Day 48: Courtyard

[thatdamnedninja]

"I could tell you some stories," Yuffie suggested brightly, "of unquestionable legality." Illegality, that was. Petty little things like the law didn't usually mean very much to her, except for the times when she had to uphold it. Always fun for the breaking, though, the law, and messy for the clean-up. Just the way she liked it

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[not_rly_fai]

He'd managed to endure the interrogation at breakfast and come out unscathed. Kurogane probably just wanted to avoid spending half the day sedated, but it'd been to Yuuhi's benefit. Breakfast had been a test of endurance to say the least. While he felt guilty about the things he'd said, pushing the other man away and running seemed to be what he did best. Luckily the nurses showed up before the conversation got too far or too heated. He didn't plan on getting upset with Kurogane, he didn't plan to feel anything. At least he'd managed to pretend for long enough to get by.

Next shift was outside and while he didn't mind the chill, the nurses insisted on bundling him up in a sweatshirt and jacket. He felt a little stronger though, especially after eating, and he didn't wobble quite as much. Still, he was relieve to see an empty bench and took up residence on it, wondering if he could manage a nap or if it would be too cold.

[Yue/Yuki]

[winged_moon]

By the time they reached the courtyard Yue was still mildly irritable, though to the outward appearance there probably wasn't all that much difference. He'd shrugged off the nurse's offer of a coat with impatience; he had no need of such a thing, not unless it was far colder than it currently was outside. To get her to leave him alone he'd finally just carried it slung over one arm as he stalked outside. He'd missed the chance to go outside the day before and didn't want to miss this one

[not_rly_fai]

Straight from Kurogane to Yue it seemed, with no break in-between. Yuuhi carefully put his smile back in place as he turned to the other man. Even without looking, the tone told him it was Yue, not Yuki, but the man's stance and posture gave it away once Yuuhi glanced in his direction.

"Hnnn?" he appeared puzzled by the question. "Oh- no, I'm fine," he replied automatically. This time he managed to look at least a little more like it wasn't a bold-faced lie. He tilted his head slightly, feigning curiosity, though after yesterday's meeting with Yuki and Touya, he was kind of surprised that Yue wanted to see him.

"How are you?"

[winged_moon]

"You always say that," Yue replied, though his tone was almost as though talking to himself. He fell silent again after that, his gaze (and frown) unwavering as he stared at the man. If Fai was seriously injured he'd probably smile and claim that he was just fine, judging from past experience, so the only way that he could really be certain was to watch for clues.

There didn't seem to be anything seriously wrong with him, other than what Yue was already aware of, so he finally relented and offered a slight shrug in response to the question. "Perfectly fine," he said, with a hint of bitterness in his voice. He still resented the changes that had been made, in part because he was glad of it.

Another pause, then he added, "You lied to Sakura."

[not_rly_fai]

He gave another innocent shrug and a sheepish smile at Yue's accusations. Yue, for his part, seemed to be telling the truth. His hair was long again (well, longer anyway), like the first time they'd met and there didn't seem to be any serious injuries so he didn't press further either. Not that it was any of his business. But the bitterness in his voice was strange. Was it a bluff? Was he hiding an injury? Or was he actually annoyed that he was well? Yuuhi found the reaction strange, to say the least.

As for the lie to Sakura, that seemed even stranger. Did he want her to know about what had really happened? If she was happier not knowing, wasn't that for the best?

"It wasn't something she needed to know about," he said, smile never wavering for a moment. "But if you want to tell her different, I won't mind."

[winged_moon]

Perhaps it was understandable that Kurogane always seemed so grumpy, if he had to deal with Fai acting like...well, Fai, on a regular basis. It was aggravating to try to get anything useful out of someone who simply smiled and shrugged and bypassed questions of any import. At the same time, however, it wasn't something outside of Yue's experience, though Fai preferred the innocent smile to the enigmatic.

"No." The guardian glanced away finally, attention focusing somewhere down and off to one side. What exactly he thought, he wasn't entirely certain himself, but he was pleased to see Fai was still willing to protect the girl, even after what had happened. "I agreed with the necessity."

[not_rly_fai]

While he could sense some things with his magic about Yuki and Yue, there were still a lot of things he didn't understand. Like how much of the conversation the other day the guardian had been privy to or how it was that no injuries remained from the coliseum. Either way, he supposed it didn't matter. At least Yue seemed to agree with him on keeping Sakura from finding out any more than she had to know

[winged_moon]

Though the wings were currently not present some mannerisms still persisted. Yue's shoulders shifted a little in an unconscious movement which would have drawn his wings closer about himself, as his attention still remained fixed upon some undetermined spot to one side of the bench. What had he come to talk to Fai about? He hadn't stopped to question the impulse, though perhaps he should have, since he had yet to decide just how he felt toward the magician at the moment

[not_rly_fai]

It almost sounded like an apology. It was honestly the last thing he'd expected from Yue. He knew what it was like to be yelled at or threatened and he was certainly accustomed to hearing them when things went awry. But whatever it was, it was much harder to keep a smile on his face as he heard it. Why wasn't he angry? Yuuhi was the one in the wrong, not Yue. He'd forced the guardian to hurt someone, even though it was by himself and by his own choice.

He ought to agree, if only to push the other away, but... couldn't he break ties without hurting people?

"You couldn't have known what would happen," he said, much of the lightheartedness gone from his voice. He turned his head too, as if interested in whatever it was Yue was looking away at.

"And everything turned out just fine in the end," he added quickly, replacing the mask in a second. "It's not worth worrying over."

[winged_moon]

"Of course it's worth worrying over." Yue finally glanced back at Fai again, eyes narrowed slightly to complement his frown. It was true that Fai had insisted before that he wasn't worth protecting, as though his life was somehow entirely worthless, Yue had and would never believe that, and he rather resented being told what he could and could not think.

He folded his arms across his chest, suppressing the mild annoyance as he had to resettle the coat he was holding in the process, and gave the magician a look stern enough that it approached a glare without quite reaching that level. "Yes, Landel or...whoever, somehow managed to bring you back. But what matters is that you did die. It did happen, and fortunate as it is that you're here now, that will never change."

[not_rly_fai]

Yuuhi had no logical explanation for why he was still here. It still felt surreal, like a dream, or more precisely, a nightmare. Waking up in that cold metal box, slowly bleeding out on the table, weak and helpless. His eye missing, taken away or given to his own doctor. Thinking back on it still made him feel sick. Was that the price?

Things shouldn't be so simple, he'd be the first to admit. Death could so rarely be undone, even if it was what he'd been searching for. Somehow he managed to keep living, though his brother had only been given one chance. Why couldn't he give up his sight before to the witch to bring back Fai? If that was all there was to pay, he'd have gladly done it. Or was it just the result of some failed experiment. Was he to be pieced away by the doctors or would he turn on the others one night without knowing how or why? There was no way of knowing what'd happened in that empty gap of time.

"What does it change? I'm the same as always, aren't I?" he asked, giving a shrug and looking for the easy

[winged_moon]

Even if Fai did know what had happened he wasn't likely to say anything about it -- even now he was wriggling his way out of any direct questions or statements, trying to deflect attention away from himself. Whether he truly didn't care or was glossing over truths he didn't want to admit to Yue was never certain, and it frustrated him more than slightly. All he wanted was an answer that would make everything...well, make sense again, and those didn't seem very common around here.

"Perhaps you are the same as always," he replied, though in a tone that implied that he didn't entirely believe that no matter what he might say. He paused again, then breathed out what wasn't quite a sigh but was close to it. "The rest of us, however, aren't quite so fortunate