(Slight Yukito S2 spoiler)
The late October air smelled like caramel and fallen leaves. The sky was a twilight purple, streaks of gold fading into indigo. Across Tomoeda, children darted from door to door, costumes fluttering, laughter spilling down the streets like an endless song.
Touya walked a few paces behind his little sister, hands in the pockets of his jacket, his usual composed expression only barely hiding his amusement.
“Slow down,” he called lazily, though there was the faintest smile tugging at his lips.
Sakura spun around, her pink princess costume glistening against the last rays of dusk. “We’re supposed to go fast, you can’t miss the good candy!”
Beside her, was Syaoran, dressed as some kind of medieval knight. He looked slightly embarrassed, while Tomoyo followed serenely in a witch’s outfit, camera in hand, recording every moment.
And walking next to Touya, matching his pace effortlessly, was Yukito Tsukishiro, wearing a soft gray sweater, round glasses slightly fogged by the crisp air, and a small smile that seemed to warm the chill right out of the evening.
Touya glanced sidelong at him. “You sure you’re warm enough?”
Yukito tilted his head, the ghost of a laugh in his voice. “I’m fine, but you’ll have to protect me if I start turning into a popsicle.”
Touya rolled his eyes, but his hand brushed briefly against Yukito’s, a tiny, unspoken answer.
Tomoyo caught the exchange through her lens and smiled quietly before turning her camera back toward Sakura.
The children bounded up another walkway, shouting “Trick or treat!” at a house strung with orange lights.
Touya stayed at the gate, Yukito beside him. The street glimmered with jack-o’-lanterns, candles flickering behind grinning faces. A light fog had begun to curl across the ground, something that hadn’t been there moments ago.
“Looks like it’s getting foggy,” Yukito murmured.
Touya’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Yeah… kinda sudden.”
He didn’t say it aloud, but a chill pricked at his senses, not from the temperature, but from something else. Something faintly magical.
Later, after the children’s candy bags had grown heavy and the streets began to quiet, Sakura insisted they visit one more place.
“There’s a house at the end of the old street,” she said, eyes bright. “Tomoyo said it’s decorated really well this year!”
Touya frowned. “You mean the one near the park? Thought that place was empty.”
Tomoyo nodded. “That’s the rumor! But just yesterday, people saw lights inside. Maybe someone moved in.”
Syaoran, ever cautious, muttered, “Or maybe it’s haunted.”
Sakura shivered with delighted fear. “Then we’ll get ghost candy!”
Touya sighed. “If you get haunted, I’m not doing your homework for you.”
Yukito laughed softly. “Come on, Touya. It’s Halloween. Let them have their fun.”
The group made their way toward the outskirts of town. The fog thickened as they went, wrapping around their ankles, damp and whispering. The houses grew sparser until they reached an old Japanese-style home. Paint faded, porch sagging, but every window flickering with candlelight.
Tomoyo raised her camera, a small click going off. “Perfect atmosphere!”
Even Syaoran looked uneasy, clutching his candy bag like it was a talisman.
Touya scanned the area. Something about the house felt… alive.
Yukito touched his arm gently. “You feel it too?”
Touya nodded once. “Yeah.”
Before he could stop her, Sakura was already bounding up the porch steps with her friends, calling out cheerfully, “Trick or treat!”
The door creaked open on its own.
A cool draft spilled out, carrying the faint scent of lilac and dust.
Touya and Yukito exchanged a look, then followed.
Inside, the house was dim but not cold. The candles glowed in glass holders, casting soft golden light across faded wallpaper. There was no sign of anyone living there, no furniture, no sound, only the children’s echoing footsteps.
Sakura peeked into a nearby room. “Hello?”
Then, faintly; music. A music box, playing somewhere deeper in the house. A tune slow and haunting, like a lullaby.
Yukito frowned slightly, his gaze distant for a moment.
Yukito blinked, smiling quickly. “It’s nothing. Just… that song. It’s familiar somehow.”
Touya didn’t like that. Whenever Yukito said something “felt familiar,” it usually meant Yue was stirring beneath the surface, alert to magic.
Before Touya could say anything, the front door slammed shut.
The candles flickered violently, and for an instant, all the light went out.
Then, just as suddenly, they flared back to life. Only now, the walls were different. Where faded wallpaper had been, there were now portraits. Dozens of them. Painted faces staring down from frames.
And in every painting, the people’s eyes glowed faintly blue.
Syaoran immediately reached for his ofuda charms. “There’s definitely magic here!”
Touya stepped forward protectively. “Sakura, behind me.”
Sakura hesitated, clutching her staff, but nodded.
The music box played louder now, its sound echoing through the halls.
Yukito looked around slowly, his voice softer, more ethereal. “This magic… It's old. Sad, but not cruel.” His tone had shifted, Yue’s calmness seeping into his words.
Yukito met his eyes. “Something was left behind here. Someone who never stopped waiting.”
A sudden gust swept through the corridor, knocking over a candelabra. When Touya bent to pick it up, he saw movement reflected in the brass, just a flicker of white fabric drifting past the doorway.
They followed it instinctively.
At the end of the hall stood a grand mirror, cracked down the middle. In its reflection, Touya could see all of them, but behind their reflections stood another figure.
A woman in an old-fashioned gown, her face pale, eyes glowing blue.
Sakura gasped. “A ghost!”
The woman’s reflection smiled faintly, but when Touya turned around, she wasn’t there.
Then, from somewhere unseen, a voice whispered:
“You can’t leave until the promise is kept.”
Doors slammed shut. Windows fogged over. The children cried out.
Touya reached for Sakura, but she and her friends vanished in a swirl of mist.
Yukito grasped his shoulder. “They’re safe. It’s an illusion spell, it separated us.”
Touya turned to him. “Then we find them and end this thing.”
Yukito nodded, his form shimmered faintly, the glow of Yue’s power flickering beneath his skin.
“Touya…” Yukito’s voice was gentle. “Something about this magic, it reacts to emotion. It’s binding us through feelings that were never fulfilled.”
Touya frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Yukito stepped closer. “If we find the heart of it, the memory that started it, we can end it.”
Touya clenched his fists. “Then let’s go.”
They wandered through twisting halls that seemed to shift when unobserved. Sometimes, they’d find themselves in the same room twice, the candles burned lower each time.
Once, Touya thought he heard Sakura’s voice calling from somewhere upstairs, but when they climbed the stairs, they found only empty air and another mirror, showing not their reflections, but fragments of memory.
Touya, in his high school uniform.
Moments of laughter in the sunshine.
Then, something darker: Yukito fading, dissolving like light through mist.
Touya slammed his hand against the glass. “Stop it!”
The image rippled and vanished.
Yukito touched his shoulder gently. “It’s all right. The house is feeding on fear.”
“Then it picked the wrong guy.”
They pressed on, finally reaching what must have been the drawing room. There, on an old piano, sat the music box, the source of the song.
It was open, the tiny ballerina inside still spinning.
And next to it was a letter, faded with age.
Yukito read it aloud softly:
My beloved, you promised you would return by the harvest moon. The world grew colder without you, and I waited. Every year, on All Hallows’ Eve, I waited by the window. The years passed, and still I waited. If this letter finds you… know that I never stopped loving you.
The music slowed to a stop.
Yukito’s eyes were glossy, the melancholy of the words echoing in his tone.
Touya swallowed hard. “So that’s the promise.”
Yukito nodded. “A love that never ended. That’s the sadness binding this place.”
The air shimmered again, and the ghost appeared before them, no longer frightening but luminous, sorrowful.
“Please,” she whispered. “Keep your promise… so I can rest.”
Touya looked at Yukito, realization dawning. “It wants closure. A promise fulfilled.”
Yukito turned to him, the faintest tremor in his smile. “Then maybe that’s what we give her.”
He stepped closer, his eyes soft brown, but lit with Yue’s light, locking onto Touya’s. “Touya… what would you promise, if this were us?”
“If you were the one waiting. Or the one who left.”
Touya hesitated. His throat felt tight. “I’d promise… I’d come back. Always.”
Yukito smiled faintly, the light in the room softening as if the ghost herself listened. “Then say it.”
Touya took his hand. “No matter what happens—no matter what form you take—I’ll find you again. I’ll always come back.”
The words shimmered in the air, glowing faintly gold.
The ghost’s expression melted from sorrow to peace.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and faded, the house around them unraveling into motes of light.
The next thing Touya knew, they were standing outside again. The fog had lifted. The children were safe, Sakura was waving from the street, calling, “Brother! Yukito! You’re back!”
Touya turned to Yukito, only to find him swaying slightly.
Yukito smiled tiredly. “Just a little… drained.”
Touya caught him before he could fall, steadying him against his chest.
Sakura and the others came running, concern written all over their faces.
“It’s okay,” Touya said firmly. “We’re fine. The ghost’s gone.”
Syaoran eyed the house, now dark and empty again. “So the spirit was bound by love…”
Tomoyo sighed wistfully. “How romantic.”
Sakura tilted her head. “So, what did you do to help her?”
Touya glanced down at Yukito, who met his gaze, smiling faintly.
“Just kept a promise,” Touya said softly.
That night, after walking everyone home, Touya and Yukito stopped at the park. The moon was full, bright and silvery, haloed by thin clouds.
They sat on a bench beneath the old cherry tree, the air crisp.
Yukito leaned against him, head resting on Touya’s shoulder. “You meant it, didn’t you? That promise.”
Touya’s heartbeat thudded in his chest. “Yeah.”
Yukito smiled. “Even if I disappear?”
Touya turned to him, voice low. “You won’t. But if you do, I’ll still find you.”
The silence between them was soft, comfortable. Then Yukito looked up, eyes glinting like moonlight.
“Then… maybe I should make one too.”
Touya arched a brow. “Yeah?”
“I’ll always wait for you,” Yukito said. “Even if it takes a hundred Halloweens.”
Touya laughed quietly. “That’s a long time to put up with me.”
“I think it’ll be worth it.”
The wind rustled through the trees, scattering leaves across their feet.
Then Yukito reached into his pocket and pulled something out. A small, cracked music box. The same one from the haunted house.
“It was on the ground outside,” Yukito said softly. “Maybe the ghost left it for us.”
The tune played again, but this time, it wasn’t haunting. It was gentle, tender, filled with warmth.
As the music swelled, Touya reached out and brushed a strand of hair from Yukito’s face.
Yukito looked up, the moonlight silvering his lashes.
Touya kissed him, slow and certain, the world fading to the soft hum of the music box and the whisper of the wind.
When they parted, Yukito was smiling, cheeks flushed faintly pink.
Touya smirked. “Guess that’s one more promise kept.”
Yukito laughed quietly, leaning his forehead against his. “Happy Halloween, Touya.”
“Happy Halloween,” Touya replied.
Ik I said 5 hours but I decided to be nice enough and release it earlier (3 hours)!
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoy my little Halloween gift to you all <3
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