To Love & Be Loved
A/N – Tomoyo: "Fai, teach him to love, and you will be loved deeply." Tale of Kurogane and Fai starts at the point when Fai loses his eye. It skips through swiftly to the end of the series to look at what might occur… after.
Chapter 25 – Blood: part 2
He sensed the slight stirring in the blood before the actual movement. Strong arms wrapped around him and held him. Blood. Over the weeks they had traveled together, months even, where Fai was a vampire, he had noticed he could sense things. They both could sense things of each other. It was not usually very much. Mostly, they each had a sense that the other was alive. They thought it was just Chakra Town's magic which had been left behind.
Kurogane had a good inner sense about Fai. He could close his eyes and like sensing the demons and people, he could pick out Fai with little effort. He also seemed to just know when Fai needed to feed on blood, even if Fai did not. Maybe that was just his military attention to details and schedules.
Fai was discovering a whole new world about Kurogane. He could sense life in Kurogane even when the warrior was trapped in the ice. He sometimes thought he could sense where Kurogane was, but it was hard to judge the truth of that when the man was almost always within sight. He thought he could sense snippets of emotion while he was swallowing mouthfuls of blood. It left Fai confused, but more than that… conflicted. No, he definitely no longer hated Kurogane, no matter how hard he might want to. No, he definitely no longer wanted to push him away, but hold him close and be held. Kurogane chased away the night terrors. He knew, one day he would have to choose, decide to betray the promise he made for his own and his twin brother's life or betray Kurogane to the people who killed Kurogane's mother.
It all came down to the blood. Whose blood would be on whose hands and for what reasons? He sat up with the scream of the terrors caught and choked on in his throat. Disoriented. He felt so disoriented. His stomach hurt and his hands shook. How many days? Was it just yesterday? Maybe it was more than that? Kurogane was moving through his usual morning routine like Fai hardly existed. Fai hungered for the stability he used to have in Chakra Town, bound to Kurogane. Blood red ruby eyes fixed him to the bed.
"About time you got up, mage. You need to feed." Kurogane crossed the room and held out his left wrist. There were so many small scars from so many bites.
Fai stared as his mind conjured up blood dripping and soaking over a hand and pooling onto the floor, staining clothing of white and blue. The color drained from him and the room swung to the right and up. Then he was in Kurogane's arms.
"Dumb mage… I told you that you needed to feed."
Fai tried to fight it, tried to communicate his distress. He hated blood… so much blood. But then it filled his mouth. His stomach knotted for a second, but only for a second. His eye shifted to amber gold and instinct kicked in once more against his will. He fed and with each swallow came that stability.
Part of Fai wondered briefly what it might be like to be loved by this tall warrior, to be part of his intense emotions and protected by his fierce loyalties. But Kurogane has never showed an interest in men as lovers. Otherwise, would he not have taken what Fai offered in Chakra Town? No… there could not be love. If Kurogane knew, there would definitely not be love. When he felt strong enough, he drew away, remembering to lick the wound this time so it healed over.
Kurogane pulled the mage almost into his lap, to sit between his knees, back pressed against the warrior's chest. Fai struggled a moment before recognizing the position, then relaxed. Slowly, little by little, Fai relaxed. His pulse eased from its racing speed. His breathing became more even and eventually in time with Kurogane's.
"Better," rumbled the warrior. "The kids are back and now that you are up and seem ok, we can get out of here."
"Kurgy? I don't like the blood." Fai could not believe how small his voice sounded.
Kurgane sighed, "I know. Now get up before I find some new moves you cannot evade gracefully."
Fai grinned. He was sure Kurogane remembered that battle they had where Fai dodged and taunted. He turned in surprised realization that Mr. Tall Dark and Stoic just might have made a joke.
A/N – Pardon how slowly some of these chapters come. My adult life is very full of running a business with employees and networking and advertising, as well as teaching three nights a week. Sometime I only get about 4-6 hours to myself and that's counting time I should be sleeping. I will not give up on this story, but sometimes I might be very slow putting out a chapter. Glad you all are reading and reviewing. Reviews inspire me and remind me that it is worth continuing.