Tsubasa Chronicle Fan Fiction ❯ Reciprocity, Part II ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Tsubasa.

 

Fai stirred and found an unfamiliar warmth enveloping his body. Eyes blinking open, he saw one strong arm wrapped possessively about his waist and his heart pounded in the realization that he was lying naked and curled in Kurogane's embrace. In a flash everything came back to him- how the samurai had found him at the spring, how he had confessed to him about his past with Ashura… the way Kuro had kissed him, touched him, made love to him.

 

Sensing the smaller man's movement, Kuro drew him close and Fai's heart began to race, his eyes now wide and fully alert. Although Kurogane hadn't been gentle with him earlier, he had been generous. Fai had never experienced the pleasures of oral sex, since Ashura would never attend to him, and he recalled the samurai's mouth upon him with a shiver of rapture through his slender frame. He'd never expected this turn of events; though Kuro's attentions and acceptance made his heart nearly break with happiness, he feared such contentment could not last. Surely Kurogane would tire of him.

 

Suddenly overwhelmed by the man's warmth and presence, Fai squirmed away from Kuro's body. His fears gripped him and Fai's mind began to spin with the implications of what his tryst with this man would mean. How could he have let his guard down so swiftly under the warrior's persuasions earlier that morning? The wizard could hardly deny the attraction between them and he knew Kuro's demeanor was nothing like that of his former master, but that hardly meant that in the long run Kuro would see him as anything other than a convenient lover and servant. It didn't mean he could earn his respect.

 

Even as he stepped over to gaze out the window onto the bright grounds below him, the birds chirping cheerfully, Fai's spirits darkened. After years of dashed hopes and King Ashura's constant cruelties, the blonde instinctively fell into morose thoughts of the future. Any sense of self-worth had been stripped away by the sadistic ruler and it was not so easily restored.

 

“Up already?”

 

Fai spun around to find Kuro's fiery eyes fixed on him, a sly half-grin on his face. Although the blonde had wrapped a sheet across his hips when he climbed out of bed, Kurogane felt no need for such modesty, and stood to join him by the window in all his naked glory. Fai turned away from the stimulating vision of sinewy muscles and strength, unconsciously guarding himself from opening up to the man again. It was one thing to be swept up in the moment, but now, in the full light of day, and most especially because of the unsettlingly personal information he had shared with the samurai during their intimate encounter, the mage felt a need to shield himself from falling any further into a situation that left him vulnerable.

 

 

When his lover made no reply and refused to look at him, Kurogane's eyes narrowed. Something was wrong.

 

“Fai,” he said sternly, stepping closer.

 

Kuro could almost feel the other man's tension heighten as he leaned towards him. Apparently, the intimacy they had shared had not broken down the walls between them, as Kuro assumed it would. The raven-haired man's straightforward frame of mind couldn't understand why Fai would backtrack now that everything was out in the open about his past. Kuro had always faced his issues head-on, dealing with his fears directly, but he was slowly coming to see that the mage still wasn't ready to do this, that he would continue to run and hide even after they had made so much progress. The realization infuriated him.

 

When Fai explained what Ashura had done to him, Kurogane had felt admonished, had regretted his harsh words, had even understood Fai's reluctance to discuss the painful subject. But he had also thought that it had been a breakthrough for them and that Fai, in revealing his past, was choosing to move forward with his future. He had been wrong. Maybe Fai was the coward he had taken him for all along. Of course, it did not occur to the short-tempered samurai that healing emotional wounds as deep as Fai's would take time and that his trust needed to be nurtured- it was not something that was gained after one heady night of sex (however intense it had been).

 

Kurogane wasn't in the mood to consider such mild-mannered arguments, though. All he knew was that Fai was turning from him, closing himself off again. And he was /not/ pleased.

 

When the blonde man continued to ignore him, staring out towards the gardens instead, Kuro took his chin between his fingers and forcibly lifted his face to meet his eyes. For a few brief seconds, Fai's cool blue depths reflected the conflict within him and the sorrow brimming on the surface, but it was soon shut away, replaced by the blonde's trademark plastic smile.

 

Kuro didn't know how to feel when he saw those hollow eyes looking back at him. Any sympathy that may have welled inside him, however, was shifted into anger as Fai's mask feel into place, closing him off completely. Though he would never admit it, it wasn't the mage that sparked his temper, but his own reaction to the man's melancholy and aloof behavior- he was /hurt/ by it. In the short time he had known him, the blonde man had deeply affected him, and just when he thought Fai had finally opened up to him, he saw it was not so… and the rejection stung him more than he wished to admit. In his own way, his anger was his mask and in this respect he was not so different from Fai.

 

The mage watched as Kuro released his chin. Without a word, the man threw his clothes on and left, not even bothering to look back as he shut the door behind him. Even sitting in the sunlight, Fai felt a cold chill of loneliness sweep over him, as well as a sudden fatigue that left him dozing on the wide windowsill.

 

 

Kuro busied himself with affairs of state the entire day. He couldn't decide if he was more angry with himself or with Fai, so he simply avoided the situation. But something was nagging him, something different from the conflicting emotions stirring inside him. It was more a feeling of warning, an instinct that a storm was brewing or that someone was in danger. Although it made no sense, he couldn't seem to shake it.

As it happened, the Queen wasn't feeling very well that day either and finally dismissed Kurogane so she could retire to her quarters, lead by a worried-looking Soma.

 

Dusk was falling about the palace and already the peaceful night noises were sighing on the air as the samurai walked down the open halls towards his room. It would have been a lovely evening if his mind hadn't been so troubled. And each step he took closer to his quarters increased his unease, until he was nearly running down the hall, sure that the source of his anxiety lay beyond its doors.

 

Rushing into his room, he felt a heavy weight suck the air from his chest as his dark eyes fell upon a lone figure face down and strewn across the floor.

 

“Fai!”

 

Kneeling down next to the blonde's limp body, he slipped one arm beneath the man's shoulders and cradled his head in his lap.

 

“Fai,” he repeated, quieter this time, but with fierce intensity. What had happened to him? How long had he been like this? Silently, he cursed at his own stubbornness. Normally he would have tried to find the mage sometime during the day, but he had not wanted to deal with him, so he had let things be. How dearly would that neglect cost him now?

 

Suddenly, his eyes fell to the blue pendant gracing Fai's neck. Vaguely he recalled how it had seemed to glow that morning as he carried him back to the palace, but he hadn't thought much of it. But now, with the dark shades of evening steadily approaching, there was no doubt, the gem was shining brilliantly with a strength all its own and Kuro had no idea of the source of it's power.

 

“Wake up, Fai!” he insisted with more vehemence, shaking the slender body. He had to find out what was going on and his agitation rose every minute he sat on the cold floor without the knowledge of what was happening or what he was to do.

 

Finally, and much to Kurogane's relief, the blonde's eyes fluttered open, but the icy-blue orbs were glassy and unfocused, as if he did not to see him.

 

“Who…?” he asked weakly.

 

“Fai, it's Kurogane. Are you alright? What happened?”

 

But the blonde didn't answer, only gasped and clutched at the stone about his neck.

 

Kurogane was about to rip the offending jewel from his hands, suspecting it of some evil character, but before he could do so, it flashed with a suddenly blinding light, shining through Fai's pale fingers and surrounding them with a radiant glow. The mage sat up and then doubled over in the warrior's arms.

 

When a cry filled the air it took a moment for Kurogane to realize it was not only Fai's voice ringing in his ears, but his own. It felt has if a powerful magical barrier was ripping over and through them, threatening to tear them apart if they let it.

 

And then, just as suddenly, it was gone and in its place was a heavy silence. Kurogane blinked. The light had also dissipated, but his limbs at first refused to move. His stubborn nature, however, forced his numb limbs into mobility after only a few short minutes. As slow as his body might have been to recover, his mind was rushing at high speed.

What in Hell's name had just happened to them?

 

Glancing beneath him, he saw Fai curled on the floor, making the same sluggish movements to stretch and work his muscles back to movement.

 

“Kuro…” he murmured, his eyes weak but lucid now.

 

“Fai, I'm here,” he replied eagerly, struck by the strength of his relief at knowing the other man was all right.

 

“What happened?” the blonde asked as Kuro helped him into a sitting position.

 

“I was hoping you could tell me.”

 

Fai looked down at the pendant hanging from his neck, now dull and blank. He shook his head. “I started feeling some power opening from the stone and then it was as if I were in two places at once or… I don't know.”

 

“Where did you get that gem?” Kuro asked, still suspicious of the stone's uncanny magics.

 

The other man strained to remember, his mind still reeling from the strange phenomenon he had just endured. “It was long ago… when I was a child still living in my village, long before I met Ashura. A sorceress traveled through the town. She was tall, with long black hair and I remember how her eyes seemed to see right through me… She gave me the pendant, saying that someday I would know it's true power, but that it wasn't free, it wasn't a gift and when the time came, I would know how to pay her back for the power she had given me.”

 

Kuro was silent for a moment, then, in his characteristic, course manner, asked, “And just what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

 

Fai, his strength returning, now smiled at the other man's reaction. Leave it to Kuro-pi to be irritated rather than intrigued by the mysterious nature of the pendant.

 

“I don't know, maybe-“

 

But the blonde's musings were abruptly cut short by a familiar-sounding groan coming from behind them. Turning around, both the men's eyes went wide.

 

There, not ten feet from where they were lying on the marble floor, were two figures who looked to be exact replicas of Fai and Kurogane, except for their strange attire. The blonde was passed out cold, but the figure of Kuro was struggling to his knees, a look of fierce protection burning in his bright crimson eyes as he positioned himself over the other man's prostrate body.

 

“What the hell is going on!?” he bellowed, “Where is Ashura?”

 

The three men could only stare at each other in bewildered silence before the Kuro look-alike lost his strength and collapsed over the blonde figure's spent form, leaving the two other men with the night quickly settling about them and a roomful of questions with no answers in sight.