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CHAPTER TWO
Within Preposition
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Since the Princess' disappearance he kept house in her kingdom without desire. There was no hope in her return, as it was, and quite aside from the impossible reversing it's course into the fantastical, Sakura should have been far from any need of his protection and care in a year that would have set her at sixteen years. Though because of his former relations with the Princess and her brother, he was treated with every due of respect and civility as if he had still held such a position, and not that of a odd healer.

Not many in the still undeveloped, and sometimes primitive, country relied on his 'tricks' and 'medicine' to cure them and so Fay found his days spent in near solitude for many weeks after Kurogane's departure. His brother happened in around the end of the spring month to question on Sakura, but Fay could give his blood mirror no more than a shoulder shrug of hopelessness that took toll on all the muscles of each body in Clow.

"She couldn't have gone on much past the country border, brother" His twin said in condolence "Have faith and surely she will be in presence with time"

Fay tried to stifle his laughter, especially at the good-natured hand laid to his arm, but it was in vain and he burst into a fit. It was the kind of merriment that one indulges in when nothing else seems sane, and only done because the mind hasn't an idea to what else is to be expected under such strain. His twin saw past the enjoyment well enough though, and offered the same form of last-resort smile in return.

"It's more likely I should be admitted back to our kingdom!" he roared at last with delight

"Don't say that!" his twin said hurriedly

"Oh, what weight is it here?!" Fay persisted "No one cares that I should be an outcast! Who should care that their paradise, comfort, and life only serve as my purgatory and agony?!"

"Trade with me!" his brother implored with passion in his eyes. He took up Fay's hand and pressed it tightly "I will reside here and you to our home and--"

"Here or there!" Fay laughed, almost devilishly "There or here! What matter of difference is it should we not be allowed to partake in such prepositions together?!"

"You're talking nonsense" his brother said softly

"Come Yuui!"

"Come Fay!" he rejoined with halfhearted tease

At once the brothers began to laugh in that desperate manner the mind yearns for in it's moral abandonment. Under emotional stress the two Prince's cried out, and drank, and laughed until far gone was the sun that the moon was nearly over the quaint house.

"She will be seen by your eyes once more" he insisted in the course of his stumbling for horse "Take care brother and until we are in one preposition again I bid you happiness!"

"You can bid it all you like!" the latter rejoined in slur "but no good will it be unless partial truth lights a path to it!"

"Still nonsense!"

"Still yet ignorance and blind faith, you unhappy Prince!" he replied as they flung themselves at one another "Make certain that you kill no one on the course of your ride!"

"That is said in bad taste, brother--"

"Such a taste that suits my present existence quite handsomely too!"

Any trace of outward displeasure was immediately vanquished in the warm embrace, only the more passionate when they removed the horse whom was caught in the middle of their drunken exchanges of farewell. Fay had always enjoyed drink, frivolity that laid entirely in the hands of his foster father, yet he never got so far in his pleasure to understand how one is to keep themselves under control of the intoxication. His solitude and his brother's visit only intensified his love for the small merriment found in the pastime and so, at the conclusion of such a bittersweet exchange, Fay fell down onto the steps of his door and didn't move until he was provoked.

His agitator was himself very much aggravated to find the person sprawled out and face-buried into the sand on the dawn of the next morning. Kurogane was one known to have little if no patience when something was in need of immediate attention, and so he wasted not a second's time in kicking the man in the ribcage to persuade consciousness into the lifeless form.

"Cruel!" the body cried in merriment that was wrongly placed in such a state of affairs "Have not you heard that one is not to kick a man when he is down?!"

"But to kick a man who is a fool is necessary for the sake of both men" came the ready reply "Now up! I need a word"

"If you should like one with me, you should have to pay for it with an exchange of yours!" Fay replied once recognizing his harasser "Come and don't pout over it, Kuro-sama!"

"You are drunk" he said coolly, kicking open the door. The great man stepped right over Fay and let himself in without reservation. The notion pleased his light head well enough and so Fay lifted himself up with the help of the door frame and staggered in after Kurogane.

"For the sake that I deal with the sane, I hope you weren't at drink alone"

Fay saw Kurogane was glancing over all the empty bottles littered about his floor but, rather than ashamed or under any inclination to hide the truth of his brother's secret visitation, Fay was doubly amused and grinned "You're worried? How kind!"

"I worry that I speak with one who has no wits!" he hissed in ill humor

"Hiding feelings" Fay teased "never does good"

"I haven't come to talk or dispute the rational behind humankind--I've come to inquire"

Fay sunk into an arm chair with laughter "You must pay the toll, as I say!"

"What? The word?" he said impatiently "What word? What is it? Have on with it so I can be one my way"

"I should like…" Fay sat up but at once fell back into the chair with the weight of his hangover "…should like…you--"

Kurogane watched the man fall into slumber with a menacing expression, such a look that did neither good nor wrong to his chiseled features. As nobility there was an air of superiority and knowledge of right in the taunts lines, but intermixed with the life of a warrior there set a face so hard and come to superciliousness that it created it's own shadows of darkness apart from those of average likeness. More displeased was Kurogane above annoyed at this hindrance that he saw it fit only to throw a blanket over the sleeping man, in the stead of scrutinizing the probability of the man's remaining life, before storming out of the little house and walking with deep steps into the sandy country.

For the several weeks that had past between his last meeting with the Princess' former Keeper, he had made no advance in discovering the lost heir of Clow. Demanding admittance into the castle dungeon to see the boy Fay had spoken of had only served to create as much good for his task as was staring at the feet of the burly guards who refused to let him by without direct permission from the king. Such was the very same king who denied an audience with him so Kurogane may ask for the rightful request, and so left Kurogane in a road with no paths. Should the Keeper still share a relation with the king Kurogane had hoped to use that to his advantage but drunken foolery wasn't to be tolerated in his mission.

Delays were something to avoid as well but Kurogane couldn't see a way around it and made circles of the kingdom until the gloom finally settled from his face with the falling sun.

"You'll tire yourself" A voice said quaintly "You've been walking around all day, haven't you? Here, come join me for some dinner"

Kurogane looked off to his side to see a man with glasses and a smile which beheld a pleasant match to his kind offering. Having been a fighter the notion of accepting meals from citizens wasn't an oddity so, with a wordless grace of gratitude, Kurogane entered the tiny house. On approaching the table he saw two places were already set but didn't think it notable to comment on the man's confidence that he should receive a guest in Kurogane.

"You are a visitor to our little country"

"I am"

"And what brings a warrior of the East to our South?"

Kurogane glanced at the emblem of his kingdom on his arm before returning to the smiling man at his opposite "I'm in a search"

"….for the Princess"

"For the Princess" he confirmed

"Ah! I heard that there was a warrior about, wishing for traces and hoping for entrance into the dungeon--"

"If it has all been said, why hasn't it been granted?" It was said angrily, but more so to himself as he stabbed his cold meat with a fork.

"I am Fujitaka" the man said kindly

"Kurogane"

He smiled "You are looking for the Princess in the dungeon?"

"I'm looking for a boy there who might be the only one who knows what happened to her" he corrected

"He doesn't know"

The confidence and quickness that related the words startled Kurogane from his meal enough to look upon his companion instead "How's that?"

"If he did then he shouldn't be in there in the first place!" the man replied lightly, but with a cheerlessness that was horribly contrasted to any of his other words

"You know him?"

"I'm his father"

"Why lie? The boy has no upbringing, no name"

"He has my name along with the one I gave him" After a moment Fujitaka smiled once more "Should you ask him I have no doubt he will help you find her--but not in a way that he knows where to seek. He will do all he can to find her but only in a blind affection that takes control of all who share a deep intimacy"

"I was told that if I found one, I should find the other" he said with sudden impatience

"And so you shall!" he replied with good humor "But not in a way you imagine. Syaoran-kun knows no more of where the Princess is then that lifeless animal on your plate. Will you see one with the other? Of course, not even the greatest power can deny their bound hearts. Hindrance shall play maker until time and freedom play it's role, though"

The conversation left such a bad taste in his mouth that his own appetite was forgotten. After finding vexation in the misguided words of the former Keeper enough to diminish any more desire he had in calling on the man, a week was spent in vain to seek audience with the ruler, and another week soon after. Kurogane had just about exercised all his power over the tiring situation when, from the shifting sands of the blazing desert, came a neatly carved purple carriage. As it wove it's path in and out of the streets a wave of voices and awe followed course. The sight was only to be rewarded with a scowl from him, growing deeper and more pronounced against his self-made shadows when a cheerful girl of sixteen was handed down from the cart.

"What heat!" she exclaimed with good cheer, using a delicate hand to fan herself "Not even our summers are so intense! If I had known that temperatures were so high I should have gone ahead and made out all those adorable gowns for Sakura-chan!"

"No good doing such useless foolishness now" grumbled Kurogane

"With that attitude and sad excuse for a happy welcome I would be worried if you had said the opposite" Tomoyo said with a light smile "Come, Kurogane! We have things to discuss!"

"I said I don't need you here!" he persisted, even as the servants carried her baggage into his house against his attempt to block the movement "Stop with this!" he shouted hotly "Stop and go home already!"

"Brood all you want inside while I tell you where I have been!"

With a gloomy countenance Kurogane followed after the woman he served, but on seeing herself being trailed after she stopped and held out her palm to bring his stride to a direct halt that nearly toppled his large structure.

"Help our guest with his things first!" The woman's grin concerned him enough, for her humor was his torture "As one who shares my cause I thought it best to receive him into our cause directly!"

Annoyance rapidly leveled into anger when he turned his shoulder and spotted Fay jumping out from the carriage with a grin and the short, merry call of "We should be the happiest partners!"

"…damnit" he could only mutter to the many wrongs the situation presented.

TSUBASA:RC does not belong to me.