AN:
Actual summary:
"If anyone took a closer look at the boy, despite his care-free smile, a single glimpse into his enigmatic cerulean eyes would tell a different tale.
After a dream that shows her a piece of Fai's past, Sakura realizes how deeply troubled the boy must truly be. Recruiting the aid of Kurogane, Fai's closest friend, Sakura tries to find a way to give Fai a bit of the solace he deserves. Kurofai"
Aaaaah. Here's my second try at a high school story. I like to think myself a bit wiser and experienced now that I'm out of high school myself, and hope I can portray the characters realistically.
If you all have read any of my stories, you know I go about things in a strange way. I won't update for a while, and then I'll give you an 8,000 word chapter. Or I won't update for a while because I'll do the wrong chapter. Or, in most situations, I'll upload one chapter immediately after another.
With that said, this will be a story with multiple chapters. It's obviously an AU story ((seeing as the cast is in high school)), so I'll be making up their pasts. I'm hoping that, with the pasts I choose, their characteristics/personalities will not only be justified, but that they will be similar to that of the original characters.
Since I don't like putting in two author's notes, I'll put here what I would usually save until the end of the chapter:
This will be a Kurofai story. Admittedly, I hope it doesn't become exceedingly long or overdramatic, but Fai will be the protagonist. So you know, Kurofai guyxguy. I would say 'If you don't like such things, don't read', but I would like you to read anyways. Read and give me critiques on my writing, and I will be graciously thankful.
But when I say critique, I don't mean blatant insults. If you don't like the way I write, or find that I'm portraying the characters in a way you don't feel is correct, it will do me no service to say 'THIS SUCKS, STOP WRITING FOREVER!'
I love writing, so I will not stop, thank you kindly. But if you truly took the time to read through my entire story whilst hating it, tell me the aspects you didn't care for, and tell me how I can improve. Unless of course, you're one of those people who can only feel big by making another feel small. In which case, go ahead and insult me. If you need such a petty thing as making another feel inferior, I won't stop you. I'll just judge you.
I often use commas to signafy where I would take pauses both in my mind and in their speech. Perhaps you can consider this a misuse of them, but it works best for me.
Last thing. For all you Clamp fans, could you perhaps tell me some characters I could put into the story as side characters? I've only read Tsubasa and a bit of Cardcaptor Sakura, so I'm at a bit of a loss for supporting characters. Also, perhaps just a sentence or two describing their basic personalities. I'd appreciate it greatly!
Hmm. I think that's it. I love Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles deeply, and hope that I do the characters justice. The first chapter is a bit short.
-- -- --
Shards of glass flew through the air; one shattering window following another. A sinister light prowled through the left side of the building, slowly creeping its way through the rest of the house. An empty window frame lay witness to two figures inside the engulfing flame.
The boy on the outside of the window, a child barely past his eighth birthday, stared in a stupor as his mirror image struggled to pull another body on the other side of the frame.
"Fai!!"
The boy on the outside called through the window, wincing as the emanating heat and smoke tore at his throat.
"Fai! Please…"
The boy on the inside cut him off,
"Yuui, please help! Momma isn't moving!"
Yuui turned to look at his mother. In his own haste to escape the smoldering house, he hadn't thought whether his mother or Fai were behind him.
Yuui looked helplessly through the window and the fire that separated him from the rest of his family. A quick visual scan let him know that the only safe way into the room was through the west hallway.
"I'm coming, Fai!"
Yuui shouted, desperation resonating in his voice. He scampered away from the window and towards the front door. The cold, dewey grass underfoot softened his footfalls, mocking the desperate situation he faced. Despite his small stature, he yanked open the huge oaken door with its cast-iron fringe with ease.
He ran.
The pungent odor of the fire caught his nostrils even in the complacent foyer, though the stones beneath his bare-feet still felt cold. He ran swiftly through the house, but stopped in the opening of the doorway to the library. Flames licked their way up curtains and tore through the wood of bookshelves; ironically, the only place the fire didn't seem to have a hold was in the fire place and the middle of the room where the figure of his brother knelt over that of their mother. For a moment, in the noise and heat of the room, Yuui stopped dead in his tracks. Fai was looking straight at him, tears streaking down his soot-covered face.
Yuui opened his mouth to yell that he was coming to help, but the first breath he drew was nothing but heat, and he choked. Dry coughs wracked his thin frame, sending tremors down his spine.
He hopped over the set of flames separating them, beating the fire from his own clothing as he approached. As he reached them, unable to discern one shape from another, he groped blindly through the smoke and grabbed at a set of shoulders. The owner of the shoulders flinched back in shock at the touch, falling farther into his paranoia. In one moment, the twins locked eyes; both mirror reflections of each other, but both holding vastly different, unfathomable feelings and thoughts.
Yuui gripped Fai's hand and pulled him towards the door, oblivious to the flames now beating at his side. The second Fai seemed to realize what Yuui was doing--leading him from the fire and his mother towards safety--he stopped.
Yuui tugged on his arm again
"She's dead!"
His voice came out in a croak from the strain of the smoke.
Fai didn't move, and Yuui tugged again.
"Please, Fai! We have to get out!"
Inexplicably, he resisted the pulling, his hand slipping from Yuui's.
"No, Yuui. I can't leave someone I love behind."
His words came out barely over a whisper, but Yuui heard it.
Another burst of glass. Yuui raised his hand to his face, blocking himself from the stray shards. He looked back at Fai, running into the fire to find their mother. Tears fell from his face as he watched his brother dissappear into the blazing inferno. In that same moment he realized two things: If he didn't leave now, there was no way he would survive, and that this would be the last time he would see his brother alive.
"I'm sorry, Fai!"
He shouted to the best of his ability, running out the door and into the hallway.
He blacked out after bursting once again through the front door.
Yuui awoke in the unscathed forest that sat directly next to the mansion. He opened his eyes blearily to the near darkness. It didn't take long for him to realize how much pain he was in. Each breath he drew felt like razor-blades clawing at the back of his throat, and each movement felt like different tendons were breaking.
He shakily stood up; his wiry legs barely capable of holding his shivering form.
Emerging from the trees, he approached the scene he wished would be a dream. Fire engines…ambulances…police cars… all numbers of people looking at the once pristine house that lay in smoldering ruins. They all looked at the house in shock, soot covering the faces of the firemen.
No one noticed Yuui. On the edge of all the activity, he stood the sole witness to the event that tore away the two people he had left in his life. Tears fell from his eyes again at the sight. Somewhere, within those indiscernible ruins, Fai and his mother lay dead. Beside himself with the greif, he let out an unintentional sob, covering his face with his hands.
" Dear God! Look!"
A woman called from some distance, the first to notice the blackened boy.
"He's here! Oh, thank God!"
Yuui opened his mouth to speak, but found that no words came. The lady ran up to him, attracting a small group to the two.
"Don't speak."
Came a voice to his left, and Yuui turned to see Doctor Kyle.
"He'll survive."
The doctor said to some indistinguishable person on his left.
Yuui turned, unconcerned for his own safety, to the house he had once considered to be his one place of solace. He remembered his rooms, his books, the box of treasures he and Fai had found over the years…
Yuui began to weep, unable to stop himself.
"The boy's in shock."
The doctor said in his usual monotone voice.
"Stay with him. Talk to him. Just make sure he stays away from the house."
The rest of the group took it as their time to leave and dispersed, going back to view the house that had once been home to the widowed wife of the town mayor.
"Poor dear, what's happened to your hand?"
Yuui looked back at her, confused. He looked down to where she was looking, and realized he'd unconsciously been clutching his left hand with his right, unaware that he had been injured at all. He removed his left hand, eyes widening to see a deep gash across the back of his hand. The injury bled freely, rimmed with the black ashes of the fire.
She took his hand and inspected it for herself.
"Don't worry, I'm certain it will heal."
She looked back into his eyes,
"Now, are you Fai or are you Yuui?"
She asked.
Yuui's eyes went wide at the question.
"What?"
He asked back, unable to comprehend her question.
"Please, your name. Which twin are you?"
Yuui looked back at the house, unable to turn his attention to anything else. He looked to where the library was, certain that somewhere in those remains his mother and his brother lay.
"Fai."
Yuui finally said, turning back to look at the woman.
"My name is Fai."
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Sakura awoke from her dream with a start, clutching a hand to the front of her nightgown. She panted as she closed her eyes, willing her heart-beat to return to normal.
She brushed her free hand across her sweat-matted forhead, shivering as she did so.
Her delicate hand fell from her canary yellow nightgown as the reality of the situation dawned on her.
"No…no no no no no…"
She silently whispered, wiping the tears she had shed in her sleep from her face.
Just in time, it seemed, for more tears sprung up from her soft emerald eyes.
"Fai-san… I'm so sorry."
She whispered into the darkness. She hated those dreams--the dreams that showed her the personal past life of someone she had no business seeing. She had seen glimpses of Syaoran's, Toya's, Tomoyo's, Kurogane's, and now of Fai's past.
Or… Yuui, as it now seemed.
She shook her head. No. Fai. He went by Fai, and she would respect that.
Silent sobs shook her frame, both out of guilt at having seen what Fai undoubtedly wanted to keep secret, and for the tragedy of his past.
Of course she knew of the incident. She had only been 5, but tragedies such as that didn't occur often in their town. She could remember the headlines in the paper:
'Wayward fireworks from teens hit Fluorite mansion on July 4. Two dead in fire, one injured."
She had never been able to understand how Fai had handled it. If Toya and her father were to die…
The thought made her shudder. She didn't even want to think about it.
"Fai… are you trying to live on as you think your brother would've wanted? Is that why you took his name?"
She asked the emptiness of her room again.
Tears once again overtook her, and she cried again, wishing with all her might that she could somehow help the boy who had always seemed so care-free and happy to her.
-- -- --
It took a while for Sakura to fall back asleep. When slumber finally did overtake her, she was blessed with a dreamless sleep.
But with such a blessing, she also suffered a curse--the curse of a belated awakening.
She woke up to her usual blaring alarm-clock's noise, but to numbers she had never before witnessed before school. She opened her eyes groggily, wondering if there was something the matter with her alarm clock. When the haze of sleep finally lifted, she realized her alarm clock wasn't false and, subsequently, that she was awake 25 minutes later than she should've been. She rushed through her morning rituals (wincing as she realized she didn't have the time for her usual morning shower), and ran into the kitchen, grabbing the first convenient granola bar she could get her hands on.
"Maybe if your highness didn't need so much beauty sleep, you wouldn't have to rush all the time."
Her brother nonchalantly insulted from the table--where he sat munching ever so pleasantly on a breakfast of pancakes and eggs.
"If you're going to get up so early and cook yourself breakfast, you could make me some sometimes too, you know!"
Sakura said back in a bit of a huff. She was never one to insult or be mean, but her brother had the habit of grating on her nerves every once in a while
Toya looked back at her, feigning complete boredom,
"Now Sakura, why would I ever slave away for you? You may be the princess here, but I'll always be the king. And a king never does work for
those under him. Now don't you have somewhere you ought to be sprinting off to, little one?"
Sakura stuck her tongue out at her brother, hating the fact that he was right--she didn't have any time to waste. She slipped on the white dress shoes of her school uniform and flounced out of the door. She held the straps of her back-pack tightly as she ran, enjoying the feeling of the gentle morning air rushing past her face. She stumbled a few times during her run, but quickly corrected herself. She looked down at her pink watch, glad to see that she still had a bit of time. Her sandy brown hair shone in the morning sunlight, giving it an almost golden tint.
"Aaah! There you are Sakura. I was wondering where you might be!"
The smiling face that Sakura always met with a smile of her own had a different effect on her this morning. Fai's smiles had never felt completely sincere, but after her dream, she wondered if he possibly used them as a cover to make sure people didn't worry about him. Or, maybe it was because if they worried, they would ask questions, and he never wanted to relive that day?
"Eeeh? What's with the long face, Sakura? Did you have a bad dream?"
Sakura blinked, realizing that she must've been staring for a considerable amount of time while she had been trying to analyze him. She smiled nervously, a soft giggle escaping her lips,
"Sorry, Fai-san! I didn't sleep well last night."
Fai chuckled, leaning against the tree they always met at. A true smile crossed her lips as she watched him. The school uniform for the males was a forest green jacket that sat over a white dress top, along with pure black pants and an ebony tie. She reflected, for a moment, that Fai certainly looked wonderful in it. Of course, Sakura mused as she leaned next to him on the tree, Fai could probably pull off most looks. He was definitely very lanky and thin, but he carried himself in a very strong, nimble way. He had gentle facial features and a beautiful smile, but his most remarkable features were his eyes and hair. His enigmatic cerulean eyes that both hid and exposed more emotions than Sakura had ever seen the boy express, and the beautiful, airy blonde hair that looked more comfortable than any pillow she'd ever seen.
"I can see that, Sakura. You're staring at me again."
Sakura blinked again, shaking her head as she did so. She flushed softly at the realization,
"I'm sorry, Fai-san! "
Fai waved his hand in a noticeable 'don't-worry-about-it' manner and looked back at her, smiling.
"I wasn't sure what to tell Kuro if you were late again. He doesn't like waiting."
Sakura smiled back, looking across the street at the local park,
"I know what you mean."
She said back, her words soft and crystalline,
"Though he has yet to leave either of us behind."
Fai chuckled, picking at a loose string from his school outfit
"I don't think Tomoyo would let him."
As if on cue, the familiar jet-black convertible rounded the street corner, speeding far more than was necessary.
"Silly Kuro-pii. Always driving too fast to look cool!"
Fai said, pushing off the tree. He lifted a hand in the air and waved, grinning at the black-haired driver.
"Kuro-tan! You're going to give Tomoyo a heart attack!!"
Fai shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. Though the car was still a good distance away, Kurogane shouted back,
"Idiot! It's kuroGANE. Stop calling me stupid things!"
Fai chuckled, looking back at Sakura with a smile as the walked to the car.
"Kuro-pii is always so angry in the morning!"
He said happily, skipping the last few steps to the car.
"Aaah, shotgun, shotgun!"
Fai said upon realizing that Tomoyo hadn't taken the front seat as she usually did.
Kurogane looked away from the annoying blonde, one hand on the wheel,
"Tsk. Whatever. Just get in the damn car and shut up."
Fai and Sakura took their respective seats, barely finding the time to buckle in before Kurogane was speeding down the road again.
"Ku…Kurogane! You're going too fast!"
Tomoyo exclaimed, grabbing the back of his seat. Had it been anyone else asking him to slow down, he wouldn't have given them a second thought. But as it was Tomoyo, his adopted sister, he immediately obeyed..
"Geeze"
Tomoyo said in her meek voice, sitting back in her seat after Kurogane had slowed down.
An odd silence filled the usually rambunctious car. Sakura looked around the car at the other members. Kurogane seemed too aggravated at having been reprimanded to say anything, Tomoyo looked too guilty about insulting Kurogane's driving, and Fai was spacing off as he so often did in the morning.
She decided to break the palpable discomfort herself,
"When are you going to get your license, Fai? Shouldn't you be driving by now?"
Fai looked back at Sakura, gripping the edge of his seat with a tightly gloved hand.
"If I can help it? Never. Kuro-rin can drive me around forever!"
Kurogane growled at the blonde, fighting the temptation to let go of the wheel and strangle him on the spot.
"How I've put up with the likes of you for over a year, I'll never know."
He growled out, clenching the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.
Fai chuckled again, gently tapping Kurogane on the top of his head.
As she watched the two playfully arguing, Sakura wondered: Who was Fai? Who was he, so wrought with unshared pain and unshed tears, that put on such a believable mask? He who tried his hardest to never get too close to people? He who wore a smile in front of others despite the pain that clearly lay dormant through his eyes?
Fai was a mystery to her, and would probably forever remain so. The only thought that saddened her, however, was that Fai was probably still a mystery to himself.
-- -- -- --
AN:
I lied. I do need to put in a second author's note.
-I will update this story at least once a week if I can.
-I gave Sakura the gift of pastsight rather than foresight
-Anything I put in italics is either a thought, flash-back, or a dream
-Anything I put in bold is an exclamation
-Anything I underline is a quote.
-I still want your critiques
-I will delve more into their pasts
-I haven't written anything in months. Hope I'm not too rusty.