I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long! Finals got me out of the groove of writing fanfiction and my brain does not work very well in the summer. Its funny, when I have lots of stuff to do, I want to write fanfiction, but during the summer, I'm just not feeling it…and now I'm going to stop pondering my phychological issues and let you enjoy this chapter! (which is longer than other chapters as a gift for the really long wait)

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. Thousand Foot Krutch owns the song Falls Apart. I am neither a mangaka nor a band, so I own nothing.

The group of travelers was leaving once again. Every time they left a world, they felt sad. They had to experience the loss of friends every time, without ever knowing if they would ever see them again. As the magical dimensional swirls surrounded them once again, they all tried their best to hide their sad feelings, as well as anxious ones stemming from the fact that they have no idea what kind of world they will end up in next.

Then, the group felt the familiar sensation of being tugged into space and they began to fly in that disorienting way. Then, something a little bit different happened. They seemed to hit a bump in the dimensional tunnel, if that is possible. It might have been a result of a break in the flow due to a certain evil man's plot, or even the meddling from a certain witch who had expertise in this matter. Whatever it was, it flung the group off in different directions. Fai, already being close to Kurogane clung onto him and Shaoron as well on his other side. However, Sakura, being the tiny and delicate princess she was, got flung slightly farther.

"Sakura-hime!" yelled Shaoron.

Shaoron desperately reached out to her, but he has always had a problem reaching out for things, so this time as well, he was not able to grab hold of his princess.

A/N: Sorry, I couldn't resist putting the joke based off Shaoron standing on a rock for an entire chapter trying to reach Sakura, when he could probably have reached if he just jumped or something. So I joke about his reaching problem…hehe….anyway, back to the story:

Then, in a glop, the group arrived at their destination, leaving Sakura to fend for herself in another world. They landed in a pile and Kurogane only grumbled slightly this time about the way Mokona dropped them, as opposed to his usual yelling fit. Shaoron was mortified, his failure bringing back memories of his past. Fai came over to talk to him.

"It's alright Shaoron-kun. I'm sure the princess is fine. She probably simply landed in a different spot, not far from here. We got separated pretty close to landing, so I'm sure she is in the same world as us at least. All we have to do is find her."

"You really think so Fai-san?" asked Shaoron, much like a lost child.

"Of course. Now, let's see where we landed exactly…"

For the first time, they looked around at their surroundings. They could see houses around them with trees and pretty little backyards; a seemingly peaceful town. However, what caught their attention was the area directly surrounding them. The ground was covered with ash, trees were burnt, some still smoking, and there appeared to be the remnants of a small shed-like structure right in the middle, also burned.

"Did we do this?" asked Shaoron, taking his mind slightly off of his lost princess.

"Of course not!" Kurogane scoffed. "We never cause this kind of damage when we land. It must have been something else."

"What do you think could have happened?" asked Fai, to no one in particular as he stared at the destruction..

"Hey, what's that?" asked Kurogane suddenly. They all turned where he was approaching what looked like a girl, lying face down in the ash. The other two followed close behind him.

Then, Fai saw the girl a little closer and he ran quickly to her side. It can't be, it just can't be…

He picked her up off the ground and turned her over. His face flashed shock, fear, and sadness at the same time.

"Fay…" he said quietly.

XXXXXX

Fay was emerging from her darkness, as her sleep had had no dreams this time. She actually felt warm, surprisingly. She had thought she was lying on a cold ground covered in ash, but where she lay now was soft and warm…and almost familiar…

She opened her eyes to see where she was. What she saw made her think that maybe she hadn't woken up after all. It's Yuui…Yuui…"Yuui!" She said the last one out loud and with that gave the person holding her in his arms a big hug.

"Oh, Yuui! I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said those things to you! I felt so bad you don't even understand. I came out to apologize and there was this explosion and I thought you were dead! …..I'm so sorry!!" As she said this, she started to cry and weep into his shoulder.

All three of the travelers froze in shock. Kurogane and Shaoron had no idea who this Yuui person was the girl was talking about and they looked at Fai for the answer. Fai's heart might have stopped for a moment. His eyes were wide with shock as he gaped at the girl, barely to hold back the tears that rolled down his cheeks.

Fay finished much of her persistent crying and apologizing before she realized that something was different about her brother. He was slightly taller, and wider in the shoulders. He was wearing a sort of pure white fuzzy coat that tickled her nose. His hair was longer and pulled back in a ponytail at the back of his neck. Plus, he wasn't talking to her or trying to comfort her, or even hug her back as much as he should have.

Then, like a flash of lightning, she became aware of her surroundings. She was still in the ashen grove, covered in ashes and dried blood.

"You're not Yuui…" she said.

She got up and off of him quicker than she would have thought possible in her weakened state.

"CREEPER!!" She yelled, thinking the man had come to kidnap her while she lay there helpless.

"Wait, hold on!" said Fai, getting up off the ground, recovering from his shock.

"KIDNAPPER! FIRE!" she continued yelling to get people's attention.

Fai ran over to her and put his hand over her mouth before she even noticed he moved. "Relax," he said calmly. "You were the one who hugged me, not the other way around. I only saw you lying on the ground and went to see if you were okay. That's when you woke up and started crying onto my shoulder."

Fay took a good look at the man talking to her. Like Yuui, he was blonde with blue eyes, or should she say, eye, because the other was covered by an eye patch.

"Are you going to stop yelling now?" He asked, smiling kindly at her.

She looked suspiciously at him, but gave in and nodded her assent. With that, he took his hand off of her mouth and chuckled. "Besides," he said, "I'm not the kind of person who would assault helpless girls." Then, his smile turned mischievous, "You might want to watch out for Kuro-pon, though. He can be…"

"WHAT WAS THAT, YOU IDIOT?!" yelled a familiar voice from behind Fay. She whipped around to see a man, who looked eerily similar to her boyfriend standing and glaring at the blonde man angrily. Did that man just call him Kuro-pon?! thought Fay.

"Who…who are you people?" asked Fay suspiciously.

"We're travelers," answered Shaoron, making Fay notice him for the first time.

"Yes, and we have nowhere to stay, might you know of a place?" asked Fai innocently.

"Well, there are no hotels, since we are kind of a small town, but…" Fay looked at the travelers. They did not seem dangerous, even if they had weird similarities to people she knew. Plus, she could not just leave them out on the streets. "I guess you can stay at my house for a little bit. We….I…have a little room open since…since…Ahhhhh!!" and the tears started flowing again.

"Hey, it's alright. No need to cry," said Fai, holding Fay once again. "May I ask why a young lady like you would be crying in the mud?"

"Hey, wizard!" called out Kurogane, "Look over here!"

"Hm?" Fai got up to look closer at what Kurogane was pointing at. "Oh my. It seems there may have been some kind of struggle that happened here."

"What?" asked Fay, "What do you mean?"

"See those slashes in the trees – Here and here."

Indeed, there were large, smooth cuts in the trees, as if they were sliced by a rampaging, sharp object. How did I not notice these before? Fay thought to herself.

"What exactly happened here?" Fai asked, serious for once. "You said there was an explosion?"

"Well, it seemed that way. I didn't see what happened. All I saw were fire trucks and people surrounding this area and the firemen said there must have been some kind of gas leak that caught on fire or something like that."

"So, there was a fire?"

"I guess! Everything was all burnt and smoking when I got here and there were fire trucks so I assumed there was a fire!" Fay said, starting to get angry. "Why are you asking me these questions? Do you know anything about what might have happened here?" His calm, repetetive questions were starting to get on her nerves.

Fai finally looked her in the eyes. Fay was surprised to see such a deep sadness, in the eye that stared back at her, it was as if he was sharing in her grief.

"Do you really think he could have…?" Fai muttered to Kurogane and Shaoron a few feet away, looking sad and concerned.

"Damn kid! Not again." Kurogane cursed to himself and punched the tree nearest him in frustration.

Shaoron just stared into the sky with a determined look on his face.

"What? What's going on? Tell me what happened!" Fay begged desperately.

"I think your brother was captured," Fai said softly.

Captured!? Like, kidnapped? Well, at least that means he's still alive, right? This gave her a small spark of hope, that was soon distinguishe by her next thought, But wait! What normal kidnapper causes this kind of damage? Fay thought, horrified. If they did this to the trees … what could they be doing to Yuui…?

XXXXXX

How the hell did this happen to me?! The black-haired teen thought to himself as he hiked down the mountain, in the rain, carrying some random girl he had never seen before today. He was wet and confused, and that really pissed him off.

The day had started out normal enough: he went to school, got pestered by that girl constantly, fought with the girl's brother, and went home. Just like always.

It was Friday, his day to walk to the store and buy groceries for his many brothers and sisters at his foster home. He and all the other children were orphans whose parents were victims of war. A nice couple who own an Inn took in all these children and care for them all very well. However, taking care of so many children is hard work for one couple, so they often rely on Kurogane, the eldest, to help them out with things, like grocery shopping.

Therefore, he was on his way to do just that when he noticed some kind of commotion going on a few blocks away. There were sirens, fire trucks, and a huge crowd, but there was no one being loaded onto ambulances or anything, so no one got hurt. He figured it was just some kind of prank a kid played that got out of hand and caught the woods on fire. He did not feel like dealing with the crowd, so he decided to take the longer way around through the woods on the mountain. He liked it up there anyway and used any excuse he could to walk through the tall trees and be alone for a little while.

He was walking like that when something out of the ordinary happened. He was minding his own business when the sound of someone yelling interrupted his thoughts. He looked up the mountain to see a girl frantically running and yelling something he could not make out. Then, he watched her unknowingly running towards the edge of a cliff. He tried to shout to stop her, but she could not hear him and he watched in horror as she lost her footing and tripped right off the edge. He began to run.

The cliff he saw the girl fall off was farther away and harder to find than it had originally seemed. It took him two hours before he finally made it there and found where, exactly, she fell. It was lucky for her that there were shrubs at the bottom of that cliff, or Kurogane did not know what would have become of her.

So, that is how Kurogane ended up carrying a random girl down a mountain. The rain was just an added bonus.

Kurogane finally made it into town. The good thing about the rain is that it kept people inside, so they would not bother him about what he was doing with an unconscious girl. It also washed away a lot of the girl's blood from her fall that had been all over her and Kurogane.

Kurogane decided to take the girl home instead of to a doctor's office, because his foster mother had experience in medicine and he did not know who this girl was, but he had a feeling she was not from around there and he did not want to get her into any kind of trouble by bringing public attention to her.

When he got home, he was greeted by a loud mob of children who all stopped short when they saw what he was carrying.

"Geez, Kuro-tan, we told you to bring home groceries, not a girl…" His foster father, Sorata joked, as he too walked through the door.

Whack!

That was his foster mother, Arashi, smacking Sora in the head with her cooking pan.

"What's wrong with her?" Arashi asked quietly. Kurogane told her what happened.

"That sounds serious. I am going to wash off the remainder of the blood and wrap up her injuries. You can go clean yourself off as well, Kurogane."

Soon Arashi had the girl patched up perfectly.

"That's my Honey! Good at everything she does!" praised Sora, which received him another whack in the head.

When Kurogane walked in, Arashi said, "She's all finished, but it may be a while before she wakes up."

Kurogane decided to sit by her until she did. He remembered how frantic and confused the girl had been before she fell, and he did not want her to wake up and be just as confused and cause who-knows-what-kind of destruction to herself.

He had just begun to nod off to sleep after his long, confusing day, when the girl started to stir. He got closer, prepared to hold her down from jumping out the window or something. She looked like she was having a nightmare. She was starting to whimper. He leaned closer to hear what she was saying.

Then, she muttered, "Please…Don't take Fai-san…"

Kurogane fell back and exclaimed, "Fay?!" How does this girl know Fay? He backed away from her. Maybe, there was more to her than what there seemed…

Fai: Waaaahhhhh!!!! She called me a creeper! Kuro-rin, she called me a creeper!!!!!!

Kuro: GET OFF ME! YOU ARE A CREEPER!!

Fai: Waaahh!! Kuro-pon called me a creeper, Shaoron!

Shaoron: What?! Fai-san, please don't bring me into this…(Shaoron runs away as Fai tries to give him and Kurogane hugs)

Fay: (to herself) Is this guy really an adult…? He's definitely not Yuui with that kind of personality…Is he?

Me: Sorry, Fay! You'll have to wait and see!

Kuro: Hopefully not as long this time…

Me: What are you thinking over there Kuro-rin? I'm the writer, you know, so I can see what's going on in that ninja brain of yours (though its not much).

Kuro: What did you say you –

Me: Please review! I will really try not to make you wait as long for the next chapter. Please forgive me!!

P.S. For clarification for people where the slang is different, creeper = stalker, but in my opinion sounds like someone who preys on helpless girls in general, not stalks a specific person. And I don't know if it is proper to put P.S. when its not a letter, but I don't really care right now X3