Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Tsubasa Chronicles, I just don't ahve the money for it. (sighes)

Tainted Memories

Chapter 9:

Every few seconds, a grunt of discomfort could be heard coming Kurogane's form.

"STOP POKING ME, STUPID MAGE!" he yelled raising a fist to Fai, who in turn, took a few steps back with both hands held in front of him and a large grin on his face. Kurogane was just barely able to hold the urge to punch that damn smile off his face.

"Does it hurt, Kuro-wuffy?" Asked Fai in, what sounded like, concern with an edge of humour.

"Don't call me that!" Kurogane said between clenched teeth, right before stopping Fai's finger, yet again, from poking the side of his head. Emiri was up in front of the group with Sakura and Syaoran in the middle and Kurogane and Fai taking the rear. Mokona sat on Fai's shoulder. Emiri could clearly remember the excitement of a half hour ago.

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"Uh oh." Kurogane was coming towards her with a sinister aura surrounding him. She could see what looked like canine teeth jutting out from his lower jaw and vaguely wondered whether he really was part dog. Her thoughts were kept short as it was now time to run.

"…" When no shout of outrage was heard following her she turned her head in confusion only to see that Kurogane had disappeared.

"What the-" as she turned her head back she was forced to immediately duck; narrowly missing Kurogane's sharp blade. "Uhhh, I didn't mean it?" Emiri asked hopefully, trying to calm him down. All she got in return was a low growl, signalling her to get up and run for dear life; she paused. Wait a sec, what dear life, she thought bitterly, but the bitterness was soon forgotten. Replaced by more pressing matters; dodging Kurogane's attacks. She knew he wouldn't seriously harm her (at least she was pretty sure), maybe rough her up a bit, but nothing else. It was just fun to provoke him. She had to hold down her smile.

"Get back here and hold still!" Kurogane shouted from behind her running form. She had to quickly find somewhere to hide soon spotting a large tree to her left. It had a mildly thick trunk, big enough for her and Kurogane to run around it and still be a safe distance from each other. Perfect, she thought, maybe I could make him so dizzy that he won't be able to hold up his sword! She smiled at the genius of her plan, knowing full well it probably would work.

She couldn't see any sign of the others, probably resting somewhere, but she wasn't worried. Kurogane started steadily gaining on her. She forced her legs to move faster all the while trying to keep her laughter in check. It was hard, what with Kurogane yelling obscenities right behind her. She finally made it to the base of the tree, and ran around to the other side to take a small break before Kurogane caught up with her.

As she moved around the tree and skid to a stop, she felt her foot hit something and came tumbling down. She expected to feel the harsh, rocky ground on impact, but instead fell on something a little more comfortable. She had closed her eyes as she fell and when she opened to see what she had landed on, the first thing that met her was white. She could also see a small part of a golden clasp that held a black strap. What the hell? She thought. Isn't the ground supposed to be green or something?

Her heart nearly stopped as she realized what … who she had fallen on. She closed her eyes yet again. Please don't be who I think you are, she pleaded with herself. She opened her eyes and slowly traveled up to the person face. Being met with stunning blue eyes and golden blond hair made her stomach lodge in her throat and an all too telling blush flush her face. She let out a gasp before scrambling up and looking anywhere but at Fai. She chanced a small glance to see him smiling, still slightly surprised. Oh no, what is he thinking now? She thought, probably that I'm an idiot! Oh my gosh, I can't believe that just happened, she kept tormenting herself.

She was thankfully brought out of her embarrassment from the sound of Kurogane's quickening footsteps coming closer to her hiding spot. The blush had finally left her face only to be brought back by the feel of strong arms encircling her waste, making her hold her breath and go rigid. She felt herself being lifted from the ground, and when the movement stopped, she opened her eyes to see she was sitting on a branch a few meters up. The arms let her go and she looked beside her to see Fai, smiling down at Kurogane who was looking around in confusion.

She could now see Sakura and Syaoran by the lakeside trying to get a glimpse of the coral reefs.

"Damn it, where the held did that damn mage go?" Kurogane mumbled from below them bringing a smile to her face. She saw Fai wordlessly reach for something above him. She turned to see him throwing a small nut up and down, always catching it with his hand. When Fai looked at her, Emiri new exactly what he was doing and, with her hands, told him to wait. She furrowed her brow in concentration and lightly touched Fai's upper arm. She quietly mumbled a few words and then let go, giving Fai the signal to go ahead while she started gathering more nuts.

"Ouch! What the hell?" Kurogane said, looking up into the tree. He saw nothing; Emiri sat trying to hold in her laughter. Fai was making funny faces at him and the poor guy didn't even know it! I love invisibility charms, Emiri mentally sighed.

After gathering a few more nuts, she took her place beside Fai again and together they bombarded Kurogane with nuts. Without thinking, they accidentally let out a loud laugh that caught Kurogane's attention.

While Emiri and Fai were still laughing, oblivious, Kurogane walked over to the tree and started shaking it. Fai and Emiri soon lost there balanced and fell off, falling right on top of Kurogane. The charm wore off and now, all three of them sat in a heap on the ground, Kurogane at the bottom, Fai in the middle, and for the second time in five minutes, Emiri on top of Fai.

She didn't even have time to think of what position they were in before Kurogane shoved them all off with his strength and sent them sprawling in different directions. Emiri landed more towards the tree. She quickly scrambled up and stood with the trunk of the tree to her back, Kurogane hovering in front of her. His sword was now sheathed, but it was still up against her neck.

Emiri put her arms up in mock surrender and laughed nervously.

"Ha ha, Now now, Kurogane, no need to get too angry," she said. All she got in return was a punch that only barely missed her face, instead hitting the tree. She heard a slight cracking above her head and smiled.

"Ooohhh,, you really shouldn't have done that. Don't you know trees have feelings too. I don't think they'd like it if you did that again. They might just get angry enough to attack you back!" She taunted him the same way one would a child. "There was this one time where -" she wasn't able to finish her story because Kurogane, as if to prove that she was an idiot talking about trees, sent another punch dangerously close to her face. Emiri heard the cracking once again that seemed to escape Kurogane's notice.

"Now that you've finally stopped moving, I can finally get you," Kurogane said, smiling and tilting his head to the side in thought. That is, he was thinking, before the large branch above both their heads finally came crashing down. Emiri, awaiting this, quickly dodged out of the way, the branch connecting only with Kurogane's tilted head and knocked him out cold. Emiri slightly winced, that must've really hurt, she thought.

"Told you so," Emiri said under her breath taking on a far away look. She saw Fai go up to the unmoving Kurogane and kicked him with his foot a few times to see if he would stir. No such luck.

"Hyuu, he must really be enjoying his little nap!" Fai smiled.

"Unfortunately, we have to go," Emiri said. She grabbed Kurogane under the shoulders and started hulling him to the lakes edge. Fai took his legs as he figured out what she was doing. Syaoran and Sakura watched in bewilderment as Emiri and Fai threw him into the water. He soon came out to the surface of the water, sputtering and taking large gulps of air.

"MAGES!" He yelled menacingly.

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Oh yes, she remembered alright. She still had a hard time not laughing.

"So how long do you think it'll take us to get out of here?" Fai asked, coming up beside her.

"I don't know," she said, "I'd say, we could get there by noon, but if we move slowly, it'll take us all day. I like the speed we're at right now. At this pace, it'll take us about three quarters of the day. That way it will be too close to dark to enter the Mountains and we can rest."

The day was quite boring, compared to the others. No sinister monsters in sight, ready to rip them to shreds with one false move. The air was carefree with only the light teasing of Kurogane by Fai every few minutes and the light chirping of birds. Emiri was surprised he was actually staying calm. Syaoran was talking with Sakura, something about a Clow country, and Emiri was entertaining Mokona with a few magic tricks. As promised, they reached the edge of the Mountains a little before sunset.

The group found a small stream that came from the mountains and decided to make camp there. Once the camp was completely set up, Emiri excused herself and left out of every ones sight.

"Fai, are you okay?" Syaoran asked. "You've been looking out of it for the past few days." Fai looked up a little surprised by his comment.

"Nothing's the matter, I'm perfectly fine, see?" he said, proving it by pointing to his wide smile etched onto his face. Syaoran still looked a little worried and Sakura was looking between the two, slightly dazed.

"I don't trust her," Kurogane spoke. Every body looked towards him at the unexpected comment.

"What do you mean?" Syaoran asked. Mokona went to sit on top of Kurogane's head, much to his ire.

"Emiri, there's just something about her that I don't trust," Kurogane explained, his face hard.

"Mokona likes Emiri," Mokona put in. "She's nice."

Fai's expression turned serious. So it wasn't just me, he thought. He got up and walked to the stream, listening to the others arguing over whether to trust her or not. Didn't we have this discussion before? He thought riley. He mentally sighed as he sat by the river. There was something about Emiri that he just couldn't explain. He knew she was hiding something from him, from all of them, but for some reason, he still trusted her. He could see a deep loneliness in her eyes, even if it was concealed very well with a smile. He knew, because it was the same feeling that he had. Alone, nowhere to go back to, just wandering aimlessly, he thought bitterly.

"Fai?" Mokona said, jumping onto his shoulder. He quickly put those thoughts away in his head and put on a big smile.

"Yes Mokona," he replied.

"You look lonely," the white manju said. His ears were drooping down onto his back as he said this and a look of concern washed over his face. Fai could faintly here the others, still chatting in the background. He was surprised to see that the sun had already gone down and it was now night. Emiri still wasn't back. He put on a wider smile for Mokona.

"Of course I'm not lonely, see?" he said, having a sense of déjà vu come over him as his fingers pointed to the wide smile now on his face. Mokona didn't comment further, being interrupted by a large growling sound from behind them.

Everyone looked around, thinking it was a bear, but sweat dropped when they found Kurogane holding his stomach.

"Damn it, I'm starving!" he nearly yelled.

"Hey guys," Emiri said, seemingly coming out of nowhere, with a small rabbit in one hand and herbs in the other. She through the rabbit to Kurogane. "Would you mind skinning that for me please?" she asked him.

"Why the hell would I do that?" he yelled in outrage.

"Well, if you want that damn growling to stop then you'll skin the damn rabbit while I get everything else prepared. I could here that growling from way over there," she said pointing behind her; slightly losing her patience and putting on a small pout. Fai smiled seeing the look on Kurogane's face as he fought with himself. He could almost here Kurogane debating whether taking orders from Emiri, or dinner taking longer was worse. He walked back to the group just as Kurogane passed him with the rabbit in hand, grumbling to himself.

"Hey, Kurogane," Emiri called. He stopped, but didn't turn around. She made a slight movement with her hand, like getting rid of a fly, and all of a sudden there was a knife in her hand. She threw the knife directly at Kurogane without speaking a word. Just as the knife was about to pass his shoulder, Kurogane caught it between two fingers and continued walking.

"Is there anything we can do?" Sakura asked, Syaoran right beside her.

"Oh no, don't worry about it, I'll be fine on my own. Syaoran, why don't you take Sakura by the stream, I'm sure she'd love the view and sound," Emiri said lightly, smiling up at them. They put up a little of an argument, but Emiri swatted it away saying that she was perfectly capable of doing it. They left for the stream, just as Fai sat down beside her.

He looked at her with a weird face, Emiri noticed. While trying to ignore Fai's stares Emiri produced a small mortar and pestle out of nowhere. She set a little piece of cloth on the ground and placed the herbs she had picked out on it.

"Let me help," Fai said, reaching for the mortar before Emiri could react. He placed it in on the ground in front of him and picked up one of the herbs he was familiar with, though he didn't know how. He had never seen this plant before and yet, it felt as if he had done this before. Taking the small seeds out of the long leaves and placing them in the mortar to be grounded into a fine powder.

Emiri opened and closed her mouth, trying to tell him that he didn't need to, but no sound would come out. When he looked at her after he had dropped the last of the seeds in the mortar, she quickly looked away, a light blush on her face. She was happy it was dark out; he wouldn't be able to see it. She felt slightly uncomfortable with Fai, and she didn't know why. She would figure it out eventually.

Emiri wordlessly conjured up another mortar and used some more magic to dry the other herbs so that they could be ground as well. She could catch him looking at her from the corner of her eyes but tried to ignore it, hoping he didn't notice her looking. She thought she saw something, empathy, in his eyes, but she couldn't be sure. Throughout the entire ordeal, neither of them had said a word. Only the grinding of the herbs and the small clanking of the mortar and pestle could be heard above the noise of the crickets singing to the night sky. The silence was uncomfortable.

Once Emiri was done, she picked up a pot beside her that Fai hadn't noticed and walked to the stream, filling it halfway with water. She brought it back and set it on the fire, Kurogane right behind her with the skinned rabbit. She took the rabbit wordlessly and started chopping it into bite sized pieces before placing them in the now boiling water.

From a small pouch in her cloak, she produced a few potatoes and some vegetables and placed those in the pot as well. She then placed all of the herbs, one by one into the pot and stirred it every few minutes with another conjured spoon.

"That smells good," Mokona commented, apparently with Sakura and Syaoran the whole time. Emiri smiled, thankful to them for having broken the awkward silence that plagued them since they had gone. The stew was surprisingly quick to cook; Fai had a hunch that Emiri was aiding the process just a little. Kurogane was almost drooling into the pot.

"Down boy," Emiri laughed at Kurogane. She looked to Fai, "maybe we should give the doggy the scraps?" she asked Fai. Immediately, Fai's space broke into a smile.

"I think that is a great idea, we can't have our little Kuro-wuffy all hungry for tomorrow!" Fai said.

"We need our guard dog," Emiri finished, both enjoying the break in the hostility, only to bring on another, more comfortable hostility.

"Damn you!" Kurogane yelled but was silenced as a bowl of steaming stew was forced into his hands. His complaints stopped as he began gulping down his dinner. Emiri laughed as she handed out everyone else share.

They ate comfortably, commenting on nothing in particular. Soon, it was time for everyone to sleep. They had all finished eating and, with their stomachs full, a dazed feeling came over them making them sleepy. Emiri was happy to curl up inside her large cloak, her staff held loosely to her form in case of an emergency.

Kurogane was off to sleep under a tree again; she really didn't know how he never got cricks in his neck. Sakura and Syaoran were sleeping close to each other, with Mokona in Sakura's arms and Fai a little ways off from Emiri. She could see two blue orbs staring at her from his direction, but was too tired to read anything into it before her eyes closed. It's going to be a hard day tomorrow, was her last thought before sleep finally took her.

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A/N

Well here's the next chapter. I know it was quite boring, I wasn't quite too sure what to do with this one, and I'm still thinking about the what to do in the next chapter. Also, if anyone has some suggestions for a bit of fluff, I'm glad to take them and hopefully add them in the story somewhere, so please, if you do have suggestion, either put it in the review or you could PM me! Hopefully the next chapter will be better, we are finally getting closer to the actual plot of the story! hehe Oh I can't wait!

Now, it is the easiest thing you will ever do ...

Click the little button and REVIEW! hehe.

Oh yes and thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter, that was the most reviews I got for any one chapter and I just love you all so much! lol