Black Wings

Two: Sweet Talk

Sakura was in the kitchen cooking dinner when Fai arrived from the market. He was carrying a large basket and a huge smile on his face. Everyone stopped to look at him.

"Welcome back, Fai-san!" happily greeted Sakura. "You said you had a surprise for us?"

"Oh yes!" replied Fai. He lugged the basket to the kitchen and dropped it on the counter. Mokona and Syaoran went to see what he had bought, while Kurogane remained in the living room reading a newspaper. Fai turned to look at him. "Kuro-tai, don't you want to see my surprise?"

Kurogane looked up from his paper and glared at the perky magician. "I hate surprises," he said, and resumed his reading. Fai pouted.

"What is it?" asked Syaoran as he stared inquisitively at the basket. Whatever was inside was covered with cloth. "Fai-san, aren't you going to show it to us?"

Fai shook his head. "Kuro-chi doesn't like surprises. I especially bought this for him, too…" He sniffed.

Mokona jumped to Kurogane's shoulder. "Don't be a party pooper," he said to the ninja. "It could be something that you really like,"

Kurogane harrumphed. Why did Fai have to be such a drama queen? He folded the newspaper with all his might, got up as slow as a snail, and stomped into the kitchen. With his arms crossed he said, "Hurry up and quit wasting my time,"

Fai beamed and nodded. "Alright then!" he said with much enthusiasm in his voice. "Everyone, here's my surprise! Tada!" He grabbed the cloth and removed it, flinging it aside. He placed his hands on his waist. "Well? Do you guys like it?" His smile was getting wider and wider.

Kurogane raised an angry eyebrow. "Is this it?"

"Yep!" replied Fai. "I know how much you like it, Kuro-pin, and it's perfect for tonight!"

"Oh, definitely!" agreed Sakura. "It looks really good, Fai-san!"

"I can't wait!" exclaimed Mokona, clapping. "So Kurogane likes them?"

"I hope so!" said Fai. He smiled at Big Puppy. "You haven't spoken, Kuro-chan! You must be at a loss for words because of extreme happiness! I'm so touched!" He started dancing around and flailing his arms about.

"Shut up!" said Kurogane. He was red-faced and looked irritated. "The hell with this surprise! You bothered my reading because of THIS?" He pointed at the basket. There was a large watermelon inside.

"Of course!" Fai placed his hands on his cheeks in a cute gesture. "And you're blushing! That means you really like my surprise! You make me so happy, Kuro-doi!"

"You have a really distorted mind, do you know that?" gloomed Kurogane. He walked out of the kitchen.

"Is he mad?" asked Sakura in a soft voice.

"I'm sure he's not," smiled Fai. "But you guys wait here a sec," He followed Kurogane outside. Fai saw that he was smoking. "Kuro-ja?"

"What now?" Kurogane took two puffs of his cigarette. "You have another display of stupidity coming up?"

Fai was no longer smiling. "I thought you liked watermelons—"

"That's not the frickin' point," said Kurogane, his voice low and dark. "You always do this,"

"Do what?"

"This. You always try to show how happy you are, and how much you want to make everyone else happy, when in reality you're the one enduring the most amount of pain,"

Fai smirked. "What's wrong with that? If I show my sadness, what will be different? Will it go away faster?"

"Maybe not," said Kurogane. "But you can't always be somebody you're not. You can't show you're lively when you're already dying. That's not how people were programmed. People have emotions that they should show,"

"That would only complicate things,"

"No. What you're doing now is," Kurogane blew out smoke. There was silence. He felt Fai's hair against the side of his neck.

"Even if I'm starting to hate myself, I can't do anything else, Kuro-sama," whispered Fai, looking towards the ground as he let his head lean on Kurogane's back. "He never taught me how to ask for help. He kept telling me to rely on myself, though. It's grown to be a habit,"

"Ashura's not here. How can you still be following him?"

"He is my king, Kuro-chi. Before I met you, Mokona, Sakura-chan, and Syaoran-kun, my world revolved around him and him alone. Because of that, I felt almost as if he owned me, and that if I were to be separated from him I wouldn't survive,"

"Is that also why you followed his every command?"

Fai smiled sheepishly. "I suppose. I never wanted Ashura to be disappointed with me. I wanted to be perfect in his eyes. No one else's opinion mattered. As long as Ashura approved of it, I did, too. I loved it when he told me I was good, obedient, and wonderful. I lived for those compliments. I lived for Ashura,"

"You know, you're constantly doing the wrong things," said Kurogane, stepping forward so that Fai no longer leaned on him. He threw away his cigarette.

"What do you mean?" asked Fai.

Kurogane looked at him straight in his eyes. "You keep sacrificing your identity for someone else. You hung onto every word Ashura said and forgot your morals. Then you end up hiding behind a mask just to cover up that past you keep avoiding but can't. Face it, Fai, you never had a life that you chose to live,"

"Do you think that I'm that big of a joke now, Kuro-jin?" asked Fai, his voice sad. "Do you hate me for being this way, an idiotic mascot who can't forgive himself?" He took a step towards Kurogane and gently tugged at his shirt. "Kuro-chu, please keep liking me, even if you're only forced to. Please,"

Kurogane simply stared at him for a few seconds, before he placed a hand on top of Fai's head. "I was never forced to like you." He said. "If I was, then I would've stopped a long time ago,"

Tears formed behind Fai's eyes. Kurogane coughed.

"I do like you, okay?" said Kurogane as he gave Fai a pat. "So there's no need to cry,"

"I'm sorry, Kuro-chan," Fai wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and smiled. "I feel happier now,"

"Yes, well, that's the only emotion that fits you anyway, so it's not a problem if you keep showing only that,"

"Thank you for understanding, Kuro-pi. I don't pretend all the time, like right now. You're one of the reasons why I smile. You give me a kind of happiness that I rarely feel,"

Kurogane turned around. "Yeah, whatever," he said. "Now where's my watermelon? It's hot out here,"

Fai's face brightened. "I'll get you some right away!" He zoomed back into the house, singing some made-up song about watermelons being cut in summer.

"That idiot…" said Kurogane to himself. He touched his cheeks. They felt warm, too warm in fact.

keL's notes: The real conflict isn't here yet. Ashura plays a big part in it, though. In this chapter I wanted to establish the closeness between Kurogane and Fai. So there. (wow I updated) Sorry if there are grammatical errors and typos.