Title: Connections
Author/Artist: Allen Haverstock
Pairing: Kurogane/Fai D. Flourite
Fandom: Tsubasa RESERvoir CHRONiCLES
Theme: Kisses #29 -- the sound of waves, Hugs #9 -- footprints
Disclaimer: If I owned them they wouldn't be nearly as hot and smexy and mysterious because I suck like that. Fai and Kuro-tan are owned by the lovely clump of potatoes known as CLAMP.
The waves lapped at his feet lazily; swirling beneath his toes and pulling the sand beneath them back, as though reclaiming it from his clutches. He gave a slight laugh that was caught on the evening breeze, his blond hair whirling about his face as though it wanted to follow. He brushed it back behind an ear absently.
Fai had never seen the ocean before. He had never even heard of such a thing, as there were no oceans in his world -- just ice and snow and permafrost and an ever-present chill that seeped through clothes like cold water. He shivered at the memory.
Shifting his gaze back to the ocean Fai watched the sun melt into the horizon, casting a line of soft, orange light across the surface of the water. It was beautiful, he thought. The sunsets in his own world were appealing, but they didn't have the life in them that this one did. There wasn't much in his world that had life in it -- there was too much bloodshed for that.
Fai stood up suddenly, deciding to walk along the shoreline and look for some shells. Sakura would like to make jewelry out of them. It would give her something to do other than look for her feather, fret over Syaoran or fall into an exhausted sleep.
He walked slowly, savouring the feeling of the wet sand squishing between his toes. He closed his eyes for a moment to listen to the waves crash against the land and was surprised to hear the soft crunching of footsteps behind him. He pretended not to notice as he bent down to pick up a pretty pink shell.
It glowed softly with the fading sunlight. He smiled. Sakura would like this one.
"Oi, what are you doing?" asked a gruff voice from behind him. Fai heard the wind whipping at the man's clothes and whistling in his ears. The waves continued to crash against the sand soothingly.
"I'm looking for shells. Would you like to help me, Kuro-tan?"
There was an indignant snort. "As if I would want to do something so stupid. Besides, why didn't you do that earlier with the princess and the manjuu bun when it was light out?"
"It was too hot," Fai replied, turning the shell he found over and running his fingers across its smooth surface. "I'm not used to the heat."
"You should have gone in the water then," Kurogane said, coming up to stand slightly behind the blond.
Fai turned to look at the taller man, an unreadable smile plastered on his face. "I can't swim," he told him, grin never wavering, though his azure eyes darkened a bit. "There wasn't anywhere to learn where I came from. Unless I wanted to freeze to death."
He resumed walking, each step leaving a light indent in the sand. Kurogane followed him silently, his own footprints leaving a deeper mark.
"Footprints are wonderful things, don't you think, Kuro-pipi?" Fai asked suddenly. The dark-haired man knitted his brows together in annoyed confusion but had grown used to such random questions from the blond.
"What are you on about, mage?"
Fai stopped abruptly, staring at the ground, pink shell held tightly in one hand. Kurogane stopped as well and glared at him, "Well?" he demanded, lips drawn into a thin line.
"Walk ahead of me, Kuro-chin," the blond ordered lightly, "And I'll explain."
The ninja reluctantly agreed.
"You'd better not do anything stupid, like pounce on me or something." Kurogane threatened. Fai giggled at that, somehow managing to hit the same note consecutively, causing Kurogane to wonder, briefly, if the mage had any masculine pride at all.
Thinking back on all the mage had done in the time they had known each other he concluded that no, he did not.
Somewhat surprised that Kurogane did what he had asked without complaint, Fai followed him; making sure every step he took was inside the footprint the man in front of him left behind. They walked on like that for a few minutes until the blond broke the silence.
"You can stop now," he said. "Look behind you."
The larger man did, and then growled. "What am I looking at?"
"The footprints. See?" Fai motioned behind them with a slender hand. "There's only one set, but does that mean that only one person walked this path?"
"No. So?"
"It means that two souls walked the same path – that they're connected somehow."
"What if I don't want to be connected to you?"
Fai laughed softly; it was a nice clear sound that seemed to resonate in the air. Kurogane stared at him, red eyes shining with the dying light of the sun. The blond's skin looked paler than normal against the darkening sky, though there was a slight flush across his nose and cheeks and his hair curled about his face with more ferocity than he was used to seeing thanks to the salty air.
Once he realized what he was doing Kurogane quickly averted his gaze.
"I think it's a bit too late for that now, don't you think, Kuro-pon?"
"What are you talking about?" asked the ninja, turning back to the mage angrily.
Fai laughed again and plastered another lop-sided grin onto his face. Kurogane hadn't even noticed it was gone.
"If you don't know now, then I'm not going to tell you" sang the blond, earning himself an angry slice to the head that he dodged easily.
"We should go back now, don't you think Big Puppy? The kids are going to be so worried!"
Kurogane grunted a response. Fai ran his fingers along the edge of the shell he was carrying.
"Besides," continued the blond, "Sakura-chan will probably want her feather."
"W-what!" cried the ninja, outraged. When had the mage found the feather?
Fai held the shell in front of Kurogane's face. "See, Kuro-rin?"
"That's a shell, dumbass."
The blond flipped it over for him to see. There, on the inside of the shell was the familiar pattern that was reserved for one of the princess's feathers.
"But that's a shell!"
"So? Stranger things have happened," said Fai. "Besides, it is sort of shaped like a feather, See?"
Kurogane opened his mouth to respond to that. Then closed it. Then opened it again. Fai giggled that infuriating giggle of his.
"Kuro-chu! You look like a fish!"
"S-Shut-up!" hollered the ninja, a blush evident across his face. Fai moved so they were nearly nose for nose, blue eyes alight with mischief. They were so close that Kurogane could see the slight dusting of freckles the mage had gotten across his cheeks thanks to the heat. His blush deepened and he tried shake the mage off him.
"But I love you for it."
Kurogane's efforts to push the blond away ceased abruptly in his surprise. Fai took this chance and gave him a soft kiss, swiping his tongue across the ninja's bottom lip almost on instinct before pulling away with a smile.
"W-wha? Y-you!" Kurogane stammered. Fai patted him on the shoulder in what was supposed to be a comforting manner, but ending up being more of a mocking action than anything.He leaned over so his lips were just brushing against the ninja's ears.
"You taste like chocolate," whispered the blond, laughing. "I thought you didn't like sweets!"
Kurogane's skin was tingling where the mage exhaled and his stomach fluttered strangely. He began to wonder if there was any truth in what the shorter man had said to him earlier about being 'connected'.
Fai glomped him before hescampered away towards their temporary residence; arms waving in the air exaggeratedly at the two teenagers sitting outside on the deck watching the stars.
Kurogane followed at a much slower pace, arriving at the house after all of the excitement died down and the kid put the princess to bed. He found the blond sprawled on his stomach on the living room couch, sleeping peacefully; limbs and blankets and hair tangled together impossibly.
He snorted. The mage was a nuisance even in his sleep. Fai murmured something unintelligible and buried his face deeper into the pillow, flinging an arm so it hung off the side of the couch along with his leg.
Kurogane sighed and rearranged the blankets so they covered Fai. His hand lingered near the smaller man's cheek for a moment before he gently brushed the stray strands of hair away from Fai's face. Fai made a contented noise and leaned into the touch.
Smiling softly, Kurogane decided could kill the mage tomorrow.
After he taught the idiot how to swim.