Disclaimer: TRC belongs to CLAMP, not me. Sadly.

01.30 Evidence

"Kurogane?"

"Hmm?" The ninja turned over in bed so that they were no longer sleeping back to back. "What is it?"

"Kuro-chan, do you love me?"

There was only silence. Fai began to despair.

Then, in the warm darkness, he felt strong arms wrap around him and a gentle breath on his neck. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know." Fai kept his back to Kurogane.

"Fai …"

Fai turned around to face the other. "I don't know, I guess … sometimes, lying in bed at night, I just wonder, would anyone care if I disappeared? Would anyone cry for me?"

Kurogane remained silent. Fai took this as a sign to continue …

"You know that saying, 'if I died, would you cry? If I cried, would you die?' I guess sometimes, I just need proof that I'm here, and what better proof is there than the human emotion of love?"

His lips were met with their kind.

As much as Fai enjoyed it, his question lingered at the back of his mind, even as Kurogane moved on from his lips to his collarbone and then down his bare chest.

"Kuro-sama," he whispered. "I just need to know, do you love me?"

Kurogane stopped and considered his answer. Normally, he wouldn't even consider having a conversation like this with anyone, but Fai was … well, Fai was special. "I don't know. I've just never fallen in love before, you know? I've never thought about it, never cared to. But, I do know this. If you died, I wouldn't cry."

Fai's face fell.

"I would go hunt down whoever or whatever had killed you and make them pay," Kurogane continued. Fai took on a wry smile. "I would do my best to make sure you never cry, and if you did, I would be there for you. If you were hurt, I would tell you to suck it up and be a man, but secretly I would be hoping you were ok. If you disappeared, I would search day and night, in this world and the next and all the ones that ever existed, until I found you and we could be together again.

Tell me, is that love?"

Fai smiled. "I don't know, but it's all the evidence I need."

Written March 15, 2010

A/N - I was exceedingly bored a couple of weeks back so I decided to try one of these prompt things. Turns out, they're pretty fun and good for when I'm suffering from writer's block, so you might be seeing quite a few more. I'll be posting up the ones I've already finished pretty quickly, so for now, enjoy.

Just so you know, I DO have the next chapter of Sapphire written, and I'm kind of struggling my way through Crimson, but I think (although I'm not sure, because I'm going to be gone ... without internet access ... for half the week) I may be able to post it up next weekend.