Nihon: We Go Ever Onwards (2)
Title: We Go Ever Onwards
Characters/Pairings: KuroFai, SySak, others mentioned
Rating: T
Summary: The journey goes on.
A/N: Another instalment in the Nihon series, the first chronologically in the series. Set prior to their reaching Nihon (again, and for the final time), shortly after the epilogue’s end. DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU’VE READ THE EPILOGUE.
Posted in two parts.
First part here.
*****
Among the grime and lights of another non-magical world Kurogane found himself accosted by another blond, a creature with the same bright smile as his counterpart, but a pair of summer-sky eyes.
“Kuro-chan~,” the voice was the same as well, lilting and sweet, and Kurogane spared an idle pitying thought to this world’s counterpart, a bond over stupid nicknames. “I thought you said you couldn’t come out tonight?”
Kurogane attempted to detach himself from the other-Fai, this world’s Yuui. “I think you’ve got the wrong person.”
“Kuro-pon, don’t be silly.” Yuui chided him, wagging one finger in his face. “I know my Kuro-pup and what have you done to your arm?!” The blond was wide-eyed as he took in the ninja’s metal appendage, lifting it up to inspect. “Kuro-wan -”
Kurogane pulled his hand from the other’s grasp. “Like I said, I think you’ve got the wrong person.”
His companion frowned at him, confused. “But you’re Kurogane.”
“But not your Kurogane,” answered the same voice from behind Kurogane’s back, a familiar possessive hand pressing against the ninja’s right hip, Fai leaning on the man’s left side with his arm around the other’s waist. The angle he was at meant Kurogane couldn’t see the look on his face, but the stiffness of his frame and the thoughtful consideration that crept onto Yuui’s said it was probably a sight indeed.
“…I don’t understand,” the Yuui before them admitted, taking in his reflection living, breathing, resting against the side of someone who looked very much like his own boyfriend, “but I don’t think I’d believe you if you explained it to me.”
“No,” said Fai rather shortly, having no patience for himself. “You wouldn’t.”
“And my Kuro-sama?”
“Probably exactly where you left him.”
“Right,” said the Yuui, and inclined his head. “It was a pleasure meeting you.” Fai didn’t return the sentiment, and the other blond wandered off. (Kurogane supposed it beat screaming, but the calmness was a little weird.)
Kurogane raised an eyebrow at Fai, unused to the mage being so rude, and Fai looked up at him, still bristling from the encounter. “You’re jealous of yourself?”
“Who else could put up with you?” Kurogane only continued to look down at him, and Fai reached up to grab the front of his shirt. “I’m not losing you, Kuro-sama,” he said simply, right before dragging Kurogane down into a kiss, “not even to myself.”
#
“Kurogane-san,” Syaoran said in a world without houses, where the people lived in hides under trees so tall they had to reach to the sphere of the sky itself, “do you think I’m wasting my time?”
Kurogane looked at the boy consideringly, feeling the heat of the fire they were sitting beside touch his face, people chattering in this tribe they’d entered, gathering around the communal pot for food. Fai was elsewhere with Mokona and Koko, talking to the Chief’s wife. “You made a wish, didn’t you? To be together with those you love.”
“To live in a peaceful world,” Syaoran said quietly, his hand over his heart, as if he could reach inside of himself to pluck out the soul of his father, his friend, his clone, “with everyone together.”
“…There are a lot of worlds out there,” Kurogane told him after a short pause, getting to his feet and ruffling the youth’s hair with one hand, looking over to where the food was being served. “We’ll find the one you’re looking for sooner or later.”
Syaoran looked up at him. “Kurogane-san…”
“It’s time to eat,” Kurogane said bluntly, cutting the brunet off, “before the food gets cold.”
“Yes, Kurogane-san,” Syaoran said obediently, and followed the ninja to the pot.
#
Kurogane did not like cats (Fai was the self-declared exception). They mewed and they wailed and they scratched his pants-legs to ruin with their claws. They got underfoot and tripped Kurogane over, and moulted all over his black clothes - black. Fai suggesting Kurogane change his primary colour choice was met with a rather hearty scowl, Koko mewing innocently and washing her face as she sat on the kitchen counter opposite the two humans, Mokona curiously inspecting the cat food Fai had bought their animal friend.
Kurogane did not like Koko - but he put up with the cat, because Fai, Syaoran and Mokona declared themselves deeply attached to the feline and were forever cooing over her, and Kurogane’s eardrums weren’t quite feeling up to the task of combating the scolding he’d receive should he so much as look at Koko in a semi-violent way. The cat was forever getting in the way - from using Kurogane as her personal cushion and scratching post, to pushing in-between Fai and Kurogane when the ninja was in the midst of successfully angling them both towards the nearest bedroom, effectively stealing Fai’s attention as the blond swooped down to pick her up and coo over her, declaring that Koko was hungry and had to be attended to at once.
The last straw came one sunny afternoon in a fairly modern world, the group living in a small house whilst they consulted various sources around the nearby city. Kurogane was resting on the couch, reading his latest copy of his favourite mangayan; Syaoran was out investigating with Mokona, fai was in the kitchen, preparing the evening meal and talking to the cat. All was well, all was peaceful, and Kurogane tuned out Fai’s non-stop yammering with a skill born of practice, immersed in the manga before him.
That was until, of course, Koko suddenly pounced on his chest, covered in white flour, and tackled the mangayan from his hands, clawing at the page the ninja had been reading and proceeding to shred the rest of the book before Kurogane’s eyes.
“FAI!!” Kurogane yelled for the idiot even as he smacked Koko away from his manga, grabbing the precious up from the floor. The stupid cat had wrecked the middle section - a few torn pages fluttered loose just as Fai walked distractedly out of the kitchen, just as covered in flour as the cat.
“What is - ohhhh.” Fai understood implicitly what the death of the mangayan meant. Especially one Kurogane hadn’t finished reading. “Kuro-chan,” he said diplomatically, “we can get you a new one.”
“I wanted this one! And your cat shredded it!!”
“I’m sure Koko was just playing -”
“The cat shredded my manga.”
“I can see, Kuro-chan - it’s making a mess on the floor.” Kurogane growled, and Fai sighed. “You already smacked her, right?” A sharp nod. “Then what else do you expect me to do?”
Kurogane floundered. His instinctive response was to say ‘kill the cat’, but there was certain warning gleam in Fai’s eyes that promised a certain kind of hell if he so much as breathed the suggestion. Koko, it appeared, had diplomatic immunity - Kurogane did not.
“Come,” Fai took his hand, and tugged him gently towards the kitchen, shutting the door behind them and sealing Koko in the other room. “Kuro-pon can help me with dinner - I’m making pie, and I need a taste-taster to try it out.”
Kurogane sulked, taking a seat at the nearby table. “I’m not your damn guinea-pig.”
“No,” Fai agreed, smiling, lifting a spoon of some filling or other to the other’s mouth for Kurogane to try out. Trained, Kurogane opened up, and ended up with something hot and meaty in his mouth - beef? “Kuro-wan is my growly puppy.”
The chunks of beef went down the wrong way, and Kurogane choked. Fai immediately looked up in alarm, but Kurogane coughed his mouthful back up, breathing normally.
Fai looked distraught. “It was that bad?”
Kurogane shook his head, still breathing a little heavily, and wondered just when it was he’d been domesticated. “It wasn’t the cooking.”
“Then the filling was good?” Fai perked up again.
“Yeah,” Kurogane granted him, watching the blinding sparkles emanate at once from his pleased partner, Fai clapping and flinging his arms around the taller man’s neck. He was getting flour all down Kurogane’s front, but the rather sweet kiss he gave the ninja more than made up for it.
Peace reigned in the household for the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening, Syaoran and Mokona returning to the house for the meal. Kurogane was relatively content, having calmed down, Koko was happily out of sight, and then Fai wailed in the kitchen - some thing had scoffed half of his pie, and the only culprit -
Kurogane was first out of his seat to offer. “Can I string that cat up by the neck?”
Sulking about the destruction of his cooking, Fai didn’t hold him back.
#
They came to a world of contrasts - magical and non-magical both, two-thirds of the population living magic-free and clueless about the second life the minority conducted. They landed in the garden of one of the wizard families of the world, a few children leaning out of windows and applauding their ‘apparating skills’, asked if they were there to see their parents. Having no clue about where they were Fai agreed and said they were, and somehow or other (over very civilised cups of tea with milk and about three heaped spoonfuls of sugar for Fai - stirred clockwise three times - and about seven for Mokona) the story of what they were doing came out to two very-concerned-looking-but-ultimately-exceedingly-helpful wizard parents, and the whole group found themselves being escorted to another end of the country (apparently) using the fireplace.
They were in a castle, it seemed, a school, as a rather stern-faced woman (the headmistress) informed them, ramming a worn hat down over Syaoran’s head before Kurogane could whip out his sword. Seeing it was only a hat and it didn’t appear to be eating the boy or anything (although the incredibly spooked expression Syaoran was wearing didn’t raise the ninja’s hopes too high) Kurogane relaxed slightly - and then jolted when the brim opened, and the hat spoke.
“They’re telling the truth.”
Kurogane actually goggled at that, and Fai clapped his hands together (again), looking utterly enthralled. “Hyuu~! What a clever hat!” And then he sneezed, and looked most startled.
“Bless you,” said Syaoran automatically, the talking hat still sitting on his head.
“Thank you, Syaoran-kun~,” Fai sang, and then he sneezed again. Koko, who had been sitting curled around his neck, leapt onto the ground in disgust, not ready to put up with her perch jerking so violently like that.
Mokona piped up. “Someone is talking about Fai!”
“Tch,” Kurogane snorted. “Who’d waste their time talking about this idiot?”
Fai sneezed again, and looked apologetically at the headmistress. “This castle is full of magic, isn’t it?”
The woman nodded. “It’s a school of magic.”
“Ah,” Fai looked temporarily woeful. “I think I’m allergic.”
They were allowed use of the extensive castle library, though after about an hour straight of sneezing Fai was forbidden from the room, stirring up too many delicate pages. Mokona went with the blond for a walk outside to keep Fai company, and when they came in three hours later soaking wet Fai only beamed, Mokona giggling, and both informed their alarmed companions they’d made friends with the giant squid who lived in the castle lake.
Fai was promptly forbidden from going back outside again as well.
They were given rooms in the castle that night. After a long day spent in the library Kurogane was actually glad to be heading to bed, only to discover a certain cat had gotten there first and made herself quite comfortable on his pillow. Picking Koko up and dropping her on the floor - and then chucking the cat-fur-coated pillow after her for good measure - Kurogane went for a long bath, looking forward to stretching out alone -
Only to discover Fai curled up half-asleep on Kurogane’s bed when he came back. The mage woke up promptly and properly when Kurogane loomed over him, Fai reaching out with his usual assurance to the younger man, pulling Kurogane down over him and joining their mouths.
Kurogane was still slightly damp from his bath but Fai didn’t really seem to care, clothes shed and dropped over the side of the bed onto the floor, skin sliding against skin, softer, slower, closer than usual. Taste, touch, sight, sound, nigh all were each other, time dropping away as they actually smiled into each kiss, Fai leaving a row of white fingermarks along his lover’s darker shoulder, hot gasping breath rushing along Kurogane’s neck. Tighter, hotter, brow to brow, skins flushed, somebody’s shivering moan when Fai shifted his leg, deeper, better, god -
Afterwards, sweaty, sated, the sheets barely covering them, Fai pressed into Kurogane, all but purring as the ninja stroked one hand down his spine, shamelessly nuzzling into the arch of the taller man’s neck, too comfortable to even think about moving. Not that Kurogane wanted to move him, either. This…this was good, this was nice, legs tangled, hair tousled, safe and content and dropping sweetly into sleep.
Sometimes, however, it was such a shame Kurogane did so much post-coital thinking.
“You stopped sneezing.”
“Hm?” Fai was far too gone to care about his usual extensive vocabulary, dark lashes fluttering as he looked up at his lover enquiringly and tried to process those things - ah yes, words - coming from Kurogane’s mouth. Why was Kurogane talking again?
“Sneezing,” the ninja repeated, tone taking on a slight impatience as he attempted to get his message into the skull of his drowsy companion. “You stopped doing it.”
“Oh,” Fai blinked once, twice, Kurogane feeling the lashes brush the skin of his throat, almost hearing the wheels turning in the mage’s labyrinthine mind as it was reluctantly called back from the tempting oblivion it had been happily heading towards. And then Fai smiled, awake enough again to once more be a tease. “Kuro-tan, maybe all I needed was a pick-me-up?”
Comfort and cosiness be damned, Kurogane promptly pushed Fai out of the bed. (The mage made such a satisfying thump as he hit the floor.)
#
They fought back-to-back, side-by-side, with Syaoran between them; Mokona curled safely into a hood or collar - usually Fai’s -, Koko slinking out of sight into a nearby bush until a battle was done. The blond preferred long-distance fighting still above all other forms of combat, his magic a beautiful, deadly thing in battle, strengthening his comrades, protecting them, biting and burning and searing the skin of the fools that dared try to harm the ones he loved, white-hot phoenixes that blinded the eye and turned those that stood against them to little more than charred scraps, ash.
Kurogane dived in, dark, dangerous, slicing and cutting and blazing a path through their enemies, his dragon roaring and curling around them in the air, the blazing protector before and behind.
Syaoran was the lightning-flash, wind, fire, water, connected to nowhere and nothing but with a heart of pure gold, defending his allies and taking down his foes. He learned quickly and well, keeping them safe, learning, improving, set only on his goal.
Individual, each of them was formidable. Together, most people wisely decided that fighting was simply not the best option that day, and lay down their weapons. That, of course, often disappointed Kurogane, and Fai patted him pseudo-comfortingly on the head and got his hand snapped at for good measure. The blond only ever laughed, Mokona squealed in delight, and both ran or bounced away from the pursuing ninja ‘kyaa’ing and waving their arms whilst Syaoran looked on, smiling, Koko coming out of hiding and taking up her place on his lap.
It was good to be together.
#
They arrived in a country that could’ve been Paradise, on an island lush with tropical green with an endless sky of blue overhead. They landed under trees and Fai promptly stripped down in the humid air, Syaoran following suit a few beats later - though not to the excess that the blond did. Kurogane refused to be parted from any part of his black ensemble and Fai whined about it, complaining that daddy was a prude and shy and silly and if he got sweaty and overheated it was all his own fault, and just see if mommy comforted him later when he died of sunstroke. Kurogane responded in his usual succinct fashion, and called Fai a pervert.
They lounged in the shade as the sun climbed higher overhead, Fai snapping a large leaf from a nearby tree and lazily fanning himself with it. Kurogane, he announced, made Fai hot just be sitting there, brooding away in his big black cloak. Kurogane only growled at him; it was far too hot for him to be bothered enough to get up and kick the blond, even if Fai was being terribly annoying.
And then Fai had the bright idea of contacting Sakura, immediately perking all of them up (even if Kurogane refused to show it). The Clow princess was as delighted as ever to see them, literally shoving her elder brother out of the room the viewing portal had appeared in so she could talk to them in private, beaming and chattering and asking them about their journey, telling them about her day. Kurogane decided it would be a good idea to give her and Syaoran a little private time to talk (and he was growing weary of the meaningful looks the two younger ones were exchanging) and dragged a reluctant Fai away, unable to grab Mokona because the manjuu decided she was going to stay and keep Syaoran and Koko company.
The two adults went to the beach that ran the length of the island, Fai dropping the clothes he’d shed in a small patch of shade - and then pulling off a few more, much to Kurogane’s sudden embarrassment - and running for the ocean that sparkled rather enticingly, reversing their previous roles and being the one to drag Kurogane along instead. Kurogane only had time to kick off his boots and lose his cloak before Fai had pulled him into the - thankfully rather warm - water, laughing and splashing the other like a child half - well…a child a lot, lot younger than him (Fai had never revealed his exact age).
Kurogane attempted to go after him but he tripped over an underwater rock, spluttering as he went under for a second or two. Fai laughed at him and Kurogane sent up a wave of water as soon as he got footing once more, Fai splashing him back and protesting that oh, Kuro-puu, the water was so cold -
They sat on the sand in the sun afterwards drying off, Kurogane finally peeling away his wet clothing and trying to get it dry as well before Syaoran rejoined them. Fai flopped down beside him, eyes closed, sand sticking to his pale skin, salt stiffening the gold of his hair and leaving traces of white on his lips. He didn’t look like a prince like that, or a mage, or a knight. He didn’t look like someone who had stood at what could’ve been the end of all the worlds beside Kurogane, dream-burned, determined, pushing for the tomorrow so that they could all go on. He could’ve been anyone.
He was Fai.
He was Fai, and despite everything Fai was there, a thousand trials suffered and beaten to reach this point where they were, side by side still, with the sun warming their faces.
“Kuro-sama,” Fai didn’t even bother opening his eyes to speak, too comfortable exactly as he was, halfway to anywhere and two-thirds asleep, his arms propped behind his head, “I can hear you thinking.”
“Some of us like to do it from time to time,” Kurogane griped, knowing rather than seeing that Fai was smiling at his comment, letting the truly nonexistent jab within it roll off him as easily as the beads of water from the ocean.
“Some of us develop headaches as a result.” Fai lazily retorted. “Really, Kuro-tan, you’re going to go all wrinkly.”
Kurogane picked up his still-soggy shirt for that comment, and flung it over his lover, Fai letting out a peculiar squeak noise and flinging the damp thing off of him again (it was cold), pouting when he heard Kurogane laugh at him.
“Saa, Kuro-myu is so mean.”
“Yes,” the ninja agreed quite readily. “I am.”
Fai sulked and Kurogane ignored him and Fai teased so that, when Syaoran finally emerged from under the tree-line with Koko draped around his neck and Mokona bouncing a few steps ahead of him, both Fai and Kurogane were back in the ocean again, the former evading the latter as Kurogane attempted to drown him.
“Syaoran-kun!” Fai waved as soon as he caught sight of the boy, voice taking on a piteous note, “Save me - your daddy’s finally cracked!”
“I’ll show you ‘cracked’, you idiotic -!”
“Ah, Kuro-wan is scary - scary~!”
Syaoran took a seat on the sand with Mokona and Koko, and let the two ‘adults’ continue with what they were doing, yelling and squealing coming from the ocean for a good half hour as the two out there chased each other around and around.
It was a regular day.
A/N: I haven’t a lot to say, really. ^^;; Ah, Tsubasa, I’m so sad to see you go. *woe*
- The ‘text’ Fai is translating in the first part of this story is actually a song - Tsunaida te ne kisu wo, from the D.Gray-man anime. It’s a very beautiful song and actually makes me wibble like hell - I’d recommend it to anyone.
- The magic castle in this part of the chapter? Yes, it’s a minor crossover (of course I don’t own that series), and if you don’t know which one I’m referencing you need to look up your pop culture references - seriously. X3