"Damn it, where are you taking me, Mage?" Kurogane grumbled as he trailed Fai down the busy street. The sun was beginning to set, but being as this was a very urbanized city, it was still bustling.

Syaron had found an ancient artifacts museum that had caught his attention. Fai knew he wanted to stop, but Syaron insisted they kept moving. Fai had used some clever wording to make him believe there might be something about Sakura's feathers in there. That was a good enough reason to investigate, so he and Mokona went inside.

Then Fai started to walk away and, almost subconsciously, Kurogane followed behind him. "Where are you going?" Kurogane had asked immediately. Fai's smiled surprised him, because for once it was real. "It's a surprise!" He laughed. Now that they'd been walking for almost a half hour, Kurogane was beginning to loose his patience.

Fai looked over his shoulder, at the grumbling ninja. "Don't worry, we're not going anywhere danger-…"

"Watch where you're going!" Kurogane yelled as he snatched Fai from the emending doom of falling down an open manhole.

Fai landed at Kurogane's feet with a thud. "Well, perhaps it's a little more dangerous than I thought…"

Kurogane scoffed, "No, you were just being a klutz." People around glanced at the odd pair, as Fai stood and brushed himself off.

"Thank-you so much, daddy." He mumbled. Kurogane blushed, "I AM NOT YOUR DADDY!" He screamed, drawing even more attention to them.

Fai giggled, and whispered, "Daddy, you're so loud! Come on we're going to be late if you don't hurry."

He darted off before Kurogane could question him. "Hey!" Kurogane dashed after him, but in this new world, it was hard to run without hitting someone. Fai, however, moved as if they weren't even there. When Kurogane finally caught up to him, they were standing in of a very tall, very bright building.

He stood next to Fai, and looked up. "X Prosthetics? What the hell kind of appointment-…?" A thought popped into his head and he sighed irritably. "Mage, I thought I told you my arm is fine."

"It doesn't fit right." Fai said.

"It works."

"It hurts."

"I can deal-…"

"I can't." Fai retorted.

Kurogane stopped mid-outburst, "You what?" He said dumbly.

Fai studied his feet, "Kurogane, do you know what day it is?"

The use of his real name made him take this seriously, "Uh… It's Saturday."

Fai smiled sadly, "It's my birthday."

Kurogane suddenly felt like the biggest jerk in the world. How could he no have known when…? "Mage, I…" He stopped when Fai placed a hand on his good shoulder.

"This may sound really tacky, but… I really only want two things this year." Fai said quietly, meeting Kurogane's gaze, who nodded.

"1. I want my friends to be okay, and part of that means getting that arm of yours fitted properly. And 2… Well,"

He took his hand off Kurogane's shoulder and ran it through his hair. "What is it?" Kurogane almost whispered. Fai met his gaze again, "I want you."

Kurogane jolted a little, and whatever he was about to say got caught in his throat.

"I know that sounds really stupid, but I mean it. I really… really care about you." Fai hugged him self tightly, blushing. "It's killing me to watch you suffer when I can do something about it. I don't want to give you any more reasons to want to leave me. So, please just-…!"

Kurogane grabbed Fai's hand and clenched it in his, "You idiot." He whispered as he pulled Fai closer and planted a kiss on his forehead.

"I already told you, I'm not going anywhere." Though Kurogane had never been known for his sweetness, caressed the mage's cheek, and smiled. No, not smirked, he actually smiled.

"You already had me, dummy. You're stuck with me." Fai blushed, and threw his arms around Kurogane.

"Thank-you, Kurogane." He whispered. Kurogane sighed and placed a hand on top of Fai's head.

"Didn't you say we were gonna be late?" Fai quickly stepped back, scratching his head embarrassedly. "Oh, uh, Yeah. Let's go." He said as he turned to walk inside, but Kurogane grabbed his hand to stop him.

"Oh, and one more thing…" As Fai went to turn back around Kurogane claimed his lips. Fai, as astonished as he was, timidly kissed him back. Kurogane pulled back and turned to walk inside, but not before murmuring "Happy Birthday, mommy."

Fai looked very much like a surprised tomato, "Th- Thank-You… I, um, well..." He stopped when Kurogane smirked at him over his shoulder, "Yeah, I may have kissed you, but you tell anyone I said that and I'll deny it 'til the end of time. Got it?" Fai followed him happily into the building.

"Yes, daddy." He grinned.