It was uncomfortable, if not plain awkward. And he knew Kurogane was thinking the same.
The two of them were leaning against the wall, stiffly next to each other. Sakura was next to Syaoran, carefully feeding him this morning's porridge bit by bit. They didn't dare to leave her alone now, afraid of possible strange reactions from the boy due to change of room or the occurrences of the last day, and of Sakura losing her nerve and falling apart while feeding Syaoran. But standing there together just looking at them felt plain awkward.
Syaoran wasn't really awake, barely keeping his eyes open while he ate dutifully. His head kept lolling from one side to another, forcing Sakura to cup his cheek gently to raise his face for the spoon. He was making soft moaning sounds every now and then, as if caught up in a dream.
But every time the spoon was pressed to his lips, his eyelids fluttered open just enough to take a short look at Sakura before opening his mouth, his head drooping again as soon as Sakura let go of his face.
"I wonder why he is so sleepy," Fai muttered softly.
"He did kind of exert himself more than usual yesterday," Kurogane grumbled in response.
"True. But he was panicking only shortly, right?" Fai tilted his head. Syaoran should be getting far enough sleep, even if he was recovering from his wounds. But it wasn't just his wounds was it? The shattered limbs weren't even the problem.
Kurogane was silent, a frown on his face as he quietly observed another spoon being prodded to the brunette's lips. "He may not have been completely asleep when I bathed him yesterday," he finally said, "he appeared to sleep, but I can imagine he wasn't completely gone while I had him in the water."
He sighed, nodding in response. "That's likely, I suppose."
"Aren't you tired?"
"How come you're asking?" Fai twitched a grin on his face.
"Because you didn't sleep, you idiot. And you didn't feed enough either."
"I'm fine," Fai made a dismissive gesture, hoping the ninja wouldn't ask again "and I won't feed again until you're recovered some more. Maybe tomorrow evening. I can manage even without a night of sleep. I'm more worried about you, seeing how you looked yesterday."
"I recovered a lot during the night," Kurogane nodded, acknowledging Fai's worry in a way the mage wasn't used to from the ninja at all, "how about Sakura?"
"I gave her Syaoran's sleeping meds last night." Sakura looked up briefly. Fai's eye narrowed, studying her face. The distrust was completely gone, she was only checking why her name was said. Why had she stopped suspecting him? What had done the trick? And was she right to?
He shook the thought off. He had no ill intentions towards the boy. He genuinely cared about him and wanted him to recover from this nightmare. He only needed Syaoran to come to trust him again and the problems would be solved.
...
He watched the mage frowning from the corners of his eyes. Fai was doubting. But who, and why? Himself? Sakura? Kurogane?
Or he was just eating himself up over losing the clone of course. He seemed a bit too upset about it the day before. His screams had been worse than Sakura's.
"You know, I've been wondering," Sakura suddenly muttered.
He tensed, and felt Fai did the same. There were questions they didn't want to answer. Questions she shouldn't ask.
"When Syaoran panicked and hit me in the head the other day," she continued softly, "he was calling out a word I didn't get. He called out 'Tsubasa'."
Syaoran's eyes flashed open shortly, zeroing in on Sakura's face. He shuddered heavily and then drooped again.
Kurogane had other things on his mind now though. The word made the contents of his stomach turn to ice, and he had to swallow difficultly before he could speak again. "What?" He forced his voice to sound a bit more brusquely. A bit less weak. "Him too? When the clone was here the first time and I followed him out, he told me 'Tsubasa is mine'."
...
"Tsubasa is mine."
Syaoran shot up with a scream. He choked on something in his mouth and coughed, gurgling and screaming. Small hands grabbed him, trying to press him down.
Down down down.
He screamed again and flung with his arm at the other person. His mirror, or the old man. He remembered no name, only that one. Only Tsubasa.
Tsubasa is mine. The low voice, it must have been the old man.
He faintly heard a high scream, too high, to surprised, too much.
He screamed, coughed, choked.
...
Sakura screamed in shock when Fai pulled her away just in time to avoid the swinging arm of the panicking boy. Kurogane knocked Syaoran on the back forcefully with a flat hand, causing the boy to spit out the porridge he was choking on.
Syaoran's head lifted a little, wide wet eyes focusing on Sakura. He whimpered and stretched his arm, before a animalistic wail left his throat and he curled in on himself. She echoed his whimper, pulling back into Fai's arms unconsciously.
"What was that," Kurogane asked shocked. His hands twitched at the covers of the bed – hesitating – before he dared picking them up and covering the shivering brunette.
"Whatever this word means, Syaoran doesn't react too well to it," Fai muttered, and Sakura shuddered in his arms. So scared. So afraid.
"B-but when I said it..."
"Either he recognizes your voice, or Kurogane's male voice is enough to provoke him. I'm not even going to try to say it," Fai squeezed her shortly before letting her go, stepping back from her. Sakura circled her arms around herself, embracing her body now Fai wasn't doing it anymore. She shivered, and then reached out for the trembling boy. She was here for him now. For the scared, trembling boy writhing away from her under the covers.
"Syaoran."
No response.
"Syaoran, are you alright? Please don't be scared of us." She gently draped her hands over his covered shoulder, afraid to give any pressure now. He whimpered softly, but remained otherwise still.
"Why are you so scared of that word? What does it mean?"
She heard Kurogane shift uncomfortably. 'Tsubasa is mine'. Was it a name? Did they give Syaoran this name? What did it mean?
"Please don't be scared," she smoothed her hand over his hair, and he visibly relaxed at her whispers.
Why was he scared of it?