Kurogane and Syaoran saw the punch and dodged it. Kurogane swiftly jumped over the person and grabbed the person's arms and pulled them tight behind their back. He heard a little yell of pain, and it didn't sound like any one they knew.

" Who are you?" Kurogane asked.

The person didn't say anything.

" Your just a kid!" Kurogane said, letting go of the small person. His clothes were dirty, ripped and stained. His hair's a mess and knotted. There was scratched on him, as if he just got in a fight, they were still fresh.

" What happened?"

" I won it fare and square!" The little boy shouted.

" Won what?"

" This!" He exclaimed proudly, showing them a feather.

' That's Sakura's feather.' Syaoran thought.

Kurogane looked at it and the boy quickly shoved it in his pocket.

" You wont be getting it!"

" How old are you?" asked Syaoran.

" I'm ten." He said.

" Are you hungry? We could make a trade for that feather, some food and decent clothes, and a blanket, for that feather of yours?" Syaoran asked.

" Why would you trade me all those things for a feather?"

" Because." He started. " It is a really pretty feather and I thought that it would be a perfect present for a girl I like." He said.

The boy looked at the feather, his stomach started to growl.

" What do you say?" Kurogane asked.

The boy nodded.

" What's your name?" asked Kurogane.

The boy was hesitant. " My-my name?"

" Yes, your name."

" My name is Marius."

" Do you have a home?" Asked Syaoran.

The boy was caught off guard with that question. He shook his head, and realized they couldn't see him so he replied, " No, not really."

Syaoran felt bad for this small boy.
" Well we will give you that food and a blanket, and some clothes if you just hand us the feather.

The boy obeyed and handed him the feather.

They started to head back to the house to give him some food. When they were out of the ally, they say the boy looked worse then what they could see. He had blonde hair and it was a bit long. He was a bit smaller then Syaoran and had magnificent smoky gray eyes.

He followed the two older guys to the house.

The boy looked a bit uncomfortable.

" What's wrong?" asked Syaoran.

" n-nothing." He stuttered.

They walked in. Fay jumped up when he seen they came back unharmed.

" Who's this?" He asked and he bent over to look at the boy at his height.
" His eyes are gorgeous!"

" This is Marius." Syaoran introduced to Fay. Once their shoes were off, they went into the living room. Kurogane let the kid sit in his chair since it was the comfiest. The thanked him for his generosity once Fay explained to him he wasn't usually this nice, and how that it was his favorite chair.

Calleigh came in the room.
" Oh and who is this?" as she was drying her hands.

" This is Marius." Fay said standing beside him.

" What happened?"

" Kuro-wan explained to me how he was homeless, had no food, and not very usable clothes as you can see."

She nodded. " I have some extra clothes for him. He can stay here as long as he wants. How old is he?"

" I'm ten." He said looking up and then looking back down with a small blush on his face. Fay chuckled.

He walked over to Calleigh, I'll help you with dinner." Fay said taking Calleigh in the kitchen to get diner ready.

Syaoran went to get the kid some food before dinner.

Kurogane stayed in the room with the boy.

It was a bit awkward. Both wanted to say something, but nothing could come out of their mouths. It was a silent; they could hear the clock ticking with each second passing by.

" Dinner is ready!" chimed Fay from the kitchen door. Kurogane got up as well as they boy.

" We sit at the table." Kurogane explained making his way to the table. As he sat down, Fay brought an extra chair in for the boy.

They were talking to the boy, asking him how he lived and what he was up too.

Kurogane could see Calleigh liked kids. As if she wanted one for her own. He was polite and proper.

" I have an extra bed if you would like to stay here." She asked him.

Everyone could tell that she said for one night, but they all thought the same thought.
She was going to keep him.

He thanked her very much.

She smiled brightly at him.

They had that night burgers and fries, something Kurogane wasn't too fond of. It was too greasy, and spiced up too much for his liking. He quickly gobbled it up and excused himself form the table. The food smelt greasy to him as well.

He got up and made his way to his bedroom. He lay down and waited for the hyper active Mage came waltzing in.

He had his hands under his head and he stared up at the ceiling, the stuffed dog was sitting beside him. He turned his head to look at every detail of the dog.

He stared into the red painted eyes of the dog. He was thinking about Fay and his feelings about him. He figured out he liked him, but was it more then that? He couldn't stay angry with him any longer, and it hurt him to see him sad, fake or not.

He rolled on his side, his back to the door. He kept and ear open for the door.
His eyes were slowly closing from over doing it. He knew Fay was right, but hated to stay in one place, and especially when He let someone tell him he was over doing something and he told then they were right. His eyes were closing more. The ninja knew he was about to fall asleep. He didn't want to, try to keep his eyes open so he could see the Mage.
He heard the door and rolled over to see who it was, but saw the door opened on it's own. He rolled onto his back and now closed his eyes. That's when he felt his hands were forcefully taken from his stomach and tied to the bars of his bed. He opened his eyes quickly and looked at who it was. He couldn't see anything. Then he saw the little kid at the end of his bed smiling.

Kurogane tried to struggle and realized what he was tied with. It was long handcuffs. Kurogane pulled and tugged, but they were strong, as if magic was holding them together.

" How did you do this? You not strong enough, you would need to have someone else help you." He asked looked at him with the death glare. The boy snapped a finger, Fay walked over to the end of the bed beside him. His eyes didn't look right. It looked blank, as if he wasn't there.

" W-What did you do to him?"

The boy only smiled. The boy snapped his finger and Fay jumped over the bed and straddled Kurogane.

" What did you make him do?"

The boy didn't answer him again. He snapped his finger's once more and Fay grabbed The ninja's throat and started to squeeze.

He started to choke.

" S-Stop!" He croaked out of his mouth.

Fay only squeezed more.

" F-FAY, Your … in t-there. St-stop this!"

The boy laughed.
" The magician can't hear you."

The voice didn't sound like the boys' let alone and ten year old boy anyways. He sounded like a 20-30 year old man.

Kurogane wasn't afraid to die, He thought death was another adventure, another place for him to strengthen his knowledge.
What was scaring him, was that Fay, His friend, the man he loved was killing him. He was being controlled out of his own will. He was scared for him.

" F-Fay!" He said once more hoping that it got through.