THE MOUNTAIN IN THE SKY (PART II)

Fai had problems lifting himself up until he was lying on the tiled floor, panting heavily by the effort of it. The wolf like blue creature kept staring at him with its bright emerald eyes, but it didn't move an inch while the Mage worked on saving himself from a very long and painful, quite possible lethal, fall.

Fai pushed himself up to a sitting position with his shaky arms and stared back at the creature, trying to understand why he hadn't been brutally attacked and ripped to shreds in those few moments it had taken him to climb back into the hall.

The giant wolf demon stared some more, then blinked and moved its tail quietly, studying the human with piercing eyes, apparently judging whether he was a danger or not.

Fai, still panting, took his right hand to his forehead to clean off the weat that had accumulated there, but when he tried to move his whole arm shot in an unbearable pain. He winced and clutched it tightly with his left. As carefully as he could, he touched his shoulder with his delicate fingers.

It was out of place. It was obvious by the way there was a gap between the bone of the shoulder and the bone of the arm, where there shouldn't be any gap. His elbow was twisted and quickly swallowing, but wasn't broken. His wrist though was bent in a completely unnatural angle. Fai gasped upon looking at it, asking himself how could he had forced his wrist to hold on to the edge in set of letting go, in that terrible state… it must have been unconscious, as he realized he had done it to save his own life, when usually he would have welcomed the opportunity to end it, specially when Kurogane was away and couldn't become infuriated by his lack of self concern…

He didn't get how his slender, delicate fingers had hold on the entire weight of his body while forcing the junctures of his bones so brutally…

He heard a slow growl and lifted his gaze.

The demon had gotten so close to his bent legs he was actually sniffing them softly, taking in the scent of Fai's body.

Puzzled by that move, and still rather shocked by what ahd happened only moments ago, Fai didn't have the presence of will to quickly push himself away, specially not with that arm in that state.

The demon ran its nose from Fai's knee down to his ankle and sniffed a little harder. Then suddenly he was biting down on it.

Fai's eyes widened although the pain wasn't still reaching his numb brain and stifled a scream as the demon raised its head and dragged him away from the edge.

Finally reacting, the Mage winced and tried to reach his ankle with his left arm, but the demon moved its head and sank the fangs in deeper.

Fai screamed and tried to escape, but there really was no way… he was at the demon's mercy. He sat up and made it to grab the fur and push the demon into letting him go, but suddenly he found he had to defend himself against the puppy too, and reacted just in time to cover his neck with his arm as it jumped to attack.

In set of letting it bite him this time, though, the mage brutally moved his arm and strike it in the muzzle. The puppy made a stifle cry and dropped to the floor, confused by the sudden pain.

The demon growled, letting go of Fai's ankle to jump over him so that the Mage was trapped between its giant paws, the huge growling muzzle inches from his head, and Fai had a moment of hesitation as he struggled to decide whether to use his magic and get himself free of this situation, or simply let the demon had his way and let it all end then and there…

And as it usually happened, it turned out it wasn't Fai's decision at all, as the long silver blade of a sword swung it way through said muzzle, making a deep cut on top if it. Warm blood splattered over Fai as the demon winced pitifully and retreated away from his lying form, crying.

Fai blinked and looked up as Kurogane's black form materialized in front of his eyes, his face cold but his eyes concerned. The samurai roughly clutched the front of his shirt and pulled him up to a sitting position. When Fai seemed to drop back again, he placed his thigh against his back and let him rest against it, holding his head with his big hand.

"What the hell happened to you?" he demanded.

"I… had a bit of an incident, I'm afraid…"

"Fai-san!" Syaoran was kneeling at his side looking at him worried. "Your wrist!" he exclaimed with horror.

"It's alright." Fai smiled calmly. "Just broken."

"Fai-san, you're injured! And Fuu-chan didn't come! We have to get you to the Castle." Hikaru said.

"No, don't abort this on my account, I'm fine."

"Don't lie." Kurogane growled, lightly touching the injured ankle with the tip of his sword, careful not to sink it in. Fai winced painfully. "You need attention."

"I'm telling you, Kuro-puu, I'm fine!" he laughed softly and in returned Kurogane nudged his displaced shoulder with deliberated force. Now Fai cried out softly.

"Kurogane-san…" Umi started worried by the cold look in the deep red eyes.

"Don't lie." The samurai repeated coldly, now his voice sounding forced. He was making an effort to keep himself under control.

"We need to move him back to the Castle." Lantis said, as he studied the demon with his deep eyes. "His injuries are not life threatening, but they are dangerous. This demon… why did he attack you, Fai-san?"

"Oh, that was probably my fault." Fai answered, gasping. "I might have gone too close to its puppy…"

The demon lifted its head and growled aggressively at Lantis. The man moved his sword lightly and the blade appeared, a bright line of white light he directed to the demon. The wolf growled some more, its long ears shook, then he lowered its head, and started withdrawing back into the darkness of the columns where the light of the sun didn't reach.

"We only heard your scream a moment ago, Fai-san." Syaoran said. "We didn't hear when you called."

"You didn't." Kurogane corrected. "You just stayed behind, didn't you?"

"I didn't think it was dangerous." Fai sighed. "Besides… Kurorin always says I should take care of myself…"

"I never said you should let yourself die before calling for us!"

"That's not what I meant to do." Fai said honestly, his smile faltering a little when he saw Kurogane's eyes, ablaze. "I really didn't think I could be…" his voice died slowly. "Kurorin is upset at me…"

Kurogane turned his eyes away, furious. His fingers in Fai's neck were too tight; he was conscious that he was hurting the tender flesh there, and he knew that the only reason Fai wasn't complaining was that the reflex of automatically hiding his pain was heightened by the fact that the Mage knew, he knew, Kurogane was angered at him for letting himself be injured so stupidly.

"Kurogane-san, we should call for the fish and go back down." Syaoran said, eyeing the samurai wearily.

Kurogane nodded silently. "Go." He said shortly. "We'll catch up."

"But…" Hikaru hesitated.

"Go."

Lantis touched Hikaru's shoulder. Though she and Umi eyed Kurogane some more, worried about his mental stability (and who wouldn't…) the fact that Syaoran so promptly obeyed the order indicated that he trusted the samurai wouldn't hurt the fragile mage, so they left them alone for a moment. Still, Lantis glanced back every few steps just to make sure.

"You said…" Fai started. "That night in the bar in Outo Country you said…"

"I said I'd take care of the ones I care for." Kurogane cut. "If you were in danger, why the hell didn't you call for us?"

"I didn't realized I was after it had happened, Kurorin…"

"Don't call me that." Kurogane gritted his teeth. "Be serious, damn it! I'm sick with you trying to find a way to get killed…"

"You're being unfair." Fai blinked. "I made a mistake, that's all."

"Your mistakes are getting increasingly suicidal."

Fai blinked. He was at a loss in front of Kurogane's blazing anger.

"That night" he insisted. "You said I had to save myself and not wait for someone to come save me. You…"

"I won't let you die." Kurogane cut. "I won't let you, let yourself die, either." He pressed. "I told you, you're not alone anymore, you don't belong only to yourself anymore. The kids like you. The kids will be sad if you die, and they have already other things to be sad about. They don't need a weak coward who can't defend himself because he thinks his life is worthless!" he ended in a hiss.

Fai's smile had disappeared a while ago. Now his eyes flooded with tears and he had to blink them back down. Kurogane's fingers were tangled in his hair, pulling it and adding to the pain in his chest and his throat.

"Stop." He managed to choke out. Kurogane's eyes widened a bit, flaring up, but Fai shook his head slowly. "You have to stop. You'll hurt yourself if you go much further… you'll hurt them…"

"I told you already, I don't give a damn about your past." Kurogane growled. "I know you now, I want you to live in the now. Be a part of this group, or leave the group altogether. Don't be dangling in the middle."

"I can't live hold together by your will, Kurogane." Fai sighed, relaxing his head back to the samurai's big hand, so that he uncurled his fingers to hold it properly. "It doesn't work like that."

"Then find your own will." Kurogane closed his eyes a moment, clearing his mind. "Until you do, I'll keep you alive, and so will the kid and the princess. Find some will there is you need it, live for them, until you can live for yourself. If you can't" he added firmly. "If time passes and you still don't have something to live for, and still want to die, then I'll kill you myself."

Fai laughed softly. "Such a determined child…"

Kurogane grunted. He pulled Fai back up to a sitting position and turned his back on him, grabbing his left arm and passing it over his own shoulder so that Fai's hand could clutch at his chest.

"Get on." He ordered.

Fai sighed, but with some effort, he obeyed. Kurogane passed his arms under his legs and hoisted him up to his back so that Fai's head rested on his shoulder.

"How's your arm?"

"It's fi—it hurts." He cut himself, already feeling the warrior's temper if he dared say he was fine.

"There's string." Kurogane said after a moment.

"Uh?"

"There's string that bind people." The man continued. "That's why you're not alone anymore. You don't belong only to yourself, you're not your only person. When you know people you bind them to you and they bind you to them. Giving yourself up and dying is completely selfish because you give away something other people try to keep. You must think we're idiots."

"No, I… that's not true."

"But it is." Kurogane looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "Because when you allow yourself to be hurt when the kids and I try to keep you safe, you disregard our will and simply do what you want. That's selfish. I don't know what happened to you before I met you, but I don't care either…"

"I never said I was brave." Fai whispered. Kurogane widened his eyes. "You can think I'm a coward… it's surely true to someone like you. But you're young, Kurogane… and whatever strength I had before left me…" he interrupted himself and his head shifted so that his temple was pressed against the man's shoulder, his face away from his. "It's not that I want to die… I just don't care… but if you want me to care, then…" Kurogane noted the Mage's voice was turning into a whisper, and alarmed realized he was losing consciousness. "I guess… I'll have to… fight…" he was unconscious.

break+

Crystal blue eyes opened up to a white ceiling. He didn't know this foreign ceiling. He didn't recognize this foreign ceiling. He swallowed and turned his head.

He didn't recognize the white haired man lying in the bed next to him either. How could he, all of a sudden, be in a place he didn't recognize…?

He sat up and noticed his body didn't hurt. He looked at his wrist, which was cured, and his elbow and shoulder too, and his ankle didn't hurt. So he had been cured… ah, yes, Fuu-chan. He smiled softly.

"You seem better." A soft gentle voice. Fai looked at the man in the next bed. The man seemed asleep, his eyes closed, a gentle smile gracing his lips. "I was worried when they brought you. You were broken."

How very true that is, in so many sad senses, Fai thought to himself.

"You must be Eagle." Fai said quietly. "Hikaru-chan told me about you. I trust you're coming off better every day."

"I am improving, it is said." Eagle chuckled lightly. "I wouldn't know. Although I gradually become more aware of my own body."

"You must be very aware of the hearts of those around you, also." Fai said. "Because you can't move, your mind senses are sharpening. Kurogane…"

"That strong young man? He was angered, and saddened… it's really very pretentious of me to try and understand someone I don't know."

Fai smiled.

"Your company is very similar to Fuu-chan's, Fai-san."

"Yes, so I have been told." Fai said without moving his lips. "I know you know, I could help you, but… " his voice died out into the room.

"That's alright." Eagle said soothingly. "You're still shaking, it would seem."

Fai closed his eyes and stilled his spirit. He wasn't physically shaking…

"Are you scared?"

Fai opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling. "I guess… "

"I understand." Eagle said gently. "It can be scary… to learn to have faith again… once you've accepted you will die. I understand."

Fai lifted his arm over his eyes and closed them, sighing.

"But" Eagle continued. "It's not so scary when you realize… you're not alone."

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Next chapter they'll go back to the mountain, since with all this they didn't get a chance to see if the feather was there or not. Until then!

Namariel, out!