Title: Lightning Attraction

Rating: PG

Summary: kid fic, set during the first few chapters of From the Beginning.

It was the middle of summer.

And with that it meant heat waves, lazing in the streams to help cool off, and storms.

Lots of storms.

In the world Fai came from, there were storms – but only snowstorms. There was rain – but icy rain. And there were no such things as brilliant and terrifying flashes of light that streaked the blackened skies followed by booming noises that punctuated the air.

And so the storms in Suwa always spooked Fai. He got used to hearing the loud gongs being struck up close. But he hated the sound of thunder. They always made him feel unsettled. Why did so many of them have to come right after the other?

It was late afternoon and Fai was spending time in his room with rolls of parchment lying on his desk. He concentrated on dipping his brush into the ink pot and settled to resume practicing writing kanji in hopes that he could master it soon and write letters to the kind miko princess of Nihon. But just then he heard unsettling rumbles outside.

The threatening noise of thunder startled him, causing his arm to make a sudden jerking motion. A messy streak of ink was strewn across a patch of the parchment as a result. Another storm was approaching. Just his luck.

Fai tried to shake off his fear, trying hard to go back to working on the strokes of the characters. He was able to finish off a line when a bright flash illuminated his room. The boy shielded his eyes with an arm but then a very loud thunder crackled. Fai jumped, and in the process he accidentally knocked over his ink pot. Panicking, he rushed to pick it up before more ink could spill over the parchment and subsequently the table. But another jolt of lightning and grumble of thunder occurred so Fai was horribly distracted again. Yelping, he grabbed for the pot again with his small trembling hands.

Then there was a loud slam but it was definitely not thunder. Fai spun around to find his friend and the young lord of Suwa standing there on the threshold of his room, panting after having to push open the door so quickly.

"Kuro-kun?" Fai called out to greet Kurogane.

"I heard… noises," the young lord explained while he was trying to catch his breath.

Fai grinned. "Silly Kuro-tan. It was only those noises from the sky."

"They're called thunder," Kurogane corrected Fai impatiently. But then he calmed down again. "No, not that. But I now see it was from you knocking over your stuff." He was now eyeing the mess on Fai's table.

"Aww, you're too sweet. Don't worry, I'm not sc-"

BOOM!

Fai yelped and instinctively ran over to Kurogane, who promptly held him.

"Che, who's the silly one now?" the taller boy chided Fai, whose head was buried in Kurogane's chest.

Fai pouted and looked squarely at his friend in the eye. "Mean," he uttered.

But instead of going along with their game and responding with an insistent "meaner!" his friend simply remained silent.

"Fai-kun," he resumed. "It's normal to be scared." He then patted Fai's back for extra measure.

"I hate them," Fai blurted, clenching his fist onto the folds of Kurogane's jinbei. "Why can't they go away?"

"Because they will," the other simply answered. "And as long as you're not stupid and run to the trees the lightning can't even harm you."

"How do you know?" Fai bravely asked but flinched once again when another thunder rumbled off in the distance.

"Hmm…" the other boy contemplated. "Hahaue once told me why it's best to avoid trees if you're outside. She told me it's 'cause when the gods get angry they fight and so they send lightning to the earth. They're only attracted to strong things so that's why they go after the trees. And thunder happens 'cause the gods are shocked that the trees can attract their lightning so they make noises."

Whenever Kurogane explained something Fai would instantly feel better. His mother's story was comforting enough, Fai declared. He smiled. "Oh…that explains everything then."

His friend blinked. "It does?"

"Uh huh," Fai nodded. "I'm the lightning and Kuro-kun's the tree I'm attracted to!"

"Wha-wha-wha-what?" Kurogane hotly spluttered, instantly pushing Fai off of him. Even though his room was dark and the candlelight was nowhere close to illuminating Kurogane, Fai knew his friend was blushing as usual. He laughed.

"Kuro-tree is so strong no wonder I went to him when I was scared," Fai reasoned, feeling much better.

"Th-that makes no sense!" Kurogane hollered back.

"Yes it does, yes it does," he teased insistently, leaning forward and poking Kurogane's cheek. His friend leapt back. "Oh my, look who's scared now."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Kurogane huffed, crossing his arms.

"Well help me clean up then, Kuro-tree," Fai laughed, heading over to his table.

Kurogane scowled and reluctantly followed him when all of a sudden another thunder clapped. To both of their surprises, Fai did not jump or yelp or cower in fear.