Worlds Apart: Chapter one
Warning: Drama, language, yaoi, Etc...
Pairing in this chapter: KuroFai
Disclaimer: Don't own them; never will
It's a bit sloppy so forgive me if you get confused at some point
Enjoy~!
Painful memories
'This is a dream. It has to be a dream. Please let this be a dream.'
Yuui was more or less in shock at what was there in front of him. Before his eyes were those four that look like people he knew but at the same time, he knew that they weren't. It was just impossible. As far as he was concerned, his brother and everyone else were gone for spring break. And yet, a pair of sapphire eyes; much like his own were staring back at him with the same reaction.
Just what is going on?
Kurogane slowly stood up and look between the Fai look-alikes. He can see that the mage was having a hard time seeing another version of his twin. He knew right away upon seeing the man that is wasn't another version of his traveling companion. The vibe he sensed from him was different; despite how similar the two's appearances are.
But the real question was; how was Fai taking it?
Having enough of the silence, Kurogane leaned over and touched Fai's shoulder. "Oi mage, you okay?"
Snapping out of his shock, Fai looked up at the ninja and weakly smiled. "Oh Kurgs." He chuckled softly. "I'm sorry; were you saying something just now~?"
Scowling, Kurogane got close to the mage's ear. "I know you're shocked and even scared right now but remember what I said before. You can't let the past control you. It's behind you now and what you need to do is to embrace the present and look forward to the future." He took Fai's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "I think he would like that too."
Fai frowned for a moment before smiling up to the warrior. "You're right. I'm sorry. It's just….hard for me right now; considering what has happened to us." Fai referred to him and his twin. "Memories like that are hard to forget."
"True but they shouldn't run your life." The ninja softly said. "So don't worry. You're not alone anymore so be damn happy and just…be yourself….your annoying lazy-ass self, okay?"
Nodding and chuckling , Fai let Kurogane wrap an arm around his shoulders; knowing it's the ninja's way of comforting him since the man has no talent for using words for those in need. He'd let actions speak for them.
As Yuui kept staring at them, Syaoran looked back at him and cleared his throat. "Um excuse me…" He started. "But could you tell us where we are right now…considering we just got here." He was expecting the man to either run away in fear or keep staring at them in awe. What he didn't expect was for the man to drop his bags and walk up to them with lightning speed.
When Yuui's face was mere inches from Syaoran's face, the young traveler stepped back a bit in order to lessen the close proximity that made him a bit uncomfortable.
Leaning back, Yuui deeply frowned. "I thought it was some prank or even an illusion but here you all are; in plain sight."
"I'm sorry?" Syaoran said; promptly confused.
"Who are you and why are you here?" Yuui demanded; ignoring the expressions of the group's faces. "And please don't lie; I have a brother who lies to me all the time so I have the distinction to know what a lie is and what's not."
"At least someone does." Kurogane muttered; pulling Fai's body close to him.
Finding no way around it, Syaoran sighed. "Okay then. My name is Syaoran and these are my traveling companions; Kurogane…" The tall man nodded. "Fai…" The blonde weakly waved; feeling a bit awkward. "And this is…"
"MOKONA~!" A white ball of fur hopped on Syaoran's head. "Mokona Modoki at your service~! Handshake~?"
Blinking, Yuui took Mokona's tiny paw and shook it. "Um…a pleasure."
"So you know our names, how about you tell us yours?" Kurogane rudely asked.
"Oh, my name?" Yuui said; with the same tone. "If you must know, it's Yuui; Yuui Fluorite." He ignored the other blonde's shocking reaction. "And to answer your earlier question, you're in Japan, though I doubt you know what that is."
Syaoran smiled up at the man. "Well actually, we have heard of Japan, but we have been to different versions of Japan in the past; it's part of our travel after all."
"Traveling? Different versions of Japan? Just what are you getting at?" Yuui was getting more and more confused by the second. First he saw the group fall out of the sky then as it turns out they look like people he knew and on top of that; one of them might be his other twin from who knows where.
Knowing that Yuui wouldn't understand, Syaoran chuckled. "Well you see, we-"
Mokona's stomach growled; cutting off the boy off. "Oops~! Mokona's getting hungry~!" She rubbed her belly. "Food~! Mokona wants some food~!"
Kurogane huffed. "What else is new, fatty?"
As the white fur ball and the ninja were fighting, Yuui stepped up. "Well, I can assist you all with that, I shopped for some food and was on my way home to cook. You can come if you like." He kinda felt a bit guilty since he was rude to them at first. He just wanted to make sure that he wasn't tricked or anything. "In fact; why don't you all stay at my place for a while?"
Syaoran shook his head as Mokona cheered. "Oh no! You don't have to do that! We're just fine camping out and all. You don't have to do that for us!"
Yuui shook his head with a smile. "Nonsense." He looked at the whole group. "You are more than welcome to stay with me. Besides where else can you go?" When he saw that the boy had nothing to say back he smiled victoriously. "Now that's out of the way, how about we get going? I'll make sure that I cook enough for all of us."
"Hyuu~!" Fai cried out as he ran up to the pair (while Kurogane grabbed Mokona and started pulling her ears). "Thank you so much for inviting us~! We won't cause any problems for you, we promise~!" Then he was surprised when Yuui gently took his hand.
"I know that we just met and all but I hope that we…can be friends." Yuui tried to smile for the blonde traveler, though the emotions expressed in his eyes were entirely different.
Looking at the hand then at Yuui, Fai happily took it; his eyes expressing the same emotions. "I'd like that."
Then the three left the alley with Syaoran carrying the bags; leaving Kurogane and Mokona alone in the dark narrow place.
Though it didn't take long before, they both noticed.
"Hey, where the hell did everyone go?"
"Make yourself at home." Yuui opened the front door of his place before letting the group in. "It's a small house with only one spare room but I'll pull out the couch later if you like." He took the bags from Syaoran as he walked into the kitchen. "I'll be making dinner so please feel free to look around until then."
"Thank you very much." Syaoran and the rest of the group eased themselves into the living room as they took a look around. The room itself was ordinary; nothing worth gawking about. It had a TV, a couch, a reading chair, a carpet for the floor, a small table and a few random pictures on the wall.
Fai pouted as he sat on the chair. "Hyuu. Who know Yuui would be so bland in room decorating?" He was still a bit down from earlier but he couldn't help but smile as his eyes landed at a picture of an ocean. Yup; bland indeed.
Syaoran and Mokona sat on the couch as they took off their outer jackets.
"I don't know Fai. Maybe he just likes things simple and pleasant. He doesn't seem like the eccentric type." The young boy contemplated. But it proved one thing; the Yuui in this world may not be another version of his traveling friend. "Even so, when he saw us, he didn't act so surprised. Granted he was shocked when he apparently saw us falling from the sky and getting up without serious injury but it was like he saw us from somewhere."
"But this is the first time we met. There's no way he knew anything about us~!" Mokona pointed out.
The mage placed a finger under his chin in thought. "Well that's true but when we looked at each other, we felt a scary but slight recognition with each other and he did mention that he has a brother but this is a different world after all so why would he be shocked but not so much as surprised to see all of us?"
"Maybe it's because he knew the versions of us in this world."
The rest of the group looked over at Kurogane who was standing in front of the table that was next to the front door.
"Hmm? What do you mean by that, Kuro?" Fai asked.
The ninja pointed at what was on top of the table. The travelers got up and looked to where Kurogane was looking. On top of the table were some pictures taken probably in the last year. In each picture were the world's version of themselves and a few others that they knew. Even a couple of them they were a bit surprised at.
"Watanuki and Yuuko?" Syaoran said. "But that's not possible. Yuuko's dead and as far as time and space goes, there's only one version of Watanuki."However in one of the pictures in clear sight were the teen and the 'witch' smiling at the camera.
"Nothing's impossible." Mokona calmly pointed out before jumping up in down in delight. "Oh and look, it's Mokona and Mokona from this world~!" As she stated, in another picture were the black and white Mokona playing with water guns and having fun.
"Why look at that, there's this world's version of Kuro-puu too~!" Fai pointed out as there was a picture of Kurogane getting his cheeks pulled by what was obviously looked like Fai from this world. "Haha~! He's even grumpy in this world too~!"
"Of course he would be." Kurogane angrily said. "No matter what world we land in there will be a moron like you annoying the hell out of any version of me to no end so I'm not freaking surprised!"
Syaoran looked at most at these pictures and found something similar in them. "Hey guys; check this out. Did you notice that the versions of me and most of the people we met are in a school uniform of some sort?"
The two adult and the white furball inspected the pictures and sure enough, most of the pictures looked like it was taken at a school of something.
"Wow, you're right." Fai said with awe. "So I guess Yuui's a teacher working there and it looks he's dating Kuro-muu too~!" He dodged a smack coming from the blushing ninja.
However a couple things didn't add up. If what Fai said about the assumption of Yuui and the Kurogane in this world were dating then why would he be living alone. Then there's the fact of 'Yuui' in those pictures. In them he looked so happy and ecstatic whereas he was calm and down-to-earth in person. Then there's the fact that Yuui's hair that's in a ponytail like Fai's but in the pictures they were short; just barely touching the shoulders.
The assumption was that he grew his hair eventually though it didn't felt like it was true.
Something was definitely amiss.
However, before they could think further on the subject….
"Okay guys; dinner time!"
The group turned their heads to see Yuui walking into the living room wearing an apron and wiping his hands on a towel.
"I hope you guys like fried chicken and mashed potatoes. I forgot to ask what you all want but I can tell that you all are not so picky with…." Yuui stopped short as they had questionable looks on their faces. "What's wrong? If you don't like that kind the food, I can just make something else."
"Oh no! It's not that!" Syaoran insisted. "It's just that…well…." He looked at Fai to Kurogane to Mokona to the pictures before looking back at his host. "You see…."
Yuui raised an eyebrow before his eyes caught sight of the pictures on top of the small table. He sadly smiled. "Oh so you all saw the pictures huh?" He put the towel over his shoulder before walking past them and towards the table. "I mean it when I said I wasn't from here. In fact I'm only lived in this place for a few months. Those pictures were given to me when I got this place."
Now the group was more confused. If Yuui was only living in Japan for a few months then who was the blonde in some of those pictures….Unless….
No; it can't be.
"I just actually born in a country called France but lived in Italy for some odd years coming here. I got a job at a school as one of the teachers because a certain someone wouldn't stop talking about me and my talents."
"…What are your talents?" Syaoran shyly asked.
Yuui smiled at him. "Cooking and baking."
Kurogane glanced at Fai. It sure sounded like Fai since he's into cooking and crap but something was still off.
"So after much inner conflict and advice from an unlikely person (1), I took the job as the cooking teacher at the school. As happy as I was to be there and doing what I love, there are some things that I'm still not used to but I'm learning as time goes on." Yuui looked sadly at Fai. "Um…that talk about different versions of people on our way here and the conversation that I overheard just a moment ago got me thinking and… after much thought i should tell you all this; I'm not the Fai. At least not in this world anyway."
The group gasped.
Fai tried his best not to cry; nothing could prepare him for this moment. "So that means…that blonde in those pictures…the one with the short hair and that big smile…he's really…."
Yuui nodded. "Yes."
One word; one word of confirmation was all it took for Fai's own world to crash down.
Instinctively, Kurogane got a hold of Fai just in case he were to faint on the spot. Not that he could blame him, of course.
Mokona looked at Fai sadly. She could feel the distress and slight shock coming from him.
Syaoran looked over at the adult pair before glancing at Yuui. "I see. But just to verify; how could we be absolutely sure that you're not this world's version of our friend?"
Then for a mere moment, the group saw Yuui's expression darken a bit as he frowned. "Trust me; I would know even after being alone for so long. He is my only family after all."
For a few seconds, no one would utter a word.
Then Yuui sadly smiled. "Now then, dinner anyone?" He then walked out of the living room; his steps echoing the whole house; the place displayng the same emotions as its owner.
Sad, alone, and empty.
Dinner went by without any incident. Mokona talked to Yuui about the worlds the group has gone to and what adventures they had plus the troubles they got into in the process. Syaoran would make a comment or two about certain things; just in case Mokona would lie about it just to fluster him.
Too bad it worked.
Kurogane didn't say more than three words at a time and at most he would say a sentence before just letting everyone else do the talking.
However, Fai had been oddly quiet during the whole thing. He ate his food but wouldn't say a word to anyone. He was still deep in thought about what happened earlier. He supposed that he should be happy that the twins were alive and well in this world but at the same time he was sad; sad at the fact that they are not really with each other like twins should be.
Granted, he doesn't know Yuui's Fai but he had been a twin long enough to see the signs.
He sighed as he messed around with his mashed potatoes. At that point he just didn't feel like eating anymore and that's a shame.
Because it wasn't the food that made his stomach turn.
Eventually, the sleeping arrangements were made and everyone went to sleep. Syaoran and Mokona took the spare room and bid everyone a goodnight. Yuui was sleeping in the living room. He was sleeping on the couch which was a second bed to him for most nights.
As for Fai and Kurogane…
"It was nice of Yuui to let us use his bedroom for awhile."
Fai was already in bed with just a big t-shirt on while reading a book that the host had lying around. Oddly enough, it was in a language that was familiar to him. It wasn't before long to see that it was a historical-fiction novel. He figured it was one of Yuui's favorite genres to read.
Kurogane was taking off his inner shirt with a huff. "Yeah, it was. Though I would have been fine just sleeping on the couch."
As the shirt fell to the floor, Fai got a good look of Kurogane's mechanical arm. It had been a while since they have been to Piffle country but it was nice to see that world's version of Tomoyo. However when it came down to it, Kurogane refused the option of prosthetic skin. The reason he gave them was that it was too much of a hassle while in fact the truth was he wanted the arm as it was as a reminder of who he protected and cared for.
And the sacrifice that came with it.
With only pants on, Kurogane got under the covers and sighed. "You know mage, you haven't one word during dinner and usually you're a chatterbox. I assume that what Yuui had said really shook you to the core, huh?"
Closing the book, Fai frowned but didn't make eye contact. "I….I've always wondered if it was any other world, Fai and I would be happy; twins or otherwise. That those versions didn't suffer as greatly as we did. Of course I'm happy that this world's version of twins didn't have a horrid past….but…"
"But what?" Kurogane asked.
"But…I can't say the same thing for Yuui. If what he said is true then why does he look miserable?" Fai placed the book on the nightstand. "I know that we just met but I couldn't help but feel I was the one who made him sad; that the very fact that I'm here is causing him pain." He then felt a hand over his.
"You don't know that." Kurogane said softly. "I know that seeing him made you a bit crappy inside but you have your reason just like him seeing you made him crappy but for reasons that we don't even know." He then shrugged. "For all we know maybe him and his brother had a fight and haven't made up yet."
"But where is he?" Fai sadly asked. "Where's this version of me? Yuui wants him, not me. He feels sad without him and…" His eyes started to water. "It's just painful to see."
"I know." Kurogane grunted softly. "But that's not our problem. Whatever happened to him might be due to the fact that you've entered into this world and if you two meet, something might happen. I can't say if it would be bad or not." He gently grabbed Fai and placed him on top of his lap. "If Yuui doesn't want to talk about it then that's up to him but to say that you are the only reason he's depressed is very arrogant; don't you think?"
Rubbing his eyes, Fai chuckled. "That's a laugh coming from you, Kuro-king." He then placed his head on Kurogane's right shoulder." But you're right. I just hate to see Yuui this way. Will he ever be okay?"
Looking at the mage, Kurogane softly kissed him on the lips. "Only time will tell."
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END
Wasn't that sweet of Kuro~?
(1)- An indirect shameless advertisement for one of My friend's ( Leia de Flourite) oneshot: December Baby: Yuui and the Boy. (Really, have a read; it would change your perspective on Horitsuba a bit) on FF though. ^__^;