Next chapter's on November the 10th.
Fai holds his breath, put chest to chest with the one he wants to see least as he gets away from the accusation, not thinking except for fear and persecution and the threat which lingers over him still.
Red eyes slide down to his and say far more than the grunt of acknowledgement that comes from his mouth.
Fai scowls, his own eyes narrowing as he meets the red ones in challenge.
He ignores it now and somehow that hurts him- to be turned down by the man who always wanted to fight him when they first met.
He stands still for a long moment when the man brushes past him and continues in the direction Fai had come from.
Then he moves again, away from people but not up this time, outside.
Up is... Far too enticing.
The acid burns a little as he walks across the sand and he feels strange moment near his hair, a sensation so foreign to him he doesn't know how to process it and avoids it for now, curling up just out of sight beyond the ruined wall and letting the rain etch paths into his skin.
It takes hours for Sakura to wake up.
It feels like another lifetime of torment to add to the many that Fai has already lived.
That person doesn't come to bother him, the other Syaoran and Mokona stay to watch over Sakura and none of the people from this world have any reason to look for him.
It's a relief in some ways but in others it leaves him alone with his thoughts and the prickling awareness- though he tries to push it back and ignore it- that there are some things deeply wrong with his body.
With practised ease he buries the curiosity and thoughts beneath guilt, fear and the burning trace of rain as it licks down the side of his face, along his jaw, down onto his neck and slowly, slowly runs along his collarbone to his chest.
There's always been something seductive in the horror of the act.
He tilts his head and feels the acid drip onto the bare skin, resisting the urge to itch or brush it away or soothe it.
It's as much as he deserves, he thinks as he bites down on his lip, enough that it hurts and makes him gasp, tears in his eyes, squeezed shut, enough not to draw blood.
He knows the balance.