AN: Sorry about the whole thing with keeping in Kurogane's fake arm when I think he lost it in the final battle…anyway, I at least mention it having been damaged in this chapter.

"I claim the top!"

Kurogane rolled his eyes at the childish exclamation and shrugged.

"Whatever."

The wizard laughed and scrambled up the ladder to the top of the strange two-leveled bed. Sitting on the bottom bunk, Kurogane rubbed at his shoulder where the artificial arm was connected, wincing. He could feel stickiness oozing out through the cloth of his cloak, and sighed, knowing that if there was bleeding, Fai would know and probably start pestering him again about hiding his pain. He wasn't like the wizard had been, hiding all his problems so everyone else could be happy, hiding from his problems; it was just that he didn't see the point of complaining about the pain when there was nothing to be done. And now that they were back in the Piffle World, it would be fixed soon enough, so again, there was little point in complaining.

Fai hung himself over the edge of the top bunk, upside-down, his hair falling to hang downwards as well. Great, here we go, thought Kurogane irritably.

"You're bleeding again."

The mage sort of back-flipped off the bed and landed on his feet on the floor. Bending over Kurogane, he unfastened the taller man's cloak and laid it tidily across the foot of the bunk, then stepped back with his hands on his hips and contemplated Kurogane's shirt.

"That's trickier than your old armor. Doesn't it hurt pulling it on and off over your shoulder?" Not waiting for an answer, he waved his hands impatiently. "Come on Kuro-pipi, take it off and let me see the damage."

Muttering grouchily under his breath, Kurogane nonetheless obeyed. He fought not to let the pain show when the sleeve brushed his shoulder. In Clow Country, during the final battle with Fei Wong, the false arm had been so badly damaged Kurogane had suspected it would never be useful again. In a way, the idea of being able to discard it was almost a relief. But then, he'd been startled to find that the thing healed, as though it were a real flesh-and-blood arm, except it healed better and faster than a real arm would. It had been downright creepy watching it put itself back together. Now that he could get it refitted, he would finally be able to enjoy having such an amazing piece of technology at his disposal.

Fai's long, cool fingers flitted over his shoulder.

"Hmm. How does this come off? It's like a parasite or something; it's attached itself to you."

Kurogane pushed a tiny switch on the inside of the arm and it retracted and came loose. He set it aside.

"Hyuu, that's neat!"

"Stop making that noise!"

All he got was a laugh. Fai moved to examine his shoulder. The actual wound from cutting off his arm had healed well, but all around the outside of the area was an angry red chafing, bleeding in places, especially at the top of his shoulder. Fai made a sympathetic humming noise. His eyes were golden, and he licked the blood from his fingers with a relish than contradicted his pity.

Fai went into the bathroom adjoining their room and came back with a damp cloth. Kurogane had expected him to use it to wipe the blood away, so he started when instead, the blonde leaned over and licked at the blood. Kurogane tensed, puzzled and irritated by the lack of warning and the intimacy of the touch. He steeled himself as always against the onslaught of desire, made stronger this time by the closeness. Thankfully it wasn't a true feeding, there wasn't much blood to be had and Fai moved away after only a moment or two.

The vampire licked blood off his lips and grinned wickedly.

"It'd be a pity to waste anything."

Kurogane glared at him. Now Fai moved the cool, damp cloth over his shoulder, lightly, wiping away leftover smears of blood.

"Don't put the arm back on tonight. We're going to get it fixed tomorrow, and you won't need it tonight anyway, so you may as well be comfortable."

It was annoying when the wizard was right. Huffing angrily simply because he wasn't going to take any advice the blonde dealt out without at least a little resistance, Kurogane stood and set his cloak and the arm on the desk across the room.

Upon arriving in the Piffle World that morning, they'd found this world's Tomoyo easily enough. She'd cried over the loss of the Sakura she'd known, but she seemed happy that the living Sakura was in a safe place. She gave them rooms in her house…more of a mansion really…Kurogane was a bit irked by having to share a room with Fai when there were obviously other rooms available. He wondered if Tomoyo was matchmaking. At least she'd given them a room with bunk-beds instead of making them share a bed. Kurogane mentally shuddered at the thought. He had a feeling Fai would be cuddly. Uck.

Turning from the desk to go back to the bed and sleep, he nearly ran into Fai, who had seemingly materialized out of thin air just behind him, grinning madly.

"Idiot! What are you doing? Don't surprise me like that!"

The blonde's voice took on a whiny, childish tone that grated on Kurogane's nerves.

"Kuro-puu, I'm hun-gr-y."

Kurogane's irritation was lightened by the realization that this was the first time Fai had really been the one to broach the subject, aside from the one time in the kitchen of the witch's shop, but that had only been because he was near starving and the blood had been flowing anyway. This time, Fai was essentially requesting to feed. It was a breakthrough. It meant Fai had apparently come to terms with the fact that they were stuck together, predator and prey, and that there was little point in hiding his needs. Kurogane reached for his sword to cut himself, but Fai halted him with a hand on his arm.

The vampire extended one long claw from his pointer finger and touched it to Kurogane's wrist. The scars from previous feedings were barely visible; Fai's saliva healed them quickly and with very little scarring.

"This won't make such a large wound as the sword. Besides, I don't like watching you cut yourself." Golden eyes glinted as Fai drew a clean cut with his claw and waited for the blood to well up. "You know what the worst part of this was, while I was still fighting it, hating it?"

When Fai just licked at the blood and didn't continue, Kurogane grudgingly took the bait.

"What?"

Fai made a cheerful little humming noise, probably pleased with himself for making Kurogane ask.

"Mmm. It was that you taste good, and I hated how much I enjoy this." Kurogane blinked, surprised. Fai's previous hatred of the entire situation had been so strong that he hadn't even considered the possibility that the wizard might actually partly enjoy it. Besides, he'd tasted his own blood before, it he happened to bite his tongue or lip, and there was hardly anything special about it. Probably Fai's body had changed not only to need blood, but also to savor it. "It's better than chocolate, better than wine. I could keep taking it until there was nothing left, and love every drop. And I hated it, I hated that I was taking pleasure from hurting someone. I was afraid one day I might lose myself, take too much…that I might kill you."

Kurogane started slightly when Fai shifted away from the original cut and suddenly broke through the skin in a new place with his fangs. This was another first; the first time Fai had used his natural weapons, his claws and fangs, to draw blood. Distracting himself from the strange pleasure-pain, Kurogane spoke.

"And now? You've accepted this?"

"Mm-hmm. It occurred to me that my instincts would probably stop me a long way short of killing you. After all, if you die, I die. I don't think I could kill you. Even if I lost my head and kept drinking more than I should, I think something in me would stop simply for the cause of self-preservation. Besides, if we're stuck this way forever, I'd be an idiot to spend my whole life hating it."

"You are an idiot. But at least you're not being idiotic about this anymore."

Fai pulled away, smiling. Lifting Kurogane's hand, he studied the wrist and laughed mischievously. Kurogane followed his gaze and realized that the long, curved slice from Fai's claw and the two punctures from his fangs had been placed in such a way that they made a smiley face. He lifted his eyes back up to the laughing mage and snarled, sending Fai running in a fit of giggles and fake shrieks. He chased the wizard down the corridor and found him hiding beneath a very puzzled Syaoran's bed, with Mokona bouncing up and down and giggling maniacally. Deciding that it wasn't worth it to drag Fai out from under the bed, Kurogane snorted and stomped back down the hall.

Just for the sake of being ornery, he climbed up onto the top bunk and rolled into the blankets.

Claim the top bunk, will he? Humph, serves him right if I take it.

Darn that mage and his crazy antics.

And darn his own lips for smiling when he was supposed to be angry.