Title: Intersomnial (occuring during a dream)

Pairings: KuroFai; (in this chapter) hinting at TomoSaku

Genres: Romance, fantasy, drama, action/adventure and horror.

Rating: T (for right now)

Disclaimer: I do not own Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. That honor goes to CLAMP.

Writer's Note: So, I've decided to make yet another attempt at a chapter story. This time I do actually have the majority of the plot planned out (and it's going to be epic, let me tell you). Hopefully this time I'll actually complete a story, and with some encouragement I think I might. I hope you all will enjoy this story! :D

Okay, this story may seem a little out there at first, or maybe not out there enough, I'm not sure. This is mostly me experimenting on how well I can write an adventure/drama story. I'm hoping this will turn out okay, because I really need to work on my skills with chapter story writing.

This chapter is mostly a prologue, but some very important things happen that set the story in motion.

If you see any mistakes, please let me know.

Chapter One: Corpse

'Where am I?' she thought with growing panic. The room was cold and still and smelled like sterilizer. To the side of her a machine beeped every few and what looked like an IV bag hung over her bed. Moving her hands to prop herself up, she realized that she had an IV needle in her arm. She stared at the needle in her arm for a long second before in dawned on her that she was in a hospital room.

She sat there in the dark, trying to remember what had happened to make her end up in the hospital. The room was still and eerily quiet. She looked down again, feeling a light tug on her IV chord. What she saw sent her heartbeat soaring off the charts until finally there was a continuous beep.

As Tsubasa Kinomoto (1) died, she knew that even in the afterlife she'd never be able to forget the withered hand that was clamped onto her arm, or the sunken face that accompanied it.

A shudder passed through Fai as he phased through the wall of the Daidouji family's home. He was struck with the idea that something, not too far from where he was, something terrible had just happened. Terrible things always happened in the dead of night.

The blond haired apparition tried to shake off the tense feeling, but it clung to him like a dark shroud of death. Hands shaking, he drew out a small pouch from his side so that he could complete his nightly task and return home.

He entered the older woman's room quietly. She was breathing lightly, waiting patiently for sleep to claim her. Fai complied, taking less than a pinch of glowing, golden sand from the pouch and sprinkling it onto her scalp. Instantly she was lulled to sleep, a calm smile upon he face.

Next was the girls' room. Within it, two sisters waited for sleep though not as patiently as their mother had. The older one, whom Fai knew as Kendappa, was scowling and holding a pillow over her head in an attempt to block out the sounds of her younger sister, Tomoyo was her name, tossing and turning restlessly in her own bed. Fai was quick to put Tomoyo to sleep first, before Kendappa became too irritated. The younger girl stopped and turned onto her side, curling up slightly and tucking an arm under her head. Fai turned around to Kendappa and put her to sleep as well. She loosened her grip on the pillow and began to snore lightly.

Satisfied with his work, Fai went on to the last occupant of the house.

Kurogane, from what Fai knew, was a foster child under the care of the Daidouji family. He had moved in with them less than four months ago and already he was making trouble in the small town by mouthing off to his teachers and getting into numerous fights with the other kids in town.

Fai leaned over the teenager, peering down into his calm face. Kurogane always slept so stilly, never moving. Almost like a corpse. It amazed Fai how consistently still Kurogane was in his sleep.

Fai was still peering down on Kurogane's face when suddenly the boy jerked forward. The apparition had no time to react as the teenager smacked his face upon his, painfully meeting each other on their lips. Eyes wide, both males stared at each other for a long moment, so shocked that neither moved from their precarious position. In the back of Fai's mind, an uncharacteristic "Oh crap" sounded.

Kurogane was the first to move back, his face clearly showing that he was still stunned. The teenager opened his mouth, presumably to yell or scream. So Fai quickly snapped out of his shock and slapped a hand down on Kurogane's mouth before the boy could unleash his confusion.

"Shh!" Fai exclaimed worriedly, " Don't wake up the others!" Kurogane flailed about, trying to free himself from Fai's grip. Wrapping his other arm around the back of Kurogane's head, Fai pinned the teenager down onto the bed in an attempt to stop him from struggling.

"I'm going to release you in a moment and when I do, you are going to be very quiet and not hit me, understood?" Kurogane still thrashed around, ignoring the blond apparition. Fai pressed down harder, and being much bigger than the teenager, he was able to subdue him for a moment.

"You will be quiet and not fight me when I release you, understood?" Fai repeated. This time Kurogane just stared and nodded weakly after a moment. Slowly, Fai released the boy, only to find himself pushed off the bed and pinned down by Kurogane. Fai stared up into the teenager's face as the human pressed a switchblade to his throat.

"Thought you could get away with it, huh?" Kurogane hissed, scowling nastily at Fai. "Well, I'm not dumb enough to fall for some shit from a sick pervert like you, dumbass."

"I am not a pervert!" Fai exclaimed, a little too loudly. He quickly clamped his mouth shut and regained his resolve. "I was simply doing my job-"

"What kind of job? Molesting kids in their sleep?"

"No!" One again, too loud, Fai returned to a hushed whisper. "My job is to put people to sleep at night, specifically the people of this town." Kurogane's eyebrow cocked up.

"You honestly expect me to believe that?"

"Yes! Look here," said Fai, gesturing to his side pouch. Kurogane looked down at it in feigned interest. "If you let me up, I can demonstrate."

"So you can drug me?"

"No!"

Fai wriggled an arm free, without much resisting from Kurogane, who still had a blade against the blond's throat. Fai took out a pinch of sand and before Kurogane could react, blew it into the teenager's face. The effect was instantaneous and Kurogane was suddenly rolling over, mumbling insults at Fai as he fell asleep.

Kurogane woke up feeling like someone was pounding a hammer inside his skull. Holding his aching head, he looked up to see that it was morning, and that there was no sign of last night's strange visitor.

Kurogane shrugged it off as a dream and ignored the suspicious feeling that tugged at him.

The raven-haired boy threw on his school clothes and walked downstairs to his foster sister, Kendappa, sitting at the kitchen table with a distant look on her face. Kurogane glanced around and saw that his other foster sister wasn't downstairs, which was strange since she was usually the first one to wake up.

"Where's Tomoyo?" Kurogane asked as he opened up the fridge in search of something to eat for breakfast. Kendappa flinched a little, just now noticing Kurogane's presence. The boy raised his eyebrows at her behavior. Kendappa never daydreamed or got lost in her thoughts.

"Tomoyo's in her bedroom," Kendappa replied after a moment, her voice quiet.

"She's going to be late to school if she doesn't wake up soon," Kurogane said.

"She's not going to school today."

Kurogane paused in his rummaging and turned to look at Kendappa.

"Why not?"

Kendappa sighed and looked out the window. A bird was perched on the sill, chirping away as it peered inside the kitchen.

"Tsubasa Kinomoto died last night."

The bird chirped on as silence coated the room.

"…What?" Kurogane just stared at her, not quite believing what he just heard. Not wanting to believe what he just heard.

Kendappa turned to him finally, a glare upon her regal face. She always glared at Kurogane whenever she was frustrated or annoyed, even when he wasn't to blame. Kurogane shrunk back a little, but then straightened up as if embarrassed by being intimidated by a girl.

"You heard me. Tsubasa Kinomoto died last night. I will not repeat it again."

Kurogane stood there with a blank expression on his face. How the heck did Tsubasa die so suddenly? He had heard that she was in the hospital after suffering from a concussion from a sports accident, but it wasn't too serious. Tomoyo had told him that the doctors said she would be just fine and not to worry. So why would she be dead?

"How…did she die?" Kurogane choked out. The words felt strange, foreign in his mouth. Someone so young, like Tsubasa, should not be dead. It felt terribly wrong, surreal almost. As if he were going to wake up and find that this was a dream and that his schoolmate was fine and well.

"Her father said that she died from a heart attack, of all things." Kendappa sighed again and rose from her seat at the table. "I'm going to go check on Tomoyo since she's obviously not taking this well. You go get ready for school."

Kurogane watched her leave. He stood in place for the longest time, waiting to wake up. Unfortunately, this wasn't a dream, and the fact that Tsubasa died was very, very real.

Notes:

(1) Seeing that Sakura has no other spelling (unlike Syaoran and Syaoron), I decided to refer to Real!Sakura as Tsubasa. I hope you guys won't mind that too much.

Comments and criticism are cherished, so don't be afraid to let me know what you think! If you think someone is OOC, tell me so I can explain why they are OOC or make the necessary edits. Flames aren't really appreciated, but don't expect me to address you if you do so. I will simply ignore you.