Disclaimer: I do not own Tsubasa reservoir Chronicles. Got that clear? And I don't own the two additional characters, either. You'll see who I mean. *smiles *

A/N: This one shot is for Yuuki-chan's contest. It's on another site. So the inspiration for this fic does not reside solely on me.

Kurogane knew, instantly, that something went wrong. Maybe it was the uncomfortable way-

(Very uncomfortable)

-that he his hand was lying on top of someone's behind, of the fact that all four of them were packed in such a tight space.

On top of all THAT, the white manjuu was bouncing on his head.

"Oy, Manjuu! Where are we?"

"I think we're in a cabinet," the blond magician Fai D. Flourite mumbled.

Kurogane turned his head two inches to the right and saw that the mage was the owner of the butt he had his hand on. He yanked his hand off the best he could. To his humiliation, the mage laughed. It seemed that Fai, at least, had always been aware of whose hands were on him.

"Why did we land here, Mokona?" Syaoran asked the critter. For his part, he was buried under Kurogane's cloak. No one could see him, and if not for his voice, they would have doubted that he was even there.

"Careful, kid, I'm…" Kurogane began. "…ticklish."

"Really?" Fai said with delight. "Let me see if it's-"

"Don't touch me, mage!"

And just before Kurogane could tear the smirking mage into tiny pieces, the cabinet door burst open.

"AND HERE WE HAVE THE LAST CONTESTANTS FOR OUR MUSIC COMPETITION!"

"The what?" Syaoran repeated.

The four dimension travelers popped out of the cabinet like snakes from a joke can. They emerged into bright sunlight, on a platform, surrounded by applauding people.

"Wow," the announcer commented. "How did you even fit in there?"

The ninja shot him a ferocious glare. "Don't ask if you value your life."

The manjuu was already dancing in circles around Sakura-hime. "Mokona senses the feather here!"

"What feather?" Kurogane cried out in exasperation.

Slowly, they all got to their feet. There were other "contestants" beside them. The announcer was explaining the rules of the demented contest that they had gotten themselves into. With nothing better to do, they listened.

Apparently, this country was called Harmony, and it was a world dominated by music-mages. Every year, there was a music competition. The prize was usually an item that can enhance the magical power of a music-mage.

By successfully doing a "teleportation spell", they were qualified to join in the competition. Said teleportation spell was out of the cabinet that they had just escaped from.

Finally, the announcer displayed this year's contest prize-a golden trumpet. He told everyone that when it was blown by a powerful enough mage, a magical feather would appear- a white feather that would grant the player unlimited power.

"A feather!" Syaoran gasped.

"I know," Sakura replied. They grasped hands.

There were three parts to the competition: the teleportation spell, which they had already "completed", a summoning spellcasting, and a navigational spellcasting. The mages must work these three spells to find the golden trumpet. If they used a spell other than the ones specified by the program, they would be disqualified. Weapons were allowed, as long as they were not summoned by magic. Healing magic was forbidden ("good thing, too, I flunk at those anyway," retorted Fai). Of course, Magic could only take the form of music. Attacking the other mages was allowed, but killing wasn't.

By this point, Syaoran, Sakura, and Kurogane were all looking at Fai. He was their only hope.

Fai looked at them, these people that he had already considered as his friends, and sighed. "Understood," he said easily. "I'll win and get that trumpet."

Sakura bit her lip. "You don't have to do it if-"

The blond mage smiled and patted her head. "Don't worry about it, Princess," he grinned. "But, will you do something for me?"

"Anything," Sakura vowed.

"Stay with me through the competition, 'kay?" Fai's cerulean eyes were very kind. "I'll need someone to cheer me on."

The young princess' whole face brightened. "Of course, Fai-san!"

"I suppose that means that we'll have to stay with you as well," Kurogane growled.

"Oh?" Fai said delicately.

"Because you need someone to fight for you. Healing magic isn't allowed."

"Is Kuro-pii worried about me?" laughed Fai.

"Shut up, mage."

The competition was held in an island. The good thing was that it wasn't in a jungle-at least there were no exotic plants or wildlife to look out for.

On the other hand, they had no idea where to look.

"That's what the summoning spellcasting is for," Fai explained patiently. "To help you look."

"We can only use three spells," Syaoran said nervously.

"Two," Kurogane corrected him.

"Oh, yes…"

"Mokona wants Fai to win!" sang Mokona.

"We all do," Sakura assured Soel.

"Well, with words like that, I can't really slack off, now can I?"

"Wait," Syaoran's brown eyes glittered. "I just thought of something."

Everyone turned to look at him.

"Well, I was thinking…that the three spells for this contest are teleportation, summoning, and navigation."

"Yes?" Sakura prompted.

"But the teleportation spell was set up by Mokona. And…if Fai-san agrees…maybe Mokona could help us find the trumpet…so we won't have to use Fai's magic. After all, Mokona can sense the feather and…"

"That's a great idea, Syaoran!" Fai chirped. "What do you say, Mokona?"

"Mokona wants to be the hero this time," the manjuu replied.

Kurogane snorted. "If we rely on you, we're doomed."

Mokona's brows furrowed. "Kuro-roo is soo mean!"

"I haven't forgiven you yet for landing us inside that cabinet," hissed the ninja. "And don't call me names!"

"Aww, admit it, you actually like it," teased Fai.

Sakura suppressed a giggle at the look Kurogane was currently giving Fai.

"If that's decided, then, we can start. Lead the way, Mokona."

"Yes!"

"This is crazy," Kurogane declared as they all trudged after the white creature.

"No, this is fun." Fai smiled.

The hardest part was the attacks from the other music mages. They assumed that Mokona was their summoned spell, and while that wasn't too far off the mark, it seemed completely unfair that such a bouncy creature would attract trouble.

Syaoran, Kurogane and Fai had their hands full protecting their group as they went along. The other mages' summonings were more sinister. Thy obviously took the "summoning" spellcasting as a way to eliminate the other mages.

"And what have we got for a summoning? A white pork bun. I'll be the laughingstock of Nihon if they knew," grunted Kurogane as they slashed a new enemy.

Sakura was thinking of Fai. Although she never thought of him as a coward, he seemed to agree a little too readily to Syaoran's earlier proposal. Normally, it would occur to the mage that Syaoran's plan was somehow like cheating.

Why was Fai so reluctant to use his magic?

"Look out, princess!"

Sakura looked up reflexively and ducked as a black…cat-like creature with wings darted past her. Kurogane slashed at the cat, but it grew until it was the size of a leopard. It roared and with a grand sweep of its wings, flew to Sakura again.

"Hime!" shouted Syaoran. He was at her side in an instant, fending of the flying leopard's claws.

Kurogane jumped to the fray with a roar that must have happily alerted all the other music mages to where they were. Fai resisted rolling his eyes. His tall friend had such a flair for the dramatic.

"Stop it, Spinel," a new voice interrupted. They all stopped to see a new music mage coming to them. "We won't win at this rate. And didn't I teach you better than to attack defenseless people?"

The flying leopard spoke. "Ascott, that was never my intention."

"Who are you?" Fai asked sharply.

The mage had laughing green eyes nearly hidden under a fringe of brown hair, and a white cloak edged in green. He was holding a flute. "I am Ascott. I'm also one of the music mages in the competition. Please forgive Spinel for his harshness."

"Call him off," Syaoran told Acott with rare anger. This giant…cat had tried to hurt his princess!

Acott raised an eyebrow. "We weren't planning to win this way. Calm down." He gestured for Spinel to return to his side. Spinel did so, rather languidly.

"Your temper should not get the best of you, boy," Spinel advised Syaoran.

Syaoran glared.

"Oh I see," Spinel said, amused. "That princess is your precious person."

Ascott, Syaoran and Sakura all blushed. Fai laughed, and Kurogane was stoic.

"Dear me, Ascott, you're acting as if you don't have a precious person," Spinel remarked.

"That's enough from you," Acott warned. His ears were still red. "You're not from around here, right?"

Fai nodded, now cautious.

"I see. It was quite obvious-no one would attempt a teleportation to one cabinet with four people. I imagine that it was uncomfortable, yes?"

Though Ascott's gaze was amused, Kurogane didn't take it well. "Why, you-"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend!" Ascott looked positively frozen with horror when Kurogane took a step closer.

"Calm down, Kuro-poo," soothed Fai. "If there's no harm done I think we'll be best on our way."

"Kuro-poo?" repeated the poor Ascott.

Kurogane shot another one of his oh-so-famous glares at Ascott, before Fai and the others dragged him away.

"So that's a music mage," Fai muttered thoughtfully as they walked away from Ascott and Spinel. "And Spinel is his…summoning."

"He doesn't seem so bad," Mokona piped up."He has a good heart."(he had mysteriously disappeared while Spinel was there.)

"I know, Mokona," Sakura said. She looked at the others. "I'm sorry. I almost got hurt because I wasn't paying enough attention."

"Don't worry about it, Princess," Fai told her. "We're all here to protect you, even Kuro-inu."

"I'm no dog!"

"Putting that aside," Syaoran interrupted, "Don't you think that we should have found it by n-"

"The feather is that way!" Mokona said excitedly.

They all turned to where Mokona was pointing.

"A cave?"

"I can hear water," Syaoran said after a moment.

"I wonder why the other mages haven't found it yet," mused Fai.

"Mokona is a good finder!" the critter bragged.

"We'll see," Kurogane opined.

They entered the cave and saw immediately that Syaoran's hearing had been correct: the cave was actually the entrance to a pool of clear green water.

"What is this for?" Kurogane asked no one in particular.

"Meikyo!" Mokona suddenly shouted, nearly making Kurogane fall into the water. There, in the middle of the pool, glowed a golden trumpet.

"The trumpet!" Mokona cried triumphantly, violet eyes wide open.

"The feather," added Sakura. Her face was filled with hope.

Syaoran glanced at her. "I'll get it, Princess."

He was prepared to dive in the water for it, but Fai plucked at his sleeve. "Wait, Syaoran. The pool is too deep to swim in. I don't think that anyone but a mage could cross-there's no boat. Besides, I doubt that someone from the desert actually knows how to swim, don't you agree?"

Syaoran blushed for the second time that day. It only occurred to him how foolish he was being. "Uhm. No."

Fai winked. "Then I guess if you can't, I will."

"Fai-san?"

Fai was removing his boots. "The last spell….the navigation spell."

"But you don't have an instrument, like Ascott's flute!"

"Oh, but haven't you heard of the saying, "If you can talk, you can sing"?"

Now it was Kurogane's turn to blanch with horror. "You're not going to SING, are you?"

"And if I am?"

"I'll cover my ears," Kurogane threatened.

Fai laughed, loud and long. "Don't worry, Kuro-rin," he chuckled. "I'm not going to sing. We have the princess for that. But there's more than one way to make music without instruments."

With that, Fai began to whistle, happy, fast trills that echoed along the cave as he waded into the water.

No…

Not waded. The whistled spell was enabling him to walk on the water.

"You're so cool, Fai!" Mokona squealed.

Though Fai could not reply to that-he was still whistling-he nodded and grinned. A few moments later, he was within reach of the trumpet.

However, when Fai touched the trumpet, a thin frisson of electricity flicked his hand away. The mage flinched, his trills momentarily halted.

"Fai!" they shouted.

"We should've known it wouldn't be that easy." Kurogane sighed. "Get your act together, mage!"

Fai shook his head and began to whistle again, a more demanding melody. It was faster, stronger. The electricity protecting the trumpet dissolved, and the mage grabbed the trumpet with an unfathomable look in his eyes.

Sakura was concerned. "Fai-san?"

That was when Fai blew the trumpet.

Of course, since Fai stopped whistling, the spell to keep him afloat had vanished. He hadn't managed more than half a lungful's worth of air blown into the trumpet when he began to sink.

"Fai!" yelled Syaoran, running to the water.

"Stop it, boy!" snarled Kurogane, grabbing him forcefully. "Do you want to drown?"

All they could see of the mage was the top of his blond head.

"We can't let him drown, either!" Syaoran protested.

For a moment, Kurogane looked wild with desperation. It was obvious that he was not blessed with the abilities that could save Fai-

But Fai…

He couldn't just die!

"Fai-san! Whistle!" screamed Sakura. "Make yourself walk on the water again!"

"That would actually work if he could get enough air to do it," reminded Kurogane. "Have you ever tried whistling while swimming?"

"Well-"

There was a crunch of pebbles under someone's feet, announcing the arrival of a new music mage. For a moment, the sun was too bright to do anything but outline the newcomer.

"Spinel!" someone commanded.

"I'm on it!"

There was a familiar black blur which flew past them and dived into the water. When Spinel landed at the pool's bank, a very wet Fai was clinging to his back.

"Never thought I'd be fishing foreign mages out of magical pools," yawned Spinel. "You can get off now."

Fai collapsed onto the rocky shore. Syaoran and Sakura rushed to his side.

"Are you all right, Fai-san?"

Fai managed a watery laugh. "I got the trumpet," he said, holding it up in the air.

"You idiot," Kurogane swore. The line between his brows indicated that he was no less worried than the two younger kids. He hauled Fai to his feet.

There was a scary moment when Kurogane thought that Fai would collapse again, but Fai kept standing by the sheer force of his will.

"Ascott," Fai rasped. "Why did you save me? Are you going to steal the trumpet?"

The young music mage smiled. He was stroking Spinel's head. "I wanted to."

"Wanted?" repeated Sakura.

"But I won't be a very good sport then, now would I? Besides, the trumpet's power only works for the right mage." Ascott shook his head. "Even if I got it, because I was not the one who earned it though my sincere efforts, I would not be able to wield it."

"Ascott has a good heart!" Mokona said again.

The music mage chuckled. "The ninety-seventh Harmony Music Competition is concluded. Blow the trumpet, Fai-san."

Fai smiled in return, and blew. As the clear tone of the instrument declared Fai the winner, Syaoran seized the feather which had appeared.

Sakura stepped forward and held the feather. "Thank you, everyone," she whispered.

Sakura was lost in a memory.

Her memory.

She was descending into a pool of water, dressed in ceremonial robes, smiling. She stared at her reflection in the water, then turned to look at someone behind her.

"Thank you."

In the end, Fai gave the trumpet to Ascott. They explained that all they really wanted was the feather.

"Are you sure that you don't want to keep it?" Ascott wanted to know. "This is still powerful enough."

Kurogane crossed his arms. "Keep it. We've got all the power we need."

Fai chortled. "Is that a compliment, Kuro-pii?"

"We hope we can see you again!" Mokona chirped, ignoring the seething ninja.

Ascott nodded. "I hope so, too."

They were preparing to leave when Kurogane finally snapped and whacked Fai on his head. "And the next time, try being on dry land when you blow on an obviously magical object! We won't always be able to save you!"

Fai rubbed his head. "Thank you, Kurogane."

Syaoran smiled at the sleeping princess in his arms. Whatever memory she was dreaming of right now, he hoped it was a good one.

It was nearing the time that Sakura-hime would come of age. Though it was strictly forbidden, Sakura had invited him to the ceremonial pool in her best clothes.

They walked to the pool together, talking in soft whispers. Syaoran was going to give her a surprise present, and Sakura wanted to know what it was, but Syaoran only laughed and wouldn't tell.

They knelt, and stared at their reflections in the water. For a moment, they shared a contented smile.

"We better get going," Sakura said apologetically. "Nii-sama might catch us."

Syaoran nodded and helped the princess to her feet. "Oh, and Sakura-hime?" he added, blushing wildly.

"Yes?"

"You look beautiful."

Sakura turned crimson. "Thank you, Syaoran-kun."

Fin~

A/N: Kya. It's been a long, long while since I last watched the series-and even then, season 1, I didn't complete it. though I followed the manga quite avidly.

Actually, my original plot for this entry was quite different-and it wasn't working. I was staring at it for three days and only got to 705 words, which was just plain depressing. I was stuck for a while (with a deadline looming, no less-).

I rarely change my mind once I think of a particular plot, and certainly I've never changed the plot so drastically before. I literally started from scratch on this one. My inspiration was the cabinet scene. A hint of naughty-ness, haha.

I hope you liked it! Please review?Is the plot too simplistic, direct, unimaginative, just okay, creative...whatnot? I swear I don't bite. Constructive criticism is welcomed!

Or take a guess at what the theme was. I think I went off the contest theme quite a bit. Mef. Gomen, Yuuki-chan.

Re-re-re-review! Mokona says "Meikyo!" (her real name is Soel.)