A/N: Okay, I swear that this will be finished within the next few chapters…..I've definitely lost my drive to finish this story….I feel like such a bad author. Anyway, onward ho, and let's get this done!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the character within this fanfiction…though I would gladly steal away Fai if given the chance.
Trumpets and drums blared as The Queen and her entourage entered the garden. Kurogane had been lounging in the shade of the rose trees, watching the small girls go about their bizarre task with a lazy interest. It had been about an hour since the dark-haired man had arrived in the gardens and Maro and Maru had finally completed painting the last rose to a brilliant ruby.
As the sounds rang out in the farthest reaches of the garden, the two small children jumped to their feet, hiding the paint cans underneath the dense foliage of the bushes. Kurogane followed suit, getting to his feet and brushing his dress free of debris and dust. The parade arrived soon afterwards in a grand procession, several girls with brightly colored scarves came first, dancing to the jangle of metal anklets around their feet. A line of soldiers dressed in red and black livery marched next, a wall of protection for The Queen who entered on a carriage carried by four well-toned servants.
"Halt!" A loud, commanding voice called out. The progression stopped suddenly and with an eerie accuracy, not one individual out of place. Kurogane followed suit to the two small girls as they bowed to their reigning monarch. If there was one thing he had learned in his own Japan, it was to show proper respect to the people in power.
Out of his peripheral vision, the samurai watched a slender figure appear from within the carriage, a servant rushing over to escort the lady from her carriage. The youth, with what appeared to be an interesting shaped ha,t was waved away by an arrogant hand as the lady advanced. Kurogane tensed as The Queen stopped before him, hands placed on thin hips, her weight swaying to one leg as she inspected him.
"You may rise, warrior." The Queen's voice was soft yet imposing and Kurogane couldn't help but let his crimson gaze slip upwards.
Another set of large, luminous ruby eyes stared back at him with a cold, calculating scrutiny as long black hair cascaded around her tall, slender frame. An elegant black and red kimono complimented her pale completion. Her body language screamed of self-confidence. And she looked exactly like Yuko. And the youth that had helped her out of the carriage was The Rabbit.
Could this day get any worse?
The answer was yes, yes it could get worse. Much worse.
Yuko burst out into loud guffaws as Kurogane's croquet shot missed completely. It didn't help that the Mokona-shaped croquet balls were busy trying to distract him with their infernal chatter and yells.
When Kurogane had attempted to attack the Queen's servant in a fit of blind rage, her guards had intervened and attempted to subdue him. The Queen only laughed at his struggles and promised, much to the horror of The Rabbit, that Kurogane would be allowed an 'audience' with the servant if he bested her at a game of croquet. But this was ridiculous! The angry man threw down his squawking flamingo in disgust, "There has got to be something better than this stupid thing to use!"
In between giggles, The Queen flapped a hand at a small stand at the edge of the playing field, "Try the old man over there, tee hee!"
Kurogane stomped over, slamming his hands down on the counter top, "All right, what do you have that's better than this damn bird!" A rickety old man stood behind the counter, twirling the tip of his long, grey beard, eyes flashing with a hidden greed, "Flamingos for free, everything else is a 1000 gold pieces or up. Can you afford?"
"WHAT?" Kurogane cried out, "Like hell I could afford something like that? What is it with you people?" The pissed off ninja returned to The Queen's side, steaming, "Forget it, hurry up with the game!"
The Queen smiled, before slinging her flamingo in a perfect arch, sending the pork bun ball through the tines of the croquet goals. All Kurogane could muster was a half-hearted sigh of frustration. There'd be no winning this game.
Kurogane was just about to lose the ridiculous game of croquet with the Queen when he had just about the most brilliant idea of his life. Get the hell out of here. No punch to the face of an annoying rabbit-boy was worth the pain and humiliation of trying to swat annoying pork bun balls with obnoxiously loud and obnoxiously pink birds. This was even worse than putting up with the damn mage on the most horrible of days. Upon coming to his astounding revelation, the warrior took hold of his screeching stick and with it, hurtled a ball in the very opposite direction of the garden gates, Mokona's annoyingly high pitched voice squealing all the way with it.
The spectators of the game ohh'ed and aw'ed over the distance and began to dash towards where it had landed, several already taking bets on how far it had gone. Above the hubbub on the crowds, the Queen's voice could be heard commanding, "Off with his head to whoever touches the ball in any way!" Among the confusion, Kurogane made a mad dash towards the garden gates, rushing past the two little girls finishing the touch up on the roses, who watched him pass with blank stares.
Sprinting out the elaborate gilt gateways, Kurogane ran until feet could take no more abuse from his ridiculous shoes and he finally collapsed onto the ground, his chest heaving as his lungs attempted to regain his breath. When he finally recuperated some time later, he allowed his ruby eyes to reopen, partially blinded by the dim lighting on the forest he had stumbled into. It was only then that he realized that he was back in the woods where he had met that strange girl.
"Kurogane is back again?"
Speak of the devil. The warrior whirled around as best he could on the ground as the small girl appeared into view, her fuzzy form growing in clarity. Cursing under his breath, Kurogane let himself flop back onto the ground before he bothered to reply, "Yeah, I've had enough of this place. I just want to go back and take a nap in a real bed and maybe yell at that pork bun and mage in the meantime."
The small girl tilted her head to the side, white blonde hair pouring over her shoulder as a powder blue ear twitched subconsciously, "You want to go….back home?"
Kurogane's face fell into a frown, "Home? Sure, something like that."
The girl quieted down, her tail flipping back and forth. The warrior laid his head back onto the thick carpet of emerald grass, feeling the warm sun beat down, even amongst the foliage of the trees.
And soon he drifted off to sleep.
Sakura awoke in a daze, eyes glazed over from her drug induced sleep. She had to blink a few times before the room came into focus. There was light pouring in from the outside through a large glass window, overlooking a beautiful courtyard bursting with rose bushes. Inside the room she noticed Kurogane in the corner, asleep in a chair. She was just about to lift the covers off of herself to get out of bed when the door to the bedroom opened silently. Fai peeked in, blue eyes sparkling with hidden amusement at the sight.
"Good morning, princess, "he staged whispered in a cheery voice, "Are we feeling better? Those pills really seemed to do the job!"
The young girl nodded slowly, her head still feeling sluggish, like it was stuffed with fuzzy wool. Fai glanced over at the sleeping ninja, "Oh dear, and here he was supposed to look over you until you got up. Naughty, naughty!"
Sakura smiled lightly as the mage approached with a small, steaming bowl. He set the container down, along with a spoon and a linen napkin on the bed beside her, "The neighbors said that this would help with your cold. It's called turtle soup, but there are no actual turtles in it."
The princess nodded and took up the shiny metal spoon, examining it and then scooping it into the bowl, filling it up with the cloudy, spicy smelling liquid. Fai continued to chatter as Sakura worked on her meal. A little while later there was a hesitant knock on the door and Fai all but jumped out of his seat to get it with a quick explanation thrown over his shoulder, "We sent Syaoran out for some groceries."
Fai returned with the boy in tow, his bag of groceries slung over his shoulder. Two baguettes of bread stuck out of the sack, creating the illusion that they were poking out of the brunette's head. For some reason, Sakura had the strangest idea that they looked like rabbit ears. She began to giggle in earnest. Syaoran looked concerned and glanced at Fai. The blonde shrugged, "She just needs some more sleep I guess."
A/N: DOOOOOONNNNNEEEE! Now I can finish up the rest of my fanfictions and start on something new. This will probably be my last Tsubasa fanfiction for a while, so sorry fans out there! Thanks for all your support! Bye bye! (And remember that I will be going as Fai to Katsucon so come say hi if you're going!)