Paper Walls

I have no clue, honestly. I get a picture in my head and somehow the buildup is more than what I actually spew out. Un-beta'd as this is just a bit of a random drabble. And yeah, I did get into the Tsubasa fandom. Thanks for noticing. :3

I think Kurogane would be a complete softie around Sakura… but yet no one ever exploits this. OTL;; Makes me so sad.

I own nuffin'! Though I am a sucker for Kurogane. -wink, nudge, nuzzle-

It was faint, a soft hiccup through the thin, peeling walls that awoke him from his not-quite-asleep slumber. It was hard to actually sleep in such a dingy room, only long enough across to stretch his legs out one way, big enough for a small bed the other. The springs creaked and it wreaked of must and un-swept dust, dimly lit save for a small wall light that had yet to shut off in their time at the forsaken orphanage.

It should have been enough to not allow him to sleep for the fact Fai had arranged their less than adequate arrangements, causing the five of them to spread across separate rooms with various distances in between. The mage's sleek smile was more than enough to alert him to the hell he'd go through tomorrow in payment for the horrible abode, and Kurogane could feel his brain cells already dropping dead from the thought.

The sound continued, a bit louder this time, causing the warrior's scarlet eye's to narrow in vague confusion and wonder. He honestly wasn't aware as to who the room contained, scowling and crawling off to his own confines before the rest. It far too quiet to be the fabulously insane blond, but a bit too improbable that the kid and his princess would be on opposite sides of the shitty once-mansion. The little white pork bun obviously wasn't one of the contents, though.

Stiffly he rose from the shotty bed, dropping his cloak on the edge of the mattress as he exited through the much too narrow doorframe with a bit of discomfort. The wood rubbed his shoulders, and dusted the crown of his head, but it left him no room to duck in either way. In Kurogane's eyes, it was a death trap with suffocating abilities.

The hallway wasn't much better, and with a dust-raising sigh the raven drew a hand to knock lightly on the neighboring door. Deeply drawn sobs stifled, only stopping long enough for a heart wrenching, "Yes?"

Shit damn. The bulky man scowled at nothing for a moment, debating heavily of his next moves in hopes that'd somehow get him out of the quickly rising predicament. This was a calling for disaster, possibly more dangerous than the complex they were taking residence in. Drawing out a long, displeased growl, Kurogane pressed a rough hand to the rotting door, lowering his face towards one of the narrow gaps in the frame. "Oi! Something up in there?"

There was a uncomfortable silence, filled only with radiating hesitation from both ends of the wanna-be 'conversation'. With another shaky breath came, "I'm fine, K-Kurogane-sama."

"Like hell," he muttered, pushing a little harder on the door, forcing the tarnished hinges to squeal against his weight. "I'm coming in."

The doorknob gave up nothing close to a fight, turning easily in the ninja's grasp despite being locked on the opposing side. The doorframe though gave a bigger issue, causing a string of profanities to mingle in with the girl's quaking sobs, and then just as he broke through, a soft chime of a laugh.

"Kurogane-sama… you don't have to put up the effort for me." The room was just as dim as his own, Sakura seated in the middle of the iron-cast bed, surrounded by the various woolen blankets that had been earlier bestowed on them. Apparently they hadn't been split up like instructed.

He didn't say anything as he took the spot beside the forlorn princess, only noting the cascading tears that rolled helplessly from her eyes to the round of her chin. Neither relaxed in the slightest, stiff figures teetered on the edge of the skanky mattress, awkwardness nothing but abundant. The Nihon boy wasn't sure why the hell he bothered, his appearance wasn't making much of a difference on the female, if anything it made her cry harder as she attempted to stop the heavy flow. Shit fuckin' damn, he had to stop it somehow, otherwise he could already imagine the look that would cover the kid's face once he realized his damsel had been bawling the whole night. Really, he needed to stop caring for them, now.

"… P-Please, I'm fine. Go get some sleep, Kurogane-sama." Her hands fisted in her lap, catching silky tears on their backs, and dislodging them down her thumbs as they rolled away into her dark dress, disappearing into the frills of old-time fashion.

He leaned carefully back, pressing shoulder blades to the curling wallpaper with a small 'huff' of frustration, complete with signature arm fold. "Apparently not. And stop using my name, I'm aware of who I am."

"…" the silence only filled with harder tears, and her hands swiftly moved to cover her face, splaying fingers under her bangs in awkward angles. Her frame collapsed inward, bunching hopelessly as she tried to disappear, vanish completely from the man's presence.

Apparently that wasn't the right thing to say.

"… Look, I can't stand to sit next door and hear you crying. I'm positive the kid and that crazy ass mage don't want to hear it either. I'm sorry but this is the best you got in order to stop, got it?"

Some logic must of shone through, causing the clouds in the corner of her eyes to slowly dissipate as her jaw parted slightly for a alternate route of breathing. Crying was one thing, snot bubbles was its own league entirely. Kurogane could not handle that.

"… hmph."

Slowly, with a softer touch as if the girl had become his Giryuu, the red-eyed man shifted her sideways to move her from the bed to the edge of his lap, cradling her gently in the nook of his right arm. His hands rested awkwardly at both of her sides, just there holding her slightly as Sakura turned to bury a tear-stained face into his shoulder. She was a statue for a moment, the only movement being the still-flowing water works she had to explain. A shaking hand climbed his chest, tugging him closer to her level for optimal face hiding.

"… Thank-you … I know this, t-this is so odd for you, Kuro-ogane-sama..." there was a uplift in her voice that vaguely reminded him as a light at the end of tunnel, a very long tunnel that would occupy his night to travel. Somehow, though, he really didn't mind it.

"Yeah, whatever. Just stop crying and sleep already, kid."

She nodded ever so slightly, her bouncing hair nuzzling the edge of his chin on its own accord. This type of comfort was so… straight forward. It wasn't sugar coated or decked out with dreamy words or soft nuzzles… It pricked all the way down to heart, coating it with the basis of all his words in one swift sentence.

It seemed nicer this way.