I obviously don't own Tsubasa or the characters
Chapter One
Kurogane drove his blade through the last foe. He stood with confidence and his smirk showed his cockiness to the world. He raised his sword above his head in victory. No one in this universe could defeat the great Kurogane. "That was just too easy, and you call yourselfs assassins." His scratchy voice mocked the bodies that scattered the roof top. "Can't anyone with guts come to fight me?" He seperated his feet and crouched low in the perfect fighting stance. "Come on!"
"Kurogane, you have not donw what I've asked of you." Princess Tomoyo stood on the lawn of the castle, dissaproving as ever.
Kurogane lowered his sword and looked over the roof top. "Princess?" He took a running start and leaped off the roof, landing it easily. "All the assassins have been assassinated themselves. Shirasaki castle is the safest place to be once again. How can you have a complaint about that?" Kurogane never understood her dissaproval for violence. Violence was necessary to keep her palace peaceful.
"I asked you to avoid any unnecessary deaths." Her eyes were kind but her words were serious. Kurogane stood before her with utmost respect.
"The rule of the ninja is to rid of those who attack you. Princess Tomyo this is unavoidable." He promised her.
"Never have I heard such a thing." She cocked her head to the side in curiosity.
"It's my own personnal rule that I live by." His confidence flowed back in rivers.
"Why are there such loyal ninja and then ninjas like you?" Princess Tomoyo sighed and closed her eyes, daydreaming of only kind ninjas.
"Good and bad must exist in the universe." he recited his much used phrase. Honestly, sometimes the princess could be infuriating.
"That may seem the truth but if everyone was good unnecessary killing would be obliverated." Princess Tomoyo tried to rationalize with the skilled ninja. There was no denying his skills but sometimes she just wished he'd slow down a bit.
"Look, to be the best I have to fight the best. It's not my problem if my enemy dies in the process." his smirk brought out his chiseled jaw line and his stubborn eyes narrowed just slightly.
A rare smile crawled onto the princess's face. "True, none I have met are stronger than you. That leaves me no choice." Her hands came together and she mumbled a few hushed words. Strings that looked much like light darted towards him.
Kurogane took a defensive position with his sword drawn and feet aprat. "What the hell?"
Princess Tomoyo was calm and still as she spoke. "Those who are bad must go on a journey to better oneself." The strings of light thickened into the width larger than a palm. They wound around Kurogane's arms and legs, holding him in place. He was desperate to lash out at them with his sword but he was stuck in place. The worst punishment a ninja could receive was to be unable to strike. "You'll be sent to many worlds and meet many people. You will not return until you learn how to control your strength and learn of the blessing you have been given." The light rays creeped up his arms and legs until everything but his head was covered. He struggled against the bondage uselessly. "I must warn you, for each person you kill from now until eternity will weaken you. Good bye, Kurogane." The light began to grow until he was encompassed whole.
"You'll regret this!" The night exploded with light, blinding anyone nearby. When it cleared away Kurogane was gone.
"His journey has just begun." She had a brave face but she was mourning the loss of her greatest ninja. Doubts began to creep in but she pushed them away. She did what she felt was right for her country.
Kurogane spun around in nothingness before everything began to fade. His fingertips began to dissappear, then he began to blow away like he was nothing more than a pile of sand. "I'll be back!" his voice echoed back at him loud enough to burst an eardrum.
Everything appeared back like it was being painted with quick, sure brush strokes. The only other person for miles was a brunette boy with an unconcious girl in his arms. "I've come to save my princess." the boy's eyes were confident with a shine that reminded Kurogane of his own.
:::
Fai rose from the water and pulled himself onto land. He looked down at the magically sealed coffin at the bottom of the pool. His tattoo glistened from the many water droplets. He'd miss this world but he couldn't stay here any longer. The powerful wizard sealed in the coffin would awaken and be on a search for him. This dimension wasn't even safe.
Fai's own creation plodded on bare feet towards him. Her cat ears twitched nervously. "I know you must go..." She lowered her head a little.
"I just ask you tell me when the kind awakens." Fai slipped into his heavy, snowy blue, wizard robe. It grazed the ground and the inside was fuzzy. Fai ruffled her hair affectionately. "This is goodbye, Chi."
"Goodbye Fai!" Chi chirped as her cat ears pricked.
"May the stars and the moon bless you." His wizard staff connected with the ground.
"Only after you!"
"To the witch!" An entire ball of light engulfed him and he dissapeared right before Chi's eyes.
Chi looked down at the king's coffin submerged in the water. She hoped he'd awaken soon so that Fai would return.
:::
A wizard in a long, wool robe blinked into focus. A black haired woman appeared in front of them. "To save Sakura you must travel through many dimensions and collect every last one of her memory feathers." Her eyes turned serious. "Or else she will die. There is a price..." The focused on Syaoran.
"Anything!" he exclaims without jostling his princess.
"Who the hell are you anyway?" Kurogane's bluntness cut through the tension like a sword.
Fai's carefree smile opposed Kurogane's hard eyes. "Would you happen to be the dimensional witch?" Fai's eyes connected with Kurogane's as they spoke in sync. He offered a smile but Kurogane turned his head with a growl.
Kurogane always had hated wizards. They fought long distance while ninjas enjoyed hand to hand. This one was no exception even with his damned blue eyes. "Kurogane." he offered up his own name, more to the wizard than the witch but no one seemed to notice.
"Fai." Fai inclined his head towards, he was sure, the dimensional witch.
"The reason why all of you are here is because you wish for your wish to be granted. Correct? It'll come with a price of course." Her eyes were dull and could be described as lifeless.
"Send me home."
"Send me anywhere but home." Their words flowed in sync once again, making Fai let out a short laugh much to Kurogane's distaste.
"That is much of you all to ask but if you travel together all your wishes will come true." her hair swayed from side to side with her little movement.
"What kind of crap are you spouting, lady?" Kurogane was slowly getting annoyed and if this kept up he'd draw his sword.
"Mr. Black you should keep the insults down." Fai's voice was playful and childish yet pleasing to the ears.
"Kurogane." he corrected with a glare. No wonder he disliked wizards.
"Traveling to different dimensions will have a price. For you, Kurogane, it will be your sword."
Kurogane protectively held it to his chest. "Not my ginryu!" His sword was his most prized possession and he never went anywhere without it.
"Kurogane, she's the one person who can give you what you ask." Fai's soothing voice compelled him to hand it over.
"Your marking, wizard."
Fai felt like the breath had been knocked out of him. He'd rather give up his staff than that. He hung his head. "Fine." The strange tattoo was peeled off his skin and floated over to the witch. She went to talk to Syraoran but he barely noticed.
Kurodane placed a hand on his shoulder, tingles shot up Fai's spine. "You have to sacrifice for what you want most." His normally hard eyes had softened just a little.
Fai's thankful smile made Kurogane feel as if he were flying. "I suppose you're right."
The dimensional witch's assitant came running up with a bunny like animal but was more ball shaped. "This is Mokona, he will help you jump between worlds. Fate is what decides what dimension you end up in. All three of you ending up together was no mistake, it was fate herself." She cast a knowing look between Fai and Kurogane. "This is no easy task. Don't be surprised by dopplegangers, while their appearance may be the same their inner fate is seperate. And so... you may go!"
Mokona sprouted wings the color of light rays and opened his mouth. Large bands of light circled the three men and Sakura. They fell into an area of water amd yet could breath. They were pushed apart and down until the presure became too much and their worlds went black.
:::
Kurogane's eyes slowly opened almost as if they were stuck together. Fai's large gin was the first thing that registered. "Looks like Kurogane's up!" The cheerfulness of his voice made Kurogane want to cover his ears and ask Fai to speak more at the same time.
Kurogane's personnal space was broken as Fai leaned over him and plucked something off his back, it made him break into a sweat. "H-huh?"
"One of Sakura's memory feathers." Fai held up a simple goose feather. "Weren't you listening to the dimensional witch?"
Kurogane turned away his flushed face. "Guess I had other things on my mind. he grumbled.
"Understandable." Syraoran plucked the feather from between Fai's fingers. The feather fused with Sakura's skin and she let off a soft glow for a millisecond. Fai turned up his baby blue eyes to Kurogane's red ones. "I'm sure you miss your princess."
"As if. It's here fault I'm here in the first place."
A man with a bowl of fruit barged into the room. "Yo! Any friend of Yuko-san's is a friend of mine."
A woman with a tray of tea followed in behind him. "I'm Arashi."
"I'm Sorata and that's my dear!" he placed a hand on Kurogane's shoulder. "I hope you know how to keep your hands to yourself."
"You don't have to worry about him." Fai sent Kurogane a knowing smile. "But I'll keep your secret, Kuro-rin."
"What secret!" Kurogane got a bit defensive and didn't even mind the cutesy, high school girl nickname.
Sorata's expression morphed into a serious one. "Still not kidding." he backed off from Kurogane and scooped up Mokona. "Welcome to Hanshin Republic! I'm a history teacher and refuse to let the old ways fade so I use the old language!"
Fai held his face in his hands. "Interesting."
"Everythings interesting to you, blue eyes." Kurogane's voice was snippy with a slight edge of jealousy.
Arashi turned her dull eyes to Fai. "You can no longer battle."
Fai's eyes tinged with sadness. "Yes, the dimensional witch took it." Now he was interested in the ground. Kurogane's stare bored into his back. That tattoo? That must be it.
"She took my sword." Kurogane broke the short silence. "It was a gift from Princess Tomoyo's father to help me keep her safe. The irony of it all was she sent me away because I killed to keep her safe."
Fai sent an appriciative look at him for sharing something so personnal.
Everyone else in the room felt as if they were intruding in a private moment. Arashi took her leave and as Sorata backed out he spoke, "You're welcome to stay here until you move onto the next world."
Fai motioned for Kurogane to join him on the balcony. The sliding door shut with a small thud. "It's okay to miss your princess."
Kurogane's large hands closed over the railing. "She sent me away by force."
Fai was silent and then slipped his arms around Kurogane in a hug, it was a caring gesture. "Then she made a mistake."