07/01/07

Please Note: I have, at the moment, lost interest in writing this selection of one shots. This is due, in part, because I haven't been able to keep up with recent chapters because of my internet connect and in part thanks to Real Life rearing its ugly head accompanied by a very painful Kick to the Pants.

This does not mean, however, that I have given up on this. Far from it, in fact. It is one of the few stories I have planned out in a way that I can actually complete. I don't think that made sense, but you get the idea.

Again, my sincerest apologies for those of you waiting few a new chapter. (I have the first line stuck in my head for the next one, but D.Gray-Man has eaten my brain. Eheh.)

--Doukeshi

a/n: Okay so like, I know I haven't updated for a long, long, long, time. And I am really sorry about that! But uhh… my English skills have been worsening and an increasingly rapid rate.

Living in a non-English-speaking country can do that to a person. -sighs-

Anyway, not much new here. Thunder-storming today like crazy, the kittens are also crazy, I had a 3 day sleepover, caught up on Criminal Minds, Standoff, House, Grey's Anatomy, Jericho, Justice, Ghost Whisperer, Close to Home, Ugly Betty, Six Degrees, Heroes, Host Club, and pretty much every other new series on TV.

Yes. I have no life.

Umm… this may be a little confusing. Let us blame it on me trying to do a Kuro-woof P.O.V. fic this time? And the fact that dealing with Fai can confuse even the best of us.

--

Title: Excessive Chain
Author/Artist: Allen Haverstock
Pairing: Kurogane/Fai D. Flourite
Fandom: Tsubasa RESERvoir CHRONiCLES
Theme: Kisses #13 – excessive chain, Hugs #26 – "I never say the truth"
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 called CLAMP.

If there was one thing he had learned since he had been ripped from the world he was raised in an untimely fashion and forced to join forces with a kid, a princess, a manjuu bun and an idiot on a fanatical quest to find, of all things, feathers, it was that everything was connected. Each world they visited was another piece of the excessive chain that made up the universe, dimensions and life.

Hitsuzen…?

It wasn't something he cared to think about too often -- destiny, or fate, or whatever it was that people were supposed to believe in. He always found that there was no point in dwelling; that it was always better to keep pushing forward instead of being held back by the past.

The thought that everything he did would lead to the same outcome, thanks to destiny, or fate, or whatever, -- Hitsuzen -- was a very sobering one and, just this once, he would prefer to remain protected by ignorance rather than feel as though everything he did was of no consequence. He hated feeling useless.

The thought that he may have been fated to meet his new companions was, if possible, even more disturbing to him. That he could ever have been destined to meet, of all people, an idiotic mage who refused to use whatever skills he had at his disposal, was laughable. He had never met a person as enigmatic and infuriating as the blond -- for that he was thankful.

If there had been two idiots to deal with… He shuddered at the thought.

"Hmm? Is Kuro-pipi cold?"

Speak of the devil.

"No," he grumbled from where he sat. "Now go away, idiot."

He glanced at the mage out of the corner of his eye and saw the man watching him with a slight frown. Pout, he corrected himself. That man never frowned. He quickly averted his gaze -- so the idiot wouldn't catch him staring -- until he was instead staring at the bulbous moon hanging in the sky in front of him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," he hissed.

He felt the mage sit down gracefully next to him; chin resting atop steepled fingers, elbows resting on knees, and though the smaller man's eyes had followed his own gaze to the moon he could tell that he had the blond's full attention.

"Lying doesn't befit you, Kuro-tan."

"It's Kurogane, asshole," Kurogane reminded him for the thousandth time, though it was more of a natural reaction than actual scorn by this point in their journey. "And I never lie. Unlike some people."

He glanced meaningfully at the blond to help get his message across, but it was about as useful as killing a bug after it had bitten you.

"I never lie, either, Kuro-rin," the mage said softly, now hugging his legs to his chest; head resting on his knees, sun-kissed bangs covering his eyes, and his face turned towards him revealing the ever-present smile. "And my name is Fai, not asshole, or idiot, or mage."

Kurogane snorted, "The Hell you don't."

Although the thought that he hardly ever used the blond's name, only derogatory words in its stead, hadn't occurred to him before. It was a lot like what the idiot did to his name, Kurogane realized, suddenly. Except with expletives.

Fai sent him a customary smile. Kurogane had noticed before that the other man never seemed to have an expression that wasn't laced with the well-hidden pain he was now accustomed to seeing, and, seeing it again, he was curious as to what could have caused it.

He sometimes found himself wondering if, maybe, he could help lessen the pain somewhat. He then almost always found himself wondering what the Hell the idiot poisoned him with at their last meal.

"I never lie," Fai repeated, looking him right in the eye. "But I also never speak the truth."

"And why is that?" he asked gruffly.

He wondered if there was anything the man could do that wouldn't pique his curiosity. Or annoy him.

"Because," said the blond with a bitterness in his voice Kurogane wasn't used to hearing. It was subtle, and he was surprised that he caught it. "Some people can't handle the truth."

"Who?" he asked harshly. "That Ashura guy?"

Why couldn't the infernal man just tell him what he meant like a normal human being?

He ignored the voice in the back of his mind that claimed there was no way that idiot could be human. Not with the way he acted, and moved, and evaded. Especially not after… he cut his next thought off before it could finish.

Insanity must be contagious, he thought solemnly and he was tempted to edge away from the mage in an effort to save what little sanity he had left.

Fai snorted softly, though Kurogane didn't miss how the man's face paled. Even the rosy hue his cheeks gained from the cold wind couldn't hide it.

"No," he said, "Not him."

"Then who?" he growled, sick of this hide-and-seek conversation.

"Me."

"And what is this truth then? The one you're so afraid of?"

"Why do you want to know?"

Kurogane blinked, at a loss, and then scowled; angry that he had no real response to that. He was a ninja for god's sake! He was supposed to be prepared for anything!

Although he had to admit that he was becoming more accustomed to being at a loss ever since he had first laid eyes on the mage. He had honestly, the first time he saw the willowy man, thought he was a girl.

But only for a second.

It was an honest mistake. Because, really, no man should allowed to be that pretty. Pretty was reserved for girls. And flowers. And clothes. And linen.

Not for men.

And reality as he knew it only continued on a downward spiral from there.

Lost in his thoughts, a reply was out of his mouth before he realized he was even speaking.

"Because I lo--"

He managed to cut himself off in horror. There was no way he was going to say that. He didn't know where the thought came from, but he would never admit to it. Because it wasn't true.

It couldn't be true.

"--like knowing just what in Hell is going on."

Fai gave him a slightly self-satisfied -- knowing -- grin.

Kurogane realized, in that moment, that he was doomed.

"The day you can admit the truth to yourself is the day I'll tell you what you want to know," he said before adding ominously: "If you still want to when the time comes."

Kurogane scowled. "I'll hold you to that."

Fai sent him an uncharacteristic smirk as he hopped with cat-like grace off of the roof and landed silently on the deck. "Whatever you say, Kuro-pon," he called out.

He was watching the idiot sneak up behind the brat absentmindedly as he recounted their conversation, trying to figure out what, exactly, happened. It was then that Kurogane began to understand a bit more about how the fair-haired mage must feel.

Bound to your past by an excessive chain of lies.

He remembered, suddenly, that the whole reason things happened the way they did that night was because he had been scoffing at the whole idea of fate, and destiny, and Hitsuzen.

Bound to your future by Hitsuzen.

For the first time in a long time, Kurogane began to believe.

Review and I'll give you a beijino!

P.S., FF fixed the line divider thingy! For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about… well, that's good because it means that it never bothered you before and you were saved a lot of grief.

Huffah.