I do not own Tsubasa.

Chapitre 14: Land of Confusion

The next morning, Kurogane woke up and looked to see what time it was. It was eight in the morning. He didn't hear the other two out there, so he figured they were asleep. He nudged Kyoki awake. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Where are we?" Kyoki said as she sat up. She looked around and gasped. "Shit! We're in the bathroom? I... I thought that was a dream. Oh well... We tell those two we listen to their whole talk. Oh, we have to go see the Demon Lord today, don't we? I'm nervous."

"Why?" Kurogane said as he exited the bathtub.

"Well, he is a Demon Lord for one. You know how cool that sounds? So he must be cool. And I get nervous around extremely cool people of high positions."

The two of them exited the bathroom and went to the kitchen. Shortly after that Sakura and Syaoran came out. Then Mokona and Fai. Then finally Yume woke up. Most of them were nervous about the meeting with the Demon Lord, Kurogane and Fai were not worried at all.

Around noon, everyone began to get ready since the meeting was at two. Before they left, there was some debate whether or not Kyoki was well enough to go, she argued that she was better, and thus they let her come along. But she was made to promise that she would let someone carry her if her leg started to hurt too much.

Their meeting with the Demon Lord was to be held at his house. To get to his house they had to take a small train that would drop them off at the station near the mansion. Then they would have to walk fifteen minutes down a small road to the house.

They were walking down this small road when they heard a dragon roar quite near them.

"Oh my." Sakura said, covering her ears.

"Did he send the dragon to welcome us?" Kyoki wondered, looking up at the sky.

Up ahead the branches were being pushed to the side as the dragon landed. It charged toward them. It was a large dragon, at least thirty feet tall and fifty feet long. It was all black except for a blue triangle over the left eye. It had bright red crimson eyes and razor-sharp, long teeth. Its ears were flattened to the back of its head like a furious feline. Its legs were long and had sharp claws. It had large black wings there were currently folded on its back. It charged forward at them.

"I don't think it's going to welcome us." Yume said as the dragon snapped at the air.

Syaoran stood protectively in front of the princess as everyone pulled out his or her weapons.

"Is this the same dragon that was seen eating the Shadows? There could be another dragon... one that eats normal people." Kyoki suggested.

"It's the same one. It has a triangle over the eye." Fai told her.

"Oh..." Kyoki said.

The dragon slid to a stop, at least twenty feet away from them, spun around and then swung its tail in Kyoki's direction.Kyoki managed to dodge it by dropping to the ground and rolling several feet away. She aimed her guns at the dragon and started to shoot.

The bullets hit the dragon, but did not damage at all. At least it didn't look like it.

Fai grabbed Sakura's hand and led her a little bit away where she could be safe.

Kurogane jumped forward and swung Sôhi at the dragons' torso. The sword striked the dragon and scraped the hard skin of the dragon. He looked at the dragons' skin, quite irritated that his attack did nothing.

Syaoran was attacking on the other side with Hien and also had no effect on the creature. "Kurogane-san, Hien's not doing any damage. Its skin is too tough."

"Neither is Ginryu." Kurogane admitted, angrily.

"Let me try with Akashi and Soten." Yume said as she ran forward with her twin swords. She attacked as well, only to do no damage.

The dragon watched them, curious.

"Yuki and Sora aren't doing anything either." Kyoki said as she ceased her firing. "What should we-"

Kyoki was cut off as the dragon roared, turned and ran toward Kyoki, it's jaws snapping.

"Oh shit." Kyoki managed to say before she jumped back as the dragons' claw swung at her, barely missing her.

The dragon lunged forward to attack again, but Syaoran jumped and kicked the dragon in the jaw so Kyoki could manage to get away.

The dragon looked at him, snorted and slapped him with its hand, which caused Syaoran to go flying toward where Fai and Sakura were. Sakura rushed forward and helped Syaoran stand. The dragon then rushed toward Kyoki again.

"What the hell is your problem?" Kyoki yelled as she jumped up, missing the dragon once more and opened fire as the dragon ran pass her down below.

"Hama Ryû-ô-jin!!" Kurogane yelled as he released his attack.

Kyoki landed next to her cousin. Pain shot up through her leg, but it wasn't too painful, at least that was what she kept telling herself as she turned around to see how much damage Kurogane's attack did to the dragon.

Which was none.

The dragon roared impatiently as he turned back around and focused on Kyoki once again.

"I don't think it likes you." Yume said, worried.

"No shit." Kyoki snapped.

The dragon once again came forward.

Yume stepped before Kyoki, preparing to protect her cousin.

Kyoki however stepped beside Yume and pushed the younger woman out of the dragons' path. She waited until right before the dragon opened it's mouth to bite before she dropped to the ground and rolled under the dragon and began to shoot at its undersides. Kyoki then rolled out before the dragon began to stomp.

Kurogane grabbed her and helped her up.

"You're really stupid y'know that. If you had messed that up by one second, you could have been killed." He snapped at her.

The dragon began to slowly calm down.

"But I didn't. So, what should we do? This thing isn't taking any damage." Kyoki asked.

The dragon turned toward Kyoki and Kurogane and roared. It pawed the earth, as if it was a bull and getting ready to charge.

"Min, that's enough. I told you to leave her alone." A voice said, it was a very familiar voice, but at the same time it had a different tone to it.

The dragon whimpered and sat down.

"Who said that?" Yume wondered, rejoining Kyoki.

Fai, Sakura and Syaoran came over as well.

"It is I, the Great Demon Lord Reo!" There was a poof and a man who looked exactly like Kurogane, except his hair was a little longer than Kurogane's, and he wore different clothing.

"But... you look like Kurogane-san..." Syaoran said, shocked to see someone who looked so very much like Kurogane.

Kurogane glared at the person who looked like him.

"Yes, as you all know by now, there are plenty of words out there, and lots of people who have the same "soul" and look a lot alike. I just happen to look like your friend there." Reo said, smiling. "Oh, and I'm sorry about Min there. I told her earlier that we were having guests and that one of them would look like my ex-girlfriend. She looks just like you, girlie." Reo said, pointing at Kyoki. "Min is actually both mine and Yoru's. And the two of them would practice fighting together. So, I think when Min saw you, she got emotional and remembered the old days and wanted to play a little. She really didn't mean you any harm."

Oh, I see. It's all right." Kyoki said, scratching the back of her head.

"Min, minimize now, please." Reo told the dragon.

Min nodded and began to shrink until she was the size of a cat.

"Wow! That was awesome." Yume said.

Min yawned and ran to Kyoki and jumped on her shoulder and began to nuzzle her neck.

Kyoki giggled and Yume began to pet the small dragon.

"Now, before we get to business, there is something I must do." Reo said as he walked over to Kurogane and stopped several feet in front of the other man. "So, you look like me..." He made his hand into a fist, then raised his hand out in front of him and extended his pointer finger as he slowly moved forward and poked Kurogane in the chest.

Kurogane's eye twitched as Reo did this.

Reo then began to run around Kurogane, poking his arms, chest and back.

"Cut that off, you asshole!" Kurogane yelled, getting quite tired of this.

Reo stopped and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry about that. Just rather interesting looking at someone who looks exactly like me. Quite odd. Anywho, let's go back to the castle and you people can get cleaned up before we have your appointment. I know 'appointments' are not common with us Demon Lords, but I like to be a little bit organized. Besides it sounds cool to tell someone you have an appointment with a Demon Lord. For example, if you go to work, and a fellow friend asks you what you are doing the next day and if you would like to hang out. You could say, "Oh, I have plans. I have an appointment with the Great Demon Lord Reo. May be we can hang out some other day though." In which case your friend would reply with "Wow! You got a appointment, that is so cool dude, I wish I could have one too." Isn't that cool?"

Everyone stared at him like he was... well... crazy.

Reo crossed his arms. "I'm over four thousand years old, I get bored, damnit. Now come on."

He began to walk toward his house, the others following.

"Hey, since you are a Demon-" Yume began.

"Great Demon Lord. Please get the title right." Reo said, looking over his shoulder.

"Right, sorry, your majesty." Yume said, rolling her eyes. "Since you are a Grea-"

"I'm not royalty either." Reo corrected her.

"Fine. As I was saying, since you are a Great Demon Lord, can't you just teleport us to your place?" Yume asked.

"Yes."

"You can? Cool! Can you teleport us now?" Kyoki asked, getting excited.

"No. I rather like to walk in the woods. It's not that far anyway. Oh, wait, that's right, you hurt your ankle didn't you? I'll carry you then." Reo moved lightning fast as he approached her and picked her up, carrying her in his arms before turning back around and continued walking.

"I'm fine, you don't have to carry me." Kyoki told him. "I don't want to be a burden."

"You are not a burden." Reo told him.

"Kuro-pin, what are you going to do now? He's carrying your girlfriend." Fai whispered to Kurogane as he jab the taller man in the side with his elbow.

"If you're so damn worried, you do something." Kurogane snapped.

"Kuro-kin is so mean." Fai said.

"Kuro-kin's mean. Meanie!" Mokona said jumping on top of Kurogane's head.

Sakura gasped in surprise as they came nearer and nearer to the large house.

"It's so big." Yume said, staring at it with wonder.

"Yea it is. It has at least two hundred and fifty bedrooms. Can't remember the exact numbers. One hundred bathrooms. Or was it one hundred and one... There are five kitchens. An outdoor pool and an indoor one as well. And a bunch of other stuff that I don't feel like going into right now. Maybe I can get Abel to take you guys for a tour later."

The group followed Reo into the house.

"All right, I'll have Abel take you guys off so you can get cleaned up." Reo said as he put Kyoki gently down. "Kid!"

"H-huh?" Syaoran responded out of habit.

"Oh, I didn't mean you. I refer to one of my, hmm, 'friends-slash-underlings' as 'kid' due to the fact that he is twenty six years old, yet his body is prevented from aging anywhere past fourteen. Which he is very sensitive about. He's an amusing kid, that one is." Reo told them.

"You shouldn't talk about people behind their backs." A voice said from behind Reo.

Reo stepped aside to reveal a young man who looked exactly like Syaoran, but instead of wearing a calm expression like Syaoran, this boy had a furious look on his face.

Mokona gasped. "He looks like Syaoran."

"Technically, Abel, I wasn't talking behind your back since you weren't physically in front of me with your back turned when I spoke. And you shouldn't sneak up on people, it's considered rude in many countries."

"Die, demon!" Abel yelled as he ran forward and began to kick and punch Reo. Reo just smiled and blocked every attacked thrown at him.

"You're probably confused. Let me explain. Abel here is a top-notch Demon Hunter. He hunts down my kind, obviously. But ironic circumstances in our fates have caused him to work under my rule." Reo said as the little 'fight' ended.

"I'm only working for you so I can learn your weakness so I can kill you!" Abel yelled.

"Oh, kid, you know you admire me so much you want to be just like me when you grow up." Reo teased.

"Like hell. In your dreams, asshole." Abel snapped back.

"They both look like our Kurogane and Syaoran, but they're personalities are very different." Fai commented.

"Abel, please take our quests so they can get cleaned up." Reo said politely.

"Follow me." Abel said and led them down a hallway.

Fifteen minutes later after the guys were lead to their cleaning location, the girls were lead to theirs; they were lead to a living room that had many armchairs and couches.

After everyone was sitting (minus Kurogane who was leaning against that wall and Abel who was standing by the door, glaring at Reo), Reo started the 'meeting.'

"I have been watching you guys for a little bit now, so I know why you have all come here. I apologize for spying on you and everything, but I needed to make sure you weren't working with the Shadows or being manipulated by them. But I know now that you aren't, so I will help you the best I can." Reo told them.

"Then, may we have the feather?" Syaoran asked.

Reo titled his head to the side. "You're so polite. Abel, why can't you be nice like him?"

"Hmph." Abel looked away.

"I would give it to you right this moment if I could. But... I can't. It's currently locked inside a barrier. And I can't open it alone." Reo looked at their confused faces, then nodded to himself. "I should tell you the whole story. That way you will be able to understand everything and what I have to ask one of you to do in order to get the feather. Let us begin. Sakura, your feather is not responsible for the arrival of the Shadows, so you don't need to feel guilty about it anymore."

"A-all right." Sakura was surprised that he knew that she was blaming herself for this, but then she remembered him saying that he had been watching them.

"They came forty-six years before the feather, the feather came four years ago, as you all have found out. The Shadows first started to appear fifty years ago." Reo told them. For those forty six years I suppressed the Shadows powers and managed to contain them in the cave at the base of the mountains, and sent Min out to eat any that came to close to the entrance. Don't worry, the Shadows don't do any harm to Min's digestive track or mentality."

Min purred as she heard her name from Kyoki's lap.

"But four years ago, the feather came. And it either strengthened the Shadows, or weakened my powers or both, because around then the Shadows were able to come out freely at nighttime. Yoru, my ex-girlfriend that I mentioned earlier, came up with the idea to seal away the feather to suppress it's power, that is probably why Mokona could not sense it at all while you've been here. So we did, and it limited the Shadows powers so they could only come out on full moons for four hours. Shortly after that Yoru left me."

"Why do they come out every night now?" Kurogane asked.

Reo shook his head. "I don't know. At first I thought it was because they got their hands on the feather, but that isn't the case. The feather is still locked away."

"So do you need this Yoru-chan to open the barrier?" Fai asked.

"Yea, kinda... but there is another way..." Reo said nervously.

"Wait, Mokona did sense the feather. Remember when I was woke up, I punched Mokona off of me cuz it used that scary face of its when it senses them." Kyoki said.

"That must have been when I was trying to unlock the barrier alone. It must have gone down for a moment, which caused Mokona to sense it." Reo explained. "Anywho, back to the barrier, Yoru made it so it could be only be made open on days of the month that has a three in it. So only the third, thirteenth, twenty-third, thirty or thirty-first. And since today is the ninth, we have to wait until three days before we can even open it. But in order to do so... Well... um... it mainly concerns Kyoki... and Kurogane... so... since it's a rather personal matter, I will have to talk to them later about it. But for now, I have to prepare some things for the thirteenth."

Kyoki, Syaoran, Sakura, Yume, and Mokona all nodded. Kurogane looked rather annoyed. Fai looked amusing back and forth between Kurogane, Kyoki and Reo.

"Oh, and until it is time for the barrier to be unleashed, I think it would be best for you all to stay here. The Shadows most likely know you were here, so they will target you if you go back to town. There is a protective barrier around this house, so they cannot come here. Will you stay?"

"Sure." Yume and Kyoki said.

"Yes." Sakura and Syaoran replied.

"Hmph," was Kurogane's reply.

"Yep." Fai and Mokona said happily.

"Great. You each will have your own rooms. I'll have your belongings from the apartment teleported here into your rooms. So, make yourself at home. Abel will show you to your rooms. Well, later, I have to go get some stuff ready, like I said." Reo snapped his fingers and disappeared.

Sakura yawned. "I'm tired."

"Me too. I was up all night worrying about this." Yume said.

"I think I am going to take a nap." Kyoki said as she yawned.

"Follow me, I'll take you to where your rooms will be." Abel said with a very unenthusiastic tone.

For the remainder of the day everyone remained in their rooms and rested as they read, played video games, slept, or watched television. At dinnertime, Abel came to each of their rooms and took their orders, and then delivered it once it was made.

Later that night, when Kyoki was sitting on the edge of her bed as the door knocked.

"Come in." Kyoki called.

"Hey, Kyoki." Yume said as she came into the room.

"Hey, Yume-chan. What's up?"

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to apologize last night. Me and Fai-"

"Oh it's all right. It was a... amusing talk. It was quite long though, I thought I was going to fall asleep."

"We gave you the whole speech? I thought you guys ran off... guess that was a dream. Oh, well, I just wanted to tell you we're sorry. We are just so happy for the two of you though." Yume said as she smiled. "Well, I'm going to go back to my room then. Good night."

"Good night." Kyoki said as her cousin left the room.

She turned back to the television and watched for a couple of minutes before the door knocked once again.

"Can I come in?" Kurogane said... or Reo... she couldn't tell...

"Come in." She called out.

"Hey." Reo smiled as he opened the door and closed it behind him. "Would it be all right if I talked to you about the barrier now?"

"Sure."

Reo walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed next to her.

"Before that, there is something I want to ask you though. Like I have told you people before, I have been watching you. As I watched you I've been wondering, why are you and Kurogane pretending to be together? Well, I know why... and it's not like how you guys thought it was, I'm not going to say anything since it's not my place... but... you really like him, right?"

"Yes..." Kyoki said, trying to avoid looking at him at the moment. She knew that Reo was not Kurogane... but he looked like Kurogane, so that made this conversation... awkward.

"Then why aren't you two together for real?"

"Well... I don't think he likes me like that. Why would he?" Kyoki said, looking at him.

"Why wouldn't he?" Reo said back.

"Are you gay?" She asked, not meaning to be mean, but just wondering.

Reo was so taken back by this question that he jumped in surprised and slipped off the bed. He quickly jumped back up, coughed, and sat back down. "Hell no, you human woman. What makes you think that?"

"I don't know. It's just... you seemed to... be more interested in the relationship between Kurogane and myself."

"Oh, well, no, I am not gay. I just want one look-alike of me and Yoru to find happiness together. Even though I can't be with her anymore, I want at least other ones that are like us to be happy." Reo told her sadly.

"Why... What caused her to break up with you? You're such a nice guy... so I can't see why anyone would, you know, break up with you." Kyoki said nervously, she then looked away quickly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that. It's none of my business. So, uh, how do we have to break the barrier?" She looked back at him.

"Yoru was a normal human being when I first met her. We didn't get along at first. But then... we both started to fall in love. As time passed, I realized that she would age and die... while I lived on. So... I told her I could make her a half-demon and extend her life like mine... She agreed, so I did. We both knew there would be side effects eventually, but we were unsure of when. Side effects are different in everyone. Anyways, everything went on as normal for two thousand years. We were happy... at least... I thought we were... I was at least. Four years ago, after sealing the feather away she started to become short tempered more often than usual... I didn't think too much of it though... then she told me she was getting tired of waking up to the same person every day and that she wanted to go explore the world and meet new people. I don't know if she left because of the side-effects were starting to come out... or... if she was just getting tired of me."

"I see. I'm sure she will come back to you. Maybe she just needed to sort out her feelings about everything, you know?"

"I hope so." Reo nodded.

"I'm sure she will." Kyoki smiled at him.

Reo began to get a little embarrassed; this was not what he came in to talk about. "Back to the barrier. To break it I need you to..." He sighed, then leaned forward and whispered it into her ear.

"T-that's what we have to do to break the barrier? That is pretty easy sounding compared to what I thought it would be..." Kyoki laughed with relief.

"What did you think you had to do?"

"I don't know, I thought we had to fight some big ass monster. Or I have something to do with blood. Or something to do with a evil clown that has balloons and smiles a lot." She told him.

"... really...?" Reo's eye twitched.

"Yep." She nodded.

"Ok. Well, we should go inform Kurogane then..."

"R-right." Kyoki nodded nervously. 'Oh my... I'm going to be in a room with two people who look the same... well... I was in the same room as the two earlier, but there were other people... now it'll be just the three of us... I really hope I don't make a ass of myself...'

The two of them stood and walked out of the room.

"Hmm... which one is his?" Reo wondered as he tried to remember what one it was.

"It is that one." Kyoki said, pointing to the room right across from hers.

Reo patted her on the head and then walked across the hall and knocked on the door.

Kurogane opened the door seconds later.

"Heya Kurogane-san. May we come in to talk about the barrier?" Kyoki said, looking up at him, smiling.

He nodded, walked away from the door and left it open for them to enter. They all sat; Reo and Kyoki sat at the couch while Kurogane took the desk chair and sat on it backwards. They told him what had to be done. Kyoki also told him that Reo knew about their pretending.

"That's it? That is what has to be done to get the damn feather?" Kurogane asked, thrown off by the... weirdness of the task at hand.

"Yep. Cool, huh?" Reo grinned.

"No, stupid is more like it." Kurogane snapped.

"Oh, come on, it won't be that bad... right?" She looked back and forth between the two of them.

"If I can do it, so can he." Reo told him.

"Then why don't you do it?" Kurogane replied.

"Because, she is more familiar with you, so it would throw things out of balance if it was me. Plus, your friends might suspect that your pretending to date is a lie if you don't do this and I do. It's only for a couple of days. It's not like it's forever. Once this is over, you two can go back to your normal-ness... or whatever..." Reo said, leaning back on the couch. "But if you don't want to, I'll do it. I might be better at this anyway, since I'm older and all. I could always cast a illusion on myself so the others will think it's you to not blow your cover." Reo smirked.

Kurogane snorted. He glanced at Kyoki, and then looked at Reo. "Don't bother."

"So, do you agree?" Reo leaned forward.

"Yea."

"Good. And Kyoki already agreed, so it's all set."

"Well, I gotta go. Good night." Reo laughed as he snapped his finger and left.

"Goo- oh... you're already gone." Kyoki sighed. "I'm sorry..."

"What for now?" Kurogane said.

"I don't know... I just... never mind. Hey, Fai's nicknaming hasn't ceased... it's gotten worse. If you want... we could call out fake dating over and then you wouldn't have to... you know..." She looked away.

"I'm starting to think that nothing will make that dumbass quit with the names. Have you forgotten? There's another reason why we are doing this too."

"Oh right, Fai's feelings for you. Hehehe..." Kyoki giggled.

"Don't laugh at that."

"Yes, sir." Kyoki said as she saluted him, then yawned. "Gosh, how late is it?"

"It's midnight."

"What now?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm going to go back to my room and play a little bit more DDR then. Later." Kyoki jumped to her feet and ran out of the room.

This chapter is pretty long. I just reread it and I was like amazed that it was this long. LOL! Anywho, I hope everyone likes Reo and Abel. I had used them in a different story around the time I started this fanfic and I liked them so much I wanted to throw them in here, so there they are. Please forgive me if there are any conflicting timeline type things going on. If there is, please tell me so I can fix them. I think there was a moment in there somewhere that I accidently referred Ginryu as Sôhi, so I'm really sorry about that.

I have decided (finally) that this fanfic will take place after they go to Kurogane's Japan and find out many things. It's right before the 'final battle.' I was going to take a break and wait until that final battle was over and then write more after I find out what happens... but I can't wait and thus I am making this fanfic take place then. Sorry if this makes everything confusing, but it's easier for me to have it done then.

Since I've waited so long to decided where to have it branch off of the original story, there is bound to be some complications, and I'm am really sorry about that and I'll try to even it out as soon as I can. Anywho, I hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter.

I just love Min, Reo and Abel. The three of them amuse me so much.

Please let me know what you think so far! I love hearing what people have to say! LOL!