Title: Return
Fandom: Tsubasa
Pairing: Kuro/Fai
Raiting: PG
Warning: Angst and sap

I'd love to hear what you think. :)

One night toward the end, they landed in Nihon.

The air was damp; the cobblestones' chill seeped through the thin fabric of Fai's trousers, causing his skin to prickle and the hair on his legs to catch painfully in the weave. There was a thick grunt and the rustle-creak cloth and armor shifting as Kurogane pushed himself onto his knees from where his face had planted itself into the hard ground.

"Aah! Kuro-wan is lucky this time!" Fai sighed, a grin stretching his face as he stood in preparation for a quick retreat. Kurogane's eyes were closed but his brow twitched faintly and his mouth drew down into a deeper frown than usual. Beside him, Syaoran was helping Sakura to her feet, his hand cradling hers for as long as she would let him looking as if it was his only tie to the world. She was more alert, lately, more cheerful and vivacious leading them to think there were only a handful of feathers left to find. Fai could see that this hurt and pleased Syaoran in equal measures, though he would never tell a soul. Fai understood, in more ways that he cared to admit.

Kurogane snarled and leapt to his feet, pointing to the mean looking scrape marring his forehead. "How the hell is this luck--" He started, but fell short, his arm thudding to his side as he took a good look around.

"Mokona did well, Kuro-pin! Mokona kept everyone from landing on you!" Mokona cried and jumped onto Kurogane's head, blissfully unaware of the dazed expression Fai could see on the ninja's otherwise unreadable face. Fai wondered, now, if there wasn't something dreadfully wrong about this world. Or if he allowed himself to think unselfishly, dreadfully right.

Skirts swishing against stone drew Kurogane's attention to a place behind Fai and he was stalking forward, red eyes narrowed to slits. Fai stepped to the side and turned to see a petite woman in billowing robes give them a tiny, knowing smile. She held up her hand, palm out and Kurogane came to a swift halt beside Fai.

"Tomoyo-hime," Kurogane's voice was measured with relief and anger and not a small amount of happiness if you knew how to listen. Fai knew, had grown to anticipate that tone, and denied the irrational prick of jealousy that came from how easily the ninja's Princess was able to achieve it. After all, why shouldn't Kurogane be happy, being home?

"Kurogane," Tomoyo acknowledged, but inclined her head, her cheerful eyes meeting Fai's as if she knew his thoughts. Fai looked away.

Sakura pulled her hand carefully away from Syaoran's as they joined Kurogane and Fai. She smiled at Syaoran in the gentle way she had unconsciously adopted to let him know everything was fine and held out her arms for Mokona to jump into.

"Mokona feels a strong magic here, but it's not one of Sakura-chan's feathers," the little white creature announced mournfully.

Tomoyo shook her head. "I summoned you here; however there is no feather. I'm sorry to have forced a small hitch into your quest, but it was indeed necessary."

"Then, why?" Fai smiled and tilted his chin, pale hair falling into his eyes as he avoided the sideways glance Kurogane shot him.

"Kurogane," the princess said again and Kurogane's shoulders straightened. "You have matured, just as I wished for you!"

"Tomoyo, that--" Kurogane ground out, but her delighted laughter stopped his words.

Tomoyo clapped her hands together and twirled on her heel. "Come! This is a perfect place to relax before you continue on. After all, the remainder of Sakura's feathers will be quite the trial to obtain," she smiled over her shoulder before leading the seething ninja and his hesitant friends into the palace.

Fai excused himself the first chance he had and wandered the halls of the palace, taking care not to think too deeply about anything for the moment. He hadn't realized, or perhaps he had but there was something to be said about the fine art of self-deluding, just how much Kurogane's personal quest coming to an end would pain him.

He had found his way into an indoor garden full of smooth stones and gnarled trees and a certain sublimity he couldn't quite grasp. He stood there for countless minutes, lost in his contemplation of anything but the matter burning in the forefront of his mind before the sound of boots crunching through a path of pebbles and sand came from behind him.

"Hey. You." Fai didn't turn or answer but his arms folded at his waist and his hip cocked out at a slight angle. He sighed when the towering presence halted at his side. "What, are you going to sulk here until the princess decides it's time to cordially kick you out on your ass?"

"Kuro-sama is cruel." Fai's voice was as thin as his smile. They had developed a habit of not looking at each other when they spoke. Instead, glances would be traded from the corners of their eyes, gazes skittering away whenever one turned his focus toward the other.

"Just honest," Kurogane grunted, shifting his weight. They were silent for a few thunderous heartbeats before he snorted harshly and grabbed Fai's arm, forcing the magician to face him. "You idiot."

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean." Fai gave in and looked up through the hair falling into his eyes to meet Kurogane's. It was almost a physical shock to see just how much anger was in that red stare.

"You can't honestly think that I'm going to let that half-trained brat go off to be killed with just a lousy magician and a talking manjuu to back him up." Kurogane glowered down at Fai.

"Though, wasn't it you that said you were only coming along until that 'talking manjuu' dumped you safely back home?" Fai mused softly, then grinned wide and looked off to the side. "I don't know why Kuro-tan thinks he has to explain himself to me."

Kurogane's grip tightened painfully on his arm and Fai found he had to bite down on his tongue to keep from gasping because of it. "Sometime between getting beaten by that kid's former teacher and landing here that changed, asshole. I would have thought with all the things you obnoxiously manage to figure out ten breaths before everyone else, you would have been able to see that, too."

Fai's laugh was a little strangled. "I'm afraid I've become a little too blinded when it comes to your character to be a good judge."

"You--"

"Me?" Fai had a second to wonder at that before he was pulled by the hand on his arm into Kurogane's chest. "Kurogane," Fai struggled briefly - this wasn't supposed to happen, shouldn't be allowed - but stopped when one strong arm, then the other wrapped around him, pinning his own to his sides.

"Just shut up," Kurogane rumbled and it really was amazing how much deeper his voice sounded this close to the source. Fai sighed and slumped into the taller man, blue eyes closing wearily.

"Even if you do go with us--"

"I'm going!"

"--you'll still be returning here afterward. That was one of the reasons we aren't... I -- Kuro-sama, my arms, please."

"Huh?" Kurogane's chin bumping against Fai's skull when he spoke really wasn't an unpleasant sensation at all. Fai had wondered.

"My arms, they're losing circulation." Kurogane loosened his hold enough for Fai to slip his arms free but didn't let go completely. That was just as well because Fai was wrapped around him in an instant, turning his head to rest his cheek over Kurogane's heartbeat. "One of the reasons we aren't supposed to be doing this, after all."

"Idiot," Kurogane breathed into Fai's pale hair, his lips hazardously close to the scalp.

"Yes?" Fai marveled at the heat of their bodies where they touched, amazed and despairing at how familiar it felt already, how right.

"Aren't you the one that said you would come along so long as you weren't dumped back into your own world?" The ninja muttered, throwing Fai's own words back at him.

"Mn, I do believe so."

"Well, there sure as hell isn't an Ashura in Nihon, if there was I'd have probably killed him by now."

"I don't think you fully understand how powerful Ashura-ou is, Kuro-pi," Fai chided, too lost in finally allowing himself to embrace the other man to fully comprehend where Kurogane was headed with this line of conversation.

Then he found himself being pushed away from the other's warmth, a protest riding on his tongue. One long fingered hand gripped his chin, forcing his face up to meet Kurogane's intense stare. "So, you'll just come back with me, damn it." He glared, red eyes daring Fai to disagree. Fai could feel his pulse begin to hammer in his throat and the sound of his blood rushing through his veins filtered everything else out. Fai thought he might have laughed a little, but he was too focused on burying his face into Kurogane's black shirt to notice and really, why hadn't he considered that possibility himself?

Tomoyo saw them off from atop the palace stairs the next morning with Souma at her side. She dabbed at her watery eyes with her handkerchief, but her face held a certain smugness.

"Kurogane wasn't half as enraged as I'd expected, Tomoyo-hime," Souma said hesitantly, a tad confused at the markedly less volatile personality Kurogane had acquired. "And he didn't even consider staying."

Tomoyo waved delicately with the handkerchief as Mokona sucked the group below into the next dimension before glancing up at the other woman. "I would have been disappointed in him if he had, Souma. He has matured, just as I wished for him."