Disclaimer: Kurogane and Fay both belong to CLAMP.
A/N: This is one of my responses to 15-flames, the prompt for this one being #3: Post-it note. As some of the other responses will be pictures, to see them all, look for draconn-malfoy at LiveJournal.
I apologize, Alys-tan -- I just can't help the angst. But at least they all survived this time, right? Scars
"Take Sakura-chan and run," Fay hissed. As Syaoran started to protest, the vampire spat, "Don't argue with me, brat. There's no time for that."
Syaoran fell quiet and nodded. At any other time he would have been insulted at being called a brat – unless it came from Kurogane, who used it almost as an endearment – but like Fay had said, there was no time for that now. Besides, he really shouldn't complain. Even if it was only for Sakura's sake, this was the first time Fay actually acknowledged his existence voluntarily.
"But Fay-san!" Sakura exclaimed even as Syaoran lifted her into his arms, not trusting her legs to carry her. "What about you? And what about Kurogane-san?"
"Don't worry about us," Fay replied, smiling like he only would do for her, nowadays. "We will make sure you get away safely." With this he turned around, bouncing into the battle as gracefully as ever.
Kurogane did not even glance towards Fay as the mage landed beside him, yet they both were almost painfully aware of each other's presence. Without a single word being exchanged they fell into a flawless routine of attacking and defending, too used to fighting side by side to let their disagreements affect their performance in a battle. Kick, strike, bounce, throw, slice – their actions worked perfectly together.
"Hyuuu," Fay said, sarcasm taking in his voice the place before reserved for amusement. "For once, Kurogane is useful for something."
"Funny that you would say that," the ninja replied, not rising to the bait. It was almost funny, the way he would explode at the merest annoyance from Fay before yet stay calm through any barbs when the wizard actually meant to hurt. "I thought I was doing a fairly decent job of keeping you alive."
"I never said otherwise," replied Fay, delivering a swift kick and a throwing knife at the chest of the dragon-like monster they were fighting. "I just don't think it is very useful."
"It is to the princess," replied Kurogane, sinking his sword into the dragon's neck before drawing it free again. "She would break if you died."
"She would get over it," Fay insisted. "Besides, if I died, the other Syaoran couldn't cause any more destruction and thus hurt her."
"Your logic sucks," the ninja said. "And so does your sense of self-preservation."
"No sense in preserving something that only causes harm," Fay replied lightly. Another one of his knives found the dragon's eye. "And I think we are almost done here."
"I agree on that second comment," Kurogane remarked dryly. With one last leap he jumped up towards the dragon's head and thrust his sword into its remaining eye.
Fay stood watching as the dragon trashed and turned in its last struggle. He was too far for its claws or fangs to reach, too far even for the mighty trashing tail. No dying today.
It wasn't until he saw a spark of light in the roaring mouth that he realized there might be yet another weapon the monster had in its use.
He saw Kurogane in his peripheral vision, but that didn't matter. His whole attention was on the constantly growing spark in the dragon's mouth. Soon the flame grew enough to escape the monster's mouth, rushing forward to envelope the transfixed wizard.
Except that it never did. Just as Fay expected to finally get to die, a dark figure positioned itself between him and the fire. Although he felt the heat, the flames couldn't touch him through the shield of Kurogane's body.
"You idiot," he hissed. "You absolute idiot."
Kurogane didn't answer as he fell down to the ground, unconscious.
"Fay-san!" Sakura yelled in shock as she ran to meet them. "What happened to Kurogane-san? Will he be all right?"
"I don't know, Sakura-chan," the vampire replied with a quiet sigh. "We must get a healer as soon as possible. If he gets help soon enough, maybe he can still be saved."
Syaoran didn't say anything, simply leaving to arrange for a healer. Fortunately to the badly burnt Kurogane, the medical facilities of this world were very much up to the level of its dangers. Sakura simply hovered around worriedly as Fay lay the injured ninja onto a bed.
"Have no worry, Sakura-chan," he said with the most cheerful smile he could manage. "I'm sure everything will turn out to be all right. Kurogane is simply too stubborn to die."
This seemed to calm Sakura somewhat. Really. The child should not believe so easily everything she heard – especially from him.
The healer arrived soon enough and after a quick inspection set to work. Fay took the children out of the room – there was no need for Sakura to see any more of Kurogane's injuries than was necessary, and Syaoran might get in the way. Then he simply waited, one hand comfortingly on Sakura's shoulder as the girl tried in vain to hide her worry.
Finally the healer emerged from the room. "Amazingly enough, he will live," she informed them. "I've never before seen a person live through a dragon's fire."
"See, Sakura-chan?" Fay smiled. "He is just too stubborn to die so easily."
"May we go and see him now?" asked the distraught girl. Syaoran still stayed silent but looked attentive as well.
"Yes, you may," the healer replied. "Just don't be shocked at his appearance. While I managed to heal quite a lot of the damage, some very bad scars will remain."
Sakura hardly even heard the rest of her words; she was already in the room with the ninja. However, the healer still had more to say.
"Somebody should watch over him for the night to make sure he is breathing regularly. If you notice any difficulties, alert me immediately. I will come and see him tomorrow even if nothing happens."
Both nodding, Fay and Syaoran followed Sakura into the bedroom. They found her by the now sleeping ninja's bed, biting her lip to prevent tears from falling.
Kurogane indeed looked bad. Fresh scars marred his whole bare upper body, and Fay suspected more scars remained under the blanket covering his lower body. His face seemed particularly badly scarred.
"I'll keep an eye on him over the night," Syaoran offered. He, too, seemed rather distraught, although he was better at hiding it than their precious princess.
"But you can't stay up the whole night," Sakura protested. "I'll watch him at least half of the time!"
"I can't accept that," Fay said in turn. "You need your rest, Sakura-chan. I will take the other turn."
For a moment the two males were locked into a staring contest. 'I don't trust you,' they both said with their eyes, not daring to make their accusations aloud with Sakura within the hearing range. In the end, though, they both backed down. Half and half it would be.
Fay couldn't help but wonder what exactly was Syaoran's relationship with Kurogane. Had the boy adopted his clone's father-son relation with the man? It certainly appeared so.
Well, it didn't matter anyway. All that mattered right now was making his one and only princess calm again.
"I've noticed nothing wrong," Syaoran said as Fay walked into the room. "You do know how to contact the healer if something does happen, don't you?"
Fay ignored the boy, as he had resolved to do. The first boy had caused him indescribable pain. It would be for the better if he didn't even get attached to this one at the first place. Less pain along that path.
Kurogane, he would have to push away. Except that it wasn't working – and the closer the ninja stayed, the harder it was for Fay to suppress his feelings for the man.
Syaoran left quietly, leaving Fay alone with Kurogane. Crouching down on the floor next to the injured ninja's bed, Fay stared up to the ceiling, concentrating on listening to Kurogane's breathing patterns.
Syaoran had no cause to worry, of course. Fay could have never let Kurogane die. It would have hurt his precious princess too much for him to allow that. And, much as he wanted to ignore the fact, the ninja's demise would have hurt him, too.
Kurogane lay absolutely still, like he always did in his sleep. Usually this stillness was claming to Fay, reassuring him that Kurogane was at peace and thus there could be no danger anywhere near. Now, however, the absolute lack of movement only caused him to feel restless. What if Kurogane never moved again?
No, that couldn't be. He was breathing all right, wasn't he? And he was just too stubborn to die, the hard-headed bastard. Who cared that nobody had ever survived a dragon's fire before.
The scars were disturbing, though. Of course, they wouldn't always be as red and easily seen as they now were, fresh as they were, but they would still always disfigure the ninja. Well, he had chosen it himself. In fact, he was fortunate to even be alive after his idiotic act. The scars were none of Fay's concern.
...Except that Kurogane had acquired them while saving Fay.
Almost out of their own accord Fay's fingers started to weave complicated figures in the air. He tried hard not to think of the last time he had used his magic – and the consequences thereof. This was not like that time, was it?
He had no healing magic. However, perhaps he might be able to erase the remains of another's healing.
Even as he released the spell he told himself that it was only for Sakura-chan's sake. He had seen the pain in her eyes as she looked at the horrible scars. It was only so that she could look at her dear Kurogane-san without wincing.
However, as the scars slowly faded away until they could not be seen anymore, Fay found his fingers lightly brushing against the ninja's cheek. He drew his hand back quickly as though he had burned it. However much he tried to, he couldn't make himself hate the ninja – but he had to keep trying.
The rest of the night he just sat, listening Kurogane breathe.
Kurogane awoke quickly as always, completely awake within seconds from leaving sleep. He immediately noticed he was not alone in the room.
Well, of course there was Mokona, sitting beside him and looking worried as ever. It had not liked being left home when they went out, and he doubted the fact he had come home injured had done nothing to make the meat bun happier. But in addition to the white bun – who immediately launched itself into a hug as it noticed he was awake – there was another figure sitting beside his bed.
Fay smiled, a thin, cold smile that was even worse than any glare or grimace. "Morning, Kurogane," the mage said with the exactly same voice that had made him ache the first time the comment had been made.
Well, he hadn't expected anything else. If preventing the man from dying once made him angry, repeating the act would only make that anger deeper. He doubted he could ever make the wizard look at him with a real smile again.
It didn't matter, anyway. It didn't matter whether the mage hated him or not; the only thing that did matter was that he was alive. And Kurogane was going to keep him alive, as much for himself as it was for the kids.
Even if, he thought as Syaoran and Sakura rushed inside, babbling something about scars and blocking the mage from his view, it meant that Fay was going to hate him forever.