Day 47: Sun Room [2nd shift]

[notthistrain]

Cloud knew he should be taking the opportunity to check out the rec field during the day. The fresh air would be a welcome change from the crowded stuffiness the Institute usually provided, and he would have a chance to scope out the area when it wasn't all under the cover of darkness. When offered a choice, however, he remained in the sun room

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[winged_moon]

Yukito greeted the prospect of going out to the soccer field with obvious enthusiasm, and made his nurse almost break into a jog in order to follow him toward the door. Actually getting outside was always welcome, especially when it didn't involve having to watch out for giant birds overhead. And if his roommate was anywhere, it would be out playing soccer, so maybe he'd be able to reassure himself that Ken was really still here somewhere.

Once in the Sun Room, though, he paused briefly to take a look at the bulletin. They hadn't looked at it at all the day before, and sometimes there was useful information. And indeed, someone was offering chocolates, which immediately caught his attention (he couldn't have imagined the faint sigh of distaste from Yue at that, but chose to ignore it anyway -- he had a sneaking suspicion that his other self's supposed hatred of food wasn't completely truthful). He rather happily scribbled a quick question in response to that post, then went back to reading over the others with renewed interest. How

[giftofstars]

Fai was alive!

Even though she had spent most of breakfast with him, Sakura still had trouble wrapping her mind around the idea. Not only did it clear her conscience of guilt and help her refocus her mind, but it also made her much happier overall. Although Sakura was initially disappointed that she had to say goodbye to Fai since breakfast had ended, her cheerful mood quickly returned on her way to the Greenhouse, and she began to walk with a hop to her step.

As she passed by the Sun Room, she glanced in for a brief moment and saw a Yukito teenager staring at the bulletin board. Initially, she continued walking, but she quickly realized that the others still had no idea that Fai was alive. She had to share the great news with them!

Backtracking a bit, she turned back into the Sun Room and quickly crossed the Sun Room towards the white-haired teenager. "Yukito-san!" she called in a bright, cheerful tone.

[winged_moon]

This time there was no mistaking the voice, and Yukito glanced around with a dawning smile. "Sakura-chan, good morning," he observed, turning away from the board and crouching slightly so he wasn't towering over her. She seemed fine today, which was good. Apparently she really had listened to her brother and stayed in where it was safe.

Although...she looked like her normal self today, just as cheerful as usual. Either she was even better at hiding her feelings than Yue was or something good had happened. Yukito hesitated briefly, then tilted his head a little with curiosity. "How are you today?"

[giftofstars]

Sakura's face flushed a bit after Yukito turned and made eye contact with her. Even though she had already moved on from Yukito in terms of love, she still admired him enough to feel a little embarrassed upon eye contact. Plus, this was the first time she had talked with Yukito in his actual form since she had arrived. Even if it was Yukito's thoughts coming out of Yue's mouth on occasion, it was still different than physically seeing Yukito once more. It was almost like telephone call, seeing someone but not really.

However, she quickly moved past embarrassment to respond to Yukito properly. "I'm doing well," she chirped, a smile stretching across her face once more. "How are you, Yukito-san?" Even though she had important news, it could wait long enough to finish formalities.

[winged_moon]

"Oh, I'm fine," Yukito replied, with perhaps the briefest of hesitations before finishing the sentence. Sakura most definitely didn't need to know anything about his relationship with her brother, especially since he still felt a little bad for letting her down like he had. So, yes, "fine" was a good enough answer, and he'd just not say a word about the night before.

He forced his mind back to the topic at hand, ignoring Yue's faintly disgusted snort, and asked, "Something has you in a good mood today, Sakura-chan?" Yesterday she'd probably been as upset as they were, after what had happened in that arena two nights ago, but now she seemed...just fine.

[giftofstars]

Luckily for Yukito, Sakura was in too cheerful a mood to notice something as subtle as his pause. In fact, she was in such a hurry to share her news that she began nodding before Yukito had even finished his question. There was no doubt in her mind that hearing that Fai was alive would life both Yukito and Yue's spirits.

"Yes," said Sakura, beginning her story by looking down. "This morning, I went to breakfast like usual, and on the other side of the cafeteria, I saw Fai-san!" Bubbling over with excitement, she eagerly looked up into Yukito's eyes, marking the climax of her news. "He's alive! Although..." Tilting her head, she paused a moment before continuing. "I think there's something wrong with one of his eyes because he has an eyepatch over it, but he's alive, Yukito-san! And I got to talk with him!"

Of course, she had conveniently left out the fact that she had cried this morning, for that would probably only dampen the mood she was trying to share.

[winged_moon]

Fai? Alive?

So he hadn't imagined what he'd heard that morning, but still -- that was impossible. They'd seen him lying on the arena sands, felt his life ebb away to nothing; people who'd died didn't suddenly just wake up again after a couple of days. Ever

[giftofstars]

Expecting a smile to stretch across Yukito's face, Sakura was rather disappointed to see a look of confusion and negative disbelief instead. Why wasn't he happy? News that Fai was alive should have made him overjoyed. Maybe he was simply in disbelief like she was when she first saw Fai and simply needed some extra time for the idea to sink in. Yeah. That must be it.

"Yes!" Sakura replied, nodding insistently. "I was confused at first too, but Fai-san explained everything to me. He used his magic to make it only look like he died." She paused a moment, as she wasn't too sure about some of the details, but it did seem to make sense overall. "He said that he spent most of yesterday in his room recovering though."

[winged_moon]

Impossible, Yue said, before Yukito could even ask. I would have known. There was a note of uncertainty lingering, though; if Fai was alive now, perhaps he had managed to imitate death convincingly enough that not only the guardian but Landel himself had believed it. But still, it...couldn't be possible.

Could it be a new patient? There had been some new faces this morning already, so it was entirely possible that the Fai they knew was gone, but he'd been pulled to the Institute again from another point in his time. That happened occasionally, or so they'd heard.

But Sakura didn't need to think about that. If it made her happier to believe that Fai had only been pretending and was feeling just fine now, Yukito certainly didn't want to upset her. There were plenty of other things to be upset about here. So he just smiled and nodded slightly, as Yue returned to puzzling over that idea. "I'm glad to hear he's all right. We were both worried. But did he say how he hurt his eye?"

[giftofstars]

A smile finally returned to Sakura's face as she once Yukito acknowledged his happiness. It wasn't on the same scale she was hoping for, but she supposed that not everyone would react in the same way as she, especially Yue and Yukito, the two calmest people she knew.

However, Yukito did raise a valid point. How did he hurt his eye? She shook her head as she responded, "No... Breakfast ended before I could ask. It wasn't something from the coliseum?" If both Yue and Yukito didn't know what caused the injury, there was a good chance that it happened sometime yesterday as opposed to in the coliseum.

[winged_moon]

As soon as the smile returned Yukito felt both somewhat better and a little worse, for having made it fade in the first place. Of all people, Sakura didn't deserve to be in a place like this, with danger and fear and things that would only upset her around every corner.

It was even worse with her apparently powerless, so she couldn't even do anything to help and would be very aware of the fact. Not that it would stop her, of course -- with an inward smile he recalled the way she'd wielded that spoon like a weapon when they'd made their way down to the basement for the first time.

The question recalled him to the night in the area, however, and any amusement quickly faded. "No," he replied, looking thoughtful. "He wasn't hurt on his face at all, that night." And if he'd been in his room the entire day, he couldn't have been injured. Perhaps it really was a different Fai.

[giftofstars]

... Strange. If it wasn't from the coliseum, how did Fai get his injury? Maybe Fai hid his injury from Yue just as he had faked his own death. Maybe he went out last night and did some exploring while the rest of them were in their rooms. Either way, Sakura made a mental note to ask Fai about that the next time she saw him.

"Well, I guess we won't be able to find out unless we talk with him again," Sakura said, verbalizing her note. "I'm sure he would be happy to see you and Yue-san." She smiled encouragingly once more. Even though she wasn't sure exactly what happened, Sakura didn't care too much. All that mattered in her eyes was that Fai was okay.

[winged_moon]

Had the situation been any different, Yue likely never would have wanted to talk to Fai again, since his feelings toward the magician were now so confusingly mixed. He wasn't sure whether to thank Fai for pushing him like that, forcing him to end the battle when the guardian wasn't certain he would have been able to do so on his own -- or to hit him, for the same thing. When uncertain about a situation his preferred method of dealing with it was to avoid it, though Yue had never thought it would ever have come up. In this situation, though, with a Fai who might or might not have been the Fai they'd known lying to Sakura...well. Yue now wanted to find him as soon as possible and try to determine just what was going on here.

If it's a different Fai then he won't know what happened, Yukito pointed out, silently attempting to soothe his other self's ruffled feathers. There wouldn't be any hitting going on when he was around, no matter what; he was just as confused as Yue, but his inclinations were somewhat less violent. And if it is,