Title: Hydrangea
Rating: PG
Word Count: 622
Summary: They say that if you talk to a flower, it will grow.
Disclaimer: Tsubasa does not belong to me.
Warning: There's nothing really that needs a warning. ;
A/N: I would blame the fact that I was planting said small and sad hydrangea yesterday afternoon for this.
It was in a new world, a world with a large expanse of parks and trees and no end to the bountiful supply of flora, that the clouds rolled in, dark and low and heavy. Syaoran and Sakura had just returned from a shopping trip, and Kurogane had been watching the flower shop Fai had opened with they arrived, but there was no sign of the magician himself.
So, naturally, Kurogane was sent to look for him.
After fifteen minutes of looking, during which it became still and calm, and all the people retreated inside to let it rain, Fai was found sitting on the ground talking to a hydrangea.
"What the hell, mage." Kurogane intruded on Fai's private moment, not particularly because he enjoyed intruding on other people, but mostly because he thought Fai was being stupid. Again.
Fai looked up at him. "They say that if you talk to flowers, they will grow. And I think that Hydrangea-san needs some stimulating conversation. So I decided to help it!"
Kurogane looked at the plant. It was true that it was small, and shrimpy, and looked as if it would die if you so much as glared at it. He resisted the urge to test that theory, and turned back to Fai.
"Plants don't grow if you talk to them, idiot. They grow because of the sun, the rain, and the soil."
Fai smiled, a grin that Kurogane had catalogued in the back of his brain as one of the smiles he would really prefer never to see ever again. "That's what you would say. But people talked to you, and now Kuro-yin is all big and strong!"
Kurogane stared. "What?"
Fai's grin unfurled into something that Kurogane was sure could not fit on any normal face. "Kuro-rin's a vegetable! A vegetable!"
The ninja blinked. Fai was dancing, and singing, and acting very Fai-like, so he was as sure as he normally was that Fai had not quite lost the last vestiges of sanity that kept him orbiting the same planet as the rest of them. "I don't look anything like a vegetable!"
Fai stopped, and slowly looked at Kurogane. "You don't know? I don't mean that you look like a vegetable, although a eggplant Kuro-myu would be very amusing. Kuro-run is like a vegetable up there!" Fai poked Kurogane's temple.
Kurogane stared, then very slowly, drew his sword and prepared to slice Fai very neatly in two. It would be quick. It would be (relatively) painless. There would be considerably little blood and then he could finally, finally-
His little reverie was broken when Fai tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to where he was about to step. The hydrangea was looking for all the world like it was cowering and awaiting the moment when the foot would drop and obliterate it from the earth forever.
"You almost stepped on it." Fai's voice was quiet. "Poor Hydrangea-san just endured a lot of trauma from your carelessness. I think an apology would be in order, wouldn't you?"
"I am not going to apologize to a hydrangea! It's a goddamn flower!"
"Shrub."
"A shrub, then!"
"But an apology might help it grow. After all, it would be talking."
"I don't want it to grow!"
Fai leaned in closer. "Are you sure about that? Hydrangea-san is listening, and might take your words to heart. And that would be very sad."
Kurogane twitched. "Fine! The hydrangea can grow, for all I care!"
Fai frowned. "That's not really an apology."
Kurogane snapped back, "Then I'm sure that you can kiss it and make it all better."
Fai leaned back, like he was considering it, and then leaned forward. For a heart-stopping moment Kurogane thought the mage was aiming for him, but Fai leaned past him and planted a kiss on one of the hydrangea's leaves. He leaned back and smiled. "I think that Hydrangea-san is happy now."
Kurogane said nothing as the heavens opened to let down the rain, and the hydrangea grew.