Pre-story note:
I don't like to see Japanese words or titles being used in English-language fanfiction, so I've converted Faye's nicknames for Kurogane. You'll see this throughout the story.
I did keep Sakura's name for Syaoran ("Syaoran-kun") because I couldn't think up a good enough English equivalent.
This story will take the crew into Kurogane's world, where he finds that Tomoyo is engaged. He also becomes increasingly troubled by Faye's odd behavior.
This is basically KuroFai and SS. There's another couple but I don't want to spoil it. No KuroTom, for the love of god.
End Pre-story note
Just Kidding
"Mokona Modoki can't wait!"
Kurogane mocked the white manjuu in his head as it swept them away from the world they were in. Every "adventure" was the same: look for feather, defeat villain, save people, leave.
He wanted to go back to his Japan, of course.
Beside him, Faye made his 'hue-hue!' noise and smiled at him. "Kuro-sweetie, where do you think we're off to?"
Kurogane grunted. "Back to Japan, I hope." He stole at look at the brats, who were talking quietly as the gate to the next world opened.
"Hm….Japan?" The mage smiled. "To go back to your princess?"
"Yes, to go back to that damn princess." Kurogane snarled, then shut his eyes in the hope of being left alone.
As they arrived in the new world, Kurogane could tell that he liked the place immediately. The trees looked like the ones back home, and the smell of sulfur told him that there might be other similarities, too.
Sakura held her delicate nose in her hands. "Syaoran-kun, do you know what that smell is?"
Syaoran, who was covering his face in a similar way, said, "No, Princess Sakura. I don't think that there was ever anything like this back home."
Faye covered his nose, then decided to just get used to it. Kurogane closed his eyes and breathed it.
"Eww! Kuro-woof-woof likes it!" the silly blonde mage said, laughing and pointing at him.
Mokona joined in. "Eww! But this smells familiar…"
"It's sulfur, from hot springs." Kurogane answered. He started to search the area. "There must be some close by."
Sakura and Syaoran looked at each other, and then followed him.
"Faye, should we go with them?" Mokona asked.
"Let them have their fun." The mage looked wistfully at the children and the ninja before setting off in his own direction, straight to the hot springs.
Kurogane soon found that the area EXACTLY matched Japan. The forest looked like one he'd been in before (although he didn't recognize any one part of it): the ground was rocky and hilly, and overgrown trees sprouted from odd locations. The scene reminded him of a few of Princess Tomoyo's ornate carvings, the theme of which was "nature overpowers man".
"Mr. Kurogane?" Sakura asked softly after a few minutes. She was having trouble keeping up with his search.
He glanced back at the 'brats'. "What is it?"
"Um, what are you looking for?"
Kurogane stopped for a moment to explain. "Their should be some natural hot springs around here, like back in Japan."
"Hot springs?"
He didn't want to explain, but…oh, hell. "Hot springs are natural water springs where something in the earth heats the water. I don't know how it works, but it feels great. It's sort of a vacation thing." He felt disgusted simply for telling her that much, so he turned around and continued searching.
Not wanting to let a pleasant conversation die, Syaoran asked, "So, it's like taking a hot bath outside?"
/Uh…/ Kurogane chose to not respond.
Sakura laughed. "Doesn't that mean that you're taking a bath in dirty water?"
Offended, Kurogane growled, "It's not dirty, it's relaxing." The smell was getting stronger.
Syaoran continued. "The hot water makes this smell?"
"Yes. It's sulfur." He spotted the gleam of water, and a very white object in the water…
At first he thought that it was a women because of the whiteness of the skin. He prepared himself to tell Syaoran to cover his eyes, but the thought quickly left his mind as he recognized the person.
"Mage, what are you doing here?"
Faye grinned up at him from the water. "I found the hot springs, Kuro-love." Mokona was floating close to him in the water.
As soon as the kids caught up, Sakura blushed and hid her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Faye, I didn't mean to look!" she said, turning around.
"The damn mage isn't even naked." Kurogane said gruffly.
Faye looked surprised. "Nudity is considered decent in this world?"
"For HOT SPRINGS, yes it is."
Syaoran was aware of the tension. Whether Faye knew it or not (and he probably did), he had somehow insulted the hot springs by leaving his pants on. He didn't want an argument or a battle to be the result.
Faye turned his attention away from Kurogane. "Sakura, it's okay to look. I just took off my shirt."
She still blushed. "Even that…"
"Have you never seen Syaoran with his shirt off before?"
"Mr. FAYE!" Syaoran said. He was surprised that he would ask such a question, as if to imply that Sakura and Syaoran had…well, any kind of relationship.
"Just kidding," Faye said. As Mokona drifted by him, he reached out, spun the manjuu, and sent it spinning across the hot spring across the water's surface.
Kurogane was still upset by the insult of the hot springs. "Why are you in there if you still have clothing on?" He asked, putting all of his anger into the sentence.
Faye tapped his chin and looked up for a moment.
"I mean, you wouldn't get into a bath with yours clothes on, would you?"
"Hmm…maybe it's because my clothes are dirty, too." He answered with his usual fake smile.
"Whatever." He looked past Faye. "Are there any other springs?"
"What for?"
"Isn't that obvious? For the girl to go to."
Faye smiled, ready to launch another attack.
"Why can't she stay here? It's just a big hot bath, right?"
Syaoran blushed madly, Kurogane was at a loss for words, and Sakura covered her face and started to answer, "Oh my, I couldn't, that's, well, Mr. Faye, um, about that…."
"YOU DAMN MAGE! That's such an insult to hot springs!" Kurogane shouted at him.
"Really?" Faye smiled. "Well, that's okay then, because about a kilometer down that way—" he pointed to his right, "there's another one."
Kurogane looked at Sakura. She looked back.
"Are you going to go?"
Syaoran started to think again. "Kurogane, about sending Princess Sakura off by herself…."
Faye finished for him. "Sakura has a habit of finding trouble. One of us should stay with her."
"Mr. Faye, is that really—" Syaoran started again. Then, he shut up.
The men and the boy looked around at each other.
/Kurogane can't possibly go/ Syaoran thought. /And myself…well, I don't have that kind of relationship…./
/Damn girl/ Kurogane thought. /Why does she have to always make things so damn hard/
Faye's thoughts were unreadable as he smiled at Kurogane and Syaoran. He knew what the answer would be.
After a few minutes, Kurogane spat down, "Well, you're such a damn woman that we should just leave her here with you, Faye."
Sakura gasped. "Is that really alright…"
Faye smiled, his eyes sad as usual. "Sakura, think of me as your mom away from home." She nodded. "You are kind of…" then she blushed and decided to shut up, as to not risk insulting him.
Syaoran came closer to Sakura and whispered, "Princess, is this okay?" His eyes were caring as usual, although Sakura didn't understand why.
"Yes, Syaoran-kun." She said, beaming at him.
Kurogane was starting to feel impatient. "Just call for us if anyone comes around, girl."
"Oh, Kuro-honey, we'll scream real loud for you to come save us," Faye said, smiling softly.
Before he had a chance to respond, either to the nicknames or the sheer girlyness that Faye portrayed, the mage dropped his smile a little too much and said rather evenly, "Just kidding."
Kurogane snarled and turned on his heel, dragging the boy with him.
Those last words did not sit well with him, for some reason.
