(It was supposed to be lighthearted and silly and romantic, curse it, but then Fai had to be a moron. Dammit. This is another at sharingank's request, this time on the prompt of 'tea'. Do enjoy, Ashley-dearest—gimme another word this week and hopefully Fai won't spill serious overtones on my dialogue again. )
Theirs was the only lit window on this street in Outo—a few scattered lamps cast shadows at the wall askance, and it made Kurogane think of tactics and Fai think about dice.
'Course, Kurogane's thoughts were all over the damn place, and had been inching towards the mage for half the night. It figured. Idiot. Where did a guy that agile in combat get off being so…what. Passive? And that was only one question of dozens that followed that—sorcerer, that walking enigma with that stupid grin on his face, yeah, a hundred questions at least were swarming in circles wherever he took two steps (or chose not to, for that matter) and he acted like they weren't even there. Ignored them with a courtier's grace. It was pretty damn disgraceful, if you asked him. Annoying, too.
There was a lot that was annoying here. Some of it he knew was born from instinct. Shifting dangers and fragile little alliances and too much organization set off alarms in every year of ninja training he'd ever had. Logic telling him:
Distrust.
Distrust.
Distrust.
Distrust.
--one for each of the soft chimes calling out from down the hallway. Outside there was a pitch-sky, and surely deeper darknesses where oniwaited.
The kid was getting better with that sword, really.
(--wonder what kind of dreams you get from a thing like that.)
He knew.
In half-sleep he himself had felt watched, moreso than usual, and gotten up for a glass of water and found wall sconces on and the usual silence incomplete, and a slightly slouching silhouette marking one of the empty tables.
That half-assed stance. He knew that, too; he'd watched it change in seconds.
Tch
"What the hell," said Kurogane, finally.
Fai looked up, and his expression was all mischief and delight. "Kuro-sama! I wasn't expecting you!" –raising an eyebrow, a little. "Big Puppy playing watchdog tonight?"
"No," Kurogane growled. "I was just—what the hell are you doing here?"
"Drinking tea. Whatever does it look like?"
"This late?"
"Early," Fai corrected.
"—whatever. It's not light yet."
"Silly Kuro-chi." –a hint of amusement, there. Well, okay, more than a hint, plus a healthy helping of liking. "Tea is always at four."
"…in the afternoon, maybe."
"Show me where it says that."
"'It'?"
"Common courtesy."
--and Fai leapt out of his chair, stretching, to seat himself instead on the table. He wrapped his arms around his knees. He continued, "The big puppy's a little uncouth, not to know a thing like that?"
Kurogane glowered. "Why the hell would I know that?"
A shrug. "I just thought you might. It's fairly common, isn't it?"
"—alright, how d'you know that?"
Fai sipped his tea, and paused for a moment to inhale in satisfaction. "This is excellent tea, you know, Kuro-pi. Would you like some?"
"Answer the question."
"Custom," said Fai lightly.
'My home country is where I do not want to be.'
"…uh-huh," Kurogane muttered.
The mage stood and disappeared into the kitchen for a few moments (even like that, he moved so fast, seriously) and returned with a ceramic teapot and teacup embossed with some appalling pink flowers. He set both down with clinks on the table. It looked like they were having some kind of a damn tea party. Without asking Fai re-filled his own teacup after attending to Kurogane's, then sat again and sighed in contentment. "I love early morning. It's so quiet, don't you think, Kuro-puu?"
"It's not morning." Kurogane pointed out, grumbling. "It's night. It's still dark out."
"You keep saying that, Kuro-pi. Why can't morning be dark, hmmm? You really should try that tea, by the way. It's excellent."
"'Cause then it's not morning, you ass."
A little foggy cloud of cream was pooling in Fai's tea, and apparently it was the most fascinating thing on the planet. "Mmm?"
"The sun." What was wrong with this guy? "The sun. Rising. That's what morning is. Obviously," he had to add. 'Nihon is a country with four seasons.' But the places they'd visited hadn't seemed that different. Daybreak cracked and spilled out over each horizon he'd watched, so far, and he was always up by then. He wasn't one of those damn poets that made it some shining coin in the sky, or God, or something stupid like that, but—even so. He'd take any consistency he could get. That was just the way it was. And—
"I never really thought of it that way." Fai's smile: brilliant and idle.
Kurogane blinked. "Why not?"
--his answer was lost a little in his teacup, but it sounded like: "I didn't see it much."
Didn't—
"What. The sun?"
"I told you back in the country of Jade, didn't I?" –beaming. That artificial light! Kurogane could've kicked him. "In my country it's always winter."
'In my—'
"…yours, huh?" said Kurogane.
…We've stayed in Outo too long, is what Fai thought then, but it translated to a simple sip of tea and a glance back at Kurogane. He paused thoughtfully before answering, "Don't so many clear skies make you feel as if you're being watched?"
"I always feel like we're being watched." That was true enough.
"…me, too," said Fai.
(Then again, with Kuro-pii around, that's really no surprise, is it?
but he didn't say that.)
"Sometimes when the sun's hidden," Fai went on, ignoring Kurogane's silence. …no, not ignoring, "you can imagine what the sunrise might look like. Or wish it away" A little laugh, almost genuine. "And have anything you want from it, because it hasn't arrived yet. You know?"
"No," said Kurogane flatly.
"Come on, Kuro-chan." A playful poke in the shoulder, then. "Don't you have an imagination?"
Yes, thought Kurogane. I do.
He must've winced.
Fai raised an eyebrow. "Tea too hot, Kuro-tan?"
No.
That's not it.
"It's not bad," he allowed, grudgingly, though he shot a withering look at the pastel flowers. "Not as bad as that awful stuff you usually like."
"It's because I know you don't like sugar in it."
"Damn straight."
They stumbled into some quiet again.
"Y'know," said Kurogane, "that sun thing. It doesn't work."
"Mmm?"
"What you said."
He was looking directly at Fai, whose mild interest wavered almost imperceptibly before settling back into place. "It doesn't work. It doesn't matter if you can't see something if it's still there. You know that, right?"
--something in Fai's eyes darkened. "You think so?"
"What you're hiding—"
"Mm, I don't—"
"It's going to catch up to you," said Kurogane.
…and there was very, very little that was genuine in that smile now. "Only if it can outrun what's watching us"
"Don't be stupid!"
Fai nodded, something deferential and slightly ironic. "Sorry"
"Don't apologize, either!"
"…I stand by what I said before." Fai shrugged, then. "I really am the kind of person you hate the most. But if I keep leaving the sugar of Big Puppy's tea, maybe he will like me better."
"Tch."
Kurogane glared at Fai, then his tea. That again.What a load of—
Idiot.
"…Who knows, though? Maybe Kuro-sama's right." --there was something sincerely serene smoothing out the angles in Fai's expression, modulating his voice to the utmost innocuous softness—ugh—but caught up in all that bullshit was a note of honesty. "Maybe it will catch up with me, one day."
…Yeah?
He swallowed, his eyes narrowing. "And then what?"
Fai just smiled, a few wisps of steam drifting towards the door. It was not quite morning.