A pair of short Keiji/Funabashi ficlets written for and as a tribute to les scribbles. The theme of the first one is the song "I Changed My Name" by Sugarcult. The second theme is Gunblade. I hope you enjoy them because these two need some love folks.

- Sage Kaley and her muses

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Funabashi didn't even need to look at the thermometer to know that Keiji was very ill. Perhaps not ill enough to warrant a hospital visit but he was certainly sick. Not that any living soul could get Keiji to see a doctor anyway. He was quite the fighter in that right no matter how high his temperature was. Funabashi sighed and set the thermometer on the counter. His boss looked awful, his skin was pale to the point where it could almost hit a balance of gray and white and his eyes were drooping, not the alert, bright ones he usually had.

Saga had been slowly deteriorating for a few days now, needing Funabashi and pills to sleep through the night without the fever keeping him up. He could scarcely remember the last time Saga had been so sick. It was a hazy memory but if memory served him right, last time had been terrible. He could only hope that Keiji wouldn't slip that far again.

"You know, if you'd just eat healthy every so often then maybe you wouldn't get sick like this." Funabashi said, taking a few sleeping pills from the bottle. Keiji tossed back and forth on his bed, weakly trying to sit up but falling back over. "Sir, here…" He sighed, setting the water and medicine down before he leaned over to help Keiji. Instead the man pushed himself further into his blankets. "Er, sir…"

"Funabashi…" Saga muttered, his head peeking just above the sheet's edge. That made Funabashi blink, he was rather unused to hearing his actual named without a silly title attached. "Don't bother. This is just stupid."

"Stupid?" He frowned. "You won't sleep without these though. You'll just have fever nightmares like last time."

"This is a nightmare." Keiji's eyes stared up at him in the strangest way, serious but at the same time he was barely looking at his employee. "I'm just…a failure."

"Sir the company is doing just fine." Funabashi said, sitting down on the bed. Keiji sat up slightly, still gripping the blanket tightly.

"No, it's not that. This is all…I mean…I'm not doing anything. I'm not doing this right…I can't live up to any of it…and I'm just dragging us all down…" He rambled, his voice shaking. Funabashi leaned forward and felt his friend's forehead. He was burning up, even worse than a moment ago. "Funabashi, it's not the fever. It's just me. I'm just a failure…and this…I threw it all away…It was stupid…"

"You mean…when we were younger?" Funabashi asked, receiving a nod from the frightened looking man. "Sir, you made the right choice and I followed you because I wanted to, everyone did because we wanted to. No one is being dragged down."

"But you are." Keiji said quickly, moving closer to Funabashi. "You're all going to fall, because of me. Because I can't do this. I just can't." He shut his eyes and fell back on the pillow. "I think one day…I'm just going to fade away into the darkness…the one I see in my dreams. I think that's me…and someday I'll just fall into it and Funabashi…if you're not careful you'll fall with me…" Funabashi felt his worry grow. Keiji was clearly delirious from the fever, all this nonsense talk, but it also wasn't new. There had been times, rare as they were, when Funabashi saw the fear in Keiji's eyes. It was when he didn't think anyone was looking, the moment when his guard would drop. Sure, he was usually hyper, arrogant and conniving but…Funabashi liked him like that. Whenever he saw that fear though…or heard him cry out in his sleep…then he took it upon himself to distract Keiji. He did his best to help Keiji through his nightmares; he didn't want to see him like this. Yet with the fever in place, there was nothing that could be done. Just like last time, he was helpless.

"…Saga-san." Funabashi said softly, causing the man's eyes to lift until they met his. "You're not going to fall into the darkness, you're not a failure and I'm not going to leave."

"You should. You're just going to fail too." Keiji said, pulling the blanket back over himself. "Just…stay away so you don't."

"Saga-san, sir, be quiet and take your medicine." Funabashi said, handing him the pills and a glass of water. He had to help the man sit up and actually hold the glass though. Once he was done, Keiji fell back to the bed again. "There, now maybe you'll be able to sleep tonight."

"…Was this all worth it?" Keiji asked, his eyes shut. "I mean, if we fall into the darkness…and we fail…and we end up on the streets…and everyone turns on us…if all that happened, would it be worth it?"

"Of course it would." Funabashi gave him a smile, one he couldn't see unfortunately. "It would be worth it all, because we were able tot live how we wanted. And in all honesty, it's been fun."

"…It is fun…" Keiji muttered tiredly. "But was it worth it to follow me? You threw a lot down the drain."

"So did you. Do you regret it?" Funabashi asked, setting the empty glass aside.

"…No…"

"Even if you fall into the darkness?" Funabashi pressed on. "Even if we're hated by the end?"

"I won't regret it…" Keiji rolled over, a small smile appearing on his face too. "Don't you turn your back on me either."

"I won't sir."

"I liked Saga-san better."

"Heh, you're coming back to your old self already." Funabashi said ruefully. He went to stand, only to have Keiji grab his hand. "Si…er…Saga-san?"

"Don't go yet, alright?" Keiji said softly, his eyes still shut. "It's not that I'm scared of my dreams…I just…don't want to face them alone." Funabashi stared at the man for a moment before nodding and sitting back down.

"You won't." Funabashi said simply.

"If you leave me, I'll blackmail you."

"Heh, I know. Don't worry, I'm not going to." Funabashi chuckled softly. Keiji seemed content with that answer and relaxed, his hand still resting against Funabashi's. During the night the clean cut man sat by his boss's side, taking his temperature and doing his best to quell the fever. The whole night passed without event, Keiji slept soundly as along as Funabashi didn't try to move too much, at which point the man would wake up instantly. By the time morning had rolled around, his fever was almost gone and Funabashi was greeted with a hug that nearly knocked him off the bed. By noon Keiji was back to rambling about models, ads and commercials and the only mention of darkness involved the phantom thief himself. Funabashi still made him pace himself and conduct business from bed, while drinking good old healthy orange juice. It was a pain to make him drink it though.

Keiji was back to hiding his fears, back to plotting, back to being the insane Saga that everyone dreaded and respected. Maybe they had given up a lot to make it to this point, maybe they were both afraid sometimes that it wasn't worth it. That didn't really matter though. If one fell, so would the other. They wouldn't end up alone. In all their years of work, that had been the main goal.

"Hey Funa-chan?" Keiji frowned, waving his hand in front of his face. "Did you hear me? Are you there? Hello?"

"Yes, I'm here." Funabashi said, jerking himself from his thoughts. He was there. He had always been there and there was no doubt in his mind that no matter what, he always would be.

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A gunblade has been called many things, and up until recently Funabashi hadn't heard of any of them. Apparently it was a phallic symbol, the mightiest of them all. No one's manhood could be challenged when wielding this powerful blade-slash-gun thing. It made Funabashi wonder why he and Keiji were carrying them around. Actually, he was more or less wondering how Keiji had talked him into dressing up for this cosplay convention. It had been a project for weeks now, they had both worked hard on their costumes and now they stood in this crowd, posing as some silly video game characters. Keiji was really getting into it, his gunblade resting on his shoulder and a devilish smirk on his lips. Funabashi was standing still, glaring at everyone as if daring them to take is picture. Apparently this happened to be 'in character' though and made him more appealing. Which made him glare more, which made more people come to see them. A vicious cycle.

"Hold your symbol of manly power higher Funa-chan." Keiji grinned, pretending to slice enemies or god only knew what with his gunblade. "We are the ultimate rulers of the phallic symbol."

"You think everything is a phallic symbol sir." Funabashi grumbled as Keiji pulled him into a pose for some fan.

"Exactly. That reminds me, want to have hot dogs for lunch?" Keiji asked in all seriousness. Funabashi decided not to even honor that question with a real answer and simply nodded. He tried to ignore Keiji even more once the man started to sing the game's theme song while hugging his far too loyal employee for a group of squealing fangirls. "Keep it up Funa-chan, you make a great Squall. He's the strong and silent hero you know."

"And you're a freak?" Funabashi raised an eyebrow.

"Nope, well, sort of. Seifer was crazy." Keiji laughed and Funabashi didn't add in that anyone that Saga thought wasn't crazy must be downright mad. Then again, anyone who followed Keiji through all his endeavors had to be equally insane. It was knowing that he was crazy that kept Funabashi sane though. Knowing he was helping this man do such things as dress up and prance around and stalk young boys named 'Niwa' and only complain slightly, yes, that was keeping him sane. At least he told himself it did. He didn't want to think he was as mental as his boss, who was now draped over him for another fangirl shot. "I'm going to display our phallic symbols in my office or maybe my room. Yeah in my room, with a picture of us."

"Why, if I may ask, sir?" Funabashi said as he was dragged across the convention to another photo shoot. Keiji grinned back at him.

"I don't have many pictures of us. Plus you never do anything fun. I just want to remember this that's all." Keiji said it like it didn't mean as much as it did. Funny thing was, it meant a lot. Keiji, for all his charm, wit and personality, didn't have many friends. No one that he considered above a vague acquaintance anyway and certainly no one that he would hang out with or go eat with or well, cosplay with. There were very few that could keep up with him and even fewer that he actually wanted to stay with. So when Funabashi agreed to dress up with him, it meant more than either of them could ever express.

In fact, it was hard now that he thought about it to imagine a day passing by without Keiji. Oh sure he had days off but they weren't anything to write home about. In fact they were downright dull and boring. Not that relaxing without Keiji running circles around him wasn't nice. It just wasn't exciting. As much of an idiot he felt, dressed up with a phallic weapon, knowing that Keiji was having a good time somehow made it all better. So he would pose for the pictures and eat the hot dogs and let Keiji glomp him, of course only for the sake of the fangirls on that part. The fact was he was enjoying himself by making Keiji smile and that was worth it, phallic symbols and all.