Journey's End

Notes: xxxHolic and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle crossover - this is the Tsubasa point of view from Family Ties, a story I posted under xxxHolic; shonen-ai/yaoi; mentioned male-pregnancy; I don't own xxxHolic or Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle (just the books), if I did, there would be a lot more Fai/Kurogane and Watanuki/Domeki scenes; spoilers for Tsubasa 1 - 16

The "end" was anticlimactic for collecting the last feather in their last dimension together; but very melancholic for four travelers: Fai Demetrius Flowright, Kurogane Ryuichi Toushi (Ryuichi means 'first son of Ryu', Toushi means 'fighting spirit'), Princess Sakura Reed of the Kingdom of Clow, and Syaoran Kinomoto.

Their journey had been a long one. After all, they had been searching for the feathers: the fragmented memories of Sakura. During the journey, Sakura and Syaoran (not the clone) mended their relationship (despite her not completely remembering him from her youth) and began dating.

Likewise, Fai and Kurogane, or as Fai liked to refer to them as "Mommy" and "Daddy," formed an unbreakable bond and began dating. In addition to becoming lovers, Fai had become pregnant shortly after defeating Fei-Wang Reed. It was hard to determine how the Celes mage had become pregnant; Fai had admitted that he did have the ability to become pregnant, although he claimed that the chances were slim with his magic reduced to half his original amount. Kurogane had never confirmed it, but he had a suspicion that the devious witch had been in on it. He was not about to complain because he gained a family from his travels which led to him learning the true meaning of strength.

Fai had given birth to a blue-eyed black-haired little boy, who they named Kimihiro. Little Kimihiro, called "Kimi-chan" by Fai, Syaoran, and Sakura, but "Hiro" by Kurogane, was currently thirteen months old (or at least, they wagered that he was thirteen months old because of the flow of time varied in each dimension they landed in).

With a bit of research, the four travelers had uncovered the whereabouts of the last missing feather that belonged to Sakura. Kurogane and Syaoran had gone out to retrieve it, while Fai and Sakura kept and eye on and took care of Fai and Kurogane's son, Kimihiro.

Kurogane and Syaoran had brought the glowing and sparkling feather back to their companions inside a sealed container. They decided not to extract it from its confinement; opting to enjoy one last dinner with each other before they returned to the Japan in which the Dimensional Witch existed, in order to ask for their final wishes to be fulfilled.

Fai and Sakura had made an excellent dinner: they had taken a recipe from each of their countries to incorporate it into the dinner. For Sakura and Syaoran, they had made barbeque beef sandwiches, Fai had made chicken noodle soup (with homemade noodles) from his native country, and Kurogane had explained how to make miso soup for Kimihiro, then showed them how to make sushi. For dessert, Fai and Sakura had whipped up a chocolate cheesecake to mark their second anniversary together.

Mokona, who had been resting for the most part in this country, suddenly bound into the dining room, carrying a bottle of fine sake and red wine. Chirping happily, Mokona announced, "Mokona thinks we should celebrate by drinking!"

Fai smiled as he picked up a whining Kimihiro from his play pin and placed the thirteenth-month-old baby on his hip, who immediately stopped his whining as his blue eyes began to follow everyone as they walked around the room.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, Mokona!" was the cheerful response from Fai.

"NO GETTING DRUNK!" came the roar from Kurogane as he entered the dining room carrying two trays full of delicious food. Once the ninja had placed the trays down, Fai sauntered up to his lover and pecked his cheek.

"Aw, Kuro-puppy's worried we'll get drunk!" Fai teased his black haired lover, "We promise not to get drunk in front of Kimi-chan, Kuro-koi."

Placing Kimihiro in his high-chair, next to his blonde haired 'mommy', Fai then patted the seat next to him and smiled brilliantly at the black haired man. Kurogane grumbled something about not being a puppy, but sat next to the blonde anyway. As Sakura and Syaoran sat down across from the couple, Mokona bounced up onto the table, settling between the two brunette teens. Mokona poured sake for Mokona and Kurogane, and gave Sakura, Syaoran and Fai each a glass of the red wine.

Dinner went smoothly, as they talked about many of their adventures, what they had learned, what their future dreams were, what the first thing they were going to do when they get back home, among other trivial things. Sakura then asked aloud, "Why don't we all share our favorite memory during our journey together?"

As he was finishing feeding Kimihiro his miso soup, Fai smiled at his adoptive daughter. "Alright Sakura-chan, go ahead and start - what is your favorite memory during the trip?"

Munching on some of the last of the sushi, Sakura's emerald eyes stared down at her half-empty plate as she thought about her favorite 'memory'. There had a been a lot of good times, many hard and sad, but they were good for the most part, she thought silently to herself.

"Well," she spoke softly, "I treasure all of the memories you helped me collect, but I don't think that any of them could match up to our trip spent together. I owe you all so much… thank you."

Raising her emerald eyes to her 'family,' she gave all of them a 100-watt smile. "But if I have to pick one event, I'll say when we were in the Piffle World and I won my feather from winning the Dragonfly race. I really enjoyed being able to do something apart from sleeping then."

Mokona raised the glass of sake and announced, "Kampai!" before swallowing sake (they had lost count how many times the white manjuu had interrupted dinner conversations to say that).

Fai, Sakura, Kurogane, and Syaoran followed the white manjuu's example, iterated "Kampai!" before swallowing their drinks. Mokona wandered around the table and refilled their glasses before settling on sitting in Sakura's lap. The blonde mage's blue right eye turned to his adoptive son, "Alright, Syaoran-kun, what is your favorite memory?"

The amber-eyed teen looked down at the glass in his hands. "I- well, I- I'm not really sure…"

Fai and Kurogane and Sakura exchanged a knowing glance; Syaoran had only seen the first half of their travels together through his clone's 'blind' right eye. Sakura slipped her left hand into her savior's right hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. His bangs hid his chocolate eyes tearing up at the simple gesture and small smile from the others as he gently squeezed the tender hand in his in return.

"Being able to travel with you all is my greatest memory," Syaoran decided as he raised his eyes to look at the black haired ninja, blonde haired mage, black haired baby, Mokona and finally landing on the brunette princess, "you have been the family and friends I've never had."

Sakura's smile brightened at hearing what her boyfriend had said. Turning to their mother-figure, the brunette female's emerald eyes sparkled with happiness as she asked, "Fai-mommy, what has been your favorite memory along the way?"

The blonde turned his blue eye to steal a peek at his lover, who caught the look as he ate another piece of sushi. Then lifting a sleepy Kimihiro out of his high-chair, Fai cradled his son to his chest as the baby yawned and clutched the shirt his mommy was wearing. Looking up at his adoptive daughter and adoptive son, Fai softly replied, "Sakura-chan, there have been a lot of memorable moments for me…"

His voice drifted off as he tenderly kissed Kimihiro's forehead.

"Like Syaoran-kun said, you guys are the family I never really had. I will always cherish you and our adventures together for that and so much more," Fai continued, his blue eye watering with tears. "But my most precious memory has to be Kuro-koi and I giving life to our own precious baby."

Kurogane's red eyes softened at the sight of his lover and child together and knew what his most precious memory was; although he was less inclined to say what it was. Pulling Fai's chair closer to him, the black haired ninja tenderly placed a kiss atop his lover's head before murmuring, "Go put Hiro to bed in his crib. The princess, kid, white pork bun and I will clean up."

Giving the ninja a small smile, Fai slowly slid out of his seat and exited through the hallway to put the sleeping Kimihiro to bed.

"Alright, let's clean up, kids," Kurogane grunted as he began to clean up the mess his son had made on the high chair and stacked the foodless plates in a pile. Sakura took the plates and silverware, while Syaoran removed the glasses and several empty pans from the table. Mokona happily bounced back into the kitchen with the empty bottles of sake and wine.

Cradling his son to his chest, Fai hummed a lullaby Kurogane would hum for him when he couldn't sleep. Gently prying the chubby hands from his shirt, he laid his son in the crib beside his and Kurogane's bed. They had been grateful to land in a dimension which was prepared for male pregnancies when Fai had gone into labor. It as where they had bought the crib, diapers, clothes, bottles, and many other things for baby Kimihiro.

Fai hadn't told the rest of his 'family,' but he also dreaded the memory of giving birth to Kimihiro because he had received his marking back from Yûko. Apparently Yûko's part-time worker and his "bodyguard" had been sent to the same dimension to return the marking because he had been near death and Kurogane, Sakura, and Syaoran had traded and bargained with the Dimensional Witch to save his life. None of the others would tell him what they had given the Witch, but he was extremely grateful and tried to make sure he told them on a daily basis how thankful he was.

Stripping the drooled shirt from his form, Fai pulled on a clean shirt before leaning over the crib to brush a stray lock of black hair from his son's face. Tenderly placing a kiss on the tiny forehead, he whispered a protection charm around the crib as well as placed a warning charm on it; in case Kimihiro woke up.

Slowly making his way back down the hallway, he heard the gruff voice of his lover talking to their adoptive children. Leaning against the wall in the hallway, the blonde mage listened in; not wanting to ruin the moment for them.

"I don't have a particular favorite memory," Kurogane grunted.

Sakura and Mokona whined, "But Kuro-daddy must have a memory he treasures over all the rest!"

No longer hearing the water running from the sink, Fai assumed they were finishing cleaning the dirty dishes and pots and pans. Fai could picture the ninja crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the use of adding 'daddy' as a honorific to his shortened name. Then he heard, "You are not allowed to tell that mother of yours what I'm about to tell you, understood? If you do tell, I'll deny having admitted anything to you."

Smiling, the blonde knew that Sakura and Mokona would lean in, eager to hear the most precious memory from their adoptive father, while Syaoran would respectfully listen from a distance to what his sensei/adoptive father had to say.

"The first time Fai told me he loved me," Kurogane softly and tersely affirmed. "That is the most precious memory I have from this trip."

Fai felt his eyes water at the memory; that was also another precious memory to him as well. In the Country of Shura, they had been fighting for something they knew little about and had been engaged in combat back-to-back for several days on end. During one of their peaceful nights together, Fai had picked up just enough of Kurogane's native language to say, "Ai shiteru (I love you)."

Sakura and Mokona 'aww'-ed at the revelation (Fai could just picture his lover glaring at the two while blushing); then the princess happily asked, "Alright! Who wants cake? Fai-mommy and I made a chocolate cheesecake to celebrate the two years we've been together."

Kurogane grumbled about his companions having sweet teeth, but reluctantly accepted a piece when Fai reentered the kitchen and told them Kimihiro was asleep.

As soon as their dessert was finished, Fai then asked Mokona to send the rest of the treats to Yûko, the black Mokona, Yûko's diligent worker, and his 'bodyguard'. Kurogane then shuffled the two brunette teens off to bed; he had to carry the princess to her bed before he put Syaoran in the bed beside her. Upon exiting the teens' room, Kurogane found a pair of pale arms wrapped around his waist. Hearing the soft sniffing from Fai, he gently turned around in the embrace and returned it.

"What's the matter?" the ninja softly murmured into the mage's hair.

Shaking his blonde locks, Fai pressed his cheek against Kurogane's chest, listening to the sound of heart beating beneath the shirt. Clinging to his lover's waist, he mumbled back, "Promise me you'll never leave me, Kuro-koi… please…"

Cupping his lover's face between his calloused hands, the ninja wiped away the tears from the right blue eye staring up at him with his thumb. "I will never leave you, Fai-koi. Never."

Then, scooping the mage into his arms, Kurogane strode down to the end of the hall and gently deposited his lover onto the bed before crawling into bed with him, kissing away the tears and both repeating the three words that they rarely had to speak: "I love you."

The following morning, the travelers awoke and quickly gathered their things before Mokona sucked them up for the last time and transported them to where they began their journey almost two years ago: at the shop of the Time-Space Witch or Dimension Witch (among many other aliases); also known as Ichihara Yûko.

Notes:

First, so I added "Reed" as Sakura's last name and "Kinomoto" as Syaoran and I gave Kurogane a middle name and last name. I kind of figured that Sakura didn't have to have a last name, but I was itching to having "Reed" in there. As for Syaoran, I decided since Fujitaka adopted him, Syaoran should have his late name, right? And Kurogane… those words just sprung out from a list of names I have. They fit our ninja, don't they? About Fai's middle name, no, CLAMP has not relieved what the 'D' stands for in his name, I just liked Demetrius.

Second, so I decided Fai and Kurogane should have a baby… my muse took off with the idea once I read the 11th xxxHolic, (I mean, c'mon, Fai's got blue eyes, Kurogane's hair is black… it fits, no?) thus resulting in this story. I do own this baby Kimihiro, though.