Chapter 1
Sordid Reminders
It was early afternoon on a mid autumn day, and though there was a bite in the air, the snow from the previous night had all but melted- only a few patches of white could be seen clinging stubbornly to the deepest of shadows. The city itself was quite old; brick and mortar buildings stood faded and weathered, the edges chipped by time. No one could call it a 'large' city, either; the largest buildings stood maybe five stories tall, but looked old and tired rather than cutting edge. It was here, in the central park, a sparring match was being witnessed by a passing crowd of people.
A man, tall, broad of shoulder and thick of muscle stood with his sword held low, a defensive position against his much younger adversary. The boy, whose sword was held two-handed and at shoulder level, still only managed to have a striking range near the man's chest. It seemed the whole world held its breath at this moment, only a light breeze playing with the tassels hanging from the hilt of the younger's sword.
And then movement, a sudden flurry of motion, swords cutting through the air with an audible whoosh, tilting just so half of their crowd of observers caught a glare off the metal from the sun and had to look away as the climatic moment happened. The screech of metal on metal resounded in the cold, bright silence, and faded as quickly as it had come.
The two competitors stood back to back, still as they had been a moment previous, and once again the world went still but for the slow, artistically dramatic fall of the tassels. As soon as they leveled out, the boy was forced to take a knee.
Someone, a man with fair hair and an eyepatch across his left eye, whistled, impressed. "Impressive, Kuro-tan. And you as well, Syaoran-kun!"
The elder of the two combatant's eyebrow jumped in annoyance at his nickname, and he turned back to the young man and offered a hand, but not before shooting the one-eyed one sitting on the bench a glare. "He's right, though. You've honed your skills a lot-"
"It won't be long until you can protect me from mean old Kuro-rin!" The fair-haired one interrupted, and he and the small, round creature sitting in his lap agreed in a shrill voice. The black-haired man glared again, even as he helped hoist the boy to his feet. If the crowd noticed the talking fluff-ball sitting on the fair-haired one's lap, they certainly didn't acknowledge it as being strange.
Syaoran wasn't paying attention to his companion's banterings, however. Instead, he found himself looking to the girl who sat to the blonde man's left, a girl who was watching him intently with sparkling emerald eyes. She smiled as their gazes met, the slightest upturning of the corners of her mouth and Syaoran felt himself following suit.
At least until something white streaked through the air and caught him in the side of the head.
"Owow! Kurogane is so mean to Mokona! Mokona didn't even say anything that bad!" the 'something white' said as it fumbled and caught ahold of Syaoran's shirt, pulling itself up onto his shoulder and rubbing its head as the young man rubbed his.
Syaoran cracked one eye open, wondering why hehad been the target of a flying Mokona, when he caught the sight of Kurogane splayed out on the ground, Fai sitting next to him, laughing, and Sakura half-risen from her seat, looking amongst all of them, concerned.
"Oh don't worry, Princess," Fai reassured her, his one eye twinkling with mirth. "Kuro-pu may be clumsy, but Syaoran-kun and Mokona both have hard heads!"
Syaoran squeezed his eye back shut, trying to drown out the noise around him to abate the throbbing rapidly growing in his head, when right next to his ear a voice screamedout- "Food!"
He winced and groaned, plucking the egg-shaped Mokona from his shoulder and tottering carefully over to where Fai and Sakura sat, looking for a moment at the fallen Kurogane, only to realize he was slowly picking himself up from the middle of a small patch of ice. Oh. That had been the reason why he'd been beamed in the side of the head by Mokona. He relinquished his hold on the creature as Fai reached out to grab it, and sighed.
Oh this was gonna be a long d-
"Are you alright, Syaoran-kun?"
He immediately turned to the voice that had addressed him, trying to keep his face a careful blank as their eyes met, and nodded. "Yeah."
Awkward tension spiked, and Fai was the first to react. "Alright! Training session is over, nothing more to see here, folks." He waved the crowd off with his hand, and they dispersed. "Let's go grab some lunch, shall we?"
A unanimous 'yes' rang through the small, motley crew and they began the short trip to a nearby restaurant. Food was ordered, and they sat through much of the waiting period in a strange sort of uncomfortable silence. Desperately grabbing for a topic of conversation to alleviate the tension, Fai turned to the tiny Mokona perched on the table, near the window. "So, have you been able to sense where the feather is yet?"
The creature tapped its bottom lip with a tiny paw. "No, unfortunately I only know there is one here. I think we'll need to explore some more before I will be able to sense it."
Fai just continued to smile. "Ah, this is getting a bit frustrating. We've been looking for over a week."
"Well," Syaoran said thoughtfully, staring very pointedly at the empty plate before him. "At least it's just searching. Nothing's tried to kill us yet, and this world doesn't seem too dangerous."
A bustle from somewhere in the back caught everyone's attention as from the kitchen several people burst forth. "MONSTER!"
Mokona seemed to giggle. "I think Syaoran jinxed it!"
"This is no laughing matter, manjuu!" Kurogane growled, jumping to his feet and turning toward the kitchen, Syaoran close on his heels.
An explosion of some sort from the kitchen rocked the building, and Fai was suddenly on his feet. The magician took Sakura's arm and helped her from the restaurant, dragging Mokona along with him. "We'll go wait for them back at the hotel."
She nodded, but couldn't help throwing a look over her shoulder.
Smoke poured thick from one of the stove tops, and Kurogane hesitated slightly as he hit the murky gray, throwing one arm over his mouth and fighting the urge to cough. He let his senses expand, squinting his eyes nearly shut. They would do him no good here. He felt Syaoran ease up behind him, slightly to the right of where he stood, but no other movement was present in the dark kitchen.
"I don't feel anything," the younger of the two stated, his voice barely audible.
"There's something here," Kurogane replied, voice equally subdued. "I felt it when I first came in. But I think it's trying to hide..."
Movement caught both of their attentions, and Kurogane barely had time to put his sword into a defensive position before something large and heavy impacted with the blade. And then, like a fleeting shadow, it was gone and so was its presence.
"It's testing our strength," Syaoran stated, and Kurogane grunted in affirmation.
Syaoran stepped forward, heading towards the stove causing the thick smoke cloud. Each step was measured and precise, even as he kept his head down, where the smoke was thinnest. Kurogane stayed where he was, keeping his senses open.
It moved again, this time heading for the younger male, whom reacted immediately, a blinding flash emanating from his palm as he pulled his sword from its magical sheath. He got it halfway out when the creature in the darkness bounded off it and disappeared. Syaoran landed hard on his rump a split second later.
"It's small," Kurogane said. "That may be why it's hard to sense where it is or where it's coming from."
Syaoran didn't say anything, simply regained his feet and continued toward the stove. He was just reaching out to flip it off when tiny, needle-like teeth sunk into his hand. "Argh! You stupid stuffed toy! Let me go!" he growled, shaking his hand violently. The creature was sent flying, but rebounded off something and came back after him. But Syaoran didn't move, he was frozen to the spot, his mind racing.
The loud thump of a boot impacting the linoleum, and the soft rush of a sword singing through the air caught his attention, and he was just about to turn toward the creature baring down on him when the flash of a sword went sliding past his face, nearly taking off half of it in the process. The small creature, whatever it was, shrieked as it was rent asunder by Kurogane's attack. Twin wet thuds signified the creature landing, and no more movement could be felt.
Syaoran let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and looked up to see Kurogane sheathing his new sword- they'd bought it in the previous world after his original one had been lost in Celes. The man didn't offer a hand, he seemed to be too busy contemplating something, and the young man took the opportunity to regain his feet, wondering, and hoping, Kurogane hadn't heard his slip.
They returned to the hotel, to find Fai and Sakura had made everyone tea, and were sipping theirs, talking in low tones about things neither of the new arrivals could decipher from the doorway. Fai looked up at the sound of the door closing, and waved at them enthusiastically. "So what was our monster trouble?"
Kurogane shrugged by way of an answer, settling himself down on one of the large, plush chairs. "It was too hard to really see. It was something small, though, slightly human-shaped." He watched Syaoran with red eyes as the younger sat himself on the chair across from his own. Syaoran kept amber eyes locked firmly on the table in front of him as he sipped from the tea cup handed to him from Sakura.
She frowned when he said nothing. "What's the matter, Syaoran-kun?"
He stiffened, visibly, then looked up, forcing a smile to make everything seem alright. "Nothing. Nothing at all."
Sakura didn't seem to believe him, but she let it go, turning back to where some sort of argument over small monsters was occurring between Kurogane and Mokona. It was some hours later everyone decided to retreat for bed, but just as he was about to step into his room, Syaoran felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to find Kurogane's red eyes watching him carefully, like a lone wolf might to a larger predator.
"You get bitten by stuffed toys a lot?"
Syaoran looked away, squeezing his eyes shut. He didn't answer until the hand on his shoulder tightened its grip painfully, and he met Kurogane's searching look, amber eyes locking with scarlet. "Well, I used to kinda... it was a friend of mine's..." his mind raced. Guardian... protector... tutor... partner... "Pet. Tiny little cat, might as well have been a stuffed toy." It was a half truth, and the way Kurogane's eyes narrowed told him plainly the man didn't fully believe him, but the grip on his shoulder was released anyway, and the dark-haired man stepped past Syaoran, disappearing into the darkness of their shared room.
The brunette sighed, leaning against the wall for a moment as the rush of relief left his muscles weakened. He couldn't afford slip-ups like that. Not only for the sake of his companions, but for the sake of his own heart.
He walked quietly into the bedroom after regaining his composure, but found himself in a state too tired to sleep. He tried for several hours, tossing and turning about, but he was thinking too much, dredging up memories he'd worked so hard over the last seven years while in Fei Wong Reed's captivity to suppress.
Finally giving up, Syaoran stood and made his way as silently as he was able out to the darkened living room, then through the sliding glass doors to the balcony. The air was cold enough he could see his breath as it escaped in a misty cloud, traveling towards his right side in the light breeze. Cars traveled past below him, making their way slowly through the icy streets. Somewhere off in the distance, sirens blared, slowly getting louder then fading away. On their trail came the sounds of an uneven shuffling from behind him, someone who was obviously favoring one leg, and there was only one member of their party with such an incapacitation.
"It's cold," Sakura's voice was soft, but it traveled well in the chill air.
Syaoran could only nod and continue to watch the night-time life of the city. Somewhere below him, two men in long duster coats and bowlers walked along the street, murmuring things that were likely not legal to each other. At the same time, Sakura joined him in leaning against the black iron railing.
Amber eyes traveled over the girl's thin frame, noting she was wearing nightclothes as he was, and no shoes. She must've been colder than even he was.
Almost as if sensing he was looking at her, Sakura smiled, and looked up through the clear sky at the moon. "I haven't been sleeping well lately."
Syaoran blinked, looked at her, and felt himself nodding. "Prophetic dreams?"
Sakura sighed, tilting her head slightly to the side. "I'm... not sure. It's a lot of our past travels. I keep..." She looked down at her hands clutching the wrought iron railing. "I keep seeing him."
Now Syaoran felt his hands tighten convulsively around the railing, knuckles draining to white. He remained silent, glaring angrily at nothing.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up," Sakura sighed, turning about slowly to walk back inside. Her companion waited until he heard the glass doors slide partially closed before he let the weakness in his knees, the roiling in his stomach overtake him, and he sank to the freezing stone of the balcony, jaw clenched.
Sakura turned around, twisting her head and upper body at the sound of his knees impacting the ground, and immediately felt her heart throb painfully. She watched him for a moment, his sides heaving, gripping the vertical supports like a prisoner in a jail cell, and then she could watch no more, turning back to her room and fleeing before anyone could get the chance to see her watering eyes.
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A/N: I do not own these characters, but I may or may not have at one point owned the can of ANGST I just threw at them
They belong to those sadistic ladies over at CLAMP.