Disclaimer: All characters belong to CLAMP.

Author's Notes: Written for Tsukimine Shrine's "Games" challenge.

Roll the Dice

As much as Kero enjoyed having the house all for himself, he had to admit that he preferred to have company. Sakura was at Tomoyo's, her brother was working, her father hadn't returned from the university yet, and even playing videogames at the loudest volume in the living-room seemed boring by now.

He was about to go on yet another raid to the kitchen when the front door swung open.

"I'm home!" Fujitaka called from the entrance.

"Hi!" Kero exclaimed when he heard him arrive. He had stopped hiding from the professor a few months ago, when Sakura told him the whole story about the Cards. He had taken it with much more calm than anyone had expected, and simply stated that 'it explained a lot'.

At first Kero had felt somewhat awkward around him, but now they were used to each other. It wasn't exactly like being with Clow- it wasn't even like being with Hiiragizawa, who seemed to be two people at the same time. In fact, the small Guardian hadn't quite figured him out yet. Sometimes he was simply professor Fujitaka Kinomoto, archaeologist and father of two; and sometimes he was so much like Clow that Kero wondered why he hadn't seen it before. At least the food should have given him away.

"Hello, Kerberos," Fujitaka said as he made his way to the kitchen, with the Guardian floating close beside him. "Aren't the children home yet?"

"No. And I was really bored!"

Fujitaka opened the fridge and tilted his head.

"So you decided to eat something, I guess."

"Yeah…"

"I didn't even know you could open the fridge by yourself!"

Kero adopted a proud pose, beaming.

"I'm highly adaptable!"

"I see," sighed Fujitaka. "I also see you ate the jelly."

"Yes."

"All the jelly."

"Well…"

"You better have a good excuse for this, Kerberos."

"I do!" Kero said triumphantly. "I ate the jelly because I love to eat, you see. And I love to eat because that's how Clow made me, and he was your past incarnation, so, in a way, it's all your fault!"

Kero's smug smile didn't last for too long; Fujitaka was wearing a look that spoke volumes.

"I'm afraid there's only one way to sort this out, Kerberos," he said, with an all too familiar spark in his eyes. "I challenge you to a game of backgammon."

For a second, Kero wondered what century he was in.

"What…?"

"You've heard me," the professor continued. "If you win, I bake the most delicious pudding you could ever dream of, just for you. If I win, you get no dessert for two weeks."

"Yaaay! Backgammon and pudding!" Kero exclaimed in a state of bliss; then he realized something. "Wait a minute… How did you know I can play? I thought you didn't have Clow's memories."

"I don't. Not in the way that Hiiragizawa has them, anyway," Fujitaka explained. "But a lot of things that seemed strange make sense now, and I've started remembering bits and pieces. Sometimes I just… know things."

"Er… you don't happen to just know all of Clow's backgammon strategies, do you?"

Fujitaka simply smiled.

"We'll see."

Suddenly Kero knew that he was in Very Big Trouble.

Soon enough, the board was set and both players rolled the dice. Kero got a three and Fujitaka a five; he smiled and rolled two dice to begin the game.

"It doesn't make any difference to play first, anyway," Kero muttered, watching as his rival moved two of the white checkers.

"Then why are you nervous already?"

"I'm not!" the Guardian exclaimed as he rolled the dice. One of them fell under the table and the other one was shot across the living-room. He flew to fetch them, cursing under his breath, and rolled again- six and three.

"I'm not nervous," he repeated while he moved the checkers. "No matter what they've told you, I can use my brain. And this is about skill."

"Hmm," Fujitaka murmured. "A perfect balance of skill and luck. Beautiful game."

Kero couldn't help but stare. The professor blinked.

"What…? Oh!" he said, eyes widening. "Clow used to say that, didn't he?"

"Every time we played."

"So that's where it comes from, then…" said Fujitaka thoughtfully. "See, that's exactly the kind of thing I was talking about. I don't remember knowing anyone who liked backgammon, let alone taught me how to play. I was going to ask you about that, in fact." He handed Kero the dice. "When did I learn?"

"Back in the seventeenth century," Kero replied while he made his move, "when the British set its modern rules."

Fujitaka hit one of the Guardian's checkers.

"Well, I guess that's why I'm such an experienced player."

"Hey! I'm just as experienced as you!" Kero stated. He entered his checker in the very next move to prove his point. "Besides, this time we're actually on equal terms."

"What do you mean?" the professor asked; he looked truly confused. So he didn't remember.

"Let's just say it's no fun to play against someone who already knows what you're going to do."

"But then," Fujitaka whispered, his eyes strangely unfocused, "that couldn't have been much fun for him, either."

"Well, he still liked winning!" Kero complained. "And then he bragged about it for weeks!"

The dazed look was still there, but now Fujitaka grinned.

"Perhaps the look on a certain Sun Guardian's face was worth a dull game."

Kero pulled a face, but then he realized that would just prove the point, so he opted for simply playing. The game was quite advanced now and things didn't look good for him. All the white checkers were on his rival's home board, while some of his own still lingered on his outer board.

"Come on, come on, come on- aargh!" he yelled. "One and two? What do you mean, one and two? I'll never get there!"

"See? You are fun to tease, Kerberos," Fujitaka said with a laugh, as he started bearing off his checkers. "And I really enjoy talking to you; we should do this more often. There are many things I'd like to ask you about."

"Like what?"

"Places, and people… Sometimes I find myself feeling nostalgic for cities I've never been to; not in this life, at least. And don't get me started on people- believe me, studying History felt like looking at family albums at times. I wonder if that's why I became an archaeologist in the first place… The past has always been pulling at me, in a way."

"Oh," was all that Kero said. He wasn't in the mood for deep speeches. They still had to make a few more moves before the game was finished, but he had lost all hopes of catching up with his opponent, and he was rolling the dice with a quite disheartened gesture now.

"Of course, I never thought any of that meant anything," continued Fujitaka, who didn't seem to have noticed it. "It's just that all of it makes sense now. Besides, the memories are getting clearer. I was helping Sakura with her Physics homework the other day and I found myself thinking that 'Newton was a nice man, but he had no sense of balance whatsoever'."

Kero laughed in spite of the certainty of his defeat.

"Clow was sick of people changing their theories about the universe by that time. He gave Yue and me our powers based on much older systems. Not that it affected our magic -the real thing never changed, anyway- but he didn't like the new ideas. He was in love with Aristotle's spheres, all perfect and round and balanced. He got all dreamy-eyed when he talked about it." The Guardian shook his head with the air of one who knows better. "I always thought the newer theories made a lot more sense."

"You always wanted to be the centre of the universe," Fujitaka teased. He had only two checkers left on his home board, but he didn't roll the dice yet. "Ah, it seems the decisive moment has come! Just a little question before, Kerberos. Do you know how much it costs to feed you?"

"No," Kero had to admit.

"Me neither," replied the professor. "I tried to calculate it once, and I had to stop midway or I would've had a heart attack. So you better learn your lesson and stop stealing everyone else's food, too."

He rolled the dice -Kero caught his breath- and got a five and a six. The last two white checkers were removed from the board.

"But- but you don't mean it, right?" asked the Guardian, with the most pleading look he could achieve in his small form.

"A deal is a deal, Kerberos. Why would I change my mind?"

That was it. It was time for Kero's last resort: what he liked to call the High-Pitched Whining Plus Ultimate Low Blow Mega Combo.

"Clow always changed his mind about desserts!" he moaned.

"Well," said Fujitaka without even blinking, "I guess Clow didn't have a professor's income."

Kero braced himself for the longest two weeks of his life.