I wanted to reply to the reviews privately, but they were submitted anonymously, so...

Dear angry KuroFai fans,

I would like to direct your attention to the KuroFai tag of the fic. This may not be the usual fluff, but have faith; they will end up together in this fic. I just wanted to write a story that would remind everyone that Fai is, indeed, a man, even if he does belong with Kuro. Also, if you remember the mood of the Infinity arc, there was no way that Fai would just fall into Kuro's arms. But, these are my opinions.

Still, thank you very much for your honest reviews. I just wish you'd used signed reviews so I could reply to you privately. That said, here's the rest of the fic.

With much love,

paris

I wonder if they'll get to read this, cause judging by their reviews, I think they wanted the fic to drop off the face of the planet. Oh well, I tried...

Infinity Nights

2. Memories and Dreams

Fai hadn't gone out because Sakura had asked him not to. Something was bothering her and she found herself awakening from nightmares quite frequently. That she couldn't find Fai the night before made her ask him not to go out that night.

That was why Fai stayed home. That was why Fai was lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. That was how Kurogane found him, anyway, when the ninja entered their shared room. The night was still young and each other's presence weighed heavily on them.

Kurogane and Fai had slept together, in the most literal sense, on more than one occasion during their journey. Infinity was just another world where they had to do just that.

At this point, they really should be more comfortable with each other, but they were even more unsettled than before. As he pulled off his shirt and dropped onto his bed, Kurogane thought back to the many times the two of them had shared a room.

There were those times when all of them were forced to stay in one room. It was always Kurogane near the window, Fai near the door with Mokona, and Syaoran beside the princess. There were also some nights when budget constraints left the three of them with two rooms with one bed each, wherein Syaoran, the one that was no longer with them, would immediately volunteer to sleep on the couch so that Sakura and Mokona could take one room and the adults could take the other. If the bed was large enough, they would sleep on opposite ends of it as if an invisible wall separated them. If the bed wasn't large enough for them to not touch while lying in it, Kurogane would stay on the floor. And then, there were those days in Yama. They had been given separate quarters at first, Fai being an archer and Kurogane being a swordsman. But the men of the army were skeptical of their loyalties and were particularly suspicious of the pale man who didn't speak. Fearing for Fai's safety, Kurogane insisted that the magician share his bed. He thought it'd be difficult convincing the Celesian to share the small futon without the aid of speech, but all he had to do was give Fai a meaningful look and the blond unresistingly followed him. So the leery stares—both lecherous and untrusting—the blond was attracting like a magnet transcended language barriers, after all. Those nights, they slept with Kurogane's arms wrapped around Fai's frame protectively. Fai was resigned, but his body remained taut and stiff the entire night, even as he fitfully slept.

And Kurogane reflected on these things as he stared at the ceiling that night. He found it ironic that in the amount of time that the two of them had spent together, he had shared innumerable beds with the man, but he could count the number of times he touched the man to feel him. Fai touched him constantly in the past, playful and insincere. The pokes and pats and even the hugs were all done without meaning and Kurogane understood that, but that did not mean he did not relish them. That was why he rarely ventured out to feel the mage, knowing that if the other man was only capable of empty contact; then perhaps the reality of what was held by a brush of Kurogane's hand could drive them apart.

The ninja, astute as he was, proved himself right in that world where they lost the kid and Fai's eye.

Now that the magician was losing his grip on himself, Kurogane wanted to grab hold of him so much more than ever before. Ever since that day in Tokyo—no, ever since they met, he had been chasing after a man who was determined to head towards his desired ending. He did not want to lose Fai any more than that fateful day in that wasted country. The ninja wasn't afraid to entertain these thoughts. Real men were not afraid of their feelings. As intimidating as the growing significance of Fai D. Fluorite to him was, he accepted it and even welcomed it. In fact, he could already go as far as saying that Fai was his most important person. Wasn't it obvious, after all, when he allowed himself to become E?

But, Fai was a different story from Kurogane. He ran from his memories. He ran from feelings he did not understand or did not like. He ran from anything that threatened to bring these things to light. So, he ran away from the things that had lately become so blatantly clear by focusing on the past, instead. Even if he was awake, Fai tried to dream. Inside his head, Fai was back in Outo Country serving a cake he had just finished dressing with the most decadent chocolate dressing to his small family. In the Cat's Eyes Café in Fai's dreams Sakura was serving the coffee to Syaoran-kun and "Syaoran"; Kurogane was sitting there complaining about the sweetness of everything; Mokona was teasing Kurogane; and Fai was cutting the cake and serving it to Ashura-Ou and...

...Fai...

Fai shuddered as he stared up at the ceiling of their room. He hadn't thought about the other Fai in a very long while. He hadn't realized that he had been so caught up in all the things that had been happening--losing Syaoran, almost losing Sakura, fighting in the chess tournaments, running away from Kurogane--that he had begun to lose sight of why he was doing everything he was doing, in the first place. The young other Fai in his mind looked up at him so that his face was reflected in the other's wide blue eyes. And suddenly, they were back in the tower, back in Valeria, back in that horrible moment when they watched his twin plunge to his death.

The mage gasped as he relived the sickening impact in his head.

A red eye was fast on the magician who slowly sat up, shaking the memories from his head. Kurogane did not ask, Fai would not tell. So, as Fai left the room, running from his memories; Kurogane watched and waited for the other to come back.

Kurogane and Fai had slept together, in the most literal sense, on more than one occasion during their journey and Infinity was just another world where they had to do just that. At this point, they really should be more comfortable with each other, but they were even more unsettled than before.

Author's Notes:

Short and bittersweet, but I hope you guys enjoyed it.