Behavior, a tsubasa chronicle fanfic

Title: Behavior

Author: Shyrofoxfeather

Fandom: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle

Characters: Kurogane x Fai

Word Count: 1,236

Rating: Teen

Summary: No fun can be had of being in jail together. Really. None.

Disclaimer: Tsubasa and its rights belong to CLAMP.

Author's Notes: Not set in any specific part of the series. I tried to keep everyone in character.

Day 1

Kurogane wasn't sure how they had gotten into this situation, but he was sure it was the mage's fault. Why? It was always the mage's fault. And this sole fact remained true to Kurogane for the simple reason that he would not have gotten himself into this situation had the deviant blond man been absent.

In fact, a prolonged absence would be a welcome thing after this ordeal.

"Kuropyon!" Fai cooed, kicking his legs back and forth on the metal bench. Kurogane refused to give him the satisfaction of even a small glance. "Kurochaaan!" Fai launched himself onto the object of his attention, which led to him being firmly pushed away.

Whirling on the giggling mage, Kurogane grabbed his arm sharply. "Now listen you--!"

The guard snickered from outside of the cell and the imprisoned ninja sent the man a dark look. To his dismay the guard was unaffected this.

"Awww. Is Kuro-daddy feeling lonely? Has to cuddle Fai-mommy so lovingly!" A slow smile grew on the blond's face--like a cat purring, drunk on milk--and leaned into his captor.

Kurogane released him and stormed over to the steel bench on the other side of the small room.

This was going to be a long night.

Day 2

Although at times his opinion of a certain traveling companion dropped considerably, this was nothing compared to the disgraceful waste of space that stood in front of their cell.

"Hey, blondy." Crowed the male guard from outside the bars. "Why don't you come with me? I could get you out of that nasty cell with your unsavory companion... for a price."

Fai smiled broadly. "Yet I savor him all the time..."

"The hell?" Kurogane growled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oooh... You know." Fai leered from across the room.

This small act of obvious disinterest did not deter the guard.

"C'mon, you don't want to be in there all day do you? I can make your time here more worth while." The man flashed his teeth as if the flawless whiteness of the molars guaranteed him a temporary bedmate. Kurogane huffed in disgust.

"Actually..." Fai purred, "I might want to be in here all day." He eyed the ninja with a grin.

The guard gave him a strange look and shrugged. "Ah well, your loss." And wandered off to somewhere the two cellmates couldn't see.

Day 3

This was beginning to irritate Kurogane immensely. The lack of deserved freedom, that is.

They didn't belong in this cell no more than the princess did (and really, she didn't). It was just that they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and the others--Mokona included--were off somewhere else purchasing food, supposedly.

Yet that was not the source of most of his frustration. The real cause was the idiot in the corner.

He had been grinning, giggling, swooning, and all types of odd medley of pose, pitch, and movement. It was really beginning to grate on his nerves. It was like a clockwork toy. Except that it was Kurogane's annoyance that cranked the gears into motion instead of a knob.

'I'm sure cranking his knob would get him into motion, too.' He thought dully. Then, after a moment, flushed. What was he thinking! He shook it off without giving away that anything was even wrong.

Not that the mage would have noticed. He was currently in a lulled state of sleep. It was odd, Kurogane mused, how someone could try so hard to stay aware of their surroundings and then just nod off. It was karma, really.

He had noticed over the past few days that the blond has almost stayed in a stubborn state of happiness. He was never letting something slip or show from under his grin. And it almost was painful to watch in a strained kind of way...

Looking back on it, the mage never really spent this much time with him before, even if he tried.

Kurogane growled and kicked the metal of the strengthened bars. If only he had a weapon on him or something.

Day 4

"Okay, come on out of there, Fai-san." A female guard ushered, motioning the slim man out of the small room.

Kurogane huffed, the chains of his hand restraints twinkling gently with the motion.

Fai turned to face him from outside the cell. "You know, Kuro-rin, if you had been a good puppy and behaved you would be leaving, too, right now." The ninja refused to answer to this obvious trap. He would not be made any more a fool of than he had been today.

"Fai-san," the guard began, "you're being let free because of your good behavior. If you choose to taunt the other prisoners and make a fuss before we even let you go we may have to revoke that." The guard shot a dark look at the dark-haired man. "Especially if you're taunting violent escapees."

The blonde grinned, a false (to Kurogane's eyes) sheepish expression enveloping his face. "He's just ill-trained." He confided.

The guard shifted an odd look between Kurogane and Fai for a moment before shrugging and leading him down the clean, white hall.

Kurogane again deigned himself to huff.

Day 5

"Kurogane-san!" The princess cried at the sight of him, his hands bound together, sitting in the cell.

"You've been a bad boy again, haven't you?" Mokona, sitting upon her shoulder, piped up. The ninja twitched, annoyed. Kurogane would have to teach that meat bun real soon to not follow the idiot's way of thinking.

Syaoran appeared at Sakura's side. "We've brought the proper currency to post bail. We'll have you out of there very soon." He informed Kurogane in what the boy probably thought of as a comforting manner. It worked wonders on the princess after all.

"Eh... Should I even guess how you found me?" He asked lazily. A diet of bread and water tends to curb one's patience with... all things, really.

"Kuro-woo-woo!" Greeted Fai who was flanked by two guards Kurogane had never seen before. "We've paid for your freedom." Fai's tone turned admonishing. "We really need to train you better!"

"..."

Sakura laughed nervously.

The guards walked neatly over to the cell door. One unlocked it while the other, understandably more muscular, one unlocked Kurogane.

"You're lucky, Kurogane-san, that Fai-san collected the money for your release." One guard scolded in a manner the ninja regarded with distaste as he was led out of the cell. "You would have been here a lot longer due to your stunts if it weren't for him..."

Kurogane rubbed his sore wrists. "I'm sure I wouldn't be here at all if it weren't for him." He said angrily.

Sakura looked at him with a small sad look. She probably felt bad about how long they had been unable to find them. "How did you and Fai-san end up here?"

"Public disturbance." The guard quipped, motioning to the file that she held pointedly.

Fai wrapped an arm around Kurogane's shoulders. "He was showing Fai-mommy how much he looooves him!"

Sakura looked confused and Syaoran grimaced but said nothing.

The guard faultered. "In the town square?"

Kurogane jabbed a thumb at the mage's beaming face. "He's an idiot. I told you morons from the start that it was his fault."

Fin.

End Notes: Constructive criticism is appreciated, especially on spelling and grammar errors. And it's up to your own imgination what happened with Fai and Kurogane in the town square. Whatever you want it to be, it is.

I was just amused by the idea that Fai could probably get out of jail quickly, with little fuss, due to 'good behavior' while Kurogane... well... couldn't (probably).