A/n: I know I know I'm a horrible horrible person. School starts tomorrow. Sulkfest.

Chapter 7

"Where the fuck are we?" Grunted Kurogane his temper worse than usual.
"Don't worry we're still in the same world. The spider was pretty damaged, it didn't have the power to send us very far… I'd say we're still in the town." Tsukikari said, waving her staff. "Yep, we're about a mile and a half from where we were."
"Which direction?"
"Uhm… that way?" She suggested, a large fake smile on her face as she pointed in a random direction. "Not one for jokes then…" She mused, finger on her chin. "Okay well… judging by the sun's positioning… it should be that direction…ish." She said calmly. Kurogane nodded and started off, his sword slung over his shoulder.

"Why did you try save me?" She asked, in a sing song voice as she walked behind him.
"You were gonna get hit." Kurogane said bluntly. She smirked.
"So. I thought you didn't like me? Why not just let me get hit? Soldiers defend royals?" She asked. Kurogane growled, he did not need irritating questions. He swatted at her like a fly as she bounced around him. "Well?"
"I don't like you. You're loud, you're annoying, you're too damn happy." He said honestly omitting the 'you're in the way of me and Fay' that he could've added. "But I couldn't let you get hit. Don't over sentimentalize it okay. I don't care that you're a princess okay your status is nothing to me… you are nothing to me." He warned with a low and threatening tone. "So I don't need a reason to save you okay."
"It's because you didn't want to see Fay sad." She said.
"If you know the answer then why the hell are you asking?" Kurogane grunted. She grinned lopsidedly, and almost maliciously.
"I'm right then?" She chirped.
"Yes." He said straightly. "Because when he gets sad he gets all smiley-happy-peppy to try cover it and that pisses me off. Because I don't like smiley-happy-peppy people. Now are you going to shut up or do I have to introduce you to the sharp end of my sword?" He warned, and if it weren't for the fact it would make Fay sad, he probably would have done it, however… she fell quiet.

Every so often he glanced back at her, nervously, to check she was still alive. Bubbly bouncy people like her should not be so quiet, nor should they look so contemplative, not for more than 20 minutes anyway.
"What… you want me to say sorry or something?" He asked eventually.
"Hm?" She looked up.
"Don't do the whole sulky thing. If you want to say something, say it." He ordered. She smiled falsely, very reminiscent of her fiancé.
"I'm not so sure I should." She mumbled.
"Say it." He barked.
"Stay away from Fay." She ordered, one hand on her hip.
"Eh?" He… well. He hadn't expected her to be so blunt. Just like Fay, it seemed the childish pretence was a mask, and underneath Tsukiakari was dangerously serious.
"I want you." She said firmly. "To stay away from Fay." It was a direct command and Kurogane almost laughed, this girl did not know him well enough to try give him orders.

" Fay and I… well we were engaged very young." She said, sitting down. He groaned, he'd done it now, he was going to have to listen to her life story, but leaned against the wall anyway. "And… well he was very introverted. He didn't talk to many people… he barely even looked anyone in the eye unless it was necessary. So I didn't worry… I didn't have to. I never thought he'd fall in love with anyone." She leaned her head back, allowing the sun's rays to flit across her blue hair, she closed her eyes.

"But he worried for me. He told me I wouldn't want to spend my life 'chained to him' and told me to refuse. I knew I loved him… very much. Stupid… to be in love with someone so young? Probably. But I told him I'd never love anyone else. He said he couldn't promise the same… I wasn't worried. He was so cold… I doubt he was able to love at all… but he said he would love me, that in some way shape or form he would learn to love me. The fool." She laughed coldly.
"Fool?"
"We were children, we didn't know what 'love' was. Yet… one day when we were older… 13…he said it, he said 'I love you Suki' and I cling to those words every day. Even when he left me… his fiancée… in Celes. I held this tiny bit of hope. We made a pact you know… when we were FIRST engaged, that if either of us fell in love with another we'd tell the other, and we'd mutually break off the engagement right away."
"Ah." Kurogane said gruffly, unsure of how to react. She took a deep breath then opened her eyes, shooting Kurogane a dazzling smile.

"Which is why you're no threat to me, Kurogane-san." She purred, walking up to him and placing a hand on his chest. "If he truly loved you… he'd have broken up with me by now." She pressed herself against him gently. "He loves me. And that's all there is to it." Kurogane growled angrily, knowing he should not be getting so worked up over this, but he was.
"You know." He whispered, leaning in all the more closer, so their faces were inches apart. "If you weren't a lady… I'd hit you." Their eyes locked, but before either could say anything else a sigh of relief sounded.

"Found them!" It was Syaoran who had spoken, in his arms he carried an unconscious Sakura, signalling they had won against the spider. Tsukiakari pulled away.
"I never was good at hide and seek, ne Fay." She grinned, hugging him as he and Mokona arrived. He smiled and spun her round innocently.
"Did mean old Kurogane-san hurt you?" He asked playfully, however he seemed to be speaking more to Kurogane than to her.
"Please, the boy's as harmless as a puppy." She laughed. Fay smiled at the puppy reference. Tsukiakari watched his facial expressions, then smiled very sadly herself.

Sakura was one of the last up again, having determinedly kept Tsukiakari busy until after Fay had gone to bed. Once Tsukiakari was safely in her bedroom, Sakura yawned and went to make herself a cup of tea, she was surprised to find Kurogane in the kitchen.
"I thought you went to bed hours ago." She mused.
"Couldn't sleep." He grunted. She smiled knowingly as she lit the stove and put the pan on. She placed two cups on the counter and measured the tea leaves with difficulties. Some dimensions made this easier than others, and she was very tempted to invent the kettle.
"Because of Fay-san?"
"Mm." Was all Kurogane said. There was silence as the two waited for the water to boil. Sakura poured their tea and handed him his.
"In my opinion." She said very gently. "Arranged marriages never work."
"And if he loves her?" Kurogane asked. "Who the hell am I to interfere?" Sakura smiled simply.
"You're 'Kuro-chu'" She air quoted. He glowered. Great, now even the princess was making fun of him.
"And she's 'Suki'" Kurogane quoted back. Sakura bit her lip.
"But the difference is… you never give up." She patted him on the back. "Don't stay up too late, Kurogane-san." She left.
"Goddamnit who's the adult here!" He growled into his tea, finishing it in one gulp (despite the fact it was still hot) before skulking off to bed.

And, no matter how long he waited, that night Fay did not come into his bedroom.

Kurogane's head swam. The moonlight crept in through his curtains, smiling saddeningly at him, as though questioning why only one was there tonight. He was jealous, insanely jealous because Fay had loved Tsukiakari first… was it possible he still did? He was sad, because he missed it… not so much Fay. He could still see Fay, even if he had his fiancée draped all over him, he missed just laying together. He missed the very tentative first kisses that lead up to the frenzied passionate ones. He missed the way, after all was said and done (and usually more was said and done to him than to Fay, but that was hardly his fault), Fay would lay against him, just… breathing. He groaned, a familiar tightening sensation in his groin.
"Shut up down there," He warned himself, trying very hard not to remember the magician's touch. Right now, trying to block it out was his only means of staying even semi-sane.

They'd be leaving for the next world in the morning. Perhaps a change of scenery would soothe his mood, or at least calm his libido.

"Damnit, why the hell would he go at this hour!" Kurogane growled. They had woken to find Fay had left much earlier in the morning. Sakura had witnessed him leave and said 'he told me he needed a walk to clear his head'. "I'll clear his goddamn head right off his shoulders!"
"I'll go look for him." Tsukiakari said brightly, standing up to her full height and yawning.
"You stay put!" Kurogane ordered. "The last thing we need is two idiots missing!"
"Don't tell me what to do…" She said weakly. "I know where he'll be. Ano… Kurogane-san… No hard feelings." And with a sweep of her coat, she left the apartment. The hell. No hard feelings? What did she… did she know something he didn't?
"It… it doesn't mean she knows him better…" Sakura whispered almost stubbornly.
"No it doesn't. I know where he'll be too." Kurogane said bluntly. "But when he needs to think, he's best left alone. I know him enough to know that." Kurogane sat at the kitchen table.

"Fay?" Tsukiakari said gently. He smiled at her.
"Hello Suki. I might've known you'd find me here." He traced his hands over the water in the well. She nodded.
"Seems that, whenever I want to find you, I just look for the nearest source of water." She peered at her reflection, distorted in the very same well through which she had come into the world.
"Suki…" Fay said very gently.

"I don't want to hear it Fay." She said sadly. "Did you… did you bring me here to break up with me?"

A/n: Aww. Even if you hate her that's GOT to be painful