A/N: Concrit for this would be highly appreciated, with it's experimental nature and all. This is Fai, next either Sakura or Syaoran. I'm saving Mokona and the others for later.

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Fai's POV

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Another rough landing. I sigh. At least this time I'm only a few yards down the street from Sakura and Syaoran.

I pick myself up off the street with a grin, and mosey on over to Syaoran and his princess. Kuro-pi won't be very happy, and I'd hate to miss the chance to irritate him some more.

Syaoran is inspecting Sakura for injuries, but both seem intact, minor bumps and scrapes aside.

We seem to have landed in the middle of the street in an industrial-type city. The streets go every which way, like some illegible scribble. No one is about, but night will fall soon anyway, if the sun is any indication. We're going to want shelter before then, but none of the buildings seem to have doors. Or any kind of entrances or openings for that matter.

"Fai-san!" Syaoran calls. Sakura looks over her shoulder to see me.

"Syaoran-kun, Sakura-chan. Where's Mokona and Kuro-mu?" I ask when close enough.

"Mokona is here! Mokona senses a feather!" The little white fellow pops up from between Sakura and Syaoran, eternally cheery.

"That's great. But no Kuro-tan?" I respond. He won't be happy when he finds us. It'll be fun. There is a slight popping noise far off.

"Mokona, can you tell where the feather is?" Syaoran asks in that politely formal tone of his.

"No. There is one, but Mokona can't feel where it is." He mopes.

"Don't worry Moko-chan, Syaoran-kun will find it." Sakura says, as she picks up and places Mokona on her shoulder.

"We should get moving and find shelter, princess. You look asleep on your feet." Syaoran frets so much. Being worried that much of the time just isn't healthy.

"Arrrrrrrrrahhhhhhhh!" A lone cry of anguish and sorrow rends the evening air.

"Kuro-pon!" It was him, no doubt about it. The cry echoes around the air, and Syaoran closes his eyes for a moment. He takes off running towards it, pulling Sakura with him. I follow slowly, after a moment's frozen shock.

I've never heard him sound like that before. Like something was torn away out of him. I am afraid. For what, of what, I am unsure.

But I shake it off and start running full before Syaoran and Sakura are out of sight.

The sunlight is gone now, the streets only illuminated by the occasional lamplight.

"Syaoran-kun, I'm scared." Sakura says shakily. He only looks back at her with his I'm-never-ever-going-to-let-anything-happen-to-you face for a moment, then turns back to keep running.

"Ne, Syaoran! Are you sure it's this way?" I call to him. These streets amplify and distort sound in strange ways. A moment after I speak, I can hear an echo of my own voice coming from the left. I'd never be able to find Kuro-chi on my own in this place, but Syaoran seems so sure.

"I swear it came from this direction!" He calls back, just before entering the light of a lamp before a dark ally. There is a faint sound of metal sliding, and Syaoran pushes Sakura out of the light towards me with his left hand while drawing his sword with is right.

I catch Sakura and set her back on her feet proper. At the sound of clashing steel, I look up.

Kuro-tan is pressing a blindingly relentless set of attacks on Syaoran, so fast that it is all Syaoran can do to keep up and block him. If it keeps going like this, Syaoran's going to make some slip-up, and it'll all be over.

"Stay here." I quietly instruct Sakura, before addressing the combatants in a loud and frivolous tone.

"What's Kuro-wan doing? Syaoran-kun's going to need those arms you're trying so hard to chop off." Kuro-pi stops dead in his tracks, then whirls to face my direction, sword raised and ready.

I take a moment to quash my nervousness before stepping into the light with a deliberately exaggeratedly silly manner. He stares at me with such strangely… vacant… eyes.

His sword slips from between his hands, and his legs buckle out from under him. He is on his knees and simply staring at me with haunted eyes, a look I am quite familiar with. It is the same look I see in mirrors I pass.

"Kuro-rin, did I say something wrong?" I ask lightly. No use upsetting Syaoran more than he already is by mentioning the trickle of blood that has just caught my eye seeping into the ring of light. When Kuro-chan shows no signs of answering, I head over to Syaoran. I quietly ask him to go check on Sakura, tell him that I will take care of this. He looks at me strangely, but goes anyway. When he is gone I look back at Kuro-tan.

"Kuro-mu… What happened?" I barely breathe the words as a million possibilities flit through my head. I find myself moving towards the blood, which I can now see is coming from a shadowy form outside the light. A body.

Maybe it was a Tomoyo-chan. Maybe someone hurt her, and he blames himself. Maybe it was a Sakura, or a Souma. Maybe it was just another person, and his rage got the better of him. Maybe he killed… But that's not like Kuro-mu, not now.

I'm at the body, and have grabbed it to drag it into the light. Maybe I shouldn't. But my body is no longer listening to my mind's maybes.

The body is in the light now, and I have to look it in the face. For a moment or two the identity doesn't register. It is as if there were a mirror before my eyes. I'm holding my own dead body. That single thought chases itself around my head until it sinks in.

"Kuro…" I can only continue to look, spellbound. More what if's come into my mind. At least this is a bullet wound, not a sword wound. This is not Kuro's handiwork.

"I thought… It was that person, Ashura. I thought he had caught you." Kuro's voice has come back apparently. I try not to flinch when he says that name, but don't succeed. I can only wonder at what twisted scenario played out here on this world, and only guess at what part of the final act Kuro witnessed.

"No. No, this Fai is free where he doesn't have to run anymore…" I whisper in an almost wistful, almost jealous voice.

"Don't say stupid things like that." Kuro growls as he looks at me. His eyes are lively and determined again, and that makes me glad. But I still can't let go of some of my jealousy. I drag my body, no, the body back into the shadows, most likely its final resting place. I say a silent prayer for that Fai before turning back to Kuro.

"Why not? No one would care." I tell him jokingly, waiting for him to agree with me.

"Idiot, you've got four people that would care a whole damn lot if you just went off and got yourself killed. Stop trying to lie to yourself." He says. Curse his ability to know a joke from a serious sentiment. He doesn't even stay, but turns to leave after only that.

"And you said you don't like to say pretty things. So, what do we tell the kids?" I call after him. He doesn't turn around.

"The truth. That I was simply testing the boy's skills under realistic conditions. Nothing more." He grumbles awkwardly. I wonder if that's his first real lie. Nothing would bother him more right now than me laughing, so I do so.

"Ahhh, Kuro-rin is getting good at this lying too." I tell him coyly, before stepping out of this ring of light and back into reality.