Disclaimer: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles is the intellectual property of CLAMP
Author's Note: Well, I finally started writing for Tsubasa. It was inevitable, I'm obsessed. If there's anyone who has seen the series and not read the manga, read the manga. It is easily the best manga ever written, in my opinion (though to be fair, I have yet to read FMA).
Infuriating
It sincerely frightened Kurogane how good Fai was at lying. They had arrived at a disgustingly upper-class area of the new world in which they had to search for one of Sakura's feathers. Fai had found them a mansion that would easily have passed for a palace in several different worlds and had not only declared that there they would sleep because -obviously- the owners were out of town but then had flawlessly convinced the neighbors that they had rented it from the occupants, now on winter leave in the tropics, and then had preceded with a frighteningly detailed, long-winded story of how their luggage had been lost and how they were going to be "doing something" about that and on and on he went with enough of a story to make Kurogane's head spin.
How Fai intended to remember all of that was beyond Kurogane but it got them a place to sleep, and food to eat, and it was as Fai said, if they were found out what did it matter when they would be gone from this world soon anyway?
So here he sat, on the veranda in the evening light, guiltily enjoying someone else's tea while he watched the kids and the meat bun playing in the backyard pool. It had taken much convincing on Fai and Mokona's part, with Sakura pitching in at the end, to get Syaoran to enjoy himself now that another long day of feather-hunting had come to a close. They had a pretty good idea where the feather was and it was only a matter of confirming that suspicion and obtaining the thing for them to complete their time there. Two days, he estimated, maybe three. So it was good to see Syaoran relaxing a little and having fun - even if it was at the expense of their unwilling benefactors. Kurogane watched as Sakura splashed him, laughing happily and let a small smile slip through.
"Ah, Kuro-pi's smiling." Kurogane scowled. One two-second lapse and trust the mage to be there to witness it.
Fai took a seat next to him and Kurogane made it a point not to look at him.
"Isn't it a beautiful evening?" Kurogane watched, stunned to silence as Fai stretched languidly in front of him, somehow stretching himself back across his lap, arms extended above his head and smiled brilliantly up at him waiting patiently for his complete concurrence. Finally he was able to gather himself enough to growl down at the blonde.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" Kurogane demanded levelly, giving Fai his hardest, sternest glare which Fai reflected back at him in negative, his smile widening.
"Kuro-daddy looks so peaceful watching his children play in the water." Fai looked over to the others, watching their game of water-tag for a moment before turning back to Kurogane. "We should vacation more often don't you think? I'm thinking of a tropical island…"
"This may be a vacation to you but some of us have a destination." Kurogane growled.
"You know," Fai said stretching his arms out in front of him and examining his hands in a way that told Kurogane he had been completely ignored "I worry about the children's education. They should be in school. It's not good for them to be missing out on precious childhood years like this."
"Don't you take anything seriously?" Kurogane demanded, disgustedly.
"Why don't you just play along?" Fai asked, just a hint of regret, of bitterness, below the surface that surprised Kurogane.
"Daddy's holding Mommy!" The sudden outburst startled Kurogane as Mokona bounced happily around them and he noticed, first that the kids were done playing and probably ready to go inside and second that yes, he was indeed "holding" Fai.
Fai squealed, leaping up and throwing his arms around him. "Daddy and I were just enjoying the evening together." he proclaimed. "Fear not! Your parent's have a loving and healthy relationship to set a good example for you."
Mokona squealed and bounded around them happily while Sakura smiled and Syaoran looked to the side with slight embarrassment. Kurogane, red in the face (from anger of course, not total mortification) shoved Fai off of him and stomped into the house, Fai's voice flowing after him.
"Dinner will be ready in ten minutes!"
Kurogane stomped himself up the stairs to wash up and quell the urge to kill something muttering bitterly that Hell would freeze over before their relationship was a healthy one while Fai busied himself helping the kids dry their hair before supper, his happy, trademark smile firmly in place.
Post whatevers: I've written three more of these little one-shots. This one was supposed to center around Kurogane, the next is for Syaoran. As always, review if you liked. Ja!