A/N: Wow! I decided to update this story! Amazing isn't it?! I've actually had this chapter written for a couple months, but I never got around to posting it because I got sick and then I had to update other stories and it just never got done, but here it is now.

I have to say that this chapter is pretty simple and straight forward. We learn a little about Fai's past, which isn't nearly as complex as I usually make it, and we do learn how he became invisible, even if Fai didn't mean to give it away. However how his invisibility works won't be explained until later...sorry.

Read, review, enjoy!

"Are you absolutely insane?"

Fai yawned and stretched his arms out in front of him, one hand was delicately placed over the other before he pulled them back and sat up straight in his chair. The action reminded Kurogane oddly of a cat getting up from a nap. "Insane? Possibly. Absolutely insane? Doubtful." He yawned again and placed one hand on his face. "Besides, it's just math, and even if we did learn something useful in this dreaded class no one notices me. I could snore and no one would care."

"I'd hit you," Kurogane said bluntly.

Fai smirked from behind his hand, "You don't count as no one. You're everyone."

"That makes no sense."

Fai leaned his head on one hand and then grinned widely at Kurogane, "To you, but to me it makes all the sense in the world!" The blond boy sat up straight once more, grabbed his books, notebooks, pens, and pencils before finally standing to his feet. "So, how's your mother?"

Kurogane grumbled to himself. He doubted Fai meant to do it, but every so often he spoke in riddles. People like Fai weren't supposed to speak in riddles, old men who told the same stories over and over again were supposed to speak in riddles. "She was awake when we visited yesterday, she seems to be doing a bit better."

"That's good. Come on Kuro-chan! Gather your stuff, it's time for lunch." Fai ran off toward the door.

Kurogane sighed, Sometimes he acts way too happy for the situation he's in. Who does he think he's fooling? The black-haired boy picked up his own stuff, discretely tucking a red unlabeled notebook underneath the rest of his stuff. A thought struck him. "She asked about you."

Just as Kurogane had expected the statement stopped Fai dead in his tracks as if a hammer had hit him on the head. "Who asked about me?"

"Mother. It wasn't by name, but she asked 'where's that nice blond boy that sometimes comes home with you?' It seemed like she really wanted to see you."

Fai slowly turned around, "Wow." He smiled. Bingo, Kurogane got what he'd wanted. It was a real smile, a smile that said he was pleased to hear those words. "After three years, she's finally starting to notice me. What about your father?" Most people would say this comment with sarcasm dripping from the words, but for Fai the words were sincere and happy, he was glad that time meant something.

"He knows you exist, but beyond that, not much on his own."

"It's still something. Really, it makes me happy. It's not exactly sight, not like you see me at any rate, but it's still...something. Something, something." Fai hugged his books even more tightly to his chest.

Now that is the Fai I should see, not that fake stuff. Kurogane almost couldn't stop himself from smiling. "You should come next time. It'll make her happy." He made the comment sound like a mere suggestion, as if it were something he couldn't care less if Fai did for not, but he hoped the blond would say yes.

Fai nodded, "Okay, I will."

Score. Kurogane allowed one side of his lips to curl up into a smirk and he rearranged his things in his arms so that he could roughly place one hand on the top of Fai's head. "Lunch now."

"Yes."

"Even though I rarely call you this when we're speaking, I'll call you Fai when I write to you. It's easier that way.

The first thing I'm going to tell you is not the most important thing I have to tell you, but it's still important. I hate your parents, and I think you should defy them and go to art school. You really have talent and if that isn't what you should be doing with your life I don't know what you should be doing. I do know that you shouldn't be doing herbology. Let's face it Fai, you hate math and science.

Now I'll tell you the most important thing, and I'll never say it outloud so you had better not lose this notebook if you ever want to be reminded of it." Kurogane's pen paused on the page. He wasn't sure if he wanted to write the next words or not. He did, but like most people he feared that once Fai read it, he would never talk to him again, or some other crazy story. At last he forced the pen back to writing.

"I love you."

He made a face of displeasure and then on the line below it he wrote one other word, "Romantically."

The face deepened and he sighed. He closed the notebook and opened the notebook he was supposed to be doing bookwork in. Writing to Fai was hard. Even knowing that Fai wouldn't be reading this until he was somewhere far away from Kurogane and that they probably wouldn't be seeing each other for a long time after that, if ever, it was hard. He didn't want to write the wrong thing. He didn't want to write something that would make Fai cry, or make Fai feel a gap between them. He wanted the words in the notebook make Fai feel endeared. He wanted Fai to know exactly how much he meant to Kurogane and how close he wanted them to be. He wanted Fai to feel loved, in the purest sense of the word.

It was hard.

He didn't know what to write. Kurogane was probably the person who knew the blond boy the best, but, as he had found out on Saturday, there were many things about Fai that he did not know. There were many layers waiting to be unearthed and discovered. There were many things about the guy he loved that he did not yet know or understand. Even so he wanted to know them all and he wanted to embrace them all for even if they were bad or unsightly, they were a part of Fai.

What could Kurogane write that would make Fai happy? Make him feel like he was beloved? The only thing he could think of was to write whatever came to his mind, write down anything and everything, for if he kept no secrets from Fai, Fai would be comfortable with that. Perhaps that was what made it so hard. He wanted to write down everything, but when he tried, his mind automatically tried to only think of things Fai might like, and that left him completely blank.

The bell rang. Kurogane had not done a single question of his homework. He grit his teeth and picked up all his stuff, Fai would have to help him with this stuff, even if he didn't take the class Fai probably knew English better than most people in his class. Fai just picked up on things that way, especially things that he might actually need, like English.

As Kurogane left the classroom, hands grabbed onto his arm and pulled it tightly against a warm body. "How was English?" Fai's voice trilled as they began to walk.

"Like every other day in English. Do you think you could help me with the work I didn't finish?"

"Yep." Fai's arms finally released Kurogane's arm so that he didn't have any more problems with walking. "English is easy for me."

Kurogane snorted, "Did your parents make you take special lessons when you were younger?"

"Yes."

Kurogane paused, he'd been joking when he'd said that. "Really?" The thought continued to shock Kurogane even after he'd thought it through. I knew Fai's parents were a bit wacked...and I do want to hit his father, but what kind of parent seriously puts their child through that when they're young?

"Yes. They travel to English speaking countries quite a bit, so they thought Yuui and I should know English as well as Japanese."

"Yuui?" He remembered Fai's parents had mentioned that name too. They had mistaken Fai's voice to be Yuui's voice.

"My brother," Fai said simply. "Are you going to open your locker or do I have to pick the lock?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up your brother." Kurogane felt Fai take his books from his arms and Kurogane spun the lock on his locker to get the metal box to open.

"No, you didn't. That's why I'm not upset at all."

"Your parents miss him."

"They do. He was their favorite. He was so much better than me. He loved math and science in a way I never could...but he could never draw even a simple heart. They made us study English, violin, piano, and math and science of all sorts. The things they thought were important."

"Harsh."

"A little, but Yuui liked the piano. I liked to hear him play. I can play piano, but..." As Kurogane shut his locker he saw Fai make a face. "I haven't since he died. I guess I lost the will to."

Kurogane sighed, "You said that you two were close, right?"

"Yes. We were so close...that when he died, I became invisible. Before that, people could see me fine, but when he left half of me was gone, so I guess the rest of the world decided I'd gone with him." Fai shrugged as if this meant nothing to him, but the small frown that kept over his face told Kurogane otherwise.

"You're here. I can see you."

"I'm know. It makes me happy." Fai held out his arms, offering Kurogane's books back to him. "I'd play for you, you know."

"Hm?" Kurogane quickly took all the books and set them in his backpack.

"The piano. If it were for you I'd play. No matter how hard it was. I love you just that much." That simple statement drove a dagger right through Kurogane's heart. He knew Fai was trying to be nice and sweet, but when Fai said 'I love you', he didn't mean it the way Kurogane wished he did.

"Is something wrong? You just went a little pale."

"No, no, I'm fine. You don't have to play. I'll never ask it of you."

The blond boy tilted his head to one side and smiled brightly, "Well, just in case curiosity ever got the best of you, keep it in mind."

"I'm home!" Kurogane yelled into the house as he came in. As Fai closed the door he quickly added, "I brought my friend with me!"

From the living room came a voice that closely resembled Kurogane's own voice. "That blond kid?" That was Kurogane's father. The first time Fai had come home with Kurogane he had commented on how much they resembled each other.

"Yeah!"

"All right! Just be quiet!"

Kurogane scoffed a little. Fai? Quiet? That's like asking honey to not be sticky. Of course then again most people couldn't hear much of what Fai said unless he tapped their shoulder first so being loud was probably just a reflex. "You hear that?" Kurogane said over his shoulder to Fai. "Be quiet."

"Awww," the blond was pulling off his shoes. "What a shame. I thought I'd walk around the house singing at the top of my lungs."

"No you didn't."

"You're right, I didn't. Kuro-chan knows me all too well."

"Damn straight."

Fai slipped past Kurogane and slunk up the stairs. "Come on, homework."

Despite the fact that Kurogane knew he was the one who had asked for Fai's help with the work he grumbled to himself in complaint and followed the graceful boy with loud, heavy steps. Personally, Kurogane hated anything that had to do with school outside of school. There were far better things he could be doing with his time, not the least of which was writing more in his notebook to Fai.

Fai opened the door to Kurogane's room and sat his backpack down on the floor before he flung himself onto the floor next to it. As far as Kurogane knew, Fai felt more comfortable lying on his bedroom floor than he did lying in his own bed. Until he had visited Fai's house he had thought it was because Fai had come to spend so much time at Kurogane's house, but now he knew, it was because Fai's house had no warmth, no love.

"So?" Fai turned his head to look up at Kurogane. "Where's this homework of which you spoke?"

Kurogane rolled his eyes and sat himself down next to the blond. He took out his books and handed them to Fai. Fai's nimble fingers quickly found the lesson Kurogane was on and began to explain what the lesson was about. Kurogane didn't hear any of it. To him there was only silence as he looked at Fai's face.

He had always questioned Fai. He had questioned his sanity, his visibility, his personality, but now it was more than that. He wondered about his family, about why he was invisible, and he wondered about this brother. Kurogane wondered about everything Fai's world had to offer, and it bugged him. He felt like no matter how close to Fai he got he would never be able to know. It irked him because he wanted to know. Not only that, but he wanted to be the only person who knew.

"Kuro-chan!" Fai's voice became louder and broke through the barrier of silence Kurogane's ears had built up. "Are you listening to a word I'm saying?"

Kurogane sighed, no he wasn't listening, and he knew that Fai's reproachful words wouldn't make him listen. "Mage, when do you have to be home?"

"My parents won't be home until tomorrow after school."

As if this were a proper answer Kurogane reached over and closed the textbook, "I can't concentrate right now Mage, let's do something else."

Fai smiled. "That's all right. We have time."