A dummy's guide to proper courtship
Section Two - Conversations
When you really know someone, conversations become unnecessary, trivial things. However, being able to establish a meaningful conversation is one of the basics in courting someone. Conversations can be tricky to instigate and even harder to keep running without falling into awkward silence. The best ways to trigger a conversation is to wear an interesting T-shirt to comment about when things get rough.
XX
Kagome, Kagome Kago no naka no Tori wa
Kagome, Kagome, the bird in the cage,
Fai smiled and watched the children join their hands and form a circle around the blindfolded child in the middle, chanting they moved slowly in a clockwise direction around the single child. It reminded him somewhat of a game the children used to play in Celes, not that there were ever many games to play or that he ever took part in any of them. He would have liked to believe that he was the one in the middle, the centre of attention, but really he would have been the random child ten miles away sitting in a tower.
"It's kinda nostalgic," he tilted his head upwards to the clouds that passed through the blue sky.
Itsu Itsu deyaru?
When will you come out?
The world that they had found themselves in was something akin to Outo country with towering skyscrapers that rose to dizzying heights amongst the last remnants of the more traditional buildings.
Fai had found himself a nice little park to rest in whilst searching for Sakura's feather. He was comfortable enough on his little wooden bench under the blossoming cherry trees, watching the children of this world play their foreign games.
Yoake no ban ni
In the evening of the dawn,
Daylight spilled across the tips of the trees, gilding the park in golden light. He admired this world somewhat; the way nature still managed to grow amongst the roaring traffic and fumes of the modern world. He admired how flowers could sprout from cracks in the pavement, of trees twisted around buildings, of little havens like the park that he currently found himself in.
Stifling a yawn, he produced a leaflet a woman had given him during his search for the feather. Scanning over it briefly, he shrugged and began folding it. His tongue poked out slightly between his lips as he struggled to fold the paper into the desired shape. It would have been so much easier with magic but he would never have used his magic for such trivial things and his back was now bare, bereft of the tattoo he had treasured so much.
Tsuru to Kame ga subetta.
The crane and turtle slipped.
After much struggling, he held a fragile paper bird in his triumphant hands before giving it to the wind and slumping back down against the bench.
The children were still at it. They were still playing their game. The child in the middle seemed a little lonely standing by himself whilst the others continued to circle him with their hands linked. The child in the middle had no one to hold his hand.
"He'll get over it," Fai returned his gaze to the sky. "It's better be by yourself than to have someone hold your hand. It's harder but better."
They began slowing down, signalling the near end to their game.
Ushiro no shoumen dare?
Who's behind you?
"Kuro-chan."
"You dropped this."
Kurogane stood behind the bench, a frown permanently etched into his sharp features. He held up the paper bird, pointedly ignoring the use of his much-hated nickname. "Where I come from they symbolise long life and good luck so you shouldn't throw one of these things away."
Fai twisted around to face his travelling companion with a ready smile to counter Kurogane's frown.
"That's funny," he accepted the paper bird, twiddling it between his fingers as if he had never seen such a thing in his life. "Where I come from, they mean death."
"I'll keep it then," Kurogane pocketed the paper bird, moving around the bench so that he was standing besides the mage.
The corners of Fai's lips tugged upwards. "You might die," he warned.
"Or I might live a long, prosperous life."
At that, he could not help but snort. Kurogane's eyebrows arched questioningly but Fai just lowered his head and shook it.
"I didn't know that you were superstitious, Kuro-run," when he lifted his head again, there was a grin on his lips.
This time, Kurogane snorted and took a seat next to him on the bench, leaning forward, arms propped against his knees and hands supporting his head. Not much was passed between them. If the ninja thought it odd that the mage was suddenly silent, he did not give voice to it.
It was a comfortable silence. Kurogane could never understand why there were such things as uncomfortable silence, why people felt the need to constantly be talking away to feel comfortable. Maybe he should ask the man besides him. Fai was a master at conversations no matter how pointless and meaningless they were.
The mage fidgeted, leaning his back straight against the back of the bench. Neither said anything as a child changed placed with the one in the middle and the game continued.
"It's a strange game, isn't it?" he finally chose to break their mutual silence. "Seems a little morbid and depressing though," he mused.
"Speaking of depressing," the ninja rested his gaze upon Fai's ever-smiling face. Despite the steady expression of casual cheerfulness the mage kept glued to his face, Kurogane could sense Fai's real emotions swirling just below the surface of his façade. He sighed. "What's got you so sad, Mr smiles and sunshine?"
Fai quirked an eyebrow at his new name and smiled even harder. "Who knows."
"You're admitting it?" He would be lying if he said he was not a little shocked. Fai never let anyone see anything that was real, that had to do with the real Fai.
"There are a lot of depressing things in this world, in any world," the mage nodded and continued. "Like today, I saw a starving cat in the middle of the road."
Fai opening up, that was a joke. Kurogane felt his eyebrows simultaneously twitch. Whatever gave him that stupid notion?
Unaware of his travelling companion's current disposition, the mage continued his tragic story. Eyes shining, he put on his best voice and began. "My heart went out to it and, despite my own hunger, I gave it my lunch, everything I had. A hundred miles I wandered searching for Sakura's feather - "
"But you're only five streets away from the hotel," Kurogane muttered.
Ignoring the disgruntled ninja, he went on. " - Always wandering on an empty stomach and finally, as exhaustion and hunger caught up with me, I collapsed here, in this park. So…" that being said, he turned hopeful eyes onto the ninja, "got any snacks?"
Kurogane let a faint "ugh!" pass through his lips. "I'll tell you what's really depressing," he grunted, "listening to you spew nonsense out of your blow hole."
"Ah, then Kuro-pi must be a pretty serious masochist since you came to find me," Fai's smile did not falter.
"I didn't come to find you, you just happened to be here!" the ninja yelled above Fai's happy singsong chant of "Kuro-kun, Kuro-wan, Kuro-chii came to find me!"
Sighing, Kurogane once again resigned himself to watching the children play.
"Hold still."
He instantly turned at the sound of Fai's voice so close to him and was met with a crouching Fai squatting on the bench right next to him. The mage seemed to have no concept of personal space,
"W - What?" he wanted to hit himself when he stuttered.
Fai's hand moved closer to the ninja's face. "You have cherry blossom in your hair," he artfully removed the pink petals as he spoke. "And one on your ear." His finger brushed against his ear, sweeping away the last petal. Kurogane's skin tingled at the touch.
The thank you that the ninja was planning to offer in return was wedged in his throat. The bench they shared as covered with petals like pink snow in spring, and Fai's blond hair too was littered with blossom. His hand moved to offer the same kind of service that the mage had given him.
"Well, despite all the depressing things in the world, I'd say that life's not too bad, right?" Fai returned to his original position on the bench, smiling wistfully.
"Err…yeah," Kurogane blinked then quickly dropped his hand, feeling stupider than he believed that he should.
Luck, he thought, and touched the paper bird in his pocket. He needed a little luck.
Silence once again washed over them. In the midst of silence, Kurogane turned his attention to the smiling mage. A cherry blossom detached itself from the branch and lighted upon the blond man's lips.
Luck, he thought.
Before Fai could brush it away, Kurogane swept in, removing the petal with his lips with surprising delicacy. Their lips just brushed in the process before being replaced by a much more pressing, urgent kiss.
All those months that they had been travelling together, those stolen glances and increasingly occurring awkward moments had amounted into this. Personally, Kurogane blamed it on the lack of culture in the last three worlds they had visited. Had there been any brothels available, he could have easily extinguished his frustration and longing there, but such was his luck. He idly touched the paper bird.
Fai did not seem to mind kissing another guy, in fact, he seemed to have been expecting it and leaned inwards. Pushing him slowly against the bench, Kurogane's body arched into the mage's.
"Kuro-mune," something between a moan and a murmur passed through Fai's lips. He was still using those damn nicknames even at such a time. "I think that you should stop, Kuro-pon."
"Why? Don't you like it," he grinned, parting to catch his breath before moving in again.
Fai groaned. "I do, but…but…" Groaning once more, but this time with the effort to shove the heavier man off of him, Fai coughed and returned to sitting on the bench as if nothing had transpired between the two.
The moment, suddenly broken by the mage, shattered around them. Kurogane blushed. "Sorry, I - "
Fai mimicked his blush with one of an even deeper shade of red. "It's not that, it's…" a single finger lifted and pointed in front of them but Fai's blue eyes were not looking in the direction of his finger and his cheeks seemed to flush even deeper, " that," he finished.
Gazing over in the direction Fai's finger was indicating, Kurogane understood why he had stopped him. The children had stopped their game and were staring, no, gawking at them and their previous antics.
Luck, he thought.
XX
I hope that that wasn't too long and sappy. I wanted to do a slightly angsty fic that does not involve Ashura. Though this wasn't so much angst-tinted as it was sappy but I still enjoyed writing it. Reviews spur my creativity and help me write so please contribute by pushing the button below.
Next Setion - Drinking games