Summary: Fai learns about a bard and a festival. He interrupts Kurogane during training to wheedle him into going with him, and in the process, traumatizes Syaoran. In his dreams, he sleepwalks out into the hallway but is woken by his lover.
Warnings: Kurofai, established relationship. This is post-series so spoilers for the end. There will also be spoilers for Fai's past later. Hinted TouyaYuki, Douwata, and other CLAMP pairings. Swearing, innuendo, a bit of violence later on perhaps? I'm not sure if the rating will go up in later chapters. We will see.
Disclaimer: Don't own.
It was not by Mokona that they were woken the next morning, but by the glare of the sun, shining through a gap in the thin curtains. Kurogane opened his eyes to the sight of his lover's sleeping face, lashes resting lightly on his pale cheeks. The sunlight filtered onto them through the leaves of the tree outside their window, and the dapples of light on Fai's blonde hair—tumbling in curls and wavy locks over their pillow—gilded the wheat, almost platinum, strands into a fiery gold. He was beautiful, and Kurogane couldn't help but slide forward across the sheets to dust a light kiss against that faintly freckled nose.
The blonde wrinkled his nose slightly—Kurogane felt himself melting, coming undone—but did not wake up. He had not the heart to wake the wizard up, thinking of his devastation the night before, so he pressed one last kiss to the corner of pale lips, then slipped out of their bed. On the way out, the ninja quietly drew the curtains together, blocking out that small sliver of the blue sky and green leaves, so that Fai would not be awakened later when the sun moved higher into the sky. (He prayed Mokona was not hiding somewhere, about to jump out in a moment to tease him for being a considerate lover; he still had a reputation to uphold.)
As Kurogane closed the door behind him, he sighed contentedly—as contentedly as his usual grumpiness would allow him. It was a tranquil morning, with the tranquil breeze flowing through the inn and the tranquil sounds of the chirping sparrows coming in from outside, alongside the tranquil sounds of quiet human activity and the tranquil rustle of leaves in the wind. His feet padded softly on the homely, wooden flooring in the corridor, as he made his way for the stairwell down the hallway for breakfast. It was nice that he did not have to wake Fai for breakfast as he usually did, since neither he nor Syaoran could cook. But here, in this world, there was Watanuki and the other staff to prepare breakfast, and he needn't disturb his lover to satiate his hunger. For the first time in a long time, he would be able to bring some food up to Fai instead; though he had to be quiet, or Mokona would never let him live it down. But it was a nice way to cheer his lover up, and a lovely start to the day. Yes, truly, he mused as he turned around the corner to make his descent to the first floor, today was a good day, a wonderful, wonderful day.
"Wait there, Seishirou-san!" someone cried, a blur of midnight-blue dressing gown, pale skin, and black hair, "I'm not decent!"
"You look perfectly decent to me," Kurogane groused, moving to the side to allow the young man to rush past him.
The man seemed not to have heard him, rushing down the hallway and slamming the door of his room behind him, dressing-gown fluttering about his bare ankles. Kurogane continued down the stairs, towards the quiet chatter and clinking of cutlery coming from the breakfast area. He could see the staff sitting around in their pajamas and dressing gowns, some stuffing breakfast down, some curled up in the wide window sills that the inn's first floor seemed to have, some reading, some just chattering. It would be quite awhile before the first customers came down, so he supposed this was their allocated morning-small-talk time. The only exception in the sea of nightgowns was the man standing at the door in a long coat with polished buttons and black dress-pants, holding a ebony cane and in the process of taking his hat off.
"Sei-chan," a girl lounging on a nearby table in a frilly pink nightgown piped, "You should really be a little more forward with my brother!"
And she looked exactly like one of the vampire twins they had met in Tokyo.
"I wouldn't wish to bring Subaru-kun any distress with my forwardness, Hokuto-chan," the gentlemanly figure said, hanging his hat on the hat rack. He slipped his coat off his shoulders, turning as he spoke to the girl, and Kurogane froze on the first-floor landing as he recognized the man's profile.
"You!" he cried, pointing at the man, the vampire hunter, "What are you doing here?"
"Courting Subaru," someone answered disgruntledly, and Kurogane traced the voice to the other vampire twin, eating toast opposite Syaoran.
"Do I know you?" the vampire hunter asked politely, turning to face the ninja as he inclined his head. Both of his eyes were a sharp golden-brown, like a hawk's. Kurogane suddenly realized that this probably was the vampire hunter of this world, even if the one they had met had the power to travel dimensions.
"No," Kurogane replied grudgingly, glaring darkly at the…. gentleman, "Thought you were some bastard I've met before."
Syaoran choked on his tea. A boy who appeared to be in his late teens, with light-brown hair and a fringe so long that it fell past his chin, thumped him on the back. Seishirou was saved from answering when Subaru came running down the stairs, in a white button-down shirt and a black waiter's vest. Over it, he was wearing that same frilly pink and yellow apron.
"Seishirou-san," he greeted shyly, completely unlike the sad, perpetually melancholic vampire they had met in Tokyo.
"Subaru-kun," the gentleman greeted kindly, looking him up and down, "You're wearing that apron again. My Subaru-kun looks pretty in that apron."
"And you have a truly brilliant sense of fashion," Kurogane shot, "That apron is hideous!"
Fai came bouncing down the stairs.
"Kuro-lover didn't wake me up!"
Wearing the apron.
Kurogane wanted to smack himself in the forehead as Fai latched onto his arm, snuggling and purring like a goddamned cat. Seishirou raised an eyebrow at him, looking for all the world like he was trying not to smirk. Subaru was hanging off his arm, as if mirroring Fai.
"Your lover," he drawled, "Is wearing that 'hideous' apron."
"Hey."
The young man at the sink blinked, turning to look at him with bright green eyes. Fai recognized him—with an unpleasant pang of something—for one of the vampire twins they'd met in Tokyo. He couldn't quite remember his name though; he had been… busy. Busy having his eye torn out, and busy being turned, quite painfully he might add. The lookalike smiled a charming smile. So charming that Fai felt guilty at the disappointment he had originally felt when he realized the kitchen was occupied.
"Hey," he returned cordially, then turned back to the dishes.
Fai entered the kitchen, dawdling about the table for a bit before he opened the fridge, then closed it again. He hesitated, then drew up a chair and made as if to sit down. Abruptly changing his mind, he left the chair as it was, then wandered over to the window, playing with the tendrils of the vines that hung from the windowsill for a while. Then he returned back to the table, and sat. He fidgeted for a moment, hands feeling oddly empty, then he got up and began searching through the drawers, checking for blunt knives. If he he had been alone, he would probably have sat at the table and stared at his hands, twiddled his thumbs, picked at his nails, or something to that effect. But with an observer, he felt truly out of place, sitting in the kitchen of all places, doing nothing.
"Are you looking for something?"
Damn. He had been trying to avoid that question.
"No, not at all," he laughed, "I'm checking for blunt knives."
That sounded weak even to himself, but he didn't really want anyone to know that he was loitering in the kitchen (how pathetic) because he didn't feel comfortable sitting out in the lobby. It was strange and unfamiliar with all its chattering customers and bustling staff. Here, in the kitchen; this was familiar, this was his territory, this was where he was most at home. But under the scrutiny of this boy, with his wide green eyes, innocent smile, and ridiculous apron, he felt like an intruder. And an intruder he was, a cuckoo in a nest of chicks, a heron in a flock of ducks, a screw in a box of bolts.
A prince in a kitchen.
Feeling more awkward by the second, he desperately grasped at a justification for his presence here, but could find none. Gods, he had just been trying to find a comfortable place to sit and think for a bit, was that too much to ask?
"Hey, it's alright," the young man assured him, "I understand. The lobby can get a bit noisy at times. Hangover?"
Fai quickly seized the excuse he had been given.
"Yes, oh yes," he agreed hastily, "The noise out there is killing me. My head is pounding."
The lookalike laughed, arms still submerged to his elbows in soapy dishwater.
"I always take kitchen-duty when I've had too much to drink," he said cheerfully, "Waiting tables is hell with a hangover."
Fai couldn't really tell if the boy truly believed him, or if he was merely giving him an easy way out of admitting something that clearly made him uncomfortable. He couldn't read him, especially when he was facing the other direction, still scrubbing diligently at the dishes and cutlery. Whatever it had been, he felt ridiculously thankful for the excuse.
"Do you need help with that?"
The young man turned, blinking at him and Fai felt a little stupid. He could sense the magic in the boy, same as the magic in Watanuki, as well as almost every other staff member in the inn. It was rather strange that all the magic-users were converged at one place, but they never seemed to use much of their magic. Not for mundane tasks like this in any case.
"You can help if you'd like," the boy chirped with that same innocent smile, "But slowly, I don't particularly want to go out and wait tables. We've got a lot of people from other villages today, and some of them travelers are pretty difficult customers."
"Is that so?" Fai laughed, "I'm a traveler myself, but I'm more of a charity case than a customer."
The young man looked confused for a moment before his face lit up in understanding.
"Oh!" he cried excitedly, "You're one of the travelers that Yukito found in the town square!"
"That's me!" Fai cheered, "Fai D. Flourite. At your service!"
He held the sides of his apron like a skirt, curtsying and batting his eyelashes exaggeratedly. The boy laughed at his antics.
"I'm Subaru," he offered, "Subaru Sumeragi."
"Charmed," Fai returned politely, reaching out to shake his hand. Subaru hesitated.
"My hands are soapy," he warned, holding his hands up to demonstrate his point.
The wizard grinned, then plunged his hands into the dishwater as well.
"Well, will you look at that?" he clasped Subaru's hands in both of his own and shook them hard, smiling an inane smile the whole time, "My hands are soapy too! Looks like it doesn't matter after all."
Subaru laughed and shook his head as he passed Fai his washcloth.
"You should do marketing for us instead of washing dishes," he told the blonde, "I bet you could save us a whole lot off the groceries by charming those ladies at the market."
Fai began to scrub at the dishes with fervor.
"Oh, but I went yesterday," he announced cheerfully, "Watanuki gave me a mini-tour of the town square."
Subaru rinsed his hands, and set about finding a dry cloth.
"Well, how are you finding the place?"
"Homely," Fai replied, "Much homelier than a lot of the bigger cities I've been to. The people are friendly, and I really like the landscape here. Very quaint. Picturesque."
"Well, it's a small town here," Subaru told him, voice muffled from where he was bent over, rummaging through a kitchen cabinet, "But I like it."
He emerged with a clean cloth, and returned to the sink, beginning to rinse and dry off the done dishes.
"It's peaceful here," he continued absently, "There's of course that oddity with the magical flare in the forest the other day, but nothing like that's happened in a long time."
"What do you think that's about?" Fai asked, maybe a little too quickly. But those woods had caught his attention.
Subaru shrugged.
"Could be a bunch of things. There's always been a strange power coming from there," he paused, blinking, then looking sheepish, "But I'm sure you've already sensed that for yourself."
"I can sense it," the wizard said, "But it feels strange."
"Like fog," Subaru added, looking at him with wide eyes.
"Exactly!"
"No one knows what it is," Subaru explained, "Though there are plenty of stories."
Fai's curiosity was piqued.
"Stories?"
Subaru nodded.
"Fairytales, folksongs, old superstitions," he elaborated, "You can ask the bard at the pub down the street; she wheedles plenty of stories from travelers."
"What's the name of the pub?"
"Clover," Subaru told him, "Ask for Oruha-san."
What a… coincidence, Fai thought, remembering the singer from the bar in Outo. He wondered why they were always seeking information from her. Hitsuzen probably, as the Witch of Dimensions would have said, had she still been around.
"I'll make sure to do that," he said thoughtfully, before he brightened up, "Maybe I'll drag Kuro-rin along with me!"
"Rin?" Subaru asked, eyes widening, "Your lover?"
"Yep!" Fai chirped, "The one who was harassing yours this morning."
Subaru made a small 'meep' sound, and dropped the plate he was holding; it cracked into three pieces. Subaru ducked down to gingerly pick the porcelain shards up, quickly repairing it with a burst of magic, then stacked the plate on top of the others.
"Seishirou-san isn't my lover," he mumbled, face flaming red.
"Oh?" Fai asked slyly, "Sounds like someone is in deni~al!"
"We aren't!" he cried, "Really!"
"Of course not," the blonde agreed easily, grinning away.
If possible, Subaru turned even redder.
"Fai-san!" he wailed, dropping his face into his hands. When he next spoke, his voice was muffled, "Don't tease me. You're as bad as Hokuto-chan."
Fai continued to scrub at the dishes, unable to keep the grin off his face as he noted the crimson hue of Subaru's ears, peeking out through his black hair.
"Alright, alright," he conceded, chuckling, "I'll stop. I'll stop."
Wide green eyes made their appearance through long fingers.
"The festival leading up to Midsummer's starting tomorrow," he mumbled through his fingers, "You should bring your lover with you and stop by the festival on the way."
"Is Seishirou-san bringing you?"
Those eyes disappeared behind Subaru's hands once more.
"Fai-san!"
"He isn't?" Fai asked, still grinning, "Really?"
There was a moment of silence. Then…
"He is."
"Ho-hum-ho!" Fai sang gayly, "Ta-rara-boo!"
"Fai-san!"
"But I haven't said anything!"
"That's good, nice footwork," Kurogane appraised, "But you need to put more force behind your blows."
Syaoran's hold tightened on the hilt of his blade, pursing his lips in determination.
"Hai."
"You normally use magic with your sword?"
Syaoran blinked, grip loosening.
"Eh?"
"You reinforce your blows with magic, right?"
"Hai."
Kurogane slapped the side of the blade, and Syaoran almost dropped the sword, taken off-guard.
"I'm not gonna tell you not to use magic," he sighed, "But don't get complacent with your swordsmanship simply because you have magic to back it up. You need to be good at everything to be the best."
"Hai, Kurogane-san!" Syaoran said, straightening with conviction, "I will work harder on my swordsmanship!"
Kurogane chuckled at the boy's seriousness.
"Alright then," he slid easily into a battle stance, "Come at me."
"Ku~ro-rin!"
The man in question staggered forward as a warm, lithe body collided into his back with all the force of a large lion cub. Syaoran faltered mid-charge, arms waving ungracefully as he tried to nullify the momentum of his movements.
"Oi!" Kurogane roared, turning around to toss the rubbing, snuggling, purring magician off his back; Fai's arms wound even more tightly around his neck, like a pair of slippery tentacles, "That's dangerous! Seriously mage, don't you ever think about what you're doing? I'm handling a sword here. I could have hurt you! What if—"
Fai pecked him on the lips.
Kurogane deflated. Syaoran spluttered and whipped about, staring determinedly at the other side of the courtyard. The blonde placed their faces close together, and kissed him twice more. Kurogane let him, because Fai wasn't normally this affectionate in front of the kid, and he was being like this now, there was probably a reason for it. Finally, Fai laid his head on the ninja's shoulder, nosing into the junction between neck and shoulder.
"Midsummer festival's tomorrow," he murmured, "Let's go together."
Kurogane didn't like festivals, but the mage did, and the festivities would be good for him with how down he had been yesterday.
"Alright."
Fai's arms tightened around his neck.
"I was thinking we could stop by on the way to the pub."
Kurogane frowned.
"You want to go drinking?"
The shinobi couldn't see it, but he could feel his lover shaking his head against his collarbone.
"No, I want to talk to the bard about the forest," he whispered, "Her name is Oruha."
"The singer from Outo?" Kurogane asked, surprised.
"Yes."
He supposed that if nosing about could help Fai find closure with that moral dilemma of his, then it was worth it.
"Alright then," he agreed softly, "We'll go tomorrow."
Fai nuzzled into tanned skin, with a soft hum of… contentment or acknowledgement, Kurogane couldn't really tell.
"Kuro-sama is so good to me," he murmured, and Kurogane grinned.
He was so whipped.
"But if you get drunk and start acting strange again," he groused, "We're going straight home."
Fai giggled, and drew back from the embrace.
"Hai, hai!" he cried, throwing his hands up into the air, "Such a wonderful lover I have, escorting me to the pub and to the festival! Really, I should…"
And here his voice dropped an octave into rich seduction. His arms snaked back around Kurogane's neck.
"…properly reward you."
Kurogane choked as the blonde's knee nudged into a highly sensitive place. Syaoran made a high-pitched sound, not unlike the sound of a mouse dying of fright, and ran off into the inn with his fingers plugged into his ears, singing tonelessly at the top of his lungs.
Yuui.
He immediately sat up, eyes snapping open. There was someone behind the curtain, the mist rising up higher and higher from the window. He swung his legs off the side of the bed, fog obscuring all sight of his own legs up to the knee. Suddenly, the curtain billowed forward, and he took a step back in fright as the stranger shot towards him, gliding smoothly across the floor like a ghost. Moving against the curtain, all he could see of the stranger was the outline of a white face in the curtain, eerily faceless as it slid forward towards him. He flinched back, eyes screwing shut in reflex as the figure charged towards him, hollowed empty eyes staring straight into him.
Yuui.
He blinked his eyes opened to see a flicker of gleaming white disappearing by his side. He whipped around, trying to follow the stranger. The white hem of some sort of gown flicked around the edge of the doorframe. Wait! He gave chase. He had to know. Had to know the answer.
Come to me.
He darted out of the door, and there was a strange humming coming from behind him. But that wasn't important, what was important was finding the answer. So he ignored it in favor of sprinting down the hallway towards that flicker of pale skin going down the stairs. For some strange reason, the crash of his feet against the floor was not synchronized with his movements. Not that he could tell with the smog swimming around his legs. And he ran lightly to begin with, so why…?
Come to me, Yuui. Come to me.
Something yanked at the back of his nightgown, bringing him spinning around to crash against a hard wall. Something was shaking him. Shake, shake shake, sha—
"Oi," Kurogane called a little louder, "Have you gone deaf or something, mage? For the last time, where the hell are you running off to in the middle of the night?"
Fai blinked.
They were in the hallway, and Kurogane was holding him, looking sleepy and disgruntled. Had he…. sleepwalked all the way out here? He had never had a sleepwalking problem before!
"Oi!"
The wizard quickly snapped back to earth at his lover's impatient prompting. He smiled.
"I'm going to the bathroom," he explained.
Kurogane looked at him skeptically.
"We have an adjoined bathroom, remember?"
Fai internally cringed. That was a bad excuse.
"Oh!" he said instead, eyes widening, "I'd forgotten we had one."
There was a moment of silence, where he fervently prayed to whatever deity he could conjure up. Then Kurogane sighed, and kissed his hair. The magician tried not to let his relief show.
"You're always such an idiot when you first wake up," he grumbled, affection leaking through in the form of a fond exasperation. Fai smiled sweetly at him through his lashes, and latched onto him, squeezing his arms around Kurogane's waist.
"But I'm your idiot," he sang, quietly so as to not wake to other inhabitants of the inn, and Kurogane kissed him again.
When they parted, Fai laughed and danced back to the room, skipping into the bathroom and closing the door to the sight of Kurogane's exasperated face. He slumped against the door, and slid to the floor. His face was white and frightened in the mirror. The stranger's voice echoed in his head.
Come to me.
A/N: For those who haven't read Tokyo Babylon or X1999 (where Subaru and Kamui originally come from) Hokuto is Subaru's twin sister. Sorry, I realize that the story is moving very slowly, but there will be a little more drama in the next chapter if that makes you feel better! On a more unfortunate note, I have my midyears next week and the week after, so I cannot confirm if I will update next week. If I don't, I will post two chapters on the same day the week after! (And if I cannot post the week after, I will post three chapters the week after that. Or I may only post one, and post two the week after that.) I'm trying to keep to a schedule of a chapter a week, so yeah. BTW, for those who HAVE read TB or X, Subaru is still his pre-Seishirou-reveals-true-colors!self, all bubbly and innocent and shy. The cold Subaru of X broke my heart, so in happier settings I try to keep him a little more to the side of early TB. Oh, and Fai is still slightly disturbed, but he's trying to get over it here, so sorry for conflicting behaviors from him (e.g. snuggly!Fai to uncomfortable!Fai to teasing!Fai to clingy!Fai to frightened!Fai). And it looks like there is a more sinister reason for his dreams than originally expected!...Or did you people already guess that? *sigh* Readers are much too perceptive for their own good.
Again, please review!