A/n: Patience young grasshoppers.
Chapter 10
Kurogane had faced many opponents, he always knew he'd be willing to die defending the palace… but staring down the barrel of a gun right now he knew this was one of the few things worth dying for. A man and four children's lives were at stake, and picturing them he knew a precious rarity.
"Fluorite." He said simply, not taking his eyes off the gun and the man holding it. "I'm here to pay off a debt he owes." The man stared from his chair, surveying Kurogane in mild interest.
"You wearing a wire?" He queried.
"If I were, would I tell you?" Countered the warrior, he removed his shirt and pulled his trouser legs up to show he was no spy. There was a moments hesitation before he decided it was safe to put his clothes back.
"Why'd he send you?" The man cricked his neck, for all he was pathetic and scrawny, with blond hair and blue eyes: he looked nothing like Fay. His face lacked that jovial yet slightly tired expression the young father so often wore. His eyes were crueller and much much colder. Either side of him stood body guards as thickly built as Kurogane himself, armed with guns themselves, and knives on their belts.
"His little girl's sick. We spoke on the phone: I know how much he owes you… and I'm willing to pay." The wicked looking man spun in his chair, like a demented small child.
"Why?" He asked, half amusedly, closing one eye and pretending to aim his gun, he roved the pistol tip over Kurogane's body-line. Even 5 feet away he could kill without having to move.
"As long as you get your money: why do you care?" The room had an ominous feel to it as the man mulled it over, not used to people talking back to him. He smiled maliciously.
"You're right, I don't, however idle chit-chat is amusing to some extent." He steepled his fingers over the barrel of his gun. "I assume you brought my money in cash?" He asked. Kurogane could only nod and held up a backpack. A bodyguard snatched it from him and tipped it out onto the table. It looked sinful for all that money to be in the hands of people who had hurt an innocent little girl like Mokona. Feeling very much like a scolded child, Kurogane just stared at the base of the desk, waiting to be dismissed.
"Seems to be in order, Fluorite-san is an… interesting customer, it'll be an awful shame to lose him." The young man smirked and shrugged. "But there are idiots born every minute. You have until the count of ten to get out before my men open fire," He added coolly. "One… two…" Kurogane turned and went for the door at a slightly faster than leisurely pace. Showing fear would be cowardly, but walking too slow could come off as cocky and could be fatal. "Three… four…" Kurogane realised his mistake.
He'd turned his back on the enemy.
"Five… TEN!" The man nodded at his body guards just as Kurogane reached the door. There was a loud BANG and a flash of gunfire.
Fay said nothing. He couldn't. Mokona was crying and cuddling him. Her slightly damp hair was clinging to her face: it's usual platinum colour dulled to a golden grey from the lake, that band-aid she had been wearing had disintegrated exposing the wound, and she was terrified. That much was obvious. The social worker sat across from them continued writing on her sheets.
"This would be much MUCH easier if you'd co-operate." She muttered sounding haughty.
"'Tou-san taught me not to talk to strangers!" Mokona cried out, clutching tighter to her 'father's' shirt. He cupped the back of her head, stroking her back with his other hand. He was glad she was okay, that was what he should be thankful for. Provided Kurogane didn't do anything stupid, Sakura and the twins should be fine. "And I definitely DEFINITELY don't want to talk to mean social-worker-san who will take me away from him!" She wailed.
"Sweetheart I don't want to take you away from your daddy, that's always the last resort, but otou-san's not been entirely honest with us and we need to carefully assess the…" She spoke as though she were reciting from a book, Fay mused.
"LALALALALA I'M NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO YOU!" Mokona howled, covering her ears and closing her eyes. The woman sighed, some kids just couldn't be talked to.
"Moko-chan I didn't bring you up to behave like that." Fay mumbled, she opened one eye, glared at him then shut up.
"Neither did I." Kurogane pulled back the curtain and slid into the cubicle. Fay and Mokona's amazingly blue eyes opened widely in shock. Fay was obviously livid, worried for the other children, and scared that Kurogane would damage the already delicate situation. It would be hard enough saying goodbye to Mokona without him there.
"And who might you be?" The social worker asked, curiously checking through her notes.
"Kurogane… sorry I'm late. You okay… princess?" Kurogane shuffled past the blonde woman, shaking her hand absently and going straight to Mokona's side. Hesitantly Mokona nodded and Kurogane took her hand.
"I'm fine…" She whispered gently. Kurogane nodded, opening one arm and grunting allowing the girl to throw herself into his arms. Afterall these were extenuating circumstances.
"I'm sorry but… Kurogane-san… what are…"
"His partner," Kurogane said straightly, nodding at Fay who was silently staring at the ground.
"Ah… that… that explains a lot. I'm Suki, and he's not helping this at all. Can I ask why… Mokona-san and Fay-san disappeared before the guardianship was made official?" The woman queried, scribbling down furiously, but smiling softly, a light pink tinge to her cheeks.
"Because it's a hell of a lot more difficult for a gay guy to win custody, he panicked… he'd just lost his brother he didn't want to have to choose between me and her so we left." Kurogane shrugged, absently rubbing Mokona's hair a little roughly. He knew Fay's story well enough to be able to insert himself in the right places. For once Mokona knew her place and stayed quiet, clinging onto Kurogane loosely, but holding Fay's hand as tight as she could.
"So… you two have been together for more than 7 years?" She asked hopefully.
"Yeah well…it was my idea to leave, but I'm telling you, she'd wilt in care." He looked down at the little girl, laid curled up against his chest. He felt that familiar pang and quickly looked up at Fay to avoid it.
"Moko-chan… she knows I'm her uncle, she knows I'm her god-father not her father… we've always been honest with each other." Fay whispered, speaking to Suki for the first time since she'd entered. "There isn't a person alive who can love her more than I can… but Kurogane comes close." He mumbled.
"Fay-san, 7 years ago you might have encountered trouble trying to legally take guard of Mokona-san, but these days there's much more open-minded higher powers." Suki smiled and Fay couldn't help but notice her eyes didn't match. "So... and this isn't the technical term for it mind you, you're an idiot." She smiled very sweetly at him, Kurogane thought that if she hadn't been so important to the case and so understanding of the situation, he'd hit her for calling Fay an idiot.
"You mean…" Fay breathed.
"We'll need to send a surveyor out for maybe a week or so to keep an eye on you, just to make sure everything's okay, from then on there'll be prearranged visits from a social worker… probably me. Other than that I see no reason to take such a cheerful young girl away from her fathers, press charges or interfere at all. Provided…" Suki grinned mischievously. "She stays away from the lakes!" Mokona squeaked and covered her face in Kurogane's shirt. Fay's eyes softened. Kurogane had found the perfect excuse for him running away. He'd avoided getting Sakura, Syaoran and Syaoron into trouble.
"That's fine but I work during the day." Kurogane told her, feeling Mokona relax in his arms. Kurogane knew that now everything was settled he should go back to work, and his job at the palace was still secure.
"Like I said we'll prearrange visits," Suki smiled. "Fay-san I'll need you to fill these out and get back to me at that number, provided you haven't illegally claimed child-benefit." Fay was tempted to scoff, like he'd be stupid enough to try claim money for a child he didn't legally guard. "There won't be a court case… we will need to enroll her in a school though... and get well soon, Mokona-san." He stared in disbelief… that had seemed too easy. How had Kurogane planned all that? Had he just stuck his neck out and hoped for the best?
"Thank the lady." Prompted Kurogane as Suki stood up, handing Fay some papers.
"Thank you lady!" Mokona chirped, Suki inclined her head and left, bouncing out of the room in a somewhat unprofessional manner.
"You guys are coming home with me." Kurogane whispered softly, mostly to Mokona, who was hugging him tighter than ever.
"I… Kuro-tan…" Fay whimpered, staring at the papers.
"We'll talk later okay, right now let's just get this one better." Muttered Kurogane, looking down at the ever so beautiful little girl. Her skin was as cold as ice. "You're lucky it's in your genes to be thin or you'd have gotten us done for malnutrition. And don't play near the lakes, you idiot." Then he realised Mokona was crying. He'd never been very good with kids, especially not crying ones, so he lifted her a little, rolling her over onto the other side of the bed, to Fay. The blond man stared momentarily at his littlest girl before embracing her.
And then they were both crying.
She wasn't released until the early hours of the morning.
"Kuro-rin." Fay asked, swinging his arms as the two walked though the empty streets of Tomoeda. Kurogane was carrying Mokona (who was asleep) on his back without complaint. Her tiny blonde form completely slumped against him looked frailer than usual, today had scared Fay more than he'd ever realised he could be. She was completely fine, she'd swallowed a lot of dirty water and there was a fear at one point she may have been hypothermic, but it seemed she's escape with just a cold.
"Hm?"
"If she's hurting you I can take her." Fay offered, looking the two of them, who seemed to just merge into one big shadow in the darkness of the night, up and down.
"She ain't heavy." Kurogane muttered, adjusting her a little.
"She's my daughter." (1) Fay prompted, when Kurogane shook his head again Fay sighed heavily. "Okay, then in which case I'm going to have to ask that you tell me the truth." How hypocritical, Fay mused.
There was a pause. Kurogane turned and looked at Fay, staring with worried blue eyes, the same blue eyes as those of Mokona, closed to the world and oblivious.
"You're walking strangely," The blond said softly. "You're hurt?" Kurogane knew lying to him would be bad but didn't take his gaze off of him.
"Yeah I'm hurt." He shrugged and Mokona murmured sleepily in complaint.
"You paid the money." Fay said in defeat. Kurogane nodded curtly and they continued walking, the silence was so painful Kurogane half wished he hadn't repaid the debt. If Fay chose never to talk to him again… "What'd they do to you?" He mumbled awkwardly.
"Bullet." Fay winced visibly and Kurogane growled. Shifting Mokona so her weight was supported on only one arm he turned and grabbed Fay's wrist. "Don't beat yourself up over it." He warned.
"You could have been killed!" Fay hissed.
"And I wasn't, so keep your mouth shut and don't do anything stupid okay." Kurogane warned. Fay opened his mouth to retaliate but then closed it and bit his tongue.
"Where?" He asked eventually, slipping his wrist free and instead placing his hand in Kurogane's much larger one. The hotel was quickly approaching and Fay found the thought of going back home to the children pleasantly sobering in the mind that Kurogane had been shot helping him.
"Leg." Grunted Kurogane.
"Have you been to…" Fay trailed off not wanting to sound accusatory, as the two silently made their way through the lobby and up the stairs
"Hospital? No. I'm not stupid." The spiky black hair on his head stayed in place as he shook his head. "I don't want a bullet wound on my record if I'm your domestic partner, they'll do background checks right?"
"Are you okay?" Kurogane nodded, dismissing half of Fay's worries.
"The kid took the bullet out, it didn't hit anything major, hurts like a bitch but… trust me I'm fine, I've been dealt worse." He paused before adding, "As part of my job, I mean. I don't need the hospital, "
"You're really serious about this?" Fay sighed heavily, squeezing Kurogane's hand gently. "Legally applying for Moko-chan? It's… it's a big deal and you barely know me." They stopped outside their room and Fay took the key from Kurogane's back pocket rather smoothly.
"Yeah well, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, we have a ways to go yet."
The suite was quiet and the lights were down. Fay looked around almost frantically, desperate for a sign of his sons and daughter. Kurogane calmly crossed to the bedroom door, pushed it open and cleared his throat.
"Fluorite… over here." Fay moved closer and froze at the scene. The bedside lamp illuminated all they saw. All three teens were on the bed asleep: Sakura curled against Syaoron's chest, who in turn was laid with his head against Syaoran's stomach. All three had worried faces, even in their sleep. Fay moved over, glad the bed was large, and sat on the edge of it, stroking Syaoron's hair absently.
"They must be worried."
"They said they'd wait up." Kurogane complained gruffly. "Guess they couldn't cut it."
"It's a shame to wake them but they'll want to know what's going on." Fay spoke softly as Kurogane very carefully (with an elegance he hadn't known the ninja had possessed) lay Mokona down too, her head cradled in Fay's lap. Kurogane leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.
Fay shook each of them awake, rather gracelessly.
"Fay!"/"Fay-san!" Came the triple cry from the boys and Sakura a second after as they regained consciousness.
"Are you okay?" Sakura asked, leaning up and feeling his face, checking in his eyes to see if he'd been crying. Fay nodded allowing himself to be poked and prodded by the young girl.
"Moko-chan." Syaoron whispered in shock at the littlest girl, still asleep beside them.
"How long do we have?" Syaoron asked desperately. Sakura looked ready to cry. Fay looked over them, all four children, all of them growing up in their own way. He glanced at Kurogane who was looking stoic as ever, not watching the scene.
"We have all the time in the world." Fay promised.
A/n: I WAS considering ending it there, but there are a few Loose Ends so to speak, such as Sakura's family, and moving in together etc etc, so two… maybe three more chapters. Then it's over kay. Until then review or I will eat your hats!
(1) Cookies for anyone who gets the reference lol.
Ps: Go to my deviant art (Cleargreencrystal) and there's a picture of Kurogane and Moko-chan up!
Pps: Review!?