Disclaimer: Tsubasa belongs to Clamp, not me.

.:.o.o.:.

Title: Behind His Smile – Chapter 3

Author: doxtater

Summary: After Fai under goes what appears to be a personality transplant; the others grow worried and wonder what's wrong with him. KuroFai, SS.

Rating: T

Pairings: KuroFai, SS

Warnings: Major Fai oocness, sexual situations between two men, language, violence.

.:.o.o.:.

There had been no luck. They'd decided to search around town and ask questions before taking a deeper look into the power Mokona had sensed. Nobody had wanted to talk to them, recognizing them from the night they'd appeared in this world and showing a deep dislike for Kurogane's 'demonic' red eyes. Anybody who did talk to them didn't have anything useful to say and often or not spent most of the time pawning over Mokona, talking about how they couldn't believe anyone thought such a cute and innocent creature could have anything to do with their resident demon.

Time slipped away and before they knew it, it had gotten dark and they decided to continue their pursuit in the morning just to be on the safe side where that demon was concerned.

Kurogane wasn't too thrilled with this decision and blamed this dissatisfaction entirely on the fact that he wanted to leave this world sooner rather than later. It's true, he scoffed, it had absolutely nothing to do with an insane mage with a newly developed attitude problem.

When they arrived back at the house, Keiko and Tomeo were in their recreation room- as they called it- sitting by a fireplace and enjoying a bottle of sake and each other's company. Kurogane scanned the room, frowning, before finding his attention drawn to the empty hall and up the dark staircase. Where the hell is he? he wondered, narrowing his eyes and proceeding forward to his guest room.

"Your blonde friend is a strange character," Tomeo announced to them, drowning out Keiko's quiet hello.

Kurogane snorted to himself. Strange didn't quite cut it, no normal male Kurogane knew would willingly name himself 'Big Kitty.'

"What happened?" Syaoran asked stalling in the doorway with Sakura and Mokona.

"You wouldn't believe some of the things he's said to my wife and I-"

Kurogane took a step back.

"Or maybe you would, he is traveling with you after all. You know him better than us."

Kurogane turned around to look at the kids and found them sharing the same worried expression. "It's probably nothing. He probably just hit his head too hard," Kurogane said, before turning around again and continuing on towards his and Fai's room.

Kurogane slammed the door closed behind him and glanced around the dark room. When his eyes had adjusted, he could see that the room was still a mess, the window was wide open, and Fai was nowhere to be seen.

Kurogane sat down on the edge of the bed and stared out the window. Maybe he's just in another part of the house… maybe he went to that bar Kurogane had seen down the street… maybe he ventured out of town again…

Fai probably went to the bar, Kurogane decided. And he was probably acting like a fool and getting himself into trouble… Kurogane felt himself rise from the bed and walk over to the window, glancing through it at an angle to see if he could see the bar from here.

If this strange mood continued, chances are Fai would cause a problem and, since he refuses to use the only weapon he has, he'd be unable to protect himself. There was only so much running you could do before you were caught and Kurogane highly doubted that kissing his attacker would have the same result as it did with Kurogane. Kurogane unconsciously clenched his fist at the unwelcome thought of Fai with another.

The next thing Kurogane knew, he was descending the stairs and slamming the front door behind him, drowning out the concerned calls asking where he was going.

ooo

Kurogane went to bed that night a very unhappy man. Fai was nowhere to be found and he hadn't been back by the time Kurogane had returned, which was probably a good thing because Kurogane was having rather violent thoughts about the wizard.

Kurogane drifted off to sleep slowly, there was no Fai to keep him awake but perhaps he was a little concerned… not much or anything. What if Fai was up to no good and when he eventually returned he had some big annoying surprise for Kurogane? He wouldn't put it past the idiot to have done all this just to see what he'd do.

Needless to say, when Kurogane finally fell asleep, he was happy to have Fai-free dreams so it was understandable that he was angry when he was rudely awaken only to find himself looking into the eyes of his lover.

Fai was straddling him and playing with the button of the shirt he'd been given. Kurogane watched with a dazed expression as Fai pushed and pulled the fabric from his shoulders only to stop when he was unable to pull the shirt any farther down the tanned man's arms. Fai looked at him in the dark and began to pout.

"Kuro-wan," Fai whined quietly, pulling on the shirt in an attempt to force Kurogane into a sitting position.

Kurogane blinked at him slowly, his body refused to sit up. "Where… where the hell have you been?"

Fai snickered and covered his mouth with one hand, simply saying, "Around."

Kurogane narrowed his eyes.

"Were you worried about me again, Kuro-sama?"

"No."

Irritation flashed around the mage's face before he buried his face in his hands and began sobbing hysterically.

"Is this what you woke me up for?" Kurogane snarled.

Fai immediately ceased crying and looked up at Kurogane with a big grin and suspiciously dry eyes. "Nope! I woke you up so I could do this!" Fai leaned forward till he was practically lying on top of Kurogane and nibbled on his bottom lip, sucking lightly. Kurogane felt hands run down his shoulders, then his arms, followed by a gentle tug on his shirt, and Kurogane forced himself to sit up, pushing Fai into a sitting position in his lap. Feeling the sweet seduction of sleep fade away, Kurogane's eyes slipped closed and he returned the kiss as he began to pry open the fastenings of Fai's original clothing.

Fai shifted in his lap and a faint groan fell from Kurogane's lips. His hips instinctively jerked forward and Fai broke the kiss, panting heavily. Kurogane opened his eyes slightly and moved forward to kiss Fai's jaw. He barely touched the skin before Fai pulled back and began to move away completely… well almost completely, he could still feel Fai's hand on his bare arm.

"Huh?" Kurogane opened his eyes entirely and took a better look at Fai.

Fai stared at him with what appeared to be disgust, his upper lip twitching slightly, his cerulean eyes narrowing. Kurogane's eyes trailed down to the hand clinging to his bare arm. Fai followed his gaze and made a weak attempt to pull away. Kurogane felt the grip tighten.

"Fai…?" Kurogane muttered looking up at Fai and finding himself staring into eyes with a much different yet somehow familiar expression. He saw a flash of fear and perhaps desperation before the disgust reappeared and Fai's hand finally extracted itself from Kurogane's arm.

"Eww…" Fai muttered and made to fix his half open shirt.

"What?" Kurogane snapped, not sure if he'd heard wrong.

"You heard me," Fai said, scowling at him. More to himself, he added, "What the fuck just came over me? Yuck, gross," and adding insult to injury, Fai shuddered.

What the hell…?

A sudden realization struck Kurogane.

Fai isn't like this. He wouldn't say that, he wouldn't say what he did earlier about Sakura's feather, and most of all, he wouldn't appear to mean it.

Kurogane narrowed his eyes on the mage, who was currently sliding off the bed as he fixed the last fasten on his strange shirt.

"You're not the real Fai."

Fai paused where he was and looked up at Kurogane with an expression suggesting mockery. "I'm not?" Fai asked, "Well I thought I was. I mean, I have been traveling with all of you since the beginning and I'm pretty sure I'm the person you've been fucking on a regular basis for quite some time now." Fai shuddered again, adding, "I'm so glad I came to my sense before that happened again."

Kurogane felt himself cringed. He was fine with swearing, he swore all the time, but it was unusual to hear Fai talk like this, real Fai or not.

"I'm the real Fai, Kurogane," Fai said giving him a serious look, "Maybe this is simply who is hiding behind that smile and those nicknames. You've always wanted me to drop the mask; here you go. Any regrets?"

"You're not Fai. You can't be."

Fai rolled his eyes, shaking his head and proceeded towards the door. "Well I'm tired of all this pillow talk, it's boring and you're being unreasonable. See you later, Kuro-chu," Fai said, blowing Kurogane a kiss and closing the door behind him.

Kurogane frowned at the door.

.:.o.o.:.

A/n: Like it? Hate it? Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter, I'm glad you all seemed to like the second chapter better (I know the first was a little unoriginal -hides-) and I'm sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes, I try my best cause I know how much that bugs me when I'm reading a story but I guess I never catch everything.