Disclaimer; Sorry, I'm still in one piece. I have no chance of owning Tsubasa.

Beautiful Crimson

Fai winced as Evron dropped a plate of what appeared to be eggs and peas on his broken arm.

"Eat," he ordered coldly, pulling the hilt to his knife out and running his hands over it. "I don't want you dying before that fool gets here."

The magician let out an involuntary laugh.

"Kuro-cranky isn't a fool," he snapped. "And when he gets here you'll be eager to get rid of him."

The teenager chuckled as he squeezed the magician's arm tightly, drawing a hiss of pain from his victim.

"Oh believe me, I already want him gone," he hissed. "But the fun is in getting rid of him. If he leaves broken down, like an old toy, I'll win. If he leaves hating himself as much as me, I'll win. And I think I can guarantee the second one."

He opened the knife to reveal half of the blade, which he ran along the magician's arm, drawing blood as he went and sending an unbearable wave of pain through the wizard.

"All I have to do is break you, first."

The mage grinned at him.

"Good luck with that," he cheered him on, bracing himself as the teen narrowed his eyes. "But Kuro-manly doesn't need to worry about that!"

The blonde chuckled as he buried the broken blade into the wizard's arm. Fai cried out in pain as he removed it, causing blood to spray across the floor.

"I didn't mean mentally," he hissed. The boy laughed as he pointed at the plate. "Now eat, or you won't be any fun."

The mage gulped.

--

"Kurogane!"

The swordsman barely managed to brace himself against the doorway to Makayla's apartment when Seth tackled his legs.

"Nice to see you again, too, kid," the ninja muttered, inhaling sharply as pain shot through his stomach and chest. "But I'm not exactly in the condition for you to be attacking my legs right now."

Seth peered up at him and backed away sheepishly.

"Sorry," he whispered. "I forgot you were hurt."

The swordsman forced a smile at the child.

"Yeah, it's hard to remember when we haven't seen each other in a few days," he replied, crouching down and ruffling he boy's hair. "How've you been?"

Seth grinned brightly.

"I've been great!" he said cheerfully, taking the ninja's hand and leading him through the house. "My mommy left my babysitter with instructions to let me watch whatever I want, so he got me this really cool video about these guys who use really powerful light swords to cut each other up and they use magic to throw people backwards and choke them and lift things and there's this guy who was a good guy but he got scared and joined the bad guys and killed all the other bad guys and accidentally killed his wife but she didn't actually die until she gave birth to two babies and the babies were split up and taken away by two of the good guys and put on different places and on of the good guys was the only remaining good guy who had a light sword and could use magic, well there was his master, too, but he gave up on magic and his light sword so he couldn't really use them anymore and he went away from everyone because he was ashamed of his failure to stop the bad guys, but anyway the last good guy to use magic took the baby boy - oh yeah the babies were a boy and a girl - and the other good guy, one of the guys who makes big decisions for everyone, he took the baby girl. You should see it!"

Kurogane nodded, not really paying attention.

"Seth, Mr. Kurogane and I hafta discuss something important, okay?" Makayla told her son gently. "Why don't you go watch your movies, okay?"

The four year old pouted.

"But I never get to take place in the big meetings," he whined. "Please Mommy, I wanna help! It's about Fai, I know it is, and-"

"How did you know it was about Fai?" the ninja interrupted him. Seth looked up at him, red eyes open wide in an expression the ninja prayed would never find it's way onto his face.

"Because you and Mommy smell like Fai and she looks really scared and you look really sad and you only ever look sad when something happens to Fai," he explained quickly. "Like when I first met you, when you were demonstrating I asked Auntie Kaylee why you were so sad and she said you were sad because Fai was hurt."

The swordsman glanced up at Makayla, who shrugged.

"Seth, please, go watch your movies," she begged him. The four year old cast a dejected glance at her before hanging his head and shuffling toward the next room. Kurogane found himself feeling sorry for him.

"Wait, kid," he called after him. "You can stay, but after that it's up to your mom, got it?"

Seth grinned brightly and ran up to him, giving him a quick hug.

"Thank you Kurogane really I mean it thank you!" he cried, pulling away from him and sitting on the couch. The ninja rolled his eyes and plopped down next to him, regretting it instantly as he disturbed his wounds and was overcome by a wave of pain.

"Shit!" he snapped, leaping to his feet, thus disturbing his wounds even more. "F- aaaahhhhhhh!"

He doubled over, feeling blood begin to soak through the bandages on his stomach. He could feel Seth push on his side, and he rolled over obediently as the four year old pressed something against his wound, holding it there. The ninja heard Makayla swear to herself as she gently pushed her son away.

Overcome with pain, the swordsman blacked out.

--

Fai groaned as he came to, his arm throbbing mercilessly and wrapped in what appeared to be a table cloth to staunch the bleeding from the first round of torture Evron had put him through. He winced as he forced himself up, head throbbing.

"Awake, are we?" Evron's cold voice came from the doorway. The mage turned toward him and grinning weakly.

"Good morning, Evron-chan," he greeted. The teen narrowed his eyes.

"Rather chipper, aren't you?" he snarled, pulling out the remains of his knife. "Perhaps I should change that…"

Smiling, the blonde boy reached over and slowly dug a hole into the magician's good shoulder. Tears of pain filled the sorcerer's eyes, but he struggled to keep his smile up.

He'll be here. He promised.

Evron chuckled as blood leaking from his wound, and he pulled the blade out roughly, allowing the warm red liquid to flow quickly. The magician didn't stop smiling.

A/N; Short and… crappily done. Ah, well. There was more to this chapter, but I decided to end it here lest it become like Shitsui, Itazuki, Tonsou, Suki and it's never ending chapters from hell. Sorry about the ending, the next chapters' be better, I promise.