Title: Perfect Sight
Pairing: Kurogane x Fai
Words: 678
Rating: PG-13
Genre: *cries* I have no clue. None. It's not angst or drama, I'll give you that.
Spoilers: Everything until and including the Clow arc
Disclaimer: I own nothing; CLAMP does. Isn't that lovely?
Summary/Notes: Future-fic; Fai ponders about hitsuzen, in hindsight
Furthermore, the fic assumes Kurogane and Fai settle in Nihon (and that Yuuko's still in existence, though that would only really affect a tense) and that, while the male bonding is going strong, they're not quite there yet (I have a thing for the period of time just before a relationship officially begins, and am secretly enamored and amused by the idea that the two of them would carry on in the same way for months and months before realizing It and doing something about it)
It doesn't say much, but it does address a few ideas/images that have been stuck in my head for a while now, and I'm glad to finally let them out ^^;;
"…and the only reason you could drag me out of Celes (Fai bites off the comment about how much his knees had screamed at that; it's far too flippant, now) was the fact that I'd sealed Souhi in your hand a few hours before."
"…And?"
The room is dark, and Fai couldn't have seen from three, four feet away, but he's sure Kurogane's raised an eyebrow.
"And the sheer chance of it," here he lowers his voice, weighs it down with feigned gloom, "chilled me to the very bone." He brightens up again, easy and quick: "I only realized it yesterday; high winter and all that," he grins, "and I still felt the shiver. Clearly."
"That's corny." Kurogane's voice is flat. Is there a smirk in there? Maybe a half-formed frown.
Fai's grin relaxes down into a thoughtful smile. "Very much so," he says, "but it is true." He takes a breath– "Our journey always hanged on a thin thread; or many tiny threads that had to meet just right – trying to track them all would make your mind stumble and freeze."
"Is your mind frozen up yet?" A lazy drawl, entirely alert.
"Not yet," Fai smiles, "though soon it might be – I have a lot of free time on my hands."
"I'll see Tomoyo first thing in the morning about your flimsy duty roster," the answer comes, and Kurogane must be smirking now.
Fai looks up through deep shadows, feels content. It's a little surprising how easily they talk at this late hour, just as they're going to sleep. Fai thinks they're in the process of making it a habit – he quite likes the idea.
"And I was also only able to get you through that barrier," Kurogane goes on, making Fai blink, "because Tomoyo went and told me how to do it.
"Though I had to be just the right amount of dead for it to happen."
Fai winces. Then he tries to work out, again, just how much Ashura-ou had known (because he'd had to fire that spell just right; and his last words had made Fai wonder).
"And later," he picks up the thread, "I could trade for your arm only because I had the vampire blood." Tit for tat, then and now alike. The world is made of balance. "Also, I could fight back against Reed's minions (Fai almost jokes about the word; it would have been appropriate, another time) – the rest of my magic would have been useless at the time." Just deadly to himself, in fact, but that would have defied the purpose of Kurogane trading for his life, twice, and would have gone against-- well, everything.
"Why are you bringing this up now?" And Kurogane's definitely frowning this time.
Fai smiles into the dark again. He wonders how cheer comes so easily to him, even though he's not trying to hide anything anymore (the opposite, in fact). It must be who he really is; or part of it, at least.
"No reason. I realised this yesterday, and-" tried very hard not to panic, in hindsight.
There is a pause.
"Yuuko-san said that there is hitsuzen, and things happen according to a plan, but that our own choices matter more, leading to futures of their own. But every choice has a result, and the inevitable will weave on from there – so what's the difference between one and the other?"
"Whose will you're following, yours or another's," Kurogane says, no pause for thought, no warning, and Fai blinks once again.
Huh.
That is… almost too simple. But-
The room is warm and pleasant. The night is silent except for the winds. Above, he can barely make out the long beams of the wooden ceiling.
"Would you believe this has been bothering me since yesterday?"
"Yes." It sounds like you remains unsaid.
Fai smiles. He pauses once again. Then,
"I wonder how Yuuko-san manages."
"…Sake. Lots of it."
"Right."
And after that they sleep.
The next morning the sun shines low and pale, but the bright snow makes up for it.
A/N 2: Um. If you're wondering why they're sharing a room despite not being outwardly an item yet, it's because it's become a sort of habit and now it seems a bit strange not to have a room-mate at night… and I might actually write something about that very thing one of these days, if more plot-bunnies settle around the idea.