Look how many month it has been! The old girl's still got life in her yet! In fact, I've been hit by a sudden wave of inspiration and now I'm churning out a load of half-finished ideas, I really have to thank you reviewers for all the inspiration. No warnings. There's nothing objectionable here sir!


Writer

XX

He had stopped counting the days, months, perhaps even the years that had passed since he had been travelling. He did not even know whether he should go by the passage of time that he had known in Nihon or if there was some sort of universal clock where time in all worlds could be counted.

In any case, it mattered very little to Kurogane how long or short their journey had been, not when he happened upon such peaceful moments.

The world was called Sandors…or Sanders or something like that. The name did not matter much either, not when they were inhabiting a cottage so far from civilisation.

Kurogane reclined against his chair, lifting a cup of green tea to his mouth. Though the kitchen was small, it was warm, pressed with a sort of comforting feeling, like a glowing fire on a rainy day. He glanced out of the window to the golden fields of overgrown barley. That idiot would be home any minute.

As predicted, Sakura and Syaoran were making lunch over the stone stove when Fai returned, marching into the kitchen, crying, "Everyone! I have an announcement to make!"

"Is it about your missing brain cells?" Kurogane mumbled and set down his teacup. He was half-expecting the wizard to make some half-cracked attempt to tease or even hug him but Fai remained rooted to where he stood, his face completely clam yet serious.

"I'm pregnant."

"Ehhhhhhhh?"

"Whaaaaaat?"

Kurogane spat out a mouthful of tea, one wild glance passed over Syaoran's shocked face, another over Sakura as she gasped, then finally to Fai, standing neutrally by the doorway. He was sure that he felt his spirit leave him.

Ignoring the uproar, Fai opened up a pad or paper and began taking notes. "Reactions of shock and disbelief," he wrote then tapped the side of his pencil against Kurogane's unresponsive nose. "Some temporary paralysis."

"F – Fai-san! Are you really..?" Sakura stuttered, staring at him with a mixture or amazement and alarm.

"Of course not Sakura-chan!" he replied brightly.

At the sound of those glorious words, Kurogane managed to overcome his trance to snap at him. "Then why the hell did you say that, idiot?" he growled as Fai flashed a brilliant smile.

"I felt like it."

His cup slammed against the table. Green tea sloshed over the cloth. Chair scrapped backwards, Kurogane rose in correspondence with his growing frustration.

A dark shadow began to swallow Fai's figure.

"I…am…going to…kill you!"

"Ah, but if I was pregnant, you wouldn't get scared and run away, would you Kuro-chan?" Fai quickly asked, temporary throwing the ninja from his violent thoughts.

"You - You can't get pregnant anyway! It's impossible!" he spluttered, cringing at the thought of an even more hormonal Fai.

"I know, but this is work," he tapped the side of the notepad against his shoulder. "I'm researching the biggest reasons why men leave their partners. So…would unexpected pregnancy be a seven out of ten?" he asked expectantly, pencil poised to note down the answer.

Returning to his seat, Kurogane felt a wave of disbelief wash over him. He knew that, when travelling through vastly different worlds was normal, nothing should surprise him anymore, he knew that but…

"Your company chose the wrong person for this," he sighed.

"This is an important task!" Fai insisted. "Besides, I'm a guy so I'm in the best position to know!"

"Then why are you asking me?"

"For a different perspective," he reasoned.

"It's for that trashy magazine company isn't it?"

Fai laughed. "Well, trashy isn't the word I would use…"

"Okay, fine," Kurogane conceded, turning his full attention towards him. "I would leave someone if they constantly bothered me, if they would never leave me alone, if they force-fed me stupid sweet stuff, always got me annoyed and…" he suddenly stopped ticking off his fingers when he realised that everyone was staring at him.

To be precise, Fai was staring at him. Syaoran and Sakura were simply alternating between the two.

There was a moment of pregnant silence before Fai decided to suddenly step forward and break it. "Kuro-chan's so loyal!" he grinned. "He still sticks around even though there's so much that he hates!"

"Well, it's not as if I have much of a choice," he muttered.

Fai opened his mouth to reply but thought better of it. Instead he smiled, though it was a little forced and formless.

"I'll go write this up then," he tried a more convincing smile and quickly turned from the kitchen, leaving Kurogane with the vague impression that he had said something strange.

"Syaoran-kun, Fai-san looked a little down, didn't he?" He caught Sakura whispering.

Knowing better than to let stupid things drag on into even greater stupidity, he heaved himself up with some reluctance and found his way to their shared room.

He did not bother knocking. He pushed the creaky wooden door open and immediately stepped inside.

Although it was still bright, Fai sat close to a candle, hunched over a small table where he was furiously scribbling all over his notepad. He was sure that he had been noticed upon his entrance, even if the wizard had chosen not to say anything.

With a glance around the small room, he took a seat on the bed, close to where Fai was working.

Well, this was stupid. Why was he here again?

A pause, then; "Hey, what's up with you?"

Not his most eloquent speech ever but it would do.

Fai tapped his pencil against the wooden table. "Hmmm? Nothing. Do you have more suggestions, Kuro-chi?" he said absently.

"Not really," he shrugged. The sound of a pencil scratching against paper continued in the abrupt silence. Kurogane waited a moment then said; "You know, I bet there're loads of things that I annoy you about."

The pencil ceased its scratching. Fai stopped writing for a moment to glance at him. "Don't be silly, I like everything about you Kuro-pon. Although, it would help if you weren't so growly all the time," he smiled.

"I'm not growly! And that's not even a word anyway!" he snapped back, forgetting for a moment why he had sought for Fai in the first place. Yet, as soon as he closed his mouth, he began to wonder why the wizard was not countering him with some annoying quip.

The silence lasted until Fai's chair scrapes against the hard stone floor. Without either saying a word, Kurogane felt a sudden weight press down against the bed. Fai sat besides him, still unspeaking, yet smiling ever so slightly.

"Hey, what would you think about 'Top five turn-ons' for my next article?" he murmured, staring at the opposite side of the wall.

"I would think that that's a stupid idea," he replied almost automatically.

Fai smiled knowingly. "I thought you'd say something like that."

"Well," Kurogane sighed, throwing himself back against the softness of the bed, "if you're going to do research about that too, it might not be so bad."

When Fai leaned over him, smiling as if he had known that he would say something like that as well, he could not help but smirk back.

Fai pulled a face. "Kuro-chan's not helpful at all."

"Heh, I knew that you'd say that."

"Oh?" Fai looked vaguely amused. "Shall we begin research now then?"

Propping himself onto his elbows, Kurogane smiled challengingly at him. "I knew that you'd say that too."


Well, it was going to be crack and then it suddenly took a sudden U-turn into Subtle Lane. Hopefully, I can get the next chapter up quicker. It's already five pages long and nowhere near finished! Thanks for reading!