Summary: Fai reminisces on how he and Kurogane ended up where they are and a little discussion afterwards. Fai POV.

Warnings: Can we all guess what Warning One will be? Warning One: Oh wait…this is Fai talking. He doesn't swear. Don't worry, though, I'll make up for it in my notes and whatnot. Okay, so we move onto Warning Two: Spoilers. Not really a lot of spoilers if you've gotten past the first two chapters. This is complete and utter speculation on my part. It probably has nothing to do with what CLAMP is actually going to do. Warning Three: KuroxFai-ness. And thus, I think indubitably OOC for them both (more Kuro than Fai, in my opinion). But…this kind of goes with Warning Four (gasp! A new warning?!): Fluff. Oh my god, the fluff. What the hell was I thinking? Was I thinking? I'm going to claim imbalanced hormones, long days and the need for some happy, fluffy moments between two of my favorite characters. So beware the fluff. For it abounds. And another new warning! Warning Five: Not really a warning, more of a notice. Once I get my hands on the new chapters (66 plus), I'm more than likely going to destroy this chapter completely and rewrite the endings of the first two chapters. So if you want to save this chapter for posterity, please do before it is gone forever!! Or not. Anyways.

Disclaimers: TRC belongs to CLAMP, et al. I, sadly, own nothing but lots of merchandise. (But that makes me happy, so I guess it's all right.)

Lucidity

Exactly how long we lay there simply watching each other, I did not know. I could see that he had something on his mind; so did I, frankly. Somewhere in the back of my mind though, I wanted to save this moment for eternity. He was not shouting at me and I was not teasing him. I knew, though, that this strange peace between us would not last for much longer.

I glanced at the wound at his temple and winced. It somehow looked worse than it had when we first were thrown into this place; the skin surrounding it a dark bruise. I had been absolutely horrified at the time. We had landed in what I assumed to be a town square, much like where we had landed in Koriyo Country. To say that the townspeople did not welcome us would be an understatement. They had scattered from us as if we had come bearing infectious plague. We had not crashed into anything, so we were able to pull ourselves together quickly enough.

One of the men among the crowd had grabbed his broom, brandishing it like a club, and came after me. I never even saw him coming. I did sense him, but by then I knew I would not have time to react fast enough to get out of the way. Or at least out of the way enough that he would not hit anything important.

"No!" I heard Kurogane shout just before throwing himself straight into the blow that would definitely have taken me down. His head snapped to one side with the force of that swing and fell to the ground like a dead weight.

Too stunned to do anything useful, I stared at his body, watching as blood seeped from the abrasion at his temple. He looked dead. My breathing wavered with fear at that thought.

"Kuro…" I whispered. I could feel terror seizing me and tried to force myself to calm down. "Kurogane…" I knelt beside him and, with shaking hands, reached out to touch his shoulder. "Kurogane," I said louder. Maybe he would wake up if I called to him loud enough. "Kurogane. Kurogane!"

Then there were soldiers upon us, grabbing my arms and holding weapons to me. They yanked me to my feet and away from Kurogane.

"Kurogane!!" I fairly screamed as the soldiers likewise pulled him roughly from the ground.

They shook him savagely; perhaps thinking it would wake him. They slapped him too, leaving bright red marks across his darker skin.

"Stop!" I shouted at them before one punched me in the stomach, knocking all the air from my lungs, and effectively stopping further outburst from me. I hung from their grasp gasping and watched as they began to drag us away.

"How the hell did these two end up here?" One of the guards said.

"Haven't the faintest idea," another answered. "You'd think Yasha's top warriors would have a little more tact infiltrating our city."

"I don't think these are they," a third put in. "They look different somehow. See the blonde one? His eyes are blue."

The first one scoffed. "That's true. I heard Fai once had blue eyes. Kurogane had red ones. There's a rumor that they sold them to Yasha in exchange for living after they were both mortally wounded in a battle."

"Really?"

"I don't know," the man snorted. "I said it was a rumor."

There was silence from them then and I realized we were standing in front of a stone building. Just from the looks of it, I could tell it was most likely a dungeon or jail of some kind. A heavy, dark wooden door was pushed inward and they dragged us inside. Down a flight of stairs, they stopped at the final door in a long, torch-lit hallway. They pulled it open and threw me inside. I slammed into the dirt floor, and bit back a cry of pain as my shoulder jarred against it. They had a little harder time with Kurogane, but he soon fell beside me, still unconscious. The door slammed, ringing echoes against the bare, stone walls. I pulled myself into sitting and edged over beside Kurogane.

"Kurogane," I shook his shoulder gently. "Can you wake up? Please?"

He never moved. He could not possibly be dead. I placed my hand above his mouth and felt him breathing shallowly. It relaxed me somewhat, but not completely. Just because he was alive did not mean he would be all right. Quite clearly, I recall the only thing in the world that I had wanted at that moment was for him to open his eyes. I gently rolled him onto his back and placed a hand on his forehead gently, checking his temperature; he felt as warm as someone should be.

I did not know what to do from there so I simply sat, watching him and rubbing my stomach where that guard had punched me. It was probably bruising already; he had hit me quite hard. I looked around our cell and discovered that the only light was from outside our door; the light from the torches filtered in from around its frame. Not a lot of light, but my eyes were adjusting to it. At least I could still see Kurogane.

Now that nothing was happening and all was deathly silent and still, I felt myself growing sleepy and I found it hard to keep my eyes open. Taking a nap could not hurt, I had thought. I curled up on my side facing Kurogane and allowed sleep to take me. That was when I had dreamt of Tomoyo.

I shook off the memory of that hellish time and looked back at Kurogane. He had not said anything and still watched me with dull eyes. The spark that he usually had was gone from them. I did not like his eyes without that; there seemed to be no life in him, no fight. And that was decidedly not very Kurogane-like.

I became aware that our hands were still resting against each other and almost panicked, trying to come up with an explanation as to why I had done that in the first place, or why I was not pulling away. But then, almost as if they were actually spoken, I heard Tomoyo's words.

He does not truly hate you. He allows you to do things no other person would be able to even consider. Not even me.

And I realized that his fingers were curled lightly around my hand. I looked from our hands to his eyes. His eyes are usually so expressive, but I could not read them. They offered me no clue to his thoughts.

"What's wrong?" His voice was scratchy and not over an audible whisper.

"I…" What did I want to say? What was wrong? How would I say it? "I…I'm sorry." For what was I sorry, though?

"What for?" He asked.

Count on Kuro to cut straight to the issue about which I was fretting. "That…that…"

"First, can you tell me why my head feels like someone tried to split it open?"

I chuckled softly. "That was the original intent."

"Oh. I don't even remember."

I knew he would not. A crack upside a head severe enough often caused memory loss for the few moments before it happened. "It was really me that should have been hit."

He frowned. "Why?"

"Because I was the one the man had been aiming for."

I knew his mental capabilities must have been fine, because I saw him find the connection, his memory piecing itself back together. "Which is…why you're…"

"Sorry?" I finished. "Yes. You shouldn't have stepped in like that."

He scoffed lightly. "Why the hell not? I can't protect…" He trailed off, a contemplative expression settling over his features.

I frowned. "What?"

"Nothing," he closed his eyes. "Forget I said anything."

I nodded, but knew that I was going to puzzle that for some time. "So I'm sorry," I finished.

"Don't be sorry," he sighed. "You're fine, I'm fine." He opened his eyes again, looking at me. "We're both fine."

I swallowed. It seemed like there was more behind that statement than what was said, but I did not want to read into it. I then remembered my fear from earlier and looked down. "I thought you'd died at first," I confessed. "I was so…so scared." My voice dropped off as I remembered the emotion of that time. "You fell so heavily…and then you wouldn't move no matter how much I tried to call you." I took a steadying breath before looking back at him. "No one has ever done that for me."

He almost looked embarrassed at the amount of truth and emotion I was showing, but raised an eyebrow at that. "Done what?"

I could tell him this. I could at least be that truthful. "Protected me."

I saw the ghost of denial flicker behind his eyes, but he remained silent. He closed his eyes again, as if collecting his thoughts. "I…I never even thought about it," he admitted slowly, not opening his eyes to look at me. "I…I didn't think. I…"

"It's all right," I stopped him. I did not want him to continue struggling to express himself like that. "Thank you."

It seemed like he wanted to say something, but I do not think he had the words. But I felt the hand around mine squeeze slightly. I covered the elation I suddenly felt with a concerned inquiry of how he was feeling.

"I'm fine," he replied.

I could have rolled my eyes. Any normal person would not be fine from that kind of a trauma. Kurogane is deeply disturbed. It is very important to him and he wishes for no one to know his secret. Tomoyo's voice in my ear again. I could imagine that she was attempting to give me a huge hint about something.

"What?"

I refocused on him. "I'm sorry?" I blinked.

"You kind of dazed out for a second," he said. "What's wrong?"

Deciding to go ahead, I took a deep breath. "Are…are you sure you're fine?"

Utter fear flared suddenly in his eyes before he buried it with anger. "I said I was fine, so I'm fine," he snarled.

I did not allow myself to flinch at his tone. I met his angry glare steadily, trying to wait out his anger. He still had not taken his hand away. His eyes burned for another heartbeat before the rage melted away. He looked away from me, staring up at the ceiling. He took a long, deep breath and let his eyes fall closed. I let him collect his thoughts for a moment before braving speech.

"Kuro-tan?" I ventured. "I…didn't mean anything, really."

"Actually," he interrupted, his voice quiet. "I think you did."

I caught my lip between my teeth, worrying it. What had I started?

"I don't know how," he continued. "But that was exactly what Tomoyo said to me the day she figured out…what…was wrong with me…"

It's not that bad… I remember Tomoyo saying sadly.

He smiled wryly. "If I didn't know better I'd say the two of you had had tea and enjoyed yourselves at my expense."

I stifled a gasp. I did not want him to think I was insane because of my dream; I would rather he not find out about it. Then he was looking at me again, his eyes intense, the hand around mine gripping harder.

"I swear to you," he said. "I'm not going to lie to you anymore and I want you to not lie to me either." It seemed as if he was gathering all the courage in him to tell me this. "As…as much as I want to…I can't tell you yet. And…I know you're not ready to tell me either." His eyes left mine, but he forced them to return, though I could see he was now much less sure of what he was saying. "Someday…I…I'm going to be honest with you. And…I want you to know that you…you can trust me," his hand squeezed mine harder. "With anything. I will not let you face whatever it is on your own. I will stand beside you."

My throat constricted and I almost choked on my breath. Tears misted across my vision and I trembled with the effort of containing the raw emotion that ached to be released. He was right; I was not ready to tell him yet. I blinked, trying to clear my eyes, to see him again. I wanted to believe him. He would stand beside me. If he were beside me, I knew that I could face Ashura-ou again. I could break free from his power and, as Tomoyo said, become the person I am supposed to be.

I did not know what to say to him. What he said to me meant so much. Never in my life had anyone supported me, nor shown any interest in supporting me. I was Ashura-ou's wizard; I followed his orders, no matter what he wanted me to do. No one wanted to support someone who did nothing but what another person wanted him to do. But Kurogane said that he would. How could he put so much faith in me? Would I be able to trust him, even after all of this? As my mind reeled with questions to and from my psyche, I felt Kurogane's hand relax, and a concerned, if not anxious, expression came over his face.

"Fai?"

He had called me by my name. It was the first time I had heard it from him. He did not use any honorific, nor was there scorn in his voice. I shoved my mental misgivings away with that. Yes; I would trust him. I would trust him.

"Thank you," I whispered. "I…I will stand with you as well."

I felt him squeeze my hand lightly again. "I want you to defeat him," he whispered.

I hid my surprise and replied. "If I didn't know better, I would say that it sounds as if you and…and…he had a talk of your own." I really was not ready to tell him after all.

His eyes softened. "It's good that you know better."

I am afraid the smile I gave him was rather half-hearted, but it was all that I could muster. "I want you to…come to terms with…your problem."

He frowned, almost sadly. "We'll see before the end of this trip, I'm sure."

I nodded. "We can make it. I believe in you."

And with that, the moment ended.

A/N: Well, I think I'm going to call it quits on this story. After churning out the fluffiest piece of writing I have ever done, I think no more shall come of this. As I warned, I'm going to pull this last chapter and change the endings for the first two chapters once I read the new chapters telling us what actually happens to Kuro and Fai. So be prepared. Until then, though, please do not be mad at me about the fluffiness and definite OOC-ness of both of them (more Kuro than Fai, I think…) of this piece. Seriously, this thing is about as fluffy as an angora bunny wrapped in cotton batting. So…please be kind if you're going to review. I think this came from me just needing a nice fluffy moment between the two. ::sigh:: I don't know what I was thinking. Most likely my sleep-deprived brain and missing Kuro and Fai from the storyline (We haven't seen the real Kuro and Fai since chapitre 59!!). ::sobs:: Anyway. I'm going to be working on a story about Shurano's Kuro and Fai next (again, thank you Miss Duchessa for the plot bunny). So please ignore this rambling, plot-less embarrassing fluff-piece (I should have quit while I was ahead…) and look forward to actual plot and stuff soon! Thanks for reading.