stanza I, line VII :: And Find What Wind Seeks to Advance an Honest Mind
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"Where next?" He muttered, annoyed with the townspeople just as much as they were annoyed with him. Yeah, so he tended to destroy things when he came to new places. That was his job, wasn't it? Show these people that they didn't take no for an answer, get the feather, and move on. Only the moving on part didn't seem to be happening. "Come on, this is supposed to do its light thing and then we leave."
"Um, Kurogane-san?" Sakura hazarded, glancing around her as the curators and guardians of the artifact moved closer, cutting off their escape routes. "I don't think that's the right feather."
He looked down at her, his face unreadable. "You sure?"
She looked at it again, and then nodded. The blue feather in its glass box glowed faintly, but nothing more happening.
Kurogane sighed.
"Can't you do something to make it work? You know, some of your magical empathy whatever and just make it believe it's your feather?"
She shook her head. "I think it's probably better if we give it back to them. They look pretty angry."
He sighed. Damn it, he hated having to give up in the middle of a good fight. Granted, the fighting part hadn't exactly been the most exhilarating thing he'd ever experienced. The guards had gone down pretty quickly when he took them out from behind, allowing him to easily slip into the sanctum and snag the prize. They'd been calling it the "feather of truth" or something.
Hell, it was a feather. They worshiped it or something, said it had come from another world. Not hard to put the pieces together on that one.
They met up with Fai, Syaoran, and Mokona at the constable's house. Fai and Mokona were about the only ones that seemed cheery. Syaoran looked like someone had slapped him when he heard that two of his companions had been apprehended stealing a historic relic.
Once thoroughly assured that Sakura had not had too much of a part in it, the kid faced down the ninja. Kurogane was mildly amused.
"Kurogane-san, you can't just drag Sakura-hime along with you whenever you feel like it to go steal things. I know you had good intentions, but--"
"I was testing a theory, kid." Kurogane shrugged. "It didn't turn out to be the kind of feather we were looking for." Who'd have known that this one little world would be so full of meaningful feathers?
Fai observed the tense silence between the two that followed before interceding.
"Well, you two, I think we've all learned an important lesson here."
"And what in hell's name is that?" Kurogane spat. Syaoran seemed to share the sentiment, though he didn't quite express it so colorfully.
"Oh! I think I know!" Sakura volunteered.
Fai graciously inclined his head to her. "Go right ahead, then, Sakura-chan."
"'Don't judge a book by its cover'," she stated, proud of herself, "Right, Fai-san?"
The wizard pursed his lips, thinking. "I had something more like 'You can't see the forest for the trees' or maybe 'All that is gold does not glitter'," he shrugged and gave the girl an endearing pat on the head. "But yours sounds good, too, Sakura-chan!"
"How the hell are those supposed to relate to our current situation at all?"
Syaoran scratched his head. "I hate to admit it, but I'm also kind of confused about how yours work fit, too, Fai-san."
Mokona hopped up and down on Fai's head. "Mokona isn't confused! It all makes sense to Mokona!"
"You see?" Fai said, smiling.
Kurogane had a smile on his face, his voice going dangerously low. It looked like he was reaching his breaking point. "I'll bet you just picked those randomly, didn't you?"
The magician gave him a disproving look. "Of course I didn't do that, Kuro-rin! I picked them because they sounded pretty."
And with that, Kurogane snapped.
The constables came in later to find an angry ninja chasing a small, white animal of sort of and the blond man around the holding cell. The girl appeared to be fretting and trying to get them to stop, insisting that they'd get hurt, while the boy, looking wearied by all the excitement, was speaking in soothing tones and assuring her that she would be much better off just letting them work things out their own way.
One of the officers sucked in a slow breath and let out a low whistle. "Looks like we have our work cut for us, doesn't it?"
The other, an older man with grey hair sighed, and left. "Just get them to the booking room in one piece."
