Lifespan
By: Jaha Canon
Disclaimer: I don't own Tsubasa Chronicle.
So…. Ermm… hi! This is my first Tsubasa Chronicle story! It's KuroXFai. I've been working at this idea in my head for a while, so please enjoy it!
---------
It looked like it was going to work out.
Fai, with much support from Kurogane, managed to fight back his demons and didn't feel the need to run anymore. He wanted to fight his past and Kurogane solemnly promised to watch out for him. Someday in the future when trouble comes again, they could feel certain that they could win together.
Furthermore, Fai could start using his magic a little more (not that there was too much of a need).
At the same time, the two men worked slowly, over a lot of time, many long conversations, and drowned bottles of sake, worked out that they both loved each other immensely.
Sakura was doing rather well. Syaoran could tell by a certain light in her eyes that she was very close to being back to normal again (minus her memories of him).
Most importantly to this story, they were in Kurogane's world. And even more importantly, Fai quickly decided that he would stay with Kurogane in this world.
"There is just one problem with that" Yuuko stated through Mokona's jewel.
Fai kept smiling like the pro he always was, "Is there a price involved? I'm sure that Kuroppin and I can handle it!" The blond smiled at Kurogane, who looked like he was going to kill Mokona.
"Not a price, so to speak, rather a complication that you two should consider." Yuuko said slowly.
"WELL? What is it?" Kurogane yelled impatiently. He wasn't very interested in the suspense.
"Your ages." Yuuko answered plainly.
"We've mentioned our ages to one another," Kurogane grumbled, "We're the same age."
Yuuko raised an eyebrow. "Oh, are you?"
Fai smiled politely, "Would you care to explain, Miss Yuuko?"
"You have been using Mokona to translate. Mokona is made to translate things to be as understandable to each party as possible- even if the translation is not entirely direct." Yuuko explained, "In a mission as dangerous as yours, there isn't a lot of time for a lot misunderstandings."
"Get to the point!" Kurogane explained. Fai didn't say anything, but his face also showed impatience.
"Fai," Yuuko continued, "I am directly translating for you now- how old are you?"
Fai laughed a little, feeling nervous. "I'd say I'm about 1,353,482 years old now."
"WHAT?" Kurogane exclaimed.
Syaoran and Sakura stood silently behind the men astonished.
Fai looked at Kurogane with a genuinely confused expression, "That's what I told you before, isn't it?"
"NO! It's not!"
"Fai's age is the equivalent age of his world to yours in your world." Yuuko explained. "There is a lot of magic in Fai's home world, so they have unusually long lifespans."
"Kuro-min…" Fai asked slowly, "how old are you?"
"23." Kurogane grumbled. He couldn't handle this.
"….wow…." Fai let out a very empty sounding chuckle, "I… don't even remember being just 23. Syaoran-kun? Sakura-chan? How old are you two?"
"We're both 13, Fai-san." Syaoran replied.
"The people on most worlds have life spans similar to your friends," Yuuko told Fai "the chances of you finding a world where people live as nearly long as you will are close to none."
"….oh." Fai replied.
There was an odd silence.
Another strained laugh came from Fai, "You know, I've always found it strange how Sakura-chan's hair seems to grow so fast and how Syaoran-kun seems a little taller than when I first met him."
"They age a lot faster than you do." Yuuko said. "Contact me when you make a decision."
And then the transmission ended.
Syaoran and Sakura decided that Kurogane and Fai needed to talk BADLY and left the room.
"…well, how about that…." Fai said, "Kuro-puppy is living in dog years."
"It isn't funny."
"…..I know."
"What are you going to do?" Kurogane asked.
Fai smiled the empty smile that Kurogane had thought went away. "Stay here, I suppose. You know I still can't go back to my home world."
'But everyone is just going to die on you,' Kurogane thought, 'Here I thought I could spend my life protecting you but here I am going to die leaving you with millions of years alone.'
Kurogane, once content with his lifespan of less than a century, suddenly felt like his life was so horribly short.
"In all those nicknames… and all that teasing…" Fai said with a sigh, "I thought that I had millions of years to be around you."
"Well… you don't." Kurogane replied gruffly. "So what are you going to do?"
"….I want to stay here." Fai said, obviously not as certain as he was previously.
'Even if anyone you'll ever meet will just die before you and you'll just end up alone again?'
"There is no way I can keep up with the way you are now if I am walking with a cane." Kurogane said.
'…did Kuro-tan make a joke?' Fai wondered.
"I can walk you across the road so you don't get hit by any 'cars,'" Fai said with his empty grin, "and I'll call you Kuro-jiisan." (Roughly, "Grandfather Kuro")
"DON'T call me Kuro-jiisan." Kurogane said impatiently, still imagining him wrinkled and old and Fai STILL the youthful blond calling him nicknames. "And there are no 'cars' in this world."
"…I know." Fai answered, looking sad.
Genuinely sad, not pouting because he actually missed the cars they had learned about in their travels.
"I'll figure out something, Kuro-darling." Fai said smiling slightly. He lightly pecked Kurogane on the nose and he began to feel drowsy.
Kurogane realized that during the conversation, they had walked back to the room that they were sharing. As his eyelids began to shut, he wondered if this were some kind of spell that Fai put on him.
"I'll figure out something." Fai said again as he slipped out of the room.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Have you made your decision?" Yuuko asked.
"Depends." Fai answered, grinning.
Yuuko raised an eye brow, "Oh? On what?"
"Whether you'd like to purchase something from me."
"I can do a trade in for something of an equal value."
"Okay," Fai took a deep breath, "I want you to take my extra life energy. I want only enough left that I age at the same rate as Kurogane. Could you take that?"
"It's a valuable commodity." Yuuko stated. "Your life energy that you now think is excessive could bring a whole village back to life in most worlds. Of course, not too many people can afford it all, I would have to sell it bit by bit through time. My question is, would you want to give up that long lifespan?"
"Yes, I would." Fai said with certainty.
"Then, name your price." Yuuko said with a grin. "Base it on how much this life energy means to you."
Fai looked thoughtful for a while.
"Living for millions of years…" he answered finally, "I don't want that anymore so it has no great value to me. However, it has great value to those who would want me to live a long life."
"….and who is that?" Yuuko asked.
"Well, Kuro-min, for one…. While he seems to find the idea of me having such a long life bothersome, I think he may feel that I am entitled to live it all the best I can."
"But at the same time, he'd be getting what he wants if you trade your long life to be with him." Yuuko pointed out.
"So, that leaves Syaoran-kun and Sakura-chan-" Fai started.
"That's right."
"In exchange for my extended lifespan, I want………"
-------------------------next day------------------
"You cast a spell on me then did something, didn't you?" Kurogane asked Fai angrily.
"Kuro-darling, you looked so peaceful sleeping so soundly!" Fai replied in a sing songy voice.
Kurogane looked Fai in the eyes, "So what did you say to that witch?"
"Come on!" Fai exclaimed, grabbing Kurogane's hand, "We have to go see Syaoran-kun, Sakura-chan, and Mokona off!"
"Why are you so excited about it?" Kurogane asked. He, personally, wasn't crazy about saying goodbye to the kids or the white manjyuu yet.
They reached the courtyard and there stood Princess Tomoyo saying her goodbyes to Syaoran and Sakura. The three teenagers saw the men approach them and began wondering what will happen.
"Fai-san-" Sakura started.
"We came to see you off!" Fai exclaimed. "But before you go, I have a gift for you. Let's say it's also from Kuro-chi, too."
Mokona's eyes grew and it exclaimed "MEKYO!"
In Fai's hand was a shimmering feather.
"Fai-san…." Syaoran stumbled with his words, "this is….."
"Your princess will remember you now." Fai said smiling. "And I can stay here with Kuro-rin. I think this is what most would call a happy ending."
"I don't understand, Fai-san," Syaoran said in a baffled voice, "but thank you very much!"
"Hyuuu! Fai struck a very good deal with Yuuko!" Mokona exclaimed.
"So you're both staying Kurogane-san? Fai-san?" Sakura asked.
Kurogane nodded. Fai's smile faded as he also said yes.
"I appreciate all that you've done for me and I'll miss you both a lot!" Sakura said as she bowed.
"We'll miss you too, Sakura-chan. And, of course, Syaoran-kun and Mokona, too." Fai replied.
"Umm… Fai-san?" Syaoran jumped back into the conversation, "What are you going to do about the language barrier?"
"I can use a little magic now, so I can do a simple translating spell." Fai replied.
Kurogane snarled at Fai, "You could do that ALL ALONG?"
"Welll… technically…" Fai said, laughing a little.
Syaoran and Sakura laughed too, they would always miss those arguments between the two men.
The final goodbyes were said and Mokona whisked the younger members of the group to another world.
"What did you give the witch to get that feather?" Kurogane asked.
"Not now, Kuro-darling, my metabolism has to become accustomed to this new rate so I'm STARVING! Hey- do you think you could carve a fork out of something sometime? Chopsticks are so hard to use!"
"If you can't use chopsticks, make your own eating utensils!" Kurogane growled.
"Kya! Kuro-koi is sooo mean!"
---end---
Thanks for reading!