Fic "I Like You That's Why I Protect You" Chapter 3
Title: I Like You, That’s Why I Protect You
Rating: PG-13-ish (Some Language)
Crossed Over With: Suki and occasionally with CLAMP works set in the same universe as Suki. Also some random CLAMP cameos will appear as needed.
Notes: Chapter 3 of the fic I started to post for the spring challenge.
Previous parts~ Chapter 1 Chapter 2
Summery: Kurogane is a bodyguard with a very difficult assignment.
~~**~~
“Hey, Kuro-tan! Let’s get dinner together.”
Kurogane had tried to hang back after class ended so he could follow his idiot target to wherever the guy was going next. However, Kurogane was finding it hard to tail him while the blonde was hanging off his arm. He tried shaking the guy off. It didn’t work.
The target pouted up at him. “I know a really nice little café.”
Kurogane sighed. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. He had planned to hang in the background, close enough to intervene if anyone attacked his target, but not close enough to interact with him. If he didn’t have to talk to his target then he wouldn’t have to lie. But now, if he said no to dinner, and his target spotted him following it would cause trouble.
Kurogane ran a hand through his short hair. “Alright, fine.”
“Yea!” His target was far more gleefully happy then he should be over the prospect of dinner with a grumpy companion.
“Just give me my arm back, damn it.” He tugged his arm away, this time the idiot let him go.
The café was nice, the interior cool, the decorations in soothing colors. The lighting was dim, but not so much that it affected his visual range. By this point Kurogane was half expecting any place the idiot chose to be garishly decorated like one of those American restaurant chains he’d heard about that apparently threw random junk up on the walls.
Kurogane picked a table in the back of the café, one with good sightlines to the door and dropped his books and laptop case on it. He moved quickly, not giving his target a chance to pick a table. Knowing that guy, he’d pick one right by a window where anyone could covertly spy on him, or where someone hiding in the apartment building across the street could easily get a clear shot with a sniper rifle. His client did have a lot of enemies after all (Kurogane knew, he’d done a rather through check on the man) and some of them might be willing to do more then just kidnap his son in order to get at him.
The waitress greeted them and gave them menus. Apparently this place served traditional soups and noodles as well as western sandwiches and pastries. They ordered and Kurogane half tuned out his target’s constant babble until their food came.
“Just as I thought, Kuro-rin likes traditional Japanese food.”
Kurogane glared at his target over his soba.
“Would you stop calling me those ridiculous nicknames?”
His target tilted his head and considered for a long time, then he beamed at Kurogane. “Nope!”
Kurogane grumbled under his breath and attacked his soba.
“So, what other classes does Kuro-tan have?” Fai took a bite out of some disgustingly sweet pastry.
Kurogane pulled his class schedule out of his pocket. He had memorized the time and location of the classes, how many entrances the room had that needed to be watched and possible escape routes but not the actual titles of his classes. His target reached over and grabbed the paper from his hand.
“Hey!” Kurogane tried to grab it back but the idiot just held it out of his range. There was no way he was getting it back without a full blown tussle.
That idiot just smiled at him and flicked the paper open. “Let’s see what classes Kuro-pipi is taking.”
Kurogane’s hand clenched and unclenched nervously under the table. He watched closely as the mischief dancing in those blue eyes disappeared as they widened in surprise.
His target gave a strange little laugh, “We have all the same classes Kuro-pon. Isn’t that strange?”
“Yeah, that is strange.” Kurogane took a deep breath trying to still his racing heart. He wasn’t good at lying and making up convincing stories. He should have figured his target might notice even without seeing his class schedule but Kurogane had planned to just fade into the crowd. He cursed mentally, two days in and he was already giving his target reasons to be suspicious.
His target looked up and Kurogane forced himself to meet those eyes. The blue seemed more intense somehow as those eyes searched his. Kurogane felt caught by them. Up until now those eyes had been dancing, laughing, always in constant motion, like ripples on the surface of water preventing you from seeing into the depths. Now they were still and the small glimpse Kurogane was allowed past the flighty, frivolous surface took his breath away.
The searching look in the blonde’s eyes softened. “It must be fate.”
“Right.” Kurogane was only half aware of what he was saying, still distracted by this unexpected side his target was showing.
“Yea! Kuro-pipi agrees we’re destined for each other!”
“Wait? What! I never said that!” Kurogane allowed himself to fall into what was quickly becoming a routine for them; Fai teasing and him yelling. Underneath, he felt relieved. That had been close, but he’d made it though without blowing his cover. He focused on his soba, growling at the idiot between bites and reminding himself to be more careful, his target wasn’t quite the idiot he pretended to be.
~~**~~
There was a letter waiting when Kurogane returned to the apartment. His name and address were typed on an otherwise blank envelope. The letter inside, however, was written in his employer’s distinct hand on thick, creamy corporation stationary.
Mr. Suwa,
You have my gratitude for seeing to my son’s protection under these unusual circumstances. I have included my personal contact information; I trust you will notify me if any situations arise. The amount of your first week’s pay has been deposited into your account.
The letter was signed simply, Ashura Flowright.
~~**~~
Kurogane’s second close call happened later that week. The idiot had been walking faster then usual on his way to the University and disappeared around a corner. Kurogane had sped up trying to keep his target just in sight before he disappeared behind the next corner.
He made the turn and crashed right into his target, who was bent down retying his shoelace. Fai straightened and looked at him in surprise. “Good morning Kuro-pon! I didn’t know you lived around here.”
“Ummm, yeah. Back that way.” He gestured vaguely behind himself. He was mentally cursing. Either he could lie about where he lived and risk being caught later or he could tell the truth and risk his target’s suspicion that the guy who shared all of his classes also just happened to live in the same apartment building.
“I live around here too, in an apartment building. Do you have an apartment or do you live in a house?”
Kurogane ran his hand through his hair and decided it was probably better to tell the truth as much as possible rather then try to keep track of a bunch of lies. “An apartment. This woman Mihara-san runs it.”
Kurogane braced himself as blue eyes went wide.
“That’s the same apartment building that I live in.”
He held his breath.
Fai tilted his head to one side. “That’s an amazing coincidence.”
Kurogane shrugged. “It’s cheap housing in walking distance of campus.”
Fai nodded. “That’s true. A lot of students live there. Mihara-san likes to give young people a place to stay while they are still just starting out.” His target turned and started walking again. “You know what this means?”
Kurogane followed. Walking behind his target he couldn’t see his face and that made him nervous. “What?”
“We can walk to school together!”
~~**~~
“Come have lunch with me, Kuro-nan!”
“Stop dragging me.” Kurogane tried to pull his arm from Fai’s grip. It was disconcerting how when Fai latched on he couldn’t manage to break free. “What if I don’t want to?”
“You have to come! I already told her you’d be there.”
“Don’t just decide things like that! And who the hell are you talking about?”
Fai smiled innocently up at him. “I want you to meet a friend of mine.”
They wound up at a pastry shop, where a waitress in a frilly dress bowed and welcomed them into the shop. A girl with short brown hair was sitting at a far table. She smiled brightly and waved as soon as she saw Fai.
Fai grabbed his wrist and dragged him over to the table. “Sakura-chan, this is Kuro-rin!”
“My name’s Kurogane!”
Sakura stood and bowed. “I’m very glad to meet you, Kurogane-san.”
Kurogane was relieved to discover that Sakura was quiet, polite and far calmer then Fai. When Fai ordered tea and pastries for them and Kurogane grumbled about too many sweet things, Sakura found a dark chocolate berry tart that he might like.
The waitress brought their order which managed to distract Fai enough to make him shut up for all of a minute. He took a bite of chocolate mousse cake then turned to Sakura with a sly smile. “So how is Syaoran?”
Kurogane was amazed to see the girl go beet red in less then a second.
“He’s …he’s fine.” She managed to stammer out, then tried to hide her burning face behind her tea cup. “We’re going to see a movie tomorrow.”
“Syaoran is Sakura-chan’s English tutor.” The way Fai drew out the words had Sakura blushing even harder. “You’re seeing a movie together? Ohhh that sounds like a date.”
“No it’s not like that. The movie is in English, it’s for practice, really.” The poor girl was blushing and stammering so hard she had completely given up trying to eat her dessert.
“I don’t know that sounds kind of--”
Kurogane picked up Fai’s fork, stabbed a large piece of chocolate mousse cake and shoved it into Fai’s mouth. “Why don’t you shut up for a while and let her eat her cake?”
Fai blinked startled eyes at him. A moment of silence stretched between them, then broke as Sakura burst into giggles. Fai grinned around the mouthful of cake, chewed and eventually swallowed.
“Kuro-rin’s so sweet to feed me!” Fai grabbed his arm and hugged it to his chest.
Kurogane tugged and eventually pulled his arm back. “It was just to make you shut up!”
Sakura laughed harder at their bickering.
Fai settled down and ate his dessert, letting the conversation turn to less embarrassing subjects. When he jumped up from the table insisting on paying the bill, Sakura turned to Kurogane.
“I’m glad.” Her voice was quiet so it wouldn’t carry to the counter.
“What?”
“I’m glad Fai has another friend. He gets very lonely, I think. He tries to smile anyway, pretend he is always happy. But around you he really is.”
“What are you talking about?” Kurogane found himself leaning closer to the girl.
“Fai and I grew up together but besides me he hasn’t had the chance to make many friends. He’s lived a very isolating life. He’s trying to make up for that now, but sometimes he tries to hard.
“I’m just… I’m just glad you’re his friend.” Her bright smile made something clench tight in his chest.
Before Kurogane could stammer out a reply, Fai returned. As the walked to the door together, he let the previous conversation get washed away in Fai’s chatter.
~~**~~
On their way home Fai grabbed onto his arm again. “I’m glad you were able to meet Sakura-chan. I know you don’t like sweets too much, but you had fun right?”
Kurogane shrugged. “She was a cute kid. Polite.”
Fai nodded. “Sakura-chan is a good girl. I’m glad she made it to lunch. She’s been really busy lately with school and English lessons and her part time job. She needed a little break.”
Kurogane looked down at his target. The blonde’s smile was wistful and distant. “You’re important to her. I’m sure she doesn’t mind making time to see you even if she’s busy.”
Fai’s head snapped around to look up at him. His smile brightened, becoming less painful to look at. “Kuro-sama’s so wise.” He held on tighter to Kurogane’s arm and for once Kurogane didn’t try to pull away.