Disclaimer: I do not own Tsubasa Chronicles, or any of the characters. I do, however, love them like my own. The beginning can be found directly from volumes 10-12, or chapters 70-90.
Please enjoy, and please leave a comment in the review area on whether you like the story, if you hated its guts, or if you have any suggestions to make it better! Every little bit helps!
7/4/2014 REVISION: I am terribly sorry for my forgetting entirely about this. I was, to my benefit, writing a book that has been going along wonderfully! I have been meaning to go back to my fanifics and when I did, I decided I might as well redo everything.
Honestly, I believe it needed this! There was too much shortness involved, so I hope you like! Please forgive me! HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!
Cars of identical sizes and shape crowded behind four machines of flight, providing a respectable amount of space as to not accidentally bump into any of the fragile vehicles. In front of the flyers were many women-guards in black suits. They stood with poise, with purpose, as they were there for a job and nothing more. The only ones not stone-still were a group around a table, enjoying the sunlight and clean breeze provided. It was a crystal-clear day in the world called Piffle, if not a little warm.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting!" Fai cried out happily, carrying a tray of iced teas in an expertly balanced hand as he opened the door with the other. On his head, Mokona supported a second tray helpfully, and behind them Syaoran held a third, looking flustered.
As they passed out the tea to the guards, Mokona hopped down from the magician's head to the table where Kurogane, Sakura, and another girl were seated. "Mokona helped out with the iced tea!" it declared on the table, joyfully holding out a glass for the young lady with long black hair.
"Well, isn't that wonderful of you!" the girl smiled, clapping her hands in delight. "But isn't it amazing what they can do with robots these days! The people of your country must have some of the best scientists around."
Fai laughed.
"I wish my company could build something like this!" she continued happily, shaking Mokona's tiny white paw. But she didn't really look too interested in Mokona besides a half-hearted curiosity.
"Company?" wondered Sakura.
The girl turned to Sakura with a smile. "I must be forgetting my manners." She placed a hand over her heart with a saddened sigh. "My name is Tomoyo Daitôji. I'm the president of the Piffle Princess Corporation."
"The president? The most important person! Wow!" Mokona exclaimed, standing on Tomoyo's hand so it could crow its enthuses personally. Tomoyo, not one to leave anything out, proceeded to tell Mokona how all the women around them were her bodyguards, gesturing towards all of them with her free hand. She seemed thrilled.
"Piffle Princess…" Syaoran mused, recognition flaring in his eyes. "That wouldn't be the same company as the race…"
"Yes, it is…" Tomoyo concluded. "My company is the main sponsor." Then she got perky, standing up halfway and spinning around dramatically. "I couldn't resist a Dragonfly race! Or the grand prize, either! From the start until the instant the final checkered flag falls… I intend to record every moment! And for that reason, I need my heroine to enter the race!"
She finished with a planned flash of petals in the air, raising her hand as if in victory, her other hand in Sakura's. The entire audience of guards clapped enthusiastically.
Later in the day, Tomoyo was curious enough to demand that Sakura fly in her Dragonfly, her spirits yet to die down even the slightest bit. So, soon enough, Sakura was sliding on her goggles and starting the engine of Flying-Egg-Go. She gripped the steering wheel tightly, unsurely, but had that famous look of undeniable determination in her eyes. In seconds she was soaring through the air while everyone down below looked up at her in anticipation.
Not surprisingly, Sakura's Dragonfly tipped precariously in the air. It started to sink, her engine puffing out a fume of smoke as well as an unhappy little cry. She cried out with it, falling over.
Syaoran, alarmed, ran after her as she fell.
Except…she didn't fall at all!
Sure hands tipped a wing from underneath her falling machine, moving the vehicle so that she was unexpectedly gliding a few feet over the ground for all but a couple moments. She made a graceful stop on the tiles, immediately bolting upwards so that she stood in her Dragonfly with a perplexed look etched perfectly on her face. She removed her goggles and looked around, puzzled.
Syaoran continued to run forward until he saw a familiar figure emerge from behind Sakura's Dragonfly. As he skidded to a stop a few feet away, the newcomer placed a sure foot delicately onto a wing and faced Sakura in a way that ensured that she had no disillusions to who it was in front of her.
And thanks to the lighting, things weren't too difficult for Syaoran to see as well. They gasped.
"F-Fai-san?!" the two kids stammered in unison.
The man that stood before them looked just like Fai. The only exceptions to this were his outfit, which was a fully-black version of Fai's, and longer, fuller hair that was tied back into a small ponytail with dark blue—almost purple—fabric. Plus, most importantly, he wasn't smiling. To contrast Fai's fake endearing look, this man's face was almost depressed. Dark eyes, while warmed a touch while set on Sakura, went for a more natural look at his downturned mouth and worrying eyebrows.
When the man seemed to notice Syaoran watching he turned to the boy and smiled, quick and sad. There was nothing dishonest about his gaze in the slightest, and that realization made Syaoran's eyes widen. But as the boy opened his mouth to speak—to ask about this man—he was interrupted by Tomoyo's clapping.
She was ironically still cheery even in the heavy mood. "Ah! Good timing! I knew you wouldn't let my heroine hurt herself before the race!"
In response, the man held out a hand for Sakura if only just to solidify Tomoyo's point. Flustered and confused, Sakura took it and let him help her out of her Dragonfly. Her tousled hair matched her bewildered face fittingly.
"You look just like Fai!" Mokona cried happily, hopping up from Syaoran's shoulder to the new guy's. The man looked about as alarmed as Tomoyo did about seeing Mokona, which pretty much meant that he quirked an eyebrow at it and didn't question anything.
"Do I?" he muttered quietly, but he petted Mokona with his free hand gently despite his sad look. He half-closed his eyes, his head almost gravitated towards Mokona by some unseen force. The puff-ball, being great about feeling negative emotions, hugged the man's cheek silently. He sighed.
They all walked over to the rest of the people, the man finally letting go of Sakura's hand when they stopped walking. But the way he had held her hand wasn't the awkward sort of kind that would have resulted in Syaoran's silent envy. The man held Sakura's hand in a way that befitted her title: like a man to his princess.
"Good day," he called out, in a voice that was quite like Fai's.
Mokona crawled up to the man's head as he spoke, leaning over his bangs to see everything.
"Hello!" Tomoyo called back, raising a hand to him. It was as if she were greeting a close friend and not a stranger…but there have been odder things that Tomoyo had said or done. "Nice day, isn't it? I haven't seen you in almost a week. How have you been?"
"Same as always," he murmured like it was obvious, smiling faintly in her direction.
"That is to say: bad as hell," Kurogane muttered, looking away when Fai and the man turned curious looks his way. Fai shrugged, smiling his trademark grin while his lookalike frowned almost in an understanding manner to what Kurogane had uttered.
"We look just alike!" Fai sang to the stranger, leaning forward on the balls of his feet.
"Like twins," the man agreed. He sighed, closed his eyes as if to a bad joke, and shot Fai a look that could have been calculating as easily as it could have been glaring daggers. Fai looked taken aback by this response, almost shocked that the man had taken his greeting so sourly.
"Y-yes," Fai said, barely managing to keep his smile. Kurogane shot a suspicious look from one Fai to the other from his placement in the background, and already knew something was up. There was no hiding when there were two of them in one place, after all.
"Is your name Fai-san too?" Sakura asked seriously, her gaze never once straying from the man.
He turned to her, his eyes immediately softening as his attention was directed away from Fai. He seemed glad for the excuse. "To some, perhaps. But you may call me Yuui."
"Ah, okay," Sakura smiled. "Then, Yuui-san… what brings you here today?"
Yuui's smile widened largely, too suddenly. Too much like the familiar grin that Fai was hardly managing to keep in place that very moment. "To bask in the radiance of two beautiful ladies, of course~!"
"WHAT THE HELL?" Kurogane roared, furious.
"Now now, Kuro-pii!" Fai laughed, using the given incentive to dance over to Yuui and take his hands in his. "Yuui-kun, this is Kuro-rin! And over there is Sakura-chan and Syaoran-kun! And of course, my name is Fai! It's wonderful to meet you!"
"It's KUROGANE, you idiot!" the big burly man insisted in a growl and roar that defined him best, grasping at an invisible sword that should've been at his hip, but there was nothing there. He was grasping at empty air with completely no means of protecting his wounded pride. "Kurogane!"
"And this is Mokona!" Mokona exclaimed, twirling on Yuui's head to draw the attention away from Kurogane's foreshadowed bloodbath.
Yuui's smile remained, but his hands were completely limp in Fai's. Unresponsive to his lookalike's eagerness. "It's wonderful to meet you all," he said anyway, his eyes holding nothing but sincere happiness at meeting everyone, even if they were a bit pained. "That was Sakura-chan, Syaoran-kun, Fai-kun, Mokona… and Kurogane-kun, right?"
Everyone stopped and stared at Yuui. He smiled back; completely unaware of why everyone was suddenly giving him the exact same weird look.
"Am I wrong?" he murmured to Kurogane, a look of amused understanding flashing in his gaze. "Should I not address you so informally? Would you rather Kurogane-san…or perhaps Kurogane-sama instead? You look like you'd enjoy the term 'sama'."
"Uh…" Kurogane frowned, his own face revealing that he didn't know how to take this. This sort of Fai was not one he had been expecting. "That's alright…I guess."
An awkward silence followed, though Yuui seemed unaffected by it. He slipped his hands away from Fai's smoothly and deftly changed the subject. "So are you all going to be participating in the Dragonfly Race? You know, just guessing. It's not like there are four Dragonflies sitting right out here for all to see." He winked good-naturedly.
Kurogane grumbled something incoherent. Something about 'idiots'.
"Yes!" Sakura cried, flushing happily. She bounced on her heels. "And thank you for helping me, Yuui-san! I forgot to tell you that!"
"Think nothing of it," Yuui answered, bowing slightly in respect. "It's not every day I surround myself by two princesses at a time."
Syaoran's head snapped up. "How did you know Sakura was…?"
Yuui neatly touched a finger to his mouth and curled the edges into a smile. "You need to learn to not exclaim that when you're calling for her. It might notify the wrong crowd—just saying."
"Oh," Syaoran blushed, apparently not aware that he'd called 'Princess!' when she'd almost crashed—because he hadn't.
Kurogane and Fai looked at Yui with similar looks of suspicion, though Fai's was better concealed than Kuro's.
"Well!" Tomoyo called, clapping her hands together for the third time that day, lacing her fingers together. "The sun's starting to set. I think it's about time to be heading back for the Corporation for the last of my daily preparations before I head home as well. Yuui-kun, will you come?"
Yuui turned his smile to Tomoyo, but it had a hardened look about it. "Of course, Tomoyo-chan." There was something to his voice as well, so unlike a lookalike of Fai's to be carrying. He was keeping a secret, and was being completely obvious about it.
"Oh, but don't you want to stay for tea, Yuui-san?" Sakura asked, full of innocent earnestness.
Yuui waved a hand towards Sakura. "No thank you, my princess. But I must thank you for the offer." He gifted her with a small genuine smile, and began to walk to Tomoyo, who had risen to leave. The guards scattered for departure.
Kurogane clamped a hand on Yuui's shoulder as he passed by, forcing him to stop in his tracks.
"Oh~!" Fai cried, giggling. "So intimate, Kuro-puu!"
But Yuui didn't take this contact as lightly as Fai. He tugged lightly, probably hoping that the man would let him go easily and not cause a scene, but Kurogane held tight. Yuui flashed an instinctive glance backwards towards Sakura and Syaoran, where they stood shocked and surprised at Kurogane's unexpected action.
Carefully, he covered the eye that was visible to the kids with his bangs. Mokona jumped down from Yuui's head in fear, hopping over to Fai's with a small squeal of confusion, though the view there wasn't much better.
Yuui's visible eye was full of uncontrollable emotions. Hate, confusion, fear, guilt, envy, and every other negative thing was all there in that one moment. All of it was found in that one sapphire blue eye, that glared at Kurogane with no venom and yet holding all of the venom he could muster.
"Touch me like that again and I'll gut you like a fish!" he hissed under his breath, his eyes flashing a golden color and back to blue in an instant.
"Yuui-san?" Sakura whispered in confusion, not having heard his threat. She started walking up to him, but Fai was already there, halting her progress with a gentle hand on the shoulder.
"I'm sure he's had such a rough day," the wizard murmured to the princess, his smile thankfully gentling to something half-authentic. "Let's just let him go, okay? I'm sure we'll meet him again."
Yuui smiled falsely at her, reaching out as if to pat her head, but he couldn't reach where he was standing. "I'm quite alright, Sakura-chan. Kurogane-kun just wanted to know something that wasn't too important… See you at the race?"
Sakura's eyes brightened instantaneously as she entirely forgot about the confusion and the looming threat in the air. "You're going to race, too?!" He nodded with a short little laugh that portrayed all of his amusement, and she clapped her hands together with joy. "Good luck, then!" she cried joyfully.
Yuui smirked, saying his goodbyes to the children and Mokona. He, after all was done, none-to-gracefully yanked his arm out of Kuro's grip and walked off back to Tomoyo, intentionally avoiding the big man's gaze.
Tomoyo touched his arm, and Yuui gifted her with a weak half-hearted smile. Together, they walked off to the mass of cars, followed by the herd of female guards. They were gone within the minute the engines turned on.
Silence stretched within the group of five travelers.
Something strange was going to come out of this Dragonfly Race… Well, that had been obvious from the start, but now it was an unavoidable subject to face. Who was Yuui, really? Why was he there, racing as well? So many questions directed at that strange man, the lookalike of Fai's.
"Well," Fai coughed, attempting to bring back a good mood. He turned on Kuro with a suggestive grin. "He was quite into you, wasn't he, Kuro-muu?"
"STOP CALLING ME WEIRD NAMES, DAMMIT!"
Thank you all for reading! Please leave a comment in the reviews on whether or not I should continue this story~ everyone's opinion counts! (Seriously, my other fan-fiction "Blood to Snow" currently only has 4 reviews—though that may be because the intro sucks and hardly anyone reads on to where things get interesting. Either that or I just suck at writing) Thank you all for reading!
'Blood to Snow' is also a story about Tsubasa Chronicles, but mainly about Kurogane and Fai. If you liked this, I'll suggest reading that next, though you can skip the first chapter if you'd like. I hate intros Please comment!
7/4/2014 REVISING: I would like those who have read this before to reread it and give me thoughts if you think it was better or worse than before (if you can remember that far back…) Thank you for your patience!
P.S.: Blood to Snow will hopefully be redone in full, but that will be after I finished this one.