Disclaimer: Guess what?! ... I don't own it. News, huh? I thought not. Lol.

Author's Note: I meant to have this out much sooner but my business email was totally deleted by Yahoo on 'accident' and I've been busy these past few days trying to piece everything back together, get things transferred, and combing through all my old site comments in hopes of resurrecting all the emails I lost. So far I've recollected maybe 70%. My email for those of you from here is still the same though so don't fret too much.

By the way, you people are so awesome. I'm not talking about just the reviews for this story but I see a lot of your names crossing over between this fic and a few of my others and I just wanted to say thank you. You all boost my ego so much and help me improve my writing more than I can ever truly explain. My writing is my life, hell, it's my night job and this is like my practice range so thank you- especially those of you who leave the overly blunt reviews or the reviews telling me exactly what you like and don't like. I really appreciate it.

To make up for my late update- I give you the longest chapter of this fic yet. Enjoy.

'I think I've finally won.' Fai mused as he slipped into the shower. These things really were a godsend. Hot water that cascaded down from above? It was perfectly ingenious. In his home world they had all kinds of spells to keep themselves clean and while they were efficient they were certainly nothing like this. Going back to his present thoughts, though 'Kuro-chan hasn't tried anything for three whole days. Either he's waiting or he's finally given up.'

He smirked at that thought. On the one hand he doubted the ninja would just concede defeat- it wasn't in his nature, but on the other hand their pranks had been starting to rise up on a whole new level and he wasn't sure if his big puppy could handle it. Either way, if the ninja continued to prank him or if he didn't it wouldn't be any matter to Fai. If Kuro-pinky continued then he would continue as well but if he didn't... well, he'd just have to go and find a new game to irritate the poor ninja with.

He gave a little laugh and let the thoughts melt away for now as he poured some shampoo into his hand, giving it a tentative sniff. 'Mmm, coconut.' He lathered it in thinking after a moment that it must have been some very potent stuff.

'Bleh, feels greasy.' Making sure to rinse his hair thoroughly he adds a dollop of conditioner for good measure- also coconut, and lathers it in generously. 'Still feels strange, must be my imagination.'

Getting out of the shower he goes up to the mirror wipes the steam away with a corner of his towel. With a blow drying in one hand, another ingenious invention, and a brush in the other he starts in on his hair before immediately hitting a snarl.

He frowned.

Even in the worst of times knots of any sort were a rarity for him and his hair was never disheveled, not even in the best of wind storms. He took great pride in that fact and when the brush still wouldn't go through he cursed, leaning in close to the mirror to get a better look at the damage. What he saw made his stomach drop.

A sticky substance was hardening in places all over his golden locks.

He jumped back in the shower, this time grabbing Sakura's strawberry shampoo- he'd buy her a new bottle later, and pouring a generous amount into his hands. Scrubbing and rubbing it across his scalp until he finally feels the sticky substance give way he let's out a sigh of relief, pausing to enjoy the last of hot water before he gets out.

Turning off the shower, he jumps out and goes straight back to the mirror and...

'What the heck?!'

There's even more of the sticky substance in his hair this time around and the more it drip dries the worse it seems to get. He grips the edge of sink, a growl in the back of his throat, before jumping back in the shower again and trying to rinse the stuff out with straight water even if the hot water is running out but it only seems to be getting worse and "Why the hell does it still smell like coconut?!"

Kurogane chuckled. The idiot had been in the shower since about five and it was nearing seven thirty as they all sat around the table eating breakfast. He'd made a severe miscalculation before. The idiot didn't care who saw him, not really, but he did care how people saw him and whether it was on his terms.

In other words...

A little vanity never hurt anyone-

Except the one possessing it.

Earlier this morning he'd gotten up at the wee hours of daybreak to sneak into the bathroom for a little 'maintenance work' which involved removing the shower head and slipping a few chunks of hard candy inside before replacing it. He'd chosen coconut because it was clear and thus bound not to give to give himself away. He'd wanted to find candy without a scent if he could, hell he would have used plain sugar if he wasn't concerned about it jamming up the drain, but he didn't think the mage would catch on too quickly if he suddenly smelled fruit. A guy like him would probably be happy about it.

He grinned again at the path his thoughts took and shoveled another sporkful of scrambled eggs into his mouth. They could all hear the mage by now as the shower turned on and off at random intervals along with the blow dryer. There was shuffling and grumbling and if her wasn't mistaken there might even have been a curse or two.

It must have been so because a few minutes later the princess knocked tentatively on the door. "Fai-san? Are you alright?"

A long moment of silence passed throughout the kitchen as they waited before the door opened, revealing a very oddly put together mage. His clothes were in shambles from neck to foot but most prominently around his shoulders where water spots dotted here and there but that wasn't the worst of his disheveled appearance. His hair was a half dried frizzy mass that stuck together in clumps on top of his head.

It almost made it easy to miss the horridly ridiculous smile that lit up his face.

"Of course, Sakura-chan. What would make you think otherwise?" He said cheerfully from the doorway.

She blinked, eyes wide. "F-Fai-san... you..." She shook her head unsure of how to convey her thoughts or even if she should. Maybe he just didn't note? It was possible to get of the shower and not look in the mirror. Right?

Syaoran coughed discreetly into his hand and gave it a go. "Your... your hair is... uhm..."

Fai shrugged, still smiling, and idly picked at a matted bit between his fingers. "Oh, this?" He mused before walking to the stove and grabbing the coffee pot. He spoke slowly as he poured the rich brown liquid into the mug and stirring in a spoonful or two of sugar. "Yes, well... hmmm." He half smiled to himself before deciding to add another two spoonfuls as the scent of coffee and coconut wafted up to dominate the kitchen sweetly. "I'm not entirely sure what happened." He confessed, going to the fridge and sifting through the contents.

Kurogane watched him carefully. If this didn't phase the idiot he wasn't sure what would but the way he was acting... and that damn smile...

The mage looked disdainfully at the fridge a moment longer before changing his mind and opening the freezer. "But- if I absolutely had to guess, I would say it had something to do with our dear Kuro-lamp shade over there." He clicked his tongue and dropped two ice cubes into the cup before stirring in another spoonful of sugar. "But that just couldn't be so." He finished dubiously as he leant against the counter, sipping his drink before deciding to pop in another ice cube for good measure.

No one say anything. Fai looked at Kurogane, cheerfully boring holes into the back of his head while the children stared between the two of them unsure if they should intervene or just run awhile. The ninja didn't move at all, just kept eating breakfast like nothing had been said. He wasn't going to deny it but neither was he going to apologize. Slowly, he turned to the blond, watching in disgust as he put in yet another spoon of sugar into what was once perfectly good coffee. Kami, he couldn't imagine how the idiot could drink stuff like that.

"Why's that?" He said, finally taking the bait.

The blond smiled, still leaning against the counter and stirring his drink before adding one last ice cube. "Because Kuro-Coconut doesn't like sweet things." He replied simply.

Kurogane shrugged nonchalantly. "Guess it depends on my mood."

"How quaint." He smirked, walking up and dumping his watered down, sickly, sticky, sweet cold coffee right on the ninja's head "Mine too." and walked away.

Author's Note: Updates on all my other stories can be found via my homepage plus a poll for this nice little fic here. :) Also, my sis-chan made a little bit of fanart for chapter before last in you're interested. In a few hours or a few days she'll also have a comic strip for this chapter done so don't forget to check back often.

Lastly, I didn't re-read this over as many times as I should have before getting it out so please forgive my mistakes. Also, for those of you looking to Sakura and Syaoran and wondering why they aren't playing a bigger part in this story... don't fret. -evil grin- Those children are a lot more involved than they look.