Tournament

Disheveled hair aside, Kurogane, Fai and Mokona were walking to the swords shop that Tomoyo had recommended. Since the two had time off of their work today, Kurogane figured they didn't need to drive as they were in no hurry. Mokona sat atop his head as Fai walked beside him. Both of them were still teasing him from earlier about just how uncharacteristically sweet he had been. But now that he was being mercilessly teased as usual he was sulking at the two.

After another half an hour later they arrived outside of the shop. Quickly peering through the windows they saw all sorts of weapons hung in display. As they stepped inside the automatic door, the shop owner came out of his dealer room to greet them. The man looked out of place with his long white beard and gnarled hands. He looked ancient to Fai, but he could see the man was still strong by the way he carried himself. "We were told you carried the best swords in the city," Fai said.

"Yes…yes…you heard that right," the owner said in a feeble voice. He glanced at Kurogane. "I can see you're the one who have come here for something."

The young lord blinked, but nodded. He wasn't exactly surprised how intuitive this man was. After all, there was always something sacred between a warrior and the weapon.

"I think I have just the sword for you."

He shuffled behind a counter and hunkered down. When he got back up he held a sword still wrapped in linens in his thin arm. The owner handed it over to Kurogane. It was a long sword, something he was very used to in battle.

"This is a fine long sword. Its name is Souhi. It will serve you very well as much as you will serve it well. The name means 'blue ice' and it will do well to protect you and others in battle."

Fai stared as the cloth fell and it revealed a deep blue hilt that shone brightly under the light. Kurogane weighed the sword in his hands and examined the blade. Although the katana he departed with as a price was made of higher quality, this Souhi was still pretty decent. "How much will this be?" he asked.

"If you win the tournament with this sword, consider it a gift."

Fai stared at the man in surprise. The sword was obviously valuable to give it away for free. Either the shop owner had confidence in Kurogane winning or there was more than meets the eye.

"Deal," Kurogane said.

Fai then stared at the sword for a moment before he looked to the old man with a grin. "And I suppose seeing Kuro-san win with a sword from you wouldn't be bad for business either now, would it?"

The store owner chuckled as he nodded. "It is good advertisement." Kurogane frowned, but nonetheless it would be nice if he didn't have to pay for it.

Fai and Mokona sat in the stands, waving small flags as they cheered on for Kurogane. The tournament had started the previous day and before that Kurogane had trained almost non-stop for it. The young lord had been going through the brackets pretty well the last day. He went through some easier opponents at first so now he was bracing for tougher ones. Yet the fighting spirit in him have never truly died down even after he risked his life to save Fai that one time so he gladly accepted the challenge. Fai watched, already knowing Kurogane would win his division. He couldn't use his full strength of course, but the warrior was still far better than the other swordsmen he had seen in the tournament.

"Next up, we have Kazuhiko and Kuro-tan in the semifinals under the swords fighting division," the commentator announced. A tall man who wore glasses stepped up and onto the stage. He had a large broadsword over his shoulder as he smiled and waved to the crowd.

"Kuro-tan?" Kurogane was seen on the large screen still seething at the use of Fai's nicknames. It was the blond who had wrote that down in the contestant forms. Fai and Mokona both laughed together at the man's reaction. They both cheered, but it was drowned out by the noises from the crowd. The referee counted down and blew the whistle. The audience roared and whooped.

Kurogane, with Souhi at the ready, charged at Kazuhiko. He dodged easily with a clean sidestep before he swung his own sword towards Kurogane's unprotected side. When it was blocked he smiled and jumped out of Kurogane's range. Although it was Kurogane's first time dealing with broadswords in general instead of the curvier katana he was used to in his home world, he quickly picked up the broad movements and its lack of arc swings for this type of weapon. Therefore he was able to find the faults and weak areas of Kazuhiko with precision using Souhi.

Kazuhiko held his own for several minutes, but having to handle such a heavy weapon was hard work even for someone trained like him. He eventually conceded the fight to Kurogane when the other had reached just a little too close to piercing his shoulder.

"And it looks like Kazuhiko surrendered! Kuro-tan will go to the finals match and his opponent will be determined after the next match," the commentator said with excitement. The crowd was at a roar. Kurogane's image was shown on the screens floating about and lingering the walls for everyone to see. Mokona bounced up and down, waving her flag furiously as Fai stood up and cheered.

Kurogane and Kazuhiko shook hands as per custom and were escorted off the stadium. Normally all contenders sat on the benches on the first level but Kurogane decided to step aside and head into the lockers room for a private break. Picking up Mokona, Fai decided they could skip the next match and go and talk with Kurogane. Making his way down, the blond managed to follow after the other.

"Hold a minute," a security official said, raising his hand. "You are not allowed to walk on these premises."

"My boyfriend was the winner of the match," Fai explained. Fai looked behind the man to call after Kurogane. "Kuro-chan~!"

"Let me help you, Fai-san," another voice said. It was Zima, who was one of the supervisors of the arena. He stared at the guard. "Listen here, Fai-san is also a special guest of Daidouji-san so I think you should let him in to see Kurogane-san."

"Yes…I understand," the guard apologized. He let Zima, Fai, and Mokona through.

"Thank you, Zima-san. I probably could have gotten in with some persuasion," Fai said as they walked away from the crowd. "How do you think Kuro-pon's chances are of winning?"

"Hmm…it depends. I'm betting that Seishirou-san will win this next match and he's a really strong contender. But my Dita has told me that Kurogane is really perceptive so that's a huge advantage," Zima said, putting in his own two cents.

"I'll be surprised if he loses. Kuro-tan usually gets his opponents to forfeit after a few minutes," Fai chuckled, feeling a bit of pride that Kurogane was so strong. They had reached the locker room where he was pacing back and forth with a towel over his shoulders.

"Well, it looks like I'll leave you two alone then. Send him my good luck for me," Zima said cheerfully. He patted Fai's shoulder and headed back outside. Far away they could hear Dita's angry voice.

"Kuro-chu did well," Fai cooed as he approached Kurogane.

"Yeah, Kurogane did great. He'll win for sure!" Mokona cheered as she waved her arms.

"You actually came in here?" Kurogane asked, raising an eyebrow. Sure, he made it into the finals, but it didn't mean he could let his adrenaline guard down.

"Of course I did. The last match is soon and we had to give Kuro-rinta good luck." Fai sat down on a bench. "Kuro-sama looks like a wild animal in a cage going back and forth." Kurogane rolled his eyes.

"Zima sends his good luck to Kurogane too!" Mokona added, hovering around Fai and Kurogane.

"If Kuro-myu wins we can celebrate tonight. "Maybe we can even buy some drinks and order out for dinner too," he suggested, knowing Mokona would agree." Fai leered up at Kurogane with a devious smile.

"Not in front of the manjuu!" Kurogane hissed, turning scarlet while Mokona held in her giggle. "Anyways, you better leave soon. I have a feeling that the final match will come up soon."

They could hear the muffled voice of the announcer, no doubt declaring the end of the match or at least that it would be over soon. "Kuro-blush is shy."

Mokona giggled. "Shy, shy, Kurogane's shy~!"

"Get out of here!" Kurogane roared, snatching Mokona.

There was a rap at the door and all three froze. A man opened it and peered through. "Um, Kuro-tan, we need you to step outside to the arena. The final match is in about 15 minutes."

Fai looked away and covered his mouth while laughing. "Kurogane's going to be the next champion!" Mokona cheered as she wiggled in Kurogane's grip.

Kurogane chose to ignore the other two and followed the man outside. Sunlight hit him in the face and he automatically raised his arm to shield himself. Meanwhile Fai and Mokona quickly made their way back to their good seats. The audience was cheering loudly once more.

"Now this is what you've all been waiting for – the last match of the sword's division!" the announcer shouted over the loud speakers as he flew around on a small stand. "As you can see, Kuro-tan has made his way to the stage and our other finalist Seishirou is on his way as well."

Seishirou had a very cool expression as he walked out into the arena. Once he got on his spot, he pulled out a pair of glasses from his shirt pocket and put it on. It glared in the sunlight, giving him a daring edge. In his hand was a thin, black sword. The blade was still dirtied with his last opponent's blood and when Fai saw it, a sense of uncertainty washed over him. Seishirou was dressed in a business suit of all things, smoking leisurely as they waited for the match to begin.

He looked over towards Kurogane, thinking the man would know that he wasn't a push over. People in the audience were murmuring about who would win in the final match. Several were still spooked at how fast Seishirou had literally wiped out his previous opponent. The referee once again counted down and blew his whistle.

Seishirou remained in his spot, standing lazily as he took his cigarette and flicked it to the ground. He smiled at Kurogane then. Kurogane gripped Souhi in his hands. The other man must be really fierce if he just stood there waiting for him to attack. Clearly Seishirou wanted him to get exhausted first before the match could be even considered worthy. But he couldn't just stand there nor casually swiped so he ran forward with his katana's blade facing sideway in front of him.

Stepping on his spent cigarette, Seishirou made sure it was put out as Kurogane came towards him. He lifted his sword up in one hand, blocking the attack easily before he leapt backwards.

This man was really agile and quick and Kurogane knew he had no chance of getting a good attack every time his opponent chooses to do his aerial tricks. He would have to let them both wear out before any of them could truly "defeat" the other.

"It seems Kuro-tan is a strong opponent, but you won't win," Seishirou said, still smiling as he suddenly took the offensive and ran towards Kurogane. He attacked with rapid quick swings of his sword.

Kurogane barely managed to block each and every one of the other's blows. "Tch, we'll see about that," he smirked. "And the name's Kurogane."

"Who cares?" Seishirou's eyes turned cold. He kicked out at Kurogane's legs to knock him over while using his momentum to swing his blade around.

Kurogane swung his katana to stop from being sliced and managed to roll backward to prevent from facing the bluntness of falling on the ground. Just as he pushed himself back up to the tumultuous roars from the crowd, the referee ran into the arena waving his arms. He was blowing into his whistle so much that his face was turning red. Kurogane stopped. Even Seishirou, the scoundrel, did.

"What now?" Kurogane yelled.

Seishirou leaned casually on one side as always. "A winner hasn't been decided yet," he informed the other. As he glanced out to the crowd he could see a blond man standing with a creature, his eyes wide and looking anxious.

"What's this? Why are there other guests on the stage too?" the commentator speculated. The referee panted and unceremoniously grabbed Kurogane's arm.

"Oi, will someone tell me what's going on?" Kurogane growled.

The referee pointed at Fai with his shaking fingers and Kurogane stopped feeling mad once he saw the horror-stricken look on Fai's face. Fai was waving a cell phone in his and pointed at it with his other. He had gotten it months ago to keep track of each other through the day and if Tomoyo needed anything. He was trying to say something but the drones of the audiences made it hard to hear Fai.

"What?"

However, Mokona simply opened her mouth and suddenly a vortex seemed to be sucking Kurogane closer. To his humiliation it forced him closer and he fell on the floor once he got there. Great.

"Fai said the baby's coming!" Mokona shouted, just as flustered as Fai looked. "Chitose just called and she said the baby is going to be born any minute now!"

Note: Talk about a way to find out your baby is expecting. Also, Kazuhiko comes from the series Clover and Seishirou here is based on TRC!Seishirou.