A/N: Wow, I'm updating quickly, ne? Haha, I hope you all don't mind… I get bored and I need something to do. Besides, I love writing. I still can't figure out how to get the separation things working, so if someone would be so kind as to tell me ... That would be great. - I hope you all continue to like this story, and if you have any suggestions, please, let me know.

Chapter Three: Confrontation

Medicine wasn't his strongest point. In fact, it wasn't one of his strong points at all. And that was the very reason why he had sent the kid and the princess out to get the medicine, leaving him alone with the wounded and bandaged Vampire.

The ninja expected it to be nothing more than a long stretch of silence, pierced here and there with a sigh or a slight shuffle. He never expected the Vampire to talk to him. Even though he was wounded, that didn't mean that anything would change.

And so there they were, Fai lying on his back with his eyes closed although Kurogane knew that he wasn't asleep. The ninja was settled beside him, arms crossed and eyes focused on a point across the room. Every so often he would look down at the thin blonde, but nothing about him seemed to change.

He remembered what had happened after they discovered the fallen man on the battle field… Kurogane had inspected his wound to be deep, although he couldn't tell exactly what had been the cause of it. Draping the blonde's thin frame carefully over his shoulder, he had carried him back to their lodging area and then proceeded to tear his cape into small strips, using them as bandages to stop the blood flow.

It was then that the kid and the princess offered to go out for medicine, and in all of the rush, Kurogane didn't even remember his own injury.

He was remembering it now, as he felt the dull stinging sensation clearly on his shoulder, wondering how in seven hells it could've slipped his mind. But it didn't matter anyway, it wasn't something that would kill him, and right now, Fai was most important.

He glanced down again, and then blinked a few times as he noted that the blonde's crystal blue eyes were opening. Their gazes met, and then Kurogane looked away, not wanting to see the emotion in those eyes, or lack there-of.

"That's twice now, Kurogane." The voice came unexpectedly, and the ninja looked down once more, as though to test whether or not he had actually said it. The answer was obvious, and he could tell by the slight smirk that curved the pale blonde's lips.

"Twice what?" he asked, although somewhere inside he already knew the answer.

"Two times that you've prevented me from dying," Fai responded, his voice calm but with a bitter edge.

Kurogane gritted his teeth together. He didn't want to have this conversation, but now that the Vampire had started it, it couldn't exactly by avoided. "So you really want to die, huh?" the words were out of his mouth before his mind had registered what he was asking, and his response wasn't one that he wanted.

"I do." That bitter tone remained, and yet somehow he had a smile on his face. Nobody should smile like that when speaking of death… especially when speaking of their own.

The ninja shook his head slightly, trying to process this and failing miserably. "You confuse me," he said, and the blonde looked up at him with just a small hint of curiosity in that stone cold eye.

"Nobody should wish so strongly for their own death. So what is it that you're hiding, huh?"

Fai didn't answer for a few long moments. And then, after letting out a long, leisurely sigh, he spoke.

"I'm not telling you."

Kurogane's patience was wearing thin. It was getting annoying, the fact that there was so much pain bottled up inside one human being and he couldn't even find the strength in himself to let it all out. Nobody should harbor that much pain and misery.

He never thought of himself to be sentimental or caring in the least, but something about these last few months had changed him. No, not something, someone. And that someone just happened to be lying on the ground, with the ripped remains of Kurogane's cape around his slender build.

His fists clenched, and he avoided the gaze of that man. It wasn't going to help right now to see that stupid patch, to have all of those memories come flooding back like they always did.

"You'd think you'd realize by now that it isn't going to work."

"Hmm?" Fai was looking at him again, he could feel it, but he wasn't even going to risk looking back.

"You're not going to die."

The former mage gave the smallest of chuckles, nothing like how his laugh used to be. "Kurogane, everybody's going to die sometime. It's not something that can be--"

"You know that's not what I meant."

His tone was sharper than he meant for it to be, but somehow he felt that it was the only way to make the Vampire understand, if he could even make him understand. If that failed, the only alternative would be to grab him by the shoulders and shake him furiously, but Kurogane would never resort to that.

Silence settled over the room once again as the ninja took a few deep breaths, trying to regain his composure and gather his words.

"I meant that you're not going to die as long as I'm around," he continued after a moment, his tone softening but only a little.

"Because I'm not going to let you."

"Kurogane --"

"I don't care what you say. I don't care how hard you try, I'm not going to let it happen. Too much has happened already and even if you hate me, or refuse to speak to me, you're staying alive. You agreed to this quest and you're going to see it through to the end, just like the rest of us."

With that, the ninja stood. He wasn't going to give the blonde a chance to retaliate, no matter how much the smaller man might have wanted to. And if Fai had wanted to, he didn't show it. He said nothing, and the room was filled with silence once more.

Kurogane turned, one hand resting on the door lightly. "Get some sleep," he finally said, in his low, gruff tone, and then he exited, and the door slid shut with a soft click.

The end of Chapter three! Yay!

This chapter was interesting to write… I don't like making Fai mean, but it has to be done. I'm still not sure how long this story will be … so I hope all these chapters are a good thing! Haha. Please continue to review and tell me what you think!

Chapter Four is coming soon!