"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Emperor's palace in the most elaborate of all our government buildings. The Emperor welcomes all the parties present with open arms, and sincerely hopes to be received in the same manner. He graciously provided rooms and food for all present, and will continue to do so until the meetings are over. Tonight's banquette consists of seafood from our southern Sectors, the best in the entire world. Entertainment and jesters shall be present shortly.
"I am most pleased with tonight's outcome of party members. I have been informed that we even have special appearances from some of the families from Sector 03 and 04. Please give applause to the Chyou Clan, the family that runs the best magical detection agency, and the rarely seen Daidouji Family, head of one of the few nongovernmental shipping and trading services.
"I have been requested to remind everyone why we are here. We are here tonight because of every person in this room. From the party members, to the families. Be proud of your hard sought for achievements. Without your help and aid, the Emperor would never have been able to run as efficiently as he has in the past fifth teen years. The Empower is most proud of his subjects. We, the people of the Capital City, have improved the daily lives of our everyday workers! Food production has gone up 23 since last quarter and has been distributed to our far southern and northern Sectors! Our prosperity is indeed living in the fruits of our labor.
But we must never forget what hard labor it was and still is. Even in today's sophisticated world, there are still the Non-Magicians, the maggots, the tricks! They are still among us, breathing our very air, living and killing. It is our duty, and the duty of the Emperor, to rid us all of this Tricks! Remember what they have done to us. Remember Bloody Holiday, remember New Years 8893. Remember all the pain and suffering the tricks have caused us."
And who is fighting back? Who is bringing the war to the tricks? The Emperor. The same Emperor who invited you tonight. The Emperor who has given you a safe place for you and your children. The Emperor who is improving the quality of life every day. The Emperor who has done this for not days, no weeks, not months, but years, 15 years to be exact.
Please welcome...Emperor Taro of the Seungjuhn Clan, the leader of us all!"
Fai sneezed.
"Kami! What is wrong with you?" Kurogane's gruff voice exclaimed. "And where the hell are you? I thought you were in front of me."
"Mokona can see Fai!"
"Shut up."
After Sakura's escape, the trio had nothing to do other than to care for them-selves. After two right turns and one left, they somehow managed to get out on the other side of the building (twisting and turning their bodies in interesting ways to get through the debris), on another totally different street. Sounds of rubber boots hitting the pavement and shouts and screams were too close for comfort, so Kurogane and Fai kept running (Mokona stuffed itself in Kurogane's pocket).
At first, it seemed as though the people that were chasing them were following. Kurogane and Fai made several loops and turned twice around to lose them but nothing worked. Not for the first time, Kurogane wondered if their luck was up. It was not until Fai came to a certain broken down tunnel-like entrancethat he stopped.
"What are you doing?" Kurogane asked.
Fai's eyes were shut, his chest rising up and down slowly. Having seen this same performance once or twice, Kurogane watched with mild interest at what Fai was doing.
If the true Fai ever made an appearance from behind that goofy mask, it was during this. Even if it was only for the briefest of moments, when Fai closed his eyes and concentrated, his true self emerged. A strange wind appeared and picked the man's blond hair off his long face. The effect was stunning on anyone who watched. Fai had a certain beauty that was difficult to describe, only felt. He was magnificentand powerful, a deadly combination.
Fai raised his hand to the entrance, his body swaying though wind was absent. After minutes, he returned from his heightened state and spoke in an oddly detached voice, "We should go this way." Unlike so many other times, he did not wait for Kurogane or Mokona, taking the lead of their group.
Kurogane had no idea what the hell the magician was doing, but he did not question it and marched forward after the tall man. 'Man, this city gives me the creeps...'
In truth, they really were in a tunnel. There was a musty air around them like in a cave, full of foreboding. Darkness was all they saw. It coiled around them, made them trip and fall, and played games with them. Once of twice Kurogane thought he saw something, only to remind himself that was just the blinking of his eyes, nothing else.
They had been walking for some time without talking, for fear their hunters would catch up with them. Strangely, they did not follow. (Kurogane had a suspicion Fai knew the reason for this, but did not ask. Whatever he needed to know, Fai would tell him. Otherwise, it was just an irritating game of riddles and jokes).
"Fai-san's got a cold!" piped Mokona.
"Shut up."
Fai wiped his finger under his nose, pausing. "It's all this dust. Looks like no one has been here for years, ne, Kuro-pippi?"
'You knew that before we walked in here,' Kurogane thought, 'I am not an naive 16 year old, you ass, stop playing with me'. He sniffed the air; soon after wishing he had not done so.
This place reeked of blood. It was all over. Kurogane was positive that if he saw the walls, they would have been stained blood.
Blood. Best kept in the body, he always thought. 'Though taking it out is not half bad, either..'. Flashbacks of fighting stormed his mind. The clicks and clangs of swords gracing each other, pulling back, than charging forward to hit again-
"A lot of people died here." Fai's voice broke through his ears.
Mokona stirred. "Mokona doesn't like it here." Kurogane unconsciously patted its' round head.
"So," Fai continued, as though his previous observation was nothing more than breakfast talk, "Why did you let Sakura-chan go?"
'Here it comes,' thought Kurogane, running his hand over a curve in the wall, 'I knew it.'
"You could have easily caught her again, yet you let her go. I do admire the way you pretended to miss a step to give her enough time to run away. Very clever. She will never guess that you did that on purpose. I almost did not catch it."
"What gave it away?" asked Kurogane, instantly wishing he had just remained silent. Some things were best left alone.
"The way you looked after her. Whenever you have something profound and deep in mind your eyebrows dip a bit downwards and you get a crease right here in the middle of your forehead (like Syaoran-kun! How adorable, you two are so much alike!). So whatever the reason for this is, you have obviously given it a lot of thought," mused Fai.
Though it was dark and they could not see each other, Kurogane threw a glare in the direction of Fai's voice.
"You mean you don't know?" Kurogane challenged.
"I have my suspicions, but nothing I can confirm. The only concrete thing I have is the fact that you let her go. You wanted her to go, didn't you?"
Kurogane's stony silence was enough to prove the assumption was correct.
Fai continued. "I can't really guess why. I suspect this is another lesson the two of them need to learn, though I am not sure I like the way you are handling it."
Kurogane snorted. "There is no easy way to learn this."
"You must really care about them to do this. Normally, a sane parent would not think of teaching this lesson to their children. "A beat of silence passed, which was a bit surprising, to say the least. Fai expected Kurogane to lash out at the suggestion that he was a parent to Syaoran and the princess, and when none came an alarm sounded in Fai's mind. "One of them might die." Fai continued.
"That's the point."
More silence. Even Mokona was being unusually quiet.
"You and I both know what death is," Kurogane began, "We have seen it, and we have killed." Kurogane noted that Fai did not object to this before he continued. "They have not. Though they have had someone dear to them die, they don't seem to think that any one of us can die too. That's the cockiness of being young that I hate. They are stupid when it comes to death, and we know it."
Fai winced at Kurogane's sharp words, but felt himself agreeing with him. "In a way, we are playing with their lives." He said. "That makes us as cruel as the people who want them dead."
Kurogane's responce came, though the was a certain difference in his voice. It was still the gruff baritone as before, yet now there was a pitch of sadness in it, a sort of sign of kindness and care that Fai had only heard the ninja use on rare occasions, normally when concerning his princess Tomoyo.
"It is better if they are prepared to face anything." He stopped the sentence there, though Fai could almost hear the words, "if we are not there" in the silence that followed.
A bitter taste formed in the magician's mouth. He really truly did not like playing with people's lives, however much he had battled before. There was always a brutality in it that never pleased him. And these children being so young- he stopped. 'No, they are not children. Syaoran and Sakura are not as young and innocent as they were. They are adorable, but not as young as Kurogane thinks...or wants to think.'
And yet, Fai did nothing to stop Kurogane. He went through this 'lesson' himself. While he shuddered at the thought of seeing Sakura's eyes tear up, it was at the same time nessicary. Their enemies were getting more bold, more desperate. If there was anything to use a leverage to make the princess comply with their wills, it was Syaoran, whether her Highness wanted to admit it or not.
He remembered the first time he had ever spoken to Syaoran and felt the sudden urge to laugh. "Isn't it funny how wrapped up we all have gotten in each other's lives? My goodness, it's like we are a family." Once again, Fai found himself waiting for Kurogane's retort.
"Hmph." That was as close to an agreement Kurogane ever got.
'He must not have heard me,' Fai thought.
There was a pause as they came to a staircase that slowly climbed up. There was a faint light somewhere above them, but it was too little to do much other than to see one's hand in front of their face. They started up.
"Someone's been watching us again." Kurogane started. "It disappeared for a little bit a few worlds back, but now I have that feeling again. Have you noticed it?"
"Yes, I got that feeling to, but it is not as strong as before." Fai answered, trying to grab a hold of something other than the wall to help him up the stairs. "I don't think that there is anyone watching us on this world, though. At least, they are not looking at us right now. Maybe indirectly..." ("Mokona feels it too! Puu!")
"What?"
"This world probably did at some point have something to do with whoever is after us (maybe it still does, oooh, isn't that scary, Kuro-pi?), but not at the moment. That would explain the lingering feeling of the presence. Most likely, it would be best to leave as soon as possible."
"You hate this place?"
"No, I love it."
After snapping his hand opened and closed for some time, Fai managed by chance to grab Kurogane's jacket. He merrily held on (and did not trip as much) while Kurogane lead the way up the stairs. The light was becoming slowly brighter, though it was taking the time grass took to grow.
"So, what if, by coincidence, one of the five of us happened to die? Would you cry?" Fai said, the humor in his voice coming back.
Kurogane, like a politician, ignored the question, instead saying, "It's getting harder. The feathers are becoming more important each world we go to. Someone, or something, has been planning a lot about this. Even the witch is checking to see if we are all still alive. Something big is going to happen once this is all over. And I don't like it."
This was one of the few times that any of the group acknowledges the ending of their journey. It still seemed to be such a long ways away to care about, much less hate it with the passion Kurogane was sure to have. It was evident, however. Just looking at Sakura's new foundstrength told them enough.
But, than again, what exactly was the ending of their journey? Was it when one of them died? Was it when Mokona leaves them forever in one place? Was it when all of Sakura's feathers were collected? Or, the happiest of them all, was it when they all got to go home and live happily ever after?
'Ah, but that is the problem, isn't it,' Fai thought. 'Would any of us be happy at all, really?' As much as Syaoran loved Sakura, there was something strange about him, something that set him apart from all the others. Fai could not place his finger on it, but Syaoran sent a chill down his spine twice. There was something terribly...wrong with him. Some obscure flaw that one would skip over repeatedly, until it was too late. It worried Fai, that flaw, more so was that he could not find it. Beneath his naive and don't-look-at-me face was a mysterious air, cold and bone chilling. Where the hell did that boy come from anyways?
He had such a kind, good natured personality, one that others arelatch onto. To see any sort of war or bloodin his eyes seemedsowhat...wrong. Yet to assume he was a silly boy with a digging habit also seemed horribly wrong.With such a personality, and flaw, how could he ever be happy forever in Clow when his childhood love doesn't know him and will mostly likely marry some clean shaven prince? There was nothing for him to go back to, other than dirt and forgotten fragments of civilization that haven't been eaten up by bugs (after all, didn't his father die?). Syaoran had seen civilizations form and destroyed before his own eyes. He had done every historians dream. How could he go back?
How could Sakura be happy when a large part of her life was taken? Fai underestimated Sakura's memories of Syaoran at first, yet it seemed that she loved him in a way that was too deep for a girl her age. Even now, that love they had was showing up more and more and, if anything, becoming more intense than anyone could have guessed. While Fai knew from experience that most likely Sakura and Syaoran would never be together, he liked the fluffy fairy tale version, where everyone lived happily ever after.
However, her power to too large to be ignored for long. Fai could feel it when she got extremely emotional, and its' immensity overwhelmed him, dwarfing his own feeble magic. The princess was a walking time bomb. No wonder someone wanted her. She was a flower with a honey scent attracting all sorts of venomous insects.
Out of all of them, Kurogane had a home that he wanted to go to. His devotion was something to be admired. But, it was also difficult to know if Kurogane, who had a home, would be happy. He came from a world soaked in blood and had seen places of joy and love. How could his killer instinct be toned down? The answer to unlocking Kurogane probably was the princess he spoke of so often, half the time with contempt, the other half with devotion. She was the reason behind his leaving, and most likely the reason he would be coming back.
Lastly, what about Fai? What about the sweet magician whose wish was to never return to his home? Would he be traveling forever, from dimension to dimension, searching for nothing in particular other than one more bed to sleep in and one more hot meal to eat? The possibility of settling down was of no interest to him. At some point in time (hopefully not too long, not too soon) they would come to Kurogane's and Syaoran and Sakura's home worlds. They would leave (it was only natural) and he would eventually be left alone with Mokona.
Fai thought about the white majin-bu impersonator, a bit saddened. Mokona was a love and a good companion, but was that enough to live the rest of his life with? Was Mokona his own, an ever joyful gift from the Witch until he died? Would he roam through the dimensions like pirates on the sea?
Fai imagined himself dressed in a flamboyant pirate suit with the same fearless, vulgar attitude; roaming all the lands he could. Then one day,on a sandy white beach (no snow whatsoever), lying down and never rising again. There would be no funeral, no tears, no nothing. In fact, his body would just lay there until various animals had picked his flesh clean off his bones, leaving them to turn hard and as white as the sand around him. Mokona would be long gone by than, probably back to the witch, and than perhaps some brown-haired boy with a digging habit would find him and bury him.
He chuckled at the image.
"What the hell are you doing?" Kurogane's deep growl broke through Fai's thoughts.
Fai glanced at him, one eyebrow raised. "Hm?"
Kurogane nodded downwards with his chin. Fai followed his nod to where his hands were tightly clasped on the ninja's jacket. He grinned. "I did not like holding on to the wall."
A snort, or another growl, it was hard to tell, emitted from Kurogane.
Fai glanced around, somewhat surprised. They had reached the top of the stairs were a bit more light was. It was still dark, but a bright street lamp was not far off.
"Goodness, I must have zoned out for a while!"
"I didn't give a da-" Kurogane began before getting a light slap on the arm.
"Where are we-"
The next two seconds were a blur. In the blink of an eye, thousands of white lights lit up all around them, starling and defeating the darkness of the night till it was unrecognizable. Mokona cried out in pain, while Kurogane and Fai covered their eyes from the brightness. They could not see anything but purple dots in the center of their vision and became like blundering fools. Fai heard the sound of metal against metal and assumed Kurogane had gotten his sword out, though how this was going to help, Fai did not really know.
After being in pitch black for over two hours, this sudden light was too much to handle for their eyes and tears appeared instantly.
"HALT!" A voice boomed, startling everyone. " LAY DOWN ON THE GROUND OR DIE"!
Author's note: a little chapter that I hope will please your minds for the moment. A small side note: if I am not forecoming with a chapter, or if you feel a need to tell me to hurry the heck up, please feel free to chew me out. Strangly, it encourages me...
