Title: Pointless
Pairing: Kurogane x Fai (you know, the way I write them, the way where there's nothing actually /there/ for the word "pairing" to be necessary, but still…)
Words: 573
Genre: Fun?
Disclaimer: I own nothing; this is just what the genre says it is.
Summary: None? It would be longer than the fic ;;.
Notes: Well, can anyone guess where this is taking place before the fic is over? (At least one person did, so I know it's possible ;; )
They are deep underground, amid a sea of people walking with hurried steps from one point to another, swarming determinedly towards very different destinations. Long shadows are cast here and there from artificial lighting, and some of them must surely be quite interesting, but Fai has little time to notice.
He is running, barely keeping from knocking into people or tripping over steps – there are so many stairs, all going down and up and back across – making out spaces in-between the crowds and taking them just as they form. He twists and turns and weaves his way, and goes down one frustrating step after another, which he could jump in twos and threes but there just isn't any room.
He hears indignant words muttered behind him and knows that Kurogane's close – and when he cuts a corner he sees the ninja gaining fast, not quite as careful as Fai is in carving out his way, but keeping up the pace. When Fai looks back in front of him he nearly collides with a frail old man – he yelps, stops, jumps aside, and thinks he doesn't really need to follow Kurogane's progress.
He cuts another corner and sees their goal in sight – just one last stairwell, just the last, but he can't see the floor below and doesn't know whether they are in time or not. He turns to look for Kurogane once again, spots him, then goes careening down the stairs. People are still milling around him, only now they are running too, and Fai twists on his way and hopes not to be trampled. But then the stairs are cleared at last, and Fai's excited whoop! is lost in the sounds of the giant hall, and now people are coming at him from the other direction too, and he is both pushed from behind and stymied from the front, and he is oh so close from reaching that metal pair of doors, the doors which could close in his face at any moment, and so, make this strange race in vain.
A push, a shove, an almost stumble, and Fai steps hurriedly over the threshold. Before his feet even find purchase he turns to look for Kurogane one last time – the ninja has been right behind him the last few steps or so – and is relieved to see him there, scowling, fed up, and pushed at all the way.
The doors switch closed with flashing lights and a few bored, recorded words, and Fai shoots up his arms to hyuuu! in cheerful satisfaction-- and then the floor lurches, and Fai can't move his feet without stepping on people, so he drops forward, short and quick-- and ends up knocking into Kurogane, his arms falling and folding round the ninja's shoulders, who grumbles low and then takes steady hold of one of the steel bars around them.
"We did it, Kuro-pon," Fai laughs, "we caught the subway!"
Kurogane almost snarls at that. He wants to mention that there would have been another train in 10 minutes at most, and running all over then place like madmen hadn't really been necessary. But there's no arguing with fools, and there's no bigger fool than the annoying man beside him (who's currently trying to climb all over him, because look, Kuro-rin, there simply isn't any room!) and Kurogane says nothing at all.
He does settle his hand to the small of Fai's back, though; for balance.