Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. If I did, Fay would feed from Kurogane's neck. Yes.
My first KuroFay. Let's see where this goes.
Takes place in the Nihon arc, massive spoilers for those not past chapters 160 or so.
The Small Things
by Talim-Hime
Kurogane and Fay ate their meal in silence.
Their silence would have been awkward had they chosen to eat in the mess hall like everyone else. Even Tomoyo, who would normally dine in her room behind a privacy screen, threw away convention to eat with the palace residents. Interdimensional travelers, battling between said travelers, and Nihon's most powerful ninja now sporting an arm that bore no resemblance to skin and flesh – it was enough to scar someone. Her unharmed royal presence would boost morale, she insisted.
The pair decided not to argue with Tomoyo's logic, not when she so brightly beamed at them. Kurogane grudgingly remembered she had given up an enormous amount of her magical powers to assure he'd live to get his aesthetically displeasing arm. After deciding that the unconscious princess up in the sakura tree needed his help more than the morale-concerned one, he explained the situation to Tomoyo and was relieved she agreed with him. Kurogane laced his hand roughly with Fay's and led him out of the throne room, braving Souma's bewildered look and Tomoyo's failed attempts to stifle a knowing giggle.
After picking up their meals, they quietly set up camp for the night. Their camp consisted of sleeping mats that could be tossed aside easily in the event they needed to defend themselves, some blankets, a primitive-looking jug of water, and two of the royal weaponry's finest katanas.
They proceeded to have a quiet dinner under the thick boughs of the tree, on the patio used by spectators that Kurogane had sealed off barbarically by pushing furniture against the sliding wooden doors. As the night goes on the moonlight was weakened by the large ribbons supporting an unconsciously anguished Sakura. The little light serves as a well placed candle.
Because Nihon had no utensils that Fay was even vaguely familiar with or capable of using, he resorted to using a single chopstick to stab his pieces of fish and carefully lift the pieces to his mouth.
In performing the tedious process, Fay noticed something odd about his fish, and he chuckled.
Kurogane, unused to company when he ate, slid his irritated gaze over at Fay.
"Are you delirious, you freaking mage?"
"No, I'm fine. It's that Kuro-sama is so cute when he cares."
"I haven't even given you blood today."
Fay smiled, knowing he couldn't be beaten off so easily.
"Kuro-sama has raw fish."
Fay stated the obvious in a toneless voice, to catch his prey in a trap.
"It's called sushi, idiot."
"But I have cooked fish."
Fay was moving in.
Kurogane turned back to his meal and shrugged impatiently. "So the cook accidentally tossed your food into an open fire and is too dishonest a man to fess up. Just eat the damn food already."
Fay appeared to go back to stabbing at his meal and Kurogane thought he was safe. Before he could enjoy his peace, however, he was interrupted by Fay reaching over for the jug of water. A smug, stupid grin was plastered across his face.
"You're still not dropping it?!"
"Kuro-sama," Fay took a sip of water before he continued. "You're the one who went to get our food. The food was already prepared, yet it took you a while to come back out again."
Kurogane raised an eyebrow in anger barely kept in check.
"Who the hell told you to time me?"
Fay continued on. "I heard someone toss something into a fire. You could hear the sizzle and the pop and the –"
"What, are you an expert on fire now?!" Kurogane yelled in exasperation. He was running out of excuses.
"And when you came out my bowl had a towel under it, like it was hot."
Kurogane "hmphed" and turned his head away, so he could hide the fact that Fay's bowl had indeed been hot.
When Kurogane turned back to look, Fay was beaming that smile he only saved for Kurogane's efforts of kindness.
Or, as Fay put it, going in for the kill.
"Kurogane remembered I hated raw fish! So he made the cook toss my fish into the fire so I would eat it!" Fay deduced.
Kurogane was trapped.
"I had to!" Kurogane roared so loudly Fay shrunk back a bit, though the smile had not left his face. "You hardly eat at all, probably hoping you'll starve to death or something! I told the cook to fry your fish because that's the only way I've seen you eat it! Now eat or I'll ram the stuff down your throat myself!"
Kurogane's cheeks were flushed from the effort of screaming his head off.
And then Fay squealed. Loudly. Loudly and girly. Loudly and girly and clapping maniacally.
Kurogane's eye twitched.
"Kuro-sama cares so much!" With limbs of unmatched dexterity, Fay sprung from his seating position and into Kurogane's lap.
"—the hell!"
Fay smiled and reached back for his bowl of cooked fish and set it in his own lap. "And even now Kuro-sama makes sure I don't fall off him."
Kurogane was about to protest this when his brain alerted him to the fact his machine arm was wrapped around Fay's back for support.
He had lost.
"Tch," Kurogane slumped over a bit, closing his eyes in an attempt to reduce the size of the vein in his forehead.
Fay popped another tidbit of fish into his mouth in triumph and chewed quietly.
"Only you would get excited that someone remembered that you hated raw fish."
Fay looked up at Kurogane, who had muttered the last statement.
"It's the little things, Kurogane, that make a relationship."
The R-word had entered the conversation. Fay dropped his head, and Kurogane shifted Fay's weight around a bit.
"But relationships –" Kurogane cleared his throat noisily, thinking it would somehow mask his vermilion cheeks. "Relationships are a big thing."
"True," Fay chimed, resting his head on Kurogane's shoulder. "But it's the small things that make a relationship."
Kurogane was prepared to argue that the statement wasn't true when Fay continued.
"Like what make the other laugh –"
Kurogane didn't know why he found Fay running around in a pink apron mixing batter was funny, as much as he didn't know why Fay laughed at him when he refused to lick the spoon he had used to stir. He didn't laugh, no matter how much he wanted to.
"—what makes them smile –"
Those fake smiles Fay gave in response to Kurogane's prying questions were a challenge. A challenge that dared Kurogane to make a real smile appear on his face. Kurogane couldn't ignore it, and soon caught himself pondering just how to fulfill the unspoken obligation.
" – and the things you do for them."
Kurogane didn't want to think about that time in Outo when Fay lay crumpled among the rubble, a quiet distress evident in his face. He lashed out against the oni because they were less scary than coming to terms with he actually cared about the freaking mage, and surely less frightening than his need to ensure not a damn blonde hair was missing or a scratch on that fragile face –
"The small things, Kuro-sama, is what's important."
Kurogane was frustrated with this talk of small, no matter how much sense it made. Not that Kurogane was going to parade his mechanical arm at the next dinner party or anything of the sort, but his sacrifice was notsmall.
"You keep saying that –"
"How many arms is Kurogane willing to slice off to prove he cares for me?"
Kurogane halted mid-sentence and looked in genuine shock at the mage. Fay's gaze trailed to his left shoulder. The ninja followed Fay's hand as it slipped his robe just enough off for the little moonlight to catch the glint of foreign steel.
"Will you chop off an arm everyday, in front of me, to prove yourself?"
Fay fingered his one golden eye.
"Kuro-sama is lucky. He had another arm to slice off when he pleases. I don't have any eye color left to give to interdimensional witches. I don't have the luxury of taking care of Kuro-sama like he takes care of me."
Fay made to pop another fish tidbit into his mouth. He tried to remain in control even with the image of Yuuko shaking her head as Kurogane sunk weakly into his arms one final time.
Kurogane caught him by the wrist.
"Ow, Kuro –"
Rough lips stopped Fay's moving ones.
It tasted like raw fish.
:o:o:
Limb-ripping or soul-tearing (in the case of a certain princess) is good and all, with its moments of wordless romantic proclamations and heart-melting gestures.
But it is the seemingly insignificant things that give a relationship life.
Kurogane makes a mental note of how tightly he can press Fay against his body without hurting him.
It is the odd quirks of that precious person that make them dear.
Fay runs his hands down Kurogane's chest in reverence and runs kisses every which way, smirking as he enjoys his short stint in control. Kurogane responds favorably, and Fay is too awed to fight back against his reassertion.
In the end, after all the limbs have rotted and the souls rejoined, the small things remain.
Kurogane pulls Fay closer so his cold form can partake in the warmth of the sleeping mats and the blanket. Fay buries his head into Kurogane's chest and pulls his arms in close, so Kurogane's good arm can cradle him.
They both fall asleep in the safety of the near darkness and the lingering whiff of fish breath.
It is a small thing.
:o:o:
Author's Note: Only after writing this did I realize I made Kurogane and Fay have sex in front of Sakura.
At least she's still asleep. XD
Hope you enjoyed it! If you did, use that newfound energy to leave me a review.