Firefighter Kurogane
by Scarlet Heaven
Wow... this is my first actual fanfiction!!! *eyes glimmer dramatically* I've been hooked on Tsubasa Chronicle for quite a while now, so it's about time I started writing some fan material.
Warnings: Cursing, shonen-ai, and violence. (Only the first will be occurring in this chapter)
Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE is the sole property of the beautiful and successful goddesses, CLAMP. No matter how much us fans want to take over the plot, it's still theirs.
Chapter 1: The Night Sky
The sun was just setting over the city skyline and the view was incredible. Icy blues and purples melded into fiery reds and oranges creating a beautiful display in the sky with the brilliantly shining sun at the center. It was the perfect balance between the cool, clear skies and the warm, solid light of the sun. It was almost symbolic, in a way. Symbolic of what, however, only hitsuzen knows.
Inside one of the many tenements that made up the labyrinth of the city, sat a man completely ignorant of the amazing spectacle happening right outside his window. The man wore a black sweater coupled with a black scarf and dark denim jeans. He was very tall with long legs and a powerful, heavy build, mostly sinew. He had short spiked black hair, tanned skin, and unusually colored bright red eyes. He sat at a desk at the side of the room opposite the window glaring a hole through the pile of papers in front of him as if they had personally offended him.
He read over one of the papers and grumbled angrily to himself as he scratched out his signature on the bottom. "Stupid bills! How do they figure that I used so much water?" he murmured, grudgingly. The man sat at the desk for a few more minutes, continuously fidgeting and becoming increasingly irritated as he read over and signed the papers. Finally, he reached the end of his patience and snapped. His pen cracked in his hand and he cursed as the standard blue ink spattered all over his bills. The man threw the broken pen at the wall with a snarl, leaving a dent and a splattering of ink on the wine colored wallpaper. The man stood and stared at the scene, scowling. He stood there for a moment and finally exhaled heavily, running a hand through his black, naturally spiked hair. " 'need some fresh air." he seemed to mumble to himself.
The man walked away from the mess of ink and papers into an simple living room with an ash gray color scheme. He picked up a black leather biker jacket that had been laid out carelessly on a couch and headed for the front door, slinging the jacket casually over his shoulder. He was nearly out the door when he noticed a light brown shape in his peripheral vision.
He turned to see a small brown puppy with floppy ears and a dark spot of fur over it's right eye staring up at him anxiously from its bed in the corner of the room. The creature seemed disturbed by the man's sudden outburst but didn't appear to be afraid. The man glanced outdoors then looked back at the puppy and groaned. " I guess I should take you for a walk, huh?" he said, laying his biker jacket back on the couch. The puppy just stared and tilted it's head slightly to the side. The man chuckled quietly at the creature's reaction and the puppy seemed to realize that there was no danger. It got up onto its feet and its tail started waving slowly from side to side.
The man walked over to the puppy and stretched his hand out so that it could get accustomed to his smell. The animal neared the man's hand, sniffed it briefly, then ran it's wet tongue over the man's fingers affectionately. The man drew his hand away and looked disgustedly at the drool on his fingers. The puppy became more exited and anxious as to what was going to happen as the black haired man connected the leash to its collar and stood up, ready to go outside.
"Your name's 'Little Puppy', right?" asked Kurogane. The puppy only responded by perking it's ears up. The man scoffed as he opened the door and led the puppy outside. "Pretty damn weird name for a dog if you ask me. Seriously, what the hell was Tomoyo thinking when she named you?" he asked nobody, locking the door to his room and strolling down the carpeted hallway of the tenement. The puppy, despite being so small, had no trouble keeping up with the man's long and heavy stride as they passed out of the tenement and down the street.
The air outside was crisp and cool with the threat of frost and the constant breeze picked up leaves of many different fiery colors tossing them into the air. The sun had nearly set and the beautiful colors of earlier had faded into a deep red sliver against the horizon surrounded by an expanse of dark and cloudy blue. Enough people were passing through the streets so that it was not desolate but neither were there enough people for it to be crowded. Overall, it was a beautiful autumn evening.
"Hey Kurogane! What's with the puppy? Is it yours?" called out a lady from the opposite side of the street. The man turned his head in her direction. The woman had short black hair, green eyes, and light brown skin. She was wearing a silky violet dress that gave her a mysterious but not indecent. appearance.
"Ugh, it's just you." grumbled the man named Kurogane, loud enough for her to hear from the other side of the street.
The lady waited for a few cars to pass before hurriedly crossing the street to meet Kurogane.
"Oh my god!" she squealed. "You didn't tell me you had a puppy!" she crouched down to the animal's level and began stroking it behind the ears without asking for permission to do so.
"'s not mine. I'm just taking care of it until Tomoyo finds another owner for it." he explained curtly.
"Aww, really? You should keep him, he's so cute!" she squealed again. The puppy licked Souma's hand and she giggled like a little girl. Kurogane looked away in distaste.
"So how's business been going lately?" Kurogane asked her, trying to distract her from playing with the puppy. It worked and the lady got up and straightened her dress before answering.
"Well, recently Tomoyo's been meeting with a group of Italian designers and they've been testing her to see if she'd make good material. They're considering hiring her to work with the group. I think she's probably going to get the job." she said.
"Good for her." replied Kurogane, lacking enthusiasm. "Even better for me if she moves off to Italy with them. Or just some place where she can't talk my head off every time she sees me." he finished, smirking.
"Kurogane, that's mean!" Souma pouted. "This job means a lot to her! And to me too!" she chided.
"Yeah, yeah. I get it." Kurogane huffed. Souma smiled.
"The weather's been really nice lately, huh?" she commented, looking up at the darkening sky.
"Sure, whatever." Kurogane replied indifferently. Souma's looked at him disappointedly.
"So how are you doing? Have you found a new job yet?" she asked.
"Yeah. At that lumber yard just out of town. The pay's pretty good but not as good as the last one." he commented shortly.
Souma's expression was doubtful. "Really, Kurogane? A lumber yard? I don't see why you can't just go back to being a firefighter. I'm positive they're dying to have you back. You were the best one they ever had and I'm not exaggerating there." She said.
Kurogane suddenly became serious. "I quit that job two year ago and I'm not going back." he said severely.
Souma looked frustrated and confused.
"Why? Is this about what happened back then? That incident? You know that wasn't your fault-"
"That's bull." snapped the dark haired man. "Bye Souma, see you tomorrow." he said, turning away and obviously ending the discussion.
"Kurogane!" shouted Souma incredulously as she watched the man trudge away. She shook her head skeptically with her hands on her hips. After a few cars passed, she ran back across the street into a building with a flashy sign that read "Piffle Princess-Clothing Design". The sun had set quite a while ago and the streetlamps had already been lit.
Kurogane was now leading the puppy back to the tenement. There were only a few people on the streets now, scurrying about with last minute unfinished business. It was very quiet and the previously low temperature had dropped several more degrees. Kurogane smelled something and looked up to the sky to see a tower of smoke drifting up into the air. Apparently, other people had noticed it too, because the few people that were still outside at this hour had stopped to stare at the house the smoke was coming from."Is that smoke? Do you think there's a fire?" one asked. "Yes it probably is. But why isn't the smoke alarm going off?" asked another.
The people started muttering nervously amongst each other and Kurogane could only stare and wonder why none of them had called for help yet.
"Look! Up there!" someone shouted.
All eyes turned to the window at the top floor of the two story house. A man with blond hair wearing a light blue knit turtleneck appeared at the window and spotted the people watching.
"Please! Someone call for help! There's a fire!" he shouted.
Immediately, a young woman with pale pink hair and dark skin whipped out her cell phone and started dialing.
Kurogane turned back to see that the man had not left the window.
"Why the hell are you still there?!" he shouted.
"Shouldn't you get out?!" The man smiled as if nothing was the matter.
"I wish I could but the fire's blocked the only exits and I don't think I can jump from here." he explained, shouting back.
Looking very annoyed at the man's nonchalant manner, Kurogane shouted. "Do you have a ladder?" he called.
"Yeah. There's one in the driveway on the left side." the smiling man called back. Kurogane tied his puppy's leash to a nearby fencepost.
He ran to the driveway of the house, and found the metal ladder as the man had said under a pile of plastic piping, bags, and other debris. He wrenched the heavy ladder free and rushed to the side of the house with it.
"Do you think you can climb down on your own?" The red eyed man called up to the window.
The blond considered for a moment.
"No, I fractured my ankle recently. I can walk pretty well but It's really a hassle climbing things." he said humorously.
Kurogane growled angrily to himself before responding. "I'm going to climb up the ladder and carry you down, okay? Once I've got this thing set up, don't try to get down by yourself or you could hurt yourself. Got it?" he asked.
The man cocked his head to the side confusedly. "Shouldn't you wait for the firefighters to do that?" he asked.
Kurogane's patience visibly dissolved. "Shut up! I have experience so just shut the hell up and wait for me!" he snarled as he began to set up the ladder.
By the time the ladder was set up against the side of the house, the far-off sound of wailing sirens could be heard. Kurogane reached the top of the ladder to find that the blond man was still smiling like an idiot.
"I need you to try to climb out of the window. Can you do that?" asked Kurogane.
The man suddenly ducked out of sight without warning.
"Where the hell did-" he started but stopped when the man appeared in the window again with a reddish brown kitten in his arms.
The man started to speak but was cut off by Kurogane. "What the fuck is that?!" he shouted.
"This is my little kitty. She doesn't have a name yet but she's very well behaved." the blond chattered as he shoved the trembling kitten into Kurogane's arms.
"Please take her down first." he said, all of a sudden serious.
The man had looked like he hadn't a care in the world but now he looked somber and even a little worried.
Kurogane exhaled heavily before speaking again. "You mean to tell me that you think I'm going to put a f---ing cat's life before a human being? You're insane, get down here!" he shouted, trying to hand the weakly mewling kitten back to the blond. But the man stepped back away from the window, putting on another bright smile.
"Please take her down first. I have to go get something. I'll be back by the time you get back up." he said. Before Kurogane could protest, the blond man dashed back inside the building and out of sight.
Kurogane stood there on the ladder briefly, dumbfounded, then snarling with fury, he moved down the ladder. When he reached the bottom, he stomped over to a scrawny looking man staring with his mouth wide open and thrusted the kitten at him.
"Take this thing. Don't lose it." he said hastily. "Does anyone have a water bottle?!" he shouted to the stunned audience.
The woman that had called the police earlier stepped forwards and handed Kurogane a water bottle from her purse.
"What are you gonna use that for? 'Cuz it's sure not gonna put the fire out, brother." she stated.
Kurogane only glared at her as he took off his scarf and used the water bottle to soak it. He wrung out the garment impatiently.
"Hey lady." he started.
"Caldina." she interrupted.
"Sure, Caldina. Can you call the fire department and tell them to stop screwing around? They should have been here a long time ago." he finished.
"No problem, bro." she answered, whipping out her cell phone again.
By this point, the hungry tongues of flame could be seen from the bottom floor windows of the house. It was clear now that the fire was very big already, and spreading at a dangerous rate. Kurogane wrapped the damp garment securely around his mouth and nose before starting up the ladder again. He reached the window and heaved himself through into the building.
The smoke was thick and it filled the entire room. It was unusually dark because none of the lights were turned on. Kurogane made his way through the room, ignoring the way the smoke stung his eyes. At the very least he could breathe fairly well because of his scarf. He made his way through the building, searching but finding nothing.
The smoke was getting thicker by the second and the air was heating up very fast. It was as hot as an oven. If Kurogane looked hard enough, he could see the flames in the hallway racing to devour everything in sight. Just as he was about to give up looking, Kurogane spotted the cornflower blue of the man's shirt on the floor in front of a desk of some sort. The red eyed man hurried over to the unconscious man and slung him over his shoulder.
He began making his way back to the window when he heard a sound that made his blood run cold. It was the sound of the house structure straining and creaking against its beams. The house was about to collapse with them inside. Kurogane trudged with difficulty over to the window and over to the window. Not allowing himself to panic, he adjusted the man draped on his shoulder and stepped out on to the window frame.
The people watching from outside gasped in amazement and fear as they saw the black haired man emerge from the building with the unconscious blonde over his shoulder. Kurogane paid them no attention. He turned and steadily began lowering himself onto the ladder.
Suddenly, a terrible blood curdling series of cracks and groans could be heard and the house shook violently. Fiery sparks were spewed from the windows that had been shattered into millions of pieces on the bottom level. Kurogane lost his balance on the ladder and nearly fell. Before he began to plummet, he reached out and grabbed hold of one of the ladder's rungs. The blond man slipped off his shoulder and almost fell, but Kurogane caught his wrist at the last second.
A woman from the crowd screamed and someone else fainted. The ladder swayed alarmingly but settled after a few seconds. Kurogane regained his footing on the ladder slowly and carefully. The weight of the blond man was causing him a great strain and he was losing resistance. He hung on the ladder for a while trying to muster enough strength to pull the man back up.
If he were to fall from here, he could at the least escape with a few sprains, but for the unconscious man, the worst case would be that he could snap his neck or spine and die. The house gave another loud groan and Kurogane made his move. With an incredible amount of strength, he jerked the dangling man towards him and caught him in a one armed grip against his body. Chest heaving with the effort, he began the climb back down the ladder.
As he reached the ground, a pair of arms caught him and kept him from falling backwards. Another pair of arms removed the blond man from his grip and carried him off. As Kurogane looked around, he become aware of the firefighters that had arrived and that were now attempting to put out the flames. "Sir, are you all right?" asked the person that was supporting him. His face was covered by a thick helmet so Kurogane could not see his face. He tried to regain his balance and stand on his own but stumbled and fell flat on his back. The young firefighter attending him hurried down to him and briskly removed the constricting scarf from around his face.
The man began to repeat his question but Kurogane interrupted him, wheezing.
"I'm.. fine. What about...that... other guy?" he managed before jerking violently into a coughing fit. The firefighter started to call a paramedic over to give him aid but Kurogane grabbed the man's ankle to stop him.
"I... don't... need... some... stupid... oxygen... mask." he gasped unconvincingly.
"But, sir..." the man started, looking a bit flustered.
Kurogane looked around and caught sight of the blond man. He was currently laid out on a stretcher under an oxygen mask.
"Oh, that man." said the firefighter, noticing where Kurogane was looking. "He should be fine. He only inhaled enough smoke to make him pass out so he should be fine." he explained.
"Do you know him?" he asked.
"No... Although I can tell just from listening to him that he must be completely insane." replied Kurogane, attempting to get up again. This time he was prepared to get up and kept perfectly in balance when he got to his feet. His whole upper body was sore and most assuredly bruised from the almost-fall from the window, but otherwise fine.
"Sir, I have to ask; have you had experience with this kind of thing before?" asked the man.
"That's not something I want to talk to strangers about. And take that thing off your head." Kurogane ordered irritably.
The man became flustered again. "Oh, of course! I'm sorry, sir." he answered.
When the firefighter took his helmet off, Kurogane could only stand and stare blankly. The 'man' was actually a young teenage boy with brown hair and chestnut brown eyes. He looked to be around eighteen but certainly not old enough to be a firefighter. "
Kid..." started Kurogane. "Just how old are you?" he asked suspiciously.
"I'm nineteen. I'm only working here as a trainee, though." replied the boy. "My name is Syaoran, by the way." he said with a perfect formal bow.
Kurogane did not return the gesture but raised an eyebrow.
The boy named Syaoran seemed to realize his mistake and became flustered all over again. "I'm terribly sorry, sir. I moved here from Hong Kong a few months ago and I still haven't gotten used to the customs here." he explained embarrassedly, extending his hand in common American courtesy.
Kurogane took the hand, shaking it briskly. "Lighten up, kid. Nobody's going to bite your head off for giving the wrong greeting. Your English is pretty good for someone who's only been here a few months." he said gruffly.
"Thanks." replied the boy with an honest smile.
"It looks like the fire is being taken care of so you can go home now if you want." he said, looking around. While the two had been talking, the firefighters had been working at stopping the fire. The flames had nearly died out and the ones that remained were being suppressed by the second.
The building was no longer in danger of collapsing but it had been burned to the point that it would never be suitable for living in again. The blond man had just lost his home and with it, probably everything he owned. Kurogane excused himself from Syaoran and walked over to the stretcher on which the blond was lying.
He looked him over once, disapprovingly. The man's clothes were charred and blackened by smoke, even ripped in some places. His light skin was also blackened by smoke and was covered in darkening bruises in some places, especially on his wrist where Kurogane had grabbed him. He was breathing through a clear oxygen mask which would fog up every time he exhaled.
Kurogane turned to the medic attending the blond. "How is he?" he asked.
"He should be waking up in a short while." replied the medic, shortly, distracted with a chart he was studying.
When Kurogane turned back to the blond, he was surprised to see him awake and looking straight at him.
The man had his head turned in Kurogane's direction, his eyes half lidded, looking as he might drift off to sleep at any given second. His eyes were light blue, almost matching in color to his shirt, a detail that Kurogane had been too busy to notice earlier. When Kurogane turned around, the man's face lifted in a weak smile.
"People are always saying how beautiful the sky is during the day, but I think it looks best at night, don't you? All the stars are like jewels set in black velvet. It's astounding, don't you think?" the blond prattled weakly, his voice sounding strange through the mask.
"You're fucking insane, you know that." Kurogane growled. In response, the man's smile only widened.
"Now, now, Mister Black, you shouldn't curse. It's bad for you." the man replied. Kurogane blinked, unable to believe what he had just heard.
"What the hell did you just call me?! Are you fucking blind?! I'm not black, you racist bastard!" snarled the dark haired man.
"Hmm? Oh, you mean 'Mister Black'? I came up with that name for you because you're dressed all in black and you're always frowning like you have a big black cloud over your head." the man joked, almost laughing but stopping himself before he started coughing.
Kurogane's scowl became even more prominent. "You know, if you weren't injured right now I'd kill you." he said, menacingly.
"I can see that you're the kind of person who would do that, too." the man joked again. Kurogane heaved a frustrated sigh.
"You do realize that your house just burned down, right?" asked Kurogane critically. The man's expression darkened for a second with some unspoken grief, but the expression disappeared as fast as it came.
"Hmm, that's going to be a problem, isn't it?" he said thoughtfully.
Kurogane appeared baffled by the man's speed at switching moods. "You almost died back there, you idiot! Why did you go back into that building?!" he said angrily, but quietly enough not to disturb the medic.
"Oh, I'm fine apart from a few scratches and those can't quite kill me, can they?" the man said, jokingly again, ignoring the question.
Kurogane stood dumbfounded for a moment then shook his head. "You are insane. I'm leaving. Good luck finding a new house." he said sarcastically, turning away and leaving.
From behind him came the blonde's lighthearted laughter which soon dissolved into a fit of coughing.
Kurogane went to where he had tied up 'Little Puppy' but all he found was an empty collar lying on the ground. Tomoyo was going to completely freak out on him when she found out he had lost her puppy. The fear of the fire had probably driven the animal away and it was most likely far away by now. So Kurogane set home again with the puppy's green collar in his pocket, frustrated and exhausted at the past few hour's events. He wanted nothing more than to sleep.
When he reached his tenement, the first thing Kurogane did was to undress before collapsing into his king size bed. He began to fall asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow but not before taking a good look at the night sky outside his window to ponder something. He drifted off before he had time to finish his thoughts and began sleeping soundly in a matter of seconds.
The skies outside were faded by the light of streetlamps and stores that had yet to shut down for the night. A sickly turquoise haze could be seen on the horizon and the lights of the city discolored the sky. Only a single star close to the crescent moon could be seen shining determinedly through the smog. It was nothing near as clear as it should have been, but some of the heaven's beauty still managed to show its existence. That was a beauty in itself.
Arigatou to everyone who has reviewed me so far!!!! I'm really hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I like to use a lot of imagery so I hope it wasn't overused. I should have the next chapter finished in a few days depending on my school workload. Thanks for reading! ^^