Author's Note: There's not a lot I really want to say right now. I fell in love with Kurogane so this story is based on his past, his present and why Fai annoys him so much. KxOC is the pairing here. Usually I ship KuroxFai but this is my one exception to the 'rule'.

Please read and review and most of all enjoy this story.

Chapter One ; The Rain

Kurogane was not in the best of moods as he sat on the window ledge of their rented room. He watched as the rain poured down from steel coloured clouds. The rain always made him feel sad, it made him remember things that he did not wish to mentally relive with each raindrop that trickled down the window. He wondered so many times why even now the rain had this effect on him. After all it really was just water. No more and certainly no less.

"Kuro-puu?" Kurogane stiffened and turned slowly before he locked gazes with Fai. The wizard smiled merrily before strolling over and settling himself down next to the irritated ninja. Fai never seemed to mind when Kurogane was in a bad mood and at least he tried to cheer him up or take his mind of things with some harmless teasing. Fai was especially good with stupid names that irritated Kurogane endlessly.

"What do you want?" This reply came sharper than it had been intended to. Kurogane sighed and looked out of the window once more. His mind was too far away for him to even scold Fai for using such a pointless nickname. In fact the use of it only seemed to drive him further into a bad mood, making him walk further down memory lane and all the while he had one pair of startlingly green eyes looking at him in his mind. Those eyes haunted him.

Fai tilted his head slightly to one side in what he imagined was a cute look. A soft smile teased over his lips. "What's wrong, Kuro-rin, you look sad?" There was nothing the wizard hated more than seeing other people sad. Fai was sad a lot of the time but he hid it well behind a cheery smile. He had memories too, the kind that tormented him endlessly.

Kurogane sighed and though he never removed his gaze from the rain he replied, "Just watching the rain, don't read into it so much. It's none of your business anyways!" After hearing this Fai rested his hand lightly on his companion's shoulder, squeezed gently and then walked away. That was enough to say he was there if needed. It was enough to make Kurogane relax a little bit. At least some things remained the same.

He found himself listening to what was going on in their room. The two kids, as he mentally referred to them, were asleep and Fai was now lay down on the far side of the room feigning sleep. He was awake and Kurogane knew so. He was alert, just incase he was needed. Smirking at the predictable situation he was in, Kurogane pushed himself to a standing position, strode across the room and opened the door. He said nothing as he left and close the door behind him. Striding down the hallway he soon reached stairs which he trailed down before coming to a door leading outside. He reached out for the handle and turned.

Kurogane shivered as he stepped out into the crisp night air. Rain fell heavily around him and yet he hardly noticed a thing. His memories played heavily upon his mind. He needed a place to think away from everyone else. Settling himself down under a tree in the grounds of the inn he pulled his knees to his chest and closed his eyes. He hated feeling so weak but this was what rain did to him. He shifted from the ninja people relied on to the young man he had once been, scared and unsure of so many things in life. The one thing he had ever been sure of had crumbled in his hands long ago.

"Kurogane you shouldn't be outside, it's raining you know" Kurogane was startled to hear a familiar voice. He opened his eyes and saw Yuuko standing in front of him, hands settled on her hips. He stood up and locked gazes with her. He did not trust the Dimensional Witch as much as the others did. He had to keep a close watch on her when she was with him, especially now they were alone.

"I realise that. What do you want?" He asked for the second time that night. He was in no mood for playing around. He did not have the strength for her mind games. All he wanted was to be left alone in his stormy mood to sit out the rain that was both physical and metaphorical.

Yuuko observed him for a moment before producing an envelope from inside her coat. She extended her hand to him lazily, the envelope held loosely between two long fingers. "This is for you, Kurogane" she said but, as he reached out to take it, she took a step back and smirked. "The contents of this envelope will help you deal with your past and your present but as you know everything comes at a price" Kurogane sighed, he should have expected that.

He glared at her. "How can one envelope solve all my problems, witch?" he demanded and was shocked to see her smile become sincere and warm. That smile told him all that he needed to know. Groaning he found himself asking what he was reluctant to know the answer to. "Your price?"

Yuuko paused for a moment, pretending to ponder this matter. Then, smirking once more, she reached out her empty hand to him and touched his right arm. "You once had a mark here. My price is that you let me return that mark to your skin. You were never destined to remove it from you forever"

Kurogane flinched at this. He had gotten rid of the mark inked onto his skin years ago for a good reason. It reminded him too much of things he would rather forget forever. If this envelope could solve his issues then perhaps that would be a small price to pay. Sighing he found himself nodding. "Fine. Do it now before I change my damned mind" he drawled. A pain shot through his arm and when he looked there a moment later a black dragon mark was nestled into his muscle as it had once been before.

Yuuko placed the envelope in his hand. "Do not let anyone else read this, Kurogane. If they do then you will never find your salvation" With this she turned her back on him and walked away but not before pausing and glancing back at him in an all-knowing way. The answer to his problems would not be as easy as the contents of that one envelope. That was merely a starting point..

Kurogane returned inside, sitting down at one of the tables downstairs before prising open the envelope. He read the first sentence and his eyes widened in shock.

"I know it's been a long time, Kuro, but I need to see you again." He read the words out loud and sighed defeatedly. This was not the answer to his worries. This was the cause of it. He skipped to the end of the letter just to be certain it was from who he assumed. Sure enough at the bottom in flowery handwriting was the closure he had read so many times before;

"Yours, as always,

Kin."

Resting his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands Kurogane read through the letter, his heart pounding faster in his chest. It had been too long since he had seen Kin, years since she had turned her back on him as he had turned his back on her.

'I'm not the way you remember me' he thought darkly. Time had changed him.