SPRING CHALLENGE ENTRY? OH RLY? YA RLY.
NO WAI.
*cough* Ahem. Yes, well, here's the FIRST part of my Spring Contest entry. It was meant to be a one-shot, but then it reach 5000 words, and I decided that if it was going about twice that length I really ought to make it two parts.
Hey, dev_chieftain, you want obscure? TAKE THIS. It's based upon fairytale known as The Three Dogs.
Because turning Kurogane into a dog was too hard a temptation to resist.
ALSO. I did have this beta'd, and I proofread it a number of times, as well, but I have concerns for some reason that there still may be mistakes. If anyone finds any, please tell me!
Title: Land of Make Believe
Author:insidiae
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer. *snort* Uhuhyeahright.
Fanfic Archive here.
"What. The. Hell."
Kurogane looks around his surroundings. The group has gotten separated again, leaving him with Fai and Syaoran, Sakura and Mokona nowhere to be found. However, they have to be close by, seeing as Kurogane can still understand the other two. Speaking of whom...
"Uwaa! Kuro-wanko and Syaoran-kun really are Big Puppy and Little Puppy now!"
"Shut. Up," the ninja growls, grabbing at the blond. Fai nimbly dodges and leaps over his head, grabbing Kurogane's tail and tugging lightly in teasing.
Yes, that's right, tail. The three of them - Fai, Kurogane, and Syaoran - fell into the world only to find that their appearance had been slightly altered. All of them now sport little dog ears and a tail.
Kurogane is less than happy.
Fai grins that infuriating grin. Off to the side, Syaoran strokes the soft fur of his new floppy ears, noticing that his nails are slightly longer than usual. Kurogane scowls, his pointed ears flattening against the surface of his head. Fai can't help but laugh, playing with his own large ears. They're similar in shape to Syaoran's, but they're fuzzier. He attempts to frown, but it doesn't work very well when giddy laughter is threatening to burst from his lips. "Oh, but this is wrong!" He wags his tail - a thin, muscled thing with short hair like his ears - blinking curiously at the sensation. "I'm supposed to be a Big Kitty!"
Kurogane makes another grab for his neck. Fai dodges again.
"Well, don't you all look cute."
The ninja can feel his ears go straight up. His teeth grit, the canines longer and sharper than he remembers. Excruciatingly slow, his head turns on its axis to meet the sight of the new speaker. He knows that voice.
"Yuuko-san!"
Oh, that Space Time Bitch is fucking dead.
"You," he snarls, stalking towards her. Some small part of his mind wonders what she's doing out of her shop, but it's undermined by the feelings of pure rage he has towards the woman. "You are responsible for this," Kurogane manages to hiss out from clenched teeth, jabbing a finger at her. "What the hell did you do to us?"
Yuuko narrows her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest. "How quickly you assume things," she scolds, her whole body screaming that she's Not Intimidated. Her nonchalant nature makes Kurogane want to punch something, and her face is looking more and more like a punching bag by the second. "I'll have you know that I had nothing to do with this. The world itself changed you, not me."
Kurogane decides that if that is the case, this is the crappiest world ever made.
"But what is Yuuko-san doing here?" Syaoran asks, not even realizing that one of his over-sized ears has flopped over his head as he tilts it to the side. "Who's taking care of the shop?"
"Oh that," she says, waving her hand dismissively. "Don't you worry about that. I'll only be here for a little bit, and Mokona is a great shopkeeper in the meantime!" Kurogane gets a sinking feeling in his gut at the mere thought, praying for any unfortunate wish-maker's sake that the black Mokona is more sane than the white one. "I'm just here to play my part, Syaoran-kun, and it should be over as soon as she comes."
"She?" Fai inquires. Yuuko opens her mouth to respond, but her words are swallowed by the sound of loud footsteps and happy gibberish.
"Puu!"
"Tan!"
"Shuiiii!"
The three men turn to look at the familiar noises, eyebrows shooting up to their hairline. Coming up the road they're on is Sakura. Connected to her wrist are leashes, which in turn are connected to three bouncing, rainbow-colored Mokona. Her eyes widen in recognition. "Fai-san, Kurogane-san, Syaoran-kun!"
The Mokona drag her along, finally stopping right in front of Yuuko and the three dog-men. "Yuuko-san!" she adds, startled, finally noticing the unusual member of the group. "Is something wrong?"
The witch laughs again. "No, no, nothing's wrong. I just needed a break from the shop, and I'd thought it'd be interesting to watch you all try and find a feather."
Syaoran's head shoots up at that. "Of course!" he shouts, unbelieving at his own forgetfulness. "The feather! Now that we've found Sakura-hime, we need to search for feathers..." He moves towards her, but stops suddenly. "...What?"
Kurogane raises an eyebrow at him. "What's wrong, kid?" He, too, moves forward, only to stop at the same place as Syaoran. "What the hell?" The muscles in his leg strain as he tries to take another step, but his body refuses to yield. "Why the hell can't I move passed here?" He continues struggling for a few moments, before realization dawns upon him. "You," he hisses at Yuuko, snapping his head back to glare at her. The rest of his body soon follows. "You're doing this to us." He runs at her, making to strangle her, when he's suddenly stopped mid-charge by an electrifying shock going throughout his body, reducing him to a yelping heap.
Yuuko looks at him coolly. "Bad doggy," she grins, fingering the shock button that clearly connects to the collar around Kurogane's throat. "Pets who try to hurt their owners get punished."
Off to the side, Fai falls into fits of laughter while Kurogane growls low in his throat. Sakura blinks innocently. "Yuuko-san, what's going on?"
"It appears Yuuko-san is our master," Fai manages between chuckles. He apparently finds nothing wrong with this situation. However, he quickly regains his breath, a somber mood falling over his face. "And she seems to want to keep us on a short leash." The grave mood lasts for maybe a second longer before he cracks up again, laughing at his own pun.
"Master!" Sakura repeats, shocked. "But... how?"
"Simple," Yuuko says. "They're my dogs."
"Dogs...?" The princess narrows her eyes to a squint, peering at the group. Her eyes widen suddenly, noticing for the first time the ears and tails on her companions. "Oh my gosh!" Syaoran blushes, turning his head away in shame, Kurogane glares at air, and Fai wags his tail, still experimenting with his new body parts. "You're so cute!"
Syaoran looks significantly relieved, giving a sheepish grin, and Fai offers a bright smile, wagging his tail excitedly.
Kurogane glares harder.
"Ah... but..." A look of concentration crosses the young girl's face. "If everyone belongs to Yuuko-san..." She pauses, putting two and two together. Slowly, she raises her head, determined eyes meeting those of the witch's. "Yuuko-san, may I please have Fai-san, Kurogane-san, and Syaoran-kun back?"
"Now, now, Sakura-chan," Yuuko consoles, giving a sympathetic smile. "You should know by now that anything I give comes with a price. And these are very valuable animals, after all. Fai-Salt here will cook you food whenever you need it. Syao-Pepper will tear attackers to pieces." The boy flushes lightly, both at the compliment and the nickname. Yuuko sure has picked peculiar names for them. The Witch of Dimensions pauses, placing a delicate hand on top of Kurogane's head. "And this, this is Kuro-Mustard..."
Kurogane squawks indignantly at the name, shaking his head and trying to bite her hand. Fai thinks he's just found his new favorite nickname for the ninja.
Yuuko glares at the warrior, lightly bopping him on the nose, reprimanding him. "He's not very good tempered," she says. Her eyes are narrowed at the Japan native, but when she turns back to Sakura, she's all cheer. "But he can bite through iron and steel-"
"I can do what?!"
"-So I guess he's valuable enough. In any case, the point is that the cost for them would be quite pricey."
"But-!" Sakura objects, a crushed look falling over her delicate features. Her brow furrows in desperation. "But... I have nothing..."
The multi-colored Mokona choose this moment to start chorusing again, spouting out gibberish loudly. Sakura starts - she had, apparently, forgotten about their presence - before apprehension dawns in her eyes. "Yuuko-san, would you like-"
"Sure!" the older woman agrees before the younger can even finish her sentence. She quickly passes control of the dog-men to Clow Country's princess, grabbing the leashed Mokona from her in return. "Deal!"
Syaoran's stubby tail sways happily, showing how glad he is to be back with Sakura. However, both Fai and Kurogane look carefully at Yuuko, eyes calculating. That trade was far too easy.
"Thank you so much, Yuuko-san!" the girl exclaims, knocking them out of their reverie before they can dwell on it. She grins at the group, and then they're off, searching the world for another feather.
"So what is Sakura-hime doing in all that armor?"
The group of four travelers walks down the dirt path they journey on aimlessly, no destination in mind. Without Mokona to guide them to a feather, they really have no basis to go on, but they're reassured that the white creature isn't too far off by the fact that they can all understand each other. With this in mind, Syaoran makes it his priority to know exactly what happened to his princess.
"I'm not sure," she says honestly, looking at the metal covering her body. She raises an eyebrow carefully - the design of it isn't very efficient. Her legs are unprotected from knee to high thigh, where the metal flairs into a sort of mini-skirt. The bottom half of her legs are indeed covered, but by unpractical high-heeled, armored boots. The neck of the torso is also very low, revealing some of her cleavage, and all and all it seems as though the armor was designed to show off her body rather than cover it. "When I woke up here, this was what I was wearing."
Syaoran pales visibly, disturbed at the thought of someone undressing and redressing his princess. However, he reminds himself that he awoke with new body parts, so he figures it has to be part of this world's magic.
Fai cocks his head to the side, whistling lightly. "Oh? And what happened to Sakura-chan after she woke up?"
"Oh!" The girl's eyes sparkle, suddenly remembering her adventures. "I met Touya-nii-sama! Well, at least, this world's Touya-nii-sama..." Her face scrunches in thought, recollecting the events that led up to her finding the others. "He said our dad just died... and he left us a house and the three Mokii-chan." She smiles brightly. Whether it's her own world's or another's, Touya would always be her loving older brother. "Touya-nii-sama said that I should take the house, but I just couldn't! I'm not even going to stay here."
"And he just let you go?" Kurogane asks with an eyebrow raised. He may not know Touya very well, but if the one from this world is anything like the ones Kurogane has met elsewhere, he wouldn't have let Sakura go on her own merry way that easily, especially without doting to make sure she was alright.
"No," Sakura 'hmphs,' confirming his theory. "Touya-nii-sama was very stubborn. I had to argue with him to convince him to take the house."
Syaoran pales again. He's seen arguments between the royal siblings.
They aren't pretty.
"But anyways!" she continues, drastically brightening the mood. "How did you all end up like this?" she prods, scratching curiously at the area where Syaoran's ear meets his head. The boy sighs happily, a goofy grin making its way across his face. Off to the side, Fai takes note.
Syaoran begins to answer her, and Fai shifts his attention away from the two, focusing it instead on Kurogane. The urge to giggle is hard to resist as the blond watches the black stump of a tail stick out awkwardly from the ninja's backside, hidden by his pants (Fai's own tail is out and freely moving, his pants slung low on his hips to allow it mobility). It makes a troublesome lump in Kurogane's trousers, and Fai can only think, with no small amusement, that it makes it look like the Japanese man has a backwards erection.
Unable to hold it back any longer, the magician snickers.
Kurogane gives him an odd look. "What the hell are you laughing at?"
Fai suppresses his giggles, trying to regain his breath and think of a good response. He somehow doubts that the man would be very appreciative if he replies with 'You.' Not thinking of anything good to say, he eventually answers, "Nothing, Kuro-rin," and the ninja is forced to let it be, though he remains disgruntled, as per usual, by the Ceresian man's actions.
But for Fai, it's not that easy, because the stump at Kurogane's butt is still there, and it's a real struggle for the wizard to remember that it's a dog tail. Of course, even remembering this is a mistake, seeing as those thoughts lead to thoughts of 'doggy style' and soon Fai's mind is just one giant heap of bizarre sexual innuendo. Silent laughter overtakes him, and he soon collapses into a trembling mass on the ground.
The children look startled, while Kurogane just looks cautious. He holds up a hand to stop the children from approaching, instead braving the dangers of reaching out to what the ninja is considering to be more and more of a lunatic by every passing second. "Oi... mage..." he speaks sensitively, treading carefully. He's prepared for pretty much anything. However, 'pretty much anything' does not include what he hears coming out of the wizard's mouth between his titters.
"...Backwards... penis..."
Kurogane blinks, stands, and turns away. Looking straight ahead, he addresses Syaoran and Sakura. "Come on. We're leaving him."
"Ah! But-!" The two from Clow look at each other, then between Fai and Kurogane's retreating back, reaching the same conclusion at the same time. Running after the ninja, they cry, "Kurogane-san, please wait! We need to help Fai-san..."
As their voices, too, fade away, Fai manages to collect himself. Realizing that the others have left him behind, he pouts. "Kuro-wanko is so mean, leaving me behind." He doesn't bother himself too much with it though, knowing that Syaoran and Sakura will convince Kurogane to at the very least stop until he catches up with them.
And besides, he thinks, falling once more into a fit of cackles. The look on Kurogane's face was totally worth it.
“Well that’s just vaguely suspicious.”
The group stares at the log cabin in front of them. It appears to be completely empty, but there is smoke rising from the chimney, implying that there’s someone living there - or at least was, until very recently.
Fai’s the one who spoke - by the time he had caught up with the others, it was already dark. They agreed that they should look for a shelter, and no sooner had they turned a corner then they had found the small cabin of which they’re presently standing in front of.
Kurogane grunts in agreement. Though, in his mind, this whole world is vaguely suspicious.
“Maybe it’s Sakura-hime’s luck?” Syaoran offers with a shrug of his shoulders. Stranger things have happened because of it, after all.
“Perhaps,” Fai replies seriously, assessing the situation. He then brightens suddenly. “Oh well, who cares? The point is that it’s here. Let’s go!”
“Ah, Fai-san, wait-!” Sakura reaches a hand out towards him, but he’s already gone down the cobblestone path, whistling to himself happily. A concerned look falls over her delicate features. “….Is this going to be okay?”
Syaoran places a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. We’ll just explain to whoever lives there what our situation is,” he says, using his hand on her back to guide her towards the cottage.
Kurogane, the last one one remaining on the path, drags a hand over his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. This, like most things the magician does, has trouble written all over it. With a tired sigh he, too, moves towards the cabin. One of the parents has to be responsible, after all, and it’s clear that the mother isn’t in the mood.
Oh God. When did he start thinking of himself as a parent?
And when did he start accepting that guy being a mother?
Ugh. And if Kurogane is the father and Fai is the mom, that would make them married, wouldn’t it? And that means that they would have to spend every day together too, right?
A blast of icy wind knocks his speeding train of thought off track. The cold of night settles into his skin and he growls, realizing the other three are already inside. Making his legs move faster, he hurries towards shelter and the warmth of a fire, all the while wondering why the thought of spending the rest of his life with the damned blond idiot doesn’t bother him as much as it should.
"Look, Kuro-chi! Look what we found!"
Kurogane raises an eyebrow at the piece of paper waving around in his face. He attempts to read it, but it's moving too fast for him to make any sense of any of the letters. Frustrated, he eventually rips the piece of paper out of the blond's hands, shifting to read it.
"Dear weary travelers, I have set up this house for any who wishes to find shelter within it. Please feel free to use any of the provisions inside." He looks up at the others dubiously. "What the hell? What kind of idiot leaves his house out to be ransacked?"
Syaoran shrugs, sitting on one of the two beds in the room. There are two other rooms attached - a kitchen and a living room. "It does seem kind of odd..." The boy shrugs again. "Maybe it's not unusual in this world? Perhaps there's a lot more trust here."
Sakura removes her boots and collapses on the bed, glad just to be out of the foot-murdering demons. "I say we should just be grateful that someone has offered us shelter and food." Her stomach grumbles and she flushes with embarrassment. "Speaking of food..."
Fai laughs and starts toward the kitchen. "Don't you worry, Sakura-chan, I'll go make you something." At signs of her protest, he waves her off, saying, "It's alright. It's my job, remember? 'Fai-Salt will make you food whenever you need it.'" The wizard flashes her a grin and before she can say anything else, he saunters off.
Once in the kitchen, he looks around, eyes appreciative of the number of cupboards compressed into the small place. He opens all of them, happy to seem them all filled to the brim with food supplies. Whoever stocked this place did a damn good job. There's a device he recognizes from worlds like Hanshin and Piffle - a fridge, if he remembers correctly - that he opens wide as well, finding even more cuisine. A genuine, nostalgic smile flits briefly across his face - there's a lot of ingredients he recognizes, that he used to eat in Ceres. On a whim he pulls out a nice looking ham from the fridge and a carton of eggs.
In the pantry, there's olives, lemons, and a couple of green things he doesn't recognize. He yanks those out too, before turning to a cupboard above his head. It holds the final ingredient he wants, a sack of potatoes. He can reach them easily enough, but Fai's smart enough to realize that such a large sack of the vegetable would probably be heavier than he could handle if grabbing them at that height. He thinks hard for a second, his head in his hand, arm around his waist, and tail about his hips, with his ears hanging sadly. Suddenly, a bright idea hits him like a twelve ton sack of bricks - or, in this case, potatoes.
"Oh Kuro-pan, would you come here for a moment?" From the other room, Fai can hear grumbling. "I neeeeeeed you," he adds for good measure. This time there's embarrassed curses at his choice of words, and more grumbling than the last, but within a few moments the ninja emerges in the doorway to the kitchen.
"What the hell do you want?"
You, the magician thinks, but is smart enough not to say. "Hyuu, Kuro-pu is tough as usual!" He trails over to Kurogane, placing one hand on his arm lightly, while using his other to point to the cabinet containing the potatoes. "I need those potatoes, Kuro-bun. Will you get them for Fai-mommy, please?" He blinks his eyes rapidly, clasping his hands sweetly in front of him.
Kurogane makes a face largely consisting of disgust at the magician's attempt to look innocent and sweet. Honestly, he should leave that to the princess. Still, he glances at where Fai is pointing, a small look of confusion on his features. "What are poteitosu?"
"Those gray-brown rock-looking things," Fai replies, still pointing. The ninja grunts in affirmation, pressing his body against the counter and stretching to reach. The blond watches his muscles ripple appreciatively, before remembering that there's something else he wants to try. Boldly, while Kurogane's distracted with getting the vegetable, Fai sneaks up behind him and scratches at the base of his ears like Sakura did to Syaoran earlier.
The effects are immediate.
Kurogane's eyes gain a glazed appearance and all his muscles relax at once. His head leans into Fai's touch and his mouth falls open, a low, content sound falling from his lips. Fai can feel something moving very slightly at his hip, and realizes belatedly that it's Kurogane's tail, trying to wag happily, but constricted by his pants. It's then that Fai recalls the dogs from Ceres enjoy having the area around their tails rubbed even more than their ears, and that they like a rougher scratch in that area as well. Biting his lip, Fai checks Kurogane's face for his expression. Confirming the fact that the ninja is still dazed, Fai keeps one hand scratching his ears while the other slips under the Japanese man's waistband to rub at his tail. The wizard didn't realize how hard it would be to resist letting his hand drop even further, but the muscled stub of a tail is shaking gleefully under his hand and Kurogane is making the most wonderful, guttural noises he's ever heard, so he manages to defy the temptation. However, as Fai continues scratching at his tail, something unexpected happens.
Kurogane's leg starts... thumping.
Fai blinks, coming to understand what's happening. He's heard about this - the reflex vasodilator, which makes hindlegs move up and down rapidly, as if in a run. The realization causes him to laugh suddenly and loudly, and the tinkling noise knocks Kurogane out of his own dazed state. His leg slows as he digests what just happened to him. It takes a bit, but as soon as his eyes land on Fai, he has a pretty damn good idea. Both his hands clench into fists of rage, one of them grasping the sack of potatoes without him noticing. Furious, he spins around, shouting, "What the hell do you think you're-!" but he doesn't get to finish his sentence. As he spins, he takes the sack with him, the weight of it collapsing against him and knocking him to the floor, Fai going down with him.
"It looks like I found Kuronpu's hot spot," the mage teases with a grin, looking up at the other man from his position beneath him and between his legs. "And now Kuro-Mustard wants more!"
"Don't call me that!" Kurogane roars, though he makes no move to get off the blond pinned underneath him. Fai, seeing a chance that probably won't come again, at least any time soon, reaches an arm around the ninja's back, pulling him closer. Again, he's met with no resistance, but when he dips his hand back down passed his waistband, the warrior returns to his senses and yanks himself away. Standing up shakily, he looks to the side as he offers Fai a helping hand up. "...I'm sorry about that. The... poteitosu... fell on me."
Fai accepts the hand and stands, noticing with no small amount of amusement that his own tail is moving pretty fast. Well, that's what he gets for getting so excited. "Potatoes," he corrects the other man, dusting himself off.
"Yeah, that's what I said. Poteitosu." Fai shakes his head with a smile, and moves back to the food, showing the two green things to Kurogane.
"Do you know what these are?"
"Those are peas," the ninja replies, pointing to the pods in the magician's right hand. "And that," he says, making a face. "Is celery."
"Are they good?"
"The peas are fine," Kurogane responds with a nonchalant shrug. "But the celery tastes like stale water. Only crunchy."
"Sounds good!" Fai approves, grabbing a knife from one of the drawers to cut the vegetable.
Kurogane scowls at the response. "Oi, don't you get what I just said? I don't like-"
"Kuro-wan, will you start peeling those potatoes while you're here, please?"
Kurogane sighs, rolling his eyes and giving up. It isn't worth it to try and resist the wizard. "Yeah, yeah, fine. Hey, do you even know what you're doing?"
"Nope!" Fai exclaims, waving the knife around joyfully and dangerously. "Kuro-wanta should know by now that Fai-mommy never thinks about anything before doing it!" The smile on Fai's face freezes, looking all at once much emptier than just a few seconds ago. In his mind, his own words replay over and over, and he lowers the knife slowly while casting his eyes downwards. "I never think about what I'm doing before it happens," he whispers to himself, sure that Kurogane is too far away on the other side of the counter to hear.
The silence of the room is broken only by the sound of a knife hitting a cutting board.
If anyone's curious, Syaoran is based off of a cocker spaniel, Kurogane off a doberman, and Fai off a beagle.
Part two will be out soon, and comments and criticisms make the authoress happy in her pantalones!
*cough* Ahem. Yes, well, here's the FIRST part of my Spring Contest entry. It was meant to be a one-shot, but then it reach 5000 words, and I decided that if it was going about twice that length I really ought to make it two parts.
Hey, dev_chieftain, you want obscure? TAKE THIS. It's based upon fairytale known as The Three Dogs.
Because turning Kurogane into a dog was too hard a temptation to resist.
ALSO. I did have this beta'd, and I proofread it a number of times, as well, but I have concerns for some reason that there still may be mistakes. If anyone finds any, please tell me!
Title: Land of Make Believe
Author:insidiae
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer. *snort* Uhuhyeahright.
Fanfic Archive here.
"What. The. Hell."
Kurogane looks around his surroundings. The group has gotten separated again, leaving him with Fai and Syaoran, Sakura and Mokona nowhere to be found. However, they have to be close by, seeing as Kurogane can still understand the other two. Speaking of whom...
"Uwaa! Kuro-wanko and Syaoran-kun really are Big Puppy and Little Puppy now!"
"Shut. Up," the ninja growls, grabbing at the blond. Fai nimbly dodges and leaps over his head, grabbing Kurogane's tail and tugging lightly in teasing.
Yes, that's right, tail. The three of them - Fai, Kurogane, and Syaoran - fell into the world only to find that their appearance had been slightly altered. All of them now sport little dog ears and a tail.
Kurogane is less than happy.
Fai grins that infuriating grin. Off to the side, Syaoran strokes the soft fur of his new floppy ears, noticing that his nails are slightly longer than usual. Kurogane scowls, his pointed ears flattening against the surface of his head. Fai can't help but laugh, playing with his own large ears. They're similar in shape to Syaoran's, but they're fuzzier. He attempts to frown, but it doesn't work very well when giddy laughter is threatening to burst from his lips. "Oh, but this is wrong!" He wags his tail - a thin, muscled thing with short hair like his ears - blinking curiously at the sensation. "I'm supposed to be a Big Kitty!"
Kurogane makes another grab for his neck. Fai dodges again.
"Well, don't you all look cute."
The ninja can feel his ears go straight up. His teeth grit, the canines longer and sharper than he remembers. Excruciatingly slow, his head turns on its axis to meet the sight of the new speaker. He knows that voice.
"Yuuko-san!"
Oh, that Space Time Bitch is fucking dead.
"You," he snarls, stalking towards her. Some small part of his mind wonders what she's doing out of her shop, but it's undermined by the feelings of pure rage he has towards the woman. "You are responsible for this," Kurogane manages to hiss out from clenched teeth, jabbing a finger at her. "What the hell did you do to us?"
Yuuko narrows her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest. "How quickly you assume things," she scolds, her whole body screaming that she's Not Intimidated. Her nonchalant nature makes Kurogane want to punch something, and her face is looking more and more like a punching bag by the second. "I'll have you know that I had nothing to do with this. The world itself changed you, not me."
Kurogane decides that if that is the case, this is the crappiest world ever made.
"But what is Yuuko-san doing here?" Syaoran asks, not even realizing that one of his over-sized ears has flopped over his head as he tilts it to the side. "Who's taking care of the shop?"
"Oh that," she says, waving her hand dismissively. "Don't you worry about that. I'll only be here for a little bit, and Mokona is a great shopkeeper in the meantime!" Kurogane gets a sinking feeling in his gut at the mere thought, praying for any unfortunate wish-maker's sake that the black Mokona is more sane than the white one. "I'm just here to play my part, Syaoran-kun, and it should be over as soon as she comes."
"She?" Fai inquires. Yuuko opens her mouth to respond, but her words are swallowed by the sound of loud footsteps and happy gibberish.
"Puu!"
"Tan!"
"Shuiiii!"
The three men turn to look at the familiar noises, eyebrows shooting up to their hairline. Coming up the road they're on is Sakura. Connected to her wrist are leashes, which in turn are connected to three bouncing, rainbow-colored Mokona. Her eyes widen in recognition. "Fai-san, Kurogane-san, Syaoran-kun!"
The Mokona drag her along, finally stopping right in front of Yuuko and the three dog-men. "Yuuko-san!" she adds, startled, finally noticing the unusual member of the group. "Is something wrong?"
The witch laughs again. "No, no, nothing's wrong. I just needed a break from the shop, and I'd thought it'd be interesting to watch you all try and find a feather."
Syaoran's head shoots up at that. "Of course!" he shouts, unbelieving at his own forgetfulness. "The feather! Now that we've found Sakura-hime, we need to search for feathers..." He moves towards her, but stops suddenly. "...What?"
Kurogane raises an eyebrow at him. "What's wrong, kid?" He, too, moves forward, only to stop at the same place as Syaoran. "What the hell?" The muscles in his leg strain as he tries to take another step, but his body refuses to yield. "Why the hell can't I move passed here?" He continues struggling for a few moments, before realization dawns upon him. "You," he hisses at Yuuko, snapping his head back to glare at her. The rest of his body soon follows. "You're doing this to us." He runs at her, making to strangle her, when he's suddenly stopped mid-charge by an electrifying shock going throughout his body, reducing him to a yelping heap.
Yuuko looks at him coolly. "Bad doggy," she grins, fingering the shock button that clearly connects to the collar around Kurogane's throat. "Pets who try to hurt their owners get punished."
Off to the side, Fai falls into fits of laughter while Kurogane growls low in his throat. Sakura blinks innocently. "Yuuko-san, what's going on?"
"It appears Yuuko-san is our master," Fai manages between chuckles. He apparently finds nothing wrong with this situation. However, he quickly regains his breath, a somber mood falling over his face. "And she seems to want to keep us on a short leash." The grave mood lasts for maybe a second longer before he cracks up again, laughing at his own pun.
"Master!" Sakura repeats, shocked. "But... how?"
"Simple," Yuuko says. "They're my dogs."
"Dogs...?" The princess narrows her eyes to a squint, peering at the group. Her eyes widen suddenly, noticing for the first time the ears and tails on her companions. "Oh my gosh!" Syaoran blushes, turning his head away in shame, Kurogane glares at air, and Fai wags his tail, still experimenting with his new body parts. "You're so cute!"
Syaoran looks significantly relieved, giving a sheepish grin, and Fai offers a bright smile, wagging his tail excitedly.
Kurogane glares harder.
"Ah... but..." A look of concentration crosses the young girl's face. "If everyone belongs to Yuuko-san..." She pauses, putting two and two together. Slowly, she raises her head, determined eyes meeting those of the witch's. "Yuuko-san, may I please have Fai-san, Kurogane-san, and Syaoran-kun back?"
"Now, now, Sakura-chan," Yuuko consoles, giving a sympathetic smile. "You should know by now that anything I give comes with a price. And these are very valuable animals, after all. Fai-Salt here will cook you food whenever you need it. Syao-Pepper will tear attackers to pieces." The boy flushes lightly, both at the compliment and the nickname. Yuuko sure has picked peculiar names for them. The Witch of Dimensions pauses, placing a delicate hand on top of Kurogane's head. "And this, this is Kuro-Mustard..."
Kurogane squawks indignantly at the name, shaking his head and trying to bite her hand. Fai thinks he's just found his new favorite nickname for the ninja.
Yuuko glares at the warrior, lightly bopping him on the nose, reprimanding him. "He's not very good tempered," she says. Her eyes are narrowed at the Japan native, but when she turns back to Sakura, she's all cheer. "But he can bite through iron and steel-"
"I can do what?!"
"-So I guess he's valuable enough. In any case, the point is that the cost for them would be quite pricey."
"But-!" Sakura objects, a crushed look falling over her delicate features. Her brow furrows in desperation. "But... I have nothing..."
The multi-colored Mokona choose this moment to start chorusing again, spouting out gibberish loudly. Sakura starts - she had, apparently, forgotten about their presence - before apprehension dawns in her eyes. "Yuuko-san, would you like-"
"Sure!" the older woman agrees before the younger can even finish her sentence. She quickly passes control of the dog-men to Clow Country's princess, grabbing the leashed Mokona from her in return. "Deal!"
Syaoran's stubby tail sways happily, showing how glad he is to be back with Sakura. However, both Fai and Kurogane look carefully at Yuuko, eyes calculating. That trade was far too easy.
"Thank you so much, Yuuko-san!" the girl exclaims, knocking them out of their reverie before they can dwell on it. She grins at the group, and then they're off, searching the world for another feather.
"So what is Sakura-hime doing in all that armor?"
The group of four travelers walks down the dirt path they journey on aimlessly, no destination in mind. Without Mokona to guide them to a feather, they really have no basis to go on, but they're reassured that the white creature isn't too far off by the fact that they can all understand each other. With this in mind, Syaoran makes it his priority to know exactly what happened to his princess.
"I'm not sure," she says honestly, looking at the metal covering her body. She raises an eyebrow carefully - the design of it isn't very efficient. Her legs are unprotected from knee to high thigh, where the metal flairs into a sort of mini-skirt. The bottom half of her legs are indeed covered, but by unpractical high-heeled, armored boots. The neck of the torso is also very low, revealing some of her cleavage, and all and all it seems as though the armor was designed to show off her body rather than cover it. "When I woke up here, this was what I was wearing."
Syaoran pales visibly, disturbed at the thought of someone undressing and redressing his princess. However, he reminds himself that he awoke with new body parts, so he figures it has to be part of this world's magic.
Fai cocks his head to the side, whistling lightly. "Oh? And what happened to Sakura-chan after she woke up?"
"Oh!" The girl's eyes sparkle, suddenly remembering her adventures. "I met Touya-nii-sama! Well, at least, this world's Touya-nii-sama..." Her face scrunches in thought, recollecting the events that led up to her finding the others. "He said our dad just died... and he left us a house and the three Mokii-chan." She smiles brightly. Whether it's her own world's or another's, Touya would always be her loving older brother. "Touya-nii-sama said that I should take the house, but I just couldn't! I'm not even going to stay here."
"And he just let you go?" Kurogane asks with an eyebrow raised. He may not know Touya very well, but if the one from this world is anything like the ones Kurogane has met elsewhere, he wouldn't have let Sakura go on her own merry way that easily, especially without doting to make sure she was alright.
"No," Sakura 'hmphs,' confirming his theory. "Touya-nii-sama was very stubborn. I had to argue with him to convince him to take the house."
Syaoran pales again. He's seen arguments between the royal siblings.
They aren't pretty.
"But anyways!" she continues, drastically brightening the mood. "How did you all end up like this?" she prods, scratching curiously at the area where Syaoran's ear meets his head. The boy sighs happily, a goofy grin making its way across his face. Off to the side, Fai takes note.
Syaoran begins to answer her, and Fai shifts his attention away from the two, focusing it instead on Kurogane. The urge to giggle is hard to resist as the blond watches the black stump of a tail stick out awkwardly from the ninja's backside, hidden by his pants (Fai's own tail is out and freely moving, his pants slung low on his hips to allow it mobility). It makes a troublesome lump in Kurogane's trousers, and Fai can only think, with no small amusement, that it makes it look like the Japanese man has a backwards erection.
Unable to hold it back any longer, the magician snickers.
Kurogane gives him an odd look. "What the hell are you laughing at?"
Fai suppresses his giggles, trying to regain his breath and think of a good response. He somehow doubts that the man would be very appreciative if he replies with 'You.' Not thinking of anything good to say, he eventually answers, "Nothing, Kuro-rin," and the ninja is forced to let it be, though he remains disgruntled, as per usual, by the Ceresian man's actions.
But for Fai, it's not that easy, because the stump at Kurogane's butt is still there, and it's a real struggle for the wizard to remember that it's a dog tail. Of course, even remembering this is a mistake, seeing as those thoughts lead to thoughts of 'doggy style' and soon Fai's mind is just one giant heap of bizarre sexual innuendo. Silent laughter overtakes him, and he soon collapses into a trembling mass on the ground.
The children look startled, while Kurogane just looks cautious. He holds up a hand to stop the children from approaching, instead braving the dangers of reaching out to what the ninja is considering to be more and more of a lunatic by every passing second. "Oi... mage..." he speaks sensitively, treading carefully. He's prepared for pretty much anything. However, 'pretty much anything' does not include what he hears coming out of the wizard's mouth between his titters.
"...Backwards... penis..."
Kurogane blinks, stands, and turns away. Looking straight ahead, he addresses Syaoran and Sakura. "Come on. We're leaving him."
"Ah! But-!" The two from Clow look at each other, then between Fai and Kurogane's retreating back, reaching the same conclusion at the same time. Running after the ninja, they cry, "Kurogane-san, please wait! We need to help Fai-san..."
As their voices, too, fade away, Fai manages to collect himself. Realizing that the others have left him behind, he pouts. "Kuro-wanko is so mean, leaving me behind." He doesn't bother himself too much with it though, knowing that Syaoran and Sakura will convince Kurogane to at the very least stop until he catches up with them.
And besides, he thinks, falling once more into a fit of cackles. The look on Kurogane's face was totally worth it.
“Well that’s just vaguely suspicious.”
The group stares at the log cabin in front of them. It appears to be completely empty, but there is smoke rising from the chimney, implying that there’s someone living there - or at least was, until very recently.
Fai’s the one who spoke - by the time he had caught up with the others, it was already dark. They agreed that they should look for a shelter, and no sooner had they turned a corner then they had found the small cabin of which they’re presently standing in front of.
Kurogane grunts in agreement. Though, in his mind, this whole world is vaguely suspicious.
“Maybe it’s Sakura-hime’s luck?” Syaoran offers with a shrug of his shoulders. Stranger things have happened because of it, after all.
“Perhaps,” Fai replies seriously, assessing the situation. He then brightens suddenly. “Oh well, who cares? The point is that it’s here. Let’s go!”
“Ah, Fai-san, wait-!” Sakura reaches a hand out towards him, but he’s already gone down the cobblestone path, whistling to himself happily. A concerned look falls over her delicate features. “….Is this going to be okay?”
Syaoran places a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. We’ll just explain to whoever lives there what our situation is,” he says, using his hand on her back to guide her towards the cottage.
Kurogane, the last one one remaining on the path, drags a hand over his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. This, like most things the magician does, has trouble written all over it. With a tired sigh he, too, moves towards the cabin. One of the parents has to be responsible, after all, and it’s clear that the mother isn’t in the mood.
Oh God. When did he start thinking of himself as a parent?
And when did he start accepting that guy being a mother?
Ugh. And if Kurogane is the father and Fai is the mom, that would make them married, wouldn’t it? And that means that they would have to spend every day together too, right?
A blast of icy wind knocks his speeding train of thought off track. The cold of night settles into his skin and he growls, realizing the other three are already inside. Making his legs move faster, he hurries towards shelter and the warmth of a fire, all the while wondering why the thought of spending the rest of his life with the damned blond idiot doesn’t bother him as much as it should.
"Look, Kuro-chi! Look what we found!"
Kurogane raises an eyebrow at the piece of paper waving around in his face. He attempts to read it, but it's moving too fast for him to make any sense of any of the letters. Frustrated, he eventually rips the piece of paper out of the blond's hands, shifting to read it.
"Dear weary travelers, I have set up this house for any who wishes to find shelter within it. Please feel free to use any of the provisions inside." He looks up at the others dubiously. "What the hell? What kind of idiot leaves his house out to be ransacked?"
Syaoran shrugs, sitting on one of the two beds in the room. There are two other rooms attached - a kitchen and a living room. "It does seem kind of odd..." The boy shrugs again. "Maybe it's not unusual in this world? Perhaps there's a lot more trust here."
Sakura removes her boots and collapses on the bed, glad just to be out of the foot-murdering demons. "I say we should just be grateful that someone has offered us shelter and food." Her stomach grumbles and she flushes with embarrassment. "Speaking of food..."
Fai laughs and starts toward the kitchen. "Don't you worry, Sakura-chan, I'll go make you something." At signs of her protest, he waves her off, saying, "It's alright. It's my job, remember? 'Fai-Salt will make you food whenever you need it.'" The wizard flashes her a grin and before she can say anything else, he saunters off.
Once in the kitchen, he looks around, eyes appreciative of the number of cupboards compressed into the small place. He opens all of them, happy to seem them all filled to the brim with food supplies. Whoever stocked this place did a damn good job. There's a device he recognizes from worlds like Hanshin and Piffle - a fridge, if he remembers correctly - that he opens wide as well, finding even more cuisine. A genuine, nostalgic smile flits briefly across his face - there's a lot of ingredients he recognizes, that he used to eat in Ceres. On a whim he pulls out a nice looking ham from the fridge and a carton of eggs.
In the pantry, there's olives, lemons, and a couple of green things he doesn't recognize. He yanks those out too, before turning to a cupboard above his head. It holds the final ingredient he wants, a sack of potatoes. He can reach them easily enough, but Fai's smart enough to realize that such a large sack of the vegetable would probably be heavier than he could handle if grabbing them at that height. He thinks hard for a second, his head in his hand, arm around his waist, and tail about his hips, with his ears hanging sadly. Suddenly, a bright idea hits him like a twelve ton sack of bricks - or, in this case, potatoes.
"Oh Kuro-pan, would you come here for a moment?" From the other room, Fai can hear grumbling. "I neeeeeeed you," he adds for good measure. This time there's embarrassed curses at his choice of words, and more grumbling than the last, but within a few moments the ninja emerges in the doorway to the kitchen.
"What the hell do you want?"
You, the magician thinks, but is smart enough not to say. "Hyuu, Kuro-pu is tough as usual!" He trails over to Kurogane, placing one hand on his arm lightly, while using his other to point to the cabinet containing the potatoes. "I need those potatoes, Kuro-bun. Will you get them for Fai-mommy, please?" He blinks his eyes rapidly, clasping his hands sweetly in front of him.
Kurogane makes a face largely consisting of disgust at the magician's attempt to look innocent and sweet. Honestly, he should leave that to the princess. Still, he glances at where Fai is pointing, a small look of confusion on his features. "What are poteitosu?"
"Those gray-brown rock-looking things," Fai replies, still pointing. The ninja grunts in affirmation, pressing his body against the counter and stretching to reach. The blond watches his muscles ripple appreciatively, before remembering that there's something else he wants to try. Boldly, while Kurogane's distracted with getting the vegetable, Fai sneaks up behind him and scratches at the base of his ears like Sakura did to Syaoran earlier.
The effects are immediate.
Kurogane's eyes gain a glazed appearance and all his muscles relax at once. His head leans into Fai's touch and his mouth falls open, a low, content sound falling from his lips. Fai can feel something moving very slightly at his hip, and realizes belatedly that it's Kurogane's tail, trying to wag happily, but constricted by his pants. It's then that Fai recalls the dogs from Ceres enjoy having the area around their tails rubbed even more than their ears, and that they like a rougher scratch in that area as well. Biting his lip, Fai checks Kurogane's face for his expression. Confirming the fact that the ninja is still dazed, Fai keeps one hand scratching his ears while the other slips under the Japanese man's waistband to rub at his tail. The wizard didn't realize how hard it would be to resist letting his hand drop even further, but the muscled stub of a tail is shaking gleefully under his hand and Kurogane is making the most wonderful, guttural noises he's ever heard, so he manages to defy the temptation. However, as Fai continues scratching at his tail, something unexpected happens.
Kurogane's leg starts... thumping.
Fai blinks, coming to understand what's happening. He's heard about this - the reflex vasodilator, which makes hindlegs move up and down rapidly, as if in a run. The realization causes him to laugh suddenly and loudly, and the tinkling noise knocks Kurogane out of his own dazed state. His leg slows as he digests what just happened to him. It takes a bit, but as soon as his eyes land on Fai, he has a pretty damn good idea. Both his hands clench into fists of rage, one of them grasping the sack of potatoes without him noticing. Furious, he spins around, shouting, "What the hell do you think you're-!" but he doesn't get to finish his sentence. As he spins, he takes the sack with him, the weight of it collapsing against him and knocking him to the floor, Fai going down with him.
"It looks like I found Kuronpu's hot spot," the mage teases with a grin, looking up at the other man from his position beneath him and between his legs. "And now Kuro-Mustard wants more!"
"Don't call me that!" Kurogane roars, though he makes no move to get off the blond pinned underneath him. Fai, seeing a chance that probably won't come again, at least any time soon, reaches an arm around the ninja's back, pulling him closer. Again, he's met with no resistance, but when he dips his hand back down passed his waistband, the warrior returns to his senses and yanks himself away. Standing up shakily, he looks to the side as he offers Fai a helping hand up. "...I'm sorry about that. The... poteitosu... fell on me."
Fai accepts the hand and stands, noticing with no small amount of amusement that his own tail is moving pretty fast. Well, that's what he gets for getting so excited. "Potatoes," he corrects the other man, dusting himself off.
"Yeah, that's what I said. Poteitosu." Fai shakes his head with a smile, and moves back to the food, showing the two green things to Kurogane.
"Do you know what these are?"
"Those are peas," the ninja replies, pointing to the pods in the magician's right hand. "And that," he says, making a face. "Is celery."
"Are they good?"
"The peas are fine," Kurogane responds with a nonchalant shrug. "But the celery tastes like stale water. Only crunchy."
"Sounds good!" Fai approves, grabbing a knife from one of the drawers to cut the vegetable.
Kurogane scowls at the response. "Oi, don't you get what I just said? I don't like-"
"Kuro-wan, will you start peeling those potatoes while you're here, please?"
Kurogane sighs, rolling his eyes and giving up. It isn't worth it to try and resist the wizard. "Yeah, yeah, fine. Hey, do you even know what you're doing?"
"Nope!" Fai exclaims, waving the knife around joyfully and dangerously. "Kuro-wanta should know by now that Fai-mommy never thinks about anything before doing it!" The smile on Fai's face freezes, looking all at once much emptier than just a few seconds ago. In his mind, his own words replay over and over, and he lowers the knife slowly while casting his eyes downwards. "I never think about what I'm doing before it happens," he whispers to himself, sure that Kurogane is too far away on the other side of the counter to hear.
The silence of the room is broken only by the sound of a knife hitting a cutting board.
If anyone's curious, Syaoran is based off of a cocker spaniel, Kurogane off a doberman, and Fai off a beagle.
Part two will be out soon, and comments and criticisms make the authoress happy in her pantalones!