Title: Drabbles
Author: Gypsy Dancing Girl
Fandom: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles
Pairings/Characters: No pairings intended. Characters include: Fay, Kurogane, Clone!Sakura, Clone!Syaoran, Real!Syaoran, and White Mokona.
Genres: Family, Friendship, Humor, Hurt/Comfort
Rating: K
Warnings: None
Author's Note: Some fluffy drabbles that have been on my computer for months. I no longer remember where I got the prompts. I don't think they're from any of the online lists, I think my roommate and I made them up while on a sugar high. Kurogane's mindset is just too much fun to write. Fay is really hard, but I do think I'm getting better at representing him.
Air
Kurogane has an innate sense of danger before it can hit the small group. He never knows exactly what the danger is, but he can sense the threat it poses (a) to the intended target, and (b) the group if anything happened to one of its members. Something in the very air is different. After half a dozen worlds where his sense of danger has been tested nonstop, he falls into a new world and even though he's wounded and bleeding heavily, instinct tells him to inhale this new world's air to test for danger.
As soon as he does, it no longer matters that the princess's soul is still missing, that the mage has overused his magic to such an extent, or that the kid and manju are badly frightened and exhausted. His own injuries pale next to the certainty that fills him as he keeps breathing that clean, sakura-scented air of Nihon.
Home.
Safe.
Analysis
Fay stiffened as they landed in this new world, caught by the tail-ends of Mokona's magic. But he knew instinctively that they hadn't been reunited with the children.
"Oi, Baka."
Fay blinked. They were no longer close enough to Mokona to understand each other. This was even worse than he thought.
"Baka!" Kurogane's hand lashed out, catching Fay's collar and tugging him out of the way as an arrow struck the ground only inches from him. Fay was pretty sure that baka must be the translation of Kurogane's favorite insult idiot; right now, Fay would have to agree with him. He should be paying attention to their surroundings instead of worrying over the children.
Riders were coming at them, and Fay turned, putting his back to Kurogane's. The men circled them and barked out a question. Fay winced. Kurogane answered. The men asked another question, this time using the word Ashura and Kurogane's denial was as vehement as Fay's was startled-but even in different languages, they could understand each other's meaning.
Kurogane gripped his shoulder, pushing Fay behind him and continued arguing with the mounted rider in the language that Fay couldn't even begin to follow. But Kurogane seemed unpleased.
Another man interrupted, shouting at the first. Kurogane relaxed, nodded, and accepted the reins of the beast. The ninja then went so far as to mount the beast and haul Fay up behind him without even a warning. Fay sulked as he analyzed their situation.
They could not find and therefore could not protect the children. This country had an Ashura. He had the distinct impression that Kurogane had just signed them up to join this group of armed riders for an unknown conflict. And he couldn't communicate with Kurogane to let him know how unacceptable these terms were.
Well, at least Kurogane would be happy.
Anniversary
The worlds ran at different times, different seasons, different everything. Keeping track of time spent on the journey was a fruitless pursuit. But Yuko never failed to send them chocolate on Valentine's Day with the reminder of her White Day present according to her dimension's calendar. It was a stupid way to record how long they spent on the journey. The first Valentine's Day had come long after they had begun traveling. But it's the only day they have for sure and it's become something of an anniversary for them.
Kurogane refuses to admit it, but twenty years from now (if they ever finish the journey), he'll still probably remember the stupid holiday as the anniversary of the craziest family he'd ever heard of: a ninja, a mage, a kid, a princess, and a talking manju bun. Personally, he thought that the dimensional witch had a twisted sense of humor.
Father
Another crash rocked the yard. With a deep sigh, Kurogane crawled out from under his own project and went to rescue the little princess. Thankfully the mage and the kid were out with the manju for the morning and the blunder was only witnessed by himself. Sakura was always embarrassed when Syaoran or Fay saw her mistakes.
She blushed as he offered her a hand, but she took it and let him pull her out. Together, they pulled the little vehicle back from the wall and righted it. Kurogane handed her a wrench and went back to his project.
She would probably crash it again, but they had all afternoon. Kurogane would respect her decision to enter the race. So he backed off and let her practice as hard as she could. She needed to learn how to do this on her own-a fact that the mage and kid seemed incapable of wrapping their heads around. It wasn't callous. It was how his father raised him, and Kurogane had turned out alright.
Besides, if she got in over her head, then he would be there to pull her out.
Snuggle
"Mage, I think that I must have hit you too hard the last time," Kurogane returned casually, continuing to build the fire up. "Because usually not even you could be stupid enough to think I would ever . . . ever . . . voluntarily be caught dead within two feet of any of you unless you were dying."
"Kuro-rin! It's cold out! Sakura-chan is turning blue!"
"That is why I'm building a fire," Kurogane continued, still patient and still calm. "She'll be alright in a few minutes."
"We'll all be frozen in a few minutes, Kuro-tan!"
"I am a ninja," Kurogane said flatly. "Ninja do not snuggle."
"Kuro-min!" Fay began jumping up and down, waving his arms erratically. "We are all going to freeze to death in this weather if you don't-"
"Oh, for crying out loud!" Kurogane shouted, throwing a piece of firewood at the mage. Fay ducked it and continued to rant, but Kurogane silenced him by grabbing the startled princess and planting her beside him next to the fire. After a moment, he sighed and pulled her to his side, wrapping the rest of his cloak around the shivering girl. "Happy now?" he glared at the mage.
"Ecstatic," Fay returned, beaming his ever-present smile. He plopped down beside Syaoran to share his cloak with the boy and Mokona peeked out from the mage's hood. "Mokona . . . make sure Yuko sees this. We'll never see the manly Kurogane snuggle with anyone ever again!"
"Manju, if you contact the witch, I'll turn you into gloves for the princess," Kurogane added conversationally. Mokona gasped and hid again. "This is sharing body heat in extreme conditions. Not snuggling."
"Whatever you say, Kuro-chan!"
The End.