A/N: I'd like to say that if in case I ever forget to update for more than a week, please remind me to put up a new chapter. You have my permission to bug me as much as you want for an update because just know that this fic is already finished. I've normally just nearly forgotten about putting up the next chapter would be all ^_^;
Kurogane had decided from the minute he had laid eyes on the magician that he was going to make life hell for him. Maybe it was that stupid smile the blond had pasted on his face as he had greeted the witch, or maybe it had been that knowing look he had shot in Kurogane's direction when the warrior had sneakily given the brunette the feather he had been carrying around with him for more than half his life. That man had told him to keep it with him for this very moment and Kurogane had done just as he had been instructed, but the way the magician had looked at him when the ninja had 'plucked' the princess's feather out of the boy's cloak before gruffly thrusting it at him made the decision for him. He absolutely hated the mage and he would make the blonde's journey hell.
The very first world they had stayed in, everyone had told their respective stories. The kid and the princess had both been sent to the witch by the High Priest of their country. The mage had sent himself because the world he wished to go did not accept his magic, and Kurogane had…Kurogane had been cursed and banished from his world as punishment for performing his duties. So now…he was never going to return.
And because he had been cursed for his skill, he refused to use it. He was secretly delighted to discover the magician did not like being forced to get them all out of whatever trouble that he usually secretly attracted to their group. Of course he would still evade and deflect attacks if an opponent came at him, but to be on the offensive was something he swore never to do. He knew he would have to break that oath one day when that man demanded it of him, but until then, Kurogane was content to let the blond do all their dirty work.
"I am not your personal manservant, Kuro-useless." The blond would huff irritably after every scuffle they got into and Kurogane noticed how the man seemed to enjoy his explosive reactions to the mangling of his name. "You need to start pulling your own weight, you know." He would add calmly as Kurogane would scream obscenities and death threats at the skinny mage.
Despite the unapproachable and rather hostile front he had put on to keep his companions away from him, Kurogane knew that he was getting attached to them by the time they reached the world with onis and hunters and cafes and stupid meowing cats, when he agreed to be the kid's teacher in swordsmanship.