Spoilers: For conclusion of Ch. 166, along with allusions to Kurogane's past
Author's Note: For a while I had this head canon that dealt with Piffle!Tomoyo in regards to Kurogane and her ties to Princess Tomoyo of his homeworld, so I decided to write it out. Also, I find it interesting that it's always a Tomoyo figure who shows up to reveal the great depths Kurogane has grown and matured, like here for example.
Anticipating the future brings great promises but greater uncertainty.
- Pifflean proverb
At first Tomoyo wasn't sure of what to make of the seer's presence in her dream. She'd looked exactly like her, but was dressed in otherworldly clothes (rich purple and white formal robes, golden headdress with tinkling bells, and the faint scent of lotus blossoms – an air of nobility, surely). But she had exuded a sense of keen intelligence, poise, and charm, and so as soon as she had introduced herself as Princess Tomoyo hailing from another dimension, Tomoyo was reassured and listened to the seer's message.
She'd learned about worlds and dimensions scattered across the infinite range of time and space, of a group travelling between them in search of powerful and dangerous feathers, of a powerful warlock and his shadow accomplices behind this, and how the feather her company's excavation group had discovered just recently was one of them. This information didn't err too far from all the advanced topics in science and technology that Piffle was known for throughout the world, but the scope of Tomoyo's new role in the stakes of the entire universe was nothing to say the least of extraordinary.
It took months until the destined group arrived in Piffle. Tomoyo had vague clues of what they would look like and could only rely on the descriptions the princess had provided. But the moment they'd finally crossed her path she simply knew. Sakura, the owner of the feather her company possessed, was more than what she had dreamed about for nearly a year (lovely, enchanting, pulled apart by invisible puppet strings held by sinister hands at work, but still strong and pure than anybody she knew). Her heroine was so shy and modest, and yet her smile was so warm and inviting, her eyes so full of life despite the constant battle with unexpected fatigue, that Tomoyo couldn't help but wanted to be deep friends with her – even though her role as assigned by Princess Tomoyo was to safely guide Sakura to win her feather in the Dragonfly race. At least her one-and-only heroine was in the hands of good people and Mokona; and she couldn't think of anyone better than Syaoran, striving to do all he could, who could make Sakura happy.
In the end, Tomoyo had succeeded in ensuring that the feather was returned to Sakura, but her work was not over yet. There was one thing left she had to do before the group departed, something that Princess Tomoyo had requested of her as well, something that had to do with her loyal but troublesome guard whom she had sent away from her castle, her world.
-o-o-o-
She found him alone outside, away from the festivities being held in honor of Sakura's hard-earned victory. Kurogane took another swig from his bottle. His injured hand was still conveniently tucked away in his pocket, something that Tomoyo couldn't help but notice he made sure to keep it that way when he was in the company of the others. She supposed it was his way of keeping his injury a secret from Sakura, her cherished heroine whom he'd pushed out of the way during the race to spare her from critical danger. Kurogane paused from taking another sip when she accompanied him by Sakura's dragonfly.
"Does it hurt?"
"Huh?"
"Your left hand," she clarified. "Does it hurt?"
For a moment, the lights in his eyes flicker out. ('Kurogane's stubborn about hiding his injuries and not telling everyone. Even when I inquired about his left hand that I punctured the night I found him, he refused to acknowledge it). But then his eyes return to normal after he understood she meant from when he fell into the ravines earlier that day, not from what happened in his youth.
"It's nothing."
Tomoyo held a hand to her mouth and giggled, far too amused. What Princess Tomoyo had said about him was exactly true, which she told him.
"You mean in that dream of yours?"
"Yes," she said. "You sound so unsurprised."
Kurogane scoffed. "She wandered through many others' dreams before." He then took another swig and viewed the sky again while Tomoyo simply waited.
"In your dream…no – forget about it."
He really was stubborn. "It's alright. Please, go on."
In a pained, annoyed look, Kurogane scowled and then said, "In your dreams, how was the princess? Was she alright?"
In her dream roughly a year ago, the princess was calm, doing her best to pacify the president who was shocked and confused at that time. She was young like her but full of wisdom in her eyes, eyes that looked weary when Tomoyo got a closer look at them. The princess was weary, but she had strength and hope, and that was precisely why Tomoyo believed in all she had to say that night.
"Well, when she talked about you, she certainly seemed to enjoy herself."
Tomoyo held back laughter upon seeing the rogue warrior flushing, irritated at her carefully chosen words. ('His temper gets easily roused. If he ever feels his pride and honor is insulted, he'll give you trouble over it. Sometimes it's entertaining…)
"Let me guess," he said bitterly. "She just spouted ugly tales about me again."
('…and sometimes it's not. It's frightening, to be honest. He gets violent, and savagely kills without mercy –')
"No."
He looked at her in disbelief, too used to being rattled off about as a good-for-nothing violent brute under her service, still sensitive to the fact that his princess had the nerve to exile him. The time to set things clearer for Kurogane was now.
"She simply said that she was sure that you would come to understand the meaning of true strength someday."
Just like the entire time through this whole conversation, Kurogane looked ready to raise his eyebrows in contempt, or scoff like how he had at everything else the president had relayed on behalf of his princess. But then something abrupt caught in his throat, and perhaps for the first time, she realized just how much pain Kurogane was hiding from the others as well.
He was a strong person – Tomoyo had no doubt about that. While she'd reveled in Sakura's aura and determination, she'd also observed the rest of the group. She had seen how, even though Kurogane wanted to come out victorious in the races, he didn't ignore the safety of his companions. Slowly but surely, he was realizing and understanding what it meant to protect the people under his wings as what Princess Tomoyo had told her.
But he was still lost, unsure about where this was all going, and what he had to do before he could return home. Kurogane wasn't the only one who could interpret what somebody was saying and thinking through their body language. Much like how he had suspected her of rigging the races, she sensed the troubles going on in his head, things he refused to bring up. Yes, Kurogane was strong, at least for those around him, but would he be able to help himself, that was an entirely another matter.
('But I know he still hurts underneath, beneath his violent ways, so I also sent him away because he needs to heal as well. And surely I know the journey will take care of that.')
This was it. This was her chance to start intervening, to see what she could do for Princess Tomoyo's sake.
('Time is running up. So I have one final request aside from granting Princess Sakura her feather. Will you do me a favor?')
He was uncomfortable, and just as he finally withdrew his injured hand, ready to leave in silence, Tomoyo grabbed it.
"Please, don't resist too much," she urged, saying the words her other self once said.
Meanwhile, sharp designer's eyes observed Kurogane's arm (full length: about one meter. Radius of upper part: a good amount of centimeters. Hands: roughly twenty centimeters spread apart, fingers must be flexible too. Flexibility: a must, especially at the joints – elbows, wrists, shoulders, fingers.)
"Allow yourself to heal."
Another pause, and then –
"Tch." She let go of his hand and he tucked it in his pocket again.
"So, the soul is the same," he said. "Figures."
He drank some more, looking at the sky once again, surely having thoughts about his own home that he still yearned to return to. One thing for sure is he took in the president's words without brushing them, and now he was left to take them in. Tomoyo accepted it as a sign that he needed to be by himself, and so without saying anything else, saved for a small smile of assurance, she left him to his own accords and headed back to join the rest of the party.
Princess Tomoyo didn't go into full specifics about her request about why she needed a prosthetic arm for her guard in the near future, but she said briefly that it had to do with a sacrifice on Kurogane's end. It was still wondrous just how far into the future the princess could see in her dreams. The seer cautioned that when the time came for the president to speak to Kurogane on her behalf that she must not reveal in lengths the details she foresaw her guard would come to. She learned that the threads of the future hung delicately, and that the people whose decisions mattered too much had to learn on their own what they must do; for if they knew in advance, they could easily choose another path.
('We who can see the future cannot say anything else to those involved. We can only read what lies ahead and pray that those we love may walk a path of happiness.')
Yet, despite the scope of just how much uncertainty there may be in the future, the dreamseer princess had complete faith that Kurogane would do what he needed. And now this world's Tomoyo too placed her faith in that someday Kurogane would harness what true strength means for his own sake and the sake of the others in the travelling group. Sure enough, shortly after the five of them depart from Piffle, Tomoyo consulted the corporation's biomechanical team with a rough blueprint of a mechanical arm, for in the future it would be used when the time was right.