Kurogane watched in anguish as Fai struggled and clutched at his shirt. He held tighter to the restrain the mage as he got instruction to do so. He was told that the changing process was going to be painful. He could tell the blonde haired man was suffering in this process and wished there was something he could do to comfort the man but at the moment he was just stuck with restraining him. Slowly Fai fought less and less; the mage released Kuro's shirt and got on his hands and knees to pant before flopping over on the bed unconscious.
"He'll be fine now. Just let him rest." Subaru told him.
With a nod Kuro seated himself on the bed beside Fai's fallen form. He looked up at the new Syaoran. The boy was holding the unconscious princess and holding out the eye-patch he had once worn. Taking it the ninja slowly removed the bandages over Fai's eye and tied the eye-patch over it making sure to avoid looking at where the eye had once been. The others shuffled out of the room leaving Kuro to watch over Fai. He gently adjusted the blonde to lie on his back. The image of Fai's face earlier came back to his mind.
Fai struggled to breathe after Yuuko finished explaining what was required but managed a word. "S-stop it." He begged.
"Shut up!" Kuro growled. "If you want to die so badly, then I will kill you myself. So until then, live!"
Fai's face was washed with a look of surprise before falling into a delicate, true smile.
Staring at Fai's pale face Kurogane knew that he would now be bound to Fai for the rest of their lives. Surprisingly he found himself not minding.
The princess had gone out to seek an item for Yuuko, leaving Kuro, the hunter Fuuma, the vampire twins, Syaoran and of course Mokona waiting. Fai lay still unconscious on a slab of cinder. He was hoping that the princess was safe as well as hoping that the mage would be waking up soon. Syaoran was comforting a distressed Mokona. Glancing back over to Fai he saw the one good eye the mage had snap open. It was a shocking gold, no longer the beautiful blue Kurogane was used to. Slowly the mage sat up and gave him the usual fakes smiles he had grown used to.
"Good morning, Kurogane." He said softly.
Kuro gasped, the mage never called him by his full name. He stepped towards the blonde as he moved to climb off the concrete slab. "Don't move." He said gruffly before tossing a brown blanket at him and walking off towards Syaoran.
Fai smiled down at the still sleeping Mokona in his lap. Sakura-chan had just gotten back and was currently resting up in one of the bedrooms in the Government Building. The mage was sitting down near the water supply. It was the only place he could be alone plus it was the last place where he had lost his eye. Now that it was filled with water once again the soft sloshing sound soothed him. His mind wandered back to his conversation with Yuuko. He half-lied to her; he had purposely allowed himself to get closer to Kurogane. In all truth; he wanted to get closer to him again. He could feel tears gathering in his one remaining eye. His mind was so buried in his thoughts he didn't here the thump of footsteps. A large tan hand landed on his shoulder starling him.
"So this is where you've run off to." Kurogane's gruff voice rang in his ear.
Looking up at him he offered a weak half smile. "Hello, Kurogane." He said pleasantly.
Kurogane twitched at the sound of his own proper name. "Don't call me that." He ordered.
Fai was shocked; usually Kurogane scolded him for not calling him by his proper name. He lowered his head to stare at Mokona who cuddled closer in his arms. The white manju gave a soft snore in his sleep.
"I'll make you a deal." Kurogane spoke up in the silence.
"What do you mean 'deal'?" Fai asked.
"I won't lecture or yell at you anymore if you go back to calling me those stupid nicknames." The ninja looked away from the mage so he wouldn't see his red face.
"But I thought…" Fai trailed off.
Kuro looked at him sharply. The mage looked scared, like he was afraid of breaking down. With a sigh the ninja scooted over and gently extracted the dozing Mokona from Fai's arms and placed him on the ground before pulling the now half vampire into his arms.
"Go back to how you used to be; the stupid nicknames, the Mommy and Daddy jokes, even those annoying 'Hyuu's." Kuro whispered into Fai's hair.
The tears from before slid down Fai's cheeks as he clung to Kurogane, he said he didn't want to get close again but of course that was a lie all along. The dark haired man tightened his grip on Fai, letting him cry all he wanted. Now they were bound together and Kuro figured it would be better to be bound to the mage he was used to rather than the one he was not. Fai looked up at the older man who winced at his tears but wiped them away effortlessly.
"Arigato, Kuro-rin. Even though you didn't have to take such a huge responsibility upon yourself you didn't it anyway." Fai's words surprised him but Kuro smiled when he recognized the nickname usage.
"Your welcome. I'm not letting you die, so whether you like it or not you're stuck with me." Kuro said in a gruff but soft voice.
"Kuro-rin is happy!" Mokona's squeaky voice interrupted the peaceful mood.
The white manju hopped up on Kurogane's head happily. Mokona bounced off Kuro's head and plopped down in Fai's lap looking up at the mage concerned. "Fai-san, are you okay?"
Fai gave it a smile. "Hai, I'm just fine, Mokona."
The mage was still in Kuro's arms but in an awkward position so the ninja lifted him up and seated him in his lap, holding him close to his muscled chest. Fai blushed at this action but happily buried his face in Kurogane's white button up shirt.
"I will keep you safe from now on. I won't let you get hurt again. I promise." Kuro whispered.
"Arigato, Kuro-puu." Fai said softly before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.