Chapter Three

At first, all Fai saw was an endless, intense sea of red. Then he slowly came to his senses and forced his heavy eyelids open. A blinding stream of golden light collided with his vision, making his sapphire-blue eyes sting and water. He yanked his arm up, blocking out some of the agony. Squinting through the gaps of his fingers, Fai recognized the jagged walls and opening of the cave. Only now did he become conscious of the fact that he had rescued a girl from a mysterious dome and had camped with her in a cave. And . . . he hadn't . . . found his companions. Wait, he . . . hadn't found his companions? He jerked up with a sudden, rapid movement. He had to find them. Today. They had travelled with him for . . . he had lost track of how long. But they were very, very important to him. If he were to lose them . . . Fai shook the thought away.

"'Morning," a sleepy voice murmured.

Fai turned. Koyuki was lifting his coat off herself, blinking in the bright sunlight. Her beautiful hair, smooth and shiny the day before, was tangled and stuck up at odd angles. Fai smiled secretly to himself. "'Morning," he said as cheerfully as he could manage. So even someone so seemingly perfect could become like this after a night's sleep. He stood up and pointed a finger in the air.

"Fai-san, what exactly are you planning on . . ." The girl's voice trailed off as the spell began its work. The long, pale blue strands of her hair magically unknotted and rearranged themselves on her head, as if a thousand delicate fingers had threaded into her locks and done the job. Koyuki lowered her eyes as her cheeks went slightly pink. "Th–thank you."

Fai smiled, admiring his work.

"But . . . why don't you repeat that?"

Confusion moved its way into Fai's head, before realization flooded through. "Oh. Right." A little embarrassed, he began the magic again. His own blond locks, which had grown considerably longer since the group had left Clow Country, floated up and unthreaded themselves, much like Koyuki's hair had. Then more glowing letters appeared out of his finger, and his hair separated into three remarkably even sections and weaved into a skinny plait that reached halfway down his back. To finish it off, his hair tie, which he had laid on a rock, flew up in a loop and secured the bottom part.

"You're good at this type of magic."

Fai turned. "You think so?"

"Absolutely."

This time it was Fai who blushed. He hurriedly turned his face away. "You would be, if only your magic wasn't suppressed. Let's get going."

"Wait. This."

Fai swivelled around. Koyuki was holding up his blue Celes coat. "Thanks," he said, taking it from her.

It suddenly struck Fai how hungry he was. He hadn't eaten for a whole day. But if he was starving, then . . . Koyuki must be . . . had she even eaten anything since she'd been imprisoned in that dome? But maybe it had been like . . . the tower. Fai shivered as the memory came back. Him and his twin, famished day and night, their bodies as thin as skeletons, but never starved close to death. But Koyuki wasn't that thin.

"Fai-san? Is everything all right?"

He snapped out of it. Forcing a smile, he said, "Yes, everything's fine. I was just wondering if you were hungry." Half of it was true, at least. He really had been wondering.

"A little. But don't worry about me." The look on her face told Fai that she didn't believe what he had just said. But somehow, Fai knew she wasn't completely telling the truth either.

"Ok, let's go, then. But . . ." He cupped the girl's pale face in his gloved hands. "please don't lock yourself up like that." Just before he let go and pivoted around, he caught a surprised look on Koyuki's face. It could have been because she didn't know what he meant, but . . . Fai was edging more towards the fact that she had come to realize that he had figured out who she really was. Not her origins, but her soul.

As they walked out of the cave, the silence wasn't as bitter as before. It was more like a . . . thoughtful silence. They both knew they were just as observant as one another, and to hide their identities from each other would go far beyond their abilities.

"Hey! It's Fai!" They hadn't walked very far when they heard that cute, high-pitched shout that lifted Fai's spirits. Sure enough, it was Mokona Modoki, and all the others! The reappeared travellers broke into a run when they saw the magician, Syaoran holding onto Mokona, who was perched on his head. Fai began to sprint as well, breathing a sigh of relief. "Fai!" Mokona jumped into his arms.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, patting the white bunny on the head.

"No! Mokona is sorry! It was our fault!"

"Why are you saying . . ." Fai trailed off.

Mokona had taken interest in something behind Fai. Turning his head, he realized it was Koyuki. The girl had quietly followed him, unnoticed.

"Oh, I forgot. I'll just make some introductions here. This is Koyuki-chan. She's . . . well, the source of the power from the dome. And . . ." He explained that she had lost almost all her memories and told his companions the other things she had told him the night before.

A shocked silence followed. Fai continued. "And, Koyuki-chan, these are my companions Syaoran-kun, Mokona and––"

"Kurogane." The ninja interrupted before Fai had a chance to call him one of the silly nicknames.

Koyuki smiled. "It's a pleasure to––I mean, nice to meet you."

Fai smiled to himself as he watched Mokona enthusiastically shake hands with Koyuki. At least she was making a reasonable effort to avoid 'locking herself up'.

"Fai?"

He snapped out of his thoughts again. "Hmm?" He smiled at Mokona.

"Fai shouldn't have gone into the dome alone. Mokona warned him about it. Syaoran did too."

"I said I'd be fine. And I was."

"But . . ."

"You don't need to worry about me too much, Mokona."

"But what if something happens to Fai's eye again?"

Fai was startled by Mokona's level of caring. "It's not that easy to have your eye gouged out. Oh, and what happened to you? I came out of the dome and you were, well, gone."

"We were caught in a magical storm," Syaoran broke in. "And then we were . . . sort of buried in the dirt. It took me a while to free all of us, even when I used the 'Raitei Shourai'."

Fai frowned. "It seems that only my type of magic is effective here."

"My sword attacks definitely weren't effective," Kurogane grumbled.

Mokona seemed to see the chance. "Daddy's supposed to come to the rescue!"

"Do NOT call me that again!"

"Why? Daddy suits Kurogane, and it's cute!"

While the two were sprouting verbal diarrhoea and Fai was trying to join in, he heard Syaoran's voice in the background.

"Do you want to find your memories?"

"Personally, yes. But wouldn't that disturb you?" Koyuki's voice. Fai pretended to be listening to Mokona and Kurogane, but eavesdropped on Koyuki and Syaoran secretly.

"No. Although I have a wish, and am travelling to fulfil it, I'd like to help others along the way. Besides, my friend––no, my clone's friend––or my friend's clone––never mind, it's complicated. Well, she lost her memories as well. So, in other words, I don't mind, and I want to help you."

Fai smiled. That's just so much like Syaoran-kun, he thought.

"Thank you. But I have no idea where they are. Whether they're all together in one place or scattered separately."

"It doesn't matter. We'll find them."

"That's right." Fai couldn't stand being silent a moment longer. "So, are we off to the next world? I'm starving."

"Mokona is too! Let's go!"

"Wait!" Everyone turned in surprise as Fai suddenly yelled out. "I'll have to use my transport magic. Koyuki-chan doesn't have access to Mokona."

"Ok! Ready, Fai?" Mokona seemed to be very hyper.

Fai nodded, grinning.

"Mokona Modoki is all excited! Ahhhhhhhh puu!"

As they were enveloped in rainbow colours, Fai wrote out the spell. The magic swirled around Koyuki and . . .

"Yay! We've arrived!" Mokona was still hyper when they landed in the next world.

Then everyone suddenly went absolutely silent. Fai mouth dropped open, and then broke into a huge smile. Yes, he knew this country well. They all did.