One Year Ago
Fai leaned forward from where he was sitting in the back seat.
"Ashura-chan," he cooed in his best imitation-sexy-woman voice, which was surprisingly realistic for a man. Ashura jumped and swatted at him.
"Jeez, Fai-rin, don' do that," he snapped, glaring over his shoulder. Fai laughed and slumped back against the seat. Yui's eyes peered back at him from the rear-view mirror.
"Put your seatbelt on, Fai," he ordered. Fai frowned.
"Neither of you are wearin' it," he pointed out. Yui's eyes narrowed.
"The driver's side is broken, remember? And Ashura-san isn't my little brother so I can't order him around, although he should be wearing one, too."
Ashura grinned nastily at Fai.
"You gonna let him just order ya around like that, Fai-rin?" he teased.
"Shut up," Fai grumbled, buckling the seatbelt in place. "Why am I sitting in the back, anyway? It's my car, I should be able to do what I want."
"You can do whatever you want when you and Ashura-san get your licenses back. You're lucky enough I don' tell Ma and Pa, let alone that I drive you two to school everyday."
"Hey, that was not our fault!" Fai protested.
"We were goin' all of three miles over the speed limit," agreed Ashura. Yui frowned.
"You should know by now I can tell when both of you are lying," he said. "The cop said you two were racin' down Main Street."
Fai slumped over in the back seat and sulked.
"Whatever," he grumbled under his breath.
"The cop was drunk," muttered Ashura.
"You two were drunk, and you're lucky the cop didn't test you," snapped Yui. Fai rolled his eyes, then grinned.
"All this luck, Yui," he said. "I'm beginning to think it has more to do with skill."
Yui cocked an eyebrow.
"I don't know what skill you could possibly posess that would prevent a cop from knowin' you were drinking," he said.
"The ability to hold our liquor very, very well," joked Ashura. Yui sighed.
"Oh, come on, Yui, lighten up!" said Fai, poking his shoudler.
"Don't mess with the driver," Yui warned.
"Hey, Fai-rin, he's smiling!" cried Ashura.
"Shut up," said Yui, shoving him, but the smirk was apparent on his face. Ashura laughed.
"Pull over here," he said suddenly, pointing out the window at a little store with the words The Chocolate Shoppe written in fancy letters on the window. "This place has the best hot chocolate in town."
"No, we're gonna be late," Yui said, frowning. Ashura sighed.
"Hey, whatever happened to that girl, what's her nameā¦" Fai thought for a moment, wearing a grin that Yui and Ashura knew all too well boded great evil. "Tomoyo?"
Yui's face immediately turned beet red.
"We're goin' out," he mumbled.
"What was that, Yui? I couldn't hear you," taunted Fai.
"I said we're goin' out!" he yelled, twisting around in his seat to glare at his younger twin. "So what if I am?"
Yui kept his hand steady on the wheel for the straight stretch of road they were on, his eyes trained on Fai. Fai giggled.
"Well, she's four years younger than you, Yui-" he began, but he never got the chance to finish teasing him because suddenly there was a horrendous crash, and suddenly there was a horrible pain in Fai's right leg and left eye, and suddenly he woke up.
"Fai-san, you alright, hon?"
Fai jerked awake. He was in the chocolate shop, head pressed against the table. A cup of hot chocolate and a half-finished cake sat before him, and he stared at the steam rising up for a long time, trying to regain his composure, before looking up at Sakura.
"Yes, I'm fine," he told her. "Just a little tired."
His face must have betrayed him, because the concern in her eyes didn't even flicker. She sat down across from him.
"You know," she said, "as much as I like to see you happy, you don't have to smile all the time. It's okay to be sad every once in a while."
Fai stared at her. She twirled a fork around in her fingers, speared a piece of Fai's cake and popped it into her mouth.
"You crashed less than a block down the street, Fai-san," she said softly. "I was there."
Fai's eye widened. He pushed himself away from the table and stood up so fast he knocked his chair over. Sakura looked up at him, waiting to see what he would say.
He didn't say anything. He tossed thirty ivory dollars on the table- payment for the free cake and hot chocolate- and walked out the door with the slight limp he had had for almost a year now.
~ Aw! Poor Fai-san. Sometimes I feel bad for him. Anyways, just a quick FYI- all the times for the flashbacks are used in reference to the first chapter. Otherwise, this scene actually happened almost three years ago, because Kurogane and Fai have been dating for so long.
Everything is supposed to happen in, above, or directly in front of The Chocolate Shoppe. But I really, really wanted to write the car crash scene- so I had Fai dream it while he was in The Chocolate Shoppe. I feel like I cheated T.T
Reviews will be loved, polished, and displayed on a shelf. Reviewers will be granted the next chapter in record time, because I'm all out of cookies and the puppies ran away :P ~
