Tsubasa fic: Fleur-de-Lis chapter 2
Title: Fleur-de-Lis
Fandom: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Author: Ceaena
Chapter: 2/?
Rating: Probably PG-13
Disclaimer: CLAMP understands the concept of “fanfiction” only too well.
Spoilers: None in this chapter.
Pairings: Gen, with canon levels of Sakura/Syaoran in the background.
Chapter 1 can be found here.
*************
Kurogane leaned against the doorframe, resisting the urge to roll his eyes as he watched the scene before him.
“Please, Syaoran-kun! I promise I won't slow you down!” Sakura pleaded, holding on tightly to one of the coats they had managed to extricate from the Gordian knot of clothes that had somehow spread out until it had taken over half the floor without actually untangling. Mokona had burrowed underneath at one point to try and help work things loose; no one had seen it since.
Syaoran swallowed hard and looked anywhere but at those beseeching eyes. His belief that it was for the princess’s own good had given him the ability to refuse her thus far, but he wasn’t stupid; he knew better than to push his luck. “Please stay here and go to sleep, Princess Sakura,” he asked the fireplace patiently (for the fifth time, by Kurogane’s increasingly impatient reckoning; the wardrobe had only rated twice). “If there’s anything to find, Kurogane-san and I will find it, I promise. Fai-san wouldn’t want you to get sick trying to help him.”
“I’m no more likely to get sick than you are!” Sakura insisted. “Besides -”
“Syaoran-kun is right, Sakura-chan. I’d feel terrible if either of you got sick on my account,” a familiar and entirely too cheerful voice chimed in agreeably. Three heads swiveled in unison to see that on the other side of the room, Mokona (still halfway caught in a sleeve) had started projecting without anyone noticing, and right next to Kurogane’s head -
“Gah!” Kurogane yelped, jumping back several steps as a life-size image of Fai laughed and waved at him, entirely too amused at the ninja’s reaction. “BASTARD! What are you doing there?”
“Fai-san! Are you all right?” Sakura cried, rather more tactfully.
“I’m fine,” Fai assured them, still smiling as though it were perfectly normal for him to disappear at random intervals and pop up later in non-corporeal fashion. Which, all things considered, was entirely possible, but it still pissed Kurogane the hell off. He fully intended to make sure Fai knew this (not that there was any doubt in Kurogane’s mind that the wizard was not only completely aware of it but was doing it on purpose), but Syaoran had already started asking questions, so Kurogane swallowed his annoyance - made easier by the fact that he would likely be screaming at the wizard for something else within the next two or three minutes anyway - and settled back to listen. That guy always gave away as little as he could manage without sounding like he was hiding anything, especially when the kid and the princess were listening, but over time, Kurogane had found that most of what the wizard said was in what he didn't say. Knowing which parts of his story to call him on when they were alone usually got a few extra details out of him.
“So if you’re talking to us through Mokona, does that mean you’re with the Dimension Witch?” Syaoran asked curiously.
“That’s right,” Fai confirmed, nodding enthusiastically enough to send his hair flying around his face.
“But... why?” Sakura asked, chewing on her bottom lip thoughtfully. Judging from the way the kid stiffened and quickly turned his eyes back to the wizard, Kurogane was fairly certain that if she had added that to her begging repertoire earlier, all three of them would be outside at the moment.
“Do you remember what I requested from the Dimension Witch?” Fai prompted.
“Oh...” Syaoran breathed, eyes widening in dawning comprehension. “Because you wanted to travel without returning home...”
“Pin-pon!” Fai sang, obviously pleased that Syaoran had gotten it so quickly. “I asked to never return and I paid a fair price for it, so the Dimension Witch set it up so that I would be directed to her shop via the black Mokona if our Mokona ever landed in Celes! They certainly are convenient, aren’t they? Ah - speaking of Mokona, do you have any idea where the feather might be yet?”
Kurogane watched Fai talk, eyes narrowed. The wizard was more manic than usual - normally he spoke deliberately when he wasn’t running his mouth for the hell of it, applying his words exactly where they would have the strongest effect (manipulative bastard that he was), but now they were all tumbling out at once as though he could hardly restrain himself. That coupled with the slight jitter the projection gave Fai's image - barely noticeable, but once it caught his attention it was damned annoying - was giving him an even bigger headache than the wizard usually caused.
Syaoran shook his head, drooping a little as his relief at finding Fai safe (although Kurogane’s admittedly narrower definition of the word “safe” most definitely did not involve that Dimension Witch or those creepy, glassy-eyed little kid-doll-things working for her) gave way to the problem at hand. “Mokona said that there was too much magic on this world and that it couldn’t tell if there was a feather or not.”
“I suppose there would be, wouldn’t there?” Fai agreed neutrally, his smile sinking a bit and tightening reflexively. The edge was only there for a second before it gave way, and the expression that replaced it was so honestly bright that Kurogane glanced away for moment, not sure what to make of it. He wasn’t sure exactly what he’d expected the wizard’s reaction to the situation to be, but this definitely didn’t fit. He looked back to the projection in time to see said creepy, glassy-eyed little kid-doll-things creep into the image, standing well behind the wizard and watching all of them intently. Kurogane glared at them on general principle before realizing that something didn’t look quite right - something aside from the fact that the things existed in the first place, that was.
“Where are you, anyway?” Fai was asking with interest.
“It’s a very small, isolated town; we walked a long way without seeing anything else. Ah!” Syaoran straightened back up as he remembered what had been worrying him earlier. “Fai-san, do you know why-”
“You’re on the ground? Really?” Fai leaned forward, eyes wide. “That would make sense, of course, but I haven’t been down there in so long... I suppose I’d almost forgotten.”
“On the... ground?” Syaoran asked cautiously. “By that, you mean...?”
“Just ‘it’s a small town’ doesn’t tell me much, though,” Fai mused. “Did you happen to see where it was in relation to the castle?”
“Castle?” Sakura asked, tilting her head (Probably a last-ditch attempt to keep some of the discussion from going over it, Kurogane groused; the idiot obviously prided himself on his inability to carry a coherent conversation). “We didn’t see one...”
That was it. The Dimension Witch’s damned brats weren’t jittering the way the wizard was. He’s shaking with relief, Kurogane realized abruptly, the man’s over-bright smile and excessively hyper behavior suddenly falling into place. He knew this might happen, and he’s been dreading ending up here with us the whole time.
Somehow the explanation did absolutely nothing to reduce his headache.
Fai looked surprised for a moment, then smiled knowingly. “How dark was it when you found this house?”
“It was twilight...” Syaoran said slowly, trying to puzzle out what Fai was driving at.
Fai laughed. “Go look outside now.”
Syaoran and Sakura blinked at each other, but obediently got up and went outside, Syaoran remembering to grab a coat for Sakura on the way out (though Kurogane was not the least bit surprised to see that he forgot to take one for himself; the ninja sincerely doubted that it would actually cross his mind that he ought to be cold).
Kurogane glanced at Fai, beaming at him from Mokona’s projection, the creepy brats still silently watching them both. “You should go look too, Kuro-pyon; it’s very pretty, really,” the wizard said encouragingly.
Kurogane ignored him. “Oi,” he began gruffly, but then a noise that sounded remarkably like “HOE?” came from outside, and the ninja got to his feet, glowering darkly in a way that completely failed to faze the wizard as he went to check on the kids.
The kid and the princess had only gone a few steps from the door; both of them were staring straight up at the sky, heads tilted so far back that they looked as though their necks would snap at any moment. Kurogane snorted at the picture they made, then glanced up himself - and had to bite back a “HOE?” of his own.
It looked, he reflected later, after his heartrate had slowed back down to an acceptable level, as though someone had carved an enormous, sprawling castle from the top of a mountain, then promptly knocked the mountain out from under it, leaving the castle where it was. They hadn’t done any too neat a job of it, either; the base was ragged, leaving the bottom of the lower towers crumbling dangerously, and bridges still extended from the gates, delicately reaching out to nothing at all (Kurogane was beginning to understand how this country spawned something like the wizard; those in charge obviously had a stunning disregard for common sense). They were standing at a bad angle, too close to the structure to be able to see all of it, but Kurogane could just glimpse a building presiding over the rest, built in a strikingly different style from the chunky, inelaborate towers beneath it. It was hard to make out, though, surrounded as it was by what looked like wings of ice, glowing with a light that didn’t seem to originate from the moon.
The fact that it was indeed quite eerily lovely was lost on Kurogane, who’d officially more than filled his weirdness quotient for the day. He stalked inside, the kid and the princess following close behind, where the wizard was absently humming to himself; it sounded like a children’s song. “Where-the-hell-did-that-come-from?” he seethed.
“Ah, you were able to see it, then?” Fai asked amiably, breaking off mid-verse. “It’s not that it came from somewhere, Kuro-pippi; it’s always there. It’s only visible after the moon has fully risen, though,” he added as an afterthought, as though it were the most reasonable thing in the world.
Kurogane was sincerely beginning to wish that the wizard were there with them; it would greatly simplify the process of wringing his neck.
“Why is it set up that way?” Syaoran asked, all wide-eyed fascination (Kurogane had long since realized that it was impossible to convince the kid that there was a difference between “unique cultural experience” and “pain in the ass”).
“Most of the magic in Celes is moon-based. The wizards that protected the castle were most powerful when the moon was out, so the rest of the time, it was safer for it to be a little less... conspicuous,” Fai explained delicately.
“But...” Sakura was nearly cross-eyed with concentration, grasping desperately at wisps of memory. “Yukito-san had moon magic too, and he could pretty much use it any time. I mean, I think he could. Did it really make that much of a difference here?”
“Not that much of a difference, really.” Fai’s smile was a little distant now. "It wasn't always that way; that was an extra precaution added afterward.”
“Afterward?” Syaoran asked curiously, but Fai had already moved on.
“So! How far are you from the castle?” the wizard asked brightly, clapping his hands together for emphasis.
“Um,” Syaoran faltered, the abruptness of the change throwing him off. “It was almost right overhead - we couldn’t see the whole way up.”
“You must be in one of the guard towns, then; they’re the only ones nearly that close!” Fai concluded with obvious satisfaction. “That works out very well - you can get to the castle easily from there.”
“Why do we need to go there?” Sakura wondered aloud, blinking up at the wizard.
“Magic attracts magic, you know; the feathers are always drawn to power of some kind,” Fai reminded her gently. “And there is no stronger magic anywhere on Celes. If there’s a feather, it will be pulled there.”
“How do we get to the castle, then?” Syaoran asked seriously, his scholarly interests promptly forgotten in his determination to find the feather as quickly as possible.
“There should be a large building toward the center of the town; if you go inside, you’ll see some sigils on the wall. Let’s see...” Fai patted his clothes, fumbling around in his voluminous pockets before fishing out a scrap of paper and a pen (these were easily the least peculiar of the various and sundry things the wizard kept tucked away in his coat pockets “just in case”; aside from returning to his world, Kurogane’s greatest goal in life was to never find out just what actually peculiar entailed. There had been several times where they had left all the cloaks together in a heap and he had come back to find Fai’s outer coat a good foot away from the others. Kurogane never returned it to the pile; it was a worthy effort, and he couldn’t really blame it for wanting to escape anyway).
“Ah, like this!” Fai exclaimed, proudly displaying a quick sketch of a half-dozen abstract images that meant absolutely nothing to the ninja. “If you touch this one, this one, and this one in that order, it will transport the people in the room to one of the outer gates of the castle,” he announced, using the pen to indicate the ones he meant.
“It’s that simple?” Syaoran asked, sounding just a bit skeptical (the one constant, no matter what world they were in, was that it was never that simple).
“The system was designed to bring the soldiers to the castle as quickly as possible in case of emergency,” Fai explained reassuringly. “There were very few people capable of using magic on Celes, so it had to be a spell that didn’t require magic to activate it. You should be careful not to touch any of the sigils aside from the ones I showed you, though,” he added offhandedly. “That would probably be unpleasant.”
“A-all right...” Syaoran agreed faintly, obviously wondering if there was anything else Fai had neglected to include in his instructions. Kurogane snorted. For someone who claimed to be so concerned with making sure the kid relaxed, the idiot seemed to take an unholy joy in unnerving him.
“I’ll go check for the building now!” Sakura declared. She grabbed her coat and bounded out the door before Syaoran had a chance to protest, utterly determined to be useful somehow.
“Princess!” Syaoran blurted out, sounding panicky; the conversation had done little to appease his already hyper-sensitive protective streak. He was halfway across the room before Kurogane’s “Oi, kid” caught his attention; he turned around just in time to get a faceful of coat. Syaoran caught it instinctively, blinking down at it blankly for a moment before his mind backtracked and reminded him that yes, he was capable of freezing to death, and if he did so, it was going to make it that much harder to look after Sakura. “Thank you, Kurogane-san!” Syaoran called, yanking the door open, coat flapping behind him as he tried to pull it on and run at the same time.
Kurogane avoided looking at the wizard with studied nonchalance. He didn't need to see the smug “Kuro-myuu's such a good daddy!” smile to know it was there; it was radiating off the idiot. “You’re really never coming back here, huh?” the ninja asked instead, hoping to cut him off.
“I told you, Kuro-pii, my wish was to avoid going home,” the wizard said easily; he had obviously anticipated the question. “A price once paid cannot be returned, but the same goes for the service engaged; neither side can break the deal. I’m not sure I could go back even if I wanted it.”
“Hn,” Kurogane grunted disapprovingly, but he let it go. “So what happened to the people?”
It was silent for a moment. “You should feel free to take anything you need from the town,” Fai answered eventually, his tone light and pleasant. “It would be a shame to see it all go to waste. Oh, and don’t let Sakura-chan wander around the castle by herself; I don't think she’d like it very much.”
Kurogane was utterly sick of being jerked around by stupid games and half-answers that created more confusion than they cleared up. He stalked closer to the projection, movements fluid with a casual menace that left no doubt that he killed people for a living. “What’re you playing at?” he fumed. “For someone so determined to keep whatever secrets you’ve got, you’re acting awfully unconcerned about all this.”
“Hmm?” Fai asked, his smile becoming sharper, though his tone was still mild. “What am I supposed to be so concerned about, Kuro-rin?”
“How about that Ashura guy?” Kurogane challenged, locking eyes with the wizard and taking grim satisfaction in seeing his face take on that curious dead quality that, if he were to be honest, was the reason he could never bring himself to fully trust the other man. “You say you never came down to the ground, so he’s gotta be up in that castle you’re hurrying us off to. What’s waiting for us up there? What will setting off that spell really do?”
“Kuro-pon! I'm not trying to kill you!” the wizard exclaimed, sounding honestly startled - though whether it was at the implication or at the fact that Kurogane called him on it, the ninja wasn’t sure.
“Prove it,” Kurogane demanded, eyes narrowed.
Fai sighed melodramatically. “Really, Kuro-chi. You don't put any faith in my affection for all of you?” he pouted, but at Kurogane's disbelieving look, it turned into a wry smile, though there was no amusement in the gesture. “If you’re going to be like that, then do you really think that your deaths would benefit me at all?” the wizard asked, leaning forward intently. “A feather on Celes is much more dangerous to me than anything else; an anomalistic power like that would be more likely to awaken Ashura-ou than the four of you. If you find the feather and take it away without disturbing anything, then there’s no problem, don’t you think? If you do end up somehow breaking the spell, then I'm sure that between you and Syaoran-kun, you can handle him.”
“You-” Kurogane was livid at the thought that the wizard fully intended to use them to fight his personal battle, but it only lasted a moment before the ninja sagged, suddenly exhausted. It was, after all, no more than he’d really expected; he shouldn’t act like it had been a surprise. “Bastard, you really wouldn’t think twice about letting us die if it was convenient for you, would you?” he accused, but there was no real force behind it.
Fai merely looked at him, eyes heavy and dark, but if he was trying to tell Kurogane something, the ninja couldn’t make it out. It didn’t matter much anyway, because a few seconds later the door came crashing open and the kid and the princess scurried in, pressed close together. “We found it!” Sakura cried proudly, making a valiant effort to keep her teeth from chattering even as Syaoran guided her over to the fire. “Syaoran-kun got the door open, and we found the signs and everything!”
“Good job, both of you!” Fai cheered, grinning at them. Sakura beamed, and Syaoran's face softened watching her. Kurogane deliberately turned away from the scene.
“Hmm? Fai, are you still talking? I'm going to have to charge extra if you go too long, you know,” a woman's voice called out. Kurogane looked back to the projection and realized that at some point, those creepy little brats must have left the room (that they had managed to do so without him noticing did not improve his mood in the least), because they were hanging onto the Dimension Witch as she came into the scene, smirking slightly as she caught sight of the group.
“Of course,” the wizard said amenably, bowing slightly as he moved aside a bit to make room for the Witch. That Sorata guy had implied that the Witch was pretty well-known, but Kurogane was beginning to wonder just what the hell they said about her that could make that idiot act like he knew how to be respectful.
“How’s your journey going?” the Witch asked, surveying them with a quick glance that seemed to take in every detail (she was probably calculating what they’d all be worth at current market prices, Kurogane grumbled to himself).
“We’ve found several feathers since we talked to you last,” Sakura offered shyly, bowing and then standing up as straight as she could. “It’s tough sometimes, but everyone’s trying so hard for me!” The last was said with a shy glance at Syaoran, who turned predictably red but managed a smile anyway.
“Is that so? I’m glad,” the Witch said coolly, but she was smiling as well; Sakura had that effect on people. She leaned forward, putting her hands on Fai’s shoulders. “In that case, good luck. Fai will rejoin you once you leave his world.”
“Thank you for taking care of Fai-san for us!” Sakura responded gratefully, bowing again.
Kurogane blinked. He hadn’t really considered where the wizard would be staying, but it suddenly hit him all at once.
That idiot wizard.
That psychotic woman.
Together.
For an extended period of time.
Giving each other ideas.
Kurogane twitched.
The witch tilted her head just a bit until she was looking right at him, her smile widening as if she knew what he was thinking (“as if” nothing, Kurogane seethed; she knew exactly what he was thinking and she thought it was funny and as soon as this curse was lifted he was gonna make his way back there and-) “Don't worry,” she said smoothly. “I’ll take excellent care of him.” Her hold on the wizard tightened slightly for emphasis.
By the time Kurogane was capable of something other than incoherent sputterings, the projection had dissolved.
*************
“I need to thank you as well,” Fai added as the image faded. “I’m very grateful for everything you’ve done.”
Yuuko regarded him impassively. “I’m simply holding up my end of the bargain, nothing more. Besides,” she smirked, taking a piece of paper from one of the children and presenting it to him with a flourish, “you still have to pay for your room and board and for making long-distance calls on Mokona.”
Fai took the paper, blinking down at it. “A recipe?”
“For an elixir. You can make it for me tomorrow,” Yuuko said lazily, collapsing onto a convenient sofa. “Maru and Moro will show you where.” She leaned her head back and saw that Fai’s face had closed off, the smile gone as he scanned the lines, concentrating intently. “Don’t worry,” she commented, bemused. “You don’t need to use magic to make it; the magic in your blood will be enough.”
The wizard's head shot up, startled and a little wary, and Yuuko laughed. “Before that... Maru, Moro, we have a guest.”
“A guest, a guest!” the children chanted, scampering out of the room only to reappear loaded down with several bottles of alcohol and three glasses.
Yuuko poured a generous glassful and held it out toward Fai invitingly. “How about a drink?” she asked, grinning.
Fai grinned back and accepted the glass as the Dimension Witch poured another and handed it down to a yawning black Mokona. Perhaps he would like this place after all.
*************
He was not entirely sure what to make of his hostess, Fai reflected much later as the two soulless children dragged him to the room the Dimension Witch had indicated he would be staying in (he was glad for the escort, frankly; it had been hard to understand exactly where she meant, seeing as she refused to put down the beer long enough to tell him). The sheer amount of power she commanded was somewhere between amazing and terrifying, but he couldn’t be too intimidated by anyone who so instinctively understood the myriad joys of baiting Kuro-wan; it was, in all honesty, a bit of a relief. He was terribly fond of all of his teammates, but he had to admit that Mokona was the only one of the group with anything even remotely resembling a sense of humor. And he was terribly fond of them, whatever Kuro-run might think.
“Bastard, you really wouldn’t think twice about letting us die if it was convenient for you, would you?”
The question had been hovering around the back of his mind ever since the conversation ended (but then, that was Kuro-sama for you - hardly eloquent, but his words did tend to stick with one). Really, the man needed to work on his people skills. If there were anything Fai could think of to ensure the others’ safety that didn’t involve facing Ashura-ou, he would try it. But as it was, he wasn’t Syaoran-kun; simply deciding that he wanted to do something didn’t automatically mean that he could do it. Currently his hands were more than full just trying to clean up the mess he’d already gotten himself into. Right now, keeping himself alive, keeping Ashura-ou alive, and keeping as much distance as physically possible between the two of them was as much as he could manage. The others were quite capable of taking care of themselves.
It was true that the situation had turned rather unexpectedly to his advantage, though. With any luck, the group could get the feather and get out with no unnecessary complications. If Ashura-ou were to awaken, Syaoran-kun and Kuro-pan were capable of defeating him; Kuro-bun’s skill really was impressive, and what Syaoran-kun lacked in experience, he made up for in determination. And Ashura-ou wouldn’t die. Kuro-mii couldn’t afford it, and Syaoran-kun was still endearingly naive enough to balk at killing his enemies when he could help it. Ashura-ou wouldn’t die - but Fai didn’t doubt that Kuro-chan knew how to incapacitate someone quite thoroughly without actually killing him. By the time Ashura-ou recovered enough to follow them, they could be any number of worlds away, and as long as he refrained from using his magic (not that he would have been inclined to do so anyway), Ashura-ou would have a difficult time tracking them down. Even if the two fighters ended up not being able to win against Ashura-ou, Mokona would have the sense to get them all away before anything happened. And if Mokona wasn't quick enough...
Well. He didn’t think it likely.
“Your room’s here!” the two children sang out in unison, stopping at a doorway. Fai thanked them, and they smiled cutely up at him with cold, knowing eyes before running off, giggling to each other. Deliberately ending his train of thought, Fai went off to bed, cheerfully humming the tune that had been stuck in his head earlier.
On to Chapter 3
Fandom: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Author: Ceaena
Chapter: 2/?
Rating: Probably PG-13
Disclaimer: CLAMP understands the concept of “fanfiction” only too well.
Spoilers: None in this chapter.
Pairings: Gen, with canon levels of Sakura/Syaoran in the background.
Chapter 1 can be found here.
*************
Kurogane leaned against the doorframe, resisting the urge to roll his eyes as he watched the scene before him.
“Please, Syaoran-kun! I promise I won't slow you down!” Sakura pleaded, holding on tightly to one of the coats they had managed to extricate from the Gordian knot of clothes that had somehow spread out until it had taken over half the floor without actually untangling. Mokona had burrowed underneath at one point to try and help work things loose; no one had seen it since.
Syaoran swallowed hard and looked anywhere but at those beseeching eyes. His belief that it was for the princess’s own good had given him the ability to refuse her thus far, but he wasn’t stupid; he knew better than to push his luck. “Please stay here and go to sleep, Princess Sakura,” he asked the fireplace patiently (for the fifth time, by Kurogane’s increasingly impatient reckoning; the wardrobe had only rated twice). “If there’s anything to find, Kurogane-san and I will find it, I promise. Fai-san wouldn’t want you to get sick trying to help him.”
“I’m no more likely to get sick than you are!” Sakura insisted. “Besides -”
“Syaoran-kun is right, Sakura-chan. I’d feel terrible if either of you got sick on my account,” a familiar and entirely too cheerful voice chimed in agreeably. Three heads swiveled in unison to see that on the other side of the room, Mokona (still halfway caught in a sleeve) had started projecting without anyone noticing, and right next to Kurogane’s head -
“Gah!” Kurogane yelped, jumping back several steps as a life-size image of Fai laughed and waved at him, entirely too amused at the ninja’s reaction. “BASTARD! What are you doing there?”
“Fai-san! Are you all right?” Sakura cried, rather more tactfully.
“I’m fine,” Fai assured them, still smiling as though it were perfectly normal for him to disappear at random intervals and pop up later in non-corporeal fashion. Which, all things considered, was entirely possible, but it still pissed Kurogane the hell off. He fully intended to make sure Fai knew this (not that there was any doubt in Kurogane’s mind that the wizard was not only completely aware of it but was doing it on purpose), but Syaoran had already started asking questions, so Kurogane swallowed his annoyance - made easier by the fact that he would likely be screaming at the wizard for something else within the next two or three minutes anyway - and settled back to listen. That guy always gave away as little as he could manage without sounding like he was hiding anything, especially when the kid and the princess were listening, but over time, Kurogane had found that most of what the wizard said was in what he didn't say. Knowing which parts of his story to call him on when they were alone usually got a few extra details out of him.
“So if you’re talking to us through Mokona, does that mean you’re with the Dimension Witch?” Syaoran asked curiously.
“That’s right,” Fai confirmed, nodding enthusiastically enough to send his hair flying around his face.
“But... why?” Sakura asked, chewing on her bottom lip thoughtfully. Judging from the way the kid stiffened and quickly turned his eyes back to the wizard, Kurogane was fairly certain that if she had added that to her begging repertoire earlier, all three of them would be outside at the moment.
“Do you remember what I requested from the Dimension Witch?” Fai prompted.
“Oh...” Syaoran breathed, eyes widening in dawning comprehension. “Because you wanted to travel without returning home...”
“Pin-pon!” Fai sang, obviously pleased that Syaoran had gotten it so quickly. “I asked to never return and I paid a fair price for it, so the Dimension Witch set it up so that I would be directed to her shop via the black Mokona if our Mokona ever landed in Celes! They certainly are convenient, aren’t they? Ah - speaking of Mokona, do you have any idea where the feather might be yet?”
Kurogane watched Fai talk, eyes narrowed. The wizard was more manic than usual - normally he spoke deliberately when he wasn’t running his mouth for the hell of it, applying his words exactly where they would have the strongest effect (manipulative bastard that he was), but now they were all tumbling out at once as though he could hardly restrain himself. That coupled with the slight jitter the projection gave Fai's image - barely noticeable, but once it caught his attention it was damned annoying - was giving him an even bigger headache than the wizard usually caused.
Syaoran shook his head, drooping a little as his relief at finding Fai safe (although Kurogane’s admittedly narrower definition of the word “safe” most definitely did not involve that Dimension Witch or those creepy, glassy-eyed little kid-doll-things working for her) gave way to the problem at hand. “Mokona said that there was too much magic on this world and that it couldn’t tell if there was a feather or not.”
“I suppose there would be, wouldn’t there?” Fai agreed neutrally, his smile sinking a bit and tightening reflexively. The edge was only there for a second before it gave way, and the expression that replaced it was so honestly bright that Kurogane glanced away for moment, not sure what to make of it. He wasn’t sure exactly what he’d expected the wizard’s reaction to the situation to be, but this definitely didn’t fit. He looked back to the projection in time to see said creepy, glassy-eyed little kid-doll-things creep into the image, standing well behind the wizard and watching all of them intently. Kurogane glared at them on general principle before realizing that something didn’t look quite right - something aside from the fact that the things existed in the first place, that was.
“Where are you, anyway?” Fai was asking with interest.
“It’s a very small, isolated town; we walked a long way without seeing anything else. Ah!” Syaoran straightened back up as he remembered what had been worrying him earlier. “Fai-san, do you know why-”
“You’re on the ground? Really?” Fai leaned forward, eyes wide. “That would make sense, of course, but I haven’t been down there in so long... I suppose I’d almost forgotten.”
“On the... ground?” Syaoran asked cautiously. “By that, you mean...?”
“Just ‘it’s a small town’ doesn’t tell me much, though,” Fai mused. “Did you happen to see where it was in relation to the castle?”
“Castle?” Sakura asked, tilting her head (Probably a last-ditch attempt to keep some of the discussion from going over it, Kurogane groused; the idiot obviously prided himself on his inability to carry a coherent conversation). “We didn’t see one...”
That was it. The Dimension Witch’s damned brats weren’t jittering the way the wizard was. He’s shaking with relief, Kurogane realized abruptly, the man’s over-bright smile and excessively hyper behavior suddenly falling into place. He knew this might happen, and he’s been dreading ending up here with us the whole time.
Somehow the explanation did absolutely nothing to reduce his headache.
Fai looked surprised for a moment, then smiled knowingly. “How dark was it when you found this house?”
“It was twilight...” Syaoran said slowly, trying to puzzle out what Fai was driving at.
Fai laughed. “Go look outside now.”
Syaoran and Sakura blinked at each other, but obediently got up and went outside, Syaoran remembering to grab a coat for Sakura on the way out (though Kurogane was not the least bit surprised to see that he forgot to take one for himself; the ninja sincerely doubted that it would actually cross his mind that he ought to be cold).
Kurogane glanced at Fai, beaming at him from Mokona’s projection, the creepy brats still silently watching them both. “You should go look too, Kuro-pyon; it’s very pretty, really,” the wizard said encouragingly.
Kurogane ignored him. “Oi,” he began gruffly, but then a noise that sounded remarkably like “HOE?” came from outside, and the ninja got to his feet, glowering darkly in a way that completely failed to faze the wizard as he went to check on the kids.
The kid and the princess had only gone a few steps from the door; both of them were staring straight up at the sky, heads tilted so far back that they looked as though their necks would snap at any moment. Kurogane snorted at the picture they made, then glanced up himself - and had to bite back a “HOE?” of his own.
It looked, he reflected later, after his heartrate had slowed back down to an acceptable level, as though someone had carved an enormous, sprawling castle from the top of a mountain, then promptly knocked the mountain out from under it, leaving the castle where it was. They hadn’t done any too neat a job of it, either; the base was ragged, leaving the bottom of the lower towers crumbling dangerously, and bridges still extended from the gates, delicately reaching out to nothing at all (Kurogane was beginning to understand how this country spawned something like the wizard; those in charge obviously had a stunning disregard for common sense). They were standing at a bad angle, too close to the structure to be able to see all of it, but Kurogane could just glimpse a building presiding over the rest, built in a strikingly different style from the chunky, inelaborate towers beneath it. It was hard to make out, though, surrounded as it was by what looked like wings of ice, glowing with a light that didn’t seem to originate from the moon.
The fact that it was indeed quite eerily lovely was lost on Kurogane, who’d officially more than filled his weirdness quotient for the day. He stalked inside, the kid and the princess following close behind, where the wizard was absently humming to himself; it sounded like a children’s song. “Where-the-hell-did-that-come-from?” he seethed.
“Ah, you were able to see it, then?” Fai asked amiably, breaking off mid-verse. “It’s not that it came from somewhere, Kuro-pippi; it’s always there. It’s only visible after the moon has fully risen, though,” he added as an afterthought, as though it were the most reasonable thing in the world.
Kurogane was sincerely beginning to wish that the wizard were there with them; it would greatly simplify the process of wringing his neck.
“Why is it set up that way?” Syaoran asked, all wide-eyed fascination (Kurogane had long since realized that it was impossible to convince the kid that there was a difference between “unique cultural experience” and “pain in the ass”).
“Most of the magic in Celes is moon-based. The wizards that protected the castle were most powerful when the moon was out, so the rest of the time, it was safer for it to be a little less... conspicuous,” Fai explained delicately.
“But...” Sakura was nearly cross-eyed with concentration, grasping desperately at wisps of memory. “Yukito-san had moon magic too, and he could pretty much use it any time. I mean, I think he could. Did it really make that much of a difference here?”
“Not that much of a difference, really.” Fai’s smile was a little distant now. "It wasn't always that way; that was an extra precaution added afterward.”
“Afterward?” Syaoran asked curiously, but Fai had already moved on.
“So! How far are you from the castle?” the wizard asked brightly, clapping his hands together for emphasis.
“Um,” Syaoran faltered, the abruptness of the change throwing him off. “It was almost right overhead - we couldn’t see the whole way up.”
“You must be in one of the guard towns, then; they’re the only ones nearly that close!” Fai concluded with obvious satisfaction. “That works out very well - you can get to the castle easily from there.”
“Why do we need to go there?” Sakura wondered aloud, blinking up at the wizard.
“Magic attracts magic, you know; the feathers are always drawn to power of some kind,” Fai reminded her gently. “And there is no stronger magic anywhere on Celes. If there’s a feather, it will be pulled there.”
“How do we get to the castle, then?” Syaoran asked seriously, his scholarly interests promptly forgotten in his determination to find the feather as quickly as possible.
“There should be a large building toward the center of the town; if you go inside, you’ll see some sigils on the wall. Let’s see...” Fai patted his clothes, fumbling around in his voluminous pockets before fishing out a scrap of paper and a pen (these were easily the least peculiar of the various and sundry things the wizard kept tucked away in his coat pockets “just in case”; aside from returning to his world, Kurogane’s greatest goal in life was to never find out just what actually peculiar entailed. There had been several times where they had left all the cloaks together in a heap and he had come back to find Fai’s outer coat a good foot away from the others. Kurogane never returned it to the pile; it was a worthy effort, and he couldn’t really blame it for wanting to escape anyway).
“Ah, like this!” Fai exclaimed, proudly displaying a quick sketch of a half-dozen abstract images that meant absolutely nothing to the ninja. “If you touch this one, this one, and this one in that order, it will transport the people in the room to one of the outer gates of the castle,” he announced, using the pen to indicate the ones he meant.
“It’s that simple?” Syaoran asked, sounding just a bit skeptical (the one constant, no matter what world they were in, was that it was never that simple).
“The system was designed to bring the soldiers to the castle as quickly as possible in case of emergency,” Fai explained reassuringly. “There were very few people capable of using magic on Celes, so it had to be a spell that didn’t require magic to activate it. You should be careful not to touch any of the sigils aside from the ones I showed you, though,” he added offhandedly. “That would probably be unpleasant.”
“A-all right...” Syaoran agreed faintly, obviously wondering if there was anything else Fai had neglected to include in his instructions. Kurogane snorted. For someone who claimed to be so concerned with making sure the kid relaxed, the idiot seemed to take an unholy joy in unnerving him.
“I’ll go check for the building now!” Sakura declared. She grabbed her coat and bounded out the door before Syaoran had a chance to protest, utterly determined to be useful somehow.
“Princess!” Syaoran blurted out, sounding panicky; the conversation had done little to appease his already hyper-sensitive protective streak. He was halfway across the room before Kurogane’s “Oi, kid” caught his attention; he turned around just in time to get a faceful of coat. Syaoran caught it instinctively, blinking down at it blankly for a moment before his mind backtracked and reminded him that yes, he was capable of freezing to death, and if he did so, it was going to make it that much harder to look after Sakura. “Thank you, Kurogane-san!” Syaoran called, yanking the door open, coat flapping behind him as he tried to pull it on and run at the same time.
Kurogane avoided looking at the wizard with studied nonchalance. He didn't need to see the smug “Kuro-myuu's such a good daddy!” smile to know it was there; it was radiating off the idiot. “You’re really never coming back here, huh?” the ninja asked instead, hoping to cut him off.
“I told you, Kuro-pii, my wish was to avoid going home,” the wizard said easily; he had obviously anticipated the question. “A price once paid cannot be returned, but the same goes for the service engaged; neither side can break the deal. I’m not sure I could go back even if I wanted it.”
“Hn,” Kurogane grunted disapprovingly, but he let it go. “So what happened to the people?”
It was silent for a moment. “You should feel free to take anything you need from the town,” Fai answered eventually, his tone light and pleasant. “It would be a shame to see it all go to waste. Oh, and don’t let Sakura-chan wander around the castle by herself; I don't think she’d like it very much.”
Kurogane was utterly sick of being jerked around by stupid games and half-answers that created more confusion than they cleared up. He stalked closer to the projection, movements fluid with a casual menace that left no doubt that he killed people for a living. “What’re you playing at?” he fumed. “For someone so determined to keep whatever secrets you’ve got, you’re acting awfully unconcerned about all this.”
“Hmm?” Fai asked, his smile becoming sharper, though his tone was still mild. “What am I supposed to be so concerned about, Kuro-rin?”
“How about that Ashura guy?” Kurogane challenged, locking eyes with the wizard and taking grim satisfaction in seeing his face take on that curious dead quality that, if he were to be honest, was the reason he could never bring himself to fully trust the other man. “You say you never came down to the ground, so he’s gotta be up in that castle you’re hurrying us off to. What’s waiting for us up there? What will setting off that spell really do?”
“Kuro-pon! I'm not trying to kill you!” the wizard exclaimed, sounding honestly startled - though whether it was at the implication or at the fact that Kurogane called him on it, the ninja wasn’t sure.
“Prove it,” Kurogane demanded, eyes narrowed.
Fai sighed melodramatically. “Really, Kuro-chi. You don't put any faith in my affection for all of you?” he pouted, but at Kurogane's disbelieving look, it turned into a wry smile, though there was no amusement in the gesture. “If you’re going to be like that, then do you really think that your deaths would benefit me at all?” the wizard asked, leaning forward intently. “A feather on Celes is much more dangerous to me than anything else; an anomalistic power like that would be more likely to awaken Ashura-ou than the four of you. If you find the feather and take it away without disturbing anything, then there’s no problem, don’t you think? If you do end up somehow breaking the spell, then I'm sure that between you and Syaoran-kun, you can handle him.”
“You-” Kurogane was livid at the thought that the wizard fully intended to use them to fight his personal battle, but it only lasted a moment before the ninja sagged, suddenly exhausted. It was, after all, no more than he’d really expected; he shouldn’t act like it had been a surprise. “Bastard, you really wouldn’t think twice about letting us die if it was convenient for you, would you?” he accused, but there was no real force behind it.
Fai merely looked at him, eyes heavy and dark, but if he was trying to tell Kurogane something, the ninja couldn’t make it out. It didn’t matter much anyway, because a few seconds later the door came crashing open and the kid and the princess scurried in, pressed close together. “We found it!” Sakura cried proudly, making a valiant effort to keep her teeth from chattering even as Syaoran guided her over to the fire. “Syaoran-kun got the door open, and we found the signs and everything!”
“Good job, both of you!” Fai cheered, grinning at them. Sakura beamed, and Syaoran's face softened watching her. Kurogane deliberately turned away from the scene.
“Hmm? Fai, are you still talking? I'm going to have to charge extra if you go too long, you know,” a woman's voice called out. Kurogane looked back to the projection and realized that at some point, those creepy little brats must have left the room (that they had managed to do so without him noticing did not improve his mood in the least), because they were hanging onto the Dimension Witch as she came into the scene, smirking slightly as she caught sight of the group.
“Of course,” the wizard said amenably, bowing slightly as he moved aside a bit to make room for the Witch. That Sorata guy had implied that the Witch was pretty well-known, but Kurogane was beginning to wonder just what the hell they said about her that could make that idiot act like he knew how to be respectful.
“How’s your journey going?” the Witch asked, surveying them with a quick glance that seemed to take in every detail (she was probably calculating what they’d all be worth at current market prices, Kurogane grumbled to himself).
“We’ve found several feathers since we talked to you last,” Sakura offered shyly, bowing and then standing up as straight as she could. “It’s tough sometimes, but everyone’s trying so hard for me!” The last was said with a shy glance at Syaoran, who turned predictably red but managed a smile anyway.
“Is that so? I’m glad,” the Witch said coolly, but she was smiling as well; Sakura had that effect on people. She leaned forward, putting her hands on Fai’s shoulders. “In that case, good luck. Fai will rejoin you once you leave his world.”
“Thank you for taking care of Fai-san for us!” Sakura responded gratefully, bowing again.
Kurogane blinked. He hadn’t really considered where the wizard would be staying, but it suddenly hit him all at once.
That idiot wizard.
That psychotic woman.
Together.
For an extended period of time.
Giving each other ideas.
Kurogane twitched.
The witch tilted her head just a bit until she was looking right at him, her smile widening as if she knew what he was thinking (“as if” nothing, Kurogane seethed; she knew exactly what he was thinking and she thought it was funny and as soon as this curse was lifted he was gonna make his way back there and-) “Don't worry,” she said smoothly. “I’ll take excellent care of him.” Her hold on the wizard tightened slightly for emphasis.
By the time Kurogane was capable of something other than incoherent sputterings, the projection had dissolved.
*************
“I need to thank you as well,” Fai added as the image faded. “I’m very grateful for everything you’ve done.”
Yuuko regarded him impassively. “I’m simply holding up my end of the bargain, nothing more. Besides,” she smirked, taking a piece of paper from one of the children and presenting it to him with a flourish, “you still have to pay for your room and board and for making long-distance calls on Mokona.”
Fai took the paper, blinking down at it. “A recipe?”
“For an elixir. You can make it for me tomorrow,” Yuuko said lazily, collapsing onto a convenient sofa. “Maru and Moro will show you where.” She leaned her head back and saw that Fai’s face had closed off, the smile gone as he scanned the lines, concentrating intently. “Don’t worry,” she commented, bemused. “You don’t need to use magic to make it; the magic in your blood will be enough.”
The wizard's head shot up, startled and a little wary, and Yuuko laughed. “Before that... Maru, Moro, we have a guest.”
“A guest, a guest!” the children chanted, scampering out of the room only to reappear loaded down with several bottles of alcohol and three glasses.
Yuuko poured a generous glassful and held it out toward Fai invitingly. “How about a drink?” she asked, grinning.
Fai grinned back and accepted the glass as the Dimension Witch poured another and handed it down to a yawning black Mokona. Perhaps he would like this place after all.
*************
He was not entirely sure what to make of his hostess, Fai reflected much later as the two soulless children dragged him to the room the Dimension Witch had indicated he would be staying in (he was glad for the escort, frankly; it had been hard to understand exactly where she meant, seeing as she refused to put down the beer long enough to tell him). The sheer amount of power she commanded was somewhere between amazing and terrifying, but he couldn’t be too intimidated by anyone who so instinctively understood the myriad joys of baiting Kuro-wan; it was, in all honesty, a bit of a relief. He was terribly fond of all of his teammates, but he had to admit that Mokona was the only one of the group with anything even remotely resembling a sense of humor. And he was terribly fond of them, whatever Kuro-run might think.
“Bastard, you really wouldn’t think twice about letting us die if it was convenient for you, would you?”
The question had been hovering around the back of his mind ever since the conversation ended (but then, that was Kuro-sama for you - hardly eloquent, but his words did tend to stick with one). Really, the man needed to work on his people skills. If there were anything Fai could think of to ensure the others’ safety that didn’t involve facing Ashura-ou, he would try it. But as it was, he wasn’t Syaoran-kun; simply deciding that he wanted to do something didn’t automatically mean that he could do it. Currently his hands were more than full just trying to clean up the mess he’d already gotten himself into. Right now, keeping himself alive, keeping Ashura-ou alive, and keeping as much distance as physically possible between the two of them was as much as he could manage. The others were quite capable of taking care of themselves.
It was true that the situation had turned rather unexpectedly to his advantage, though. With any luck, the group could get the feather and get out with no unnecessary complications. If Ashura-ou were to awaken, Syaoran-kun and Kuro-pan were capable of defeating him; Kuro-bun’s skill really was impressive, and what Syaoran-kun lacked in experience, he made up for in determination. And Ashura-ou wouldn’t die. Kuro-mii couldn’t afford it, and Syaoran-kun was still endearingly naive enough to balk at killing his enemies when he could help it. Ashura-ou wouldn’t die - but Fai didn’t doubt that Kuro-chan knew how to incapacitate someone quite thoroughly without actually killing him. By the time Ashura-ou recovered enough to follow them, they could be any number of worlds away, and as long as he refrained from using his magic (not that he would have been inclined to do so anyway), Ashura-ou would have a difficult time tracking them down. Even if the two fighters ended up not being able to win against Ashura-ou, Mokona would have the sense to get them all away before anything happened. And if Mokona wasn't quick enough...
Well. He didn’t think it likely.
“Your room’s here!” the two children sang out in unison, stopping at a doorway. Fai thanked them, and they smiled cutely up at him with cold, knowing eyes before running off, giggling to each other. Deliberately ending his train of thought, Fai went off to bed, cheerfully humming the tune that had been stuck in his head earlier.
On to Chapter 3