Warning, please: There will be an amount of OOC:ness in this chapter, I'm afraid… (starts hitting herself) Err… Also someone complained at the lacks of kisses and… other… action… (cough)

Chapter 6

Kaze sat on a mountain of ice, looking at the submarine disappearing into the sea. He hadn't seen Shiroi Kumo in a while, and had the nagging feeling that something was wrong. However, Shiroi Kumo was his sworn enemy. He wouldn't have cared even if the swordsman was lying somewhere, dying.

Not really finding anything interesting with watching the submarine, Kaze got up from the cold ice and started walking down the mountain (instead of letting it freeze his ass off). The black wind had only walked a few steps when everything around him started to blur. Kaze stopped in surprise and stared at the disappearing snow. For a moment he was surrounded by a blinding white, and then the whiteness started to take form.

Kumo had had… such a nice dream. He'd dreamt that everything had been a nightmare, and he'd been comforted and cuddled by his big brother. But the problem with sweet dreams was that they all had to come to an end. Kumo woke up cold, shivering and hurting all over. He sensed that someone had been in his room; probably Pist who came to gloat over his broken body… it didn't matter.

The white swordsman moved himself slowly, carefully lifting his upper body from the floor. He fought a wave of nausea, but failed and vomited on the floor. After emptying his stomach, not that there was much in it to begin with, the makenshi used his simple bed to pull himself onto his feet. He had to pause and wait for the dizziness to pass before shakily moving over to the other side of his simple room where a carafe of water stood on a shelf extending straight from the wall. Kumo stumbled against the shelf, hitting his aching ribs against it, but managed to stay standing.

The white cloud dipped a shaking hand into the water and started washing himself, washing away the blood. Soon he lifted the entire carafe and dumped the water over his head. Of course Kumo wouldn't be able to wash off the bloodstains from his white pants, but at least his hair and torso were clean. The swordsman took a deep breath and moved over to where his shirt, cape and belt lay. Ever so carefully the white cloud started dressing himself. From the corner of his eyes Kumo saw the dark cloth lying under his bed and reached out to grab it and tuck it safely under his belt.

Suddenly he stopped to listen. How odd… He could have sworn he had heard the sound of the ocean. The world around him started to blur and Kumo rubbed his eyes thinking that there was something wrong with them. However, the blurring only continued.

Kaze looked at the beautiful aqua-eyed woman in front of him and all the odd pearls surrounding them. The woman opened her mouth and spoke, and her voice was like a calming melody, so soft and sweet:

"Welcome dear guest. I am Fabula, your guide." She smiled softly and Kaze felt himself relax.

"Why am I here," he asked in the same hoarse voice as always before. Knowing that this man simply didn't quite understand unless one was being blunt, Fabula decided to state the obvious.

"You're suffering, but you do not know why," she answered the question. Kaze frowned and was about to ask when something started to take form next to him. Not able to keep his weakened body standing after the trip, the form started falling. Without even thinking about it Kaze reached out and captured his sworn enemy with his free arm. As Kumo held on to the supporting arm for his dear life and tried to regain his balance, Kaze looked down at the white swordsman in utter surprise.

Makenshi's shirt was damp and his hair dripping wet. His pants were wet as well, and stained with patches of blood. Kaze felt torn between pity and the will to kill.

"I can show you back to where it all begun, and where it can all end," Fabula told the two unlimited. "But from there on; you will have to work things out on your own."

Once again the surroundings around the two sworn enemies started to blur, and they disappeared from Fabula's shell. The guide of wonderland sighed and closed her eyes. One simple kiss, freely given by either one was all it would take for the curse, or bond as was called, to break. She just hoped nothing would go wrong. After all, these two did not deserve the pain they were in.

The bizarre, yet calming view of the pearls disappeared in front of Kaze and Kumo, and was replaced by greyness. Gray dunes, grey mountains, a grey sky and grey mist…. Kumo groaned when he recognized the plane. This was where Kuroki Kaze had first lost his mind and… kissed… him. Remembering the incident Kumo blushed and let go of the black wind's arm and carefully moved away from the other man.

Kaze remembered the plane as well, but he didn't move at all, only stood there and looked at his surroundings before turning his head towards Shiroi Kumo. What Fabula had said about suffering was true, but to Kaze it looked like the green-eyed warrior had been suffering enough for both of them. Even if it was just for a moment, Kaze did feel pity towards the white cloud. The pity in Kaze's eyes when he looked at Kumo startled the swordsman. He couldn't help but hope that Kaze had finally remembered him, though the odds for that were very unlikely. Behind Kaze, the white cloud noticed a grey cloud moving towards them and he readied himself, knowing how the mist or smoke or whatever would affect him. It didn't take long for the grey whatever to reach them. Already after the first breath Kumo felt weakened, his arms automatically reaching out for support. An arm appeared around his waist, preventing him from collapsing. The white cloud more or less fell against Kaze, but due to the mist, dust, whatever, he didn't find the strength to care.

Kaze was trembling from all the images and emotions flashing through him. Suddenly he let out an almost animalistic growl and shoved the white swordsman against a large grey boulder nearby. Kumo let out a startled sound and looked up, confused.

"You…" Kaze said in an accusing voice. Kumo's eyes started sliding closed but Kaze shook him violently awake. "You… never saw me!" Kumo blinked, clearly not understanding, though if it was because of Kaze's words or the drug affecting his mind was unclear.

"I was there," Kaze continued in the same accusing voice. His eyes were unfocused, indicating that the drug had gotten to him too. "I was there, yet you chose him. You didn't even look at me, at all."

Weakly, Kumo lifted his hands in a futile attempt to twist Kaze's grip off him. He soon failed to even keep his eyes open any longer, and actually felt better once they were closed. Before falling into a similar haze as when he visited the plane for the first time, Kumo felt himself being dragged to the dusty ground.

"I wanted… you," the white cloud heard someone whisper and then he felt a tug on his belt.

Kaze tugged at the thick black belt a couple of times before noticing something falling to the ground. By now he as well was gone with the wind, so to say… The black wind stared at the dark cloth and picked it up to get a better look at it. It took a while for Kaze to realize where he had seen the cloth before. Once he finally recognized it, the brunette looked at Kumo in surprise, though it didn't really show in other than his eyes. How come this beauty had it? As Kaze watched the younger man lie on his back on the ground, eyes closed as if in a peaceful sleep, he was suddenly reminded of some stories he'd heard somewhere a long time ago… something about sleeping princesses. Acting from pure impulse, Kaze leaned down and kissed the sweet "princess". But he longed for more. It felt like he'd been longing for more his whole life, which didn't make sense since he didn't even know this pure white creature.

A wind blew over the two rivals, clearing the air around them. Kumo stirred and moaned. A few moments later his eyes flew open to stare at the grey sky in shock. Kaze, who had moved his mouth to taste the skin by the "beautiful creature's" shoulder, froze in horror. Neither man seemed to like the way Kaze's hand had been travelling.

"Get off me!" Kumo screamed, nearly hysterical. Kaze was more than willing to obey. Before the black wind even had time to stand up fully, Kumo scrambled away from him:

"What…! What were you… you…"

Kaze wasn't sure why he found Shiroi Kumo's embarrassment so pleasing, especially when the makenshi's eyes fell on the unclasped belt that lay on the ground not far from him. All memories that may have been awoken by the "mist" were now gone.

Without saying another word, the man of the magun turned away and started off in a search for the dimensional tunnel he knew lied somewhere on this plane, leaving behind a ruffled and molested looking enemy.

The portal that Kaze eventually found dispatched him, unfortunately, in the middle of the ocean where the submarine, Jane, and her crew picked him up.

The next time for Kuroki Kaze and Shiroi Kumo to meet would be inside the ocean puzzle, where old wounds would be reopened.

But before that, Kumo sat in the grey dust, watching Kaze turn his back at him and walk away. Suddenly the white cloud felt abandoned. His brother was dead, and Kuroki Kaze hated him, memories or no memories. He was alone. There was no one who cared whether he lived or died.

Shiroi Kumo was completely and utterly alone in this world of chaos.

The End.

I am so utterly ashamed for writing something as… bad as this. I wanted a good ending chapter but this…! (buries her face in her hands) I hate myself.