaka Kinomoto. I've heard a lot about you, I was looking forward to make your acquaintance,” Fujitaka replied in his typical laid-back manner before bowing, choosing to not really question what was happening with his daughters and why he could feel some kind of tension in the air, so thick you could cut it with a knife. After all, it's not like what he heard was anything new—he had understood since long time what tied his acquired daughter to the young man in front of him.
“I wish I could say that I trust what you heard is all positive, but I'm afraid I can't dare to hope that much,” Kaito said with an apologetic smile after returning the bow, effectively breaking the ice, as his ironic comment left everyone chuckling.
“Well, the look on Akiho-san's face whenever she speaks of you is enough for me to know you're a good young man,” the professor replied, trying to reassure the magician, but also causing Akiho's cheeks to color up again. “Let's get inside. We need to celebrate the positive result of Syaoran-kun's hard training, don't we?” he said then, ushering everyone inside.
The living room that had been so quiet till a few moments before took life, as it became filled with the lively chatter of the four friends, with Kaito recounting the most salient moments of Syaoran's training and Sakura nodding enthusiastically to every detail, eyes filled with admiration and pride for the love of her life. Fujitaka came into the room bringing a new piping hot teapot, cups and saucers on a big tray, placing it on the coffee table for Sakura to do the honors and serve the tea to their guests. Then, he excused himself again. “I will also bring you a cake I made this morning, just one moment.”
Kaito suddenly rose from the couch, drawing everyone's attention. “Please, let me help you serving the cake.”
Fujitaka was a little taken aback, but he could read something more in the way Kaito looked at him, waiting for his approval.
Akiho, whom was also slightly surprised at first, was now smiling amusedly at his gesture. “He just can't help himself. Let him help you out, he's very skilled with these things. He can balance multiple dishes on one arm,” she said, backed by Sakura's cheerful “yep, can confirm!”.
Fujitaka chuckled, accepting the help. “That's very kind of you, thank you. This way,” he said, leading Kaito towards the kitchen.
As soon as the two disappeared from sight, Sakura didn't waste any time, getting straight to the point. “So?? What happened? Did you two manage to talk?” she asked Akiho with sparkling eyes, her smile so big it reached her ears.
Akiho jumped slightly on her seat, face flushing at the speed of light. “Ah…yes. When I came back home last night, he was there, awake and waiting for me…I followed your advice and spoke honestly to him, asking him to hear me out for once. And, well…it worked,” the last words left her lips barely above a whisper, as she fidgeted with the hem of her blouse. If she and Sakura were having a girl talk in private, she might have opened up more about what else happened last night. But for now, she decided she wanted to treasure the privacy of that significant moment a little bit longer. It would've been their little secret for now.
“I'm so glad for both of you, Akiho-chan,” Sakura said, looking at her with genuine satisfaction, “it's wonderful that you two talked it out and cleared your situation. I was sure you could do it.”
“Yeah, I'm very relieved too,” Syaoran chimed in, “I found Kaito to be a bit absent-minded during our training session yesterday, so I'm sure he…had his own good share of ruminations as well,” he said, trying to be vague about how much he knew. “He looks like a whole new person today.”
“I know, right? And he's so confident about it too. Honestly I'm a bit envious, I still get nervous when I have to introduce Syaoran-kun to someone new!” Sakura chuckled sheepishly, eliciting a mirrored reaction in Akiho.
“Yeah, I'm kinda…shocked about it too, but then again, maybe I shouldn't be. He can be like that; once he made up his mind about something, it's like he's starting anew with a clean slate. He goes full steam ahead,” the girl commented, with a tender smile.
A luscious dark brown delicacy was sitting on the kitchen's counter, waiting to be sliced. Kaito made a sound of appreciation, marveling at the exquisite white chocolate decoration enriching the cake. “It's really impressive. It looks delicious.”
“Thank you very much. I thought chocolate would hopefully meet everyone's taste,” Fujitaka replied, placing five little plates and forks on the counter, “I've heard wonders about your cakes too. You seem to have a natural talent in the kitchen, judging by what Akiho-san says.”
“She's just too generous with me. It started as a necessity, but I found along the way that I really enjoyed mixing ingredients and see what would come out of it. It's fun. And…” Kaito paused as a smile crept on his lips, “…I really enjoy watching her reaction every time she eats something I made.”
Fujitaka stared kindly at Kaito, quietly observing how, except for his eyes, he didn't change a bit from the brief exchange of stares they had during the school's Parents Day, four years prior. Back then, the intensity of his eyes had caught his attention, and for some reason he lingered in his mind even in the following months, even if he had no idea who he was. As if some kind of sixth sense was trying to tell him that refined young man would be relevant to his life in the future. Now, he could see it for himself, it was really like his daughter said—it was as if his time had completely stopped.
Kaito kept staring at the cake, his expression growing serious as heavy feelings clouded the smile that the mere thought of Akiho had sparked so effortlessly. His stare shifted on Fujitaka, poignant and contrite.
“Kinomoto-sensei…I'm aware that Akiho-san and Sakura-san informed you of what happened four years ago, after everyone recovered their memories. I still owe you an apology for that. The way I went about it was presuming and high-handed…I'm truly sorry,” he said as he bowed slightly his head.
Fujitaka was once again taken aback, but finally understood the ulterior motive hidden behind the young man's eyes when he offered to help, back in the living room.
“I admit the full understanding of what happened was above my comprehension skills, but I remember that in the middle of all those complex words, all I heard was ‘Kaito-kun cared very much for Akiho-san and chose for her a family full of love where she could live in'.”
Kaito's eyes, still meeting the floor in self-reproach, widened at the soft-spoken reply.
Warm, comforting, not a trace of judgment. This man had all the right to be mad at him—a stranger, the one who imposed such a big responsibility on him, without considering anything else.
And yet, he seemed to understand him and his reasons so well…he wondered if that was how it felt like having a father figure. A dull ache gripped and twisted his stomach, as he raised his head once again. “I was in a desperate situation. I could only think about giving her a safe and loving place to continue living in when I'd be gone. But that doesn't excuse that I presumed to know it would be what everyone wanted.”
Kaito's words of self-criticism tinged Fujitaka's smile with heartfelt compassion. He knew it very well, the feeling of having the best intentions at heart, the purest feelings guiding every action, but still messing up, still daring more than what's sensible and allowed, and as a result finding yourself perceived as a menace, with the situation and appearances working against you.
He gently shook his head. “On the contrary, I wanted to thank you for the honor of entrusting your most important person to me. And I promise you that I will always take good care of her when she's here. She may have chosen to live her life elsewhere, and I'm sure she's happier that way, but she will always have a safe harbor here.” He turned to the cake and sunk the cake server in, cutting the first slice, perceiving Kaito's astonished stare on him the whole time. “I know what that feels like. Having no support, both emotional and practical, during the most vulnerable part of your life…it sticks with you. You get used to the idea that you'll be fine on your own, and you shouldn't bother other people, asking for help.” He held the slice of cake on the server, as Kaito shook out of his bewilderment and hurried to bring a plate closer.
“But…it doesn't matter how your life started…all that matters is what you're going to do from now on. And if you have the blessing of meeting someone special, someone who trusts you and loves you for who you are, despite everything…” Fujitaka said as he slid seamlessly the slice of cake on the plate, “then allow yourself to trust them, love them in return. You have to cherish that relationship like one of the best presents life can give you. Only then, you will truly know that everything you experienced till that moment had been worth something.”
Kaito stared at the slice of cake as Fujitaka's words resonated deep within him, the feeling accompanied by a painful lump forming in his throat. In the clutches of fear he had been so reckless, so ungrateful for the present that life gave him, he was fully aware of that. But he was determined to stop the vicious circle, stop being afraid—he would receive that present with both of his hands, eagerly, unreservedly, as he was meant to.
Words finally found a way out of his choked throat, a hint of a smile on his lips. “Thank you so much, Kinomoto-sensei. I won't forget that.”
After that, Fujitaka and Kaito continued chatting on a lighter note, shooting the breeze as every slice of cake was matched with a plate and its own fork. When they were done, Kaito insisted in carrying three plates, one for both of his hands and one balanced on the right arm, and once the two men returned to the living room, the “oohs!” of amazement at the cake were so loud that they reached Sakura's bedroom upstairs. Just like clockwork, Kero-chan stormed into the living room, loudly protesting for not being called immediately as the cake was being served.
“Next time turn your eyes away from that Switch and come down greeting our guests!” Sakura reprimanded him, which prompted Kero-chan to finally take notice of the other three sitting on the couch. “Yo, Akiho! Oh, you brought the magician too, today,” he said as he flew down on the coffee table, in front of the big slice of cake that Fujitaka had just put down for him, “you're lucky big brother ain't here today, he said he's gonna mess you up if he sees you,” he added, pointing his fork at Kaito. The magician just put on his trademark grin, without responding, but that didn't stop Akiho from growing quite nervous at the idea of Touya meeting Kaito.
“Kero-chan!!” Sakura yelled at him, irked and embarrassed at the lack of politeness of the beast.
“Now, now. Touya-kun might seem scary sometimes, but he's all bark and no bite,” Fujitaka smiled, trying to calm the waters before his daughter strangled the mini golden beast. “Well then, shall we eat the cake?”
Everyone responded with a loud and cheerful “okay!”, and as they savored the chocolate treat, Syaoran even took courage to ask Fujitaka permission to take Sakura to Hong Kong later that summer. As Akiho and Kaito were basically family, he didn't feel uncomfortable doing it in front of them—actually, that resulted in the two merrily congratulating them, after Fujitaka gave his predictable blessing.
“Akiho-chan, when are you going back to Stockholm?”
As the sparse clouds reflected the pink hues of sunset on the surrounding area, Sakura and Syaoran stood outside the gate of the house to see Akiho and Kaito off on their way back to the Shinomoto/Yuna mansion. Fujitaka had insisted they stayed for dinner, but the two politely declined, saying they needed to start packing their things.
“Well, Kaito-san told me he has just one more lesson with Li-kun to consolidate what he learned, so I think we might leave in two days. We would like to go back in time for Valborg.”
“Valborg?”
“Yes, it's the festivity commonly known as Walpurgis Night. Swedes love to celebrate the arrival of spring lighting bonfires…they do it to ward witches and evil spirits off, but Kaito-san told me the occasion brings an increased activity in magic communities too, in spite of the original meaning of the holiday.”
“Magicians can be very defiant creatures, what can I say. Take it or leave it,” Kaito commented beside her, with a knowing smile. Akiho couldn't help but chuckle softly, rolling her eyes at his humorous remark.
“I think I've encountered mentions of that festivity, in my studies of the European magic scene,” Syaoran nodded with interest, “do you intend to take part to those activities?”
“Yes, we would like to participate to one of those gatherings to see if we can obtain any information about the spells we're looking for,” Akiho replied.
“Is it safe for you to take part to those rituals, though?” Sakura asked a bit apprehensively.
Akiho's smile broadened in reassurance. “There's nothing I fear by his side,” she said, turning briefly to look Kaito in the eyes with a very soft expression, prompting a loving stare from him in return. Her gaze returned to Sakura, however, when she felt the girl taking both of her hands in hers. Her green eyes were sparkling with a confident light.
“You know I don't say these things lightly, but…I feel like soon you'll find what you're looking for. I can't explain what is making me say this, or when exactly that will happen, but you won't have to struggle much longer. So always have faith, okay?”
Akiho, initially surprised by her best friend's declaration, nodded with relief. Both she and Kaito knew that nothing Sakura ever said with that confident tone had to be taken lightly. Because there was a very high chance it could just be a premonition waiting to happen.
“Sakura-san.”
“Yes?” Sakura turned to Kaito, with a tiny hint of nervousness now peeking through her voice. It didn't happen often that he addressed her so directly.
“By now you reached a level of magic that makes it difficult for you to keep flying under the radar of the magic world. What happened before we came here could happen again.”
His eyes held her stare with the heavy awareness of someone who had seen all the sides of the magic world. “Considering the level of your experience and the spiritual connection you reached with your magic, I would advise to add a brief period of training while you're visiting the Li clan this summer.”
The advice surprised Sakura, who turned to Syaoran with a concerned expression, to which he nodded in reassurance.
“I would be honored to train you myself,” Kaito continued, “but unfortunately I am not blessed with the power of clairvoyance, so I cannot do anything for you in that regard. I'm sure the current head of the Li clan would be a much more fitting teacher for this task.”
Sakura's gaze lowered for a moment, deep in thought. “I've never taken this option into serious consideration, and I'm not sure how well I would handle it.”
Even after all this time dealing with the magic world, she still felt kind of an “outsider”. She had long embraced the natural gift she was born with, and felt secure in the execution of a good number of spells with her inseparable Cards, but she was still uncertain about discovering the whole picture of the magic world.
“You don't need to be afraid. You're a wonderful person, and I trust that destiny will lead only good intentioned people to you. But I'm also sure that you are perfectly capable of protecting yourself, should that turn out to be not true in every single instance,” Kaito said confidently, wanting to reassure her, but also not sugarcoat the state of affairs.
Sakura seemed to perceive his intent, and smiled. “Thank you so much, Kaito-san. I will definitely keep your words into high consideration.”
“Moreover, you have this formidable watchdog by your side, I'm pretty sure his barking will be enough to scare any undesired attention away,” Kaito said cheerfully with a cheeky grin, earning from Akiho a sigh and disapproving side-eye.
“Hey... what's that supposed to mean,” Syaoran snapped back with his trademark scowl, “I'm not a watchdog?”
“I love dogs,” Sakura announced happily next to him, “they're very affectionate, intelligent, loyal...and some can make you feel very safe too,” she explained further, smiling at her boyfriend with the very same grin that Kaito was wearing in that moment. One could swear the two were almost sparkling by how bright their foolish grins were.
Syaoran couldn't really stop the blush that crept up from the base of his neck up to the top of his head. He cleared his throat, grumbling something unintelligible while averting his eyes from any of the other three.
Kaito chortled at the scene, but pressed his lips together to suppress it when he heard the warning “Kaito-san” coming from Akiho next to him. He glanced at her, feeling her icy blue eyes incinerating him on the spot, and murmured an unconvincing “OK, I'm sorry” in apology.
“Joking aside,” he cleared his throat and switched to a more serious tone, but at the same time warm and soothing, as Sakura and Syaoran turned to him, “if you need anything, if anything arises...call us. We'll do everything we can.”
“Yes,” Akiho chimed in, nodding next to him, “we'll try our best. We keep owing you a lot…you're always there for us when we need it...we never feel alone even if we're on the other side of the world. But please know that the thing is mutual, you can always count on us, too.”
“Akiho-chan…” Sakura threw her arms around her friend and held her tight, reciprocated. It was always hard for her to separate from the ash-blonde girl, almost as if she had to separate from a part of herself. But in her heart she knew she would never be too far away from her. She would be waiting for her to come back whenever she wanted to. She would be her other place to call “home”.
At that moment, Fujitaka walked outside the front door, joining the group at the gate. He held carefully a pink pouch that he handed to Akiho. “A little sweet souvenir you can bring back to Stockholm. There are cookies inside,” he said with a smile, causing Akiho's entire face to light up with joy at the unexpected present. “Thank you so much, this is so nice of you!” she said as she looked enthusiastically at the cute bag in her hands.
Fujitaka then turned to Kaito. “You also have a safe harbor here, Kaito-kun. Don't forget that,” he said, extending a comforting hand on Kaito's left shoulder, which brought once again a brief expression of surprise on the younger man's face. He thanked Fujitaka, unsure of which expression would be best to make. He definitely, definitely wasn't used to this.
Sakura stared at the scene with glistening eyes, heart filled with a warm, tickling feeling of happiness.
“I'm Akiho-san's boyfriend.”
As they walked back home, with their long shadows stretching on the road ahead, Kaito's words of earlier that afternoon echoed in Akiho's mind once again.
God, he really said that. She still couldn't believe he had finally spelled out that word—in front of people important to her, at that. After so much waiting, after so many struggles, after holding back for so long…she was almost tempted to pinch herself to check if this was another one of those romance-filled dreams she sometimes had of him. The way her chest still felt so tight and filled with warmth made her want to scream in the streets. No one would've given a damn that the guy next to her had finally started to call himself “her boyfriend”—after all, seen by outside, they looked like any other teenage couple. By all appearances, there was nothing unusual about them.
No one knew the struggle they went through. No one truly knew how difficult and complex their situation was, or the years worth of trauma and personal insecurities they had to dismantle to be where they were today. Even Sakura and her loved ones, as much as they cherished them, were only aware of a part of that struggle. No one could fully understand.
Except maybe one creature. One who had known both of them for long, long time. Witnessed their afflictions, listened to their deepest secrets, assisted them in what they wanted to do.
Akiho looked up at the orange-tinted clouds, thinking their fluffy shapes reminded her of a soft plush.
Momo. Can you hear me?
Among the stretch of fluff, she spotted a cloud that looked like a bunny's head. She smiled.
I'm so happy, Momo. I'm sure you remember how much I wished for this, how much I fought my insecurities for this. All the times I believed I was no good, and yet yearned to be with him more than anything I ever wanted in my life.
I feel like nothing can separate us now, and the thought makes my heart burst.
But…
Her smile waned, as her eyes fell prey to melancholy.
I wish you were here too, right now…
I feel like this happiness isn't complete without you. There's so much I want to tell you, so much I'd want to ask an advice for. I strive to be brave, Momo, and I'm learning all on my own…I'm sure this is what you wanted for me. Experience life, find first-hand the answers I am looking for…because you trusted that I could find my way, and make the change happen. No one else could do it for me.
It's just that…I miss you, Momo. And in the same way I strived to get Kaito-san to open up to me, I will work hard to find you and Alice in Clockland too.
Wait for me, Momo.
As they turned a corner, Kaito noticed how quiet and pensive Akiho was next to him, and couldn't help but ask in light concern. “Is everything ok, Akiho-san? You're so quiet.”
Akiho stopped watching the clouds and turned her head to look into Kaito's eyes. Meeting his gaze roused the butterflies in her stomach once again, and the feeling brought back a spontaneous, big smile on her face. Her left hand reached for his right one, intertwining their fingers in a firm lover's hold. He was taken aback by the gesture for a moment, but then returned the hold with a kind smile. She grinned at him.
“I'm great. Let's hurry up, our suitcases are waiting!”
Author's note:
Secrets, I wanna keep your secrets
Like sunlight in the shadows
Like footsteps in the grass
I won't ever break my promise
Like a songbird in the silence
Like stones against the glass
Miley Cyrus - Secrets (2025)
Alright, imagine this song is playing in the background as the closing credits start rolling...
My gosh, I can't believe this is finally over!!
Chapter 5 was posted in freaking august 🥲I feel so guilty for letting so much time pass, even more so because I posted 2 one shots in the meantime (well, one of them was one year old), but it's honestly been a struggle to finish this "epilogue" 😅
I guess that's a lesson for me to be very careful when I reach the chapter where the core of the fic happens; I need to keep writing to not lose momentum. But honestly, even like this, I still feel like multi-chapter is definitely a mode that demands too much of my mental energy. Maybe, who knows, I need to keep practicing with ficlets more before delving into a multi-chaptered fic again.
There isn't much to say about this final chapter; as you can see I gave SyaoSaku a little special moment too (the prospect of a Hong Kong trip—what everyone always asks for in canon, LOL)! Moreover, Kaito put immediately into practice what he promised last chapter—he's like that, there's no in between, he goes by extremes—and I KNOW it looks very much like a SyaoSaku scene in early Clear Card, but that was a bit intentional on my part. I wanted to see them in that situation and see how things would play out with heavier emotions involved.
And then, the heartfelt conversation with Fujitaka🥲✨ I really love that one. I tried my best to "visualize" how it would go in my head, and tried to keep it as canon-respectful as possible. I'm sure Fujitaka would be very welcoming with Kaito, and not because he's gullible or whatever, but because he understands where he comes from.
Lastly, I kept the "silent conversation" with Momo for the very end 🥲🥲🥲🥲 I still have a lump in my throat if I think about it. I absolutely wanted to include something like this, Akiho thinking about Momo...because Akiho didn't mention her in the entire fic but you can be sure she's always, always in her mind. 😭❤️ Those who know me well know this too, but I didn't really swallow the fact that Akiho couldn't be reunited with Momo at the end of Clear Card. And seeing her in Holic Rei, involved in a whole new predicament, with a whole new name is nice but also kinda painful. 🥲 Just because I love Clear Card Arc, doesn't mean I love *everything* indiscriminately...
Well, at this ☝️ point of the timeline I imagined, Kaito and Akiho are close to find Momo at least, so there's that. Who knows, maybe one day I might write of how they found her. 🤭
Despite in several moments it was a struggle, I really enjoyed writing this fic for YunaAki. I enjoyed imagining their first kiss and enjoyed making the characters baring their hearts to their friends and to one another. I enjoyed exploring the complexity of Kaito and Akiho's situation (because we aren't stuck at the "omg an age gap!!!" shallow rubbish, here), delving into all the aspects that could hold Kaito back, and those that drew Akiho even more in. Let's face it, they're perfect for one another. No one can persuade Kaito like Akiho can. No one can make Akiho fall head over heels like a committed Kaito can.
Last, but NOT LEAST, I want to thank any reader who took a bit of their time to read this fic, and even more so for those who left kudos, bookmarked/subscribed to the fic, but most importantly left a comment. ✨❤️
Characters: Yuna D. Kaito, Akiho Shinomoto
Rating: T
Tags: lunar eclipse, set in Chile, Domestic Fluff, One Shot, watch me as I make Akiho say THE Chilean word, Hurt/Comfort
Warnings: none
Summary: A total lunar eclipse is about to enchant Chile with a spectacular red moon, three years after the last one.
While the whole country waits in anticipation, Yuna D. Kaito knows what awaits him. And he isn't excited in the least.
(Based on a talk CLAMP had on November 2022 about the adverse effects a lunar eclipse causes to magicians and creatures using moon magic in CCS)
Word count: 4.022
A/N at the end of the one-shot.
English is not my first language; keep that into consideration.
This one shot is set in Chile as a token of appreciation to all my Latin American friends and followers. ❤️
My deepest gratitude goes to Horitsuba and Kamië who provided precious insight, suggestions and culture-checked this one shot as beta readers.
Ness, if you read this, I hope you appreciate it. ❤️❤️❤️
This fic on AO3
Excerpt:
He's not sure what's happening to him, nor if this could be considered one of the 50 different side effects of the lunar eclipse, but he's suddenly hit with a desperate need to heed her silent request. He's never done this before, never dared this much, but somehow he feels like this is everything he needs right now.
“Todas las miradas estarán puestas en el cielo esta noche, ¡para ver el primer eclipse lunar total en tres años!” (All eyes will be looking up at the sky tonight, to see the first total lunar eclipse in three years!)
Kaito turns to the TV humming in the background, as he stops cutting in half some fresh hallullas for breakfast. He frowns.
His complexion loses slightly color as he puts the bread down and moves closer to the TV, trying to understand if he heard right.
And sure enough, he did. Tonight there's going to be a total lunar eclipse over Chile, and by the look of it, it will be completely visible from Santiago, the place he lives in right now with Akiho.
Crap, it's even a total one, Kaito mentally swears as he cleans his hands, rubbing them on his apron. His eyes scrutinize gravely the TV host announcing in such a cheerful manner how gorgeous and mysterious the sight of a red moon will be. His gaze then drifts over the colorful caption on the bottom of the screen, showing at what time it will start—10:36 pm. The hosts of the morning show are now all talking about how they will prepare to watch the event tonight.
Yes, of course, everyone is super excited about it.
Why wouldn't they be?
But he knows what a lunar eclipse means for him, and he isn't excited in the least about that part.
Sighing, he starts pacing around the kitchen as he rearranges the plans of the day in his mind, worrying mainly about the preparation of the meals and the housework he needs to finish before evening comes. “I would really hate it if it started affecting me in the middle of preparing dinner,” he mutters under his breath. Hopping around the world for most of his life, the times Kaito experienced lunar eclipses aren't that many, but he's well aware of the symptoms and the course of the event from the few he unfortunately had the displeasure to run into. Therefore, he already knows he will start feeling the effects of it a bit earlier than the beginning of the penumbral phase. He's kind of prepared, in a way.
But there's an additional concern, this time around—this is the first total eclipse he will experience after the beginning of his new life with Akiho. Where they're having a closer bond and they're more open and tightly involved with each other. He's always managed to hide it from her when she was younger, but he's sure he won't be able to make it this time around, even if he wanted to. “I should tell her,” he quietly whispers to himself, ending it with a sigh.
Akiho enters the kitchen precisely in that moment. One look at her and Kaito immediately understands she is filled with expectation and thrill, since she probably overheard from the hallway what they were saying at the morning show on the TV. “Did you hear that, Kaito-san? There will be a total lunar eclipse tonight!!”
Oh, no. Look how excited she is for the eclipse. Kaito groans internally, feeling his resolution to tell her everything melt away, like snow under the sun. If he says it now, she's going to fret over him—he can't shut down that beautiful smile and turn her whole day into a ‘fuss over Kaito’ fest, can he?
“So I've heard,” he strives to reply as enthusiastically as he can muster, but the contrived effort unfortunately doesn't go unnoticed on the other side.
Akiho's smile fades as she peers at him with an inquiring expression. “¿Qué pasa, Kaito?” (What's wrong, Kaito?)
He plasters on a big smile, feeling a shiver running down his spine. Great, he got busted right away. “Nada, mi amor.” (Nothing, my love.)
If this were a different moment of intimacy, or if Akiho weren't eighteen but her younger, more naive self, she would've started blushing and stammering by now. But precisely because he used that term of endearment after she posed a question, she knows he's trying to distract her from something he's not telling her.
And of course, that obtains exactly the result Kaito was trying to avoid—she starts fussing over him.
“Tenís una expresión un poco rara. ¿El eclipse te pone nervioso?” (You look a bit strange. Does the eclipse make you nervous?) she presses him with a slight frown, glancing at the TV for a moment.
“Claro que no, solo es la Luna que se enrojece por un rato por la sombra de la Tierra. No me da miedo eso,” (Of course not, it's just the moon turning red for a while because of the Earth's shadow. That doesn't scare me) he titters nervously, averting his gaze from her and returning to the hallullas waiting to be sliced in half on the kitchen counter.
Why the hell he can never do it right? Why she can see right through him as if he were made of crystal? He just wants her to spend the day peacefully, without the concern of something that in the end will affect only him, and many hours ahead, at that. But he's just unable to keep a poker face with her.
Akiho watches him in silence for a long, long moment, then approaches him at the kitchen counter, taking one hallulla cut in half for herself. She takes the butter and the strawberry jam and sits at the table, distractedly following the chatter of the TV hosts as she spreads the toppings over the bread.
“I will go back to the Biblioteca today,” she informs Kaito as he joins her at the table, placing down his own plate with bread, cheese and jamón. “I'm not sure how long I'll be there, I want to check out some books so it might take the entire afternoon.”
“I see. Then, if you don't mind, I will stay home to do some housework. I'd also like to cook dinner early so we just have to heat it up whenever we feel like eating it. Ah,” Kaito pauses before biting into the hallulla, “do you think you'll be home to have a light once?”
Cooking dinner early? Since when? He always likes to have a freshly cooked meal, Akiho thinks, perplexed by the unusual plan.
“Hmm…I might be a bit late, but I'll try to,” she finally answers, “I'm dying to have more of the chilenitos that you made yesterday. In fact,” she chuckles, glancing at the cupboard, “I might steal one, once I'm done eating this.”
Kaito simply smiles, relieved by the fact that it seems like she decided to give up on putting him through the wringer. And thanks to her plans for the day, if he's lucky enough he can avoid getting her too suspicious till evening comes.
── ･ ｡☆*☽*☆ﾟ.──
The day goes by peacefully, as Akiho works on a commissioned book repair in the morning and takes an Uber ride to the library downtown right after lunch. Kaito, for his part, makes sure to clean their apartment through—he doesn't know how long the after-effects will last, and he doesn't want to leave this burden on Akiho for tomorrow. By the time she comes back home, at 6 p.m., he's already prepared dinner to eat later, and he's waiting for her in the kitchen, table set for a dignified once: tea, some coffee for himself, chilenitos, cheese, marraquetas and cold cuts.
“What a refreshing sight!” Akiho chirps as she enters the kitchen with a big smile—a smile that, despite her best intentions, still fails to conceal a bit of tiredness. In full Chilean tradition, she sits down at the table with Kaito and finally unwinds, telling him how her afternoon went and describing in great details the spellbook she found in the occultism aisle of the library. Unfortunately, the tome didn't carry any useful spell that could help them with their cause. “But I need to call Hiiragizawa-san tomorrow, about that book. I think it might be of high interest to him,” she says as she indulges in another delicious chilenito.
Right, Hiiragizawa-san. Kaito stares into his coffee, while the message he received from Eriol a couple of hours earlier resurfaces in his mind.
“Good luck with the lunar eclipse.”
He honestly couldn't tell if the fellow magician was trying to mock him or sincerely wish him all the best for the harsh night ahead. He decided to go for the latter, considering the eclipse would be partly visible in his area too, and he lives with other moon magic users—very important people to him, at that. He's Eriol Hiiragizawa, sure, but he wouldn't be that cruel, now, would he?
“I wonder if the lunar eclipse will be visible from Japan too,” Akiho muses aloud as she sips her tea.
“They won't be able to see it, since the penumbral phase will end before the moon rises over there,” Kaito answers with a flat tone, making it obvious he had looked into the matter beforehand. After Eriol sent that message to him, he was curious to check the situation of the other moon magic users he knew. And so he found out, with a touch of envy, that his buddy Syaoran and Sakura's moon guardian would be able to escape the effects of the eclipse entirely.
Akiho blinks at him for a moment, slightly perplexed by the tone he used while answering to her. “Oh, I see…such a pity!” she then comments without much of a fuss, picking a piece of cheese from the platter.
I wish I were that unlucky, the frustrated thought sprouts candidly in Kaito's mind before he can truly stop it.
── ･ ｡☆*☽*☆ﾟ.──
The first wave of nausea comes around 9:30 p.m., right in the middle of dinner. It's very subtle in the beginning, so Kaito tries to ignore it and keeps eating as if nothing happened. However, as Akiho is finishing her plate, another wave hits him—stronger, this time, so much that he's forced to pause and put down his fork with an expression of discomfort.
Discomfort that doesn't go unnoticed by the other side of the table. Akiho watches him, slightly concerned. “Is everything okay?”
Kaito can only force a smile as he breathes deeply to manage the queasiness. “Yes, but I think I went too far, I'm full.”
“Oh, don't force yourself then. We even had once before, it's understandable,” Akiho says, smiling in return. “Do you want to go out for a walk to help digestion? I'll take care of cleaning up here.”
Bad idea. “No, I'd rather stay inside. I'm kind of…dizzy,” he declines, still smiling, but getting up from the table. “I think I'll go in the living room to sit down a little bit and see if the dizziness goes away.”
“Sure, go ahead,” she nods reassuringly, as she starts to collect the dishes from the table.
Slouching on the couch helps a little bit with Kaito's dizziness, but on the other hand it only gives way to all sorts of other symptoms. The nausea turns into a feeling of malaise gripping his whole stomach, similar to when he gets the flu. He's sure by now that the impending eclipse is already extending its claws over him.
By the time 10.30 p.m. comes, Akiho has finished cleaning up in the kitchen and finally joins Kaito in the living room. She finds it strange that he kept all lights off, but takes into consideration the fact it might be a preparation for the eclipse, which should start any moment now. After all, he's looking at her with such a loving smile, striving to hide the horrible feeling churning in his stomach and the migraine waking up in his head.
Akiho smiles back at him, even though she can't shake off the feeling that something isn't right with him. She slowly approaches the window, admiring the night view of the city of Santiago by their elevated position in Las Condes. Then she peers up, basking under the big source of light that's about to be dimmed.
“Look, Kaito-san! It's starting! I can see a light shade covering part of the moon!”
Akiho excitedly turns around to call Kaito at the window, but it's only in that moment that she realizes his complexion paled considerably, and he's standing, holding onto the backrest of the couch. All the anticipation, all the excitement dies in her throat.
He knows he can't hide it anymore. “Akiho-san…I-I need to tell you something…” he struggles to push the words out of his gritted teeth, as his hand instinctively goes to his temple, where a sharp pain is now pulsating incessantly.
Akiho runs immediately to him, in shock. “What's going on?! Is it another seizure? I'll grab Hiiragizawa-san's pills, wait—” but he stops her before she can rush towards the cabinet, gripping her arm tightly. She stares at him, shaken, anxiety swallowing her whole.
“It's not…a seizure. Listen to me. When the moon gets obscured during a lunar eclipse…the life force of magicians with moon-based powers will be impacted negatively…” Kaito says with labored breathing, desperately trying to pull himself together.
“What?!” Akiho exclaims, her distress turning into slight irritation, “I-I've never heard about this before! Is this why you've been acting strange the whole day? Why didn't you tell me sooner?!”
He reaches for her face, trembling fingers stroking lovingly her cheekbone. “You were so excited…I didn't want you…to have this worried expression the whole day,” he answers with a shaky voice, his lips curving into a painful smile.
Her features soften at his tender touch, but she's still retaining a slight frown as she realizes his hand is uncharacteristically warm. He might have a mild fever, she thinks quickly to herself. “This isn't the first time there's a lunar eclipse since I've known you…why am I noticing this effect only now?” she asks, even though in her heart she already knows the answer.
“Because I've always tried to hide it from you,” he admits candidly, his gaze imploring sympathy from her.
“Qué weá tenís en la cabeza?” (What the hell is wrong with you?) she closes her eyes and sighs, exasperated, as she bumps her forehead against his chest. Even if he's suffering and all, she can still hear him chuckle with guilt, like a naughty child—or at least trying to. It seems like he regretted that move right away, as a sharp intake of breath suggests another wave of pounding migraine incoming.
Akiho stares apprehensively at him and tries to support him as best as she can. “Is this dangerous for you?”
“No, no…it will subside as soon as the lunar eclipse is over, you don't need to worry,” he tries to reassure her through the pain, even though his strained voice elicits quite the opposite in his girlfriend.
“Is there anything I can do for you? Any meds you could take to ease the pain? The eclipse will go on for hours,” she says with a pained voice, feeling the tears burning in the back of her eyes. Even his seizures usually don't last that long, and seeing him suffer like that is just unbearable for her.
“Medicines won't have any effect…I just have to wait for the eclipse to pass,” he forces himself to keep his smile on, as a light perspiration surfaces on his skin.
Akiho peers at him, her worried expression slowly changing into a resolute one. “Come, you need to sit down,” she says as she guides him back to the couch, supporting him by the chest. Kaito feels like he doesn't have an ounce of willpower left in his veins, and just lets her take the wheel, without protesting. It kind of feels…nice.
With a slight groan, he abandons his body against the backrest of the couch, watching Akiho leaving and returning after a moment with a small towel and a glass of water. His eyelids feel heavier and heavier.
“Can you drink a little bit? You're sweating, you need to rehydrate,” she says as she crouches down next to him, holding the glass of water next to his lips. He manages to take the glass and sips from it slowly, as she dabs the towel over his neck and forehead. He watches in silence her every movement, dark violet eyes burning and glistening under the effect of the eclipse that's eating more and more of the moon away. The pounding in his head subsided, but now he feels like every little bone in his body is aching, making him feel so damn weak and helpless.
Akiho takes his empty glass and stands up, putting it down on the small table. She turns around and stares into his feverish eyes for a brief moment, then she draws a deep breath and sits down next to him, adjusting her long skirt. She pats her knees as she returns to stare silently into his eyes, unperturbed by the pale blush instinctively spreading over her cheeks.
“W-what?” is the only thing that Kaito can manage to stutter, staring back at her like a fool. His head is a complete mess, but somehow he grasps what she means with that gesture. He stays open-mouthed for a moment, his gaze darting a few times between her knees and her firm, demanding eyes. He feels so weak, so damn weak against those eyes.
He's not sure what's happening to him, nor if this could be considered one of the 50 different side effects of the lunar eclipse, but he's suddenly hit with a desperate need to heed her silent request. He's never done this before, never dared this much, but somehow he feels like this is everything he needs right now.
He slowly, carefully lays his head in her lap, adjusting the rest of his aching body on the couch, groaning quietly. He turns his head up, face scrunched up from the soreness, looking at his blushing girlfriend from a new perspective he never tried before. And in his feverish, almost delirious mind, he admits to himself that she's gorgeous even from this angle. Possibly, more than usual.
Akiho's fingers tentatively reach for his hair, moving gently away the bangs that the sweat stuck to his forehead. She dabs the folded towel over his skin, trying to wipe away the sweat as much as possible.
After putting the towel on the armrest, her fingers start to slowly dance across his forehead, in a soothing, loving manner. They move down along his temple, then trace his jaw softly, like a feather, leaving a trail of goosebumps along the way. Kaito sighs at the touch, his tense body seems to be loosening a little bit.
Akiho watches his every reaction, testing if what she's doing feels pleasant to him or not. If only he could manage to fall asleep, she muses as she keeps caressing his face, thinking that the sleep would numb him enough to help him survive the night without feeling much of the effects of the eclipse. But his brows are still slightly furrowed in pain, and it doesn't seem like he can fall asleep like this. She's not sure what to do.
And then, as if guided by an innate instinct, she decides to break the silence of their living room. The notes of a gentle melody begin to leave her lips, one by one; she's making up the tune as she goes, inspired by her natural talent.
Her voice, a miraculous balance of delicate huskiness and sweetness, is like a balm for Kaito. He's always loved listening to her singing voice, that isn't really a secret for anyone, but this time he can perceive something different to it.
What sorcery is this? he wonders in his mind, mildly shocked. He's perfectly aware that she doesn't have an ounce of magic in her blood, and yet the effect her voice is having on his body is close to thaumaturgical. Nothing he's ever tried to ease the pain in his history of lunar eclipses truly worked, but for some mysterious reason Akiho's soft lap, her comforting scent that feels like home, her sweet voice lulling him to sleep…are dialing down the adverse effects of the eclipse. The ache in his bones starts to fade, feeling like something impermanent, distant…just like the awareness of his surroundings.
Akiho watches his eyelids drooping more and more, till they finally cover his purple irises like a blanket. Her heart wells up with relief.
Her thumb traces with tender delay his thin eyebrow, which is finally relaxed in the comfort of a peaceful slumber. Her singing voice is now barely a whisper.
Her chest tingles and warms up with the sweet feeling that his vulnerable, serene sleeping form is sparking in her. She can't help herself.
She bends over him, holding back her curls with one hand, and softly brushes her lips against his. She closes her eyes, lingering on the contact for a moment.
“Aunque no puedas evitar el dolor... te prometo que nunca tendrás que soportarlo solo. Nunca más,” she whispers softly as she parts from his lips, running her fingers through his smooth hair.
Outside the window, the red moon quietly watches over them.
── ･ ｡☆*☽*☆ﾟ.──
The next morning, Akiho bites into her soft marraqueta with manjar, as she watches the TV hosts of the morning show chatting cheerfully about the eclipse of last night. A 200x time lapse video of the event is floating on the right bottom.
The girl never thought she would be looking with less than excited eyes at a lunar eclipse, but what happened last night changed her perception of it forever. It was nothing that could be life-threatening to Kaito, sure, but…
“I don't think they would be so cheerful if they knew some people can feel terrible because of it,” she blurts out as she brings her cup of tea to her lips, causing Kaito, finally back on his feet (but still slightly sore), to look at her with an amused expression.
“Thank you for the sympathy,” he chuckles softly, “but I'm not sure that would stop them from squealing all over it.”
Akiho only hums in response, her eyebrows slightly furrowed in moderate irritation at the TV hosts. Her mind is still very much occupied by what she learned last night, how the state of the moon can physically affect magicians whose powers draw energy from the sacred satellite. She had never considered such a thing, even though now it makes perfectly sense to her. She ponders and ponders as she drinks the warm tea, when suddenly she puts her cup down on the table. Her eyes widen and light up, a candid question emerging on her parted lips.
“Wait a minute…if a lunar eclipse causes a negative impact on the body of a moon-powered magician, triggering pain...I wonder what would happen in the case of a Supermoon?”
Akiho's eyes are now filled with curiosity, staring eagerly at her boyfriend, waiting for an answer.
The question, posed in a such an innocent manner, causes Kaito to choke on his black coffee.
“Are you okay?? Are you still feeling unwell?” Akiho asks worriedly, thinking that the after-effects are still impacting him. As he coughs to regain control of his breathing, it seems to Akiho he is….blushing?
But he never blushes, could that be a consequence of the cough?
Kaito clears his throat, standing up immediately from his chair. He leaves his plate with his unfinished marraqueta with palta and jamón where it is, and heads straight to the door. “I'm fine, but I just remembered there's an unpaid bill I urgently need to take care of,” he replies nervously, never looking at her.
Akiho's bewildered eyes follow him as he hurriedly leaves the kitchen.
“Kaito-san?! What happens on a Supermoon??”
Author's note:
I should probably start this corner by providing context so as to what inspired this one-shot in the first place: the Twitter Space CLAMP had in November 2022 during an actual lunar eclipse , where they talked about the effects on moon-powered characters in the story of Cardcaptor Sakura.
The talk featured extensively the effects the eclipse would have on Kaho, Yue/Yukito and Ruby Moon/Nakuru, but didn't mention anything about Syaoran or Kaito—not because they wouldn't be affected, but just because CLAMP didn't come up with trivia for them in that moment. The info they provided, however, was good enough to imagine by ourselves what kind of experience those two would have, and a recent return of interest for the Tumblr post I made on my blog back then prompted me to write a little something, my own idea of how Kaito would fare with a total lunar eclipse.
Timeline wise, consider this happening less than one year after "Time, Stop" (whose 6th and final chapter is coming, promise!).
We get a bit of stubborn, classic Kaito who discovers the unexpected pros of involving Akiho in his predicament (her singing voice is magical! And I realized I hadn't featured this side of her in my fics yet, hence why that had to be fixed asap). Plus a very sweet, fluffy YunaAki moment that was inspired by what CLAMP said during their talk. (Kudos to you if you smiled at "why she can see right through him as if he were made of crystal?", I totally put it there on purpose)
I chose Chile as the setting for this one-shot as a way to thank all my Latin American friends and followers who supported my posts, fanarts and thoughts in general about YunaAki. Some aren't fervent shippers like me, some are, but the final result doesn't change: I've always felt at ease to talk about my headcanons with them. Felt understood, appreciated, not shallowly judged.
I have seen lots of acrimony towards Kaito and Akiho in LA fandom spaces while the Clear Card manga was serializing, but in the same way I also found many people who have always been supportive and weren't afraid to show their appreciation for those characters, hence making my fandom experience way less lonely.
I have made my good share of research for this one-shot, and I loved learning a lot of things about Chile, like the custom of having once (teatime), which can replace dinner entirely! And yes, I made Akiho say the Chilean word, after lots of consultation 😂 It is quite rude, but she's worried, exasperated and she doesn't have that much of a restraint in my headcanons, when Kaito pushes her to the limit! (Plus, it was green-lit by both of my beta readers😂)
A quick rundown of the Chilean elements featured:
Marraqueta and hallullas: types of bread that Chileans love and consume daily (they're the second biggest consumers of bread in the world!)
Palta: mashed and salted avocado spread on bread for breakfast!
Jamón: ham
Manjar: also known as dulce de leche, a delicious spread made with milk and sugar
Chilenitos: two delicious thin cookies filled with manjar (dulce de leche)
The title, "Eclipse", works both in English and Spanish, so I chose it for that reason. 😊
This time around I tried to set the fic in present tense. To be honest I'm not sure I like it very much, but I wanted to try something different. It kind of enhances the feeling of "impending doom" 😅.
Hey, if anyone has been inspired by this fic or my Twitter Space report on Tumblr and wants to write "what happens to Syaoran on a lunar eclipse night" you're totally welcome to do so! 😂
P.s. Wondering what happens on a Supermoon? I *do* know what happens on a Supermoon (unofficially), and some time ago I even wrote a YunaAki fic for it, set a few years later. But it's gonna take...a lot to convince me to make it public, lol. It isn't T-rated, that's all I'll say. 😂
Characters: Akiho Shinomoto, Yuna D. Kaito
Rating: T
Warnings: none
Tags: angst & hurt/comfort, semi-argument??, dorks in love, the turning point is finally here, can't put more than this otherwise I'm gonna spoil the best part
Summary: Four years later, Kaito and Akiho are back in Tomoeda for a short while, on Syaoran's request: he's finally going to learn time magic! What Akiho doesn't imagine, however, is that this visit will trigger one of the biggest turning points in her relationship with Kaito.
Word count: 3.948
A/N at the end of the chapter.
English is not my first language; keep that into consideration.
This chapter on AO3
Excerpt:
It all lasted less than the time a butterfly would need to flutter its wings, but both of them distinctly perceived like it lasted way, way longer.
As if they had triggered a spell. As if time had stopped on its own.
Everybody says it's terrifying when someone you love tells you “we need to talk”.
Whenever Kaito heard someone say that, he couldn't honestly understand what they were talking about. He used to think that “they just need to say something, that's all. What's the fussing about?”
Oh but he understood it, now.
The shiver that went down his spine, the blood running cold in his veins. The unreadable expression Akiho had on her face. He felt and understood the whole terror of that simple phrase.
And yet, he knew he couldn't keep running away from this.
Swallowing hard, he nodded and gestured towards the door facing the patio. “Sure.”
The grass scrunched quietly under their feet, as Akiho and Kaito slowly retraced the path they had walked four years before.
Just like that important night, the moon was majestic in the sky, illuminating their way through the garden. It brought back a sense of nostalgia in Akiho's heart, but also made her realize how different things were now. How her awareness, her understanding of things had changed. How her relationship with Kaito had changed.
Beside her, Kaito was a quiet bundle of nerves. Waiting for her to begin talking started to feel agonizing. He glanced at her from the side, noticing she was lost in contemplation, and strangely decided to break the ice. “How did they go? The afternoon and dinner at the Kinomoto's, I mean,” he asked as they kept walking, his eyes now on the grass.
“Oh, I've spent a wonderful time, as usual. Kero-san wanted me to play some games with him, but you know that I'm terrible at that, so even if I gave my all, he still won everything in the end,” she chuckled, the golden guardian's deafening cheers were still echoing in her ears. “Then, Fujitaka-san sat down with me and Sakura-san to have tea...he was so kind to me. He wanted to hear everything about the Stadstbibliotek, as well as the other libraries we saw around the world.”
She recounted everything with a calmness that felt almost uncharacteristic of her. Kaito thought it was strange. She usually was so psyched whenever she talked about people or things she had affection for. “He's always such a hospitable and kind person. I'm glad to hear that,” he commented.
“He wants to see you. He wants to make your acquaintance,” her head turned towards him, so as to look him in the eyes. “I believe he wants to check who's this young man traveling with his other ‘daughter’,” she added, smirking playfully.
He responded with a light chuckle, feeling his nerves easing up at her irony.
Well, things aren't so bad if she's willing to make humor, he thought.
“...I wonder what should I introduce you as?” she pondered emphatically, her gaze turning to the moon.
Kaito's relaxed expression didn't really last long, as his eyes widened and the smile quickly faded, suddenly feeling that icy shiver running down his spine again.
“Travel companion? ...Maybe as a brother figure? Or a father figure?” she chuckled over the last option, locking eyes with him again, “But maybe that wouldn't be very believable, would it?”
The last two options, even as a joke, made him shudder with discomfort. There was no doubt he considered her his home, the closest thing to a family he ever experienced. But he was also sure she knew their mutual feelings far exceeded what could be considered a familiar love, and there was a part of him that was vehemently protesting at the mere insinuation of the contrary...despite all the thoughts that weighed him down lately. Despite the fact that things would've been so much easier, if that was all there was between them.
But he felt like her eyes weren't asking to reconfirm the nature of their feelings for one another...they were leading to another kind of question, driving him into a corner.
He couldn't hold her stare any longer, so he went back to look intensely at the grass. Maybe if he focused enough he'd wake up in his bed, making all of this just a scary dream dictated by his fears. He tittered nervously, unsure if she wanted a real answer or what.
Akiho waited in silence for a while as they kept walking, her eyes never leaving him, even when he tried to elude them. However, she quickly understood they wouldn't make any progress if she expected him to drive the conversation forward, so she quietly took a deep breath and made her next move.
“I was thinking I might introduce you as my partner,” she dropped the bomb, matter-of-factly.
Kaito stopped in his tracks, causing Akiho to do the same a few steps ahead, turning to face him.
He was pale as a ghost, and the candid moonlight did nothing but accentuate that paleness. This brings back memories, Akiho thought. She kind of expected this reaction, but she needed to strike while the iron was hot. It was useless to keep tiptoeing around this matter—she needed her answers tonight.
“Is that ok? ...Unless your feelings for me have changed, of course.”
The tone of her voice was suddenly serious, strained with anxiety.
How to reply to that? How could he explain that his feelings had changed, and he felt like every day he loved her more than the day before? That the love he felt now was loaded with new nuances he wasn't sure what to do with?
He had no choice but to lie. At least to a part of it. “They haven't.”
“Then…why do you look like I'm pointing a gun at your head...?” Akiho asked, her voice slightly quivering as she brought her hands over her chest, somehow trying to keep her emotions in check. She saw him visibly stiffening, her mind assuming immediately the worst. “Please don't leave. Even if it's clearly making you uncomfortable, I beg you to hear me out on this one.”
He clenched his jaw and stiffened even more, feeling like shit. He hated that word, and he hated even more the idea of her resorting to beg him just to be heard out. He felt like a jerk for driving her to that point. It was one of those moments when his worst enemy, his self-loathing, came back knocking at his door.
“...Fine,” he said quietly, fighting the disgust with himself.
“I just...want to...bring what we have one step forward,” she started cautiously, “I know we have never defined our relationship, despite knowing our feelings, because we implicitly agreed that we needed more time. I was younger, we both needed to figure ourselves out...I get it. But I feel like I am ready, now. I want to fully support you and be by your side as your partner.”
Her hands started to shake and she clutched her shirt—she desperately needed to hold, grasp onto something. “I...would like to express my feelings in more ways than what I'm doing now…” she felt the heat quickly rushing to her cheeks, hoping he would understand what she meant by that, “but if it makes you uncomfortable, I won't impose my wish on you. I'm just... tired to make up excuses wherever we go. I'm tired of wondering what we are to one another...if we love each other, I think it's just natural at some point to want to solidify our relationship,” she said, ending her speech with a trembling sigh. She closed her eyes.
I want to scream to the world that I love you. That you are mine, and I am yours. Please, allow me to do so, she prayed silently in her heart.
For a few moments, the only sound that could be heard in the garden was the rustling of the tree branches in the quiet night. Then, Kaito's laconic reply came like a cold shower.
“I don't think we should.”
Akiho's eyes snapped open. She felt her heart cracking all over, threatening to shatter in a thousand pieces if he uttered just one more word. Still, courageously, she asked the question she dreaded the answer of.
“...Why?”
“I just... I don't feel it's fair on you. Keeping you tied to me. You're so young, why should you waste all of your prime years on me? Searching for something that we don't even know if it exists?” he said as he frustratedly ran a hand through his raven hair, pain dripping from every word he released. “It's been four years, Akiho-san. Because of this, you're constantly changing school. You can't build a consistent social life because you're busy changing country every few months. Why would I even do that to you?”
She stared at him, dismayed—she couldn't believe what was reaching her ears.
“I love traveling with you!” she retorted, almost offended by his statement, “And my friends in Tomoeda don't love me any less just because I'm not here all the time. I'm fine with all of this!”
His gaze drifted down, glued to the ground. He couldn't look at her. Not when the gravity of what he was about to say was crushing his heart too.
“...What do we do if we never find a solution? It might seem easy now that we look the same age, but what are you going to do twenty years from now, when society will scorn you because your partner is someone who looks so much younger than you, and we won't be able to tell anyone the truth? Am I supposed to see you in misery for the rest of your life?”
I'm so worried for you. Terrified of leading you to misery, rather than the happiness you deserve.
He was growing more distressed and more exhausted by the second. He thought his heart had understood what you're supposed to do when you love someone, but now that their path had brought them to the brink of the next step, he was realizing he wasn't sure he really knew anymore.
She was asking him for something he wasn't sure he would've ever been able to give her. A happy, fulfilling, normal romantic relationship. When their situation was anything but normal. Despite his feelings pulled him towards her, he felt like their future was too uncertain, now. Was he supposed to follow his heart and crush her in a suffocating embrace, or give way to his rationality instead? Because he knew his concerns were very, very real.
Akiho let his quiet outburst sink in. She realized that after four years he had started growing insecure about the future. Maybe, she briefly reasoned with herself, the exhausting search was taking its toll on him. She studied his pained expression, his dark eyes filled with a torment she had only partly noticed before that night. She could see how concerned he was for her and her happiness, and she would've been lying to herself if she didn't admit that once in a while, in the gloomiest days, the thought had crossed her mind too. What if we never find a solution?
“Look at me...” she pleaded softly, a painful lump stuck in her throat, choking her words at first.
She was met with silence, his eyes fixed on the ground.
“Look at me, Cristaux!” she demanded more sternly a second time in their mother tongue, the tone and the severity of using his real name forcing him to look up to her.
“I don't regret my choice, just like you don't regret yours. I never will. I'll search for this magic and I will find it, even if it'll take my entire lifetime to do so,” her stare matched her sharp words, piercing through the dark violet fog that filled his eyes, reaching straight to his soul. She knew he needed firmness. He needed an unwavering resoluteness to quell his fears. “Did I ever say that my being with you is conditional to restoring your lifespan and restarting your time?”
He clenched his jaw and closed his hands in fists, unable to reply, unable to contradict her. She did not, in fact, say any of those things. But his fears were so vivid, so real. He couldn't understand how she didn't seem worried about the evident problems he raised.
His elusiveness was driving Akiho up a wall. She surged ahead and clutched both of his arms, startling him.
“I love you, you blockhead!”
Her cheeks instinctively colored, despite both her tone and her expression were dead serious. He stared at her agape, dumbfounded.
“Maybe you think this would make things easier for me, but you haven't considered that my soul belongs with yours, now! My happiness is being with you. I'd rather live the rest of my life in the scorn of society, than one single day without you...and you know I mean it, because I already know what it feels like…to live without you. I can't go through that again.”
His eyes softened at her outburst, feeling like her words had shattered something stiff inside of him—he could feel the pieces crumbling down and tingling inside his chest.
“Be honest…are you unhappy? Is this actually the reason why you don't want a relationship with me?” her voice started to crack, face screwed up in pain. The unbearable doubt was now eating away at her soul.
Kaito could feel Akiho trembling in his arms. “What...what are you talking about?” he frowned, stammering in genuine confusion. “This is not about me. I am the happiest I've ever been, with you…I never dreamed I could be so happy, so complete with another person by my side.”
He reached for her cheek, out of instinct. His fingers stroked softly her warm skin, as if he could smooth her stiffened features. He hated seeing her like that. In that very moment, he realized with shocking clarity that he hated it a thousand times more than any other fear that was gripping his heart.
“Reassure her.
Let her know how you feel about her.”
“If that's true, why are you pushing me away? Why don't you reach out and take what's already yours?!” she cried out in his arms, frustration stifling her breath.
His stomach clenched at her exasperated cry. Painfully at first.
But then the pain turned into a sweet warmth that filled his entire chest. The pace of his heartbeat quickened, hand in hand with the one of his breath, as he felt something strange, but at the same time familiar, violently taking over him and making him lean forward.
The next thing he knew, his lips were pressing on hers with reckless impulse.
She tasted like jasmine tea. The same he had carefully brewed for both of them after she came back home—sweet, flowery, delicate.
Her mouth felt so soft and warm against his own, a sensation he couldn't compare to anything he ever experienced in his entire life. He had been so afraid to follow the lead of his instinct, but in the depths of his heart, a part of him now knew he wouldn't be able to live without experiencing this feeling again. Without feeling her so close, so intimately close.
His head just kept spinning, completely stunned by what his body had just made him do.
Akiho's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden ‘invasion’, fingers clutching the fabric of Kaito's sleeve so tight that her knuckles turned white, in an attempt to withstand all the overwhelming sensations that simple contact had triggered in her.
It all lasted less than the time a butterfly would need to flutter its wings, but both of them distinctly perceived like it lasted way, way longer.
As if they had triggered a spell. As if time had stopped on its own.
Their lips parted with a soft sound, snapping both of them out of their reverie. Unsurprisingly, they were both panting like they had ran a marathon.
He pulled away and stared at her distraught, half unsure of what he had just done, half desperately searching into her eyes for an answer to the questions that were drilling a hole into his brain.
Did I cross a boundary I wasn't supposed to? Does she hate me, now?
He was about to apologize, but his breath caught in his throat.
He watched in horror as Akiho's bewildered eyes welled up with tears, like a river in spate. The salty drops trickled down her cheeks copiously as she stood motionless for a couple of seconds, before blinking confused at Kaito's dismayed face. That's when she whimpered and brought one hand to her cheek, wiping the tears away in shock—she realized she was crying.
She stared at her wet fingertips, then at Kaito again, before freaking out.
“NO! This is not...god, why do I always have these reactions!!”, she frustratedly clenched her fists against her forehead, “This is not what it looks like...”
She frantically searched for the words, but she found out that all the terms of all the languages she knew were jumbled up like a messy salad in her head. Her ability to put a coherent explanation together had been completely destroyed by the feeling that was still burning in her chest.
His face looked so wrecked with the misunderstanding that was occurring—there was just one way. Just one way to get across what she was trying to say.
She hastily tugged at the collar of his robe and stood on her toes, pressing her lips against his again.
She tasted salty now. That was the only thing that Kaito's brain could register in the midst of the chaos that was happening between them. He closed his eyes, willing himself to calm down and take the moment in—he was at least starting to internalize that she didn't hate what he had done. Partly relieved by that, he awkwardly let his arms go where he felt they were yearning to be, wrapped around her back. He pulled her against himself, feeling something like electricity coursing through his entire body.
Akiho interlaced her fingers over his nape in response, and indulged into the kiss, savoring the calming feeling of his cool lips against her trembling, swollen, wet ones. All the frustration, the pain, the fear of losing him dissolving into the night.
After the initial moment of confusion, it was now so clear to her—her tears were only ferrying out of her system so many overwhelming emotions that she had bottled up for years, ever since in her fantasy of a teenager she had started dreaming about kissing the love of her life one day. For long time, that had been her secret desire. She had waited, and waited…and that desire had grown along with her, turning into a full-blown yearning as of lately.
But now it was as if his lips had finally made the cap pop off and relieved the pressure on her emotions, making them flow out of her in an unstoppable stream.
She felt lighter, relieved. So her cheeks inevitably reddened with embarrassment when she parted from his lips with a sigh she couldn't control, one that echoed of contentment.
“...Was that your answer?” she asked, slightly breathless.
He stared at her, still a bit awestruck. “...I guess it was,” he answered with a tone that sounded more like having finally found peace of mind, rather than defeat. His thumb brushed with gentle slowness over her cheekbone, wiping her tears away.
“You can't rewind your way out of this,” she smirked while sniffling, “there's no way I could ever forget this happened. Don't even try.”
He smiled back, her teasing sending tingles across his heart. “I don't intend to. If that's not what you want, I'm not backing out.”
“It's not fair, though,” she protested, but her voice was soft with endearment, “I'm always a mess around you, but I have never seen you blush. Even a kiss couldn't make you do it.”
He kept staring into the blue of her moonlit eyes as he took her right hand, which was resting on his shoulder, and guided it over his chest with his own. Akiho could feel his heart through his shirt, pounding crazily against his ribcage. She stared in wonder at it, mesmerized by the steady rhythm. Her blush deepened in realization, emphasizing even more the gentle moonlight that was reflecting in her twinkling eyes.
“I believe everyone has different ways to show how they feel,” he whispered, his voice hoarse for the raw emotions that still lingered in his throat.
She looked up into his eyes, feeling her heart welling up again with a surge of love. Their faces were still so close. Her gaze fell on his lips—she wanted to kiss him again, and again, the temptation almost impossible to resist.
But she reined in her impulse.
She knew she should not overwhelm him, and he needed to let sink in what had just happened between them. Something she could've also benefited from, as so many emotions had rocked her world that night.
Breaking the brief silence, she spoke again.
“At first...I thought you were being unreasonable, making decisions for both of us again...but I see it now. You knew there was no turning back once we crossed this line...and you didn't want to allow yourself to cross it, because you wanted to leave me a choice. The choice to back out from this situation…from us, at any time.”
Her fingers brushed gently across his cheek; her voice was so quiet, as if she feared she could burst the perfect moment they were immersed in, if she spoke any louder. “But that's never going to happen. No matter what lies ahead, I want to be with you. This is my choice.”
“Are you sure...you wouldn't want to experience a simpler relationship with someone else?” his question felt heavy and strained with concern, but he had to make sure one last time.
“If you doubt me again, I'm going to get very, very angry,” she frowned, her voice brooked no argument. “But what about you? What do you want?”
What did he want? He never really gave himself the chance to pause and think about what he truly wanted, under the thick layers of worry and paranoias...he didn't think he had the luxury to. He only knew he wanted to make her happy—that had always been his beacon in the night. But now that she was asking this question, now that he could look into her breathtaking azure eyes, the answer seemed so simple...it bubbled up from his heart so effortlessly.
“I want to be with you. Until my last heartbeat.”
Her expression broke into a beaming smile. “We are on the same page, then. You have no idea how long I've waited...for this to happen. I'm so happy...” her voice softened, mellowed by the unspeakable elation that made her feel over the moon. Her arms circled his chest and hugged him tight.
He returned the embrace, one hand stroking her hair with tenderness. “Thank you for waiting for me,” he whispered.
The full moon was watching over them as the only witness to the vows of love they exchanged.
Waiting was challenging, sometimes frustrating, sometimes painful. But it always bore its fruit. Akiho couldn't imagine a happiness greater than what she was experiencing right now. And even if she focused really hard and tried to imagine it, she couldn't see any happiness that wasn't with him. The man who persisted, stubborn as hell, in loving her more than his own life.
“I always will.”
Author's note:
After four months of deleting and re-writing almost everyday, I finally published this chapter!!! 😵💫
We could say this fic exists basically to depict this moment...Akiho and Kaito's first kiss. 🥹
It was, indeed, one of the first parts I've written. (I don't necessarily go in chronological order when I write)
If I had more confidence (and patience), I would've made the fic longer and turned it into a slower burn...but I think for my actual level, it's ok like this.
Sooo I've finally revealed the reason why this fic is called "Time, Stop". You thought it was because Syaoran was learning time magic, uh? 😂 Yeah, that's a secondary reason too, but it's mainly a reference to how time seems to be still for a moment when Kaito and Akiho's lips meet for the first time. In fact, one of the possible titles of the fic in early stage was "Time stands still".
It's kind of a way to reconcile Akiho with that concept. It can be not only a dangerous magic, but also a "magic" they can spark with their love. 😉
I could've made this moment sweet, tooth-rotting fluffy, but no-I had to make it angsty. 😂
After all, what are these two without some healthy angst? Kaito is so...lost in his paranoias because he loves Akiho simply too much, angst and drama are just waiting to happen. And Akiho is understandably frustrated at it, but she doesn't let that stop her. She's always her bold, assertive self. ❤️
Fortunately, Kaito's heart knows how to take control of his body when the mind is too loud...we have seen that in the canon manga already and here, precisely because their relationship has evolved, his instinct gets the upper hand when Akiho basically gives him 'permission' with that "Why don't you take what's already yours?".
But you know, Kaito's fears aren't so silly, after all. The doubts that were eating away at his soul are things I've thought about when Clear Card ended. People said Kaito and Akiho got a happy ending, some even said that Kaito was left off the hook too easily, with all that he had done. But are we sure it's really like that? I don't think people really paused to consider what this could mean, if they never find the spells they're looking for. Kaito's stopped time is basically what's keeping him alive right now, but it can turn into something really grim, decades down the line. What he mentions in my fic is only one of the problematics...I don't want to mention any further to not turn this into a straight up depressing corner. 😅
Well, this is Cardcaptor Sakura so they're surely going to find a solution to his problem. And in my headcanons too, of course. Who knows if one day I will write a fic about that. 😂 For now, the drama revolving around that was the occasion to finally make their first kiss happen. ❤️
Points I want to clarify:
- When I wrote that Akiho called Kaito with his true name in their mother tongue, what I meant is that in that precise moment Akiho is speaking in English instead of the default Japanese that they always speak when they are in Japan.
After all, they both grew up in England and their mother tongue is English (particularly for Akiho, since in the anime we see her talking in English with Syaoran and Meiling, and taking notes in English while reading a book in Japanese).
I like to imagine them speaking in English every now and then, particularly when they have to make sure what they want to say is conveyed properly.
However, this fic is already written in English, so I had to specify it in that way. 😅
- When Akiho calls Kaito "blockhead", it isn't a random insult...it's the closest translation to wakarazuya, the term both her mother and Momo used when they were frustrated at him! 😂 It runs in the family...
- Kaito is referred to both as a "young man" and a "man" throughout the fic. It might seem a mistake at first, but it's deliberate. Due to his condition, I choose which one to use depending on the circumstances and which side of Kaito I'm trying to emphasize.
I don't know what more to say. This chapter really drained me. 😂
But stay tuned because next chapter will be the last one, a sort of epilogue!! Will the others know about this huge change in YunaAki's relationship? What will be their reactions?? Is there a surprise for SyaoSaku too (what) ??? 🫣
