Disclaimer; I do not own Tsubasa. That belongs to CLAMP. Nor do I own my pride. That belongs to my reviewers.

Five Days

Kurogane stared at the unconscious mage. It was a miracle he was alive. According to the surgeon who had operated on the wizard, he was very, very, very lucky to have survived.

Makayla had returned to the apartment they were staying at hours beforehand to make sure the kid and princess were alright and tell them what had happened to the mage. The ninja had been assigned a bed as well - something about emotional trauma, according to Makayla. Of course, after the surgeon left she had informed him that they were afraid he might be too traumatized by what happened to the idiot mage, so they wanted to keep him in the hospital for a few days to be sure he was fine. Which, he had wasted no time in pointing out to the twenty-one year old, was bullshit. Something as small as this shouldn't faze him.

And then she'd pointed out the fact he'd said "shouldn't" and not "wouldn't" or "couldn't".

The swordsman glanced over at the magician again. He seemed… peaceful. Which was shit as well, the ninja knew. He was bound to be in excruciating pain despite whatever medication they'd given him.

… He needed a drink. Very, very badly. And he was starving.

"Hello, Kurogane-sama!" came Makayla's cheerful voice from the doorway. "I brought Sakura-chan and Syaoran-kun with me!"

The swordsman turned to her, feeling unexplainably irritated by her cheerful manner. It reminded him of the unconscious mage in the next bed.

Fai… What did I do to you?

"Kurogane-sama," Makayla said cheerfully, poking his side. "The doctors say they'll only keep you about five days, okay?"

The ninja growled at her.

"Five days?" he repeated, a vein throbbing in his forehead. "Why the fuck am I staying for five days?"

"Because Fai should be up in six days, so I thought you might want to be there when he gets up," she explained. The swordsman growled again.

"What makes you think I give a damn when he wakes up?" he snapped at her. "If that damn mage wants to kill himself, he can deal with the repercussions himself, dammit!"

Makayla glared at him for a moment before glancing at Fai and sighing.

"Fine, then I'll be picking you up tomorrow morning," she informed him before moving away and letting the kids get to their "father".

The second that mage is awake, I'll kill him, he promised himself. He somehow missed the evil smile slowly spreading across Makayla's face.

--

Kurogane groaned as he shoved his empty tray away from him. Why did hospitals have such disgusting food, anyway? It's not like cooking's all that difficult. You gather a few ingredients, wash your hands, and then begin preparing an edible meal. He glanced over at the mage for the dozenth time in maybe two minutes. There was definitely something wrong with him. The ninja glared at the mage for a minute. This was his fault. If it weren't for him he could be sleeping in his own bed in their temporary apartment instead of sitting in this tiny hospital bed with idiot doctors coming in every hour and telling him what he already knew.

"Kurogane-sama!" The ninja really, really, really needed a drink. How the hell was he supposed to live through this when that damn twenty-one year old child was visiting every three hours?

"What do you want?" he snapped. Which had been happening a lot in the past few hours. He snapped at everyone - the medics, the nurses, the surgeons, Makayla, Fai - the fact he was in a temporary coma didn't stop him - hell, even himself. Makayla smiled and pulled out Sohi.

"I thought he'd help cheer you up," she explained, handing it to him. The ninja grinned as he took the sword from her. Damn right it'd help cheer him up. The sword seemed to pulse in his hands, almost as if it were glad to be in the hands of its proper owner again. Which was weird, considering it had only been a few hours since he last held it.

He glanced over at the mage again. His head throbbed. Why the hell was he so concerned about him? The idiot had done this to himself, after all. He had no reason to feel any remorse. After all, it was the idiot's own damn fault. He shouldn't have taken him seriously. He should have known he hadn't meant the majority of what he'd said. But then gain, the mage was dense as all hell at times.

"What's wrong, Kurogane-sama?"

The ninja realized with a shock that he had been staring, and quickly turned back to his visitor.

"I'm fine," he muttered, running his hands along Sohi's sheath. "I was just thinking."

"About Fai," Makayla stated. The ninja flushed.

"No! Why the hell would I be thinking about that dumbass?!" he exclaimed. "I was just thinking how weird it was that Sohi's pulsing like this…"

"Oh, that," the twenty-one year old tilted her head slightly, as if listening to something. It was a moment before she frowned and said, "He's wondering what's wrong."

The swordsman growled.

"Cut the crap," he snapped. Makayla sighed and shook her head.

"You know, swords are a lot more observant than we think," she lectured, leaning over and running her own hand over the sword's ebony sheath. "They can feel what their partners feel, know things about their owners that they didn't even suspect. And they have the ability to feel as well, to trust and love, just like we do. They have their own personalities and opinions. Why do you think they're all named?"

The swordsman sighed. She'd given him this lecture before, when they'd first arrived weeks ago. He glanced at the mage yet again. Why the hell did it matter, anyway? It wasn't like he sword could help anything. Fai was still in a coma, he was still stuck here for the night, and Makayla was still as annoying as always. So no matter how much of a soul his weapon might have, it was pointless if he couldn't do anything.

Fai…

What?!

"Kurogane-sama, are you sure you're alright, you look kinda pale," Makayla said worriedly, placing her hand on his forehead. The swordsman growled at her again.

"What are you doing?" he snapped. Makayla rolled her eyes and took her hand away.

"Checking for a fever, duh. What else would I be doing?" she replied. "There is none, by the way. Maybe Sohi and I should go and let you get some sleep."

The ninja ran his hand over the sheath one more time before Makayla took it from him.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Kurogane-sama," she called as she left. The ninja scoffed and lay back. Maybe he should get some sleep. After all, he'd have to be awake for Syaoran's training tomorrow.

Yawning, the ninja settled back on his pillows and waited for sleep to overtake him.

--

Blood. There was blood everywhere. It was on his hands, under his fingernails, in his mouth, everywhere. He could hear people screaming all about him, voice filled with hatred and pain. Directed at him. Always directed at him.

He looked down at himself, looked down at the blood covering his clothes. It was disgusting. But even more disgusting than the blood was the fact that he was enjoying this. Laughter rose unbidden from his throat as he leaned down, his hand closing around the throat of a small child who was beating at his legs.

"Foolish boy," he hissed, slowly squeezing the life out of his victim. "You will not stop me. You will never stop me."

The boy forced himself to look up at his attacker, hatred lining every corner of his face, his crimson eyes burning. The magician released him, startled.

"You…" he hissed, breathing becoming erratic. "You have his eyes. Why? Why do you have his eyes?!"

The boy glared at him, a glare that was so oddly similar to his. The mage snarled and leapt at the boy, pinning him to the ground. Still his determined gaze remained.

"You will die, you know," he whispered, hand closing around his throat once more. The child did not betray an ounce of fear.

"I don't care, of course," the magus continued, resuming the suffocation. "Do you not fear death?"

"I fear nothing." Even his voice was his, filled with determination and strength. "Fear is weakness, and weakness is unacceptable."

Gods, he wanted that child to shut up, so he tightened his grip on the child's throat. They were so alike… the ninja he'd been the death of and this child he would kill for wearing his eyes.

"You do," the child choked suddenly, still glaring at him. "You fear death more than anything else."

The magus hesitated. Then he laughed and tightened his hold even more.

"Shut up," he hissed. "You know nothing of the horrors of this world, nothing at all. You will never understand."

The child did not struggle. He just glared at him. The ninja would have fought, the wizard thought suddenly. But this child didn't. The child let him squeeze the breath out of him, because he realized that struggling was pointless. Because he was intelligent enough to know when a fight was lost.

After a moment, the boy's eyes glazed over, and the magician released him. The screams seemed to have vanished. This child… that he had so ruthlessly murdered… he was so much like the ninja. But they were different. The ninja would have fought. The child just gave in. But there had been one time… when the ninja hadn't fought. Just once. The last battle…

The magician reached up to wipe the dust out of his eyes.

His cheeks were wet.

--

He was having a nightmare.

That much was obvious to Kurogane when he woke, just past midnight, to the sounds of someone thrashing about in the bed beside him. Annoyed - still not worried, annoyed - he ninja slipped out of bed and stood beside the mage, shaking him gently.

"Mage," he whispered. "Mage, calm down." There was no response. Scowling, he hit the button for a nurse. One appeared almost immediately.

"Can you shut him up?" the swordsman asked gruffly, glaring at her. The nurse shrank slightly at the expression on the swordsman's face but moved forward quickly and began digging through a drawer. She pulled out a long needle.

"What's that?" the ninja asked suspiciously.

"It's a sedative," she answered quickly. Kurogane growled and snatched the needle from her.

"How, exactly would that help? He's already asleep, if you didn't notice," he snapped. The nurse rolled her eyes.

"It'll help, I promise," she said, holding her hand out for the needle. Kurogane complied all to readily, "accidentally" sticking her with the needle and pumping the sedative into her.

"Oops," he offered as she slumped to the ground, unconscious, and hitting the button again. To the new nurse, he said, "Looks like she pricked herself. Can you get her the hell out of here, please?"

The nurse nodded quickly and, summoning another nurse to help her, they carried the unconscious figure out of the room.

The swordsman waited until they were out of the room before closing the curtain round both his and Fai's bed. Then, being sure no one would be able to see them, he leaned over and whispered softly, "Don't worry, Fai."

The wizard moaned softly and rolled over onto his stomach. Swearing to himself he would never do anything like this again, he lifted the magician enough for him to be able to slip into the bed beside him and sighed as the mage's head rested on his chest. Without really knowing what the hell he was ding, the ninja held the magician close and began to hum an old lullaby his mother would sing whenever he had a nightmare.

… Not that he'd ever had a nightmare.

The ninja let out a dry chuckle. Pathetic, how even now he was acting the part of the tough guy. While he was comforting a magician who was supposed to be in a coma by humming a lullaby he didn't even remember the words to. Pathetic.

He glanced down at the magician, and was surprised to see that the pained expression he'd worn was gone. He was… smiling. A real smile. A smile so beautiful the ninja thought his heart had stopped.

Wait, what? Beautiful? This dumbass? What the hell is wrong with me?

"Thank you," the mage whispered suddenly. Kurogane thought for a moment he had woken up, but the mage hadn't moved an inch. He was still as deeply asleep as he had been a second earlier. That same smile was still resting on his immaculate features.

What? he thought again, shaking his head. There was definitely something wrong with him. Or perhaps there was something wrong with the mage… besides the whole suicide attempt thing. He wasn't sure. In fact, there was only one thing he knew for sure.

He reallyneeded a drink.

A/N; What, you actually thought I'd kill Fai? I would. Maybe I'm still planning to. You'll never know… until it happens, if it happens at all.

I know that Kurogane is becoming more and more OOC with each chapter, but wait until Fai gets out of the hospital, things'll get better, I promise.

Reviews speed up the updating process. Trust me.

Heehee. Kurogane-sama wants a drink. And to clear up any confusion, it's been three hours since they found Fai, and yes he should have been dead by the time they got there, but that would suck if he was, cuz then I wouldn't be able to continue past this chapter and it would be completely different. Trust me.