Here it is! Yet another section! In answer to the questions received, these sections are totally stand alone so they're not really in any order. I do have a vague plan in my head whenever I write, but I mostly leave it to inspiration.
Section eight - Giving, receiving and sharing.
A purely selfish or selfless relationship is doomed to heartbreak. Therefore, once in a relationship, it is important to learn how to give, take and share. This is something that does not just apply for Christmas and birthdays but for the entire year. If you unsure of how to give, take, and share, try one of the following: a) give your partner a treat b) take compliments with a smile c) share the food bill.
XX
"Jeez, I'm so hungry!" Fai moaned, as he ran his hands along the shelves of their kitchen in search of food.
The place that they had come to occupy was a well-furnished but remote cottage on the very outskirts of civilisation, and they had only recently discovered the kitchen stocked nothing but jars of air and some mouldy and rather suspicious oblong shaped vegetables.
Mokona had tried to eat one, resulting in the white creature turning the strangest shade of blue and throwing up the rest. After that, no one went near the things, though Kurogane had suggested several times in sending the things to Yuuko as his White day present to her.
The market was not open. The shops were not open. They had endured a five hour long trek only to find that all places that provided food were closed for the day, which only left the group hungrier than before. There was nothing to be foraged, nothing to be hunted, and grass did not exactly fill one up sufficiently.
"If I don't eat something, I think I'll collapse." Fai continued to whine.
"You're only making yourself hungrier by thinking about food," Kurogane sat at the table, watching Fai scale the kitchen shelves.
They needed food though, he would admit that much. Only the sleeping princess was safe from their mini-famine, tucked away safely in the land of dreams.
Kurogane's stomach growled.
Given a few more hours and he would be willing to chance those oblong vegetables.
"Fai-san! Kurogane-san!" Syaoran entered the kitchen, waving a metal can wrapped in a blue label in his triumphant hands.
At the appearance of the curious tin, Fai instantly brightened. "I don't know what we'd do without you, Syaoran-kun!" he laughed, accepting the tin from Syaoran, he popped open the lid. Inside several small red beans were packed together, floating in similar coloured syrup.
Since Syaoran was the one who had made the discovery, he ate first. They sat at the table and took it in turns, passing the can around them until only the residue of the reddish syrup remained.
"It feels good to be full again!" Fai sighed and stretched languorously.
"I found several more in the attic," Syaoran said, feeling better after having something in his stomach. "I brought all of them down but I think we should save some for Sakura-hime and Mokona tomorrow."
As if on cue, Sakura, carrying Mokona on her shoulder, entered the kitchen, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Good morning. Did I oversleep?" she greeted them all. "Ah, Sakura-chan, you're just in time for brunch!" Fai clapped his hands together, a lot livelier now that he had eaten.
Syaoran rose to fetch more beans. "Sakura-hime, good morning. It's not much, but I hope that it will do."
"Morni - " Kurogane was going to grunt but stopped halfway. He blinked. "What the hell?"
Multicoloured rabbits swamped around Sakura's feet, their fur was glaringly bright and garish enough to blind someone. Where the things had come from or how they had gotten in was anyone's guess. They hopped cutely around the princess's ankles, dozens of them all clambering around her feet.
Sakura blinked in confusion. Mokona hopped over to the empty can and drank the rest of the syrup. Fai stared curiously but amused. Syaoran alternated bewildered glances between Kurogane and the room.
"What's wrong, Kurogane-san?"
Kurogane stared at Syaoran then back at the multicoloured rabbits that had invaded their house. "What the heck do you mean 'what's wrong'?" he pointed at the rabbits, who were now moving on to nibbling at the furniture and leaving their droppings on the carpet. "What the hell are those things doing here?"
They followed the point of Kurogane's finger to the carpet.
Syaoran saw nothing unusual…except that the table now looked like something akin to a giant marshmallow.
Curiously, he tapped it. It was soft. "What's this?" he tried biting into it but it seemed to suddenly harden when his teeth sunk into it.
With a yelp of pain, he jumped backwards, staring tentatively at the marshmallow table. The white fluffy thing seemed to be mocking him, telling him that there was no way he could protect his princess if he could not defeat a simple marshmallow.
Syaoran licked his lips.
War had been declared.
"How did these stupid things get in?" Kurogane cursed under his breath as he tried to usher the rabbits out of the house. "Hyuu! Kuro-chi sure is acting weird," Fai attempted to whistle, as he watched Kurogane hustling air. Perhaps being straddled with him for most of the time had finally snapped the poor ninja. "He must be going insane. Right, Pot-plant-san?" Fai grinned at the tiny cactus on the kitchen table Syaoran was digging his teeth into.
It was funny how he had overlooked the existence of the potted cactus before, he had not even thanked Mr Pot-plant for letting them stay in his home.
"So how long have you been living here, Plant-san?" Fai pulled up a chair.
"F - Fai-san," Sakura tried to grab the attention of the magician but Fai seemed totally engrossed in his conversation with a mini Beavertail cactus.
"Is that so? Really? Yes, I think that too," Fai tried to whistle and then laughed.
She did not know what happened or the reason why Syaoran, who had moved away from the table, was gnawing on a chair leg but she had an inkling feeling that normal people were not supposed to behave in such a way. The antics of the three males only confused and frightened her a little.
"Kurogane-san! Fai-san! Syaoran-kun!" Sakura waved her arms about helplessly, flitting from each of her companions in a vain attempt to stop them. "Please, Syaoran-kun, snap out of it! The curtains aren't edible!"
"M - Mokona? W - What should I do?" she searched for their last travelling companion to find Mokona ricocheting at top speed across the walls, whizzing like a white blur around the room.
Sakura backed away. Maybe this was a dream. That was right, it was all just a dream and she would soon wake up.
Finally able to chase the multicoloured rabbits out of the house, Kurogane collapsed on the chair next to Fai, sighing with exhaustion. Those rabbits had been stubborn little monsters.
"Kuro-wan…" Fai broke off his conversation with Mr Pot-plant to stare at the tired ninja. He blinked. For some reason, his vision was blurring, distorting the image of Kurogane into something quite different. "Kuro-mune, you look…tasty."
Fai pounced. The chair toppled over and both of them were sent sprawling across the floor.
XX
He felt a little groggy waking up. His body was heavy too and his brain felt as if it had had sexual intercourse with a rabbit. Kurogane groaned and tried to move, failing miserably on account of the large, heavy weight on top of him.
The large heavy, warm, and breathing weight.
"Holy -- "
Kurogane quickly stifled the long string of curses ready to fly from his mouth. Fai lay across his chest sleeping soundly, but after Kurogane's brief but loud outburst he began to stir.
"Eh? Kuro-chi? Why am I on top of you?" Fai blinked hazily, deprived of most of his senses.
"That's what I want to know!" Kurogane snapped and tried to haul the blond magician off of him.
Fai blinked some more, banishing the last traces of sleep. In place of a tired expression, a grin slid across his face. "You bad boy!"
"Like you can talk! You the one on top anyway!"
Fai grinned but did not get off until Sakura timidly stepped into the kitchen with Mokona bouncing happily on her shoulder. "Kurogane-san? Fai-san? Are you normal now?"
Kurogane noticed that Sakura was keeping her distance, a five-foot distance, and wandered just what had happened last night. He remembered that there had been bright things…fluffy things…
On second thoughts, maybe it was best that he did not remember.
Next to the princess, Syaoran entered, tentatively massaging his sore mouth. "Why do I feel as if I've been chewing cardboard?" he muttered, whilst Sakura nervously glanced at him sideways.
XX
The table was laid with food. Sunlight entered through the open window. Fai burst into hysterics, pounding the table with his fist. "Oh, I get it now!" he grinned, "so what we ate was - "
"I'm glad that you find all this so amusing," Kurogane muttered darkly. He was starting to remember the multicoloured rabbits that had invaded their home.
Sakura had gone shopping by herself before they had all woken up. Now that the stores were open, she had brought back ample supplies to last them the rest of their stay.
Fai and Syaoran had the normal bread with sweet jams but Kurogane, who had made it clear that he abhorred all things sweet, was given some kind of stew with several dark shapes floating in it as a morning meal.
"Lighten up, Kuro-chin, it was fun!" Fai continued to giggle inanely and stole a spoonful of Kurogane's stew. "C'mon, Kuro-run, share and share alike, right?" he winked and then laughed when the ninja tried to grab his spoon back.
Syaoran watched the antics of the two older men. Their fighting was not something unusual but as he took bites of buttered bread and watched Fai take sips of Kurogane's stew he could not shake the feeling that something was not quite right.
"It's delicious!" Fai took another gulp before ducking a swipe to his head.
Kurogane abandoned the thought of eating and was growling at Fai; cursing the mage for being the idiot he was and the imbecile he was destined to be.
Syaoran frowned. "Sakura-hime, what happened to the rest of the cans?"
"Oh, the ones with the blue labels? Mokona chucked them in the stew," Mokona piped.
Everything stopped.
The three men all stared at the tiny beans floating in Kurogane's bowl and then at each other, their expressions unreadable.
"Kuro-muu," Fai spoke slowly, drawing out Kurogane's name.
"Hey, stay away from me!" the ninja yelped, scooting to the farthest corner of the kitchen.
"Do you know what your beans are telling me to do?"
Kurogane backed further away and drew his sword.
That time in Outo when Kurogane drew his sword and was chasing Fai around the café was one of the best scenes ever! Anyway, I have to keep thanking all those who are making/drawing/writing based on this guide. I know who you are, don't think that you can hide from me! (Insert evil laugh here.)
So, slightly stupider than usual, but I thought I'd write something wacky since the next section will be angst. It had to come some time.
Next section - Dealing with depression and unrequited love.