Trick
One-shot. Sakura sees something odd and asks Fai about it. The wizard is not very forthcoming with an answer.
Disclaimer: Tsubasa belongs to Clamp, not me, fortunately for all concerned.
Special thanks to Auramistealia for beta reading.
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The group was tramping through a forest, and oddly enough they were singing. Well, Fai, and Mokona were singing. Sakura joined in for the chorus, and Syaoran, at the front of the line, hummed along.
Fai and Mokona had initiated the singing when it began to drizzle, Fai to lift spirits, Mokona just because he liked to make noise. They had just learned a catchy song on the previous world they had visited, and the lyrics were simple enough, if a bit whimsical.
They were trying to get Kurogane to sing along with them, but having little success. The ninja was actually getting quite irritated, if the crazed look in his eyes was anything to go by.
"Why will Kurogane not sing?" asked Mokona piteously, once the song reached its end, the third time around.
"Perhaps he cannot," Fai said, then putting his hands to his mouth, to needlessly amplify his voice, he called to Kurogane who was only three feet in front of him. "Kuro-chin, can ninja's sing?"
Kurogane turned his head around to face his two tormenters and glared at them, but didn't reply. Sakura said "Maybe he doesn't like to, is that it Kurogane-san?"
Unable to be rude to the girl, Kurogane muttered "Yeah, that's it."
Fai sauntered up to Kurogane and leaned in conspirator-like. "Is your singing that bad Kuro-ri?"
"No!" Kurogane exploded, pushing the shorter man away from him. Not wanting to admit any area in which he lacked, Kurogane tried to speak further. "I mean- I- ARG!"
A 'thwack' noise was heard, and Syaoran stopped and turned his head around. Kurogane was smiling evilly, as he continued on, passing him. Syaoran couldn't see Fai, until his head popped up from the high grass on the ground, where he was sprawled.
"Syaoran-kun, Kuro-pi hit me!" Fai said, in a fairly good imitation of an elementary school child whining to his teacher. He picked himself off the ground and dusted the dirt off of his white coat, good naturedly waving Sakura's helping hands away.
Kurogane was whistling happily up ahead, ignoring Mokona who was sitting on his shoulder and pounding him on the head, while reprimanding him.
Syaoran sighed. Sometimes (well, make that most of the time) he felt like he was the adult, not the two other older males.
xxx
It was quiet. The traveling party had bedded down for the night. Syaoran had wanted to press on, but knew that they would be lost in the dark. And Sakura was already showing signs of dropping off.
Kurogane had suggested that one of them keep watch during the night, since they were in a new world, with no knowledge of the animal life. Or, potentially even more dangerous, the human life.
Fai had volunteered for the first watch, Kurogane second, and then Syaoran. Sakura had started to insist on taking a watch also, but Syaoran had won that battle by default; Sakura had fallen asleep in mid argument.
Now all were in their sleeping bags, except for one lone blond man who was sitting by the small fire, periodically shifting the twigs with a stick, causing the embers to fling up in the air.
A faint murmuring could be heard. Fai looked over to where Kurogane was sleeping, Mokona snuggled into the crook of his neck (he had only done this after Kurogane had fallen asleep). The white puff ball was talking to himself, recounting the activities of the day. Fai suspected he was actually talking to his other half, Modoki. He wondered if this was how Yuko knew what they were up to.
As Fai was thinking his fingers were unconsciously moving, having dropped the stick. Before he knew it he was concentrating on the small leaf that his hands were hovering over. It lifted up in the air and swirled before Fai came to his senses.
Sakura had woken up just one minute ago, and had been observing her surroundings. She didn't remember getting in her makeshift sleeping bag, or falling asleep for that matter. Then she remembered she had been trying to convince Syaoran to let her have a turn at keeping watch...
Oh, pooh, she thought. Falling asleep probably had not helped her out in convincing Syaoran. Sakura looked around for the current watcher and saw Fai.
And a leaf floating in the air.
Sakura propped her elbows on the pallet and rubbed her eyes sleepily, and looked again. Yes indeed, it was definitely floating. Nothing else was moving, besides the man's hands, so it couldn't be wind. At least, not a natural wind.
With a jerk, Fai suddenly stopped moving his hands, and the leaf fluttered to the ground. An expression Sakura had never seen crossed his face, and she thought it was something akin to horror.
His head wiped around, looking at his follow travelers. Sakura had a guilty urge to lie back down on her pallet and close her eyes, as if she'd been caught in some forbidden act, not the other way around.
She didn't have time. Fai's eyes met hers. He stared. Sakura stared back. Neither moved.
Fai's look of panic was gone, replaced by a blank expression that turned into a slight smile. Now that the almost omnipresent smile was back, Sakura thought she might have imagined the depth of the fear that had been displayed on his face.
"You are awake, Sakura-chan?"
She nodded, a small smile of her own showing on her face. She felt relief at his light tone. "How were you doing that?"
"Doing what?" he asked innocently.
"With the leaf."
"Oh, that," Fai gestured with one hand at the aforementioned leaf, in a wave of dismissal.
Sakura waited for more, but Fai didn't venture anything else. She wasn't a very observant person, but she did notice a slight tenseness in his posture, and a closed look in his eyes. She was a curious person, however, and dearly wished to find out what was going on.
Wrapping her blanket around her shoulders, Sakura got up from her pallet and settled back down by Fai, in front of the fire. She asked a question she already knew the answer to. "Were you making it float?"
Fai regarded her silently and then sighed. He propped his elbow on a log, and rested his head on his hand. "I suppose you wouldn't believe me if I said 'no'?"
Sakura grinned and shook her head.
"A pity," Fai murmured, looking into the fire and trying to come up with something else to say, to explain away what he had done.
"One of my memories..." Sakura ventured slowly, as if it were hard to recall, "One of the memories that I have is of a celebration in the palace...they were people who did tricks, like juggling, but there was one who made things disappear, and change color, and fly. One man, from what Syaoran-san has told me I think he is my brother, told me they were just illusions, party tricks."
Sakura paused, closing her eyes, trying to visualize the elusive memory. "Another man, I think he was the palace priest, told him not to be so sure, that things can be more then they seem."
"A wise man, your palace priest," Fai said, smiling.
"Yes, he looks wise," Sakura said thoughtfully. "Maybe with my next memory I'll remember his name."
"Perhaps."
"Are you like that man? Who did the party tricks that might have been more then what they seemed?"
"I'm not sure." At Sakura's confused look he added "I don't know anything about that person you remember. It is possible, I suppose."
Sakura looked at him from out of the corner of her eyes. "You're trying to be mysterious about all this, aren't you?"
Fai laughed. "Not really. I just don't want to lie to you."
"You don't have to."
Fai sat up and threw another twig into the fire, not responding.
Sakura yawned, trying to hide it but not succeeding. Fai looked at her and laughed "I do believe Your Majesty is going to fall asleep again."
"It's not the sleepiness caused by my memories being gone, just normal tiredness." She yawned again. "At least, I think it is."
Fai said hopefully "But you have to go back to sleep now."
Realizing that she wasn't going to be awake long enough to get anything more out of him, Sakura sighed, and stood up. Fai stood also.
As she turned towards where her pallet was located she faltered, but Fai caught her gently by her shoulders. Sakura tilted her head back to look him in the face, and said sleepily "Thank you. But don't think I'm going to forget all this."
"Of course not," he said as he guided her back to her pallet.
As she pulled the blankets around her she added "But...I won't ask you about it in front of the others."
Fai's smile brightened. "Thank you, Sakura-chan."
Fai glanced up at the dark heavens. It was time for Kurogane's shift. He looked back down at the girl. She was already asleep.
He walked over to Kurogane, wondering how he should go about waking him. Having never woken up a ninja before, Fai wasn't entirely sure it was a safe thing to do.
Fai grinned and picked up a long stick. Safety first, he thought as bent over and poked Kurogane with it.
Poke, poke. "Kuro-rin?"
Nothing. He gave him another poke, harder, and used another nickname, "Kuro-run?"
Nope. Weren't ninja's supposed to be light sleepers? Abandoning the stick, Fai crouched down and shook Kurogane's shoulder. "Ooooh Kuro-tan, wake up."
He woke with a start, his hand jutting out and grabbing a hold of Fai's wrist. "What do you want?"
I should have stuck with the stick, Fai thought. "I was trying to wake you up. I didn't know you were such a deep sleeper."
Kurogane grumbled something in reply and let go of Fai, rolling to a sitting position. Having dislodged Mokona, the creature woke up and said dejectedly "Kurogane move."
"Stupid manjuu bun," Kurogane said, stifling a yawn.
"Yes, he moved. Wasn't that mean of him?" asked Fai.
Mokona nodded, a sad look on his face.
Fai smiled deviously in the semi-awake ninja's direction. "And look what he did to my wrist." Fai held his left arm with his right, letting his left hand dangle. "I think he broke it."
"I didn't break your damn wrist, so stop complaining."
Fai moved his right hand to his forehead, in a grief-stricken gesture. "Oh, how unbelievably cruel Kuro-mi is."
"Cruel," Mokona said, warming up to this game. "Very cruel."
"Oh shut up! Can you and that thing go playact somewhere else, and leave me the hell alone?"
"But Mokona and Fai like playing with Kuro-pan," Mokona said cheerfully. Fai laughed loudly, in reaction to Kurogane's expression, then brought his hands to his mouth in an attempt to muffle the sound for the sake of the two slumberers.
Kurogane cursed under his breath and rose, striding over to the fire. Mokona followed him. Fai crawled over to his pallet and settled in.
The runaway magician stared up at the sky. The stars were shining in all their glory, but his thoughts were not on them.
He glanced over at Syaoran and Sakura, both sound asleep, their breathing matching each other's perfectly. He then looked at Kurogane, who was staring morosely into the fire, while Mokona softly sung what sounded to Fai like a variation of one of the drinking songs they had heard in the last world they had visited.
Mokona's drinking song abruptly ended and was replaced by scolding. Fai smiled sleepily. He didn't need to look to know Kurogane had knocked the creature down in a futile attempt to silence him.
His gaze went back to the sleeping princess. She wouldn't tell anyone else, and she might not get the chance to ask him about what she had seen anytime soon. A feeling of relief settled over him at that thought.
Fai knew they all would -perhaps would need to- know about his powers soon, and consequently his past.
But, thankfully, that time wasn't now.
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This was written (around 1:00-3:00 in the morning) for one reason only: I so wanted to write another Tsubasa fic. I have deluded myself into thinking I write the characters well, and I enjoyed writing them last time. Problem was, for the longest time I couldn't think of a plot. But then this idea struck me and gave me an excuse to write the characters again. :) So I'm sorry (but not that sorry) if the seemingly randomness of it bothers you.
I'm not sure why Fai doesn't use his magic, or talk about that aspect of himself. (Though I have suspicions...) But please, for the love of Pietro, DO NOT tell me if you do know. I'll find out eventually.
Also, I know there was magic on Sakura's world (what with Yukito and all), but for the purpose of this fic I decided that the magic he does is different from Fai's magic. Does that make sense? So making things float and whatnot would be foreign to the world of Clow. 'Kay? Ah, go with it.
Anyway. Just wanted you all to know about my ignorance. I know that soon a new chapter of Tsubasa will totally screw up this fic, but I really don't care. Lol, like I said, I only wanted an excuse to play with the characters again.
Well, tell me what you think please, I love feed back.