kurofai: fic: Syntax & Swordfights; (Yama, Part I)
Title: Syntax and Swordfights (Yama drabbles Part 1/6)
Author: soleil_et_pluie
Rating: G
Pairing: kurofai
Length: 1,026
Disclaimer: er, i wish i owned them. but I don't, and as they say, that's life. :3
Summary: Fighting together changes people. Yama is my one true love? Kurogane and Fai spar with each other.
Author’s Notes: ...Please excuse my retarded titling abilities. >_>; I-I just love Yama setting, okay? Okay.
They arrive in Yama, and instantly Fai knows something will be wrong, it’s instinctive. He’s proven right the instant Kurogane opens his mouth. He can’t understand a word.
Whatever. They’ll find the kids in a minute, with Mokona, and it’ll be fine.
Fai laughs richly, and starts rambling, knowing it will come out gibberish.
Kurogane spins, his eyes focused, and growls a long string of phrases. Fai laughs at him. This is not a bad situation at all; actually, it’s pretty hilarious. Kurogane snorts, totally disgusted, and starts looking around.
The vegetation is lush and tropical, spreading out across a deep valley. They can see smoke, far off in the distance, of campfires. Enough campfires to say army.
Fai grins inanely and nods towards the smoke. Kurogane has already seen it and started walking. It’s going to be a long day.
****
The language barrier soon stops being funny.
“Kuro-pi.” Kurogane looks up from cleaning his dagger.
“I need to know how to speak your language.” He gestures at his own mouth and then at Kurogane’s as he says it.
“Heh,” Kurogane scoffs and reaches below his cot, handing Fai a sheef of papers. It is unmistakably an alphabet, scrawled in an obvious attempt to be neat across the pages.
“You were waiting for me to ask…?” Fai tilts his head, grinning.
****
They start sparring. Kurogane’s skills with a blade have never dulled, and Fai has never used one.
Fai is in the fields, stretching leisurely in the afternoon sun. The back of his neck prickles and he lifts his head up, sensing a stormcloud coming.
“Oi!”
Or rather, the embodiment of one. Kurogane is stalking up to him through the practice fields, his face fixed with an expression of stubborn determination. Fai glances at the extra practice katana, guessing what’s coming. Kurogane has grudgingly admitted Fai is a skilled archer, but probably due to the vast difference in combat experience between them, still seems to hold the opinion that the other man needs toughening up. He sighs only inwardly, and does what he knows works best: he pushes buttons.
“Good afternoooo~n, Kuro-pi!” He turns on the extra-bright, grinning insanely, wanting only to get under Kurogane’s skin in a major way.
Kurogane is not in the mood to be fucked with this morning. He woke up sore from unending practice with every tragically-unskilled, ever-so-determined soldier in his unit. He’s not one to complain, and there’s no doubt he’s managed to teach at least a dozen soldiers some real combat moves, but hour upon hour of sparring endlessly has made him infinitely grouchier than normal. His sword arm is actually sore, which hasn’t happened in so long he can’t remember the last time. If this soreness had come from fighting an opponent like Seishirou, it would be all right, he thinks, but toughening up every baby in Yasha’s army had not been on the itinerary.
He recognizes the sharp maliciousness behind Fai’s smile, and something dark clenches in his gut. Enough is enough, and he is not taking crap from this blonde-haired twit with too many secrets and too little concern for the fact that they are going onto a battlefield soon, any longer.
He throws the wooden katana at Fai, not caring if it hits him in the face, trusting his reflexes to save him. They do, though Fai looks surprised for the barest second before grinning widely again and leaning back on his heels.
“Kuro-baby, are we sparring agaaaaain?” He tilts his head to the side, purposefully as nonchalant and airheaded as possible.
“Up!” Kurogane barks, and brings his katana in front of his face, spreading his feet to the stance.
“Really?” Fai is all mockery, trying to deflate the seriousness out of the
ninja. This is a battle all the same.
Fai looks up. Kurogane’s face is stone. Allright, he thinks. We’ll try it your way. You see if you can hit me.
Fai’s eyes are lidded with his little smirk, rising infuriatingly slowly to his feet, and swings the blade in front, humoring Kurogane with a defense.
Before he can draw another breath, though, the wind is knocked out of him with the force of a brick slamming directly into his lungs-and he realizes it’s his own sword, knocked backwards into him with the force of Kurogane’s simple, direct lunge.
He lands in an undignified heap on his ass, and struggles to draw breath for a few panicked seconds before coughing painfully.
Kurogane has succeeded in making him take it seriously, he thinks ruefully, as he rises again slowly, but now glaring directly at Kurogane, his hands tight on the wooden sword. The ninja is always faster than Fai remembers when he puts his mind to it, and Fai smiles inwardly. Yet again, I’ve underestimated him.
He sidesteps the next charge but Kurogane whirls and their blades lock with a dull thunk! and Fai has to work to keep from being pushed back- Kurogane is strong, after all.
They trade blows and Fai is now sure Kurogane is not in the slightest going easy: obviously not at full strength, but it’s taking all Fai’s considerable speed and natural agility to avoid being knocked to the grass.
Enough of this. Kurogane swings horizontally and Fai drops below the strike, swinging his katana into Kurogane’s side. The ninja grunts but launches them into another round of parrying.
It goes on like this, Fai narrowly escaping total defeat each time, until Kurogane snaps somehow and merely begins knocking him back each time. Fai is frustrated, but even he can see he’s improved from just this afternoon’s work.
Finally they collapse on the grass, breathing out the exertion.
“Kuro-pi?”
A grunt is his reply.
“There are bounties in this land, you know.”
“What?” there is the slightest note of interest in his voice.
“You know, criminals. Bad guys. We could catch them, collect the bounty money, it might come in useful, later…” Fai trailed off, cocking his head to the side. He had no idea when “later” might be, as far as the kids were. It had been months, which was worrying to say the least. Kurogane only gives him an unreadable look, and are his eyes a darker red than normal? But he seems to consider it. It's a start.
******
CONCRIT IS MY FAVOURITE. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!!! <3333 Or, you know, you could just throw sharp pointy objects and moldy fruit-type projectiles. :P either way XD
Author: soleil_et_pluie
Rating: G
Pairing: kurofai
Length: 1,026
Disclaimer: er, i wish i owned them. but I don't, and as they say, that's life. :3
Summary: Fighting together changes people. Yama is my one true love? Kurogane and Fai spar with each other.
Author’s Notes: ...Please excuse my retarded titling abilities. >_>; I-I just love Yama setting, okay? Okay.
They arrive in Yama, and instantly Fai knows something will be wrong, it’s instinctive. He’s proven right the instant Kurogane opens his mouth. He can’t understand a word.
Whatever. They’ll find the kids in a minute, with Mokona, and it’ll be fine.
Fai laughs richly, and starts rambling, knowing it will come out gibberish.
Kurogane spins, his eyes focused, and growls a long string of phrases. Fai laughs at him. This is not a bad situation at all; actually, it’s pretty hilarious. Kurogane snorts, totally disgusted, and starts looking around.
The vegetation is lush and tropical, spreading out across a deep valley. They can see smoke, far off in the distance, of campfires. Enough campfires to say army.
Fai grins inanely and nods towards the smoke. Kurogane has already seen it and started walking. It’s going to be a long day.
****
The language barrier soon stops being funny.
“Kuro-pi.” Kurogane looks up from cleaning his dagger.
“I need to know how to speak your language.” He gestures at his own mouth and then at Kurogane’s as he says it.
“Heh,” Kurogane scoffs and reaches below his cot, handing Fai a sheef of papers. It is unmistakably an alphabet, scrawled in an obvious attempt to be neat across the pages.
“You were waiting for me to ask…?” Fai tilts his head, grinning.
****
They start sparring. Kurogane’s skills with a blade have never dulled, and Fai has never used one.
Fai is in the fields, stretching leisurely in the afternoon sun. The back of his neck prickles and he lifts his head up, sensing a stormcloud coming.
“Oi!”
Or rather, the embodiment of one. Kurogane is stalking up to him through the practice fields, his face fixed with an expression of stubborn determination. Fai glances at the extra practice katana, guessing what’s coming. Kurogane has grudgingly admitted Fai is a skilled archer, but probably due to the vast difference in combat experience between them, still seems to hold the opinion that the other man needs toughening up. He sighs only inwardly, and does what he knows works best: he pushes buttons.
“Good afternoooo~n, Kuro-pi!” He turns on the extra-bright, grinning insanely, wanting only to get under Kurogane’s skin in a major way.
Kurogane is not in the mood to be fucked with this morning. He woke up sore from unending practice with every tragically-unskilled, ever-so-determined soldier in his unit. He’s not one to complain, and there’s no doubt he’s managed to teach at least a dozen soldiers some real combat moves, but hour upon hour of sparring endlessly has made him infinitely grouchier than normal. His sword arm is actually sore, which hasn’t happened in so long he can’t remember the last time. If this soreness had come from fighting an opponent like Seishirou, it would be all right, he thinks, but toughening up every baby in Yasha’s army had not been on the itinerary.
He recognizes the sharp maliciousness behind Fai’s smile, and something dark clenches in his gut. Enough is enough, and he is not taking crap from this blonde-haired twit with too many secrets and too little concern for the fact that they are going onto a battlefield soon, any longer.
He throws the wooden katana at Fai, not caring if it hits him in the face, trusting his reflexes to save him. They do, though Fai looks surprised for the barest second before grinning widely again and leaning back on his heels.
“Kuro-baby, are we sparring agaaaaain?” He tilts his head to the side, purposefully as nonchalant and airheaded as possible.
“Up!” Kurogane barks, and brings his katana in front of his face, spreading his feet to the stance.
“Really?” Fai is all mockery, trying to deflate the seriousness out of the
ninja. This is a battle all the same.
Fai looks up. Kurogane’s face is stone. Allright, he thinks. We’ll try it your way. You see if you can hit me.
Fai’s eyes are lidded with his little smirk, rising infuriatingly slowly to his feet, and swings the blade in front, humoring Kurogane with a defense.
Before he can draw another breath, though, the wind is knocked out of him with the force of a brick slamming directly into his lungs-and he realizes it’s his own sword, knocked backwards into him with the force of Kurogane’s simple, direct lunge.
He lands in an undignified heap on his ass, and struggles to draw breath for a few panicked seconds before coughing painfully.
Kurogane has succeeded in making him take it seriously, he thinks ruefully, as he rises again slowly, but now glaring directly at Kurogane, his hands tight on the wooden sword. The ninja is always faster than Fai remembers when he puts his mind to it, and Fai smiles inwardly. Yet again, I’ve underestimated him.
He sidesteps the next charge but Kurogane whirls and their blades lock with a dull thunk! and Fai has to work to keep from being pushed back- Kurogane is strong, after all.
They trade blows and Fai is now sure Kurogane is not in the slightest going easy: obviously not at full strength, but it’s taking all Fai’s considerable speed and natural agility to avoid being knocked to the grass.
Enough of this. Kurogane swings horizontally and Fai drops below the strike, swinging his katana into Kurogane’s side. The ninja grunts but launches them into another round of parrying.
It goes on like this, Fai narrowly escaping total defeat each time, until Kurogane snaps somehow and merely begins knocking him back each time. Fai is frustrated, but even he can see he’s improved from just this afternoon’s work.
Finally they collapse on the grass, breathing out the exertion.
“Kuro-pi?”
A grunt is his reply.
“There are bounties in this land, you know.”
“What?” there is the slightest note of interest in his voice.
“You know, criminals. Bad guys. We could catch them, collect the bounty money, it might come in useful, later…” Fai trailed off, cocking his head to the side. He had no idea when “later” might be, as far as the kids were. It had been months, which was worrying to say the least. Kurogane only gives him an unreadable look, and are his eyes a darker red than normal? But he seems to consider it. It's a start.
******
CONCRIT IS MY FAVOURITE. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!!! <3333 Or, you know, you could just throw sharp pointy objects and moldy fruit-type projectiles. :P either way XD