True Magic Chapter One
A/N: I hope I get as good as a response for this chapter as I got for the prologue! I think Fai and Kurogane are both OOC, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.
A blizzard was going on outside. It was almost always snowy in Celes, but this was a full on storm. Fai thanked the heavens he had put a protective charm on the garden, otherwise he’d starve! He looked out his window from the living room into the white chaos. The snow would be halfway up his door by the time this storm blew itself out. The blonde sighed. This reminded him of happier times, in this very cottage, long gone…
Ashura sighed while he scanned the blurry white flakes whizzing by outside the confines of the warm cottage. Fai walked up to stand beside him.
“What’s wrong Ashura? You seem down.”
Ashura looked down at his pupil. His face broke into a fatherly smile when he saw the concern on Fai’s face. He laid his hand on his adoptive son’s shoulders and replied, “Nothing Fai. I was just thinking about how the flowers we planted won’t come up now with all this snow we’re getting.”
Fai looked up at Ashura. “But can’t you just cast magic to make them come up? Or use magic to stop the snow?”
“Fai, there are some things that can’t be solved with normal magic, and there are also some things that we cannot control… But if you try hard enough, you can accomplish anything with True Magic.”
The blonde boy’s eyebrows creased in confusion. “You never told me about True Magic!”
“True Magic is something that must be discovered by you. Everyone finds it in a different way.”
Fai’s thoughts raced. If he could find True Magic, then he could…
Suddenly, a thud sounded against the front door that pulled the magician from his recollections. Fai left his post at the window and opened the door…to see a black mass of a man keel over into his cottage. Immediately, Fai dragged the man to his couch and laid him down. From his tan skin and raven hair, Fai concluded that his man was from the country south of Celes, Nihon. He also seemed to be a warrior of status if the engraved sword attached to the stranger’s hip was any indication. The magician left the couch to retrieve medicines and blankets.
Upon returning, he set the blankets down on the table in front of the sofa, and began to peel the wet cloak from the stranger’s shivering body. Once that was done, he removed the man’s headdress and placed a hot washcloth onto his forehead. Fai then proceeded to remove the rest of the man’s armor and clothing, save for the articles that covered his privates. This confirmed Fai’s suspicions of the man’s warrior past because not only was this stranger extremely muscular, but his whole body was covered in scars, some newly healed, and others long since sustained. Now, he chanted a heating spell onto the blankets and draped them over the warrior’s body. Pouring some of his herbal medicine into a bowl, he tipped the edge into the man’s mouth, letting the liquid trickle down his throat. Now, all he could do it hope that the man would live.
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A few hours later, Fai was stoking the fire in the grate, when a groan came from behind him. Fai turned to see the warrior stirring. He approached quickly, checking to make sure that the man’s fever had broken. Seeing that it had, Fai wiped the stranger’s forehead again and tucked the blankets around him more securely. It would only be a matter of time before the man woke up. He wondered what that person would be like. Then, he shook his head to rid himself of the thought. He wouldn’t hurt this stranger; he couldn’t bear to be responsible for another death. He would get this person well and send him on his merry way.
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Fai was reading when his guest arose. Upon hearing a groan come from the man, he immediately placed his book down onto the table and went to the stranger’s side.
Eyes flickered open and stared unfocusedly into Fai’s. These were eyes that Fai had never seen before. They were the color of blood. Mentally shuddering, Fai plastered on a smile and said, “Looks like my houseguest has woken up!”
The eyes narrowed and the man sat bolt upright. He glared at the blonde next to him and barked, in a hoarse voice, “Who the hell are you?!”
Fai giggled. “You shouldn’t use such language when talking with your host and savior! I don’t even know your name yet!”
The stranger growled in annoyance. His eyes were slits now, brows coming to the middle of his forehead. He opened his mouth to perhaps yell more obscenities, but seemed to think better of it because he closed his trap. Instead, when he reopened it, he said, “I am Kurogane of Nihon, head ninja to Princess Tomoyo.”
So Fai had been right. This man was both a warrior and from Nihon. The blonde pretended to think for a moment and then, he exclaimed, “Kurogane isn’t cute at all! I like Kuro-tan better!”
Kurogane’s eyes bulged. Obviously, his name had never been slaughtered like this before. His face heated up and his hands balled into fists while clutching the blankets he was laying under. Fai giggled. This man would be fun to play with.
Putting on a slightly more serious face, Fai asked, “How are you feeling? You were about to die out there!”
Still glaring, Kurogane replied, “I feel fine. I need to leave. He made to get off the sofa, but Fai stopped him.
“It’s still storming out! If you go back out there, I’d just have to go dig you out of a drift later!”
The Nihon man huffed, but, knowing that his host was correct, sat back down again. Only then, when the blankets slipped off, did he notice his state of dress…or lack thereof. With a surprised grunt, he yanked the blankets back up to his chin and yelled, “Why the fuck am I practically naked?!”
Fai shrugged. “Well if you wanted to freeze to death in those clothes, you could’ve let me know, but you were a bit unconscious Kuro-min!” He smiled again.
“MY NAME IS KUROGANE YOU DUMBASS! AND GET ME MY CLOTHES!”
The blonde magician stood up and went to peer out the window, ignoring the yell from the ninja. “Well, Kuro-rinta, it looks like you’ll be here for a while! The storm doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop anytime soon!” chirped Fai. He then trotted off to retrieve the ninja’s black attire.
Kurogane groaned, flopping back onto the couch with a thump. Here he was, stuck in the middle of Celes with some idiot who clearly had a death wish. That show drift was looking better and better.
A/N: Comments/reviews are loved, whether they are good or bad! I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter out, but I'll try to write as fast as I can!