Slowly that had changed. Over time, he had realized small things about Fai- constant fear in his eyes. Always, always the mage was glancing over his shoulder, at trees, anywhere, as though he expected a ghost to loom out of the shadows at any time.
The man could not stop moving, and he wondered if, beyond anything, it was terror that animated him. He'd begun to recognize that nothing- no smiles, no jokes- were devoid of fear, devoid of sadness, devoid of a pain so deep Kurogane wondered how the man had not lost it completely.
At first, Kurogane had reacted to Fai because he angered him, but that had changed. Fai's fear had grown, drained into Kurogane, and now the ninja reacted because he was terrified, because he couldn't think- because he wanted to protect this, because he knew he couldn't and that Fai's ghosts would catch up to them.
And he was terrified that the imaginary ones would reach them far sooner than the real ones.