(Kurogane/Fay) They had an argument and Fay can't seem to cope with the inner turmoil that he's facing as he's torn away from his feelings for Kurogane, now and forever. Kurogane doesn't see it coming until Fay vanishes when King Ashura appears. Will Fay and Kurogane be able to meet themselves half-way again? Or will Kurogane's pride slash them apart?

--

Kurogane's hand came down and--

SMACK!

Fay was startled.

Kurogane's yells became crystaline clear. "You don't have any consideration of the situation! You just assume everythings going to be all right and you don't even consider other people's thoughts nor do you think of your actions! How can you call yourself someone worthy of being friends with ANY being that crosses your path when you hardly think of us as friends or people you would consider thinking of first!"

"Kurogane-san!" It was Sakura.

"Stay out of this!" Kurogane roared at her.

Fay's normally happy blue eyes were fading into a depressed state and he was slowly shrinking away, his head bowed, his arms hanging at his sides, and his shoulders softly shaking.

"He didn't mean it! It was an idea me and him thought of!" Sakura said, telling the truth.

"No!" Fay said, his voice oddly saddened and stern, very unlike him. "It was my fault, Kurogane! It was my idea to leave Sakura at the enterance! It was my fault she got hurt! It's all MY fault! So you can be mad at me all you want! I'll just stay here! I'll just wait for my death here! You can go and do whatever you feel like because I HATE when you take your anger on me out on Saku-chan and Syaoran-kun! Why can't you be forgiving like them?! Why can't you be kinder like them?! I HATE WHEN YOU GET LIKE THIS! I won't come back! I'm leaving!" He grabbed his coat and ran out the door into the pouring rain slamming the door so hard behind him that it rattled the window panes.

Kurogane was shocked and was still staring at the place Fay had stood. He had seen those tears, he'd seen that face, and all he could do was feel the pain in his heart, feel the horrid grip of depression, that desperate feeling Fay always saved him from. That was why he had fallen in love with the blonde boy, because right as he was starting to feel depressed and desperate, Fay would touch his hand, say something, make a face, or recognize his pain and he would always pull him hard away from it. But this... was one of their silly arguments, so why was he so mad?

Kurogane ran out after Fay. He ran the same route Fay always ran in this world that they were in. It resembled Fay's home world, but it was something different and it wasn't exactly the same because Fay hadn't been killed by King Ashura the moment they'd landed. Kurogane saw Fay's jacket, it was torn to shreds and hanging from an iron gate and was dripping red with blood and the street lights illuminated the small river of blood as it touched the streets.

Fay's scream suddenly echoed all around Kurogane and Kurogane felt his heart sink. He whirrled around and looked to and fro, looking for that blonde that had taken his heart so easily and yet he hadn't said anything to this blonde, and he was sure he'd never get another chance! Not even if he did find Fay, how would he apologize?

All to suddenly, Fay went flying past, the gates following him, and he slammed hard into the stone walls, blood gushing forth from his lips and his head thrown back his whole body shaking from head to toe. His lips whispered "Kurogane" before he passed out. A blur of white and Fay's body was covered by a white-robbed figure who caused more blood to appear and stain the water and the rain as it fell all around him, as if he were being forced to die that way, crying and on his knees. All to suddenly, Fay screamed again, this time, he was calling for Kurogane, calling for that help, calling so desperately.

"Ku-Kurogane! Kurogane!" Fay was struggling against the hands that held him down and his free hand was reaching out for Kurogane's. His tears were visible now, burning lines down his face, streaking his pale skin with red in the raining cold conditions. "Kurogane, don't let him take me! Please! Please! I'm begging you! Please, help me, don't let him take me away from here! I love this place, don't let him take me from this peaceful place! Kurogane!" He yelled one last time before, in a swirrl of darkness, he was gone, along with the fence and the robbed form, like it was all done in a flash of darkness instead of a flash of light, and so was Fay's calls for help, his plea for Kurogane's help.

A few days later, Fay's voice travelled into Kurogane's mind. He couldn't stop thinking about Fay as they reached the alternate world that Fay belonged to. When they arrived, they somehow found themselves in King Ashura's court, where they found Fay chained there by magical bonds, bound to that chair, that throne, where Ashura sat so high, so mighty, and seemed to intimidate poor Fay. Fay had a straight face and wouldn't look at his old friends as he sat there with scrolls and a new staff and a tattoo spreading over his face and robes of impurity and the magic chains binding him there and those tears running down his face.

Ashura ushured Fay forward and smiled. "This is my new assistant, Fay D. Flowright. Fay, be nice and give them the robes to keep them safe."

Fay didn't look at them directly as he put the robes over their shoulders. But when he came to Kurogane, he froze up for a split second and as he reached out to put the robes on, Kurogane grabbed his hands and drew him close, gently running a finger down his cheek and over his neck and then tracing a line back up to his lips and up to his forehead, making Fay shudder and Ashura stare in wonder. "I remember you," Kurogane said, softly. "Don't pretend like you don't remember me, Fay D. Flowright!" Kurogane was rasing his voice to Fay, who had looked away with fear running down his whole body as his hand came up and tried to shove Kurogane back, but it didn't work, Kurogane wouldn't budge away from Fay, who was afraid of Kurogane now.

Ashura suddenly stood up and grabbed Fay's arm hard enough to make the blonde yelp. "That's enough!" Ashura said, in a voice similar to that of a king who had just witnessed his toy being abused. "Fay is now under my care, he has no connection to you three any longer!"

Fay quickly put the robes on Kurogane and then stepped back to his place beside the throne. He looked upset as he turned aorund, a tear falling donw his face as he looked Kurogane in the eye, and, looking back at him, Kurogane felt a tear slip down his face, as if he were trying to say he was still here, waiting for Fay, with that single tear that seemed to waver from joy and hope to love and hate.

"You may leave now."

Fay peeked into Kurogane's room and smiled to himself. Kurogane was meditating in the dark, like he had before. Fay softly closed the door behind him as he crawled in and he quietly sat beside Kurogane again, folding his legs beneath his body and resting his tightly clenched fists on his knees, waiting for Kurogane to notice him, which he was sure Kurogane knew, he just wasn't saying anything. When Kurogane stirred, Fay gently reached out and touched Kurogane's arm and felt that warmth he once envied stir beneath his fingers and he looked up into Kurogane's eyes with that longing look that Kurogane often wore.

"Is everything ok, Kurogane-dono?" he asked quietly. He whispered for fear that if he spoke louder Kurogane would be really upset like he always had been over that small thing and many smaller things. "I don't know if you want me to say anything yet. Kuro-kun," he whispered, leaning over, "I love you." With that he drew away and quickly stood up and closed the curtains, smiling over his shoulder at Kurogane. "If you don't leave these shut, the moon will disturb your medditation, Kurogane-sama." His smile was strained as he quicly walked out of the room and stood in the hall with the closed door to his back. He slumped down against the door and felt it open again and he fell against Kurogane's legs. He looked up and then smiled. "I'm sorry, I'll go," he said, in that desperate whisper.

Kurogane grabbed his foot before he could crawl more than a few inches. "Fay, is that why you always talked to me?"

"Yes..." Fay smiled over his shoulder at Kurogane. "I always loved you, since I first went someplace with you. I loved the way you used to speak to me in that angry tone that I would often provoke. I loved everything about you, Kurogane-sama."

Kurogane crawled forward and on top of Fay, holding his weight above the blonde's frail body and he stared down into those blue eyes and saw tears forming again. "Fay D. Flowright, I, too, harbor those emotions for you and would like your truthful answer right now."

"A-alright," Fay said, looking away, tears spilling out of his crystal blue eyes.

"Do you want me to kiss you, to love you?"

"h-hai," Fay said in Kurogane's tounge.

"Do you want me to save you from Ashura?"

"h-hai," Fay said once more, shaking beneath Kurogane.

"Than will you call me 'Kuro-pon' or one of those strange names you called me before?"

Fay's eyes snapped open and he looked up at Kurogane and as he did, a tear fell from Kurogane's face and off his nose and landed on Fay's lips. Fay's eyes widened and he suddenly reached up and gently brushed away tears on Kurogane's face and he softly raised his body up and kissed Kurogane's forehead and as he lowered back to the ground, the warmth returned to his cold eyes and his pale skin became filled with life as he smiled and said; "Kuro-rin is so adorable."

Kurogane's face relaxed and his eyes glared down at Fay's face and he softly kissed the blonde, his lips softly caressing Fay's and his tounge gently probing into unknown terretory as Fay's arms found refuge around Kurogane's neck. When he pulled away, Kurogane saw Ashura's hem by Fay's head and he raised his own head to look Ashura in the eye and saw Ashura looked relieved that Fay was being loved, not upset, and Fay's arms clutched Kurogane's black shirt tightly in his fists and his eyes were closed tightly and spilled tears into his sterling blonde hair.

"So, this one must be Kurogane." Ashura smiled and knelt down to touche Fay's forehead, but Kurogane's flinch stopped him. "Ha ha! He's very fistey! I won't hurt him."

"And how can I trust your word?"

"Because he's my older brother," Fay whispered. "He knows what's best for me and what'll keep me safe." Fay's hands began to shake. "But I love Kuro-kun! Don't hurt him, please?" Fay asked, looking at his brother in fright.

"I won't." Ashura's hand touched Fay's forehead and the chains of magic disintigrated to dust and Fay's body seemed to lift up and become pure once more. To Ashura's disgust, however, he had dust on his hands now. "Pheh!" He shook it off. "Now, leave! Fay's new staff holds the feather you seek. Go, before I change my mind!"

Kurogane wrapped his arms around Fay and heard Fay whispering his name as his tears stained that black shirt and his arms held him tight. He was clinging to something familiar, something he loved, something he never wanted to let go of and not any time soon, something he would cherish forever and ever, despite the seperation between them, despite the difficulties they may face.

Kurogane smiled and stood up with Fay in his arms and he smiled at Ashura. "Thank you."

"Get outta my sights, you eye-sores." Ashura waved his hand and walked away, stomping his feet, as if he were a child who'd lost an argument.

Fay's body began to be rocked with laughter and sobs as he shuddered in Kurogane's arms. "Th-thank you, Kuro-kun," Fay's voice said as he drew as close as he could to Kurogane, his small fists shaking as Kurogane's arms wrapped the blond up and gently released the love withing the blonde. "Kurogane!" he said suddenly and kissed the swordsman's lips. "I love you."

"Yeah... you said that already, Fay." Kurogane smiled when Fay suddenly looked frightened. "You really think I'd hate you when you repeat yourself? Heck no! I love when you repeat yourself, Fay!"

"Why are Kurogane-san and Fay-san holding hands?" Sakura asked Syaoran the next day as they left the palace of Ashura with Fay.

Fay smiled at Kurogane who sighed and looked disshevvled. "Give the girl back her feather, Fay."

"Right!" Fay threw his staff at Sakura as Kurogane pinned Syaoran to the wall. He struggled to get free so he could save the princess, but the staff transformed into a feather and seeped into Sakura's body. "Hyuu!!" Fay said, doing his fake whistle as he smiled at Sakura, who regained her memory quickly. "Lookie there! She caught it, Kuro-pon!"

"Yeah, I can see that!" Kurogane said, in his angered voice, the one he used to use against Fay like always before.

"Ha ha! Kuro-wan is mad! Fay didn't mean it! Ha ha!" He jumped away as Mokona's wings spread and he quietly sucked them up into another world. But before he did, Kurogane snagged a frenchie from Fay, who gasped and fainted/passed out...

eh, this one kinda sucked! it was supposed to be a whole buncha chapters, but i smooshed 'em all together and got rid of things i didn't need, so, erm, yeah, HA HA!

also! i'm very sorry i havn't written in a while, but i just couldn't nail a good story plot to use laugh yes, yes i suck, yes i do!