Spoiler warnings for chapter 166 and beyond. Please don't read if you haven't read that far and don't want to be spoiled, I do not want complaints saying I spoiled something for you. You have been warned.

Because the last few chapters made want to reassure myself that the group won't fall apart XD

My first attempt at a shounen pairing...I adore KuroFay.

The cherry blossoms fluttered around the ninja as he moved around the courtyard, with graceful strength etched into every move. Kurogane didn't have a particular target; rather, he moved the borrowed katana around to test the strange artificial limb he had received only the day before. It really did feel pretty damn weird, and not to mention that the prosthetic arm was not the most pleasant sight to look at.

Nevertheless, the arm did it's job. While Kurogane still didn't regret his sacrifice to save the blonde mage from the closing world, he had felt a sense of sadness at the idea of never being able to wield a sword again. Now he had the replacement arm, and the ninja now had the chance to fight once more. First, he had to get used to it: it was a very odd feeling, indeed. But he didn't mind. He had to rebuild the strength he'd lost, anyways.

Kurogane paused and stared at the simple katana, yet another new replacement for yet another sword he had lost. He doubted it was as strong as Souhi, even less his precious Ginryuu. He closed his eyes, then positioned himself.

"Hama...ryuujin!"

The sword fell to the ground, along with Kurogane, who managed to break his fall with his hands. He blinked several times, catching his breath. He'd lost more strength than he thought...to not be able to do the technique his father had taught him so long ago...

"You really have to be much more careful, Kuro-sama."

Kurogane sighed. Of all the people who had to see that, it had to be him, didn't it? He stood up and picked up the katana again, not bothering to look back at the blonde man who had addressed him. He knew that he wouldn't be left alone.

"Hello? Kuro-sama? Did you hear me? I'm over here!"

"I know you're there, now--!" Kurogane stopped himself. He was about to tell the mage to "shut up and go away", but doing so would make him feel rather guilty. He felt irritated with himself now... he was actually stopping himself from telling Fay to go away.

"Haha, you want me to leave, hm?" Fay said, striding across the garden towards him. As always, Fay's intuition was correct, but he wasn't about to leave. He strode over so he could face Kurogane, and smiled that smile that had annoyed Kurogane so much when they had begun their journey together. Kurogane raised an eyebrow.

"What do you want?"

"I can't just take a stroll? Shirasaki Castle is beautiful," Fay said, reaching up and allowing a fallen sakura to fall into his pale palm. He kept smiling, but Kurogane still detected a sadness. What it was, though, he didn't know. Fay gazed at the flower for another moment before turning back to face Kurogane, his now-golden eye studying the ninja's face before he settled his gaze on the prosthetic. "I hope it's working for you."

"It is," Kurogane said, flexing his false left-arm and clenching his fingers closed. "It's better then nothing." He looked back up at the mage, who was now leaning against the trunk of a sakura tree, his hands grabbing falling flowers and petals. "Why'd you do it?"

"Hmm?" Fay gestured, cocking his head. Kurogane rolled his eyes. He hated it when the mage acted dumb. Especially since he knew the mage was much more intelligent than he usually led others to believe.

"You know what I mean. You said so yourself that you'd die without your magic."

"You made sure yourself that I wouldn't die, period," Fay said, still smiling. He let the pink flowers fall from his hands as he stretched his arms and placed them behind his head, still leaning against the tree. "I should be able to ask you the same thing, shouldn't I, Kuro-sama?"

The two remained silent, with Fay closing his eye a moment later to breathe in the clean spring air that filled the courtyard, with Kurogane placing the katana back in it's scabbard. Kurogane continued to stare at the blonde's face: that damn smile was still there. He had been around Fay enough to know what smile was real, what smile he had invented to annoy him, and what smile meant the mage was very sad. At the moment, Fay was very sad.

"You're a liar, Kuro-sama," Fay suddenly spoke up. Kurogane looked at him in surprise.

"Why do you say that?"

"'Search or don't search,that's up to you'," Fay began reciting, and Kurogane immediately remembered the first words he had exchanged with the kid, when they began to plan the search for the princess's feather. "'I'm here to get back to my own world. Don't expect me to stick my neck for you, I won't do it'. My, my, Kuro-sama, you really are quite a liar."

"Shut up," Kurogane replied, annoyed and somewhat embarrassed. Of course, Fay didn't obey.

"Even in that world, you started to help Syaoran-kun. Especially when you realized that fighting would be involved to obtain many of them..."

"I said, shut up."

"Then you began to train Syaoran yourself, because you started to worry about him. You did your best to protect Sakura-chan, as well, when you believed me and Syaoran had been killed. Not to mention your retaliation to what Syaoran had done to me in Tokyo, you really stuck out your neck--"

"I told you to shut up!" Kurogane shouted, pointing the scabbard at Fay. He continued to smile, and continued to talk.

"You said you only protect what you love. That means you love us, Kuro-sama."

Now very annoyed even more embarrassed, he carefully looked at the blonde mage, who gazed back at him quite honestly.

"What're you getting at?" Kurogane carefully asked. Fay took his time as he pushed himself away from the tree and casually strolled around the ninja.

"May I ask you, Kuro-sama," Fay didn't wait for permission," what was your wish the the Dimensional Witch?"

"Don't tell me you forgot, it was to return home..."

And for the first time, he realized it: his wish was granted. He was home. He had become so engrossed in their journey, in finding the feathers, in teaching the kid how to fight, in protecting the blonde mage who refused to protect himself, that had actually forgotten why he was with that group in the first place. He looked back up at Fay, who was smiling that sad smile even wider.

He felt slightly ashamed now. He was now home, and hadn't realized it until now. He knew what Fay was thinking, and he had an idea of what that sad smile stood for now.

"Princess Tomoyo has allowed us to stay here for a while. She insists that we rest; it's been a while since we've been able to relax. I'm sure the last time we were able to do that was back in Outo, and that really was quite a while ago..."

"Where's the kid?" Kurogane cut in. Fay looked up at him, mildly surprised at the change of topic.

"In his room. He's wondering how he can get Seishiro to talk to him, he knows he has the feather still..."

"How's the princess?"

"Sakura-chan? She's far from waking up," Fay once again reached up to the falling flowers. They reminded Fay so much about the princess, and it saddened him to see her in such a state. "We have to find her soul soon but it won't be easy. She's still missing several feathers, but we'll manage."

"'We'?"

"We'll, I have no other choice, do I? My wish was granted, it's impossible for me to return to my home world now," Fay continued. Kurogane was taken aback at how he was bluntly talking about the things that pained him so much. Yet, he continued. "I'll have to keep going with them, they won't be able to do make it on their own."

"Hold on, now!" Kurogane stormed over to Fay, looking very agitated now. Fay raised an eyebrow. "For one thing, you don't have magic now. How will you be able to make it?"

"That's very mean, Kuro-"

"Second, you can't survive too long without..."

"Without my usual dose of medicine?" Fay finished.

"Yes. You said so yourself, without your magic, you need your vampires blood-"

"Your blood, you mean."

"- to stay alive."

"Hyuu, Kuro-sama really does care about me!"

"Of course! Or else I wouldn't have paid this price to that damn witch in the first place!" Kurogane bellowed, causing Fay to jump in surprise. An echoing silence followed, and the pink flowers continued to fall. Kurogane flicked them out of his face.

"I'm not an idiot, Kurogane."

Kurogane stopped himself from gapping at the lack of honorifics in the way he was addressed, and settled himself with a retort.

"How surprising."

"As of now, I have no other choice but to stay here, because if I leave, I'd become a burden to the children. I wouldn't last much longer, and you know that. But I can't stay here and let Sakura-chan and 'Syaoran'-kun just go off to those dangers-!"

Fay incredulously stared at Kurogane as the ninja placed his left hand over the mage's mouth. Kurogane allowed himself an amused smile.

"Who said you had to stay?"

Fay muffled something, but Kurogane tightened his hand over his mouth. Fay's face contorted with the slightest of pain.

"And better yet," Kurogane dropped his hand; Fay massaged his jaw and cheeks, "who said I'd let you have all the fun?"

They stared at one another, Kurogane smiling, and Fay in shock.

"But...your wish..."

"There are things I have to do before being able to truly settle back down at home," Kurogane said. Images of the kid's clone gulping down the blue eye, of the princess's soul taking flight...of the strange sword that had appeared from the wall and killed his weakened mother...

Yes, he definitely had to take care of everything before he could even consider going home. He wasn't home, yet. He was visiting, and promising even further that he'd return.

Kurogane turned to face Fay, who was still rubbing his face. Fay caught the ninja's eye, and smiled. Kurogane noticed that the smile wasn't sad nor false.

"That arm really does suit you, Kuro-sama," he said, smirking, and dropping his hand from his face. Kurogane grunted, not in annoyance, though. He turned and began to walk out of the courtyard, heading towards his room. Princess Tomoyo was right: they all needed rest. Lots of rest and sleep that they had lost on their journey...

He stopped when he heard laughter, and he turned to see Fay laughing as he caught even more sakura flowers in his hand. Fay noticed Kurogane looking at him, and laughed even harder.

"What now?" Kurogane asked.

Clutching the flowers, Fay began to walk after Kurogane. He blew the flowers into his face as he walked past.

"You said you wouldn't stick your neck out for us. That you only wanted to return home." Fay looked over his shoulder, smiling coyly but honestly. "You're a big, fat liar, Kuro-sama."

Kurogane smirked as he watched Fay walk down the hall towards the rooms. He was a liar, and he knew the mage was happy because of it.

The ninja, however, was happy to know that the mage's last smile had been real.

Meh, stupid random little story that popped into my head after reading chapter 169.

I know Fay should stay in Nihon/Japan when everything's over, but both of them can't stop just now, right? I hope I kept them in character, it's the first time I write Kurogane and Fay (unless you count a younger Fay), and they are my favorite characters so I hope I didn't kill the characterization, heheh...

Thanks for reading, reviews much appreciated!