Hello all! This is a very exciting moment for me~! My New Year's resolution was to post a chapter to this fanfic every week of 2011! Of course, I missed last week, so expect another soon. I'm really excited, because this story is my baby and it just won't leave me alone. So I hope you enjoy it it. A few things you can expect: It'll be a long haul. I have no idea where it will go, though I know a few themes I wish to touch on, such as war, love, loss, political ties, stereotyping and family. I'm trying to find my voice in my writing, so this will be an adventure for me. There will be several themes some of you might be uncomfortable with, but this is strictly rated T for Teen. I'm not comfortable with any kind of lemons or limes, so don't expect too much from me. If I do so happen to wish to, they will be posted else where for your viewing pleasure. Also, don't expect this to just completely center around a few characters. I like a story with many, but there are no OCs. I'll only use CLAMP characters for this story.
A couple of warnings: Watch out a bit for language, and also for character death, but none that you'll be too surprised about if you're very familiar with the series/fandom. This is slash in all ways, yaoi and yuri alike. Maybe a bit of gore, but nothing that will make you weak stomached at all. I'm not really interested in focusing on that. The pairings will show up as the story progresses, but this is still mainly KuroFai.
Also, I'm looking for a Beta! Please contact me if you're interested!
Chapter 1: Meeting
"I'm standing on the edge of everything I've never been before." —On Fire by Switchfoot
You stand ever day on the knife's edge of change. It's inescapable, unavoidable. New people, new ideas are everywhere in the world, morphing and multiplying and growing, polluting and festering and infesting. Life changes every day, every second. Change is hard. Change can happen in an instant, when you least expect it. It will pounce on you like a predator that has been laying in wait across your path as you bramble noisily through life, living from one second to the next because you never really can live for the future. Change is unforgivable.
For one man, stranded out in the middle of the street, things were about to change.
His story started on a cold winter night in January. The air was thin and dry. The first snow coated the ground, bringing the bustling city life to a temporary standstill. The roads were deserted to the layer of ice and snow and wind, stores and shops closed to the news of the approaching blizzard.
The city was silent.
Snow crunched quietly beneath a pair of well worn boots. His clothes were patchy and full of holes with a scarf that was fraying at the edges covering his face for warmth. The flurries gathered on his broad shoulders and hat like powder. To these things, the man paid no notice. Dark eyes stared forward intently, brows furrowed against the onslaught of thoughts and worries whirling through his mind. His hand, stuffed warmly in his pocket, gripped tightly at his latest pay check.
For him, alone, the city was loud.
His name was Kurogane. At this moment, he was thinking of his sister living 400 miles away and working on a college degree for fashion. He was thinking of the next time he would have to pay for her tuition, and wondering where in the hell he was going to get the money. He was thinking of the bills lying in his mail box in the post office and the letters from the bank and the phone calls from the lending companies and loan sharks. Chest heavy and throat tight, he contemplated a fourth and fifth job, of working himself into gray hairs and an early grave. As he wondered and worried, he wandered the streets of the city, never sparing thought as to where his feet led him. He was dimly aware of the unfamiliar area, but he paid no heed and continued and contemplated his money problems.
When a shocked gasp and the harsh shuffle and crunch of frantic movements in the snow reached his ears, Kurogane looked up from his place on the side walk in a dim pool of light from the streetlamp over head. There were too silhouettes, just inside the alley's confines where it opened to the next street, pressed close together, almost as if lovers embracing. Kurogane almost dismissed this until one figure shoved the other into the brick face and the gleam of metal winked at him in the dim light.
"Give it to me," the shorter of the two yelled, burying a fist into the others stomach.
The knife glinted again at him from the victim's throat as he swiftly sprinted the distance between them, yelling. The attacker, slacked jawed and wide eyed, looked up in shock and moved to swing the knife into Kurogane's ribs as he barreled toward them. Deftly, he caught the blade, ignoring the bite of sharp steel in his palm and painful impact of his fist hard into the other's face with a satisfying crunch. The man reeled back, still holding onto the knife. With only a little force, Kurogane tugged him back as he grabbed his shoulder and slammed his knee into the man's gut. With a low cry of pain, the mugger dropped to his knees while Kurogane wrenched the blade from the slackened grasp before shoving the man the rest of the way to the ground.
Kurogane let out a long breath and stared down at the crumpled heap of the man at his feet. Blood dripped lethargically from his hand, bright red against the soft glow of the snow. His knee ached from the cold and his knuckles stung from the punch. His eyes never leaving the incapacitated man curled in on himself in the snow, he inclined his head to the side.
"Are you okay?"
The victim let out a shaky breath with a nervous laugh.
"Yes, thanks to you," said a soft voice, rich with relief. "Should I call the police?"
Kurogane half shrugged. "Oi, idiot. Get up and leave," he nudged the man with his foot. The man quickly scrambled to his feet and took off across the street, nearly running into a street light as he fled. Kurogane sneered after him in disgust. "He would just be back out before morning came," he grumbled.
He finally turned and observed as a tall slender man stood from where he'd fallen, bracing himself against the wall and brushing the snow from his back side. His hair was golden blonde with eyes, as he looked up from beneath his bangs, a deep blue as the sky on a clear summer day.
He looked like a damned girl.
The blond offered him a shy smile and said in that same soft, plaintive voice, "Thank you."
For some reason he couldn't even begin to comprehend, Kurogane blushed violently. No wonder this frilly, girly man had been attacked. He was an easily a perfect target.
"It was nothing," he replied gruffly, stuffing one hand back into his pocket and grasping the paycheck firmly, relieved that it hadn't slipped out. "I don't want your thanks."
The blond's smile grew into a grin. "Well, whether you want it or not, you have it," he said, reaching out hand to him. Kurogane automatically went to shake it before he remembered he was still holding the knife and his hand was still bleeding.
"Oh my," the blond man gasped, and snatched his wrist. "Let me look at it."
The knife fell with a dull thud as their feet as a blond head bent over the slash across his palm. His long, nimble fingers were warm against Kurogane's cold hand as they deftly inspected the damage. As if it were possible, Kurogane blushed harder.
"It's fine," he growled and jerked his hand away.
"Hyuu~" the other crowed. "But I suppose it doesn't need stitches. Well, at least let me bandage it for you, Mister…?"
"Kurogane," he growled back. "Kurogane Suwa."
The blond hummed and smiled. "Well, pleased to meet you, Mr. Suwa. Now, if you'll follow me, we'll get you all patched up."
"I don't want your help."
"Now, now, don't be petulant. After all, you saved my life," he grinned at him, as if giving him the most innocent look he could. "It's the least I can do."
Kurogane stared at the man. He seemed harmless enough, if not a bit annoying and pushy. And really, he had no real means of patching his hand up. He'd probably lose his job at the steel mill too if it got infected and he couldn't use it.
"Fine," he growled in defeat. "I suppose it won't hurt."
"Hyuu~ Well, let's be on our way why don't we," said the blond as he snatched up a fallen grocery bag Kurogane hadn't noticed before the scuffle.
The man hooked his arm in his and practically dragged him down the sidewalk chattering away immediately to his dark-haired companion. Kurogane caught words like fortunate and shopping and snow as he stared at the man in shock. Where had the initial meekness, the shy smile, and soft voice gone? The man practically bubbled as he thanked him again and rambled on about how the justice system was and that he really didn't know much about it anyways and how he probably could have waited for the morning for groceries.
When the blond crowed, "Hyuu~" again, Kurogoane snapped out of his shock.
"What the hell is that anyways?" he growled.
The blond looked up at him with a perfect set of doe eyes and raised brows as he kept walking. "I can't whistle," he said, as if he were stating a common fact and, really, Kurogane ought to have known this. "So I have to substitute with a hyuu~ to make up for it!"
"You're insane," Kurogane grumbled. "What's your name anyways, you idiot?"
Those blue eyes turned back up to him with a bright smile that had him blushing all over again.
"My name is Fai," he said, voice soft and rich. "Fai Flourite."