Authors Note: Hello everyone! This is my first TRC fic and my first Kurogane/Tomoyo fic! I love this pairing so much (Princess Tomoyo/Kurogane or Kurogane/President Tomoyo because they are the same soul and both pairings are just so cute either way!) and I've been re-reading TRC so this idea just popped into my head and even though I have tons of other fics to be working on I had to write this. I tried to make it kinda sweet but also wanted to keep them in character as much as I could. I hope I did that and if not I apologize. Hope you all enjoy!
Tomoyo Daidōji, president of the Piffle Princess Company, hadn't expected to see him that day, or really any other day after he left. Today was supposed to have been just another boring day at the office. She'd come in to work on their newest energy project to see if they could power a device they'd been working on to travel dimensions, which brought back the memories of the Dragonfly Race and the group of travelers that had came from different dimension to compete in it.
Tomoyo felt a little sadness grow in her heart when she thought about them. When they'd received Sakura's feather she knew they had no reason to be back and therefore they wouldn't be sent to Piffle again. It had hurt to see all of them go. When she talked to her other self, Princess Tomoyo, from the Country of Japan, his home world, about it she told her that the world was always surprising and maybe one day she would meet them all again.
She thought that time had come when she had heard about what had happened to his arm though from Princess Tomoyo. She asked if they would be able to come but her other self told her that the time was coming for them to face a great evil and he would need it quickly. So she had created an arm for him, a rough model but ok given the time constraints, and sent it to them through another traveler. That had been months ago, though for him it might have just been days. Time and space stopped making any sense when Tomoyo had discovered these other worlds. Though now everything seemed to stop making sense as she started at the security camera footage that popped up on the screen.
"Kurogane..." she whispered as she watch him, Syaoran, Fai, and Mokona appeared in front of her office building. They had quickly been apprehended when they appeared but Nokoru had came down to see what was happening (Tomoyo had been in a meeting) and had realized who they were. Syaoran had explained their situation to him and currently they were waiting in a hotel that she had arranged for them. They would visit the company in the morning to get Kurogane a new prosthetic arm.
She was surprised they'd ended up there just for that. If he'd been having problems with his current arm they could've found a way to contact her and she could've just send one to him. It certainly was strange but she was glad for it. She'd been missing Kurogane since he left.
Sure, she'd missed Sakura too cause she loved having her heroine to hang around with and Syaoran, Fai, and Mokona where all pleasant company but the way she missed Kurogane was different. It was a needier, deeper. When she thought about seeing him again tomorrow her heart started fluttering out of her chest and her face would get blood red. It was almost like missing someone you, well, were in love with. Of course that wasn't it though. Tomoyo just felt a special connection to the ninja probably because her other self did. But that connection certainly wasn't love.
She sat down at her vanity and began combing her long hair as thoughts of him raced through her mind. She thought back to the night of the Dragonfly Race finale where they talked outside. It had been nice just being out there with him for a minute, even if it was all silent while he drank. She thought about how scared she'd been when she'd seen him wreck his dragonfly and fall into the water. She thought about how she smiled at him that one last time before he disappeared.
As she crawled into her bed, she again felt though nervous feelings coming back to her. How would their reunion tomorrow go? Would he be happy to see her or would it illicit no emotion from him other than a faint nostalgia? Would he tell her anything about his travels? Would he like his new arm that she personally planned to build or would he still find the technology annoying? Too many questions were running through her mind.
She laid her head on the pillow and closed her eyes. She feel asleep wondering about what would happen tomorrow.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Hello again Tomoyo-chan!" shouted Fai as he, Syaoran, Mokona, and Kurogane entered her office.
"Hello again everyone!" she said as she walked toward them. "It's nice to see you all again." She specially glanced at Kurogane as she spoke.
"It's nice to be here again," began Syaoran, "Piffle was a very interesting place."
"Thank you," she began, "We've been working on some new projects since you guys left. New energy projects, new security projects, new dimension traveling projects..." She noticed everyone seem to perk up at that. "Everything is still in a test stage write now though."
"Well we wish you good luck on them," said Fai.
"Thank you. So I see Sakura-chan didn't come on this trip," she said.
Everyone was silent for a moment. "The trip we're on now might be too hard for Sakura-chan," said Fai.
Tomoyo didn't know what that meant but decided not to push the subject. "Well when you return to her tell her I said hello. Now how about we go fix that arm? If you three will follow me..."
She turned to go, with Kurogane following, but stopped when he yelled back Fai, Syaoran, and Mokona. "Something wrong with you three?" he growled.
Fai just giggled. "Oh right Kuro-tan! We forgot to tell you but we didn't feel like we were needed so me and Syao, er, Tsubasa-kun decided to visit some local places now that we have time. Ta-ta!" With that they left.
Tomoyo and Kurogane stood there for a moment in an awkward silence. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed, "Let's just get this over with."
"Right," said Tomoyo as she began heading toward the room. When they entered she instructed him to sit on the examination table while she went to the computer to look at his health data. All Dragonfly racers were scanned for health problems before racing and their data was kept on file for 5 years, that way if they competed again it would be easy to pull up. Luckily when he was scanned he had his left arm so she could pull that data up and use it to help make his prosthetic more natural to his body.
"Ok, please remove your older model and I'll compare it to our data on your real arm and we can look for the flaws in the old model to make you the new one that will feel better," she said turning toward him.
"Wait you're doing this?" he asked.
"Of course," she began, "I may be the president but I learned how to do every job in my company. Not to brag too much but I think that is part of the reason why Piffle Princess is so successful. Now please take off your arm."
With that he removed the jacket and gloves he wore she finally could see how odd the metal contraption looked on his body. No wonder he hid it. When he removed the arm she looked at the stub that barely made a shoulder. She felt bad for him and she must have made a face to show it cause he said, "It doesn't hurt."
"What?" she asked.
"I can tell by how you were looking at it. Don't feel sad for me. It was something that had to be done," he said, "Here's the arm."
"Right. Well, I'll run this to the lab," she said. As she headed down the hallway she sighed. This reunion wasn't going like she wanted. It was a lot of silences and, well, that was about it. She knew he was naturally a quiet man but she expected something more. Maybe something was bothering him. She could only imagine what he'd had to go through during all his travels and maybe being here to get this new arm was just bringing back to much.
When she got to the lab they explained to her that they would scan the arm for flaws by compare it to their data on his arm, create the next model, have him try it on, and if it worked that would cover it with the skin and if not they would take it back and work on more reconstructions. So for now it was just waiting, though with their technology the whole process might only take an half an hour.
So Tomoyo headed back and told him how long it would take. They waited for a moment in silence again. Finally he spoke, "Thank you."
She looked at him surprised. "For what?"
"For the arm," he began, "It was a kinda hard to get used to wearing but it was good to have."
"Well I'm glad it was of use though this one will be much better," she said. She smiled at him and he couldn't help but smile back.
"So how has everything been around here?" he asked.
"Oh it's been fine. Here it's been almost a...year and a half since you all appeared. We've had another Dragonfly Race though it wasn't too exciting as before. We've been working on some new projects, hopefully we'll get our dimension traveling machine off the ground soon. Other than that nothing really worth mentioning," she said.
"You know maybe if you finish your machine you could see Japan," he said, avoiding her gaze, trying to be nonchalant about it.
Tomoyo giggled; she remembered that Princess Tomoyo had told her once that Kurogane was a bit shy at times. "I would like that," she began. She paused for a moment and shuffled around in her chair. Should she tell him that she'd missed him? She opened her mouth to speak but he beat her too it.
"It's nice to be back. This world was one of the more memorable ones" he said looking straight at her.
Tomoyo began blushing and quickly looked down. "Really?" she began trying not to appear flustered, "well I'm glad you feel that way."
She paused for a moment. "...Kurogane-san," she began until a lab assistant entered the room carrying the new arm. She was surprised that it went so fast. She took the arm, thanked the assistant and walked over to Kurogane to help him put it on.
He pulled his tee-shirt sleeve back and she helped attach the arm to him. "How does it feel?" she asked.
He moved it around in a circle, stretched it, and opened and closed his hand. "Feels pretty good," he said.
"Ok," she began, "well I'll take it down to get the skin put on it. I'll be right back." So she took it to them and waited until the had the skin on it before heading back.
When she got back she noticed him looking at the arm, a bit questioning. "So what exactly happens to this skin?" he asked.
"Well the skin on this arm can be torn as normal skin can but it will regenerate at about the same rate normal skin grows. Of course that won't be any kind of health problem or anything because of the arm being metal underneath," she said, "Here let's get it on."
So she helped him put it back on and stared at him after it was on. He looked much better with it having skin. She smiled. "You look good," she began.
"Thanks," he said getting up and putting his jacket on, though he stuffed his gloves in his pocket.
As she watched him she knew that their reunion was almost over. He had his new arm and they still had plenty of places to travel. They couldn't stay here too long. But she didn't want to start missing him again. She almost wished he could stay but she always knew he couldn't.
"Well," she began trying not to let her voice give away her sadness, "I would love to see you all off but I've got so much to attend too. I'll take you downstairs though so-" She turned toward the door until she felt a strong hand grip her smaller one. She quick turn around to face him and felt his fingers intertwine with hers. He took a step toward her and her blush got worse. "K-Kurogane-san?" she asked.
"Does it feel strange?" he asked.
"W-what?" she stuttered.
"The skin," he said giving her hand a small squeeze. "Does it feel strange?"
She thought about for a moment and then shook her head. "No. I mean it feels too soft for someone like you...but I'm sure you'll change that over time."
He grinned at her. "You're right about that."
They stood there a moment, neither making an attempt to move. Tomoyo could feel her heart pounding in her chest. It really jumped though when he finally spoke.
"You know," he began, "we never know where that little pork bun is going to take us...but I'm glad it brought us here again."
Tomoyo smiled the brightest smile she could. "So am I! I missed you so much, Kurogane-san!" She didn't know what came over her but moved closer toward him, let got of his hand to hug his neck, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He stared at her surprised at first but then grinned. "I missed ya too," he said.
She let go on him and sighed, "I hope you all can return one day soon or maybe we can finish our dimension traveling technology. Until that time we'll keep working hard...and I'll keep missing you."
He thought a moment then said, "Maybe you won't have to miss me too much."
She titled her head in a question and that's when he told her his plan.
XXXXXXXXX
3 MONTHS LATER...
Tomoyo was sitting in her office, looking over the improved energy plans for their dimension traveling machine when she heard a knock on her door. "Come in," she said not looking up.
"Ms. Daidōji, there's a strange man down in the lobby saying he has a delivery for you. I th-" Before the assistant could even finish Tomoyo was running out the door.
When she got downstairs she saw Fūma standing there with a box in his arms. "Hello President," he said.
"Are those from him?" she asked, excitedly.
Fūma shook his head. "They are. Here you go." He handed her the box.
"What's the price?" she asked.
"He already paid it," said Fūma. "Well I've got more deliveries to make. See ya later, President."
"Goodbye," she said. When he left she quickly made her way back to her office to open the package. Inside was a dvd. She took it out, put it in her computer and suddenly Kurogane's face popped up.
"Am I doing this right?" he asked touching the camera screen. "Is it working?"
"I think it is," began Syoaran, "This red light's blinking. She said that's what it's supposed to do, right?"
"Yeah," he began, "Wait she can see all this then?"
"I think so," said Syoaran.
Kurogane rubbed his face. "This shit is so frustrating," he growled.
Fai giggled in the back. "Kuro-tan wasn't it you who asked for the camera?"
"Shut up!" he snapped.
Fai giggled again before appearing in front of the camera. "He wouldn't be doing this if he didn't have a crush on you, Tomoyo-chan!" he said in a sing-song voice.
Kurogane quickly jumped up, fist pulled back. "I'll kill you!"
She watched as he chased the magician around and couldn't help but giggle. She was so glad when he suggested she give him 'thing she carried around' (a camera) so he could show her their adventures. She had given him one, explained how it worked, and had been eagerly waiting for him to send her a video.
Her attention went back to the video when she saw Kurogane sit back down in front of it. "Hey kid, could you...?" He jerked his thumb to the right.
"Ok," said Syoaran. She heard rustling in the back and then it was just Kurogane sitting in front of the camera. "Hey," he began rubbing his neck, "Missed ya."
Tomoyo smiled. She missed him too but now with this missing him would hurt a little less.
Reviews and constructive criticism are always appreciated. ;D