My first Tsubasa fic. I read a fanfic somewhere on here where Fai told a "story" similar to his past, and I really liked the idea and so came up with this. Whoever wrote that story, major kudos to you; this story is definitely not as deep as yours was. Possibly OOC and needs editing, but I just wasn't going to be able to sleep until I got this thing written and posted. Comments and criticism welcome!

The Happy Ending

"It's a custom here, you see," The woman was explaining kindly to Fai, Sakura, Syaoran, and Mokona. She might have been addressing Kurogane too, but he refused to pay attention. "Just a little tradition we have here with travelers. We'll be happy to provide you with food and clothes and a place to stay as long as you like. But," The woman waved a finger, "We want to hear a story first."

"A story?" Sakura asked.

"Yes!" One of the children clinging to the woman's skirts chimed in. "A good, good story! We love stories!"

"We've found that travelers know the most amazing stories. Every country has such wonderful tales to share, and we love to expand our knowledge. And I certainly don't recognize any of you as any countryman I've ever seen," The woman added with a conspicuous glance at Kurogane. The ninja decided not to notice.

"Stories?" Sakura mused. "I don't remember any in particular…"

"I know plenty," Syaoran said quickly. "The townspeople of the places we visited loved to tell stories---"

"Ah, but Syaoran, you look so tired!" Fai put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I can take care of the story-telling. Unless Kuro-kun would like to contribute?" He asked hopefully. Kurogane snorted. "No? All right, then. I'll take care of it!"

"Well, then!" The woman beamed. She turned away and called back into the inn, "Children! There's a nice man here who's going to tell a story!"

Children ranging from bubbling young preteens to stumbling toddlers streamed out the door, and arranged themselves in a messy circle around the mage. One of them offered him a mug full of some liquid, which Fai accepted heartily.

"Once upon a time," Fai began, "There was a little boy who lived in the north alone with his kitty."

Kurogane rolled his eyes. No prizes for guessing who the kitty was supposed to be.

"He lived in a very high tower on a hill, with a long set of stairs leading to a big room at the top. The room had all the toys and books and games that the boy could want."

"The boy stayed there a lot the time with his toys and his kitty. The kitty was his only friend. They got along splendidly," Fai beamed. "Glove in hand. The kitty adored his boy. And the boy seemed to adore his kitty just the same. But every day, the boy would leave for a little while to explore his hill."

"He had his own kingdom!" One of the children chirped.

"Yes!" Fai agreed exuberantly. "Like a kingdom! But only he was allowed to explore it. The kitty and everything else stayed inside."

"The kitty didn't really mind at first. Even when the boy left for hours, he always came back and gave the kitty lots of love and attention, and really, that was all the kitty wanted. A little love."

"Like my kitty!" A little girl exclaimed.

"Yes," Fai nodded. "All cats love being loved. But one day, while the boy was walking down the stairs so he could explore his hill, the kitty looked down the steps and realized that he had never walked down those steps."

Kurogane's eyebrow rose involuntarily.

"It bothered him, but not much. Who cared, really, what was down the steps? Just as long as the boy came back, the kitty decided, he was content. Very content, he thought. And he played with one of the toy balls for the rest of the day. The boy came back at noon, and the two had a great time playing with the boy's toy soldiers. These were the boy's favorite toys, you see. He loved to put them in rows, with their smart coats cleaned and their boots shining, and make them march. Sometimes he even put them to battle, when the mood took him. He appointed the kitty as the leader of this army. The kitty was his best friend, remember. His friend and confidante and trusted general. They were very close."

"The next day, the boy went out again, and the kitty couldn't help but think about the stairs again, and wonder about what might be past them. As he paced around the boy's room, he noticed something he had always taken for granted: a window."

Kurogane's other eyebrow raised to meet its fellow high on his forehead.

"It was a tall window, and very large. Sometimes the boy sat on the sill to look at the view, but the kitty had never looked out of it before. He began trying to find ways to climb up to the seat, but gave up, admonishing himself for daring to disturb his friend's special spot. The boy returned that evening, and the two had a great time. Again," Fai added. Blandly, Kurogane thought. Wasn't the 'kitty' happy?

"The boy went out again, the kitty stayed home. That day, though, the kitty tried to follow the boy down the stairs. He didn't make it very far before the boy came back and picked him up and put him back in the play room. The boy explained that the kitty was special, and he didn't want the kitty to get hurt. The kitty understood, and was ashamed. He sulked until the boy returned home, and even in the boy's company he still felt bad. But the boy picked him up and petted him, and told him not to feel bad, because he loved him and had forgiven him. The kitty was relieved and happy, and stayed like this for a few more days. But eventually he began to wonder again."

"Approaching the stairs was out of the question; he treasured his friend and didn't want to feel bad again. But what about the window? The kitty spent the rest of the day trying again to climb up to the window. He tried picking his way up the walls; he tried balancing on the ball; he even stacked the soldiers up in a ladder and tried to climb them to the top. Finally, he found a solution: a chair."

"This chair was the boy's very special, very pretty chair. The back of it was carved from marble and set with pretty stones, and the seat was of the softest velvet and stuffed with the best cushion. The legs were thin but steady, curling and curving and ending in curly-cues," Fai paused for a moment, appearing to think for a second. "A bit like a throne, you might say. The kitty found that if he climbed onto the seat of the chair, he could jump to the window seat. So that's exactly what he did, and once he was at the window, he saw the most beautiful view! The hill his home was perched on was covered with beautiful white flowers, so many flowers that you could barely even see the grass. There was no wind on the hill, and the flowers were so still they looked like a sheet of ice covering the hill. At the end of the hill was the ring of trees, ringing around the tower like a wall. The kitty couldn't see what was past them, but when he squinted, he could see something just above and beyond them. But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't tell what. But he sat at the window until the boy came back, enjoying the view."

"When the boy returned, the kitty asked him what was beyond the trees---"

"Cats can talk?"

This wasn't from any of the children; this question had come straight from Kurogane. Fai glanced around his shoulder at him with wide eyes.

"Of course he could talk. This is a story, Kuro-puu. All animals can talk in stories."

Kurogane furrowed his brow. "Is that so?"

"Yes," Fai nodded, but without his usual bounce. He flashed Kurogane a quick smile and turned back to the children. "As I was saying, before Kuro-tan interrupted, the kitty asked the boy what was beyond the trees. The boy was startled, and asked why on earth the kitty would want to know something like that. Wasn't the company they had in each other good enough? Didn't they have fun?" Fai paused again, and Kurogane's stare intensified, if that was still possible.

When he began again, he sounded a little more sober. "The kitty felt even worse than he had when he had tried to go down the stairs. He apologized as nicely as he could manage, and the boy forgave him, and they enjoyed the rest of the evening."

"The boy didn't leave to look around his hill the next day, or the day after that. He spent all his love and attention on the kitty, and the kitty was so pleased that he nearly forgot that the window and the stairs were there at all. On the third day, the boy left again and the kitty occupied himself with the toy soldiers, putting them in the boy's favorite rows and making them march." Fai stopped again. He seemed to be thinking hard.

"Is that the end?" A girl asked in a disappointed tone.

"No, no!" Fai assured her quickly. "That isn't nearly the end. There's so much…well. Where was I? Oh, yes! So, he played with the toy soldiers all day. When the boy came home that night, he brought a surprise with him: a tiny kitten. He explained that he'd found it just inside the trees, and didn't want to just leave it. He said the kitty could have the kitten if he wanted, and the kitty was very pleased. The next day, when the boy went out to explore again, the kitty wasn't alone, he had another playmate. He showed the new kitten the ball and the chair and the toy soldiers. He even taught her how to climb the---"

"The kitten was a girl kitten?" A boy asked.

"Hmm? Yes," Fai nodded. "A very young girl kitten. The kitty taught her how to climb the chair, and when she looked out the window and saw the hill and the trees, she looked just above and beyond the trees and said, "There. Out there. That's where I come from." The kitty was very interested. He asked her endless questions about the mysterious something over the trees, and she told him about many strange things: towns and oceans and multitudes of people, like the kitty's boy."

Kurogane decided not to bother asking how the cats managed to talk to each other. It wasn't worth the risk of another heinous nickname.

"The kitty was fascinated by the things he told her, but couldn't help but wonder why the boy had never told him about these things. Surely the boy knew all about them? So he asked him that night. The boy…" Fai took a quick swig of the mystery drink in his hand. "The boy was very upset. He asked again if the kitty wasn't satisfied with him and their new friend, if something was making the kitty unhappy. The kitty got upset too and apologized. He was mad at himself for making his boy upset, and he was a little mad at the kitten too, for telling him about these strange things and making him curious. He vowed never to think about them again."

"But the next day, when the boy went out, the kitty found that he couldn't help asking the kitten about the world, the towns and the oceans and the people. This upset him, because he wanted so badly to see it, but even more because he knew that his wish would upset the boy. He loved the boy…and he tried so hard not to want his wish, to see the big world. He tried to distract himself. He played with the ball, the soldiers, climbed the chair…but the chair made him think. And finally he realized: he was angry."

The tone in his voice caught Kurogane's attention. He wished Fai would turn around for a second, so Kurogane could see the look on his face and memorize it for later, for the next time it looked like Fai was slipping.

For the next time Kurogane felt like the mage was going to turn around and attack something. Or someone.

"He was angry with the toy ball, the toy soldiers, the chair and the window, the new kitten, the stairs, the hill that he wasn't even allowed to walk on. He was even…he was even angry at the boy. And he was angry at himself too. When the boy came home, the kitty was still angry, and the two had a terrible argument. The new kitten hid herself behind the chair so she wouldn't be dragged in, but nothing in the room could escape the fight. The toy soldiers were thrown every which way, and their boots and fine coats got dirty."

The pace of the story was picking up, words pouring out so fast that Kurogane wondered if even Fai could control them.

"The kitty wanted to leave the boy and his tower and see the world for himself; the boy wanted the kitty to stay with him and him only. The kitty argued that the boy got to leave every day; the boy argued that the kitty was his only friend in the whole world. The kitty said that the new kitten would replace him just fine; the boy blamed the kitten for starting the problem in the first place. Finally, at the height of their argument, the boy became so angry that he lashed out at his chair, behind which the new kitten was hiding. At almost the exact same time, the kitty raised one paw and struck out with his claws, scratching the boy. As soon as he did that, the boy froze."

Fai stopped so abruptly Kurogane was sure he had bitten himself. He noted that Fai was breathing hard; his shoulders were trembling in the effort it took to keep them from heaving up and down as he caught his breath. Kurogane wondered how he was going to end the story. He could think of a few endings in his mind:

"So the kitty just left him there in the tower and went to see the lady on the next hill, who said he could travel as much as he liked if he would leave a patch of the fur on his back behind. The kitty proceeded to travel with a big, bad puppy who snapped at everything, and another puppy that was blind in one eye and a kitty whose memory had been scattered across the---."

Nah. Too complicated. Maybe:

"So the kitty felt really, really bad and decided to ignore that anything had happened. He left the boy and the kitty and the tower long behind and proceeded to travel from place to place while sustaining a serious mental trauma condition called "denial". Do any of you kids know what "denial" means? It means that Fai D. Flowright is a harmless potential lunatic packing some large, unknown quantity of amazing, unknown magic that he selfishly refuses to use because, again, he is a HEAD CASE."

That woman from before might not appreciate that kind of explanation. Maybe instead---

"Wh-while the boy was frozen, the kitty decided to finally go down the stairs," Fai said shakily. "He made it to the eleventh step, but suddenly stopped because his stomach hurt. At first he couldn't figure out why, but as he sat on the step and thought, he thought about the boy. The boy had kept the kitty from the freedom he desired, had kept him locked in a stone room with nothing but a window as a link to the outside. The kitty certainly hadn't liked that."

"But…but even though that was a selfish thing to do…it wasn't meant badly. The boy really didn't mean it badly at all. The boy had kept the kitty locked away because he loved him. He didn't want the kitty to get hurt. The only reason the boy had gotten upset at all was because the kitty had wanted to leave, and the boy had thought that that meant something. He had thought that the kitty didn't love him anymore. But the kitty did. He loved the boy, and the boy loved him back. And wasn't that all the kitty had ever really wanted from the boy? Love?"

"S-so…so," Fai's story-telling pace was picking up again. "The kitty climbed back up the stairs and unfroze the boy. The boy was still upset at first, but the kitty apologized as nicely as he ever had, and told the boy that he was sorry and he loved him and that he didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay with the boy and be his best friend and confidante again. The boy softened when he heard this, and he confessed that he had been scared that the kitty was going to leave him alone. He said that he was terrified of being left alone like that. So they promised never to fight again, and coaxed the new kitten out from her hiding place so she could join them. Then the boy took a silver key and locked the door that lead out from the tower and threw the key out the window so none of them could ever leave again. All three of them would stay in the tower and be happy…forever, I guess," Fai looked down at his mug of mystery liquid, blonde bangs swinging low over his forehead. There was a long pause.

"Is…is that the end?" A little boy asked.

"Hmm?" Fai's head snapped back up. His court-jester's grin was fixed firmly in place. "Oh, yes. The end!"

The ring of children began clapping and chattering amongst themselves and the woman appeared in the inn's doorway to announce that the dinner stew was ready. As the group filed into the inn, Kurogane managed to get close to Fai.

"And just how true was that ending?"

"Not true at all," Fai chirped. "A complete lie. I had to change it for the children. To make it happy, you know."

Kurogane snorted. His own experimenting with the ending had proven that to be true.

"But…I think that's how it should have ended," Fai continued. "They should have talked things out. They shouldn't have finished it like…not the way they did, anyway," He finished quickly. "Throwing their feelings at each other like that. It didn't work. It doesn't work. Don't you think?"

"It's better then pretending not to have feelings at all," Kurogane answered shortly, brushing past the shocked mage. The stew smelled good, and the mage's story had been annoying.

If Ashura had really loved Fai, why hadn't he actually tried to make Fai happy?