A/N: Heylo there. I'm sososososo sorry about the lateness of this. My only excuse is that life has been rather annoying of late. I have so much HW due Monday not to mention a History Midterm. *slams head on desk* Ugh. I fail. Anywho, hope this is a good enough apology. A special thanks to those who stuck around long enough to read this.

This is for caelia-canta as a thanks for posting the latest chapter for Home. It made me so happy. *shamelessly advertising* ;)

And now, without further ado…

Chapter 12

He'd risen a little before the sun had, but that wasn't altogether unusual. On the contrary, it was actually relatively normal. He stretched. He was going to...

"And you're sure about this?" Fai's voice asked from the other side of the door.

Pausing, Kurogane listened intently to the conversation from other side of the door he almost passed in the hallway.

"Yes. Yasha-ou claims to be innocent of these attacks and even goes so far as to declare himself a fellow victim." That was Ashura-ou.

"Do you doubt him, my lord?" came a new voice that had the hackles on Kurogane's neck rising. Chaos.

A sigh. "Normally, I'd say yes without hesitation, but now…"

"Now?" Fai prompted.

"Now I'm not so sure. The type of attacks are similar, but on closer inspection they do vary in several significant ways from the typical fighting styles of Yasha-ou's troups. When I fight them I feel as if I'm fighting nothing. Normally I can sense the sav emanating from each warrior and the feeling of it leaving them when they die. But these warriors…While, true, I can still feel the sav in them, it doesn't feel…right."

"What do you mean, my lord?" Chaos asked, his voice sounding intrigued at the very least.

Another pause.

"Well, it feels as though there is something other than sav present. Something similar but still quite different."

"I see."

"What do you suggest we do?" Fai inquired.

"I would suggest we hold a meeting on neutral ground to speak with Yasha-ou and Sava Kishim. Perhaps she can shed some light on this matter. Perhaps you could even allow the lins to speak through you, Fai. It would be interesting to hear their part of the story. After all, it's quite possible they've seen and heard more than we have due to their invisibility to most mortals."

The sound of a body shifting. "I'll…think about it."

"That aside, how did the negotiations go with the lord of Valeria?" Ashura-ou asked.

Valeria? Who was going to Valeria? Kurogane remembered hearing somewhere that the lord of that world was slightly insane. The capital, Celes, was said to be a glorious city but dangerously cold for those who weren't used to the wintry climate of the planet. Wait a minute. Celes. What if Fai was…

"It didn't happen. Long story short, Sakura and I were betrayed. Luckily, and I say this with the upmost irony, the ship we were riding on was attacked by pirates of whom Kurogane is the captain. If he hadn't arrived when he did… Anyway, I apologize for my failure but in light of what happened, I'd say I'm glad I never arrived at my destination," Fai said quietly.

"I understand," Ashura-ou acknowledged.

There were sounds like furniture scraping and feet moving. "I'm sorry but I'm afraid I must leave now," Fai said quietly.

"Of course. Chaos?" the king of Shura asked.

Silence.

"I see. Then I bid you both farewell."

With that, the feet moved closer to the door. Kurogane quickly backtracked down the hall before starting forward again.

"Kuro-puu, is that you?" the Moon Shaman called.

The pirate looked up. "Who else would it be?"

Fai smiled. "Did you just wake up?"

Kurogane shook his head, not missing the furious glare Chaos was shooting at him. "I've been awake for a while, I just decided it was time to actually get up."

The blonde tilted his head back and laughed. "I understand. Would you care to join me? I'm going to the River Pavilion and I'd enjoy your company."

The pirate snorted. "You mean, you'd enjoy teasing me."

The shaman had the decency to blush. "Well, that too."

"I'd rather you didn't come."

Both Fai and Kurogane turned to Chaos whose olive eyes glared at Kurogane's wine red orbs. Fai, feeling distinctly uncomfortable, cleared his throat and caught Kurogane's hand in his as he walked off leaving Chaos behind.

"Fai!" the Sun Shaman called. But when he saw the retreating back and hurried steps, he couldn't help but seethe. Damn you Youou! I swear, I won't let you hurt him again. I swear it! With that thought, he vanished in a flash of golden light in search of Kishim.

All of this was not missed by a pair of particularly astute brown eyes belonging to a certain onmyoji. A beautiful blue and yellow butterfly fluttered before the onmyoji's eyes as if asking for permission. The man nodded and the butterfly fluttered off in the direction of the retreating pair.

Perhaps there was more to this than he'd originally thought.

XxX

After they'd walked through the forest surrounding the capital city of Clow for a while, Fai stopped and turned to his darker companion. "I'm sorry for Chaos' attitude. He can a be bit overprotective at times. It's a fault that I can't bring myself to hate him for."

"A bit overprotective?"

Fai blushed. "Well…at least he cares."

"Yeah, he cares enough to push himself into your personal life. That's a bit too overprotective if you ask me. Where are we going, by the way?"

The shaman jerked as if suddenly remembering something he'd forgot, which knowing him was quite possible. "Oh, we're going to the River Pavilion, but I need to make a quick stop at Koryu on the way. I need my staff."

A dark eyebrow arched up. "I thought you always carried it with you?" the pirate asked.

Another bright blush colored Fai's pale cheeks as he shrugged. "Well, I don't always. It's a pain to carry everywhere, even in a pocket dimension. So if I don't think I'll need it, I leave it in my quarters."

Shaking his head, Kurogane asked, "So, where is this Koryu?"

"We're already here."

"The forest?" the pirate captain said incredulously.

Fai smiled brightly. "No, silly puppy. In the tree tops."

"The tree…" A quick look up showed the pirate a vast city of colored globes that glinted in the sunlight. It was…unexpected to say the least. But he quickly hit a problem. "Okay. So how do we get up there? I don't see any ladders or pathways. And I'm NOT A DOG!"

Fai snickered. "Of course there aren't any ladders. That'd be ridiculous."

Huh?

"We glide up. Like this." Then before Kurogane's eyes, Fai hovered above the ground, his clothes and hair fluttering in a breeze caused by the levitation, then slowly began to rise up. "Come on Kuro-puu. Use your Glider and come on. We don't have all day for lazybones."

"I AM NOT A LAZYBONES!!" an enraged pirate hollered up at the laughing shaman. Furiously, Kurogane grabbed his ever present Glider strapped to his back and silently commanded it to activate. In response to the telepathic command, the four stones set in the top of the staff-like Glider lit with an inner light and the staff's sides flew out revealing membranous sails. Jumping on the slender wooden surface, Kurogane guided the Glider up in the air towards the still laughing shaman.

He smirked as a sudden idea entered his still furious mind. He commanded the Glider to increase its speed and couldn't hold back a bark of laughter when he sped past a flustered Fai. "Come on lazybones!" he called back to the startled Moon Shaman.

Still a bit flustered, Fai glided upwards. In need of more speed, he pressed up against a tree trunk, made as if to leap, and propelled himself upwards. He began trading places with the crimson eyed pirate for the front position laughing the whole time.

Finally, Fai called a stop to their antics by alighting on the small outcropping before the entrance to one of the smaller globes, this one a pale blue. "This way, Kurgy-puu. Hurry it up," he called as he deactivated the shield acting as the front door revealing a perfectly oval hole in the side of the globe right in front of him. With one last look behind him to be sure Kurogane was on his way, Fai stepped into the comfort of his own home.

The inside was deceptively bigger than the outside hinted. And the floor was flat and not curved as would be expected. Kurogane gawked when he entered the place, taking in his surroundings with complete and utter amazement. He was currently standing in what appeared to be a small living area. There were no couches or chairs as he knew them. Instead there were numerous pillows of varying sizes and shapes scattered haphazardly across the floor and on each side of the square table that sat low to the ground. At least the table appeared vaguely familiar to the pirate, as it resembled a kotasu.

There was an unusual indention on the side of the globe that Kurogane took to be the fireplace, though at the moment there were no logs, ashes, or anything of the kind in the indention. Instead there were several unlit candles. Several small globes hovered around almost randomly throughout the room. He hadn't the vaguest idea as to what they were for.

He returned his burning gaze to Fai who was smiling at him teasingly. "Like what you see?" the shaman teased.

Kurogane bristled.

Giggling, Fai turned away from the angered pirate and started towards another oval hole set in an inner wall which Kurogane took to be another doorway. Swiping his hand over a circular crystal set in the wall by the door, an opaque shield vanished and Fai started to step through before turning back to his still stunned companion.

"I'll be back in a minute. I won't be long. If anyone asks for me, tell them I'll be at the River Pavilion."

Then, without waiting for a reply, Fai entered what Kurogane guessed to be his bedroom and the opaque shield rose again.

Resigning himself to an inevitable wait, Kurogane strode over to a particularly welcome looking pile of pillows and sat down. After making himself comfortable, he waited. And waited. And waited.

After about ten minutes, Kurogane began to wonder if Fai had forgotten him when Chaos suddenly burst into the globe through the front door. Instantly, Kurogane was on the alert. He watched as Chaos scanned the room frantically before racing to Fai's bedroom door.

"He said he'll be at the River Pavilion," Kurogane said rather needlessly.

"Not unless I'm very much mistaken, he won't!" Chaos rebuked sharply.

Intrigued, Kurogane watched as Chaos swiped his hand over the door opening crystal and gasped. "Fai!"

Instantly, Kurogane leapt up and raced over to the stunned Sun Shaman, only to be stunned himself. Fai was standing before a large, full length mirror gazing at his reflection. Only it wasn't his reflection in the glass, and he wasn't gazing into the reflective surface, he was sinking into it.

A woman with long, black curls was clasping Fai's outstretched hand and pulling him into the mirror. And the shaman was slowly but surely stepping through the surface which rippled around him as if it were water and not glass.

"Fai!" Chaos cried as he leapt forward with Kurogane by his side. Together, they caught the blonde and pulled him back. But the woman was not so willing to give up her prey. She frowned and pulled harder.

Furious, Chaos growled, "Hold him." Then he released Fai.

Kurogane wrapped his arms around Fai's slender waist and pulled as hard as he could. Beside him, Chaos met the reflective woman's gaze and commanded, "In the name of the Phoenix of Fire, Heir of the Sun, and Guardian of this place, I command you to release him and be gone."

Instantly, the woman screamed as if burned and released her hold on the blonde. Suddenly meeting no resistance, Kurogane tumbled back to the ground with an unconscious Fai cradled in his arms. He checked for a pulse before looking up, half expecting to see the mirror woman again. Only she wasn't there. The mirror was back to being a normal reflective piece of glass.

That is, until Chaos summoned a sword to his hands and chanted, "Lightning Blade." Then the mirror was struck by a bolt of intensely bright lightning and exploded. Kurogane flinched until he noticed that none of the shards neared him or the two shamans. Instead, they bounced away harmlessly as if a shield surrounded them, which from what he'd seen, wasn't entirely impossible.

After the mirror was destroyed, Chaos turned and knelt by his friend, calling him by name. Remembering his unconscious charge, Kurogane turned back to Fai worriedly. After a moment of no reaction, a lin suddenly became visible and swam close to Fai's body. Chaos immediately became quiet when he saw the creature, regarding it with respect and awe. Kurogane only stared at the creature with distrust and mild disgust.

Let usss help him.

Kurogane blinked. Did that thing just talk?

Yesss. We did, the lin replied, meeting his eyes with its golden orbs. Let uss help. Chaosss, ssseek Kissshim. Ssshe will be needed. Yess.

Chaos nodded briskly and started to get up when he remembered Kurogane's presence. He glared daggers at the pirate.

Go Sssun Ssshaman. Hurry. Yesss, you musst.

Rebuked, Chaos broke Kurogane's gaze and struggled up before fleeing out the door as fast as his feet could carry him leaving Kurogane behind with his precious burden.

Unnerved, and more than a little confused, Kurogane just sat holding Fai close to his chest, his eyes never leaving the grey, fish-snake creature hovering in the air.

Lessen your hold, Windrider. We musst ssee hiss chesst, yess.

Obediently, Kurogane allowed Fai's pale body to ease away from his so that the shaman's slender, clothed chest was open an unprotected.

Good. Now hold him down. He will not like thiss. No, he will not.

Nodding, the pirate captain watched as the lin swam closer to Fai's body, then passed through the shaman's chest. Upon contact, Fai seized violently, his closed eyes squeezing even tighter, his face contorting in either agony or pleasure or both, his breath catching in his throat, as his whole body shook. This continued until the lin had completely disappeared into the Moon Shaman's chest. A second or two after the grey, serpentine body had vanished, Fai relaxed and his breathing returned to normal.

Well, that's not something you see every day.


A/N: Hope that can make up for my incredibly tardiness. *blushes* Please have mercy!

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Translations:

Savi – when placed at the end of a name it could mean Mr., when placed at the beginning of a name it means male sav user; can also be used to refer to sav users in general, both male and female inclusively

Sava - when placed at the end of a name it means Miss, when placed at beginning of name it means female sav user

Sav - life energy of which magic is the best equivalent

Lin – a grayish, slender, serpentine creature with a fish-like face, eight tiny legs, and fin-like appendages on the sides of their head right behind their gills. They live between the realm of reality and the world of the dead. They breathe sav like humans breath air and they swim through the air as if it's water.