Part Two
Disclaimer: CLAMP owns all this stuff.
Notes: I give you...chapter three. Stuff happens. People talk. I'm sleepy.
--
With Mokona sitting on Sakura's horse and leading the way, they continued on past the black woods of the witch towards a darker, wilder terrain. The winds grew progressively colder, and soon Sakura had traded her own cloak for a winter one given to her by Tomoyo, dusty rose in color with soft white fur around the edges and small cherry blossoms embroidered along the edges. Kurogane settled for his own black cloak and said little as they traveled.
Sakura seemed happy enough to trust the white thing, but Kurogane wasn't particularly convinced that it wasn't leading them on a wild goose chase. They hadn't seen a single house since leaving the witch's place, and there was no one who could be asked to provide evidence that the sleigh carrying Syaoran had ever passed this way at all. Still, the creature seemed to be leading them unerringly somewhere.
Kurogane wished he still had his sword. He had a spare he'd brought along, but it was an old, cheap thing and he doubted it would stand up in a fight.
"Are you sure you know where you're going, pork bun?" he grumbled.
"Mokona is Mokona!" the thing chirped. "And Mokona is only leading you where you want to go!"
"How do you know?" Kurogane pressed. "There's no tracks."
"Because Mokona can sense the magic," the creature replied.
"Don't worry, Kurogane-san," Sakura added. "I'm sure Yuuko-san wouldn't have changed Mokona if she didn't think it would help us."
"And I'm not sure I trust her either," Kurogane said pointedly.
"Mokona is being helpful!" the creature stated, and Kurogane snorted. Sakura looked between the two of them nervously.
"I'm sure Moko-chan is doing its best," she said hesitantly.
"Right, right," Mokona agreed happily. Kurogane snorted and looked away.
After some time he caught sight of something off into the distance. As they drew closer Kurogane could see a huge rock face rising up out the ground. It appeared to be some sort of wall that stretched off into the distance with a gap between, like a gate. The impression was further helped by the strange crumbling edifices that jutted out of the rock face at odd angles, as though some great carving had once been there.
"What is it?" Sakura breathed as they approached.
"It's a gate," Mokona said, unusually serious.
"Hey, pork bun." Kurogane's voice was cold. "Have you been here before? With him?"
"No." Mokona shook its head. "But Mokona has seen this place in Yuuko-san's books, when the gate was still intact. It marks the end of this country and the start of the one belonging to the snow king."
"The snow king?" Sakura repeated.
"That's just a fairy tale," Kurogane said dismissively.
"No," Sakura said with sudden conviction. "Because we saw him. The black-haired man in the sleigh."
"King Ashura." A voice rang out from above. Kurogane swore and reached for his sword, wishing it was more than just a cheap replacement.
Fai stood on the gates above them, looking down.
The blond man looked different than Kurogane could ever recall seeing him before. The flour-covered baker's clothes Kurogane was most used to seeing him in were gone, replaced by an outfit of deep blue, with high black boots and a black fur-lined cloak covered in strange blue sigils. In one hand Fai carried a slim staff with blue crystals adorning the top. The lazy smile was gone, and Fai's face was regal and cold, his blue eyes hard as stone.
"Fai-san!" Sakura clutched Mokona close. "Fai-san, please, give Syaoran-kun back!"
"You should turn back," Fai said. "This is a dangerous country."
"Get down here, you bastard!" Kurogane said angrily.
"Go back," Fai repeated, fixing Kurogane with a dark glare. For a moment Kurogane had the wild thought that he needed a better sword, because if Fai came down now, Fai would kill him.
Which was ridiculous, because it was Fai. Fai, the smiling idiot who tackled him every morning when he entered the shop, who refused to carry his own sacks of flour, who dragged Kurogane to the marketplace every Thursday to carry his groceries because he claimed the work was far too strenuous for him to do alone. Fai the stupid laughing blond who always had a nickname handy and was always telling Kurogane to stop being grouchy.
"This isn't a place for any of you," Fai said. "Turn back."
"What the hell are you doing?" Kurogane said. "Shut up and get over here!"
"Turn back," Fai said again and disappeared with a wave of his staff.
"Fai-san…" Sakura said miserably. "Kurogane-san, what should we do?"
Kurogane sheathed his sword.
"We keep moving."
--
The sun went down, and with it came even colder winds. Tomoyo had packed them a few blankets, which Kurogane gave to Sakura. The terrain was rockier here, dotted with sparse trees, and the rough path they were following had clearly not been in use for some time. The ground was broken in places and covered with fallen branches and rocks, and the only sign of footprints on the ground were their own. It was clear that if anyone lived in this place it was nowhere nearby, and Kurogane knew that, despite her protests, the girl couldn't go on all night. He found them a reasonably safe spot atop a hill where he could see anyone coming from a ways away and they settled down for the night. Kurogane allowed a small fire only, and Sakura was soon asleep with Mokona nestled in her arms.
Kurogane stayed awake to keep watch, leaning against a tree some ways away. It was too dark out, no stars and only a grim sliver of moon, and far too quiet, the only sound being the whistling of the wind. He wished again for a decent sword.
The caw of crow caught his attention and he watched as it flew down, alighting on a branch of one of the gnarled trees.
It cawed once, and then Fai sat there on the branch that seemed too thin to hold him.
The blond man had changed clothes yet again, this time wearing a gray shirt and pants with a strange feathered belt around his waist. His cloak was dark gray and tattered, with crow feathers around the edges. His staff was made of black metal like a long poker, and there was an odd-looking sigil on the end. He was staring at the dark expanse of sky, as though not even aware that Kurogane stood below him.
"What do you want?" Kurogane drew his sword.
"You're so impetuous, Kuro-pi," Fai said darkly. "I told you to take Sakura-chan away and forget."
"Did you really think I would?"
"I hoped you would." Fai jumped down from the tree and his cloak waved behind him as he floated to the ground. "I should've known better, I suppose."
"What are you doing here?" Kurogane did not relax his stance.
"I'm not going to hurt you, Kuro-pon. Or her," he added, looking sideways at the sleeping Sakura. "I just came to talk."
"To talk," Kurogane repeated, not convinced.
"Don't be so suspicious, Kuro-mi," Fai said lightly, smiling.
"Shut up," Kurogane replied. "And don't give me that stupid fake smile."
"I'm not going hurt you," Fai repeated, letting the smile drop away. "I just wanted to tell you to turn back."
"You already said that earlier," Kurogane replied.
"And you didn't listen," Fai pointed out. "Stubborn, stubborn Kuro-pin. If you'd listened to me in the first place you wouldn't even be here."
"Why should I listen to an idiot like you?"
"Because I'm trying to help you." Fai smiled again, but his eyes were grave. "If you keep going, you'll die. You should turn around."
"Are you going to kill me if I don't?"
"No." Fai's smile was thin and wretched. "But that's no guarantee of anything."
"You're not getting out of this by being vague, you bastard," Kurogane growled. "If you want me to stop coming after you, you'll have to do better than that."
"You're not coming after me," Fai said quietly. "You're after Syaoran-kun, right?"
Kurogane grunted in reply and looked away.
"I can't let you take him, Kuro-tan," Fai said. "I need him."
"Why?"
"For something very important," Fai replied. His eyes strayed to Sakura again. "You met Yuuko-san, right? She gave you Mokona."
"She said she'd met you," Kurogane said.
"And she took your sword, right?" Fai said with a sudden grin. Kurogane started in surprise before he recalled the crow sitting on the sign outside the witch's house. Fai took in his sudden annoyed expression and laughed. "She did!"
"It's your fault," Kurogane said irritably, glaring at the replacement sword still in his hands.
"She couldn't grant what I asked her, you know." Fai looked up at the sky, his eyes far away again. "Even if I gave her everything I had, she couldn't grant my wish. Even if I gave up everything…" He shook his head. "So I asked for something else instead. There's something I was searching for, and Mokona was how I found it. That's why I moved into the town. I was waiting." Fai grew silent then. Kurogane sat quietly beside him, waiting until at last the blond man spoke again. "I didn't think it would be Syaoran-kun."
"But you knew it would be someone," Kurogane prompted. "You knew that…whatever the hell it was, the thing that turned the kid's eye blue. You knew it was coming."
"Yes. I told you, Mokona led me there. Mokona led me many places." Fai's voice was as distant as his eyes, as if he'd almost forgotten Kurogane was there. "I've been running very far, for a very long time. I only came back to see King Ashura once, when I thought I was done. But I wasn't, and the castle…" Fai suddenly gave a start, as if he'd just come back to himself. "Well, I wasn't done, in any case. I went to see Yuuko-san again, but all she could tell me was that Mokona would take me where I needed to go."
Fai grew quiet for a moment after that. Kurogane waited, trying to read the other man's expression. It was no good. He couldn't quite see the blond's face completely, couldn't quite find Fai underneath the false cheer and the far away wistfulness and the layers of everything that coated Fai's eyes and sealed his mouth.
Fai closed his eyes and sighed, then spoke at last.
"Kuro-pon, do you remember the first day you worked?"
"Hmmph," Kurogane snorted. "You threw a bag of flour on me and said something stupid."
"That you were a white thing instead of a black thing," Fai said, smiling. "And you got all red-faced and mad and threw some dough at me like a little kid."
"I did not!" Kurogane said indignantly.
"Yes you did!" Fai laughed. "Kuro-pin said 'You bastard, get back here!' and threw dough at me and then you chased me around with a loaf of bread, telling me you were going to knock some sense into my stupid idiot head."
"Which obviously didn't work," Kurogane said. "Since you're still an idiot."
"I was going to fire you after that," Fai said, his voice low. "Did you know that? Because I had so much fun, and I knew it was dangerous. So I was going to fire you. I was going to fire you lots of times, because I knew it was thin ice. I knew you'd get too close, because you're Kuro-tan and it was so much fun having you there. And then Sakura-chan started coming into the shop all the time with Syaoran-kun, and…" Fai trailed off. "It shouldn't have been Syaoran-kun."
"If it bothers you so much, give him back and we'll leave," Kurogane said, unyielding.
"I can't." Fai turned as if to leave. "I told you, Kuro-rin. There's something I want, and I need Syaoran-kun to help me get it. Even if you come after him, I can't let you have him." Fai glanced back at Kurogane, his eyes hooded and dark. "I don't want to be the one who has to stop you, Kuro-chi. So turn back."
"Stop being stupid," Kurogane replied. "You should know better."
Fai laughed darkly.
"Yes, I suppose I should." He sighed. "Stubborn and gloomy, like always."
Fai wrapped his cloak tighter around him until he seemed to disappear beneath it, and then there was only a black crow, flying off into the distance.
Kurogane watched until it was out of sight, then leaned back against the tree, sword still in hand, and watched Sakura sleep.
--
Morning dawned crisp and cold, and there was a thin layer of snow on the ground. Kurogane could tell it was getting colder as they went deeper into the strange country, and the hills off in the distance were white.
That was where they were going, Mokona had said some time earlier. Past those hills was the main part of King Ashura's lands, where the flowers bloomed even though the snow always fell. Even from far away, Kurogane had the distinct impression that there was something not right about those hills. Not just the snow and the cold, but something else. Something that made him think of Fai in the tattered gray crow's cloak, sitting on a tree branch watching a sky without stars.
Thinking about Fai only made him irritated again, and Kurogane shook his head to clear it. He glanced over at Sakura riding nearby. She was talking to Mokona in a low voice and it was responding in a silly cheerful way that only made Kurogane think of Fai again.
Stupid, idiot Fai. Kurogane growled to himself. He didn't understand that idiot at all. Fai had always seemed ridiculous and carefree at the bakery, nothing at all like the imperious figure that had greeted them at the gates. And nothing at all like the Fai he'd met last night, still filled with stupid grins and pointless blather but a bit sad and wistful too, strange in a way he couldn't quite pinpoint. All of it masks and layers and moronic cheer, and Kurogane hated every bit of it.
Which was the only reason why he was looking forward to seeing the blond again, because Kurogane was going to beat some sense into the idiot even if it killed them both.
He thought he heard a soft whisper of something from up ahead and Kurogane reined his horse to a stop, cursing. The idiot wasn't even here and he was already messing things up. Kurogane would have noticed it earlier if he hadn't been so busy thinking about the stupid blond. He motioned to Sakura to stop.
"Kurogane-san?" Sakura's voice was worried. "What's wrong?"
"An ambush," Kurogane said grimly. "I should've noticed the signs earlier. So far this road's looked like no one's traveled it in years, but there are signs all over just this part, as if people just came through. Someone's waiting for us ahead, right where the trees get thicker and the path disappears."
"What should we do?" Sakura asked in a hushed tone, holding Mokona close.
"Tie the horses and hide," Kurogane ordered, dismounting and grabbing his sword. "I'll take care of this."
Not bothering to wait for her answer, Kurogane disappeared down the path.
"Is this your doing?" he muttered quietly to himself. Kurogane doubted it and hated himself for it, but somehow he didn't think this was the sort of thing Fai would do. The blond had said that he didn't want to hurt either of them, and an ambush would put Sakura especially in danger. Whoever was waiting for them, Kurogane was fairly convinced that they were normal bandits, not magicians.
Or perhaps not even bandits. As Kurogane got closer he could hear rustling in the trees. Whoever these people were, they were inexperienced at setting traps. Kurogane could tell their positions with minimal effort. Even if he hadn't noticed the signs when he did, Kurogane would've had to be blind and deaf not to notice them now. He smiled to himself. This would be easy.
From what he could tell, there were only two of them. Likely armed, but that wouldn't be a problem. A sword in the hands of someone who didn't know how to use it was as useless as no sword at all. Kurogane smirked and strode forward, waiting to see who would make the first move.
There was a quick movement in the trees and Kurogane whirled, sword out, as a person leapt out at him. The bandit was covered in a long cloak and hood that obscured all but his eyes, which were wide and surprised at Kurogane's easy anticipation of the attack. The bandit held a long, sharp knife that Kurogane blocked with one simple movement of his sword. Another quick movement and Kurogane swept the weapon right out of his opponent's hands. The bandit was slow to recover from the shock, and Kurogane took the opportunity to bring the hilt of his sword down hard on the man's head. The bandit crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
"You'll have to do better than that," Kurogane said disgustedly. There was no reply. The other bandit had apparently fled already. Kurogane snorted. He'd expected this to be easy, but not this easy.
He was about to bend down to examine the bandit's dropped weapon when he heard a cry from back through the trees. He recognized that voice. Kurogane cursed and ran towards the sound.
Kurogane slid to a halt as he exited the trees, gripping his sword tightly as he surveyed the scene before him. Another bandit, dressed in the same voluminous cloak and face-obscuring hood as the other one, stood in the center of the path, sword drawn. Sakura was on the ground, her back pressed up against a tree and the sword only a short way from her throat. She was holding Mokona against her chest in a white-knuckled grip.
Dammit, the other one! Kurogane cursed his own oversight.
"Drop your sword," the bandit said commandingly, and Kurogane realized that she was female.
"Let her go," Kurogane said.
"If you drop your sword," the bandit repeated, her voice level. "I don't want to hurt the girl, but I will if I must. Drop your sword."
Kurogane growled low in his throat and considered. The distance between them was too great, he wouldn't be able to cross it and disarm the bandit before she injured Sakura. But if he dropped his sword there was still no guarantee that Sakura would remain unharmed.
"What do you want?" Kurogane asked. "Did that blond idiot send you?"
"We only want your supplies," the woman stared. "Drop your sword. Don't make me say it again."
There was the sound of wings rustling in the trees. Kurogane gripped his sword tighter and waited.
"I said--" The woman was cut off sharply as a black shape burst from the trees. The crow flew at her, beating its wings in her face and clawing at her eyes. The bandit cried out and stumbled back, blinded, and swung her sword wildly.
The crow cawed once and disappeared in a flurry of feathers. Before the bandit could even begin to gather herself again Kurogane was there, slamming his fist into her stomach. The woman fell to the ground, her sword tumbling from nerveless fingers.
"Are you all right?" Kurogane turned to face Sakura, who was climbing slowly to her feet.
"Y-yes, I'm all right." Sakura's voice was breathless but she seemed unhurt. "She didn't hurt me."
"Get me some rope out of the packs," Kurogane ordered, kneeling down beside the unconscious bandit. Black feathers littered the path around the body, and Kurogane found his eyes staring off into the distance where the bird had disappeared.
"Kurogane-san?" He didn't even realize that Sakura had returned with the rope until she spoke. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Kurogane said in a rougher tone than he meant to. He took the rope and began to tie the woman's hands behind her back. "She didn't hurt you?"
"No." Sakura shook her head. "Moko-chan and I were waiting for you when she jumped out of the trees and surprised us. She kept us against the tree but she didn't hurt us at all. She said she just needed to keep us there until you got here and said she wouldn't hurt any of us."
Kurogane nodded thoughtfully, then stood.
"Keep an eye on her and tell me if she wakes up." He reached down and picked up the bandit's sword, walking towards the trees.
It was a good sword, well-made enough that Kurogane was certain it had to be stolen. The woman had appeared to have better skill at holding a sword than her companion, but he could tell from her stance that she wasn't used to a sword of this quality. It would suit his purposes perfectly.
That was when he saw the blood on the edge of the blade.
Kurogane cursed again. That idiot. That idiot.
"Kurogane-san!" Sakura's yell attracted his attention and he strode back to where he'd left the girl and the prisoner. The bandit was opening her eyes.
"What did you want from us?" Kurogane held the sword against the woman's neck, eyes burning. His eyes were still on the blood at the tip of the blade. "And who sent you?"
"No one, I swear!" The bandit's eyes were wide. "We weren't going to hurt either of you! We only needed your supplies."
"Why?" Kurogane asked.
"Because our land is dying," the bandit said. "Surely you've seen it, travelers. Please, you must believe me. I come from a village not far to the west of here. We have lived off the land for generations, despite the conditions. Even in the snow and the cold, our crops thrived and game was plentiful. Then, many months ago, something happened. Snow fell which killed everything it touched. Animals disappeared from our forests, and harsh winds destroyed our homes. We have nothing now. We tried to send messengers to the king, to beg for his aid, but none of them, ever returned."
"So you rob travelers instead," Kurogane said. His voice was level.
"It is the only way we can survive," the woman said. "We haven't harmed anyone unless there's been no choice. Our village depends on us to survive."
"Kurogane-san," Sakura spoke up hesitantly. "Kurogane-san, I believe her. She didn't hurt me, even though she could have."
"Is there anyone else waiting to ambush us?" Kurogane glanced only briefly at Sakura before returning his attentions to the bandit. "Do you have more people hiding somewhere nearby?"
"Only us two are left now," the woman said. "If there are others, they did not arrive with us."
Kurogane was silent for a moment, considering.
"Kurogane-san?" Sakura asked hesitantly.
"Where did you get this sword?" Kurogane said finally.
"We stole it," the bandit said. "It was amongst the supplies we stole from a rich merchant who traveled this way a month ago. We did him a favor," she added fiercely. "With no supplies, he had to turn back. If he'd gone forward, the winter would have caught and killed him, as I'm certain it killed our village's messengers. And as it will kill you, if you go on."
"We're going to see the king," Sakura said suddenly. "We'll talk to him for you, so please tell your friend not to ambush us again. I'm sure we can help you all."
"I'm keeping this sword," Kurogane said, turning away. "If any of you attack us again, I'll kill you. Go back home."
"You'll die if you go on." Kurogane could hear the bandit speaking breathlessly to Sakura even as he walked over to untie the horses.
"Don't worry." Sakura's answer was firm. "We won't die, I'm certain of it. It's very important that we see the king. So please don't worry about us."
"You're too trusting sometimes, Lady," Kurogane said darkly as Sakura reappeared beside him, the rope in her hands and Mokona on her shoulder.
"I think she meant what she said," Sakura said. "I don't think they'll attack us again."
"Mokona trusts her too," the white thing added. "And Mokona is a very good judge of character."
Kurogane turned away and didn't reply.